Samsara Paradise: Dream Weaver of Connections.

Every inch of flowing seawater carries a deadly intent. In the absolute home turf of the ancient saint, the rusting technique is virtually unstoppable.

Lin Yi lowered his head, his gaze calmly falling on his right knee.

There, a metallic rust spot slowly spreads like a living thing, devouring healthy flesh and blood.

The life force beneath the skin is forcibly stripped away, and the stiffness is climbing up the nerves, bringing a stifling pain with every tiny flexion and extension.

Even Su Xiao had no way to deal with this bizarre ability that eroded life functions; he could only fight quickly and decisively. This was an ironclad rule forged by Gu Shengyi through the crushing defeats of countless opponents.

But at this moment, Lin Yi, who was suspended in the seawater, did not show any of the panic or solemnity that Gu Shengyi had expected.

Lin Yi's expression was too calm.

Something's wrong! Something is wrong!
This sudden unease reached its peak the moment she initiated her killing plan.

Gu Shengyi could even foresee the bloody scene of Lin Yi being torn apart or entangled and squeezed—provided that he had no trump cards.

"Om-!"

Several slender threads emerged from the seemingly empty waters surrounding Lin Yi.

The moment these threads appeared, they wove together an invisible net of death, completely enveloping the space within a radius of several meters around Lin Yi.

Tsk-!
The first shark has already crashed into that invisible net of death; the sound of flesh and metal being cut is sickening.

The giant shark, weighing several tons, was like someone who had been hit by a high-speed rotating meat grinder. Starting from its snout, its head, torso, and tail fin were evenly divided into hundreds of regular cubes in less than 0.1 seconds.

The metal octopus's eight tentacles broke off simultaneously, and its main body was cut into neat metal sheets by the Dark Soul Silk before it could even change shape.

The last shark fared even worse; its massive body was torn apart by crisscrossing threads, and before the fragments could even disperse, it was blasted into dust by the following Dark Surge Thunder.

One second the hunting ground was filled with murderous intent, the next it was just slowly sinking metal fragments and drifting blood mist.

Lin Yi remained suspended in place, not even the hem of his clothes moved.

Gu Shengyi's heart sank to the bottom; her intuition was right.

When Lin Yi unleashed his lightning domain, she vaguely sensed an extremely restrained aura of danger surrounding him.

Otherwise, what was instantly shredded by the Dark Soul Silk would probably not have been just those summoned creatures.

What made her even more uneasy was that Lin Yi was looking down at her rusted right knee, and a faint interest appeared on his lips.

As if observing a specimen worthy of investigation? An interesting toy?

Under Gu Shengyi's gaze, Lin Yi's left hand lightly touched above his knee, the movement as casual as brushing away a speck of dust.

"Purification Technique".

The grayish rust, like snow exposed to sunlight, quickly faded away.

The skin regained its color, and the stiff joints became flexible again.

In just a few breaths, Lin Yi's right leg had fully recovered. He even gently bent and straightened his knee, as if to confirm the effect.

How can this be? !
The power of [Rust] is an unsolvable killing move that Gu Shengyi mastered by combining her talent in the "Metal Realm" with her understanding of the water element. It is the foundation of her existence.

Once it successfully invades the enemy's body, it is like the most stubborn metal cancer, continuously eroding flesh and blood, irreversibly transforming it into cold metal.

Conventional treatments and medications can only delay the onset of the disease, not cure it.

If it weren't for the special environment of the arena, her abilities would be enough to plunge any opponent into the abyss of despair.

How many contractors, after clashing with her, had to drag their half-metallic remains through several, or even a dozen, mission worlds of torment? Their strength was greatly diminished during missions, and they struggled on the edge of life and death, all in order to find a rare privilege that could completely "cleanse their entire body".

However, many more people died on the road to gaining access to search, amidst this long period of torment and decline in strength.

Even though it couldn't cause an "irreversible" effect within the arena, Gu Shengyi's fearsome reputation still resounded throughout the mid-to-high-level contractor circle.

Even a sixth-tier expert would never want to easily provoke this woman with her strange methods and endless troubles unless absolutely necessary.

Her "Azure Sea" is widely recognized as being notoriously difficult to deal with.

This area is not entirely unsolvable. The key to breaking it lies in finding and destroying a special "water body" hidden deep within the seawater that is connected to her origin.

But the disgusting thing is that attacking that clone will immediately trigger the backlash of [Azure Sea] - a random part of the attacker's body will instantly become metallized.

The more attacks there are, the larger the area of ​​metallization becomes, and the location is completely random.

If you're unlucky, the metallization might appear directly in your brain or heart... ending the battle on the spot, or even causing immediate death.

What's even more frustrating is that the clone is of the same origin and nature as the entire blue sea, with its aura completely integrated. In spiritual perception, it's like a drop of water falling into the ocean, making it extremely difficult to pinpoint precisely.

Even if you manage to find it after going through tremendous effort, every attack carries the enormous risk of randomly damaging a part of your body! It's practically gambling with your own flesh and blood on Russian roulette.

Even if they manage to break through the Azure Sea, they will then have to face the formidable strength of the ancient saint Yi's true form, which is by no means inferior.

Even without using this shameless domain, this woman's ability to manipulate metal and engage in close combat based solely on her mental power is definitely among the top 100 of contractors of the same level.

Lin Yi's actions completely overturned Gu Shengyi's understanding.

This means that her core control and weakening methods have completely failed in the face of Lin Yi.

Gu Shengyi instantly realized that he was in unprecedented trouble.

His summoned creatures couldn't break through Lin Yi's defenses, and his special moves were neutralized by the opponent. This feeling was even more frustrating than when facing Su Xiao's long sword that could cut through anything.

Su Xiao is strong in a head-on confrontation, so strong that it makes people despair but also admire her.

Lin Yi, on the other hand, is like a bottomless swamp, making all your strength seem like a mud ox sinking into the sea, with nowhere to exert force. No matter how Gu Shengyi struggles, Lin Yi always has a way to deal with it.

"The probing is over."

Lin Yi's voice came through the seawater, eerily calm.

Before Gu Shengyi could react, he saw a burst of purplish-black lightning erupt from Lin Yi's center!
"boom--!"

The dark lightning transformed into countless lightning snakes, frantically eroding the azure sea.

Wherever he went, the spiritual imprint in the seawater was violently erased and replaced with Lin Yi's power imprint.

The ear-piercing crackling of electricity was so dense that it seemed to merge into one, like thousands of birds shrieking at the same time.

"Don't even think about it!" The seawater around Gu Shengyi churned violently, forming thick, deep blue walls of water in an attempt to block the erosion of the Dark Surge Lightning.

At the same time, more summoned creatures bombarded Lin Yi from all directions as if they were free, attempting to interrupt his expansion.

To Gu Shengyi's despair, the Dark Soul Silk did not disappear, but instead lingered faintly within a few meters of Lin Yi.

Whether it's summoned creatures or energy attacks, they are all silently annihilated the moment they touch that area.

They couldn't break through.

Defense is insufficient to prevent the enemy's erosion.

Gu Shengyi could only watch helplessly as the Azure Sea, which he had painstakingly maintained, was gradually eroded and compressed by the purplish-black "plague".

The boundary between purple and blue is advancing towards the core area where she is located.

"Metal Frenzy! Tear him apart!"

In the azure waters, dozens of semi-metallic sea beasts of various shapes were instantly created, charging fearlessly toward Lin Yi, attempting to overwhelm him with sheer numbers.

"Sacrifice...20%!"

hum!
The Crimson Holy Pact once again sent forth a greedy sucking sensation, accompanied by a feeling of weakness and the stripping away of life force.

But what followed was an even more explosive force.

"Deep Shadow Starfall."

Sword energy rained down, covering an area of ​​a hundred meters in front of Lin Yi. Countless black sword energies poured down like a torrential downpour, and the metal sea beasts didn't even have time to self-destruct before being pinned to the spot and then torn to pieces by the subsequent sword energy.

"Area Corrosion!" Gu Shengyi gritted her teeth and activated her ability the moment Lin Yi's move was exhausted.

She concentrated most of the remaining power of her domain and instantly swept across the area where Lin Yi was.

This time, Lin Yi did not use the purification technique, but instead directly released the power of the abyss.

Compared to the power of the abyss, the ancient Saint Yi's corrosive power is no match at all.

"Pfft!" The backlash from having her power forcibly interrupted caused Gu Shengyi, who was already greatly exhausted, to feel a sweet taste in her throat and almost spit out blood. The horror in her eyes completely turned into despair; this guy was simply the ultimate nemesis of her power.

He was a hundred times more restrained than Su Xiao, that pure monster.

At this moment, the scene inside the arena has undergone earth-shattering changes.

The Azure Sea, which originally held an absolute advantage, has now been squeezed into a pitiful corner.

Lin Yi's [Dark Surge Thunder] occupied more than 90% of the space.

Only around Gu Shengyi's body was a small patch of azure water with a radius of less than 100 meters still barely maintained.

This was her last foothold, indicating that she had been forced into a truly desperate situation with nowhere left to retreat.

As Gu Shengyi watched the figure approaching, she knew that hiding any longer would be pointless and would only make her look more pathetic.

Gu Shengyi emerged from the azure waters: "Don't be so smug! Even without my domain, I'm not someone you can easily subdue!"

Before she finished speaking, she clasped her hands together in front of her chest, and the skin beneath her arms even faintly revealed a metallic sheen.

A giant spiral spear, over three meters long and made entirely of high-density metal, instantly materialized in her hand.

"Break!" Gu Shengyi used all his strength to throw the spear in his hand at Lin Yi.

call out--!
The moment the spiral spear left his hand, it left a long, white trail of explosive energy in the water.

When the spearhead was still ten centimeters from his chest, his body simply followed the flow of water, like a leaf falling in the wind, and moved half a step to the side with minimal and natural movement.

The spiral spear, carrying the kinetic energy to destroy everything, grazed past Lin Yi's chest by a hair's breadth.

The torrents generated by the spear were like invisible blades, tearing the lightning field behind him to shreds.

"Varied?!"

The resolute look on Gu Shengyi's face froze instantly, replaced by utter astonishment and bewilderment.

Lin Yi's attack had already begun the instant her thought of astonishment arose.

Using the momentum gained from dodging the spearhead, he seemingly casually and lightly stomped his left foot in the water—

"boom!"

Amidst the sound of water exploding, Lin Yi, like a torpedo fired from its barrel, instantly cut in front of Gu Shengyi.

Gu Shengyi's pupils shrank sharply. She had never expected her opponent to be so fast, nor had she expected him to abandon defense and choose such a dangerous close-quarters combat. This completely contradicted her prediction of Lin Yi's fighting style.

The fatal flaw is that her previous attack had almost drained her of most of her strength, leaving her in a state of temporary exhaustion.

Lin Yi reached out with his left hand and placed it on the outside of Gu Shengyi's outstretched right elbow.

One step, one lead, one mistake!
"Crack!"

With a crisp cracking sound, Gu Shengyi's right arm fell limply to the ground.

Gu Shengyi didn't even feel the intense pain; he only felt that his right arm instantly lost all sensation below the elbow.

Her right elbow joint was dislocated instantly by Lin Yi's seemingly casual touch and pull, causing her tendons and bones to become misaligned.

That wasn't all. Lin Yi's left hand, which was resting on the opponent's right elbow, slid down in the direction of the force and grabbed Gu Shengyi's wrist. He pulled Gu Shengyi sharply to his side, and the enormous force caused Gu Shengyi to lose his balance and lean forward instantly.

At the same time, Lin Yi's right leg, like a scorpion's tail that had been poised for a long time, lashed out from below with a sharp whistling sound as it tore through the water, striking the outside of Gu Shengyi's left knee joint, which was supporting his body.

"Oh!"

With another muffled thud, Gu Shengyi's left leg twisted inward at a bizarre angle that completely defied the human body's structure. The ligaments inside his knee tore like a string, and his leg bone made a cracking sound. His body involuntarily fell forward.

In the blink of an eye, Gu Shengyi was seriously injured by Lin Yi before he could even make an effective block or counterattack.

Her close-combat skills are definitely not weak, and are even enough to crush most of her peers.

But compared to Lin Yi and Su Xiao, who had honed their combat skills to the level of grandmasters, they appeared as naive as children.

In the previous battle against Su Xiao, even with Su Xiao suffering from the debuff of being corroded all over his body and having severely limited mobility, he still managed to cut Gu Shengyi half to death.

Now, facing Lin Yi at his peak, Gu Shengyi's close-combat ability is naturally even more vulnerable.

The pain caused cold sweat to pour down Gu Shengyi's forehead. She struggled to lift her head and look at the figure standing in front of her.

Lin Yi's breathing remained steady, without even becoming disordered; there was only a natural calmness.

This calm, condescending gaze was more humiliating to Gu Shengyi than any mockery.

She understood that look in his eyes.

The other party... has already shown mercy.

Otherwise, what was just removed wouldn't just be an arm and a leg.

Continuing to struggle will only increase pain and humiliation, and will not serve any purpose.

The gap in strength is like an insurmountable chasm.

“I…” Gu Shengyi took a difficult breath, her voice hoarse from the immense sense of defeat, “…I give up.”

[Hint: Gu Shengyi has conceded defeat.]

[This competition has ended. Winner: Lin Yi.]

[Transferring...]

As the park's notification sounded, Lin Yi and Gu Shengyi were simultaneously teleported back to the preparation area at the arena entrance.

Su Xiao, who was waiting to the side, still had the same expressionless look, but when his gaze swept over Gu Shengyi's expression, his eyebrows twitched almost imperceptibly.

Gu Shengyi raised her head and glared fiercely at Lin Yi, who stood calmly beside her.

Then, her gaze turned to Su Xiao, and all her anger and frustration instantly found an outlet.

"Bai Ye!" Gu Shengyi's voice rose with excitement and anger, even cracking slightly. "You bastard! You tricked me! You definitely did it on purpose!"

Su Xiao looked at her expressionlessly, and even slowly took out a cigarette from his storage space, put it in his mouth, lit it with a "snap", took a deep drag and exhaled a round smoke ring before saying, "I warned you, he is very good at causing trouble on other people's home turf."

"You call that a reminder?! You call that fanning the flames!"

She became more and more agitated as she spoke, pointing to her arms and legs that had just been repaired: "Three moves! Just three fucking moves! He treated my arms and legs like spare parts and took them off!"

Gu Shengyi's voice was filled with grief and indignation: "Bai Ye! Tell me the truth, did you deliberately push me over there to be tortured? Just because I complained before? You're too vengeful! You petty guy."

Su Xiao flicked his cigarette ash, his movements still unhurried: "You're overthinking it. I just think you have a lot of energy and need to vent. Besides, his abilities are indeed very suitable for helping you face reality."

Clearly, Su Xiao was badly tricked by Gu Shengyi in the arena, and finally, under Bubuwang's instigation, he chose to give Gu Shengyi a big blow, which now seems to have a very significant effect.

"Face reality?!" Gu Shengyi almost choked. "I'm fucking clear-headed now! Bai Ye, let me tell you, if you have any missions with him in the future, tell me in advance and I'll avoid him! Absolutely avoid him! I'll turn around eight hundred miles away! That bastard is even worse than you! At most, you can hurt people by cutting them, and that's it! He makes people feel so frustrated they're dying! I'd rather be cut ten times by you than face him again."

Gu Shengyi angrily unleashed a torrent of curses at Su Xiao, her mouth dry from yelling, but the frustration in her heart remained undiminished.

She glared at Lin Yi, her resentment almost tangible, like a child whose candy had been stolen and who couldn't beat the other person. She strode quickly toward the skill enhancement hall, her back view exuding a tragic air of "I'm going to go into seclusion to cultivate and avenge myself."

At the entrance to the arena, only Lin Yi and Su Xiao remained.

Su Xiao stubbed out her cigarette and looked at Lin Yi: "Quite a haul."

Lin Yi moved his wrists, feeling the weakness in his body caused by continuously sacrificing his life force with the [Crimson Holy Pact] slowly subsiding under the Paradise's repair.

Although the battle against the ancient saint Yi was overwhelming, the continuous use of sacrifices was also extremely costly.

However, the value of this battle is undeniable. It allowed him to become thoroughly familiar with his newly acquired power, and the practical application of it was extremely effective.

"Hmm, she's very intimidating; she's a good whetstone." Lin Yi gave a fair assessment, although he eventually dismantled the whetstone.

"The ability to rust is troublesome, but fortunately there are ways to deal with it."

“You’ve countered her metal-based style and home-field advantage too much. Close combat…” Su Xiao paused, seemingly recalling the moment when he cut off Gu Shengyi’s arms and legs, “isn’t her forte.”

Lin Yi remained noncommittal; for him, the outcome of a battle depended solely on the final result.

Finding and exploiting an opponent's weaknesses is the art of combat. (End of Chapter)