Demonslayer Chapter 36

Chapter 36: Battle Royale (One)

"Ding…" The melodious chime of a bell could be heard from some unknown place. Firecloud and Shadowslay slightly nodded.

"It's happening, it's starting!" A youth excitedly leaned his body forwards as far as physically possible, his breathing rushed: "The first lineup is the clash between two A4 students! This is gonna be frickin' awesome!"

"Heh, I bet the outcome will be decided in half an hour!" 

"I bet a low-grade spirit stone! It's going to be finished in forty!" 

"Hehe, I bet Luo Sanfeng is going to be the victor!" 

"It's obvious the A5 has the upper hand! What are you thinking!" 

"Brother, are you still unaware? Xu Yangyi failed to break through yesterday; you still cheering for him?"

Animated discussion flowed between all the spectators. With their attention focused on the gigantic arena, the two human bodies were the size of ants. 

"Aren't you that wise guy that tried to break through?" Luo Sanfeng laughed coldly: "You're luck really blows, huh… Who knew there would be something like the Qualifier. However…"

"You ain't got a ghost of a chance at that treasure."

Xu Yangyi cracked his knuckles and glanced at him expressionlessly. In the next second, his figure could no seen no longer!

Just as Luo Sanfeng was in the middle of completing his sentence, he had no chance to wrap up his closing remarks as his words transformed into a cold gasp! Originally, the two of them would've spent some time exchanging stirring banter leading to a precipitous build up!  The entire stadium had heard him say the last bit of his final declaration! 

His opponent was fast!

His opponent was very fast!

Xu Yangyi had no intention of sparing time for superfluous drivel! Following the nods of Firecloud and Shadowslay, his entire being had left with a swoosh, the only thing remaining where he had originally stood was a cloud of dust. His silhouette was akin to a tiger leaving its cage, and he darted towards Luo Sanfeng like like arcing electricity!

"What speed!" A cry of alarm rang out from the myriad ma.s.ses in the audience stands. An old man with white hair and a rosy complexion suddenly stood up at his seat, his hands clasped around his teacup and mouth hanging widely as he looked at the scene on the arena stage in shock!

"This speed…" A boy around ten years old wearing children's clothing gripped the handrail firmly, yet as he sat back down gripping his seat rigidly, his protruding veins betrayed his agitation.  

Chu Zhaonan's eyes suddenly flashed, and he subconsciously stroked the gun at his waist. Ultimately though, he ceased to continue touching it. He sucked in deeply and licked his lips in excitement: "I know… I f.u.c.king know… you are quite fearsome… A fearsomeness that surpa.s.ses my imagination…"

"But you are still not my opponent!" 

No one had expected the first matchup would be an A5 student versus a A3 student. They had guessed it would possibly be a conflict on the proportions of heavenly thunder and earthly flames, but by no means had they expected the heavenly thunder would be so fast!*

Everyone present had believed at the onset that after the two Foundation Establishment seniors gave an indication to begin, the two would still want to probe each other out. They hadn't expected that the first thing to come would be the light of sabers and the shadow of swords! Although they still hadn't changed their mentalities, the situation on stage had already transformed!

No one spoke, everyone was watching the scene on stage in shock! Perhaps there were some that were still of mind to gamble moments ago, but after observing this speed, they acted as if they were p.r.i.c.ked and suddenly drawn up! 

If it was said that Luo Sanfeng was still a bit taunting before, his entire face at the present had already become smeared in the color of caution!

What speed… What terrifying swiftness! This couldn't be the G.o.dd.a.m.n speed of Qi Condensation!

Where was he? 

All he could truly capture with his eyes was an indistinct silhouette! Was this the Light Speed Fist of the Golden Saints? Was Xu Yangyi going to attack him from the left? The right? His chest? His stomach?**

In his sudden shock, a vast a.s.sortment of ideas frantically coursed through his brain. In a flash, his eyes saucered to the extreme! 

A half a second, it had only been a half second, but the sweat on his forehead cascaded down like rain! Half a second later, he certain!

His opponent… was coming in hot like a bull! A full-frontal, head-on collision! It was a direct contest of spiritual strength!

"f.u.c.k you!" He suddenly snarled and crossed both his arms, his body in a half-squatted position and he bellowed: "Solution Ninety-Eight… Tortoise Burdens!"

Rays of milky-white spiritual energy instantly flooded in from his surroundings to his arms. In the next second, a hazy tortoise sh.e.l.l appeared in front of him like an illusion. 

Of Heavens Law's Hundred Solutions, there weren't many that a student could learn. However, with their paltry amount of spiritual energy before they graduated, they were able to make use of the final ten solutions at best. Tortoise Burdens happened to be among one of the sole moves that could be used in a defensive style. Nonetheless, it could only be used to guard against frontal a.s.saults. 

Xu Yangyi charged forward at top speed, murderous will filling the expanse of his heart! He had arrived in front of that door. A painstaking process of ten-odd years and he had been ruthlessly pulled away by someone on his first break through. 

He didn't say a word, but this didn't represent he wasn't going to take action!

Fear?

What was there to be afraid of?

The strong had never cared to make others fearful! The strong had always forced reverence from others!

Since you are scared… then display your sincerity before me! 

Or… just be even more frightened!

At this instant, his speed had already exploded to his utmost limit! At the side of his ears, he could even hear the roaring of the wind! Luo Sanfeng hadn't chosen to attack because he had felt Xu Yangyi's speed surpa.s.sed his wildest imagination, so he had withdrawn his entire body in defense!

A shred of a cold sneer played at the crook of Xu Yangyi's mouth, and he ruthlessly grinded his teeth. With a tremendous charging force at a mach-like speed, he condensed a majority of the force into his right foot, which was followed by an ear-piercing swish that resulted in a thundering echo that reverberated through the entire arena! He foot was followed by a gale as he kicked forward!

Shattered rock bloomed outwards in flight!

As he streaked across the ground… his spiritual energy caused his combat boots to carve a half-a-foot trench in rampage!

At this moment, Chu Tianyi's opened eyes looked at two people on stage frigidly. 

At this moment, no cultivator said a word, watching Xu Yangyi charge forth with tremendous momentum and looking at Luo Sanfeng who was on a complete defense.

At this moment, Firecloud's and Shadowslay's eyes narrowed.

At this moment, Lilac, Vulture, and Lotus tightly wrapped their hands around the handrails. Not many knew people knew of Xu Yangyi's graduation grade… but they knew! It was because they knew that they summoned their attention to him!

It was a kick without the least bit sophistication, a clash of power absent of the slightest style. Would the spear pierce through the s.h.i.+eld, or would the s.h.i.+eld resist the spear?

"Boom!" A sound that seemed like it could make the heart tremble echoed through the entire arena.

The wind came to a halt, and the people froze.

The whistling of the wind moments ago that soon made the hearts of the people take flight ceased to scream. Xu Yangyi's right leg had already made complete impact against Luo Sanfeng's tortoise sh.e.l.l! Time seemed to stop at this instance! 

What would be the conclusion?

Before this thought had even turned over within everyone's hearts, a blood-curdling wail like that of the m.u.f.fled sound of striking leather followed in the next second. Luo Sanfeng's body was sent flying back in a straight line!

"Aaarrghhhh!!!" A mournful shriek was issued from his mouth was he was sent flying back! It was a result of being kicked soaring away at a head-spinning speed, which lead to his discontinuous shouting in the wind! His entire person was as if he had been forged into a shooting star! With a tremendous bang, he suddenly slammed into the front-facing stone wall of the rear audience seats!

"Cras.h.!.+" No less than ten meters in diameter of limestone appeared to have been struck by an artillery sh.e.l.l. At the heart of the impact, it had completely caved inwards! In a flash, spider web-like cracks covered the full ten-meter expanse. 

"Puh!" Luo Sanfeng's face was covered in shock, but before he could even finish cooling his nerves, he couldn't restrain the mouthful of blood that sprayed out between his lips!

It was not only the limestone that had cracked… but also everyone's bloodshot eyes that seemed to be covered in spider webs! The entire venue had become deathly silent!

In that s.p.a.ce of time, Firecloud's and Shadowslay's gazes suddenly flashed. Firecloud immediately raised his hand: "Yuyang City, Xu Yangyi wins."

The venue was deathly silent, still as quiet as what lingered in the afterlife.  

Lilac's gaze had just been lit aflame moments ago, but had taken a sudden turn for the extreme solemness. Lotus and Vulture were also like this. Moreover...

The three of them, late-stage Qi Condensation cultivators… had already stood up!

It wasn't only them. Wordlessly, there were quite a few people that had stood up with their mouths hanging ajar. There was an old man entering his golden years and there was a woman in the prime of her youth. There was a middle-aged man who was turning over two walnuts in his hand, yet had already forgotten about them. There was a boy with a lollipop hanging suspended out from the corner of his mouth...

Each one of them looked at the gigantic limestone depression like they had seen a ghost, and as well as Luo Sanfeng who was dribbling blood in the middle of it and powerless to even budge.

What… had just happened? A kick? A mere kick?! The opponent was also a 3A student! In a similar vein, his branch evaluations were high! But the result had been delivered with only a single kick?

The long-awaited clash between the flaming star and the earth had resulted in the flaming star battering the earth. However, the earth had been disposed of with only a single kick?

A defensive art had been utilised, but it had still been done in with a kick?

"Good heavens…" A middle-aged man of the middle-stage of Qi Condensation, tremblingly grabbed onto his pulse in hand: "T-t-this was ten seconds, right… N-n-no… Five seconds? Three second? H-how is this possible? The opponent is a 3A student!"

"The power of this kick… is actually this strong!" On the other side, an initial-stage Qi Condensation woman with sweat pouring profusely from her head looked flabbergasted at the stone tiles. In her mind, she pondered it countless of times, yet she discovered… she wouldn't even be able to accept 50% of the kick's force! "Is the disparity between initial stages… really this great?"

This was a question she dared not to ask, but moreover one that she dared not answer.

In that st.i.tch of time, Chu Tianyi who had originally been sitting calmly, had drawn himself straight, locking his eyes dead-on at Xu Yangyi! A 3A student… wasted with a single kick!

Such a direct exchange of styles, such a impossible transformation of methods had actually unfolded beneath his eyelids! 

Fang Tansheng who was at his side had soundlessly stood up like many other people at this moment. Heavens Law was unlike that of the cultivation clans, possessing many training methods and resources aplenty, as to so far that even many clan cultivators were carried off to Heavens Law for training. Of every city's rank one, which one wasn't an elite among elites?

But… could the worth of an elite actually be so simple? 

Coa.r.s.e and barbaric, a lone force to shatter through myriad methods! 

Chu Zhaonan sucked in deeply. His right hand stroked his gun for the first time. "You are truly… truly… deserving of me using it." 

"Right now, I'm really achin' to find out. Between my bullets and your body, which one is faster? Which one is stronger?"

However, the most astonished wasn't them. 

The expressions of the remaining twelve rank ones at this moment besides Chu Zhaonan were incomparably complex! 

They all had a rough understanding of everyone's data. All of them were rank ones. Although Xu Yangyi had a branch evaluation of 5A… wasn't the branch evaluation criteria not allowed to be different? That was to say, even if it was same, what were they scared of? Every one of them were at very minimum 2A students; the branch evaluation wasn't a comprehensive representation! 

None of them had expected that a 3A student like Luo Sanfeng would be disposed of on initial contact! It was practically a fight between an adult and a baby!

"This…" The pock-marked youth that had made fun of Xu Yangyi yesterday opened and closed his mouth several times. He wanted to say something, but in the end it transformed into gibberish: "This… This…"

"Is this a f.u.c.king joke?" At his side there was a bald youth whose Adam's apple trembling fiercely. They could guess that Luo Sanfeng's strength was unquestionably in the mid-upper levels of the rank ones, but it had completely gone beyond their expectations he would be sent back flying with a single kick!

The dogfight of their antic.i.p.ations hadn't appeared. The foundation of either side hadn't been touch upon because one side… had crumpled with a single blow!

"Is he a tyrannosaurus rex in human form?" A woman grit her teeth and said with her lips cramped and fists rigidly tightened. Extreme shock had pervaded the bottom of their hearts; they simply were unwilling to believe the scene they were witnessing! If Luo Sanfeng met such an end… What about them?

"Investigate the degree of force he just erupted with!" At this time, a hoa.r.s.e voice suddenly rang out, one of an old man with flush over his entire face, shouting like he was having a stroke: "Now! Right now!"

These words seemed to wake everyone from their reverie. Firecloud raised his a brow as he regained his wits and looked at Shadowslay somewhat surprised, noticing his counterpart's similarly surprised gaze.

"This child…" Shadowslay seemed to deliberating over his words: "Is rather excessive in strength." 

Not waiting for them to finish speaking, the clicking sound of keyboard typing echoed through the arena. Xu Yangyi cared for nothing else, only striding towards ten-meter-long scar and extending his hand out.

"What does he want to do!"

This question wasn't limited to only the audience but also all of the students.

Xu Yangyi grabbed onto Luo Sanfeng's throat, pulling him out, and Luo Sanfeng's eyes were filled with b.l.o.o.d.y-murder as he glared at him. He himself didn't believe the strength of Xu Yangyi's kick would be so great! He was simply incapable of resisting such might!

The sensation he had felt moments ago… was practically equivalent to a full-frontal collision of a tyrannosaurus rex!

To be defeated in a single move… Beneath the focus of over ten thousand people, he wasn't the last one standing but rather the stepping stone of the last one standing!

* 天雷碰地火 - I guess this is something the author came up with to describe the conflict. Since it's a battle between an A5 student and an A3 student, the audience can kinda guess the conclusion. But that's not to say that an A3 student is a scrub. Hence, the comparison.

** Light Speed Fist is a Saint Seiya reference, an old anime from the 90s.