6 Chapter 6: Ability Over-used! (1/2)

”Then, let's start!” said Ling Yu as she stepped forward with a stance. This stance was like a reminiscent of a sharp lance being stabbed forward. Mighty and unstoppable.

”Single lance momentum strike!” she shouted out. Her hand bolted out to the front as all her fingers were extended outwards shaped like the tip of a spear.

'rrringgg'

”As expected..” said Duan Li inwardly as time began to slow down and he side-stepped to the right slightly.

”T-this.. Instant reaction?!” Ling Yu's eye squinted and her brows creased together as she was surprised by the last second side-step performed by Duan Li. She was sure before that her attack would hit, only to be dodged and effortlessly at that!

She swept her arm to the side where Duan Li was, and the latter abruptly disappeared. She was startled but only for a fraction of a second before she found Duan Li to be squatting down on the ground.

She lifted one of her leg to do a round-flip back kick. This movement was very fast and occurred in less than a second, but to Duan Li whose world seemed to be as slow as a snail, he could see every movements clearly.

”She.. is surprisingly quite decent..”

Now that he had all the time of the world to look properly, he realized that this sister Ling Yu is actually quite the beauty.

”She should be in her early thirties.. how did mom become friends with someone of the younger generation?” he thought.

His mother was already over 40 years old as far as he knew. His age himself is 21 years old, thus it wouldn't make sense for his mother to be younger than that. However, he threw this miscellaneous thoughts to the back of his head as he returned to focus on the battle.

...

”He had already dodged twelve strikes from me consecutively.. this secret art is quite decent, even I didn't manage to see how he moved..” thought Ling yu.

”Time to step it up then!”

Suddenly, her aura went on a qualitative change as it becomes sharper and somewhat more dangerous.

”Hmm? Her movements.. became faster?” said Duan Li shocked.

He was still in the world where time had slowed down, but he could visibly tell that the strike was getting faster by the second. Eventually, it reached a state where her strike moved almost a quarter of a second faster in the real world. But to Duan Lin, it was still kinda slow, so he was able to dodge them yet again.

”What?.. he was still able to dodge my strike without a single counter? Let me see then how long can you last!” thought Ling Yu inwardly as her aura burst forth yet again. This time, it took a tangible form between translucent and light emerald flowing outwards of her body like a river.

Noticing this, Meng Yue's heart shuddered for a moment. The technique displayed by Ling Yu right now is called the spirit Qi burning. It is a tradeoff between stamina and speed. The more one burn their spirit Qi, the more faster they become, but also, the more tired.

Although the level of spirit Qi burning that Ling Yu used is of the lowest output so as not to injure Duan Li, Meng Yue still felt worried as she did not know how long her son's ability of slowing down time would be able to last.

What if the ability abruptly ended and he was attacked with that level of speed?

Thinking up to here, Meng Yue does not dare to take chances anymore as she yelled ”Enough!” and released a pressuring aura against Ling Yu.

'swoosh!'

Ling Yu stopped her assault halfway as she quickly turned and apologized to Meng Yue, ”Sister! Forgive this junior here for going overboard.. I am just feeling a little bit excited.. that's why..” she said with a sheepish tone while playing with her fingers like a child getting scolded.

”Ha.. its fine..” replied Meng Yue with a sigh. Even she was excited before when she had a spar with her son. Thus, she couldn't really blame her.

”It's just that the secret art is extremely taxing for one's mind, if used for a long duration..”

'thud!'

Just as Meng Yue was about to make a believable excuse for intervening, at that moment, Duan Li had suddenly collapsed to the ground. His face pale as sweat poured out from him and his breathing haggard, gasping for air as he clutched his chest.

”DUAN LI!” yelled his mother with a terrified expression.

”Mother...” said Duan Li weakly, as his vision slowly turning into a blur and then blacked out.

...

”Urgh.. oww!”

Duan Li was startled when he woke up as all of his muscles suddenly ached. Sitting upright on his bed, he recalled that the last scene he saw before collapsing was his mother shouting for his name and running towards him with tears flowing down her cheeks like raindrops.

”Ouch!!” everytime he tried to lift any part of his limbs, he would feel terrible pain assaulting on his muscles. ”Seemed like.. the ability does have its side-effect..” he sighed.

For a cheating ability as such, it is already quite fortunate that his condition right now was not that severe. If it involved, let's say, hairs turning white... now that would be scary, he thought.

Turning his head to the left, he quickly saw a familiar figure sleeping soundly beside his bed with remnant tears still apparent beside her beautiful eyes. She was sitting on the floor while her upper body was supported by her arms on his bed to act like a pillow.

”Mother.. she must have been extremely worried..” he said slowly in his heart, feeling a little bit guilty.

As if hearing the inner voice of her son, the sleeping Meng Yue abruptly jolted up as she stared at her son in surprise.

Seeing the surprised expression of his mother, Duan Li said teasingly, ”Mother.. could it be that I.. have grown handsome?” with a cheeky smile.

”Idiot!!” yelled his mother as tears once again flowed down like a broken dam. ”Don't you know how worried I am?”