Chapter 18: A chaotic massacre with corpses strewn across the land.
Chu Jue's appearance did not attract the attention of his opponents.
They merely glanced at him casually, assuming Chu Jue was just a passerby who had come to join the fun.
Some people even told her, "Tall people, stand back."
Chu Jue: ...
The men behind 330 looked at Ying Yi and Yun Qiandu beside Chu Jue, and after exchanging puzzled glances, they began to mutter to themselves.
As if to confirm their identities, one of the men respectfully relayed a message to 330, indicating that 330 indeed held some status.
330 frowned: "Them?"
Ying Yi's face lacked politeness, and his expression was intriguing. He took the initiative to speak, saying, "Long time no see, Zhanji."
"That's true." Zhanji's expression wasn't much better. "You guys... haven't broken up yet?"
Ying Yi was too lazy to pay attention to him; they weren't exactly good friends anyway.
"Haha." Zhanji laughed. "Where's your leader? You mean that guy—oh, looks like you guys broke up after all."
Yun Qiandu: "None of your business."
Before Zhan Ji could react to Yun Qian Du's retort, his underlings had already started shouting:
"How dare you talk to our boss like that?"
Yun Qiandu: "Are you hard of hearing?"
Seeing that another verbal battle was about to begin, Chu Jue, fearing that the audience might leave if it went on for too long, reminded Zhan Ji, "Your opponent is me."
Zhanji didn't react immediately; after a few seconds, he realized with surprise:
"User 123 stars 1111? Is that you?"
Just one woman?
...No, he thought it was some kind of big event, bringing so many brothers.
So, it's just one woman?
His contemptuous expression was so obvious that you could tell what he was thinking without him saying a word.
Yun Qiandu immediately felt his fist harden, and he wanted to rush up and smash his head in.
Her movement stirred the men's restlessness. Zhanji, however, waved his hand, signaling them to relax.
"Don't get excited, brothers. The ladies are already here, so even if they all come at us, wouldn't that be a blessing for us?"
The men let out knowing laughs, maintaining their carefree attitude even in the context of being challenged to a fight.
One of the men chimed in, "What the boss said is true—"
The unfinished banter abruptly stopped.
The man who was supporting the event had his throat ripped open, leaving a bloody gash.
The man in front of him, unaware of what was happening, suddenly felt a large amount of liquid sprayed onto his back. He reached out and touched it, and upon seeing what it was, he trembled and collapsed to the ground, his legs giving way in terror.
The blood gushing out like a showerhead from the man who was supporting him before he died soaked his clothes, and the foul-smelling filth mixed with his body.
It all happened so suddenly, the perpetrator moved so fast no one noticed. The men immediately fell silent, feigning composure, their smiles frozen on their faces. Exchanging glances yielded no result; they all wondered when the assailant had struck.
...Or rather, who made the move?
As the pinnacle of martial prowess among those present, Zhanji could clearly see it after he came to his senses.
It's that woman named 123.
Chu Jue had no particular intentions; he only took action because he was too lazy to listen to their nonsense.
She glanced back at 330's somewhat stunned gaze: "Are you going down to keep him company first, or will you both come up together?"
These words enraged Zhanji, who was deep in thought.
He had faced many provocations along the way, but this was the first time such a direct challenge had come from a woman.
A woman who becomes arrogant and ignorant once she gains a little power.
"Good, good, good." Zhanji laughed instead of getting angry.
"Since that's the case, I'll give you a chance. I'll fight you, but you need to understand that I won't go easy on you."
The implication is that life or death depends on one's own abilities.
"Keep it up," Chu Jue said calmly. "I'll try my best to let you have your way."
The fighting spirit is about to ignite.
Because the two were close together, Zhanji took the initiative to attack at close range.
He noticed from Chu Jue's previous moves that Chu Jue was agile, but even more confident in his own speed.
As a martial artist with exceptional physical skills, Zhanji's moves carried the force of breaking through the wind, and his fist, as hard as steel, swung towards Chu Jue.
His attacks were imbued with the spiritual power of a high-level psychic, and his strikes were ruthless enough to crush opponents with a single blow.
Just as the attack was about to begin, Chu Jue's speed exceeded his expectations. Her dodge was perfectly timed, as if it had been calculated, making Zhan Ji think: she almost couldn't dodge it.
Faster, faster.
The frequency of the halberd strikes increased, each move delivering a deadly impact.
Chu Jue, however, seemed to have divine assistance and was always able to dodge in time, but not too fast, always within range of him if he tried a little harder.
...It was just a little bit short.
The halberd launched attack after attack, like a donkey being dangled on a carrot.
He became increasingly impatient, and after a few rounds, the initial speed was gone.
Each strike of the halberd was accompanied by spiritual energy, yet none of them hit their mark.
But the battle has only just begun.
The halberd swiftly changed its attack method, using spiritual power to bombard the enemy. The spiritual power he gathered was overwhelming, such high-level spiritual power swept in like a torrent.
The nearby spiritual practitioners were forced to retreat by this oppressive aura, fearing they might be caught in the crossfire.
Tremble, for he possesses such overwhelming power in every aspect—
Zhanji thought mockingly to himself—to be his opponent, simply hiding isn't enough.
As expected. The woman was stunned with fright, and her previous strange movements vanished, as if she had given up resisting under the heavy pressure of spiritual energy.
...How could they not even put up a fight?
Zhanji sensed something amiss during her pause.
She...didn't dodge at all?
This sudden act of self-abandonment instinctively alerted Zhan Ji, but his invincible experience told him that this was clearly a death sentence.
Chu Jue, who was certain to die, simply remained leisurely in place amidst the powerful bombardment of spiritual energy.
The expected scene did not occur, and Zhanji's heart sank.
Why is that? Her special ability... could it mean she's immune to attacks? Or perhaps immune to spiritual energy?
Zhanji attempted another spiritual energy attack, and based on Chu Jue's reaction, he was convinced of his own deduction.
...This is a bit tricky. Zhanji's brain was racing.
123 had somehow taken some unorthodox cultivation path, as he was impervious to spiritual attacks. She was clearly exploiting this to deplete his energy.
We must not let her succeed.
His previous disdain for women had vanished during the fight. Zhanji finally realized that the person before him was an opponent of equal strength, not the woman he had looked down upon.
He wants to use the same thinking methods he uses when battling an opponent to find a way to break the deadlock.
The spiritual power of the halberd was activated again, but it was not directed at Chu Jue.
His spiritual power bound his previously unused weapon—the halberd, most famous in the ancient martial arts school.
If hand-to-hand combat and spiritual power are both insufficient, then weapons will suffice.
The name of the War Halberd Group comes from the leader's warlike nature and weapons. Countless times, he has fought his way through melee battles against multiple opponents with just a sword and halberd.
Therefore, the battle halberd and his halberd are seamlessly integrated in the code name.
Man and halberd become one.
The halberd's spikes came fiercely, aiming directly at Chu Jue's face.
Chu Jue remained calm and continued to dodge as before, but the sword and halberd, like their master, were relentless.
Within moments, the attack had been repeated several times; the sword and halberd were far more agile than the halberd itself.
He focused all his spiritual energy on the sharp spike at the end of the halberd, not letting go of any opportunity to kill Chu Jue.
His halberd followed Chu Jue like an automatic tracking function. Although he could dodge it, it was like an untouchable flying insect buzzing in his ear, which annoyed Chu Jue.
She suddenly didn't want to play around with Zhanji anymore.
It turns out that even 330 merit points is nothing special; she has almost figured out his strength.
A defective product is still a defective product.
The sword and halberd, which had been pointing at Chu Jue, suddenly turned around, creating distance between themselves and their "target." Zhan Ji looked surprised, thinking he had made a mistake and lost focus.
He hurriedly continued to use his spiritual power to control it, only to find that the sword and halberd had slipped out of his control.
A more powerful spiritual force devoured his spiritual power at some point, silently seizing control of the sword and halberd.
Realizing this, Zhanji felt a chill run down his spine.
At this moment, only his opponent, Chu Jue, could do this.
The offensive momentum reversed, and the roles of offense and defense were reversed as the halberds were passed between their respective owners.
Chu Jue pointed the tip of his halberd at the forehead of the battle halberd, just as he had done before.
Just one millimeter closer and he could have had brain surgery, but the halberd stopped right there.
Zhanji's breathing quickened; he finally understood what those strange feelings he had suppressed earlier were—
Her spiritual rank of 123 might far surpass his; those previous distances that she was always just a little short of reaching were clearly her deliberately toying with him.
She treated him like a toy to play with during matches, and from beginning to end, she never thought about actually competing against him.
She was so clear about all of this, yet it was filled with malice, like humiliating a clown, as she watched him make his efforts in secret.
Such thoughts arose spontaneously, and a violent sense of fear surged in Zhanji's heart.
He should be angry, he should resist, but the halberd pointed at his head knew that what threatened him, what was mixed with those who were playing with him, was not just the sword and halberd between his brows.
There was also that spiritual energy that only he could feel, which pierced his entire body like needles.
His head, throat, chest, leg bones... even the joints connecting his lower body were all threatened by the halberd made of spiritual power that was so strong that he could not resist it at all.
One sharp thorn after another was like a net covering the sky, the dense and intimidating feeling was almost suffocating, and his pores trembled subconsciously.
Zhanji was terrified; the power and fearlessness he had previously projected were now easily shattered by the unseen needles.
Under intense pressure, his body involuntarily broke out in a cold sweat. Although he knew that Chu Jue had strong self-control, he was still afraid that he would die immediately if he made the slightest movement.
"I..." After a fierce internal struggle, Zhanji took a shallow breath and surrendered as if accepting his fate, "I lost."
Gone was his previous arrogance; Zhanji admitted, "You are the winner."
All previous claims of individual merit were meaningless at this point; he was willing to lose face in order to survive.
Chu Jue: "Okay."
As Chu Jue spoke, the needles surrounding him gradually disappeared.
The sword and halberd between his brows slowly receded, returning to Chu Jue's side and keeping his distance.
Zhanji fell silent, even forgetting that it was originally his halberd.
The previously terrifying pressure vanished instantly, and Zhanji had miraculously survived, leaving the surrounding onlookers completely baffled.
For example, a concerned citizen named Yun Qiandu was puzzled:
"Wait, why did Zhanji suddenly admit defeat? Chu Jue didn't admit defeat even with his head pointed at him, but when it's his head that's pointed at him, he's suddenly defeated?"
Ying Yi was also curious: "Maybe he doesn't like having his head pointed at."
Because of the integration of the wire and the brain, pointing at the head is just as stressful as pointing at the genitals.
"I'm really confused." After saying that, Yun Qiandu quickly scratched his head.
Seeing that the battle was over, Yun Qiandu was about to step forward and praise Chu Jue when he saw Zhan Ji, who had conceded defeat, exchange a scheming look with his brothers.
At that moment, Chu Jue turned around and was gazing deeply into Fang Zhiyi's eyes.
Before he could even utter a warning, the suddenly rising halberd and the dozens of brothers he had gathered simultaneously charged towards Chu Jue.
This disgusting sneak attack spirit shocked everyone present.
This was the first time they had ever seen dozens of people ambush one person, and the 111 group was extremely worried for Chu Jue.
But Chu Jue seemed to have expected it all along.
The sword in her hand returned to its proper direction the instant the halberd was raised—to the forehead of the halberd.
That sharp halberd, which had accompanied the halberd day and night, like a symbiotic companion, thus charged forward with the halberd in both directions, intimately piercing him through.
The halberd continued its downward motion until it smoothly split the battle halberd in two, yet remained inseparable.
At the same time, the dozens of men also froze in place as if they had all been put on pause.
Previously, apart from the battle halberd, the spiritual pressure that no one had ever felt before suddenly became tangible, and everyone present could directly feel the impact.
They clearly saw that all the attackers were enveloped by a fierce spiritual power.
The subtle spiritual energy gave rise to sharp spikes, and the wounds that were pierced did not even bleed.
Spikes grew rampantly in the flesh and blood until the human body could no longer contain the flourishing spiritual energy. At that point, the container, having reached its limit, burst open from the inside, splitting open one after another.
In an instant, blood splattered everywhere, and corpses littered the field.
The scarlet color was mixed with various tissues, making it impossible to discern its original appearance; all that remained was a scene of utter devastation.
The ultimate winner stood aside, not avoiding the splattered blood. She ignored the gruesome corpse and turned her gaze to the remaining merit points.
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