Even though Evan Chu tried to act all relaxed on the outside, inside he was seriously worried. He hadn’t seen Gavin Wei’s true strength for himself, but judging by how Gavin only managed fifty meters in the Gravity Chamber, it was clear he wasn’t exactly some powerhouse.
Gavin Wei walked up to the giant bell and stopped, pulled his sword from his storage belt, glanced back at Evan Chu, then started getting ready to unleash his strongest attack.
"Brother Long, do you think Gavin can pass this time?" Woody Luo came over to Evan Chu and asked, sounding pretty casual.
Evan didn’t know what to make of Woody Luo. A girl running around disguised as a guy—no way she’s here just to sign up for the Royal Capital Guard. Evan didn’t buy it for a second.
Her identity and strength were both a total mystery, and she was super careful with everything she said. Any time someone got close to her secrets, she’d just brush it off with a quick answer you couldn’t figure out.
"What do you think? I believe in him, anyway," Evan said.
"The bell’s rebound is scary, but it’s not impossible to deal with. If your speed’s high enough, you can hit the bell, then immediately follow up with another attack to cancel out the recoil," Woody Luo said.
Evan was speechless—this guy was totally dodging the question. He’d asked one thing, and Woody Luo answered something completely different.
Still, what she said got Evan thinking. Maybe that was a way to solve the problem, but pulling it off would be seriously tough.
The first attack already took everything you had—trying to follow up with another strike right away was basically impossible, and you couldn’t move that fast either. Unless you could somehow launch two attacks back-to-back, but that sounded way out of reach.
"You think you could pull that off?" Evan asked. If she was saying all this, she probably had her reasons.
"Look, Gavin’s starting his attack!" Woody Luo laughed, totally ignoring Evan’s question.
Evan shot Woody Luo a glare, then turned to watch Gavin’s move. This guy dared to mess with him like that? Someday, Evan was gonna make sure Woody Luo got a taste of his own medicine.
Gavin closed his eyes. The blade in his hand started glowing fiery red, with flames flickering all over it.
Didn’t expect this kid to have fire element comprehension—looks really can be deceiving, Evan thought to himself.
Then Gavin raised his longsword, packed with Stellar Power and fire element, snapped his eyes open, leapt up, spun a full three-sixty in the air, and shouted, "Heaven-Splitting Slash!"
A dragon-like roar burst from his sword, and a sword-light over two meters long slashed straight at the giant bell, booming across the whole field.
The shockwave in the air was obvious—Evan never expected Gavin to have this much attack power. He’d wasted all that time worrying for nothing.
The huge rebound knocked Gavin flying, but since he was airborne, the recoil wasn’t that bad. He rolled with the force, flipped a few times, and landed steady on the ground.
Gavin looked a little pale, but he wasn’t really hurt—which shocked everyone, since he was the least injured out of all the contestants so far.
"Forty-two seconds! Not bad! Knowing how to borrow force in mid-air—that's the mark of a promising seedling!" General Roland Lowell announced.
Woody Luo stared at Gavin in shock, then turned to Evan and said, "This guy’s actually a real expert—so why’d he only get fifty meters in the Gravity Chamber?"
"That’s normal—I told him to do it. That’s a great score; he’s basically cleared the trial," Evan laughed.
Gavin ran over with a huge grin. "Brother Long, did I surprise you? I was worried I wouldn’t pull it off, but it went way smoother than I thought!"
"Kid, you had this much power and made me worry for nothing. Yeah, you surprised me—a big surprise," Evan laughed.
"Gavin, you’re celebrating too soon! My score’s definitely gonna beat yours!" Woody Luo boasted.
Gavin smiled at Woody Luo. "Of course! You hit seventy-five meters in the Gravity Chamber and you’re a Heaven Martial expert—how could I compare?"
"Alright, let’s head back. Nothing else worth watching—time to get some rest!" Evan said, turning to leave.
"Brother Long, are you coming to watch me hit the bell tomorrow?" Woody Luo asked on the way back.
"Do you really want me to watch?" Evan shot back, planning to get even for her messing with him twice.
"Come or don’t! Just don’t pretend you don’t see me as a friend," Woody Luo said, stalking off.
"Brother Long, what’s up with her?" Gavin asked, confused.
"No idea. That girl’s always been quirky—maybe her menopause came early and she’s acting weird. Just ignore her," Evan joked.
"So, are you going tomorrow or not?" Gavin asked.
"Nope. I’m sleeping in tomorrow, gotta save up for the final trial the day after," Evan replied.
...
After heading back, Evan didn’t leave his room at all. He kept thinking about Woody Luo’s tip—striking twice in rapid succession, using the second hit to cancel out the bell’s rebound.
He spent the whole day stuck in his room with zero progress. Just throwing out forms without Chaos Qi was easy enough, but actually doing it for real was a whole different story—and it was driving him nuts.
"Evan, you could split your mind and attack with both hands—hit your strongest fifth form with your right, and the third form with your left. That way you can pull it off. The real trick is mastering dual-focus," Luna finally spoke up.
Evan had thought about dual-focus before, but with time running short, burning too much Chaos Qi would be impossible to recover so fast.
Thinking back to when he fused his heart-sword, Evan remembered that feeling—it took complete calm, shutting out all distractions, and total trust in both hands to pull it off.
This situation was a bit different, but pretty much the same in principle. If he could master this move, it’d be totally heaven-defying—when locked in a head-on clash, a second surprise attack from another angle could smash even someone a few realms higher than him.
One method fits all—Evan suddenly got it, and started mentally practicing dual-focus attacks over and over in his head...
He didn’t stop until Gavin’s voice called from outside. Evan left his room and saw Gavin and Woody Luo waiting, so he smiled and asked, "Woody, how’d your test go yesterday?"
"Heh, not great—just fifty-nine seconds. Top three’s probably out of reach," Woody Luo said with a grin.
"Fifty-nine seconds?" Evan blurted, shocked by the number.
"Brother Long, she’s lying to you—her test’s actually today. Yesterday she tried to trick you into watching, but you didn’t fall for it, and she’s been annoyed ever since!" Gavin explained.
"Seriously? Woody, you’re ruthless. I’ll settle this with you later! Let’s go!" Evan glared at Woody Luo, then led the way toward the trial grounds...