《Archfiend》Chapter 38: Battle Royale (3)
Advertisement
Gao Ye was a tall youth and moreover extremely robust. He was nearly as tall as Chu Zhaonan, approximately around 1.9 meters tall as well. His head was bald, and his muscles were bulging like a sturdy ox. With eyes as large as copper bells, he looked at Chu Zhaonan like he wanted to eat him.
Chu Zhaonan couldn’t even be bothered to spare Gao Ye a glance. From his leg wrappings, he coolly took out a gun. It was a small handgun, exceptionally small, the size of a palm. So small that the brand couldn’t be seen clearly, and it was without any runes.
“Hehe…” Gao Ye’s laugh was raspy, and his voice was like a rusty blade. Atop the arena stage, he didn’t make the first move but rather crossed his arms across his chest and looked at Chu Zhaonan with full interest as the latter unhurriedly loaded his pistol. Chu Zhaonan had only loaded it with a single bullet, one that was dark-green in color.
“Are you retarded?” After waiting no less than a minute, Chu Zhaonan callously blew on his pistol’s muzzle, and Gao Ye sneered.
“Firearms basically can’t hit cultivators. They can’t kill them, either. Didn’t you learn that at the Tianfeng City branch?”
Chu Zhaonan’s gaze flitted across Gao Ye, looking down at Xu Yangyi below the stage. He suddenly laughed. “Your show wasn’t bad. However, I’ve got a part here, too. Although the time it takes is a bit long, it’ll be a win in style.”
Xu Yangyi chuckled. He crossed his arms and leaned back against the stone wall, not speaking. Gao Ye had lost… He knew that Chu Zhaonan didn’t need a gun. However, Xu Yangyi was still a newcomer that didn’t understand much regarding the cultivation world, so he simply didn’t understand what having a gun represented. But while he didn’t know, he could perceive that the pistol at Chu Zhaonan’s waist was very dangerous… extremely dangerous.
His five senses had already strengthened by a third in comparison to ordinary cultivators. Every time his spiritual sense congealed over that gun, he kept on feeling a stabbing pain between his eyebrows. This was the manifestation of a danger signal. When he’d originally kicked Chu Zhaonan on the airplane, he had understood that Chu Zhaonan’s body was unlikely to be much weaker than his in the slightest. Their realms were similar, and while he hadn’t felt a prick between his brows as Chu Zhaonan took out the small pistol, he had still felt extremely uncomfortable.
“Since you have such confidence…” Gao Ye whistled a tune, “lemme see what you’re worth.”
Chu Zhaonan could see these words were lip service, and the corner of his mouth faintly turned upwards. In the next second… he had vanished! Gao Ye’s vision suddenly intensified, and Xu Yangyi’s eyes flashed. The gazes of everyone in the arena were trembling! Moments ago, Xu Yangyi had also been a shadow, but this time Chu Zhaonan had truly disappeared!
Xu Yangyi sucked in deeply, and his spiritual sense rushed forth like a tide. Short of 0.3 seconds later, he raised his head with a jolt! All the middle-stage and late-stage Qi Condensation cultivators, and Foundation Establishment cultivators raised their heads. Twenty meters high in the air, Chu Zhaonan’s figure astonishingly appeared!
“Gun Kata…” Chu Zhaonan had at some unknown time taken out two guns in his hand, a pair of identical silver pistols. He breathed in deeply, and his gaze sharpened explosively. “Heartseeker!”
Advertisement
Swooooosshhh! In an instant, his body revolved into a spinning top! However… as he spun, all that could be seen at the center of this camouflaged grassy-green tornado were flame tongues! From ten, they counted to a hundred, from a hundred they turned into a thousand. From a thousand, they transformed into over ten thousand! At nearly the same moment, these flame tongues furiously churned outwards!
Bang bang bang! In the air, the roar of pistols formed a symphony of slaughter! Simultaneously, Shadowslay unexpectedly stood up and slightly flicked out with a forefinger. Buzz! A gigantic curtain of green light surrounded the arena stage to the innermost part of all sides!
“This is…” An old man said slightly surprised. “Senior Shadowslay used spiritual force to construct a defensive cover? He…” He glanced at Chu Zhaonan in shock. “Does Senior Shadowslay believe that this student can injure the same graduating juniors?! Is the distance between them so far apart?”
“Gun Kata!” But at the same time, there were many people who had already recognized Chu Zhaonan’s moves, and gasped coldly. They immediately defended the juniors of their own families within their qi!
“Great-grandfather… What’s going on?” A young boy asked incredulously and looked bewilderedly at the cautious face of his great-grandfather, who was also an ancestor of their Song Clan, in front of him.
“This is Gun Kata.” The old man’s expression was focused. “This is an arcane effort, a secret technique he brought himself. The demand for it on the market is at least a few billion! Furthermore, maybe there’s no market for this price! It looks stylish and has a reputation of being a sure-killer within the same boundary… I looked up this competition in advance, and that student’s surname is Chu. I’m afraid he has a backer of unimaginable greatness within the Chinese government...”
Gao Ye was already stunned. What Chu Zhaonan had said wasn’t from the Hundred Solutions? What was this? He couldn’t see it clearly, but he could distinctly sense it. A countless number of bullets were racing towards his entire body in assault! They seemed to flutter about like honey bees and butterflies, but the fact of the matter was that every single bullet’s final destination was his heart!
“ARRRGHHHH!” He suddenly roared, and the muscles of his entire body sharply swelled. The camouflage clothing on his body suddenly burst apart, and all the veins on his upper body were like rushing dragons and serpents, converging together into the image of a qilin on his chest!
Life Sacrification!
Xu Yangyi’s gaze turned a shade grave upon seeing this. A student capable of using Life Sacrification was absolutely deserving of his reputation as a champion.
“Tortoise Burdens!” With his second roar, Gao Ye crossed his arms in front of himself and leaned forward. By combining Life Sacrification and Tortoise Burdens together, he didn’t believe that he wouldn’t be able to block this confrontation of mere firearms!
Yet even if he couldn’t block it… Gao Ye didn’t have any other moves to use afterwards!
Bang bang bang! Endless tongues of fire spewed out resplendent fireworks in the sky, like a fountain of flames. As all the bullets were on the verge of making contact with Gao Ye, countless tiny ripples suddenly appeared in front of him at the same time.
Advertisement
If someone looked carefully within these ripples, they were all incomparably small bullets. Meanwhile, the four qi walls were the same as the front of Gao Ye, suffused with several millions of ripples at the same time! Endless bullets simultaneously bombarded, reaching a magnificent spectacle in parallel!
“Huff…” Xu Yangyi inhaled deeply and took his hand out. Powerful… As expected, Chu Zhaonan was very powerful! Arcane efforts weren’t something they could access, but treasure blades would be put into the hands of brave warriors. Evidently, Chu Zhaonan was that man of bravery. This was his true strength! A split second ago, killing intent had filled the wide expanse! Every ripple was a true streak of murderous will. If not for Shadowslay acting to obstruct it, then perhaps Gao Ye would’ve already died by now!
Buzz... Shadowslay waved his hand and the four qi walls dissipated into white qi. However, the bullets that had been “stopped” in midair by the qi walls finally fell down at this instant, making tinkling noises. The sound was clear and crisp like small and large pearls crashing down on a jade platter. A floral shower of countless bullets rained down upon Chu Zhaonan’s surroundings! It was just that this floral shower was a fatal one, even bringing with it hissing white smoke caused by the emission of severe friction. It was a perfect curtain call.
A drop of cold sweat on the tip of Gao Ye’s nose fell onto the ground. Heaven knows that he’d almost believed himself to have died at that final instant. Endless bullets… A genuine forest of guns and raining bullets! It was as if millions of reapers had brandished their sickles, and come charging at him while screeching! How was Life Sacrification coupled with Tortoise Burdens supposed to resist this?
“Tianfeng City, Chu Zhaonan wins.” Firecloud’s voice echoed out, shaking everyone awake from this stylish feast of slaughter. Yet in the next second, a familiar sound like a crumbling biscuit swiftly pervaded everyone’s ears.
“It's not…” An old man raised his head in astonishment.
“Real or fake…” Dazed, a middle-aged woman uneasily shifted her Chanel bag, and looked at the suddenly trembling stone steles.
“Isn’t Nantong Province’s luck… too good this time? First there was that fiend Xu, and now a second fiend has appeared?”
“Someone else broke the steles from past graduations?”
“Heavens… This does the Nantong Province branch proud. Two fiends in a row!”
The sound of cracking rang out progressively. In the next moment, four steles shattered with a rumble! Eighteen stone steles were violently swaying back and forth!
No one spoke. Among the light pillars of the disintegrated stone steles, Chu Zhaonan looked proudly at Xu Yangyi from the stage above. Xu Yangyi raised his head and looked at his counterpart, absent of the slightest concession with a warring gaze. This was a declaration of war. This was a true battle challenge! He, Xu Yangyi, had roused a hundred percent of Chu Zhaonan’s fighting will!
Xu Yangyi had settled his battle in three seconds before. His style was crude, barbaric, and unreasonable.
Chu Zhaonan had settled his battle in thirty seconds afterwards. His style was polished, graceful, and untainted by even a speck of dust. Within the gathering of ten thousand flowers, not a single petal had touched his body. Among the pitter-patter of infinite bullets, the will to fight had reached extremes, in the duo’s eyes.
Cultivation in the first place was the struggle of all beings. To lack diligence and caution would lead to a dead end! Only the most fitting opponent was capable of sharpening one’s own skill, willpower, and strength to an even higher level!
They both understood this principle. At this instant, they seemed to have caught sight of each other as predestined rivals. Their styles were different and their timings was different, but their strength and fierceness flowed together in a similar vein. Chu Zhaonan raised his hand and sliced it across his throat, licking his lips. He hadn’t even looked at Gao Ye’s face, which was deathly ashen.
The students watching this turned their gazes to Xu Yangyi. It was because they understood it very clearly… These two people were cut from the same cloth, the strong and the monstrous. Their opponents wouldn’t be them whatsoever! It was without question that Chu Zhaonan wasn’t looking at them. A monster… should compete against monsters! And fight other monsters!
“I’ll be waiting for you.”
Xu Yangyi’s brows were still. It appeared that the current scene of raining bullets pitter-pattering was different from the background behind Chu Zhaonan. Chu Zhaonan could’ve concealed his Gun Kata, could’ve relied on the Hundred Solutions, but he hadn’t. Instead, he had taken out his own impressive hidden ace, demanding for battle!
If you want a fight, then I’ll satisfy you! You want a battle where you can fight to your heart’s content and dye your fist with blood? I, Xu Yangyi, also look forward to an expert I can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with!
“You’re not worried?” A voice abruptly emerged from Xu Yangyi’s side, a woman’s voice. She wasn’t tall and couldn’t be considered very beautiful.
“Why should I be worried?” Xu Yangyi raised a brow and replied.
“That’s an arcane effort that none of us have ever seen! That kid is cheating!” The woman said hatefully, “We’re going to go together and make an appeal to the Foundation Establishment seniors! This is illegal! He’s cheating! He secretly learned other arcane efforts!”
Xu Yangyi stowed his gaze away from Chu Zhaonan and glanced pitifully at her. “So, all of you can only play the hare. Your heart is without sword, yet your external sword is better, brighter, and sharper…” He fished out a lighter and leisurely lit a cigarette, taking a drag in satisfaction. “but you can only be the hare.”
He answered the woman no longer, placing his eyes on the present cultivation clans. Their faces were incensed as if they were crazy. With another glance, he saw the excitedly standing personnel from the Bountiful Treasures Pavilion, the Featherwood Guard, and the CSIB. He ought to have accepted such courtesy. The strong never wanted false modesty. He laughed as he flicked his cigarette ash, an incomparably resolute thought within his heart now.
Only I can break him! There’s no one who can pose a shred of threat against him besides me!
Xu Yangyi was quite sure that Chu Zhaonan also had this same thought within his heart.
Advertisement
- In Serial11 Chapters
A Fractal Divide
Lesivar is a city in ascendancy. With recent innovations in magical crafting, the common people are experiencing a boom in comfort and wealth. The nobility, long used to being the stewards of knowledge and power, struggle to adapt to the new world in which they find themselves. A precarious balance has been maintained throughout, but forces stir beneath the surface threatening to send the city spiraling into chaos. This is my first attempt at writing anything longer than a short story, and I welcome any feedback or corrections. I'm posting this as I write, with each chapter going live upon completion. My current pace is about a chapter a day, which I expect to take my through the end of November. From there, I'm shooting for a chapter every two-three days until the book is completed, along with an editing pass of what is already up. I'm planning on three POV characters with unique insight into the story as it unfolds. Each chapter will contain only one POV. [participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge]
8 69 - In Serial23 Chapters
Shadow's Fall (Discontinued)
Dere(Dare-ay)- Prince of Darkness, God of Shadows, Patron of Beggars and Thieves, King of Lies, and Divine of many titles- awakens to a startling realization; he has been made mortal. The gods have punished him for a crime he swears he didn't commit. Now, stripped of his divinity and powers and cast down to the mortal world, Dere finds himself smack in the middle of an ongoing coup against the sitting Monarch of Clovin, a kingdom he doesn't even know. He avoids involving himself in the petty mortal affair until he learns that it may not be as simple as it first seemed. Monsters of a God long thought dead have reappeared and the hands of the Immortals themselves are at work in Clovin. To restore his immortality and preserve a decision he made long ago, the newly mortal Dere dives into the power struggle around the kingdom and allies himself with the last remaining member of the old monarchy. As he delves deeper and deeper into the ongoing struggle in his search for answers, he uncovers a much larger conspiracy, one that may threaten the gods themselves.
8 179 - In Serial22 Chapters
Ancestral World: Memorial Clouds
A world that was ruled by no one at first and became a peaceful modern society. Under the shiny and clear sky with the cherry blossoms all around the school, a young man was waiting for his new chapter of life to start. He wanted a peaceful life after the figting that he had done over the years. Having the thought that of the new school life in front of him would lead him to a nice life, dangers await as his existence to other people are nothing but an obstacle. He has to fight his way through to protect his new companions that he made and keep his life that will be ruled by peace someday.
8 195 - In Serial16 Chapters
City Goons
Everybody is looking for something in the city ruins. For Haru it’s the loot, the rewards, and one day finding her mother’s pendant after losing it during the Folding, an apocalyptic event where multiple dimensions smooshed into each other and created interdimensional human-monster hybrids. For Kill Death aka KD it’s a rock ‘em sock ‘em good fight to grow stronger. And together, Haru and KD will fight monsters, find loot, meet colourful characters and go on adventures as… City Goons! New chapters every week on Tuesdays and Fridays for now! The story is episodic, with about 4 chapters per episode. So if you like a Saturday morning cartoon, this story is right up your alley. Cover art by yuhkiipop
8 354 - In Serial7 Chapters
flowers !
your eyes burned like the cascade of flowers .
8 186 - In Serial50 Chapters
Behavioural Tutor
Tommy was known as the school's 'Bad Boy', the 'Troubled Kid', the 'Problem Child' and in extreme cases, the 'Psycho', all because he was different. No one understands him, until one day when he gets a Behavioural Tutor and a Therapist. He's had them before, but these people seem different. They're willing to listen to him, to learn about him, but in doing so, realise something is off about Tommy. Is he just a cool kid with an attitude, like Techno? Or is there a secret Tommy's tried so hard to hide. One that would explain his behaviour and frequent injuries. One that would make Tommy a victim and not a culprit.So... this got derailed so uhm... it's now a gang book! I have no idea why people like this monstrosity but wooooooo angst!Im not really going to go into too much details with TWs, (I don't want to spoil the plot) so read at your own risk. I'm really sorry! But as for the ones that I know of: SHpanic attacks Weapon useWeapon description Death Swearing(Pls tell me if there are more I should include)This is a lot like Flower_Blooms's book called Behaviour so please go and read theirs as well :]Cover by kait kait on twitter.(Yes, I'm English so we put the month after the day)1 on tommyinnit --> 11/10/211 on behaviour --> 8/10/211 on tommy --> 14/10/212 on tubbo --> 14/10/213 on angst --> 17/10/2150on philzaminecraft -> 3/12/2169 on sleepyboisinc -> 10/11/211 on sbi --> 14/11/212 on angst --> 18/11/213 on wilbursoot --> 26/11/211 on sleepybois --> 27/11/21200 in fanfiction --> 29/11/2143 on technoblade --> 3/12/214 on ranboo--> 6/12/2112 on tutor --> 25/12/211 on tommy - -> 4/07/22
8 114

