novelraw Chapter 928 789: A Fair Duel
Chapter 928 789: A Fair Duel
Few people, just one person standing in front.
Unlike the previous situation of being blocked by a group, this instead sharply increased Shi Chun's vigilance.
Sometimes the fewer people there are, the more dangerous it becomes; it at least proves that the other party doesn't need numbers to boost courage or rely on numbers to ensure safety—being alone signifies a sort of confidence.
Encountering such a person naturally requires caution.
The old way still stands: safety first, bypass!
Qilin A San immediately diverted his path.
Su Jikuan floated and moved, calmly and unhurriedly positioning himself ahead of them, once again making it clear that you need to pass through him to cross this path.
Qilin A San changed path again, Su Jikuan shifted position, and blocked the front once more, clearly indicating an attitude of not allowing them any choice.
Qilin A San changed again, but Su Jikuan grew tired of playing with them, reaching out across the air to grab them, using powerful cultivation to imprison them from a distance.
Shi Chun's body tightened suddenly and before the other's hold locked, he raised an elbow in a strike. The explosive power of Green Qi shattered the imprisonment with a loud bang.
Su Jikuan's brows slightly raised, certain that the opponent's cultivation had broken through to the Earth Immortal Realm; otherwise, cultivation at the Human Immortal Realm wouldn't have resisted his distant grab.
At this moment, both parties were much closer, Su Jikuan had appeared in the images of several central mirrors, shocking each Commander who looked closely.
"No, it's Su Jikuan." Manxi shouted urgently.
Besides yelling, he had no other solution, not to mention Dongguo Shou couldn't be found, and the Heavenly Court Team had already hidden all their men inside the Extreme Abyss, unable to assist in time.
He was anxious, stomping his foot, "Hah, if we run another fifty miles, there's a big lake, then perhaps we can escape the mirror images."
The reason the big lake might provide cover is because hiding in small water areas and complex terrains is a waste of time; the various mirrors keep watch, supported by ground troops, with little chance of going unnoticed.
But a larger water area is different; the Heavenly Mirror's range of attention is so wide that it can't see people clearly.
Of course, even passing through a large water area doesn't guarantee avoiding detection, each side has ground troops moving in for support, and getting spotted even by an isolated person would lead the Heavenly Mirror images to follow.
At least there's a chance to escape, unlike now where they're pinned down and intercepted wherever they run.
He glanced at Mulan Jin with a stern face, feeling a grudge, wondering why he exposed Shi Chun unnecessarily—otherwise, none of this trouble would have happened, and Shi Chun could have rescued his daughter long ago.
Mulan Jin was also regretful, though some things he couldn't anticipate turning out this way—it's entirely illogical.
In West Niu's central, Su Jikuan's appearance made Commander Niu Qian nervous as well, few can block Su Jikuan, and once someone falls into his hands, it gets troublesome with many variables and possibly becoming a bargaining chip in alliances.
Niu Qian suddenly turned to call out to Huang Xiu, "Tell Feng Yin that Su Jikuan has arrived early!"
On the scene, Su Jikuan also knew time was of the essence, directly charging toward Shi Chun.
The exposure of each side's top powers had made him acutely aware that he no longer had the luxury of leisurely delay.
While charging, he kept grabbing towards Shi Chun from afar, repeatedly casting spells to imprison and slow him down, even if Shi Chun kept breaking free.
There's no choice, as Qilin A San's escape speed is indeed faster than his, he must continuously slow them to catch up.
Upon seeing clearly Su Jikuan, Mulan Qingqing exclaimed in shock, "It's Su Jikuan!"
The moment this was said, Shi Chun was shocked, realizing that a lone person blocking the way was a sign of trouble, not expecting it to be a major problem—it brought the top figure of Beiju into action so quickly, precisely what he had sought to avoid, seemingly unavoidable now.
Naturally, he wouldn't sit back and await his fate, flipping his hand to activate the 'Three Corpses Mirror,' directly sending a black light towards Su Jikuan, ready to repeat his technique by getting close then slashing.
He knew for sure that long-distance attacks wouldn't work with his cultivation, not even remotely enough to scratch the opponent, only a close-up burst might succeed.
The opponent is also an expert in close combat, among the heads of the five elite teams, Su Jikuan would likely claim second in close combat prowess, with no one daring to claim first.
Though fully aware of the opponent's might, he dared charge forward banking on his Battle Armor.
He trusts his Battle Armor could withstand the 'Star-shattering Finger.' If it couldn't, the Demon Path would have tackled the Divine Sect long ago, using someone with 'Star-shattering Finger' to open up the Demon Altar, without needing to chase the 'Desolate Broken Blade.'
Perhaps the Demon Path has already tested it with the Divine Sect people, typically they'd try.
Given the difficulty in escaping, he can only charge forward, ripping open that slim chance for survival and enlarging it.
No time for superfluous words now.
Upon seeing the copper mirror brighten, Su Jikuan knew what it was, having received several reminders along the way.
Almost simultaneously as the black light shot towards him, he went heavy-handed, flicking out a Star-shattering Finger across the air.
In Shi Chun's right-eye superpower vision, the might of that Finger became visible; when it erupted from the fingertip, it was a pale gold crack, like the roots of a large tree bursting forth, with dense cracks at the eruption point and sprawling roots, shooting far with gradually sparse cracks along the roots.
The finger force was directly aimed at the 'Three Corpses Mirror' in his hand.
Seeing the finger force, Shi Chun naturally had to dodge; Qilin A San made a quick sideways leap, barely avoiding it.
In the darkness, Su Jikuan keenly sensed something amiss. He naturally knew the attack speed of his Star-shattering Finger, and seeing that the darkness enveloping him remained unchanged, he immediately realized something was wrong. He could no longer bother with capturing them alive and flicked his fingers repeatedly, releasing more finger force.
Shi Chun, who wanted to take the opportunity to close in and slash with his blade, suddenly saw more than a dozen crack-like threads shooting out chaotically. Even with Qilin A San's quick reflexes, they couldn't avoid them all in time, and one of them hit Shi Chun.
Shi Chun could have sidestepped to dodge, but doing so would have left Mulan Qingqing to bear the brunt of the finger force. He had no choice but to trust the sturdiness of his battle armor.
Bang, the Green Qi enveloping him was struck, exploding with a loud noise to dissipate the force.
However, the power of the Star-shattering Finger was truly extraordinary, and the residual force still struck the battle armor, causing Shi Chun to sway slightly.
The battle armor blocked the attack, and a Treasure Robe also protected him internally. Along with his own cultivation defense, the impact of this blow was minimal on him. But this urgent dodge and swaying also caused the 'Three Corpses Mirror' to misalign its black light, inadvertently exposing Su Jikuan from the blackness.
Before Shi Chun could steady himself, Su Jikuan launched another attack.
Bam! It accurately struck the 'Three Corpses Mirror', and with an explosive sound, accompanied by a slight 'crack', cracks appeared on the mirror surface. The damage wasn't significant, but the black light within the mirror vanished.
"Well done!" Lan She, the Beiju Commander in front of the mirror image, couldn't help but clap and cheer.
Taking down Shi Chun's magical treasure in one move, worthy of being the top warrior of the Beiju Team, all other Central spectators watched with grave expressions.
Shi Chun was startled and hurriedly maneuvered Qilin A San to evade.
Without the black light for cover, the ambush had failed, and all that was left was to dodge.
No help for it, carrying Mulan Qingqing around. If it were just him, he would certainly keep charging forward. He had battle armor for protection, but Mulan Qingqing did not, and taking a hit would be unbearable for her.
Thinking that the opponent wanted to capture him alive, he decisively shouted while evading, "Wait!"
Sure enough, Su Jikuan, who had the upper hand, wasn't eager to kill him directly. Hearing the shout, he ceased his attack. Seeing Shi Chun stop, he also halted.
The two sides confronted each other across a distance of several dozen yards, with Su Jikuan looking aloof and indifferent, saying, "Surrender and I'll spare you!"
Shi Chun raised his hand to grab the chain at his chest and pulled it with a clatter, unbinding himself in front of everyone. He shouted back, "It is my honor to challenge Brother Su. I've heard Brother Su is a genius of the Divine Sect, so I imagine you wouldn't want an unfair victory. Do you dare fight me on equal terms?"
Upon hearing the word 'genius', Su Jikuan's facial muscles involuntarily twitched, his gaze grew cold, and he scoffed, "Can't win, and now it's unfair?"
The Beiju Commander, watching the mirror image, saw the fight pause and the two appear to chat, and couldn't help but say in a deep voice, "What is Su Jikuan doing? Doesn't he know Shi Chun is cunning, and that even a slip of the tongue can decide life or death?"
Yet, being absent from the scene, worrying was useless.
Shi Chun had already taken the opportunity to unchain himself completely. He then publicly tied Mulan Qingqing to the mount and said loudly, "I'm fighting you while also having to protect the Xuanji Token Master's daughter; how is that fair? This has nothing to do with her. Let her go. Otherwise, if the Xuanji Token Master's daughter is killed in public, regardless of your intent, it wouldn't be good for you or the Divine Sect."
Having said that, he held the knife with one hand and slapped Qilin A San, saying sternly, "A San, take her away first."
Qilin A San had no idea what he was performing, but he followed orders, turning to take Mulan Qingqing to safety first.
The usually cold goddess-like Mulan Qingqing was now in tears, feeling that Shi Chun was clearly trying to protect her and buying her time to escape.
Yet the problem was that staying wouldn't help much, and she might even become a burden to Shi Chun's escape.
She didn't realize she was overthinking; for Shi Chun, she was purely a burden. Without even talking about other things, carrying someone would significantly hinder agility in dodging.
Letting her leave was for the best. If Su Jikuan didn't let her go, then there was nothing he could do; during the fight, he might not be able to ensure her safety anyway.
The various parties watching the mirror image finally understood what the confrontation was about.
Manxi sighed lightly, "It wasn't in vain that the Commander rescued him from the Life Prison; he didn't let the Commander down."
The muscles on Mulan Jin's face, watching the mirror image, tightened with a slightly moved expression as he saw his daughter's tears.
Su Jikuan did not stop Mulan Qingqing from leaving. The Xuanji Token Master's daughter was indeed not someone to recklessly harm. As a disciple of a great faction, he was educated enough to understand such matters of importance. Having her stay would only get in his way; now, it suited him well.
However, for Shi Chun daring to call him a 'genius' mockingly, once he captured him, he intended not to let him off easily.
After a glance, he saw that Qilin A San had already taken Mulan Qingqing far away, likely beyond Su Jikuan's delayed spell range, Shi Chun suddenly charged forward, leading the attack on Su Jikuan.
"Truly, a courageous act!" Su Jikuan sneered coldly, expecting the opponent to use some trick or bell, not predicting he'd come at him directly.
His disdain was not limited to words but was reflected in his actions; even a bit insensitive, he let Shi Chun approach.
He had realized that the battle armor on Shi Chun had a good defense. The power of the Star-shattering Finger was insufficient for long-range attacks, and it was more effective in close combat. Since the other party approached willingly, he naturally obliged.
Seeing the other party unmoved and not stopping his approach, Shi Chun was also surprised. He hadn't expected that the move he sought to achieve through various means was accomplished effortlessly.
As soon as he entered the attack range, he couldn't bother to slash with his knife and hurriedly blasted a 'Demon Dispel Hand' strike from a distance.