Talent Runs Rampant
He'd overplayed that one.
Mo Fan had come to a painful realization: failing to gather information beforehand was beyond stupid. But even if he had known about Ding Yumian's secondary Mind Element, it would only have spared him a little shock and embarrassment — against a Mind Element Mage like her, he was completely out of options.
Ding Yumian's Star Trail tracing speed was blindingly fast, verging on instantaneous Release. Mo Fan couldn't even finish drawing a single Star Trail, let alone a complete Star Chart.
No wonder she'd been able to read a rough sense of his intentions earlier — with Mind Element as a secondary discipline, she was almost impossible to beat.
"Blazing Fist!!"
Ding Yumian gave Mo Fan no chance to cast. A Mind Element strike left a lingering echo in a Mage's concentration, and she used that exact window to complete her Fire Element Star Chart.
Her hair swept across her smooth forehead as waves of searing heat spread outward from the center of the arena to the Barrier at its edges. An enormous ring of crimson flame condensed around her wrist the instant she cried out.
The Blazing Fist came crashing toward him — its range was enormous, enough to engulf everything within dozens of meters around Mo Fan.
"Why is the range on this Blazing Fist so wide?" Mo Fan stared in disbelief.
They were nearly a hundred meters apart. Normally, a Blazing Fist expanding over that distance would cover a circle roughly twenty meters in diameter — but this one was colossal. Close to forty meters across, far beyond anything a standard Blazing Fist could reach.
On foot, there was no dodging it.
Unable to cast anything, Mo Fan activated his Blood Beast Boots and sprinted clear. The scorching fist slammed down, and even at the very edges of its reach the flames caught him — he sucked in a sharp breath through clenched teeth.
He'd gotten clear. But turning back to look at the crater of flame nearly forty meters wide, cold sweat poured down his face.
*Is this her innate talent?*
*Fire Element spells with nearly double the range of a normal Mage's!*
A chill ran through Mo Fan. He wasn't going to underestimate her by so much as a fraction.
But taking her seriously now wasn't much help — Ding Yumian's fighting style defied all logic.
While the Blood Beast Boots lasted, he still had room to dodge. But once their power ran out, avoiding another Blazing Fist would be a different problem entirely.
"Blazing Fist — Nine Palaces!!"
In everyday life, Ding Yumian was as serene and gentle as a sleeping lotus. In combat she was cold-eyed and relentless — she gave Mo Fan no room to breathe.
Her Star Chart was taking shape once more; the pattern forming beneath her feet was nearly complete, needing only a few final Star Trails to awaken the terrifying Nine Palaces power.
The Mind Element pulse finally faded from Mo Fan's mind — but by the time he could cast freely, Ding Yumian's Star Chart was almost finished. There wasn't time for an intermediate spell. Not even close.
He had time enough for one basic-tier spell at most. Watching the Blazing Fist — Nine Palaces near completion, Mo Fan came dangerously close to reaching for his Shadow Element.
Shadow Fade was the only thing that could get him somewhere safe right now.
*No — even if I lose, I can't show that card.* Mo Fan abandoned the idea of using his Shadow Element in public and began tracing his Summoning Element Star Chart as fast as he could.
"Dimensional Summoning — Swift Star Wolf!"
Seven moon-white Star Motes appeared before him. As the trails connected between them, a rift tore open across the fabric of reality.
Through the rift leaped a magnificent, powerfully built wolf — its star-blue fur whipping freely in the blasts of heat.
"Stop posturing and *run!*"
Mo Fan shouted frantically at the Swift Star Wolf, which had been on the verge of showing off.
The Swift Star Wolf had just arrived on Earth and hadn't figured out the situation yet — but when it saw a woman not far away driving a fist blazing with Blazing Fist energy into the ground, when it felt the earth beneath its paws trembling with raw destructive force, it turned on its heels and bolted.
**BOOM!!!**
**BOOM!!!!**
**BOOM!!!!!**
Pillars of flame erupted from the ground at twice the girth of a normal Nine Palaces. They surged upward like dragons tearing free from the earth, tongues of fire rolling and roaring in every direction.
The Blazing Fist — Nine Palaces was already one of the most wide-ranging devastation skills in existence. The nine pillars, erupting one after another, could swallow up half the stadium on their own.
Combined with Ding Yumian's innate talent, what the spectators saw from the upper tiers — looking down at the vast arena — was a blinding, crimson inferno. Not a single patch of ground remained untouched by fire.
**Awrooo— Awrooo——**
Carrying Mo Fan on its back, the Swift Star Wolf fled like a dog chased from its home, shrieking in pain as the flames scorched it with every stride.
Fortunately, the Swift Star Wolf was an exceptionally agile creature. Between the surging tongues of flame and the erupting pillars, it managed to find narrow gaps to plant its paws. Mo Fan's choice to summon it with his one available basic-tier spell had been exactly right — without the Swift Star Wolf, surviving a Blazing Fist — Nine Palaces with double the spread would have been impossible.
"Hmph. If this guy wasn't born with Dual Elements, he'd have already lost this round," Huang Xingli said from the stands, visibly displeased.
Without the Summoning Element, Mo Fan would indeed have been driven into a corner with nowhere to go.
And scorched and yelping as he was, Mo Fan was getting his first true taste of what it meant to rank in the top ten of the Fire Rankings. That mountain-crushing pressure hadn't given him a single moment to catch his breath.
*The Focus Pendant should be able to block one of her soul strikes — Ding Yumian shouldn't know about that... If I want to beat her, I have to make that one chance count.*
Soot-covered and disheveled as he was, Mo Fan had fought on too many battlefields to lose his composure now.
His multiple elements were difficult to deploy against Ding Yumian — but thankfully Dean Xiao had given him the Focus Pendant, capable of blocking one Mind Element attack.
It was his greatest trump card. He had to plan exactly how to land a decisive blow. If he played the Focus Pendant and still failed to seriously wound Ding Yumian, he might as well surrender on the spot.
*Just have to stall — wait for Ding Yumian to get impatient and make a mistake... At least the Swift Star Wolf can take some of the pressure off...*
Mo Fan turned the problem over in his mind.
The Swift Star Wolf had burns across much of its body — serious ones. Even its running speed had been badly affected.
Still, the wolf could at least share Mo Fan's burden. A Mind Element strike, after all, had little effect on a feral Demon Wolf's instincts.
"Swift Star Wolf — keep her occupied!" Mo Fan issued the command.
The Swift Star Wolf moved forward, scorched and seething with fury, clearly intent on making Ding Yumian pay for every burn.
Faced with the charging wolf, Ding Yumian didn't flinch. She closed her eyes, and a Star Chart began tracing itself rapidly beneath her feet.
"Spirit Ripple — Soothe!"
She opened her eyes — bright and clear as autumn water — and a wave of gentle mental ripples, soft enough to flow straight into the soul, washed over the charging Swift Star Wolf's wild, rage-filled gaze.