Archfiend Chapter 43

Chapter 43: Champion!

Xu Yangyi's gaze and Chu Zhaonan's collided together in midair like the screech of gold and iron. At the same time, the same meaning could be seen within both of their eyes. 

An appreciation for the other's talent.

Xu Yangyi's lips moved, and Chu Zhaonan believed himself not to have seen it clearly, yet he discovered that he now saw it clearer than anyone else. He had seen the three words his counterpart had said without a doubt. 

Leave no regret!

"Fuck!" He laughed heartily and swiftly raised his hands up. At this instant, sound became void. All that remained were the two figures atop of the arena stage, two silhouettes dripping with blood. A soundless yet seemingly sonorous fluctuation stirred the emotions of every cultivator that had just entered the path of cultivation and even their seniors. 

"Swish!" In the next second, two qi blades had arrived in front of Chu Zhaonan. The last shred of spiritual force within his body drifted away, and Xu Yangyi exerted the entirety of his strength to slash downwards without the slightest hesitation! Simultaneously, the two black holes that were the muzzles of pistols were already leveled right before him. 

"Beneath the still moon, the jade glimmers with a flash of gold."*

"Boom! Boom!" Two blazes like that of cannon fire suddenly erupted between the two people! It appeared that a small bomb had detonated on stage, and a crimson shockwave visible to the naked eye violently exploded!

Smoke and dust filled the sky and rubble flew into the air. No one could clearly see what was going on inside. Firecloud didn't use his spiritual sense to survey and neither did Shadowslay. 

This battle could be said to be a bitter one. The loser wouldn't be disgraced in this duel, and the blood-covered winner would have seized the championship. For his spiritual sense to enter the battlefield would be a blasphemy to the dignity of cultivators. It was tantamount to provocation. They did not desire to provoke these two youths with boundless prospects.

"In several tens of years… I will be waiting for them in Foundation Establishment." Firecloud said heavily. 

"So it is." Shadowslay said complicatedly and his gaze flickered. 

"What happened!" 

"Who won!" 

"Who is going to take the championship!" 

"Have these two exerted their full strength already?"

The rank ones had nearly rushed into the spiritual energy walls to see the result, however, they weren't capable of entering. These were spiritual energy walls that not even cultivators at the Great Circle of Foundation Establishment could enter, crafted by the hands of a Core Formation master. Even if they were hurried, they could only wait in vain. 

At the center of the spiritual energy walls, spirit waves roiled and sand covered the sky. It was at this time… an earth-shaking droning could be heard with a rumble.

"Huuuuuuum…" Everyone's gaze was immediately drawn in amidst the wait.

"My… god…" A woman at the initial stage of Qi Condensation covered her mouth, looking at the forty-plus stone steles erected in the surroundings like she had seen a ghost. 

"It's not…" A mortal from a cultivation clan raised his head incredulously, his Adam's apple rolling in fright. He simply dared not to believe in his eyes. 

An old woman stood up in shock, the veins of her hand propped on her walking stick were completely exposed. Her lips trembled as she looked at all before her. 

A youth seemed to be a puppet on strings, wordlessly rising. He rigidly pursed his lips, not saying a single word. 

Smoke and dust, all that could be seen again was smoke and dust. Before even the first cloud dissipated, a second would take its place. 

Only this time… it wasn't the smoke and dust of stone, but rather that of spiritual energy! A heavy downpour of spiritual energy! An ocean of spiritual energy! At this moment, the remaining forty-plus stone steles unexpectedly shattered in their entireties! Amidst this year's Nantong Province grand championship competition, all the stone steles of champions years past had completely crumbled into pieces! 

There were no tremors or rocking. Not even the breaking of crawling cracks. In five seconds, merely five seconds, forty heavy sounds rang out in unison! All of the stone steles transformed into motes of spiritual energy! 

At this moment, there were great changes beneath the four simple characters of unrivaled beneath the heavens. Motes of spiritual energy like the ocean revolved and faded away. As if it was a dream or illusion, it was reflected in everyone's incredulous expression, appearing to be an immortal realm in the human world. 

No one spoke, there wasn't a single person that said a thing. Their gazes had come together on the final stone stele! A nameless stele! The sole stone stele that had not shattered into pieces! After the nation was founded, he was China's number one cultivation talent! 

It didn't sway, and it didn't so much as tremble. However… within everyone's gaze, there was a cracking noise. 

A crack!

This was the first time a crack had appeared on Sunnihilator's nameless stele! 

"Craaaaaack." It was no minor crack by any means. From the bottom of the center, it rushed straight up to the peak! It seemed it wanted to split this nameless stele above the masses of stone steles in half! 

"Huff…" Firecloud's absent-minded voice charged into his own ears. He had discovered that at some unknown point, he had already advanced forward a few paces and both of his hands were supported on the grandstand. An ocean of complications welled up within his heart.

This level of talent… was ranked completely above his own! It made a Foundation Establishment cultivator like him unable not to be envious! Talent was not able to determine future accomplishments, but it could decide one's starting point!  

His gaze swept over the present scene, one of serene silence and as well as… the shaking of the stone steles that every major power and great clan had seen. No one spoke, only the burning passions in their eyes had already betrayed them. 

They couldn't wait much longer! 

As they continued to wait… everyone present was waiting on the true fire to come! 

Firecloud's gaze suddenly fluctuated, and after passionately looking towards the arena stage, he pursed his lips several times and finally grit his teeth. With a gentle wave of his hand, a command tablet appeared, and a green-colored light beam immediately hit the walls of spiritual energy. Through the gap, figures appearing to be men slowly emerged. He promptly split the air apart with a palm, and all the smoke and dust instantly vanished as if it had run into a squall. 

As the dust settled, two silhouettes were revealed on stage. 

Two people sat down on the floor with hardly any form. An outcome simply couldn't be seen. From Chu Zhaonan's right shoulder to his stomach, there was a wound so terrifying that nearly his internal organs could be seen. As for Xu Yangyi, his right pectoral had been mutilated, and he sat down facing the other like a piece of coke.**

"Why are you so strong?" After a while, Chu Zhaonan faintly asked.

"It doesn't matter." Xu Yangyi laughed: "Because you have already found your enemies. Only I, to this day, still shoulder the things you have already set down." 

Silent, it wasn't until a long period of time did Chu Zhaonan say heavily: "Is it because I have no goal…" 

"Maybe?" Xu Yangyi covered his chest and laughed: "Did you know, everytime I wanted to laze about, I thought about my mother and father watching me in Heaven…? I do not dare fall to inaction. I remember in my childhood when I was going to school that they took me to a stationery store in a little town and picked out school bags for me one by one…" 

None heard what they were saying. This was the very least respect that they could offer. 

Chu Zhaonan didn't open his mouth and silently listened. 

"Afterwards… they put a ruler in my pencil case and then the sharpened pencils…" 

"I didn't enjoy eating vegetable, but they would always force me to eat them… So, I invested a 100 thousand times more effort than others. I guarantee that even in comparison to the greatest exertion in your imagination, it is still more painstaking." 

"Over the past ten-odd years, I haven't even spent a lot of time on the internet. I do not have many friends, and moreover, I do not have time to rest…" 

Xu Yangyi proudly clenched his fist: "If I am not strong, then who is?"

Not a person opened their mouths. At this moment, atop the crack-covered arena stage and under the four massive characters overhead of unrivaled beneath the heavens, they were like Ye Gucheng and Ximen Chuixue at the summit of the Forbidden City after they had discussed the sword, slowly having a heart-to-heart conversation.***

"So it turned out to be like this…" It was unknown how much time had passed until a wisp of a pained smile revealed itself on Chu Zhaonan's face: "I accept my defeat wholeheartedly." Before his voice had even fallen, Chu Zhaonan's back suddenly ruptured, and a horrific wound in the shape of a cross extended over his entire back! 

Blood spurted out like a fountain! His complexion was deathly white, and the heavens spun and the earth revolved with his head at the center, as he had already fallen on top of the arena stage with a boom and immediately lost consciousness. 

In the next second, Xu Yangyi's entire body seemed to become a sieve, and tiny blood arrows wildly jetted out in a similar fashion. They had become blood humans in less than five seconds, however, Xu Yangyi stood up. Chu Zhaonan was already lying down. A soundless conclusion held the words to explain everything. 

Within a scope of a hundred meters of the arena stage, not a single stone in good condition could be seen. These chaotic spider web cracks were everywhere along with some couple-meter-deep black pits. Of the exposed flesh of the two people on stage, there was nearly no place left unscathed, and there were bloodstains all over their bodies, yet their expressions weren't very caring. 

All around, there were originally more than a 120 stone steles, but now there was only one nameless stele left. This nameless stele was still extremely striking to the eye, a giant scar cracking it from the middle.

"Chu Zhaonan lost…" The flesh of Shadowslay's face faintly trembled: "A 4A student who possesses gun kata… has actually lose to a student that only knows the Hundred Solutions…" 

Chu Tianyi's face turned white as paper, his finger still pressed on top of his ring. He painfully shut his eyes, trembling fiercely. He finally understood… Even if it was him, he still has his naive moments.

This wasn't his first time witnessing a battle of cultivators. In the past, he had watched them in videos, so he was incapable of experiencing the direct sensation like that of a landslide or tsunami. Thus, he believed he could use the Immortal Intoxication he had brought with him, yet was in fact given a resounding slap to the face. 

It could not be used...

Or perhaps it should be said, it could not be used in his hands. 

However, by no means could he possibly hand the prize over to anyone else! The ring he had touched countless of times and let go of countless of times and the twinkling opportunity had passed away like so. Ultimately, he could not find an opportunity. 

Firecloud sucked in deeply, but just as he was going to speak, a fiery voice echoed from the audience. 

"Senior Firecloud, since the outcome has already been decided… wouldn't it be better to hurry up and release the seal and let those two fellow Daoists come out first?"

Firecloud's words choked to death in his throat and his gaze cut past like a knife. 

Who! Who was this! He still hadn't expressed his good will; who was it that was so pressed! Didn't they see Xu Yangyi and Chu Zhaonan were still spitting up blood?! Didn't they see the chaos of the present scene?! He was still considering how to rope these two in. Who was in such a rush?  How would he scare the others off?

He glanced at an old man at the Great Circle of Qi Condensation, only a step short of entering Foundation Establishment. The disparity between Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment was like that of heaven and earth. He wouldn't put such a cultivation in his eyes, but the flame crest on the other's chest and the character Li (李) at the center of it made his eyelids jump. 

A million cultivators, 30 thousand in Foundation Establishment, and a branch in each province. It was not only the several major powers that had Foundation Establishment cultivators. 

If he hadn't remembered incorrectly… although he really did want to remember erroneously, Fengyi's Li Family was Nantong Province's number one cultivation clan. With three Foundation Establishment cultivators beneath their house, he did not desire some misunderstand to occur between him and them at all. 

He swept his eyes in passing, taking a look at several thousand pairs of dark-green eyes like that of wolves. That was right… The Qualifier had come to an end and the proceeding stage… would perhaps be even more cruel than the Qualifier!

He silently tightened his hand at his back, a delicate capsule clenched in his palm. This was the Gold Spirit Pill he was originally prepared to give to Chu Zhaonan and Xu Yangyi, but now...

"Champion, Yuyang City's Xu Yangyi." 

Suppressing the unwillingness in his heart, his gaze swept past the VIP seats. Several shadows had already stood up without the slightest hesitation.

T/N: Haven't been posting because I was reworking older chapters, especially the new ones. If you see terminology in the future that has changed from this point on and you do not look back to see my edits, assume it was a change I made. This chapter is up on the cutting block for revision too, but I don't want to change terminology for current readers so suddenly, but I also want to kill the cliff hanger. 

* 浮光跃金，静影沉璧 - Beneath the still moon, the jade glimmers a flash of gold. A difficult aspect of translating is trying to convey poetic phrases used by actual figures from the past. This line originates from a Chinese official/philosopher Fan Zhongyan who used this phrase to describe the beauty of a lake.

** 焦炭 - I feel the need to make a specific note for this one. This means coke in Chinese. Not soda coke though, but a form of processed fuel. Quite frankly, this adjective modifier kinda flies over my head. 

*** These characters are from Gu Long's Lu Xiaofeng series. 

Chapter end