Gu Yuexiâs voice was soft, almost ethereal.
But broadcast through the arenaâs speakers, those few words seemed to carry a magical quality, drilling clearly into everyoneâs ears.
What did she mean?
What did she mean, âStop pretendingâ?
That mosquito was definitely dead... dead as a doornail. What could it possibly be pretending about?
The Great Xia audience, who had been drowning in immense grief and despair, found their minds suddenly short-circuiting.
Even the foreigners who had been wildly mocking Great Xia and celebrating their victory found their expressions frozen on their faces.
While everyoneâs brains were still rebooting,
inside the arena,
a faint buzzing sound suddenly emerged from the deep crater that was still emitting wisps of black smoke.
Immediately after,
under the gaze of countless disbelieving eyes, a black figure slowly rose from the bottomless pit.
It was the same familiar shape.
The same lazy posture.
Even the Silent Annihilation Battle Armor it wore was as pristine as ever. Forget being meltedâit didnât even have a single scratch!
"Holy shit!!!"
"Am I seeing things? How did another one just come out of the crater?"
"Then what was that thing that got incinerated just now?"
"Was it... an illusion? A damn Illusion Technique? Or... was the one that burned to death a fake from the start?"
The entire arena erupted in an uproar.
No one was blind. The visual impact just now, the gruesome scene of its carapace peeling away and its flesh meltingâthere was no way that was an illusion!
Unless...
The one that died just now wasnât the real Chu Sheng at all!
Well, of course it wasnât the real one.
How could a sly bastard like Chu Sheng possibly die?
Especially not by being out-snuck himself!
Heâs always the one doing the sneaking, okay?
Thatâs right!
Initially, the one that was knocked to the ground and smashed into the crater was indeed the real Chu Sheng.
But the one that emerged from the crater later wasnât him; it was a clone.
Of course, it wasnât his usual Celestial Thunder Illusion.
Although the Celestial Thunder Illusion was useful, it only possessed fifty percent of his main bodyâs strength. It wouldnât have been able to withstand the terrifying impact from those three serpent heads and would have likely shattered on the spot, easily exposing the ruse.
So, Chu Sheng used a different moveâWater Mirror Technique: Water Clone!
While the Water Clone didnât have most of Chu Shengâs Skills, it genuinely possessed the power of the Peak of Seventh-Grade!
It was originally meant to bait out skills, but unexpectedly, this Orochi was a sneaky old bastard too. It had hidden a poison fire attack and melted the Water Clone directly.
...
On the battlefield, it wasnât just the audience who was stunned... so was the Orochi!
"HISS?!!"
Its three enormous heads recoiled in unison, all six of its eyes filled with a ghostly terror.
It couldnât understand.
It had clearly felt a life fade away, had clearly witnessed its opponentâs death with its own eyes.
Why was this damned insect still here, completely unharmed?
Its aura hadnât even weakened in the slightest?!
A sense of humiliation from being toyed with instantly shattered its rationality.
It was a Divine Beast!
The totem of the Sakura Country!
How could it be so thoroughly played by a mere insect!
"ROARâ!!!"
The middle head, the one that had just spewed poison fire, once again opened its massive, bloody maw.
Terrifying black poison fire brewed once more, the depths of its throat seeming to connect to the abyss of hell.
It refused to believe it!
If burning it once didnât work, then it would burn it twice! Ten times!
Watching the throat light up again, Chu Sheng hovered in the air with no intention of dodging.
The mockery in his compound eyes gradually faded, replaced by a heart-stopping coldness.
"BZZZ. âSo you like playing with fire, do you?â"
"BZZ. âFine. Then Iâll let you see what Lord Mosquitoâs fire is really like.â"
The instant the thought formed,
a bizarre change suddenly occurred in Chu Shengâs two compound eyes.
Deep within his scarlet eyes, something seemed to shatter. Immediately after, intricate and mysterious black tomoe patterns spun and interweaved rapidly within his pupils!
An ancient, ominous, and terrifying ocular power, one that seemed capable of incinerating all of creation, erupted forth!
Chu Sheng stared intently at the Orochiâs massive body.
He silently recited the name in his mindâ
"Amaterasu."
Celestial Flame True Fire!
There was no warning.
No fireball trajectory, no pre-cast energy fluctuations.
Wherever his gaze fell, flames would ignite!
WHOOSHâ!!!
A plume of fire, black as ink yet deeper than the night itself, abruptly materialized on the Orochiâs enormous body!
The moment these flames appeared, the surrounding Space warped and collapsed from the heat.
Even from behind the thick Energy Shield, the spectators at the edge of the arena felt a shudder that originated from the depths of their souls.
It wasnât heat.
It was annihilation.
"HISSSâAWOOOOOOO!!!"
The Orochi, so arrogant and domineering just moments ago, let out a heart-wrenching scream the instant the black flames touched it!
The shriek was utterly shrill, as if it were being subjected to death by a thousand cuts.
It thrashed wildly on the ground, its massive body slamming against the floor in an attempt to smother the flames.
It even mobilized the Demonic Power within its body to wash over the fire, trying to extinguish it with Water Energy.
But it was completely useless!
The Celestial Flame True Fire was like a maggot gnawing on bone; not only did it not go out, but it used the Orochiâs Demonic Power as fuel, burning ever more fiercely!
In just two short seconds,
the black flames, which had started as a small patch, had already spread across half of the Orochiâs body!
Before the black flames, its scales were like paper, instantly turning to ash.
Next came its flesh, bones, and meridians...
These flames would not be extinguished until their target was burned to nothing!
This was one of Chu Shengâs strongest single-target killing moves: Celestial Flame True Fire.
With his Mental Power having reached the Sixth-Grade Late Stage, the power of this move was on a completely different level than before.
Now, he could even make a bold declarationâ
âBelow the King Realm, there is nothing that cannot be burned!â
...
"My God..."
In mid-air, the chief referee Pierce, who was responsible for maintaining the Barrier, looked as if his eyes were about to pop out of his head.
He could clearly feel the Power of Law contained within those black flames.
Power of that level... was definitely not something a Sixth-Grade Demon Beast should be able to master!
Meanwhile, in the White Eagle Empireâs rest area,
the captain, William, who had been acting incomparably arrogant and even wanted to claim Gu Yuexi for himself, abruptly shot to his feet.
He stared intently at the black flames, his hands hanging by his sides trembling slightly.
He himself was a genius with a Fire Superpower and possessed a natural mastery over flames.
But now, facing those black flames, he felt a primal fear rising from his instincts.
It was like mortal fire meeting Celestial Fire, a subject meeting his emperor.
"What is that fire... How is that possible!"
William muttered to himself, his expression shifting uncertainly.
âIf even a little bit of that touches me... could I block it?â
âYes, I could! Iâm the Flame God!!! I definitely can!â
âGu Yuexi, after I kill you, Iâll be taking that mosquito for myself!â
...
Back in the arena, the screams gradually faded.
Ten seconds.
Only ten seconds had passed.
The Three-Headed Eight-Tailed Great Serpent, which had been as massive as a mountain and possessed Pseudo-Ninth Grade strength, had completely stopped struggling.
Its enormous body had vanished.
On the ground, only a puddle of black, bloody water and a nauseating, scorched smell lingering in the air remained.
It was deader than dead.
Not even a scrap of bone was left.
Chu Sheng slowly retracted his gaze. The tomoe patterns in his eyes gradually faded, and a powerful wave of exhaustion washed over him.
âThis Amaterasu thing is cool and all, and powerful too, but man is it draining on the spirit.â
It had drained nearly half of his Mental Power in an instant.
But...
looking at the puddle of blood on the ground, Chu Sheng grinned.
âIt was worth it.â
He flapped his wings and flew over.
In the puddle of bloody water lay three fist-sized, faintly glowing orbs.
They were the Orochiâs three Inner Cores! He had deliberately left them behind... The Orochiâs Qi Blood was nothing special, and since he wasnât short on Qi Blood at the moment, Chu Sheng planned to use the Nether Flame Insect Nest to directly harvest its Life Essence for the next Insect Swarm Evolution.
"BZZZ. âGood stuff. Mine now.â"
Without any hesitation, Chu Sheng immediately collected the three Inner Cores.
[Ding! Life Essence +30,000!]
[Current Remaining Life Essence: 31,000!]
âSo satisfying!â
Chu Sheng shivered his wings in comfort.
âWow, each Inner Core gave 10,000 Life Essence!â
âThis is the spoils of war. I hope more "Divine Beasts" like this show up in the future. The more the merrier!â
With the complete death of the Orochi,
the entire delegation from the Sakura Country, whether human or Summoned Beast, was now completely annihilated.
Wiped clean, neat and tidy.
The smell of blood and scorched flesh hung in the air, reminding everyone of the massacre that had just taken place.
Referee Pierce swallowed hard and composed himself.
He looked at the wreckage on the ground, then at the unscathed Gu Yuexi and Chu Sheng standing in the middle of the arena, and announced in a dry voice:
"First round of the group stage..."
"The Sakura Country delegation... all members... have been eliminated."
"Great Xia Kingdom delegation, remaining members... 10."
"Great Xia Kingdom is victorious!"
The moment his voice fell,
BOOM!!!
the entire stadium erupted once again.
"We won!!! We won!!!"
"Great Xia is invincible! Goddess Gu is invincible! Lord Mosquito is awesome!!!"
"This is the strength of Great Xia! To hell with the Sakura Country! To hell with their Divine Beast! We stomped them all!"
In the stands, countless Great Xia People hugged each other and wept, waving their national flags and shouting until their faces turned red.
This battle was just too satisfying!
ăMeanwhile.ă
On the other side of the planet, within Great Xia, it was already nighttime.
Following the victory, countless cities lit up with celebratory fireworks, and cheers echoed through the heavens.
That night, Great Xia did not sleep!
...