Samsara Paradise: Dream Weaver of Connections.

Lin Yi lay on the ground for a while. The abnormality in his body made him feel like he was about to ascend to heaven. He didn't want to move at all.

However, before he could lie down for long, Su Xiao suddenly sent him a message.

Are you free? Come to the arena.

Lin Yi was slightly taken aback when he saw Su Xiao's message.

Asking him to spar at this crucial moment? That's not like him.

Su Xiao prefers to hone his skills in the face of danger and has never been very interested in the kind of contests in the arena that are only for the purpose of ranking up.

After a moment's thought, Lin Yi decided to reply, indicating that he would be there soon.

Su Xiao wouldn't approach him without a reason, especially since he needed time to recover from the changes in his body. A battle of controlled intensity might be the best buffer and stress test.

After quickly rinsing off the sticky sweat, Lin Yi instantly disappeared from his private room via teleportation.

With a shift in perspective, Lin Yi arrived at the entrance to the arena.

Su Xiao gestured with her chin toward Lin Yi, "The main character has arrived."

Lin Yi followed his gaze and saw that Gu Shengyi was walking towards them.

Her face was still pale from blood loss, but her eyes shone with an astonishing brightness, filled with intense curiosity and undisguised fighting spirit, like a raptor discovering a new and exotic prey.

She walked quickly, arriving in front of the two in a few steps. Her gaze lingered on Su Xiao's face for a moment, carrying a hint of "you monster," before fixing on Lin Yi and scrutinizing him from head to toe without any politeness.

That look in his eyes was like he was assessing a newly acquired weapon.

"Is it him?" Gu Shengyi asked, her voice clear and crisp, but the curiosity and excitement in her tone were impossible to hide.

Lin Yi's brows furrowed imperceptibly. The woman's scrutinizing gaze and matter-of-fact tone made him instinctively uncomfortable.

Su Xiao ignored her teasing and said directly to Lin Yi, "She wants to fight you. She was stabbed by me a few times before, and she's probably not convinced. She heard there's someone else who can make her lose, so she's been bothering me."

His tone was flat and straightforward, as if he were recounting a trivial matter that had nothing to do with him.

Gu Shengyi immediately chimed in, grinning at Lin Yi and revealing a set of white teeth. The smile was radiant, yet carried the aggressive edge of a deep-sea predator: "Don't listen to his nonsense! I'm just curious! Bai Ye is as tough as source ore, you can't even cut him, and in the end he even demolished my 'little garden.' He mentioned that you're also a ruthless character, especially good at causing trouble on other people's home turf?"

She gestured with her hands: "What a coincidence, my home turf is water! How about it? Dare to come swim in my territory? Let me see what kind of skills this guy has that even Bai Ye looks up to."

Her eyes were intense and full of challenge.

Lin Yi looked at Gu Shengyi in front of him, and then glanced at Su Xiao beside him, who had a "you figure it out yourself" expression. He roughly understood what had happened.

Gu Shengyi was most likely beaten up by Su Xiao. At this moment, Su Xiao mentioned another person who might threaten her, and Su Xiao's competitive spirit was completely ignited.

She needed an outlet to vent, or rather, to get back at someone.

Since Lin Yi has just experienced a talent awakening, he does need a battle to adapt and consolidate his abilities.

An arena plus a worthy opponent... the conditions seem to be met.

"Okay." Lin Yi's voice was calm, showing no sign of being provoked.

"Great!" Gu Shengyi's eyes lit up, and she turned around and strode towards the entrance passage of the arena not far away, her ponytail swinging behind her head, showing that she couldn't wait.

Su Xiao didn't move, but simply nodded to Lin Yi: "Be careful of her 'rust'."

Lin Yi nodded. Rust? For Su Xiao to specifically remind him of that, it must be a skill not to be trifled with.

Without asking any further questions, he silently followed in Gu Shengyi's footsteps.

Upon entering the arena, Lin Yi found himself on a dried-up seabed.

The jagged rocks, like the skeletons of prehistoric beasts, stand silently at the edge of the field of vision.

“Welcome to my territory.” Gu Shengyi’s voice echoed in the empty space.

She stood in the center of the field, arms outstretched, a confident smile on her face like that of a home team owner.

Lin Yi stood several dozen meters away from her, gently flexing his wrists, his inner strength awaiting the command to erupt.

[Competitive Mode: Sparring]

[Scene: The Death Planet—Bezar Trench]

[Rules: No fatal attack restrictions; loss occurs when health drops below 10% or the player voluntarily surrenders]

【3…2…1…Start!】

The moment the notification sound disappeared, Gu Shengyi's figure suddenly became blurry, like an ink droplet thrown into water, instantly spreading out.

Wow——! ! !
A raging torrent of water suddenly appeared, like a dam bursting. Centered on the spot where the ancient saint Yi disappeared, the surging seawater roared and rushed out, instantly filling the entire arena.

In just two or three breaths, Lin Yi was completely submerged by the seawater.

The light became blurry and distorted a few meters away, leaving only a deep, oppressive, and suffocating blue.

[Warning: The Hunter is now within the Azure Sea. You are affected by the following debuffs.]

[Note: Your stamina consumption rate has increased by 34%, and you are taking 17 points of true damage per second (40% immunity has been applied).]

[Note: This debuff resets every 2 minutes. If the hunter leaves the Azure Sea's area of ​​effect, this debuff will be immediately removed.]

Lin Yi could clearly feel his strength rapidly draining away, as if countless tiny sandpapers were rubbing against his body.

Apart from the dull rumble of the churning water and the popping of tiny bubbles, all around was deathly silent.

The absolute silence amplified the unsettling sense of pressure.

Lin Yi spread his mental energy out like a spider web, and his senses, once they entered this seawater, felt as if they were sinking into a sticky swamp.

This body of water seemed to have come to life, or rather, the will of the ancient saint Yi was this body of water itself.

Her presence was everywhere, yet like the most cunning fish, elusive and hard to find.

One second, the mental energy locked onto a faint energy fluctuation tens of meters ahead, and the next second, the fluctuation slipped away like a phantom, appearing at the edge of the perception range or even in the completely opposite direction.

"It's no use!" Gu Shengyi's voice seemed to resonate directly in the seawater, coming from all directions, with a hint of mockery.

"This is my territory. Ordinary attacks won't even touch the hem of my clothes!"

The moment the words left his mouth, the water flow to Lin Yi's right suddenly became violent.

The turbulent water flow creates visible shockwaves, whipping up large swaths of white torrents and churning mud and sand.

At the critical moment, Lin Yi turned to the side, bent his left elbow to block, and managed to take the blow.

The immense force propelled his body several meters horizontally through the water, and a tingling numbness shot through his arm.

"Not bad!" Gu Shengyi's voice was full of approval, but the attack did not stop.

Just as Lin Yi regained his footing, the water above and below him suddenly surged violently!
Above, the rapidly spinning water, like several giant drills, tore through the seawater with a piercing shriek and plunged straight down.

Below, silently, a massive vortex of undercurrents had already formed, generating a terrifying suction force, like the gaping maw of an abyss, threatening to drag him into the deeper waters and crush him completely.

They attacked from both above and below, sealing off all avenues for escape.

Lin Yi pointed his right hand like a sword, not trying to lock onto the omnipresent yet elusive Ancient Saint Yi, but instead pointing towards the directions where he sensed the most intense changes in the water flow.

laugh! laugh! laugh! laugh!
The sword energy collided with the water drill and vortex, exploding into clusters of violently churning bubbles and turbulent currents.

The water drill was shattered by the sword energy, turning into chaotic water flow.

The vortex was also forcibly disturbed, and the suction force suddenly weakened.

The sword energy pierced through the core of the water attack, but it was like a mud ox entering the sea, failing to touch any physical entity.

The aura of the ancient saint had completely merged into the surrounding seawater before the sword energy arrived, disappearing without a trace.

"Tsk, a swordsmanship master? No wonder Bai Ye dared to say that." Gu Shengyi's voice rang out again, its location still elusive, carrying a knowing "I knew it" tone.

"What a pity! In the deep sea, the transmission and attenuation of physical attacks increase exponentially! No matter how sharp your sword is, if you can't hit the target, it's all for nothing!"

The probing attack failed, and instead consumed some of his strength. Lin Yi understood that conventional physical attack methods were ridiculously inefficient in this "Azure Sea," which had been completely assimilated and dominated by the will of the ancient saint Yi.

The other party was like a slippery deep-sea electric eel, able to launch attacks at will, while he couldn't even touch her shadow.

If you get bogged down in a protracted war of attrition, your physical strength will be gradually worn down by the ever-present erosion and attacks.

We must break this deadlock and shatter her control over this area.

Lin Yi was suspended in the middle of the sea.

Zila——!
A tiny, extremely fine wisp of purple lightning suddenly leaped from Lin Yi's fingertip without warning.

As soon as the lightning appeared, the surrounding seawater seemed to have encountered a natural enemy, emitting a slight "hissing" sound, and instinctively retreated in fear.

Dark purple lightning seeped from Lin Yi's body, like countless tiny, purplish-black venomous snakes, coiling around him and spreading outwards.

At first, it was just a thin layer, like an eerie halo covering the body.

But soon, the purplish-black lightning, like ink dropped into clear water, began to actively erode the surrounding seawater.

sizzle-

A chilling, erosive sound rang out in rapid succession.

Centered on Lin Yi, a purplish-black "lightning domain" with a radius of about two meters quickly formed.

The seawater within the Thunder Zone darkened at a visible speed, its azure blue forcibly tinged with purplish-black, and the churning bubbles crackled with electric sparks.

The polluted seawater is being brutally transformed by the Dark Surge Thunder.

A force belonging to Lin Yi is forcibly imprinting itself on this seawater through the erosion of the Dark Surge Lightning.

"Um?!"

An uncontrollable gasp of surprise came from all directions. For the first time, Gu Shengyi's voice lost its usual casual jokingness and was filled with disbelief.

The moment that purplish-black lightning domain expanded and took shape, Gu Shengyi felt his connection with that part of the water being brutally severed by a domineering force.

That force was frantically eroding her "Azure Sea," forcibly erasing her will and marking it with Lin Yi's mark.

What made her feel even more threatened was that the purplish-black lightning itself emitted an aura that she found extremely repulsive, as if it were an ability that naturally restrained her.

"What the hell?!" Gu Shengyi was filled with shock and anger.

She had never encountered a force so domineeringly encroaching on her waters. In the past, she was the one who encroached upon and assimilated the power domains of her opponents. Today, however, the other party had turned the tables on her!

Gu Shengyi attempted to mobilize a larger flow of water to impact and dilute the purplish-black lightning domain.

Several massive, high-pressure water jets slammed into Lin Yi from different directions, but the expected violent collision did not occur.

The moment the high-pressure water jet entered the edge of the dark, surging lightning field, the lightning suddenly became violent.

Zi La La——!
A deafening crackling sound of electric current echoed through the water, and the hidden lightning spread wildly along the current.

The water column was visibly stained purplish-black, its impact being gradually dissipated by the lightning.

The hidden lightning surged like ink dropped into clear water, rapidly eroding in the opposite direction along the path of the water column!

"Damn it!" Gu Shengyi cursed under his breath, completely abandoning all his contempt.

She made a decisive move, cutting off the energy supply to those water columns and letting them dissipate.

We can't let him expand so recklessly anymore! We have to stop him!
Once the thought arose, Gu Shengyi no longer hesitated and directly used one of his trump cards.

"Metal World!"

With a deep shout from her, the seawater around Lin Yi began to churn violently.

Those were three-and-a-half-metal sharks. Their heads, dorsal fins, and even the front half of their bodies were made entirely of a silver-gray metal that shimmered with a cold light. The rear half of their bodies was made of flesh and blood covered with thick scales. Every swing of their huge metal tail fin stirred up an undercurrent.

They locked onto Lin Yi at the center of the lightning field, opening their gaping maws filled with serrated metal teeth and lunging at him from three directions simultaneously.

Zizizi!
Dark, surging lightning coiled around the metal shark's body, emitting a strong corrosive sound.

However, the metal that makes up their heads and torsos is exceptionally tough, and lightning can only leave tiny burn marks on the surface, making it difficult to melt through instantly.

The flesh and blood were charred black by the electricity, emitting a foul smell of burning protein, but this did not seem to affect their ferocity.

"Roar!"

The massive metal maw, accompanied by a stench that seemed to tear through the seawater, viciously bit down on Lin Yi's head, abdomen, and right leg.

Faced with this onslaught that could tear heavy armor to shreds, Lin Yi was just about to test his newly acquired abilities.

"Sacrifice...10%!" With a thought racing through his mind, Lin Yi instantly connected his consciousness with the cold, uniquely shaped pendant on his chest—the [Crimson Holy Pact]!
Om-!
A force instantly pierced into Lin Yi's life essence, like the most greedy vampire, forcibly stripping 10% of his life value.

"Ugh!" A wave of weakness washed over Lin Yi, causing his vision to go black and his body to sway slightly in the water. His health points instantly dropped significantly.

But what followed was explosive power.

The status icon for 【Crimson Sacrifice (10%)】 lit up in the branded vision, a buff that increased all attributes like the most intense fuel being injected into an engine.

Choking!

Lin Yi drew the Black and White Rose with a backhand motion. With the power brought by the sacrifice, his aura suddenly became extremely fierce.

Facing the three giant metal sharks that had already pounced on him, Lin Yi advanced instead of retreating.

With a sudden stomp of his left foot in the water, the seawater beneath his feet seemed to be struck by an invisible giant hammer, exploding into a huge cavity several meters in diameter.

Using the violent recoil, Lin Yi's figure became a blurry afterimage in the water as he actively faced the metal shark on his left that was biting at his head.

"die!"

The sword's edge tore through the water, precisely slashing into the depths of the metal shark's gaping maw.

A huge gash was torn open at the junction of the shark's massive metal head and fleshy torso, and dark red blood mixed with a viscous, oily liquid gushed out.

"Roar—!" The metallic shark let out a shrill wail, its massive body twisting and struggling wildly in the water, stirring up large swaths of murky blood.

Having landed a successful blow, Lin Yi used the recoil from the sword's penetration to twist his body forcefully in the water, like a nimble fish.

The longsword slashed out in a deadly arc, still stained with blood, and stabbed towards the shark on his right that was biting at his waist.

The target was the inside of its mouth exposed when it opened its huge jaws, and the sword pierced through it completely.

At the same time, Lin Yi's right foot was filled with tremendous force, and he kicked upwards like a battle axe, slamming into the jaw of the third metal shark that was biting his leg!
boom!
With a dull thud, the shark's jaws, filled with sharp metal teeth, snapped shut with a powerful kick.

The immense impact caused several sharp metal teeth to fly off instantly, some even flying out of their sockets.

The shark's entire head was kicked upwards by the force, its forward momentum to bite was abruptly stopped, and its massive body tumbled uncontrollably upwards in the water.

In the blink of an eye, of the three ferocious semi-metallic giant sharks, one was dead, one was injured, and one was paralyzed.

However, Gu Shengyi's killing move would not be so simple.

Just as Lin Yi finished his attack, an extremely strange energy fluctuation enveloped his right leg, which had just completed the sweeping kick.

Lin Yi felt his right knee suddenly stiffen, and an indescribable feeling of stiffness spread from the point of contact, quickly covering his entire right leg.

Looking down, I saw that the skin below my right knee was losing its luster at a visible rate, as if covered with a thick layer of dust.

The joints became incredibly difficult to move, as if they were filled with solidified cement.

It's rusting!
Gu Shengyi's true killing move was finally revealed in her strongest "Azure Sea" home field.

Through ubiquitous water contact, ignoring physical defenses, and acting directly on limbs, it horribly "corrodes" the enemy's flesh and blood.

Once the enemy is completely corroded, he becomes a toy to be slaughtered at will.

The worst part was that the other two injured metal sharks had regained their footing, their eyes gleaming even more fiercely, and with the fury of being severely wounded, they charged forward again without regard for anything else.

Above him, the water churned and twisted violently once more, and a gigantic octopus, its massive body made of silver-gray metal, silently descended upon him from above. (End of Chapter)