The hut was gone.
Not partially damaged—completely erased from structure, reduced to scattered timber and drifting dust that refused to settle.
At the center of it stood two figures.
Li Feng.
And the Inner Sect Hunter.
The air between them was no longer calm. It was compressed, unstable, like reality itself was being forced to choose between two incompatible rules.
The hunter exhaled slowly.
"So it's true."
His voice carried through the dust without hesitation.
"You don't absorb energy."
A pause.
"You erase it."
Li Feng didn't answer.
He was watching.
Not the man.
The structure.
Wind perception had evolved again under pressure. Air currents now carried intent signatures—each movement mapped before it fully manifested.
The hunter moved first.
Not forward.
Around.
His body blurred, repositioning in a curved trajectory that distorted the ground beneath him. Stones cracked outward in a spiral pattern.
A sealing formation.
Li Feng recognized it instinctively.
Not because he had learned it.
But because he could see its structure being built in real time.
"Interesting," Li Feng murmured.
The hunter responded instantly.
"Too late to be curious."
He slammed his palm forward.
The air collapsed inward.
A suppression field detonated outward in a ring, locking space within a five-meter radius. The ground stopped responding naturally—gravity slightly distorted, movement resistance increased.
Li Feng felt his body slow.
Not physically restrained.
Conceptually weighed down.
The system reacted.
[Suppression Field Detected]
[Movement efficiency reduced by 42%]
The hunter stepped in.
This time, there was no hesitation.
One strike aimed directly at Li Feng's chest.
Li Feng didn't dodge.
He raised his hand.
Contact.
[Consumption Initiated]
The moment their hands touched, the suppression field destabilized slightly.
But unlike before, the hunter didn't panic.
Instead, he smiled faintly.
"Adaptation confirmed."
His Qi surged—but not outward.
Inward.
The pressure spike doubled.
Li Feng's system flickered.
[Warning: Target Qi is structurally reinforced against direct extraction]
For the first time, Li Feng felt resistance.
Not defense.
Counter-structure.
The hunter wasn't just resisting consumption.
He was anchoring his energy into a sealed framework that prevented fragmentation.
Li Feng's expression shifted slightly.
"…So you prepared for this."
The hunter leaned closer.
"Every anomaly has a pattern."
Then he twisted his wrist.
A second layer activated.
The suppression field collapsed inward violently.
Not toward Li Feng.
Toward the point of contact.
A compression kill technique.
Li Feng stepped back instantly.
Wind perception flared.
He saw it clearly now—the attack wasn't meant to strike him directly, but to collapse space where contact occurred.
If he stayed even a fraction longer, his arm would be crushed at a conceptual level.
He disengaged.
But the hunter followed.
Fast.
Controlled.
Every movement tightening the battlefield.
Li Feng's feet slid across broken ground as he retreated.
System calculation flickered rapidly.
[Host survival probability decreasing under sustained suppression]
Li Feng exhaled.
"So this is higher-tier cultivation."
Not overwhelming strength.
Refined constraint.
The hunter raised his hand again.
"This ends now."
But Li Feng stopped moving.
He looked at his hand.
Then at the hunter.
Then spoke quietly.
"I understand it now."
A pause.
The hunter narrowed his eyes.
"What?"
Li Feng didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he reached out—not toward the hunter's body.
But toward the air between them.
Intent.
Alignment.
Understanding.
[Consumption Attempt: Environmental Dao Fragmentation]
A ripple spread outward.
Not toward the hunter.
But into the suppression field itself.
For the first time, the structure cracked.
Not violently.
Logically.
Like a rule being questioned.
The hunter's expression changed slightly.
"…You can affect techniques directly?"
Li Feng stepped forward.
"The system doesn't just take energy."
He tilted his head.
"It takes structure."
The suppression field fractured further.
The hunter reacted instantly, reinforcing it—but the reinforcement itself became unstable the moment Li Feng "looked" at it through Wind Perception.
Not seeing.
Understanding.
The field trembled.
Li Feng moved.
One step.
Then another.
The suppression weakened with each motion—not because he was overpowering it, but because he was dissecting its underlying logic.
The hunter's calm finally cracked slightly.
"…Impossible."
Li Feng reached him again.
Contact.
[Consumption Initiated]
This time—
It worked differently.
Not full collapse.
Partial fragmentation.
The hunter's Qi didn't dissolve completely, but layers of it destabilized, breaking into inconsistent flow patterns.
The suppression field collapsed instantly.
The hunter staggered half a step back.
A rare reaction.
Li Feng released him.
Silence returned.
Dust slowly settled.
The hunter looked at his own hand.
Then at Li Feng.
"…You are not stable."
Li Feng nodded slightly.
"That is correct."
The hunter's eyes narrowed.
For a moment, he seemed to be calculating something deeper than battle outcome.
Then he spoke.
"I will not capture you."
Li Feng looked at him.
"You will report me."
"No."
A pause.
The hunter's expression darkened slightly.
"I will escalate you."
Before Li Feng could respond, the hunter turned.
And vanished into the broken air currents, retreating at full speed.
Not defeated.
Not victorious.
Reassessing.
Li Feng stood alone in the ruins.
System flickered.
[3/10 Dao Fragments]
He exhaled slowly.
"…Escalate."
He looked toward the sect horizon.
And for the first time since awakening, he understood something clearly.
This was no longer a local problem.
It was becoming a classification event.