Archfiend

Chapter 40: Battle Royale (5)

 Xu Yangyi didn’t say a word. All of his muscles had completely twisted alive in this fleeting moment! Blood circulated warmly in his veins, and in his chest, his heart throbbed fiercely. Twisting his waist and tucking his abdomen, he used the greatest strength his fist could muster and struck out with a rumbling explosion! 

Boom! As the two neared, their fists unwaveringly clashed together. They could see pulsating flame within each other’s eyes. At this instant, external objects had already ceased to exist. At this moment, there was only each other, the sole throbbing figure in their respective eyes. Strength like an ocean tide passed into Xu Yangyi’s fist. It was Chu Zhaonan’s fist strength. He immediately recognized that he was much stronger than his opponent!

Xu Yangyi gently clenched his teeth, and all his muscles adjusted to their peak state. His left fist suddenly struck out without a second word. There was no elegance or skill. This was only a pure contest of strength! Likewise, Chu Zhaonan’s speed wasn’t slow. Just as Xu Yangyi struck with his left fist, Chu Zhaonan’s left fist punched out at the same time! 

Before the fists even made contact in the air, Xu Yangyi’s fist transformed into fingers, a five-finger claw that turned towards his opponent’s throat. Chu Zhaonan had nearly the exact same reaction, and the knuckle of his forefinger protruded to strike at Xu Yangyi’s temple. In the same second they felt that they were on the verge of touching each other, the mutual sensitivity in both of their hearts caused them to retract their hands in sync, completely blocking their vitals above.

It was a nearly instinctual action of the body. Xu Yangyi’s left leg had sent ten-odd champions flying. With the sound of breaking stone, his foot carried a gale, and he suddenly kicked at his opponent! The speed of his attack surprisingly bore the whistling of broken air! Simultaneously, Chu Zhaonan pulled his arm back to defend, and his right leg bent back like a bow, his kneecap slamming towards Xu Yangyi’s waist.

Bang! Bang pow bang! Two figures, isolated within qi walls, moved swiftly as if they were chasing the wind and pursuing the moon. Only those at the middle stage of Qi Condensation and above were able to clearly see their actions. As for the initial-stage cultivators and ordinary clan team members, their eyes were all open wide. They could only see the intense interaction of the two silhouettes, and hear the continuous chain of heavy echoes.

A whistling noise rang out in the duo’s surroundings. Every fist and every leg between the two appeared to be arranged, without the use of any inkling of spiritual force. It was pure physical combat of the most primal nature. The sound of fists meeting flesh fell uninterrupted on the ear, yet neither fell back half a step! 

“Gulp…” An initial-stage Qi Condensation cultivator couldn’t help but swallow. Fast… They were too fast! So fast that as a cultivator of the same initial stage, he simply couldn’t see them clearly! 

This was a monster reared by Heavens Law? This was the strength that a provincial paragon ought to have possessed?

Not too far away, there was a young boy who had just begun to tread the long path of cultivation. His mouth was widely ajar and both his eyes were open wide. He had long since ceased to see things clearly and was only able to see countless afterimages that appeared to be hands or legs going back and forth between the two people.

“I-Is this even initial-stage Qi Condensation?”

Following a rumble, the figures finally split apart from each other. Xu Yangyi stuck his thumb up and wiped a trace of blood at the side of his mouth. Moments ago, he had been struck by a total of three kicks and ten punches, but his opponent certainly wasn’t doing much better! 

Chu Zhaonan gasped for breath and licked the blood at the corner of his mouth. He knew how many times he had struck his opponent, and he moreover knew how many times his opponent had hit him. 

Seven kicks and twenty-five fists! Right now his entire abdomen was aching dully! 

“You’re very strong…” Xu Yangyi spat out, his spittle carrying blood. He extended his hand out and beckoned. “Use your gun. Otherwise, you still won’t be enough for me to beat.” 

A monster!

Chu Zhaonan gritted his teeth fiercely. He was already plenty proud of his body, but he hadn’t expected that he would run into a monster in human form here! Calling back to that tyrannosaurus rex-like degree of strength just now, he was convinced. The information that someone had spread around before that Xu Yangyi had killed a berserker was absolutely not a lie!

Xu Yangyi himself was a living berserker!

Tightly closing his eyes, Chu Zhaonan didn’t move and neither did Xu Yangyi. After no less than ten-odd seconds had passed did he open them. The tranquility brought with it an icy-cold and roiling-hot battle intent. For the first time, his hand stroked the pistol at his waist.

Clip… The crisp sound of a button unclasping was extremely light, yet it seemed to resonate at each person’s earside. Following this sound, the gentle noise of applause, also extremely light yet remarkably distinct, echoed through the arena stage.

It had come from Shadowslay. This noise seemed to rouse everyone. Subsequently, there was a second noise, a third noise… all the way to an endless number of noises!

Clap clap clap! The applause reverberated within the whole arena!

“Amazing! Too Amazing! I couldn’t see a thing clearly just now!” An initial-stage youth’s excited face had almost become gorged flush with blood, and he shouted himself hoarse. “They’re too awesome!”

Before he even finished yelling, his mouth was immediately covered by a senior at his side. The senior’s incomparably praising voice rang out at the side of his ear. “This is what a cultivator should truly strive to be…”

“Since ancient times, heroes have come from the young…” A middle-stage Qi Condensation cultivator cheerfully applauded. Even if he could defeat these two initial-stage cultivator, he didn’t dare say it would be a total victory.

“The younger generation will surpass the older generation in time…” A late-stage Qi Condensation cultivator wasn’t the slightest bit ungenerous with his applause, and repeatedly shook his head in deep emotion.

Clap clap clap… The continuous applause went uninterrupted, converging into a flooding wave of sound that extended through the entire Unrivaled Beneath the Heavens Arena. However, the two people on stage weren’t sidetracked one bit because of this. 

Chu Zhaonan leaned his whole body forward like a hunting beast and locked his gaze on Xu Yangyi. His extended hand at the side of his waist slowly took out a pistol, a pistol that had never been revealed. The gun was approximately a foot long, no different whatsoever than an ordinary gun. Merely the blue runes on it gave one a fluctuation of death. [1]

Xu Yangyi was silent, but every single hair on his body and each of his muscles were in a state of high alert. It had come… The menacing sensation that caused the space between his brows to ache painfully had arrived. It appeared to draw a crosshair between his brows, becoming a death marker. His two fists tightened, and he placed them before him. With his eagle-like gaze, he perceived his opponent’s each and every move.

“I have three bullets.” Chu Zhaonan’s voice clearly rang out from among the tide of boundless applause. “If you dodge these three shots, then you win.”

In the audience stands above, Chu Tianyi was already stroking the ring on his right hand with his left hand. Inside was a concentrated dose of Immortal Intoxication. As long as he pressed the button in his ring, this concentrated dose would be enough to cause Xu Yangyi to fall to the ground and strip him of his ability to stand. 

Nonetheless, he didn’t wish for such a thing. If his grandson was able to triumph, he wouldn’t have to use this measure. Yet if Chu Zhaonan couldn’t...

His expression was as rippleless as a dried-up well.

In the arena, the applause had already quieted down. A few clan masters extended their hands to stop the clapping of their clansmen. They didn’t wish for any human influence in this clash between titans on stage. Everyone had seen what had occurred moments ago was only the appetizer. What followed would be the true main course.

Chu Zhaonan looked deeply at the man before him and cut his hand without the slightest hesitation on the butt of his pistol. A trace of blood suddenly appeared on his hand, and the devilish pistol seemed to gain energy in a flash. A spiritual pressure that caused the hearts of initial-stage Qi Condensation cultivators to palpitate swept up the entire arena in a flash!

In this wink of time, Xu Yangyi’s expression was incomparably solemn.

“First shot.” Chu Zhaonan softly uttered these words, and his entire being completely vanished with a whoosh! There was only a cloud of dust left from where he originally stood. All of Xu Yangyi’s bodily senses had magnified to the pinnacle. After his fives senses had been strengthened by the small box, he had immediately seized his opponent’s location!

In midair! At the absolute highest point!

Initial-stage Qi Condensation cultivators weren’t capable of jumping that high, but right now, Chu Zhaonan was at the very least fifty meters above the ground! This was a bodily skill that came along with Gun Kata! At the same time, a strange noise echoed through the entire arena!

Rustle… Rustle…

There was no wind, yet a rustling sound like wind brushing through boundless grassy prairies rang out!

“Is this… a divine ability?!” A student cried out in surprise, looking up to the sky incredulously!

A so-called divine ability was also the Hundred Solutions, yet this divine ability was publically known as the one of the simplest among divine abilities. Those before the first twenty solutions simply didn’t have any destructive force. Well, at least regarding late-stage Qi Condensation cultivators. A true divine ability was hardly the same as a street good like the Hundred Solutions, capable of bringing about a strange transformation in people and moreover able to bring the heavens and earth to move!

For example… Chu Zhaonan was doing just that right now!

“But divine abilities can’t be learned until after the middle stage?” Gao Ye, who was wrapped head to toe in bandages, looked on in astonishment at the present Chu Zhaonan, who was like a monarch overlooking the stage, his lips trembling. “He’s just an initial-stage! He wasn’t the one that failed to break through a couple days ago!”

“You think those two freaks are any different from the middle stage?” Luo Sanfeng firmly pursed his lips, turned his head back in extreme irreconciliation, and said, “Just because you’re able to learn it in the middle stage doesn’t mean that you can only learn it once you attain the middle stage! Although I don’t want to accept it…” He carried a burning envy in his eyes, looking towards the arena stage and gritting his teeth. “These two… Besides normal middle-stage cultivators, no one else is their opponents!” 

In ancient times, divine abilities were known as… magic.

Rustle… Rustle… The grassland sound gradually resonated throughout the entire venue, but Xu Yangyi was motionless. He only looked at the silhouette in midair, like a hawk. From moments ago, the odd, boundlessly interweaving qi was like a heel maggot attached to his body. It was as if he was walking in a limitless grassy expanse, and below his waist, everything was long grass.

In the face of myriad transformations, he would remain unchanged; he had to know what Chu Zhaonan’s trump card was.

In midair, Chu Zhaonan used both his hands to hold his pistol with an unparalleled solemness, and sucked in deeply. “In the darkness of the forest, the wind rustles the grass…” [2]

Bang! On the floor of the arena stage, a fierce gale suddenly sprung up around Xu Yangyi’s surroundings! A great wind had arrived on the grasslands… Closely pressed against his body, it caused his camouflage attire to whistle. He had saw it… In his pupils, he clearly saw the situation in the air.

Both of Chu Zhaonan’s arms were trembling, and the sleeves of his camouflage attire had completely burst apart, exposing his muscle-packed arms. At this instant, his veins had swelled and his complexion was extremely pale, as if he was enduring some tremendous suffering. Yet the tiny black hole of the gun barrel facing Xu Yangyi gave him an extreme pressure!

Thump… Thump… Xu Yangyi’s pulse sped up, a natural physical reaction to the tremendous pressure he was confronted with. The blood in his arteries boiled.

“Are you calling on me to escape?” A cold edge streaked across his eyes. After the five senses had strengthened, a cultivator would be even sharper regarding unknown threats, but at this instant, he forcibly suppressed his heart’s wild palpitations and his inflamed thoughts. Beneath his foot, he stood as if he was rooted in place!

He was resolute in matching this move!

“The general draws his bow at night…” Chu Zhaonan’s raspy voice was heard in the air. Xu Yangyi understood it to be a classical Chinese poem from the past. And yet in his state of forced calm, he didn’t know why he was still able to squeeze out a thread of strange tranquility amidst extreme danger.