Chapter 2281: Arm-wrestling
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
He defeated Lord Sinluo and shattered the stars with an arrow.
Such a halberd shocked the cultivators of Mount Destiny, Kunlun, and even Infernal Court.
Many of them were familiar with Zhang Ruochen’s ability until half a year ago. At that time, Zhang Ruochen was only in Saint King Realm. No matter how powerful he was, he could only stir up situations without Supreme Saints’ presence.
To a Supreme Saint, half a year was just a snap of the fingers. It was difficult for one’s strength to increase greatly in such a short time.
However, under the eyes of millions of people, Zhang Ruochen used Archery to win against the famous Lord Sinluo.
Some cultivators were fascinated by Zhang Ruochen’s profound methods.
Some felt that Lord Sinluo had lost too unjustly. Zhang Ruochen didn’t win by using Archery. Instead, he won through shady means by using tricks from Path of Dimensional.
Others felt that Lord Sinluo had humiliated Deathkin and the entire Infernal Court. They were eager to try and challenge Zhang Ruochen.
“Lord Sinluo has caused me great loss.”
The two Deathkin who had lent Ampliofruit to Lord Sinluo were ashen-faced. Even if Lord Sinluo offered something good to compensate them, it wouldn’t be as good as Ampliofruit.
If they hadn’t seen how miserable Lord Sinluo was, they would have fought him right now.
Zhang Ruochen took three Ampliofruit from the table in front of Lord Sinluo, “As a Supreme Saint, you can’t remain calm in the face of danger. Lord Sinluo, have you never encountered a life-and-death crisis before? “With your temperament, if you continue to be invincible, you might have a chance to become a god. However, today’s shot will be a nightmare you’ll never forget. It will be your biggest mental weakness to become a god.”
Lord Sinluo was highly embarrassed when he got up from the ground. He turn shame into anger and said, “Do you dare to fight me again?”
Zhang Ruochen looked at the five Ampliofruits on the table in front of him and said, “You have already lost all your Ampliofruits. What else can you offer to fight me?”
“I can still…”
Lord Sinluo wanted to say, “I can still acquire more.” However, when he stared at the Supreme Saints of Deathkins, all of them quickly avoided him.
Zhang Ruochen was obviously a scheming person. How could Lord Sinluo defeat him?
Although Lord Sinluo was powerful, his performance today had disappointed them.
“I will continue to compete you with this Frostwood Bow,” Lord Sinluo said while gritting his teeth.
Zhang Ruochen shook Azuresky Bow in his hand and said, “Your bow is too low-level. I’m not interested.”
Zhang Ruochen did not really despise Lord Sinluo, he just didn’t want to continue competing with him.
He could beat Lord Sinluo because he had expected that Lord Sinluo would compete with him in archery, so he was confident of winning. However, who knew what Lord Sinluo would compete with him in the next round?
Zhang Ruochen was already satisfied with five Ampliofruits. As he could increase 500 million Precepts and 15,000 years of lifespan with it.
‘I’ve only won three from Lord Sinluo. How can there be five?
‘Where did this extra one come from?
‘Whatever, it’s just one extra!’
Downstream.
Xue Tu was finally relieved when he saw that Zhang Ruochen had won. He let out a long sigh and laughed, “My senior is such a peerless genius. How could a mere Lord Sinluo be his match?”
He looked even happier than Zhang Ruochen.
However, when he looked at Zhang Ruochen, he found that Zhang Ruochen did not seem to have any intention of returning Ampliofruit to him. His heart could not help but thump, and he suddenly had a bad premonition.
Could Zhang Ruochen be thinking of keeping Apliofruit to pay off his debt?
Thinking of this, Xue Tu could not laugh anymore. He immediately left his seat and walked towards upstream quickly.
When he came to Zhang Ruochen’s seat, Xue Tu stared at the five Ampliofruits on the table. He swallowed and was about to speak…
A gloomy voice sounded from the other side of Destiny’s Creek, “Supreme Saint Ruochen, why don’t we have a battle? Let’s bet five Ampliofruits this time.”
Xu stood beside Lord Sinluo and lifted five saint flowers with dark Ghost Qi. Each of the saint flowers had an Ampliofruit.
There were five in total.
Because of Zhang Ruochen, Xu missed the seat of honor and could only take up a secondary seat. As someone with high status, Xu had made a fool out of himself.
If Xu wanted to save his reputation and the Ghosts’ morale, he had to severely injure Zhang Ruochen at Celestial-Hunting Festival.
This ritual battle was extremely important.
Zhang Ruochen obviously understood Xu’s intentions, he shook his head and said, “You are Ghost Master’s seventh son who’s ranked top ten in the Great Perfection stage of Hundred-Shackle Realm. Aren’t you afraid of being ridiculed for challenging me, a Supreme Saint who has just entered Neverwilt Realm? How about this? I’ll challenge you.”
During the ritual battle, the one who challenges and the one being challenged were two completely different concepts.
If Zhang Ruochen challenged Xu, then the way of the battle would be decided by Zhang Ruochen.
Xu — of course — would not agree. He chuckled.
Xu sat in Lord Sinluo’s seat without asking Lord Sinluo’s permission. Xu took out a giant sword from the bone ring on his finger and placed it on the jade table.
Zhang Ruochen’s eyes fell on the giant sword. No matter how calm he was, there was a change in his expression.
“Where did you get this sword?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
Xu picked up Tripod Cup and drank a mouthful of water leisurely, “Half a year ago, I went to the Supreme Saint Battlefield of Merits outside Kunlun and met a Supreme Saint of Hundred-Shackle Realm from Guanghan. This saint sword is his saber.”
“Where is he?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
Xu touched the sword with his fingers and smiled. “If you want to know the answer, you have to agree to fight with me.”
Zhang Ruochen had seen that huge sword before.
During the battle on Mount Yueshen, Zhang Ruochen and Supreme Saint Manjian fought against the avatar of Blackheart Demonlord. This was the sword that Supreme Saint Manjian used.
Zhang Ruochen was then forced to leave Kunlun. After he went to Celestial Court with Moon Goddess, he followed Supreme Saint Manjian to cultivate in Red Dragon Domain.
At that time, Zhang Ruochen was only a saint, but Supreme Saint Manjian was all affability and condescension to Zhang Ruochen. Later, when Zhang Ruochen became Moon Goddess’ emIssary, the two of them even fraternized with each other.
Zhang Ruochen had faced death threats, including attempted assassinations by the cultivators of Soul Realm with Soul Holding Technique. It was Supreme Saint Manjian who had been protecting him.
In a sense, Supreme Saint Manjian was the protector that Moon goddess had arranged for Zhang Ruochen.
Now, Supreme Saint Manjian’s sword had appeared in Xu’s hand. How could Zhang Ruochen not be worried?
Seeing that Zhang Ruochen was silent, Xu said, “You should know what will happen to Celestial Court cultivators who fall into my hands. He will either be sold as a slave, imprisoned in the ghost prison, extracted from his saint soul, or refined into Ghost Emperor soul.”
Boom
Zhang Ruochen struck the jade table heavily, creating ripples of Saint Qi. But his expression remained the same.
Xu placed the five Ampliofruits on the table one by one. He smiled and said, “With your relationship with Supreme Saint Manjian, you must hate me very much. You must be very angry and want to avenge him. Unfortunately, you can’t do anything at Celestial-Hunting Festival. You can only restrain yourself.
“Fight me and win all five of my Ampliofruits. This is the only way you can vent your anger.”
Lord Xia Yu was worried that Zhang Ruochen got provoked and agreed. She said, “Zhang Ruochen, you are a cultivator from Infernal Court. What does the fate of a Supreme Saint from Guanghan have to do with you? You must know your identity.”
Xu said, “Lord Xia Yu, what you said is wrong! People have feelings. Whether it’s about Celestial Court or Infernal Court, what’s the difference between Zhang Ruochen and a rock if he’s without feelings?”
Zhang Ruochen had long calmed down. However, he showed anger on his face to trick Xu and said, “You’re right. You’ve really angered me this time.”
Lord Xia Yu showed an anxious look and said, “Zhang Ruochen, keep calm first…”
“Don’t mind my business. I’m calm.”
Zhang Ruochen snorted and looked at Xu again, “If you challenge me in this battle, I’ll definitely lose. Why should I agree to it? Why don’t we do it another way? Tell me what kind of fight your want, and I’ll consider it.”
Xu could see that Zhang Ruochen wasn’t in a good mood. He knew that this was the best time. Naturally, he didn’t want to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Xu said, “I’m the strongest Ghost in Celestial-Hunting Festival. Even if we fight, I won’t take advantage of you. You have the body of a Demigod, so you must be very powerful. How about we arm wrestle?”
Arm wrestling was a contest between mortals. It was a contest of pure power.
No one had expected that Xu would choose such a simple way of fighting.
However, they soon understood his intent.
Everyone knew that Zhang Ruochen was the most powerful one in Path of Time, Dimension, and Truth. Every kind of Path was mysterious and unpredictable, thus he could often kill enemies across cultivation realms.
But in arm-wrestling, most of Zhang Ruochen’s methods would be useless.
The Demigod-level body was indeed powerful, but Zhang Ruochen hadn’t broken the 100 shackles in his body yet. How much power could he unleash while the power of Demigod was still confined?
Xu, on the other hand, who had attained Great Perfection stage of Hundred-Shackle Realm, had ten times the power of Primodial Ghost Emperor-Level Neverwilt Physique.
Zhang Ruochen’s current Demigod-level body was absolutely no match for Xu’s.
Of course, Zhang Ruochen knew more than other cultivators about Xu. Xu didn’t just have ten times Primodial Ghost Emperor-Level Neverwilt Physique. He had also refined more than ten million ghosts into his body. Once he unleashed the power, even a Supreme saint of Thousand-Koan Realm had to step aside.
If it was a competition of power, Zhang Ruochen would definitely lose.
But was arm-wrestling really a competition of strength?
“Zhang Ruochen has fought Xu before. He knows Xu’s strength very well. As long as Zhang Ruochen still has a touch of sanity, he will definitely not agree,” Gu Chenzi said.
In his opinion, Zhang Ruochen was not an impulsive person. Therefore, Xu was destined to fail.
Supreme Saint Yi Xuan nodded and relaxed. He picked up the tripod cup and drank from the stream. ‘Zhang Ruochen wasn’t stupid. How could he jump into a trap knowingly he’ll lose?’
“Okay, I’ll arm-wrestle with you,” Zhang Ruochen said.
“PFFT!”
Hearing this, Supreme Saint Yi Xuan spat out a mouthful of water. He stared at Zhang Ruochen, who was upstream.
‘Had this guy been provoked into stupidity?’
Gu Chenzi looked puzzled. ‘Zhang Ruochen knew that his opponent’s power is far greater than his. Why did he agree?’
Xue Tu, who was standing behind Zhang Ruochen, staggered and almost fell to the ground.
‘He had just won against Lord Sinluo, and now he was up to no good.
‘If you want to play with fire, don’t bring me along!’
“Senior… Why don’t you bet four? Return mine first,” Xue Tu said with an expectant look.
Zhang Ruochen waved his hand and said, “You can leave! I’ll take your Ampliofruit first.”
“Senior,”
Xue Tu was unwilling to give up and called out again.
He licked his lips with a fierce look in his eyes. He clenched his hands, wanting to rush up and take the Ampliofruit that belonged to him.
“Go away. You’re disruptinf my duel.”
Zhang Ruochen closed his eyes and flicked his finger. A space bubble condensed on his fingertip flew out. And like a glass ball, it covered Xue Tu in it. Xue Tu then bounced to the lower reaches of Destiny’s Creek.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
Xu felt happy that his plan had succeeded. He clapped his hands and laughed loudly. “Such courage. I admire you.”
Lord Sinluo, who was standing not far away, was dissatisfied with Xu. However, he hated Zhang Ruochen even more. Hence, it would indeed raise his spirit if Xu could make Zhang Ruochen suffer a great loss.
Above Destiny’s Creek, Xu was the first to stretch out his arm and turn it into a 100-foot-long hand.
Besides a bone ring on his palm, he also wore a purple glove emitting divine power. It was a divine artifact.
Arm-wrestling seemed to be a competition of strength, but it was not just a clash of strength.
Zhang Ruochen activated Armor of the Fire God and stretched out his arm. It also turned into a 100-foot-long hand and held it together with Xu’s ghost hand.
“Wait a minute.”
Luo Sha called out and stood up from her seat. She said, “Since it’s a competition, there must be a referee to make the rules and judge the winner. I think I’m competent to do it.”
Luo Sha knew very well that although it was a competition of arm wrestling, the different rules would have a huge impact on the winner.
Like other cultivators, she also thought that Zhang Ruochen could not win.
However, she wanted to help Zhang Ruochen in her own way, so he would have a greater advantage.
“With the relationship between Your Highness and Zhang Ruochen, it’s not suitable for you to be a judge, right?” Xu said.
The news of Luo Sha and Zhang Ruochen appearing together in Realm of Star Ocean and cultivated in Vastsea Manor for more than a month had long spread.
Many cultivators in Infernal Court knew that Luo Sha and Zhang Ruochen were very close.
Xu looked down and said, “Your Highness Pan Ruo, why don’t you be the judge of this battle?”
“It seems interesting for Supreme Saint to arm-wrestle. Well, I’ll make a few rules for you to see who will win.”
With a poker face, Pan Ruo slowly stood up and flew as light as autumn leaves to a place not far from Xu and Zhang Ruochen. She said, “First, since it’s arm wrestling, your elbows must not leave the table. Whoever leaves first will lose the battle.
“Second, whoever dips their hands into the water of Destiny’s Creek first will lose.”
“You have no objections, right?”
Xu frowned and said, “Only these two rules?”
“Does arm wrestling have other rules?” Pan Ruo asked back.
Xu didn’t say anything more. In fact, he felt that the rules could be stricter. At the very least, she could’ve added a few more rules.
For example, no Saint Path power Saint Aspect, sacred artifact, spiritual power could be used; they can’t attack each other; they can’t use their second hand… and so on.
The stricter the rules were, the more advantageous it would be for Xu. Zhang Ruochen would have less room to play.
Xu had chosen Pan Ruo as a judge for this purpose.
Although Pan Ruo represented the interests of the upper three clans in Fane of Destiny, she had no connection with Ghosts or Immortal vampires. However, Lord Sinluo had suffered a great loss due to Zhang Ruochen. She must be dissatisfied with him.
Choosing Pan Ruo as a judge was naturally advantageous to him.
However, Pan Ruo did not play by common sense. She set a loose rule, which benefitted Zhang Ruochen.
‘It does not matter. Even if the rules are loose, the difference in strength is there. It’s impossible for Zhang Ruochen to beat me. I want all his five Ampliofruits!’
When Xu won five Ampliofruits from Zhang Ruochen, he would have a total of six, including his own Ampliofruit.
After taking all six Ampliofruits, his strength would increase again. Perhaps it could help him reach the level of Wu Jiang and Luo Shengtian.
“Begin.”
As Pan Ruo shouted, Zhang Ruochen and Xu’s power rushed to their right arms while they mobilized their power at the same time.
Whoosh whoosh
Zhang Ruochen’s right arm emitted a dazzling blood light.
The Fire God’s Gauntlet and armor turned red and connected to the armguard, emitting a scorching power fluctuation. Then, the three elephant souls of Thousand-Koan Realm in his right arm were activated.
Xu’s arm hung in the sky above Destiny’s Creek. He didn’t move at all. He smiled and said, “Zhang Ruochen, is this all you have in your Demigod body? What else do you have? Show it as soon as possible. Otherwise, you won’t have a chance to show it later.”
Clang
An ear-splitting cry of a Phoenix sounded.
A huge phantom of a Phoenix rushed out of Zhang Ruochen’s body and floated behind him. It was the remnant of Divine Phoenix’s soul from Divine Phoenix’s saint blood Blood Empress had used to nurture Zhang Ruochen’s Demigod body.
At the same time, the ten golden wings on Zhang Ruochen’s back spread out as if they had turned into ten golden clouds.
When all the power burst out, it finally shook Xu’s arm and moved it a little to the left. However, he quickly steadied himself and straightened his arm.
“You have some ability. Indeed, I should not underestimate your Demigod body and Five-element Chaotic Neverwither physique.
“If you break the shackles in your body, your strength would definitely be ten times or even dozens of times stronger than now. At that time, my arm would be broken by you in an instant. But now, you are still far from it.”
Then, he said, “Do you have any other tricks up your sleeves? Or are you at your limit already?”