Chapter 878: Tangled
Zu An had initially had three uses of Knock-You-Up-Eyes. He had already used two, and as for the last one, he had been reluctant to use it all this time. He had been saving it for a situation where he might really die.
Now was that time. He wouldn’t have another chance to use it if he didn’t use it now. He didn’t hesitate after using it, brandishing his Tai’e Sword and charging at Zhao Ruizhi.
At first, when he saw Zu An run at him, Zhao Ruizhi was stunned. A sneer appeared on his face. This guy was normally pretty smart, but he was now going to throw his life away like this? Before absolute strength, passion and willpower were completely useless.
He slowly raised his leg. He hated Zu An so much that he didn’t even want to use his hands anymore. Instead, he was going to kick him like the damn dog he was in order to finally vent out all of his resentment.
But he suddenly frowned as soon as he raised his leg. “Hm?”
He felt waves of pain coming from his stomach. With his cultivation, he would never get sick. How long had it been since he felt a stomachache?
“Is it a lingering effect from that sickle wielding fellow?” Zhao Ruizhi was puzzled. It was only a dull ache at first, but then it quickly became a powerful and intense pain. He had no choice but to lower his leg and grab his stomach.
He Li and the others were also stunned. What is going on here? Why does the emperor look like he’s in such pain? Are his injuries that bad?
Zu An’s sword instantly thrust outward. Just as it was about to pierce into Zhao Ruizhi’s body, two fat fingers thrust out, clamping down on the Tai’e Sword. No matter how he tried, Zu An couldn't push his sword forward any further.
Zhao Ruizhi slowly stood up straight. He said through gritted teeth, “Do you think this bit of pain is enough to stop me? You have no idea how severe my injuries were during the war against the fiend races. I didn’t even utter a single sound… Ugh…” A gripping pain tore through his stomach before he even finished what he wanted to say. Even with his willpower, he almost collapsed with a groan.
He’d thought that he had already gotten used to the pain, but he couldn’t have known that the pain of labor wasn’t a sustained and prolonged one, but one that would ease up, and then hit with another intense burst of pain. Each time the pain arrived, it would be worse than the last. It made one think that one had already gotten used to it, only to strike with an even worse round of suffering.
Zu An used the opening to try and push the Tai’e Sword forward. Zhao Ruizhi’s fingers had loosened up a bit from the intense pain and couldn't hold the sword in place.
But in the end, Zhao Ruizhi was still an emperor who had risen up through a battlefield of blood and flames. Even though he was feeling an unfamiliar intense pain inside, sweat pouring down his forehead in large droplets, he still caught the sword again. The sword’s tip was now a hair’s distance from his body!
Zu An obviously wouldn’t place all of his hopes on being able to kill the emperor with one strike. He decisively let go of the Tai’e Sword, and his palm slammed toward Zhao Ruizhi’s forehead.
He Li watched the battle, his eyes wide. He was amazed that Zu An had decisively abandoned his sword. No wonder so many of their group had died because of this brat earlier! His combat instincts were just too powerful. He would always do things that were unexpected.
He Li knew fully well that a protector like him, in such a situation where he had just used all of his strength to fend off that sword, would never be able to avoid that palm strike.
But Zhao Ruizhi had already reigned as this world’s number one for a long time. His combat experience was far greater than theirs. His arm curved at a strange angle, and then even though he attacked second, his palm arrived first.
Crack!
Zu An’s arm clearly snapped, his joint bending at an unnatural angle. It was as if the onlookers could experience the pain themselves. Zu An’s entire body was blown backward like a beaten sandbag.
Bi Linglong ran over frantically, her voice filled with panicked sobbing. “Ah Zu!”
Mi Li had been about to say something, but she fell silent when she saw what had happened.
Zhao Ruizhi laughed in ridicule. “Linglong, I’ve always thought of you as a quick-witted girl, but today, I’ve realized that you’re an utter fool! You actually like this brainless moron? He dared to exchange an attack with me directly?”
He was the most powerful man in this world. He had already adapted to the labor pains. Even though there was still pain coming from his stomach from time to time, he had suppressed it forcefully through ki to a point where it became tolerable.
Bi Linglong stared at him hatefully. “Unlike someone like you who only knows how to use people like objects, he’s willing to give up anything for me, even his life! That’s something that a selfish man like you will never be able to do.”
When he saw that the woman he had selected for himself was still speaking up for another man, Zhao Ruizhi was furious. “You’re courting death!”
He Li nodded in deep sympathy. These two adulterers are going so far for each other that even ‘m impressed.
But no one could have expected that Zu An would roar with laughter just then. A blast of blood sprayed out from his mouth. With another crack, his broken arm rigidly snapped back into place. The onlookers broke out in cold sweat as they watched him, and yet Zu An’s expression never changed during the entire process.
Zu An cultivated the Primordial Origin Sutra, and his reforged body possessed astonishing regeneration powers. Even this level of injury had already pretty much healed up.
“Did you think I was just playing around when I traded blows with you?” Mockery and ridicule filled Zu An’s expression.
Zhao Ruizhi was stunned. He suddenly felt a bone-chilling cold attack his soul. When he raised his hand, he saw that the surface of his palm was already covered in frost. That frost was even gradually extending along his wrist.
“Frozen Soul[1]!” He had traveled the lands and seas, and thus immediately recognized what kind of poison it was.
Normally speaking, even though Frozen Soul was incredible, it wouldn’t do much against him. But at that point, he had been suppressed by the laws of the world, weakening his strength. Furthermore, he had been wounded from the battle against Wang Jian and Bai Qi’s heroic spirits, and had even taken a blow from Mi Li after that. On top of all of that, he felt as if his stomach were about to explode, leaving him in the worst state he had ever been in. That was why the poison had successfully infiltrated his body.
But with his cultivation, even though the poison was a bit tricky to deal with, that was the extent of it. He transferred his ki through his body. A trace of golden light appeared, forcefully cutting off the white line on his arm.
Zu An rushed in again. There was no way he would give his opponent the chance to slowly detoxify himself. He was separated from the Tai’e Sword, so instead, a black glint flickered in his hand. The Poisonous Prick instantly entered his tight grip, and he thrust it straight at Zhao Ruizhi. He pushed his Sunflower Phantasm to its limit, splitting into several afterimages and attacking from every direction.
With Zhao Ruizhi’s cultivation, the illusions couldn't deceive his eyes. However, his current situation was awful. He was wounded, and together with the labor pains and Frozen Soul’s ‘debuffs’, his movements had become much slower than normal.
Furthermore, Zu An had changed his strategy, refusing to face the emperor from the front. Instead, he continued to use a hit and run tactic, leaving even Zhao Ruizhi momentarily helpless.
He Li and the others were stupefied. Zu An had exchanged over ten moves with the emperor without being at a disadvantage? If news of this got out, he would become world-famous within a single month!
How many years had the emperor remained at the absolute peak for? He had barely had to personally interfere in recent years, and whenever he did, it left all others in shock. Even the greatest cultivators of the world believed that they wouldn’t even be able to block a single one of the emperor’s attacks, and yet this Zu An was fighting him on equal footing?
Bi Linglong clenched her teeth. She was just about to run over to help when Mi Li stopped her. “Your cultivation is too low; you’ll only be causing trouble if you head over. Zu An will be in an even tougher spot if he has to cover for you.”
Bi Linglong wasn’t a stupid girl. She knew that was really the case. But when she saw how intensely they were fighting, she still bit her lip and replied, “But we can’t just watch without doing anything, right?”
“That’s exactly what you should do.” Mi Li paused for a moment and added, “Trust him.”
…
Right at that moment, the battle situation changed.
Zhao Ruizhi exclaimed with a sinister smile, “I’ve caught you!” He grabbed Zu An’s arm through the mirage of afterimages.
But what no one had expected was that Zu An didn’t panic at all. With a flick of his fingers, the Poisonous Prick in his hands flew at his opponent’s chest.
1. The poison that belonged to Ma An, the Imperial Hospital commissioner assistant, that even master rank cultivators can’t resist ☜