Re-birth: The Beginning after the End-Chapter 185: WORKING OUT THE TENSION

Li Hua looked around at the lush flower field before her, still adjusting to the subtle disorientation of void walking. One moment they had been in her quarters, the next—darkness had enveloped them like silk, and Mo Xing's steady hand at her waist had been her only anchor as they stepped through space itself.

Now, they stood among endless waves of lavender flowers, their scent encapsulating her senses. The sun was high in the sky, morning light catching on the swaying blooms. A gentle breeze carried the intoxicating blend of lavender and mountain air, making the flowers dance beneath the cloudless expanse above.

She quirked up an eyebrow at Mo Xing, who sat with casual grace on a stone bench—one she was certain hadn't existed moments before.

"No one could hear us?" She asked, eyes narrowing slightly at the implications of such privacy.

Mo Xing's smile turned predatory, a look that sent an unexpected shiver down her spine. "You could scream all you want and no one would disturb us."

Li Hua felt heat creep across her cheeks, but instead of the usual embarrassment, she found herself responding with an uncharacteristic chuckle. Her daggers materialized in her hands, their familiar weight grounding her even as her heart raced with anticipation.

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"It's perfect then." The weapons caught the morning light as she shifted into a fighting stance. "Care for a dance?"

Mo Xing's laugh rolled through the morning air like distant thunder, warming the space between them. "Not exactly what I was hoping for," he said, rising from his bench with lethal grace, "but anything for you, my Little Tempest."

As he stood, the air itself seemed to thicken with anticipation. The gentle swaying of lavender blooms stilled, as if nature itself held its breath for what was to come. Li Hua felt the familiar surge of power as her celestial diamond earrings awakened, their crystalline chimes like warning bells in the sudden quiet.

Without warning, without signal, their dance began. The lavender field transformed into their battlefield, flowers bowing in waves from the force of their gathering power. The ethereal sound of her earrings crescendoed as she launched her first attack, each chime a herald of coming devastation. Between one heartbeat and the next, she vanished—the Phantom Step Concealment leaving nothing but scattered petals dancing in her wake.

Mo Xing's smile widened as he sensed rather than saw her approach. Earth responded to his call, stone spears erupting from the ground in precise patterns. But Li Hua was already elsewhere, the Mist Walker Technique making her presence blend with the morning breeze.

She struck from multiple angles, her daggers trailing golden light as she flickered between positions. The Still Lake Method kept her power contained until the moment of impact, making each strike a surprise even to Mo Xing's experienced senses. He responded with walls of stone that rose and fell like waves, trying to predict her movements.

Her eight elements danced around her—fire spinning with wind, water flowing into earth. But it was the Sixth Realm's concealment arts that truly made her deadly. The Empty Presence Technique let her slip between Mo Xing's defenses, while the Dimensional Shift kept him guessing which of her attacks were real and which were merely shadows.

"Impressive, Little Tempest," Mo Xing called out, genuine appreciation in his voice as he barely dodged a strike that would have ended their dance early. His earth element responded with increasing creativity—not just barriers and weapons, but entire sections of the battlefield reshaping themselves at his command.

Li Hua's response was to activate the Soul Reflection Barrier, causing his next spiritual probe to bounce back at him. Thunder crackled at her fingertips as she channeled lightning through her daggers, the electric energy making the air itself shiver with potential. She used that moment of disorientation to close the distance, her electrified blades aimed for his throat. But even as she moved, she knew he had planned for this.

The ground beneath her feet suddenly liquefied, and only the Void Cloak Technique saved her from being trapped. She leaped backward, her earrings singing with power as she accelerated beyond normal limits. Light bent around her form as she pushed her speed to its peak, leaving afterimages. Where her feet touched the ground, wood energy responded instinctively—lavender stalks stretching and twisting, trying to entangle Mo Xing's ankles while providing her with temporary platforms.

The battle continued, neither able to gain a decisive advantage.

Thunder rolled overhead as Li Hua gathered more electrical energy, the sky darkening in response to her energy. Lightning arced between her daggers, creating a web of deadly energy that complemented her wind techniques. The flowers danced in their wake, some burning from lightning strikes, others growing to impossible heights as her wood energy surged through them. The morning air filled with the sharp tang of ozone and the sweet scent of accelerated growth, petals and electricity swirling together in their deadly dance.

Their combat grew more intense with each exchange, both finding unexpected joy in finally facing someone who could match them move for move. Where her lightning struck, his earth rose to meet it, creating beautiful sculptures of glass in the sand. Where her wood energy tried to ensnare him, his earth techniques turned the very soil against her growing powers, creating a constantly shifting battlefield of blooming life and structured stone.

Yet something about his movements began to nag at her consciousness. His responses were too perfect, his evasions too precise. Each time she employed a technique, his counter seemed to mirror its principles in ways that shouldn't have been possible for someone merely defending against them.

The pattern crystallized in her mind when her daggers sliced through empty air once again. How? She had perfectly executed the Empty Presence Technique, yet Mo Xing had shifted away not just as if he'd anticipated it, but as if he'd performed it himself countless times.

The realization struck her with the force of a physical blow. He had been toying with her this entire time, analyzing her use of each technique with that same meticulous attention he brought to everything that caught his interest. Like a master watching a student's form, he had been gauging her abilities, cataloging her strategies—and now, as his movements took on a deadly precision that made her previous attacks look slightly clumsy in comparison, she understood just how vast the gap in their mastery truly was.

Her cheeks burned with a mixture of frustration and embarrassment. Of course he would approach even combat this way—turning their dance into another of his careful studies, waiting until he had dissected every aspect of her style before revealing his own devastating proficiency.

Fine. Then perhaps, she thought as she barely avoided another stone spear, it's time to show him something truly unexpected.