Star Gate

Chapter 212: Qimei Staff, Victory! (II)

A tiger’s roar shook the land. Fire and water intermixed with each other as Yuan Shuo’s ape and tiger seemed to become one. He was a creature with a tiger head and ape body. When he punched, the fist morphed into a claw!

It was frighteningly fast and clawed Sun Yifei down from the sky. The blow sank into his ankle and ripped out pieces of blood and flesh. Instead of dismay, Sun Yifei was delighted!

The second spirit! He was witnessing the second spirit! If possible, he’d love to see all five spirits. However, he knew that wasn’t feasible. This was Yuan Shuo’s limit and he’d die before making a move if he summoned a third spirit. This was enough!

“Well met!” Sun Yifei barked with laughter. His power of fire erupted with full strength and concentration.

Li Hao sensed something a little different from before; the young man looked at Hao Lianchuan. The deputy director’s expression was shifting rapidly. The phoenix in his body seemed to sense something and agitated wildly within. It wanted to rush out and greet this blaze of fire from Sun Yifei.

Li Hao watched solemnly—the enemy had utilized an origin weapon! His teacher was in trouble. This water tiger of his was truly a bit intangible. It lacked sufficient energy of water and his teacher’s kidneys were not strong enough. Prolonged battle would inflict great harm on the professor.

The young man looked around them; his eyes landed on certain things.

“Chief.” He swiftly turned to Liu Long. “Have the Night Watchers collect all of the mysterious power from the fallen supernaturals...”

Liu Long blinked, quickly understanding Li Hao’s intentions. He trotted over to Hao Lianchuan.

Moments later, the deputy director commanded the Night Watchers to move out. The battle overhead continued and everyone watched with their hearts in their mouths, yet the Night Watchers began harvesting power from dead supernaturals.

Others would fight for this loot in ordinary times, but no one dared do so today. No one was to move before the two concluded their duel, not even Red Moon. Hao Kong was well aware that while Yuan Shuo might show some mercy to the Night Watchers, Sun Yifei would not do the same to his organization.

If they were accidentally disturbed in a moment of slight carelessness, Red Moon wouldn’t be able to stand against their combined fury. In Hao Kong’s eyes, only Violet Moon would be able to intervene in the battle now.

He was far from it.

Joint efforts from both Celestial and Yama might barely hold off the two. It would have to take the death of one and heavy injury to the other to benefit the assembly at large.

Li Hao’s eyes reflected his rapidly shifting thoughts as he watched people collect mysterious power. He looked at Zhang Ting out of the corner of his eye. A Night Watcher and a mid Solar! She might have a water origin weapon on her. While he wasn’t sure if it was an origin weapon, he was certain that his teacher’s kidneys might explode after this battle, even if Yuan Shuo won. The light energy within the mysterious power they were collecting might mend a thing or two, but it wouldn’t be enough.

It should be sufficient if he added a water origin weapon to the mix!

Li Hao adamantly believed that his teacher could win, but swift recovery after battle was key. Otherwise, greater trouble might come for his teacher.

My apologies... Director Hou also said that it’s up to us if we want to kill you or not...

Sunderer Li Hao was actually planning on killing someone for their treasure, and a mid Solar at that! It would shock the four corners of the world if this got out, but he really was planning on doing so!

Did it matter that Zhang Ting was from the central region and a plant in the Night Watchers?

The thought had just taken shape in Li Hao’s mind when Liu Long pressed down on his shoulder. The captain seemed to have guessed something, or he might’ve simply detected the rise of killing intent in the young man.

“Hold your horses!” he rumbled. “Everyone’s waiting right now, so you should too! The bird that takes the lead is the one targeted, I’m sure that Elder Yuan doesn’t wish for you to take risks in this moment. Just stay here and recover from your wounds!”

Li Hao ducked his head without a word, trying to get a grip on his anxiety. A second spirit! Sun Yifei was stronger than anticipated. The young man had thought that his teacher would win with one spirit, but even the arrival of a second spirit didn’t cinch a victory.

......

Up in the sky.

Wearing a tiger’s head and an ape’s body, Yuan Shuo commenced another powerful attack. He broke through the air in domineering fashion; his fists and legs were invincible and his body unmatched in swiftness.

Punch followed punch, fully suppressing his opponent for once. Although Sun Yifei was forced to retreat, he laughed wildly through mouthfuls of blood!

“Is this all there is to you? Not enough, Yuan Shuo, this isn’t enough!”

The second spirit was too insubstantial!

Despite that, blood ran freely from newly inflicted injuries and vital liquids bled profusely from his being. Sun Yifei laughed with utter joy and erupted with a counterattack, furiously laying about with his staff!

Bam bam bam!!

Enormous collisions resounded; both sides focused on offense. There was no defense! Attack and attack again!

Yuan Shuo snarled after a long interval and punched so ferociously that he snapped the staff!

The incredibly durable qimei staff finally shattered after hundreds of blows, after Yuan Shuo felt that his own fists were about to break!

PFFT!

Sun Yifei’s chest caved in and he even up bits of his internal organs as he was thrown backward. His weapon had been obliterated by his opponent! And yet, he grinned. “How... much more strength do you have left?”

Yuan Shuo swayed in the air, coldly aloof in his refusal to answer. How much strength? Not much, what of it?

“Sun Yifei, you will always be someone who I defeated!” Yuan Shuo stepped through the air once more, keeping a steady pace.

Sun Yifei smiled even as he coughed up more blood. “It was a day like today when I lost to you... You broke my qimei staff, I was on the ground with heavy injuries, and you walked toward me just as you are now. I knew I would die, but I refused to die to you. Therefore... I jumped off Rift Bridge!

“Yuan Shuo, that will not happen today!” He flashed a radiant grin. “Not today! My disciple has told me that there is a chance of hope even in the most dire of circumstances. I will not give up, I have not lost as I am not dead!”

Unrivaled power of fire exploded from his body! This time, it was accompanied by gasps from the crowd on the ground.

Mysterious power!

Indeed, this was the same case as when Yuan Shuo gave up mysterious power upon realizing it consumed the internal force. Doing so meant cutting off his hopes of entering that world.

Sun Yifei, however, was already a supernatural. Mysterious power was the source of his strength and the origin of the supernatural. He held a new qimei staff in his hands again. Just as his disciple had utilized the last of his strength to coalesce a new staff, this one was made out of Sun Yifei’s mysterious power.

If this one shattered, his mysterious power would break and he would die without a doubt. This was his last, mad dance!

“I will not concede! I did so once before and I will not do so again!” Sun Yifei roared with laughter. “Yuan Shuo, I will not lose today even though you’ve broken my staff again!”

The him from that moment was dead. Come break it again!

“KILL!” Sun Yifei roared and swung his staff forward. The gravely injured Qimei Staff King glowed with new vitality and emitted unparalleled strength. The qimei staff was upon them again!

He wanted to win!

Even if it was only one time and only for a split second, he wanted to win!

......

“He’s insane!” Hao Lianchuan murmured to himself. Sun Yifei really had gone crazy! The late Solar had gathered his mysterious power into a qimei staff. If it was broken again, his mysterious power would disperse and there would be no other outcome for him other than death. He was putting his life on the line!

Although this was a duel, Sun Yifei would potentially be crippled if he won. Even if he wasn’t, he would fall to a lower cultivation level. Damage to mysterious power was too big of a loss to a supernatural.

Is this what it means to be a martial master? Hao Lianchuan wondered. Yuan Shuo had asked him if he was a martial master—he was not. Thus, Yuan Shuo said that he didn’t understand martial masters and that he wasn’t strong enough!

Martial dao had declined for twenty years, but who among the assembly would dare say that today?

No one!

Even the supernatural Sun Yifei demonstrated the bearing of a martial master in this moment. He didn’t count as a pure supernatural in this battle against a martial master.

The other Sunflares next to Hao Lianchuan watched with unprecedented gravity. At this point in battle, it would be a pyrrhic victory. Yuan Shuo was plainly at the end of his tether and Sun Yifei wasn’t much better. Either both would go down together, or one would die and the other be incapacitated.

They’d thought that danger for this trip would only start inside the ruins. Who would’ve thought that Light Island would be no more before they began? And now two powerhouses who might be top three in Silver Moon would either die or be crippled.

......

Up in the sky.

A staff blow blotted out a ferocious tiger roar. Sun Yifei was growing ever more insane and berserk. Strike after strike—the staff illuminated the sky with fiery sparks.

“Concede!!” he howled. He just wanted to win for once! Why didn’t Yuan Shuo admit defeat?! He wanted to hear Yuan Shuo forfeit even though that was an extravagant hope!

BOOM!

Yuan Shuo hit a cliff face and smashed a large pit out of it. Sun Yifei swept dozens of boulders into dust as the two brought their fighting into the canyon wall.

They instantly shot back into the sky, whereupon the cliff face beneath them collapsed with a rumble. The battle continued!

The fire heart ape and fierce tiger grew more resplendent, as did the staff. Both sides were exhausting their foundations and the fight turning ever more brutal.

“Yuan Shuo!” Sun Yifei panted. “Can you not break my staff? I know you can! C’mon, break it or I break you!”

BAM!

Another slam of the stuff!

“Pfft!” Yuan Shuo spat blood. He was lightheaded and a bit sad. “I’d wanted to hold a little back... and go explore the ruins with the others... But you really want me to put everything out there... The hell with this man!”

“Bastard!” Sun Yifei raged with utter disbelief. He hadn’t thought that Yuan Shuo really would have more trump cards left to play. His next blow carried unbounded fury, some reluctance, and more madness. “Come then! I want to die at my peak if I am to die in battle! I don’t want to slowly go downhill and be beaten to death by a barrage from your fists like I’m a city hoodlum!”