Chapter 1697: Chapter 1697

Sophia really went for special training, but it’s not some organized special training camp. Actually, at her level as an assassin, only a select few around the world, like Li Yifei, can still teach her. Those group training places really can’t teach Sophia anything; she’d go there as an instructor, not a student.

The truth is, after Sophia was injured last time, she had some personal insights. After parting from Li Yifei, Sophia found a quiet place to live alone, reflect, as she encountered a bottleneck that she needed to break through.

After staying two or three months, Sophia emerged this time, having broken through the bottleneck. But who knew she would encounter Satan right after coming out, and not only did she not have the capacity to confront Satan, she was directly terrified into immobility. This left Sophia with a slight sense of defeat.

Sophia feels that even if she meets other top assassins in the world now, she won’t be scared. In fact, this insight and breakthrough gave her confidence to surpass those assassins, but she still didn’t dare to confront Satan at that time. Thinking about this, she couldn’t help but sigh deeply.

To speak of Sophia’s life’s pursuit, it’s probably been about constantly improving herself. At least, that’s been her sole objective from deciding to become an assassin to now. As for the future, she can’t say for sure, because she’s no longer the cold-blooded Sophia from before.

Even though I’ve improved so much, and at a very fast pace, yet I’m still no match for you guys, and even the courage to act has gradually disappeared. Sophia thought to herself, her lips pursed slightly—a small gesture even she didn’t notice.

Opposite her, Li Yifei was carefully observing Sophia. Seeing her show a small feminine demeanor, he couldn’t help but laugh, shook his head, picked up his teacup, and drank the tea dry, saying, "Come on, let me check your progress."

Sophia jerked her head up, looking at Li Yifei as if he had seen through her inner thoughts, feeling a bit flustered. Li Yifei stood up, waved his hand, and said, "What are you dazing about? Come with me, let’s find a quiet place to have a good fight."

"Really fight?" Sophia jumped up, but her feet didn’t move, twisting her body to look at Li Yifei.

Li Yifei frowned and said, "Fight or not, if not, I’ll go to sleep then."

"Fight!" This time, Sophia didn’t hesitate.

In facing Satan, Sophia felt fear, regretful afterward. As an assassin, if one wants to become a top-level assassin, there can’t be fear in one’s heart. Fear before fighting, what’s the point of fighting? If the opponent is the target you’re assassinating, why bother being an assassin if you feel you definitely can’t kill them? If this emotional adjustment can’t be done, Sophia might regress instead of progressing, and the advancement and insights she just achieved could immediately deteriorate, possibly even falling from top assassin to ordinary assassin.

Li Yifei noticed her inner struggle, thus suggested having a fight.

The two arrived at the underground training room, a spacious room located at the back of the villa compound, specially used for the Li family’s future martial arts training, shooting, and other activities. Li Yifei and Sophia came here with no third person present.

Both changed into loose clothing and went to the weapons room. Sophia turned to look at him and said, "Using weapons?"

"Of course, here." Li Yifei nodded his chin and picked up a sword, throwing it to Sophia. Sophia took the sword and felt it was unique. Drawing it from the scabbard, it emitted a sharp sound, making Sophia’s eyes light up. She said, "This sword is excellent, not only sharp but also has a sort of murderous aura." Googlᴇ search 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡~𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚~𝙣𝙚𝙩

"Haha, if you like it, it’s yours, but first, we have to finish this match." Li Yifei said teasingly, "Use your strongest attack; I won’t hold back."

Sophia’s expression vanished as she entered the role. She held the sword single-handedly, twisted her body to the fighting arena, holding the sword upright, waiting for Li Yifei to come over.

At this moment, Sophia had returned to her role as a female assassin, fully immersing herself into the upcoming battle.

Li Yifei selected a sword; the one he gave to Sophia was precisely the longsword obtained from the secret realm in the Vietnamese rainforest: exceptionally sharp. Murong Yuanqing and Elder Feng had praised it without end and even liked it much, but Li Yifei hadn’t given it to them.

Sophia isn’t skilled with longswords; she prefers the sharp dagger, that feeling of closing in and engaging in close-quarter combat excites her more. Being able to spar with Li Yifei made her very excited, though she definitely couldn’t beat him. This battle allowed Sophia to temporarily forget the sense of defeat when she encountered Satan.

Sophia doesn’t have True Qi, but her unique attack methods and ability to mobilize physical strength make her powerful. This insight made her superior in speed and choices of attack, angle, timing, etc.

Li Yifei’s eyes also shone, continually expressing admiration, but... it’s still not enough. If it were an ordinary person, ten individuals would’ve been killed by her, but against Li Yifei, he seemed to exert only thirty percent of his strength, and Sophia was already overwhelmed.

When they first met, Sophia could spar with Li Yifei for quite a while; only when he got serious would she lose. But now...

"No more! No more!" Sophia tossed the sword away, waving her hand as she spoke.

Li Yifei also stopped, smiling as he walked over and said, "Giving up?"

Sophia leaned on her knees with her head bowed and said, "Can’t beat you."

"Haha." Li Yifei laughed loudly, his peripheral vision catching several flashes of white light. He quickly stomped his feet and swiftly jumped up, evading a few Flying Daggers.

Mid-air, Li Yifei realized that this girl had intentionally tricked him into lowering his guard.

Of course, Sophia didn’t think her ambush would harm Li Yifei. After throwing a few Flying Daggers, she quickly looked up and rapidly shook her hands again, observing Li Yifei’s landing point and using the Flying Daggers to block his path.

"Let’s see what you’ll do!" Sophia’s eyes glimmered with joy, like a little fox getting its hands on stolen meat. Li Yifei? He had just jumped over two meters high, far beyond a normal human’s understanding of jumping, and with tremendous hang time, he didn’t land immediately. A Flying Dagger came flying at him, Li Yifei shouted loudly, stomped on it with his foot, and using the slight force, his body shifted half a step horizontally, then twisted in mid-air, both hands flicking—not to throw Flying Daggers, but to... catch them.

Sophia threw ten Flying Daggers; aside from the first four nailed to the wall, one was stepped on by Li Yifei, and the remaining five were all caught by Li Yifei, held between his fingers.