novelraw Chapter 849: Zhong Shi—the Mechanism Freak? Then Gamble His Life Directly with the Butcher's Scale!
Chapter 849: Zhong Shi—the Mechanism Freak? Then Gamble His Life Directly with the Butcher's Scale!
Zhong Shi instinctively took a step back.
But suddenly, he seemed to have remembered something.
Instantly, his face changed.
“Ha ha ha ha Lu Ding, didn’t you notice? You can’t kill me. Even that weird slash of yours can’t kill me.”
He was almost fooled by that himself.
Among the four old patriarchs of Four Dukes Mountain, if you asked who was the strongest in combat, it had to be Nian Hu!
Who had the most specialized functionality? That had to be Feng Nanhen.
Who was the most well-rounded? That had to be Qu Hong.
As for Zhong Shi.
Nothing else—he was the best at preserving his life, and the most disgusting.Especially after he reached Spirit Refinement.
A god’s methods are beyond human comprehension.
Zhong Shi’s existence was a linear continuation sustained by Divinity.
He sacrificed offensive power in exchange for survivability.
Strictly speaking, Zhong Shi’s combat strength might not even match Lu Feng’s late God Ascension level, but his survivability, even against someone at God Sealing, might still be stronger than theirs.
Everyone who reaches such a level has their own opportunities.
Zhong Shi was no exception.
Everything in the world has mutual generation and restriction. As long as he didn’t encounter a technique that just happened to counter him, he could remain undefeated.
But he was foolishly arrogant.
Villains always die because they talk too much, or to show off pride. The Nian, Qu, and Feng elders were dead; only he, the smallest of the Four Dukes, remained alive, and Lu Ding even seemed powerless against him.
Isn’t that something to be proud of!?
After that reminder, Lu Ding began to realize some things.
His earlier kick at Zhong Shi had been too hasty.
Because he needed to deal with Feng Nanhen right away.
Now that he thought about it, Lu Ding found that Zhong Shi’s resistance to that kick had not been strong—indeed, almost nonexistent.
But the impact felt solid.
By combat experience standards, at that level of resistance, Zhong Shi could not have stood there unscathed against his strike.
With that in mind, and combined with the fragmentary intel Lu Ding had gathered about Zhong Shi, Lu Ding guessed that this man in front of him very likely had died once already.
The reason he could still stand now was because he had been resurrected through the linear continuation of his Divinity.
But that method was not infinite, nor always repeatable.
If it were, that would be perverse.
Such a method had limits and weaknesses.
One could use continuous attacks to grind down Zhong Shi’s limits, repeatedly killing him until his Divinity was entirely exhausted.
Or trace back to the source!
The Way of the Jinche could indeed kill. Zhong Shi had died, but his resurrection was phased. The resurrected version was him, but not the exact instance that was killed.
It was like cutting a rope with a sharp knife. The knife easily severs one segment, but the rope shifts and a new segment appears.
Is the knife not sharp?
The knife is sharp, but the damn rope is cheating.
To deal with this kind of mechanism freak, you had to use a mechanism-specific technique that targeted its weakness.
Others might not have that, but Lu Ding’s specialty was having many skills.
Zhong Shi watched Lu Ding and thought he was silent because of his words.
He hurriedly continued: “Grand Duke Lu, I respectfully call you Grand Duke Lu. You’ve killed me once; otherwise, shall we let it go today?”
“As the saying goes, leave some margin for others, so we can meet again in the future.”
He was actually nervous. This resurrection wasn’t endless; each time he resurrected, his cultivation would decline a step, continuously decaying until he dropped below Spirit Refinement, then below God Ascension. Once his cultivation no longer supported Divinity, he could no longer resurrect.
Previously his methods had always relied on this obnoxious resurrection mechanism.
He didn’t possess many outrageously powerful offensive skills—mostly grueling fights and running away. His whole game was to abuse constant restarts to recover state.
But facing Lu Ding’s name-calling control skill, he really had no confidence in escaping. If he fled, he could be controlled; if controlled, he would be killed. So fleeing served no purpose.
Better to see if they could negotiate.
“Today our four families were wrong. They have already paid with blood. I was killed by you before as well. The Zhong Family can offer compensation. Grand Duke Lu, what do you say?”
He raised his hand and shattered the clouds before him, clearing countless miles of sky.
Lu Ding glanced at the heavens. Even his million-meter body hadn’t gone all the way out. That really was high.
He made a hand seal, his voice echoing like a great bell: “Do you think you have any tricks to play?”
Zhong Shi laughed calmly, standing in place without resisting: “Grand Duke Lu, by all means try. Once you’re sure whether my words are true, we can talk. Go ahead and strike boldly. I Zhong will not resist—this is my sincerity.”
Damn, what an act.
Lu Ding actually laughed!!!
Alright!!!
Don’t blame me for taking advantage of your current size.
Mechanism clash—he raised a finger.
“Then let’s gamble our lives!!!”
Weird ripples spread, giving off a creepy chill.
Sinful Aversion·Meat-Cleaver Scale
Bet one’s life on fortune and death, flesh and blood fetch a good price.
Ever since Lu Ding obtained this, he hadn’t used it.
Today was perfect!!
Perfect for using this perverse mechanism against a mechanism freak like Zhong Shi.
As Lu Ding executed his technique,
countless crimson “Fairness” symbols flew out from the rippling distortion, transforming into palms that firmly gripped both the Godically-expanded Lu Ding and the confident Zhong Shi.
In an instant,
Zhong Shi felt something wrong. His linear life-preserving method, formed by secret arts paired with Divinity, was forcibly condensed to a point!
Or rather, these “Fairness” palms tightly seized every one of his linear existences.
Forced relocation!!!
Darkness assaulted his vision; the world around them changed.
A gigantic balance rose at the center, stains of mottled gore leaving traces that reeked of blood.
Waves of unquestionable pressure radiated, carrying the aura of fairness and justice.
Only the size difference was unfair—Lu Ding at over a million meters and Zhong Shi at one point eight meters.
The moment they entered,
Zhong Shi understood the simple, unadorned life-or-death rules of the Butcher’s Scale.
But seeing Lu Ding with sky above and earth below, his reflex was to form a hand seal and increase his size. He could not reach Lu Ding’s scale, but at least he could reduce his disadvantage. Yet under the Butcher’s Scale’s strict, fair suppression,
Zhong Shi’s size-enhancement techniques had absolutely no effect.
It was still one point eight meters against one hundred and eight million.
Zhong Shi roared: “Why!!! This isn’t fair!!!!”
With this matchup, Lu Ding could clip a fingernail and kill him!
Lu Ding smiled.
Of course it was fair. His Dharma Form was an intrinsic enlargement, from the inside out. In other words, the mechanism of Dharma Form outranked Sinful Aversion·Meat-Cleaver Scale.
But the Butcher’s Scale had higher priority than Zhong Shi’s own method and functionally countered it.
Well then, closed loop.
Lu Ding didn’t bother with enemy chatter. He raised his hand, used the Way of the Jinche to slice off a bit of fingernail and tossed it onto the scale.
Thud.
He said: “Your turn.”
Zhong Shi’s mind exploded!
“I won’t compare, let me out!!!!!!”