The three simultaneous explosions didn't have a large radius, nor were they the biggest he had ever created, but they were the brightest. They were made from bullets created with the most potent qi he had ever gotten his hands on. At this point, he believed any puppet that had become the core of a facility was at least a Core Splitting cultivator, or a being so suffused with qi that it was equivalent to one.

  Thrown back, Liu Xing looked toward the epicenter of the explosion. The silhouettes of the bone centaurs were contoured inside the bright flashes before they vanished, leaving only brilliant light. Just before he hit a wall, he rotated his body so his feet pointed toward it. With good timing, he kicked off it and soared back into the air. He glanced toward the gun in his left hand. He couldn't see it, but he knew it was filled with six more bullets, each potent enough to kill his two remaining opponents in a single shot.

  As he thought of that, the explosion settled, leaving a hole three meters in diameter. Smoke and dust swirled around it, and the hole gaped into the depths of the vessel, revealing a network of pipes, steel beams, cables, and tubes. The explosion had destroyed a large blue tube, and a blue liquid spilled out. A moment later, alarms blared throughout the vessel. The steel ark tilted up slightly, as if a giant were standing on its nose, lifting the stern into the air.

  Liu Xing landed near the throne where the puppet he had killed was no more. He looked around the area. His blue butterflies still flew about, scattered by the blast. The explosion had also dispersed the snow, the blood qi, and the floating spots of darkness, leaving the center of the room devoid of their influence. It would not hold for long, though.

  Across the room, Yan Yu stood with her right hand on her left shoulder, where his sword had struck her. Her expression was flat, her eyes gazing calmly around, but Liu Xing thought she was probably nervous. A swirling dust of ice floated all around her, as if she were trying to create a protective dome.

  Not far from her, the wooden puppet stood with its mouth gaping open. Incredibly thick, condensed blood swirled inside it, growing stronger and denser every second. Its head moved smoothly left and right, scanning the area on standby. Liu Xing suspected that the thread of blood it would shoot next would be several magnitudes faster, stronger, and more durable.

  Liu Xing licked his lips and pointed his gun forward, his hand hovering between Yan Yu and the wooden puppet. The puppet was probably stronger, but it was merely a one-trick pony. Yan Yu was weaker but far more versatile. After a moment, his hand stopped, aimed at Yan Yu.

  He took a single step when something touched his shoulder. A single spot of darkness had strayed from the others, floating down undirected. Yet, it landed fatefully on his shoulder. At that moment, Yan Yu and the wooden puppet snapped their eyes toward him, and everything exploded into a flurry of motion.

  The wooden puppet shot its blood thread toward Liu Xing. It was so fast that a reverberating sound spread from the shot, and the puppet itself was forced to slide back. Yan Yu, on the other hand, swung her black sword, and ice spread across the ground, moving at him like a train at record speed while at the same time hundreds upon hundreds of ice arrows materialized in the air and began to rain down on him.

  Enhanced by the Lightning Cloak Technique, Liu Xing instantly moved, barely dodging to the side as the thread of blood grazed his left ear. When the puppet swung its head and whipped the blood thread sideways, Liu Xing ducked, and several strands of his hair were cut.

  The advancing ice and the arrows were upon him. Liu Xing summoned his turtle in front of him. The moment it materialized, the full force of the ice slammed into it. The impact pushed the turtle back, and Liu Xing too was thrown so hard that he flew into a gathering clump of darkness. When he hit it, he instantly summoned his shield and kicked off it. Yan Yu sent her ice arrows toward that spot, while the wooden puppet whipped its blood thread, cutting the ground and the wall along the way. Liu Xing kicked the shield again in midair, the ice arrows and the blood thread following him.

  He gritted his teeth, aimed his gun at the wooden puppet—which happened to be closer—and fired. The puppet saw the bolt, whipped its head around, and successfully cut the bullet in midair, causing it to explode. Annoyed that the bullet hadn't hit, Liu Xing didn't let the emotion control him and used the bright flash to maneuver until he was close to Yan Yu. The ice arrows moved around her as if creating a living wall.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Liu Xing timed his shot and pulled the trigger. The moment the bullet left his invisible gun, Yan Yu turned and pointed her black sword forward like a conductor. Her arrows instantly moved toward the bullet as a wall of ice materialized in front of her. His bullet passed a dozen ice arrows before one struck it, and it exploded in midair without killing its target.

  Gritting his teeth, Liu Xing swung Harmony of Two Seas. A jet of water extended from it, cutting hundreds of arrows in the air before it was frozen and shattered. At the same time, the broken arrows clattered to the ground, and a layer of ice began spreading from them as the other ice arrows shot toward him.

  Liu Xing kicked the ground, zooming to the side. Instead of following him, the ice arrows hit the ground, and ice began to spread even faster. The temperature dropped rapidly.

  Before Liu Xing could think too much about it, the wooden puppet whipped its blood thread at him. He summoned his shield and kicked off it to dodge. Then, he aimed his gun toward the puppet, intending to pull the trigger, when a fang of ice fell toward him.

  He looked up and realized Yan Yu's arrows were not only hitting the ground but the ceiling as well. The ceiling was now covered in ice, and more and more ice fangs materialized on it. Liu Xing contorted his body in midair, dodging a falling fang and kicking off it to move to the side.

  The wooden puppet once again whipped its thread of blood toward him. It cut through Yan Yu's arrows and ice, its speed faster than before. Liu Xing stopped the thread with Harmony of Two Seas, which he had covered in stable qi. The blood thread paused for a moment, and he used that time to summon his shield and jump high into the air.

  He dodged the falling ice fangs from the ceiling, zigzagging around by kicking off the fangs or his shield.

  Liu Xing realized that despite having the means to kill his enemies in one shot, they were pushing him around. The flow of the battle was no longer with him. If this continued, Yan Yu's ice would cover the whole room, which he knew would be a very bad thing. He needed to do something big to reverse the battle's flow.

  "One shot," he muttered. "I just need to land one shot."

  As Liu Xing dodged the surrounding attacks, he swung his sword, deflecting some with the blade and others with jets of water, trying to find a way out of his predicament. He had already wasted two of his potent bullets.

  The spots of darkness Yan Yu used were scattered around. Most of the time, he didn't even need to hit one for his position to be known. His shield was not invisible the moment it was summoned, which was enough to announce his general direction. Yan Yu would then bombard him with her attacks, and the wooden puppet would know his position.

  Liu Xing gripped his weapons tightly. He still had four bullets remaining. It was enough. The only problem was the sheer number of obstacles around him. He needed to get closer to his enemy. Yan Yu was proving to be more troublesome, surrounded by so much ice that her form couldn't even be seen. That meant his target had to be the wooden puppet.

  Having decided his course of action, Liu Xing rotated his body in midair, kicked his shield, and hit the ground hard. Dust swirled around him. Then, he kicked off the ground and launched himself toward the wooden puppet.

  The wooden puppet, knowing his general direction, whipped its thread of blood toward him. Liu Xing jumped, the thread passed below him, and he aimed his gun forward. The moment he did, Yan Yu's ice swarmed him, coming from a direction that obstructed the puppet. It was likely by design; Yan Yu was working with the puppet. Usually, Liu Xing would have canceled his attack, not wanting to waste a bullet, but this time, he pulled the trigger.

  A potent bullet shot from his gun. Not long after, it hit an ice arrow. It exploded, creating a bright light and destroying the attacks around it. Liu Xing summoned his shield and lunged toward the explosion. His timing was perfect; the explosion receded just as he arrived, leaving a direct path to the wooden puppet.

  Without wasting time, he fired another bullet. It sailed through the air. A tidal wave of ice arrows moved toward him and his bullet's path, and the puppet whipped its head up, intending to cut down both Liu Xing and the bullet traveling just above the blood thread.

  Liu Xing summoned his shield to his side and pushed off it, throwing himself sideways. His bullet was right in front of the puppet's mouth, near the swirling blood that fueled the thread, when it was cut. However, though it was cut, it was in the perfect position. It exploded. A shockwave rippled outward, the sound reverberated, and a bright light swallowed the puppet.

  Liu Xing landed on the ground and felt his gun fully reload. He couldn't help but let out a wild grin.

  He had done it. He had killed his second enemy. Only one remained.

  Filled with confidence, Liu Xing kicked the ground and moved toward Yan Yu's world of ice, where the ground, the ceiling, and the very air were frozen solid. The fight was about to end.

  joining us!