Archfiend Chapter 40

Chapter 40: Battle Royale (Five)

Xu Yangyi didn't saw a word. The flesh of his entire body 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, foreign objects had already ceased to exist. At this moment, there was only each other, and the sole throbbing figure in their eyes. Strength like an ocean tide passed on into Xu Yangyi's fist; it was Chu Zhaonan's fist strength. He immediately recognized he was much stronger than his opponent!

Lightly gritting his teeth, the muscles of his entire body adjusted to their peak state, and 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, his left fist punched out at the same time! 

Before the fists had 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, the knuckle of his forefinger protruded outwards to strike at Xu Yangyi's temple. In the same second that they felt that they were on the verge of touching the other, the mutual sensitivity in the two's hearts caused them to retract their hands concurrently, completely blocking their vitals above.*

It was a nearly instinctual action of the body. Xu Yangyi's left leg was one that had sent ten-odd rank ones flying. His leg carrying a gale to it along with the crashing sound of shattered stone, he suddenly kicked towards his opponent! The speed of the kick surprisingly carried with it the whistling noise 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 walls of spiritual energy, moved as quickly as if they were chasing the wind and pursuing the moon. Only those of the middle-stage Qi Condensation and above were capable of clearly seeing their actions. As for the initial Qi Condensation cultivators and ordinary clan team members, theirs eyes were all saucered. They could only see the intense interaction of the two silhouettes and the unbroken heavy echoes.

A whistling noise rang out in the surroundings of the two. Every fist and every leg between the two appeared to be arranged, without the use of an inkling of spiritual force. It was pure physical combat of the most primitive of natures. 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 restrain himself from swallowing his saliva. 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 champion ought to have possessed?

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

"I-is this still the the initial stage of Qi Condensation?"

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

Chu Zhaonan gasped for breath and licked the bloodstain 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 to it. 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 grit 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 a moment ago, he was dead sure the information that had been spread around by someone before that Xu Yangyi had killed a berserker was categorically not a falsehood!

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 will to battle. 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 the side of every person's ear. Following this sound, the gentle noise of applause, similarly extremely light, yet remarkably distinct echoed through the arena stage.

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

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

"Amazing! Too Amazing! I couldn't see anything with absolute clarity just now!" An initial-stage youth's excited face had nearly become gorged flush with blood, and he shouted himself hoarse: "They're too awesome!"

Before he had 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 of the initial stage, he didn't dare to say it would be a complete 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 repeated shook his head in deep emotion.

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

Chu Zhaonan leaned his whole body forward like a hunting beast and locked his gaze rigidly on Xu Yangyi. His extended hand at the side of his waist slowly took out pistol, one that had never been revealed.

The gun was approximately a foot in length, and no different whatsoever than an ordinary gun. Only the blue runes on it gave people a fluctuation of death.** 

Xu Yangyi didn't open his mouth, 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 cross between his brows, become a death marker. His two fists tightened, and he placed them before him. With his gaze like an eagle's, he perceived opponent's each and every move.

"I have three bullets." Chu Zhaonan's voice clearly rang out among the tide of boundless applause: "If you dodge these three shots, then you win."

On the grandstand above, Chu Tianyi was already stroking the ring on his right hand with his left hand. Inside was a concentrated dose of Immortal Brew. As long as he pressed the button in his ring, this concentrated does would be sufficient to make Xu Yangyi fall on the ground and unable to stand up. 

However, he didn't wish for such a thing. If Chu Zhaonan was capable triumphing, 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 the people of their clan. They didn't wish for any human influence on the clash between titans on stage. Everyone had seen that what had occurred moments ago was only the appetizer. Following up 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 whole arena in a flash!

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

"First shot." Chu Zhaonan softly uttered these words from his mouth, and his entire person completely vanished with a whoosh! At where he originally stood, there was only a cloud of dust left over. The senses of Xu Yangyi's whole body had magnified to the pinnacle. After his fives senses had been strengthened by the small chest, 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 the very least fifty meters away from 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!

"Shhh… Shhh…"

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 in 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 were simply without any destructive force. Well, at the minimum in regards to late-stage Qi Condensation cultivators. A true divine ability was barely the same like street-side good like the Hundred Solutions, capable of bringing about a strange transformation in people and moreover able to bring the heavens and the earth to motion!

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

"But isn't until after the middle stage one can learn divine abilities?" Gao Ye who wrapped in head to toe in bandages looked in astonishment at the present Chu Zhaonan who was like a monarch looking the stage, his lips trembling: "He's nothing but the initial stage! The one that failed to break through days ago isn't him!"

"You think those two freaks are any different from the middle stage?" Luo Sanfeng firmly pursed his lips and 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 grit his teeth: "These two… Besides normal middle-stage cultivators, there are no others that are their opponents!" 

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

"Shhh… Shhh…" The grassland sound gradually resonated through the entire venue, but Xu Yangyi didn't move a bit. He only looked at the silhouette in midair like a hawk. From moments ago, the odd, boundlessly interweaving spiritual energy 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…"***

"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 clothing to make a whistling noise. He had saw it… In his pupils, he clearly seen the situation in the sky.

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

"Thump… Thump…" His heart sped up in pulse, a natural bodily reaction to the tremendous pressure Xu Yangyi 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 in regards to unknown threats, but at this instant, he forcibly suppressed the wildl palpitations of his heart 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 could be heard from midair. Xu Yangyi understood it to be a classical Chinese poem from the past, but he didn't know why in the thick of extreme danger, he was still able to squeeze out a sliver of strange serenity under the circumstance of forced calm. 

* I think I can kinda speak about Chu Zhaonan's move here. If you're familiar with Chinese martial arts, there's a fist form where you extend that knuckle/joint out to make two points of impact. Or I could be wrong. 

** The measurement for foot here is a Chinese Che or Chi. It is a little bit longer than a standard imperial system of twelve inches = one foot. Depending where you check in asia, it is of different measurement. 

*** 林暗草惊风 - this is a phrase by a general during ancient chinese times known as "The Flying General" named Li Guang. This refers to a phrase/poem by him where he goes out patrolling and hears something rustling in the grass, so he takes out his bow and fires at it, thinking it to be a beast.

Chapter end