I stared up at the massive earthen construct towering over me, my mind struggling to process what I was seeing. This thing had to weigh several tons at minimum. Every detail was perfectly crafted, from the reinforced joints to the formation arrays I could see glowing faintly beneath its stone skin.

  "You built yourself a body," I said, still trying to wrap my head around it. "How is that even possible?"

  "The Terracotta Guardian Sutra specializes in animated constructs," Liu's voice rumbled from the golem's throat, each word carrying the weight of grinding stone. "When possession proved impossible, I simply scaled up the technique."

  The disciples watching from the temple gates had gone completely silent. I could feel their terror radiating outward like heat. To them, this probably looked like some ancient earth spirit had risen from the mountain itself.

  "Master," Azure said quietly in my mind, "we need to move this fight away from populated areas. That construct could level half the temple just by accident."

  He was right. The golem's footsteps had already left deep impressions in the packed earth. If we fought here, innocent people would get caught in the crossfire.

  "Brother Liu," I called up to the construct's head. "We should take this somewhere with more room. I'd rather not explain to these people why their mountain got rearranged."

  The glowing eyes in that earthen face focused on me. "Agreed. There's a valley about two kilometers north. No settlements."

  "Lead the way."

  Liu turned and began walking, each step creating minor tremors that I could feel through the soles of my feet. I followed at a safe distance, watching how the construct moved. The joints articulated smoothly despite the massive weight, and the balance was perfect. This wasn't just a pile of animated earth. This was sophisticated engineering.

  The disciples from the temple had apparently decided to follow us at a distance. I could sense their martial energy trailing behind as we walked. Master Hong was probably among them, wanting to see what his reformed student could do against such an overwhelming opponent.

  "The martial artists of this world are going to have nightmares about this," I muttered.

  "About giant earth golems, or about disciples jumping from Inner Pulse to Heaven-Breaking in three days?" Azure asked.

  "Both, probably."

  The valley Liu had mentioned turned out to be a natural amphitheater carved between three peaks. Steep walls rose on all sides, and the floor was covered in loose stone and hardy mountain grass. Perfect for a fight where neither of us had to hold back.

  Earth Fist Liu stopped in the center and turned to face me. The construct's presence dominated the space, making me feel like I was about to fight a walking siege engine.

  "Whenever you're ready," he said.

  I took a deep breath and settled into a combat stance. The enhanced Swift Wind Stepping was ready. The Heaven-Breaking palm strike. All the techniques I'd learned from the Echoes. But looking up at that massive form, I wondered if any of it would be enough.

  "Five days of advanced training versus years of martial experience," I said to myself. "This should be interesting."

  I decided to test the waters with a simple approach. Gathering my Martial Aura around my legs, I launched myself forward using Swift Wind Stepping. The enhanced version I'd developed let me move without visible transition, essentially teleporting in three-meter increments.

  One moment I was fifty meters away. The next, I was directly in front of Liu's construct, palm thrust toward what would be its solar plexus.

  The golem's reaction time was incredible. That massive arm came down in a blocking motion that should have been too slow to intercept my attack. But Liu probably had a dozen years of combat experience, and he'd built this body to maximize defensive capability.

  My palm connected with the construct's forearm. The Phantom Strike technique sent force through the earthen limb, but instead of the crushing impact I'd expected, the energy dispersed harmlessly through the stone matrix. The arm didn't even crack.

  "The construct's density distribution is too uniform," Azure observed. "Your force-transfer techniques can't find weak points to exploit."

  Before I could process that fully, Liu's counterattack came. The blocked arm continued its downward motion, transitioning smoothly into an overhead strike. I threw myself backward using Swift Wind Stepping, but even so, the massive fist grazed my shoulder.

  The impact spun me around and sent me tumbling across the valley floor. My shoulder felt like it had been hit by a falling tree. If that had been a direct hit, it would have liquefied everything from my collarbone to my ribs.

  I rolled to my feet, already moving as Liu's follow-up attack cratered the ground where I'd been lying. Chunks of stone flew in all directions, some pieces larger than my head.

  "Okay," I panted, "subtle techniques aren't going to work here."

  Liu's construct pursued me with surprising speed for something so massive. Each step covered nearly ten meters, and the ground shook with every impact. I kept moving, using Swift Wind Stepping to stay ahead while I figured out a better approach.

  The Heaven-Breaking version of my movement technique was the only thing keeping me alive. Normal Swift Wind Stepping would have been too predictable against someone with Liu's experience. But the reality-bending version made my transitions truly instantaneous, giving him no time to track the movement.

  I appeared behind the construct and tried the Iron Elbow Strike I'd learned from the Echoes. This time I channeled significantly more Martial Aura into the technique, aiming for what looked like a joint in the construct's spine.

  The elbow connected with a sound like thunder. Cracks appeared in the stone where I'd hit, and I felt the construct stagger slightly. But the damage was minimal, and Liu's response was immediate.

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  The golem spun around faster than anything that size had a right to move. I barely got my arms up before its backhand caught me across the chest.

  This time there was no avoiding the full impact. I flew backward through the air, my ribs screaming with pain. When I hit the valley wall, the stone cracked around my body from the force.

  I peeled myself out of the person-shaped crater, tasting blood. My enhanced body could take punishment that would kill a normal person, but Liu's construct hit like a landslide.

  I needed to change tactics. Direct confrontation wasn't working. The construct was too durable, too massive, and Liu's experience showed in every perfectly timed counterattack.

  I started using the animal manifestation techniques I'd practiced, channeling blue sun energy to create temporary spiritual allies. A translucent tiger leaped from my fist as I struck, clawing at the construct's eyes. A serpent of blue energy coiled around its leg, trying to throw off its balance.

  The manifestations only lasted seconds, but they added unpredictability to my attacks. Liu had to defend against both my physical strikes and the spiritual animals that accompanied them.

  For a few moments, the strategy seemed to work. The construct's movements became more cautious as Liu tried to track multiple threats simultaneously. I managed to land several hits on joints and stress points, gradually accumulating damage to the earthen body.

  But Liu adapted faster than I'd hoped.

  "Enough games," he said, and suddenly the construct's entire body began to glow with compressed earth energy.

  The next punch he threw didn't just break the sound barrier. It broke something fundamental about how force was supposed to work. The impact arrived before the fist did, hitting me like an invisible sledgehammer while Liu's arm was still pulling back.

  I went flying again, this time with what felt like several broken ribs. When I hit the ground, I bounced twice before sliding to a stop near the far end of the valley.

  "Heaven-Breaking technique," I groaned, struggling to stand. "He's using his superior experience to bend reality more efficiently than I can."

  The construct was already approaching, each step measured and deliberate. Liu wasn't rushing now. He could see I was hurt, and he knew he had the advantage.

  I tried the Compassionate Shield technique I'd learned from Master Hong's Echo, creating a barrier of golden energy around my body. But when Liu's next strike connected, the shield shattered like glass. The residual force still hit hard enough to drive me to my knees.

  Blood ran down my face from a cut on my forehead. My left arm hung at an odd angle. The enhanced healing of Heartsteel Realm was already working to repair the damage, but not fast enough.

  "This isn't working," I admitted to Azure. "He's got too much experience with martial art techniques. Every time I try something, he counters it perfectly."

  "Then stop trying to out-martial him," Azure replied. "Use what makes you different."

  Right. I was still thinking like this was a pure martial arts contest. But I had abilities that no one in this realm would expect.

  Liu's construct loomed over me, one massive fist raised for what was probably intended as a finishing blow. The earthen face showed no emotion, but I could sense Liu's satisfaction radiating from within.

  "Time to stop playing by this world's rules," I said.

  If the red sun energy and blue sun energy alone weren’t enough, I would combine them!

  I channeled the red sun energy into my palm, feeling it transform into that pure white light this realm recognized as perfected martial energy. Then I wrapped blue sun power around the Tiger Descends the Mountain technique, programming life and intelligence into the concept itself.

  The result was spectacular.

  A massive tiger composed of blazing white light erupted from my strike. It wasn't the translucent blue manifestations I'd been using, but something solid and radiant and absolutely terrifying. Its roar shook the valley walls and sent avalanches cascading down the mountainsides.

  The spirit tiger was three times larger than any I'd created before, with muscles that rippled like molten metal and eyes that burned like stars. It moved with speed that defied its size, covering the distance to Liu's construct in a single bound.

  Liu didn't just stand there and take it. The massive construct's stance shifted, and I felt his Martial Aura explode outward with crushing force. His signature technique activated as both earthen fists pulled back simultaneously.

  "Crushing Mountain Fist!" he roared, the construct's voice shaking loose stones from the amphitheater walls.

  Both massive fists shot forward to meet the tiger's charge.

  The techniques collided in midair with a sound like thunder, white light clashing against compressed earth and raw physical force.

  For a moment, the attacks seemed evenly matched. Liu's punches actually staggered the spirit tiger, cracks appearing along its luminous form where the overwhelming kinetic energy struck.

  But then the white energy began eating through the construct's defenses.

  The tiger's claws found purchase in the earthen fists, and what had been solid stone started dissolving like sand in acid. Liu's left arm began coming apart at the elbow joint, structural integrity failing under the supernatural assault.

  Liu adapted immediately, pulling back his damaged arm while the right continued its assault. The construct's stance shifted again, and suddenly earthen spikes erupted from its shoulders and chest, trying to impale the tiger before it could close distance.

  The spirit tiger twisted in midair, avoiding most of the spikes. One caught it along the ribs, tearing a gash of white light that sparkled like stars. But the injury only seemed to enrage the manifestation further.

  "Iron Body Rampart!" Liu's construct crouched low and crossed both arms, the earthen shell thickening and hardening into something that looked more like armor plating than clay.

  The tiger's claws struck the reinforced defense and actually stopped for a fraction of a second. Liu's defensive technique was strong enough to briefly contain even this enhanced manifestation. But the white energy was relentless, boring through the compressed earth with patient inevitability.

  The rampart cracked. Then shattered.

  The tiger's follow-up strike caught the construct square in the chest cavity. White light erupted from the point of impact, and suddenly the entire golem was coming apart. Stone cracked, joints failed, and the formation arrays that held everything together overloaded and burnt out in showers of sparks.

  Liu tried one last desperate technique, the construct's remaining arm pulling back for what looked like his ultimate attack. But before he could complete it, the tiger's jaws clamped down on the construct's throat. White energy poured into the golem's core systems causing stone to crack, joints to fail, and formation arrays that held everything together to overload and burn out.

  Liu's creation collapsed in a thunderous crash that could probably be heard in the next province.

  I stood up slowly, my injuries already healing as the blue sun energy continued to flow through my system. The spirit tiger had vanished after delivering its devastating attack, but the results spoke for themselves.

  The valley floor was covered in rubble. Pieces of what had been Liu's carefully crafted construct lay scattered everywhere, some still glowing with residual energy. Dust hung in the air like fog, gradually settling to reveal the scope of the destruction.

  "Well," I said, wiping blood from my face, "that was dramatic."

  The battle had been easier than expected, and my trump card had worked. Liu's experience with conventional martial arts hadn't prepared him for—

  I spun around just in time to see a massive earthen fist emerging from the pile of debris directly behind me. The fist was easily as large as Liu's original construct's hand, but it moved with the speed of a striking snake rather than the measured pace from before.

  I threw myself sideways, Enhanced Swift Wind Stepping activating on pure instinct. The reality-breaking movement technique saved Jinghui’s life. The fist passed through the space where my head had been with enough force to create a sonic boom. Even the displaced air was enough to send me tumbling across the stone floor.

  I rolled to my feet and stared at what Liu had done.

  The scattered debris from his construct wasn't just reforming. It was becoming multiple smaller constructs, each one built for speed and precision rather than overwhelming power. A dozen earthen figures roughly my own size stood among the wreckage.

  "The original construct was never the real threat," Liu's voice came from all of them simultaneously. "It was a shell designed to contain and deploy the actual combat forms."

  I felt my smile fade as the situation became clear. Liu hadn't built one powerful construct. He'd built a dozen moderate constructs and housed them inside a larger shell to make me underestimate the threat. Now that the shell was destroyed, I was facing his real army.

  "This battle," I said, settling back into a combat stance as the smaller constructs began spreading out to surround me, "just got harder."

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