“I see you already have a path to death!” Chen Shu’s face twisted viciously as he suddenly roared and charged forward.
A flash of light flickered in Chen Shu’s hand, and a black longsword appeared in his grip. spiritual energy from the Sea Containment Realm surged out, billowing like rolling mist as it poured into the sword. The longsword suddenly burst with seven-colored radiance.
Chen Shu gripped the sword with both hands and slashed straight toward Su Mu.
Su Mu’s pupils shrank. It was this black sword. In his previous life, he had lost to this very blade. As a Half-Sacred Artifact, its power could only be fully unleashed at the Immortal King Realm. Using it in a fight like this was truly overkill. He could only say that his previous defeat had not been unjust.
Su Mu maintained his actor’s discipline and remained arrogantly composed. He even took a moment to strike a pose, his face full of disdain, and said, “Just this?”
Su Mu calmly rotated his body half a turn. The golden halberd swept forward to meet the attack, using the halberd shaft. A thunderous boom echoed as the violent collision kicked up a massive cloud of dust.
Su Mu only took a slight step back. Chen Shu, however, was sent flying backward and took a long time before he could stabilize his body. The difference between the two was instantly clear.
Su Mu suddenly felt a sharp toothache and muttered to himself, “It’s over. I forgot this halberd is a Sacred Artifact…”
As the saying goes, even the wisest can make a mistake.
Su Mu had not expected to drop the ball at such a critical moment.
Once a spiritual weapon reached the level of a Sacred Artifact, it would develop intelligence. Faced with the provocation of a black sword that was half a tier lower, it would instinctively launch a powerful counterattack.
Su Mu could not restrain it even if he wanted to. He simply could not control it, and his cultivation was not high enough. That was why, in just one exchange, Chen Shu had been sent flying.
The two then clashed several more times in rapid succession. Each time, Chen Shu was beaten back repeatedly, while Su Mu carried the halberd and chased him relentlessly.
“Something feels off?” Su Mu frowned slightly in confusion. “Why does Chen Shu feel weaker?”
On the other side, Chen Shu finally managed to steady himself. He forcibly swallowed the blood in his mouth, his expression turning extremely ugly. “Damn it!”
Earlier in the plaza, he had thought he would immediately challenge Su Mu. He had activated a special cultivation technique to build momentum.
Under normal circumstances, this momentum should have grown stronger and stronger, providing greater assistance as the battle progressed.
Unfortunately, he had not expected it to be shattered by Mo Shuangxing’s cold snort. Even now, he still carried hidden internal injuries.
“This is bad,” Chen Shu thought grimly.
Chen Shu was already inferior to Su Mu in strength. There was a full gap of sixteen minor realms between them, and now he also carried internal injuries.
Moreover, for reasons he could not understand, the black sword he once took pride in was not obeying him today. The flow of spiritual energy was sluggish, as if it were afraid of something. Read the latest chapters at novelping.com.
“What is going on?” Chen Shu ground his teeth in fury.
Su Mu, meanwhile, felt utterly helpless. “It’s all Su Hanying’s fault. Why did she have to give me a Sacred Artifact at a time like this? It feels like…” He paused inwardly. “It feels like I’m being targeted.”
At the same time, a similar feeling rose in Chen Shu’s heart. Facing Su Mu, whether it was cultivation, weapons, or even timing, he held no advantage at all. Not to mention that Su Mu’s background was extremely wealthy, with all kinds of artifacts and cultivation techniques far surpassing his own.
“How the hell am I supposed to fight this?” Chen Shu was on the verge of collapsing.
As Su Mu continued fighting, he could not help frowning. “Why is Chen Shu never going all out? How am I supposed to act like this?” He complained inwardly, “You’re the protagonist. Can you at least be professional?”
No one understood Chen Shu’s true strength better than Su Mu. He had not only read the original novel but had also fought Chen Shu many times. “What’s wrong with Chen Shu today? He’s acting so hesitant.”
Su Mu felt speechless. This was unreliable. He would have to handle it himself. He needed to find a way to give Chen Shu an opportunity.
With that thought, Su Mu swung the halberd in his hand and directly halted his offensive. He slowly walked toward Chen Shu, approaching step by step with a ferocious grin on his face. “Do you realize your mistake now? Will you dare to randomly shout Jingrou’s name again in the future?”
“Tch!” Chen Shu snorted coldly and continued circulating his cultivation, trying to suppress the injuries inside his body.
“Oh?” Su Mu raised his eyebrows, a trace of excitement flashing in his expression. “I like people with backbone like you. Daddy’s halberd shaft is coming next. Are you ready?”
Chen Shu fell silent.
The spectators outside were completely baffled.
“I always feel like something isn’t quite right,” a young female cultivator murmured with her head lowered.
“Right? I feel the same,” someone echoed.
“I’ve got it!” Someone suddenly slapped his forehead, his face lighting up. “Have you noticed? Since the fight started, Su Mu has been fighting on the ground the whole time. He’s never taken advantage of aerial combat.”
“That’s true!” The crowd suddenly realized it.
Once one reached the Heavenly Origin Realm, one could freely fly through the air. Logically speaking, Su Mu could have simply hovered in the sky and worn Chen Shu down with long-range attacks until he was defeated. Yet Su Mu stayed on the ground and even chased Chen Shu around.
“Isn’t that obvious nonsense?” someone scoffed. “With such a huge realm advantage, Su Mu can fight however he wants. Besides, because of Qing Jingrou, Su Mu must be furious right now and just wants to torment Chen Shu.”
“So that’s it!” The crowd nodded repeatedly, fully convinced.
“Su Mu must be trying to slowly torture him, not giving Chen Shu any chance to recover.”
…
Inside the arena.
On the other side, Chen Shu was filled with rage. He was practically coughing up blood from being beaten, yet Su Mu kept chasing him. Worse still, Su Mu was not pressing in immediately to finish him off. Instead, he advanced slowly, placing immense psychological pressure on him.
With no other choice, Chen Shu could only grit his teeth and charge forward. This battle would absolutely not end until one of them fell.
Their clashes grew increasingly intense. Beneath Chen Shu’s clothes, faint purple patterns began to flicker across his skin. His momentum finally reached its peak, ushering in the final strike.
Su Mu was in a great mood. “Not bad, not bad. You’re finally starting to go all out!”
He deliberately exposed a flaw, forcibly spinning two and a half turns during his attack and revealing the same purple patterns on the back of his neck to Chen Shu. This was the clue he was leaving behind. In the original plotline, Chen Shu had discovered this crucial hint during the battle.
Who would have thought that the moment Chen Shu saw those patterns, his mind would violently tremble. The spiritual energy inside his body, which had been surging like ocean tides, was instantly obstructed. The hidden injuries inflicted by Mo Shuangxing immediately erupted.
“Puff!”
Chen Shu suddenly spat out a massive mouthful of blood and collapsed backward.
Su Mu was completely dumbfounded. “Brother, are you also an actor? I gave you an opening, and you actually went straight for self-destruction?”
As a result, this battle ended in an extremely bizarre way.
Even after the two emerged from the Small World, Su Mu still looked utterly confused.
“Su Mu wins!” The elderly man presiding over the ceremony announced solemnly.
The crowd revealed expressions of “as expected” and looked at Su Mu with faint contempt. It was bad enough to bully someone by crossing an entire major realm, but he had even humiliated Chen Shu so thoroughly. Too cruel.
What they did not know was that at this very moment, Su Mu was lowering his head in thought and muttering to himself, “I think I was the one being acted.”
On the other side, Chen Shu did not even have time to be angry about his defeat, nor did he bother treating his injuries. The moment someone helped him up from the ground, he widened his eyes and began searching everywhere for Su Mu.
The instant he spotted Su Mu, he suddenly shouted, “Dad!”
Su Mu was stunned.
Everyone else was stunned.
No, brother, what is this supposed to mean?