Worldwide Class Change: Minimal Effort, Maximum Reward!-Chapter 167, Last Try (2)

Lin Yi used everything he had left.

Null Field to suppress whatever the watcher might be building in terms of skill combinations. The watcher stepped outside the field’s radius before the suppression reached full effect. Mirror Stance to reflect the next incoming strike. The reflected strike was absorbed by the ten Buddha wheels rather than returning to the watcher.

Then, Phantom Army to create ten copies at thirty percent attribute values, distributing the engagement across multiple apparent targets. Cang Yutian processed the copies and easily identified the real positioning in under two seconds, the Buddha Step carrying him directly to Lin Yi’s actual location while ignoring the copies entirely.

Stellar Burst centered on himself, the spherical release covering the full radius, the damage applying to everything within range including the watcher. Cang Yutian deployed a barrier technique Lin Yi had not seen him use before, the golden light of the Buddha wheels condensing briefly into a surface that absorbed the spherical burst.

Eclipse Slash to suppress the follow-up skill activation. Spatial Lock to restrict movement. Heaven’s Echo to repeat the last high-output technique at fifty percent.

Each one met a counter.

Each counter produced damage.

The regeneration from the token’s interior and the beginning of this renewed engagement had moved the overall damage picture slightly forward, but this new engagement elevated tempo was producing new damage faster.

The chest cuts reopened under the impact of a strike that reached through the gap between Celestial Armor’s depleted layer and Iron Body Fortification’s threshold. The leg, which had improved enough to function, was directly targeted by a follow-up strike that addressed the same location the first strike had compromised, the watcher demonstrating a memory for vulnerabilities that matched Predatory Instinct’s identification capability.

Lin Yi hit the island surface.

He stayed upright on his hands and his right knee, the left leg no longer accepting weight in any functional sense, the chest damage at a level where the breath required to continue speaking was producing a response that he was managing through the discipline of refusing to acknowledge it rather than through any improvement in the underlying condition.

He looked up at Cang Yutian.

The watcher stood. The ten Buddha wheels cycled. The dragon eyes looked at the person on the island surface with the expression that had characterized every moment of every interaction since the engagement began.

Cang Yutian observed quietly for a moment before speaking, "You changed the way you approached the fight. Instead of using your positioning in steps, you combined those moves all at once. Rather than placing your Null Field right on top of me, you set it at a distance, trying to push me out of the area where I operate best, rather than just overpowering me head-on." He looked at

Lin Yu with a hint of surprise in his eyes. "Given your age and how much experience you’ve had, you’re actually a more skilled fighter than I expected." He lifted his sword slowly. "But even so, it wasn’t enough."

I have nothing left, Lin Yi thought.

He stayed on the surface and let the thought be complete rather than interrupting it with any forward motion. He had been trained by everything that had happened since Jianghe to interrupt the thought with the next action, to find the next approach before the current one had fully failed. But the current one had fully failed and the next approach was not available because he had deployed every approach and every counter had worked.

I am on one knee on an island in the Allheaven Expanse and I am going to die here if nothing changes.

Nothing is going to change.

I’m eighteen, and it’s been under six months since I became a registered hunter. In that short time, I’ve managed to reach level 230, shattering an examination record that stood for years. I even started a sect from scratch and climbed it all the way to first place in the academy’s entire history. When I was just level 120, I already qualified for an event that demands a minimum level of 100. These are feats most hunters could only dream about, even if they lived through countless lifetimes.

And I am going to die on this island because I approached a thunder dragon before I was ready.

Because I wanted to fill a slot in the immortal halo, using the thunder dragon as a helping hand.

Because I did not know what I did not know about what was protecting it.

He then looked at Cang Yutian.

The watcher was watching him, while his sword was raised. The conclusion was present in that stance. But the watcher had not completed the conclusion yet, and Lin Yi did not know why, and in the space of not knowing why, there was still a moment.

He thought about everything that was waiting beyond this expanse. Wang Hao. Shen Rou. Celestial Legion. Heavenly Phoenix Academy. The Celestial Emperor Note in his inventory whose meaning he still had not resolved. The question the girl on Floor 33 had asked him, do you know what it means to carry something like that?

He did not know the answer yet.

He wanted to find it.

He lowered his head.

"Senior." His voice came out without performance.

Cang Yutian’s sword did not move.

Lin Yi looked up.

"I am asking for mercy," he said.

He did not frame it as a temporary negotiation position or a maneuvering tactic.

"I broke the rules of this space," he continued. "I approached the Thunder Dragon God. I dared to engage a Watcher of celestial appointment in combat and I fought you with everything I had." He paused. "I will not pretend otherwise. The violations were real and the consequences you have named are the natural result."

He stayed on the surface.

"But this junior humbly asks Senior to show mercy." The words came out with visible reluctance. "I beg Senior to spare my life and forgive this junior’s previous arrogance."

He then looked at Cang Yutian’s face, the dragon eyes, the expression that had been flat and authoritative through the entire engagement.

"I will do anything that is within my ability to do. Anything you name under heaven and earth. Carry a task. Repay a debt. Fulfill whatever condition Senior sets."

He paused briefly, voice steady but restrained.

"So long as Senior is willing to show mercy to one who has offended this place and now seeks forgiveness."

He pressed his right knee into the island surface.

Two knees. Both down.

"I am on my knees, Senior." He stayed there. "I am asking. Whatever the terms are, name them. Anything I can do, I will do it."