Re-birth: The Beginning after the End - Chapter 140

Chapter 140: BATTLE OF TECHNIQUES
Dawn painted the training courtyard in shades of grey, the morning mist curling through ancient pillars like curious spirits.

Three months of rigorous training had transformed the siblings’ movements.

They faced each other in a triangle formation, the air heavy with anticipation.

Around the courtyard’s edge, Li Wei’s spirit beasts watched with keen interest. Bai Ying, the frost tiger, lay with her head on massive paws, ice crystals forming where her breath touched the ground. Feng Yi, the wind fox, perched on a high branch, his tails creating subtle currents in the air. The thunder bunnies, Lei Lei and Dian Dian, crackled with excited energy as they sensed the impending clash.

Li Wei struck first, each movement flowing with the precision of a master calligrapher’s brush. His stance was unshakeable, rooted in the countless hours Li Hua had forced them to hold the horse stance until their legs burned and trembled. The keeper’s advanced techniques had only built upon this foundation—a testament to the siblings’ relentless dedication to both spiritual cultivation and physical mastery.

Water essence gathered around him like a second skin as the Permission Barrier he cast wasn’t just a shield. As he stepped forward, his presence fractured into three mirror images, each one protected by a different variation of the Soul Reflection Barrier. The morning dew rose to his command, forming crystalline patterns that made his illusions even more convincing. Anyone trying to read his true location would find themselves solving mathematical riddles that changed with each heartbeat.

Li Hao answered with controlled chaos, his months of physical conditioning evident in the explosive power of his movements. His Phantom Steps scattered him across the courtyard like autumn leaves in a whirlwind, each echo carrying a different False Core signature. The unique combination of his water and fire essences created steam and mist around each image, turning space itself into a puzzle box of possibilities. One moment he seemed to be launching an attack from the left, his presence sharp and clear with flames licking the air, the next he was a whisper of movement on the right, his water essence barely distinguishable from the morning mist.

But Li Hua?

She moved like a thought through dream, her body displaying the perfect harmony of physical and concealment. The Void Cloak wrapped around her not as a technique, but as an extension of her being, while her command over multiple essences allowed her to blend with every aspect of her environment. Light bent around her form, wind carried her steps, and the wooden pillars seemed to shift slightly in her presence. When Li Wei’s calculated patterns tried to track her, they found nothing. When Li Hao’s chaos attempted to overwhelm her, it passed through empty air. She existed in the spaces between her brothers’ techniques, in the moment between intention and action.

Li Wei’s next move demonstrated the fruits of their relentless training. His stance shifted with practiced precision. A cascade of spiritual probes emerged from his water essence, each one designed to reveal true presence from false. The air itself seemed to crystallize with the complexity of his technique, while pools of water formed beneath his feet, ready to become mirrors or weapons at his command.

Li Hao met this challenge with the same boundless energy that had carried him through months of grueling exercises. His simultaneous control of water and fire had evolved; where once the opposing elements fought each other, now they created a perfect balance. Steam wreathed his multiple forms, while rings of fire and water spiraled around each echo. His Phantom Steps carried him across the courtyard faster than the eye could track.

The spirit beasts reacted to the display of power—Lei Lei and Dian Dian bouncing excitedly, their fur crackling with electricity, while Feng Yi’s tails stirred up currents that made the mist dance. Bai Ying watched through half-lidded eyes, though frost spread in elegant patterns around her resting place.

Li Hua slipped between her brothers’ techniques.

When Li Wei attempted to trap her with a complex water formation, she simply became part of its flow. When Li Hao’s fire and water combination threatened to box her in, she existed between the elements themselves. Her response required no obvious effort—months of holding difficult positions and moving with weighted burdens had eliminated any wasted motion from her technique.

Around them, the six keepers and Grandmaster Yu watched in silence, their presence adding weight to the morning air. They saw not just the concealing techniques but the physical and spiritual mastery underlying each movement—the perfect stances, the controlled breathing, the economical use of energy that spoke of a thorough training regime.

The duel intensified as each sibling drew deeper on their training. Li Wei’s techniques evolved from single-element manipulation to something more complex. The water essence around him began to move with mathematical precision, each droplet becoming part of an intricate array. When he moved through his forms, water followed his gestures like flowing calculations, turning the very air into a liquid equation.

In response, Li Hao unleashed his dual nature. Fire and water no longer just coexisted in his techniques—they began to dance. Flames curved around pillars of water, steam became solid barriers, and his Phantom Steps left afterimages of opposing elements that made reality itself seem to waver.

The spirit beasts grew more animated—Lei Lei and Dian Dian hopping between perches as electrical discharge from their fur created a crackling aurora above the courtyard. Feng Yi’s tails whipped up true wind now, while Bai Ying’s presence caused frost patterns to spread across the training ground, adding another layer of complexity to the siblings’ dance.

But it was Li Hua who transformed the duel from impressive to extraordinary. Her command over multiple essences began to show its true depth. Lightning coursed through her movements like liquid starlight, arcing between raindrops that hung suspended in her wake. Darkness flowed from her presence like ink in water, creating depths where there should be none, swallowing light itself between heartbeats.

Where these elements merged, reality itself seemed to fracture with power—water vapor crystallizing into brief, shadowed patterns before dissolving into tendrils of midnight mist. Her mastery made the forces of nature themselves appear as fluid as her techniques.