Against the Gods

NEW NOVEL: First and foremost, I'm delighted to announce that our long-time veteran translator littleshanks has finally launched his new novel, Rise!  Rise is a novel about the esports scene in Shanghai, the competitive gaming capital of China. It follows the story of Lin Feng, a boy who has just moved to the city for his last year of high school. He's a passionate gamer and dreams of being the best professional League of Legends player in the world. The twist? He almost achieved his dream, but failed at the...

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Chapter 550 - Zhizhan's Last Stand

Clap, clap, clap...

Duke Huai stood up as he clapped and he said while laughing, “Marvelous, that was truly a marvelous battle. I would never have thought that in this series of contests, there would actually be a scenario where both contestants would defeat each other. It is truly exciting to the point where this duke simply could not have imagined it. However…”

Duke Huai looked directly at Yun Qinghong and laughed, “Are you sure your side still wants to continue? You have gone through roughly half of your representatives just to take down one of ours. This result is truly regrettable and this duke simply does not feel at ease continuing this contest any longer. However, from this duke’s understanding of Patriarch Yun, no matter how ugly Patriarch Yun’s loss turns out to be, he will still resolutely soldier on, correct?”

“Hahahaha,” Yun Qinghong also started laughing, “Duke Huai, you truly understand this Yun well. However, your words are seriously puerile and ridiculous. Our contest has merely just begun, but you have already asserted that we have lost. Isn’t it a bit too early to say that?!”

“Hahaha!” Duke Huai let out three great laughs, “Ah this truly sounds like the words that you, Yun Qinghong, would say! Then let this duke clearly see where your confidence comes from, Yun Qinghong! But what this duke really wants to see is how much longer your arrogance can last… Wen Bo, you are our side’s second representative, so you’re up next.”

The words “second representative” was heavily emphasized by Duke Huai and the mockery in his tone could be heard by all. As his voice fall, a tall and big young man flew up in the air and landed in the arena.

Illusory Demon Seven Scions’ rank five —— Duke Wen Bo! And just like Duke Zihuan before him, he was also at the Tyrant Profound Realm level five.

And from the west wing, another person immediately took the air as well and he landed in front of Duke Wen Bo. This person was also the strongest person sent out by the west wing so far —— Also amongst the Illusory Demon Seven Scions, the sixth ranked Duke Yong Yi!

Both people belonged to the Illusory Demon Royal Family and both of them were also part of the Illusory Demon Seven Scions, so their strengths were not far apart. This was in addition to the fact that they had often dueled many times and had also gotten used to each other’s Golden Crow Flames and profound arts. So the battle between the two of them was exceptionally ferocious as they fell into a stalemate, and it was only after thirty minutes of battle that the winner was finally decided… Duke Wen Bo barely scraped a victory while Duke Yong Yi fell in defeat!

The west wing lost once again! And they were caught in the miserable scenario where they were at five losses and one draw.

Even though Duke Wen Bo had won, all of his moves and hidden cards had been played. He had sustained many wounds in battle, and his profound energy had been greatly exhausted. So in the seventh contest that followed, he fell to a young duke from the west wing who still found him rather challenging.

The eighth match: West wing’s Duke He Song versus the Lin Family’s Lin Hanchuan —— It was Lin Hanchuan’s complete victory!

The ninth match: West wing’s Duke Jia Rong versus the Lin Family’s Lin Hanchuan —— Lin Hanchuan wins yet again!

At this point, the west wing where the Yun Family was at had a record of one win, one draw and seven losses! And there were only four people left who were still eligible for battle.

The tenth match: Illusory Demon Seven Scions’ rank seven: Duke Yu Palace’s Duke Ying Nan versus Lin Hanchuan —— Duke Ying Nan wins!

The eleventh match: Duke Ying Nan versus Nangong Family’s Nangong Yan —— Duke Ying Nan achieved a pyrrhic victory. And while the west wing had finally won two consecutive victories for the first time after their last two fights, not a single person from the west wing had an expression of joy on their face. Even though Ying Nan had won, he had completely exhausted his strength, so he was bound to lose the following match. And at that time, the west wing would be down to three people, while the other side would still have eight. Moreover, the other side’s elite four had not even shown their faces yet.

The twelfth match: Duke Ying Nan versus Bai Family’s Bai Jie —— It was undoubtedly Bai Jie’s complete victory!

The west wing was only left with three competitors: Su Zhizhan, Number Six Under Heaven and the Yun Family’s unknown representative.

In the thirteenth match, Number Six Under Heaven took the stage. The elven race possessed the strong ability to use profound bows while having abundant innate talent, but the nature of their profound energy determined that their attack power would not be too high. Moreover, as contests of this nature took place within a confined boundary of an arena, the strength of their profound bows would also be greatly restricted. So once it was Number Six Under Heaven’s turn, he would be subject to an immediate and irreversible disadvantage and despite struggling bitterly, the miracle of the weaker triumphing over the stronger did not occur. He was defeated by Bai Jie.

So far, the two sides had fought thirteen matches and the west wing had lost ten representatives while the east side had lost a mere four. And besides Bai Jie, who was currently representing the east, they still had seven other young elites who had yet to battle. Among these young elites were the Xiao Family’s Xiao Donglai and the Jiufang Family’s Jiufang Yu who were at the Tyrant Profound Realm level four, the Chiyang Family’s Chiyang Yanwu who was at the Tyrant Profound Realm level five, the Helian Family’s Helian Ba who was at the Tyrant Profound Realm level six and the ones ranked number two and number three among the Illusory Demon Seven Scions, Duke Yuan Qiao and Duke Hui Ye who were also at the Tyrant Profound Realm level six.

There was still even the head of the Illusory Demon Seven Scions, Hui Ran, whose profound strength had actually reached the astonishing level of Tyrant Profound Realm level eight!

The other side was only left with Su Zhizhan who was at the Tyrant Profound Realm level six. As for the Yun Family, they did not even have any proper candidates to send out because among their young generation, the strongest was only at the Tyrant Profound Realm level two.

This contest between both sides did not have any suspense even from the start and no one felt that the current scenario was the least bit odd. In fact, everyone felt that the side the Yun Family was on had just lost in a much too miserable fashion.

The various great powers within Demon Imperial City gave silent sigh. This was only a competition between the young generation of both factions, and even though it could not be indicative of their true strength, it was clearly sufficient to demonstrate just how dominant Duke Huai’s faction was; and his faction possessed a strength that completely suppressed their opposition! And this contest which was deliberately arranged by Duke Huai was arranged with two goals in mind. The first goal was to drive out the Yun Family; the second goal was to use pure strength to oppress and cruelly destroy the other faction’s presence, to grind the dignity and prestige of the other faction, the Little Demon Empress included, completely under their heel.

And once the Yun Family had been expelled, the Little Demon Empress would not have the ability to contend with Duke Huai anymore. Once that happened, Duke Huai would only need an opportunity, whether natural or manufactured, to usurp this Illusory Demon World Demon Emperor’s throne...

The faces of all the people on the west wing were shrouded in a cloud of gloom. Once Number Six Under Heaven had lost to Bai Jie, they only had two people left that were eligible to do battle and realistically in their hearts, it was akin to only having one person left. This was because the Yun Family really did not have a single person among their young generation who was up to task.

“Ah.” Su Xiangnan slowly let out a sigh. He patted Su Zhizhan on the shoulder as he said, “Zhizhan, the conclusion has already been reached and our defeat as already been determined… In fact, it has been determined from the very start. It’s your turn now. Whether we can get back any of our dignity is now up to you and you alone.”

“I understand but not matter the result, I will definitely give it my best shot!”

After he had finished speaking, Su Zhizhan grabbed his weapon and soared into the sky, landing in front of Bai Jie who had just won over Number Six Under Heaven. He pointed his sword straight and the aura that radiated out from him was incomparably rich and strong. He did not even show one hint of weaknesses in regards to the great failure of his own faction as he declared, “Su Family’s Su Zhizhan presents himself! I have never been willing to cross swords with a woman, so it would be better if you simply surrendered and got off this stage.”

He faced Bai Jie, who was clothed in white and had a figure that was taller than most women. Her face was flushed red and she faintly showed signs of tiredness as it was made clear that her recent battle with Number Six Under Heaven was not easy at all. But upon hearing Su Zhizhan’s words, she let out a cold laugh and said mockingly, “Your side has lost in a completely miserable manner so I don’t really know where you are getting the nerve to speak so arrogantly from. And right now, you especially don’t have the right to look down on us women.”

“Ah, no, I think you’re mistaken there,” Su Zhizhan said softly as he gave an extremely contemptuous laugh, “I, Su Zhizhan, will definitely never look down on women, I only… look down on ungrateful and traitorous women who are no better than mongrels!”

“You’re courting death!” Those venomous words caused Bai Jie to erupt in fury and her jade sword exploded forward. In an instant, the shadow of an enormous white tiger appeared behind her. The image of this white tiger roared at the heavens and the sound of its roar spread through all four corners of the great hall, causing it to tremble. And in that instance, a strong gale rose up and surged violently. This howling gale was sufficient enough to suppress the roar of the white tiger and the arena seemed to be engulfed in thousands upon thousands of windstorms.

“It’s the Bai Family’s Tiger Roar Domain!”

Bai Jie’s domain instantly radiated outwards to envelop the entire arena. Su Zhizhan’s hair and clothes were flying wildly as the wind howled all around him. However, his body was nailed to the ground, unmoving. Then, he raised the longsword in his hand and attacked, his sword sweeping forward.

Within Bai Jie’s domain, besides herself, the strength and speed of every other person would be heavily restricted, but the speed of Su Zhizhan’s sword was still as swift as a bolt of lightning. The might of his sword swept away all of the violent hurricanes around him as a huge tear was immediately formed in Bai Jie’s domain. Su Zhizhan sprang forward and every step he took tore a rip in Bai Jie’s domain.

“The Bai Family and Su Family both use the sword as their weapon and they both cultivate wind attribute profound strength. Bai Jie’s and Su Zhizhan’s profound strength is not too far apart, but in terms of their understanding of the laws and nature of wind profound energy, Su Zhizhan is vastly superior to Bai Jie, so her domain does not pose any threat to him at all.” Yun Qinghong said in an admiring voice.

At this time, Su Zhizhan had already reached Bai Jie’s side, and the body of his sword surged with a dull green wind spiral. This wind spiral may have been infinitesimally small compared to the huge domain of howling winds but nevertheless, it was strong enough to push aside all of the howling winds surrounding it.

Riip!!

Su Zhizhan’s straight thrust violently tore apart the domain in front of him. Bai Jie also raised her jade sword and blocked Su Zhizhan’s sword with a loud clank. Immediately, she felt her arm go numb and an acute pain lanced through the flesh joining her thumb and her forefinger. Her body swiftly flew backwards and her jade sword almost flew out of her hand.

Even if she was at full strength, she would not be Su Zhizhan’s match, much less right now, when she had already exhausted a good portion of her profound strength.

Su Zhizhan did not give her any breathing room; his body flicked as he instantly pressed forward. His body was like a howling gale and his sword was like a thunderbolt; every slash was accompanied by a howling noise that practically tore the eardrums. The wind spiral on his sword was also expanding rapidly, and after Bai Jie had crossed swords with him continously, her arm was completely numbed. Her tightly gripped right hand was already stained with blood from the torn webbing between her finger and thumb, even her cheeks were scored with several long wounds that were inflicted by his sword wind.

“You dare to harm my face… I will definitely not let you off!!”

Bai Jie only noticed the pain on her face once she felt it and this caused her to react like a tiger who had its tail stepped on. She instantly went berserk and roared in fury. The huge figure of a white tiger once again appeared behind her as a whirlwind that was more than thirty meters tall surged up all around her. Su Zhizhan’s eyes flashed and he unexpectedly jumped into the midst of Bai Jie’s whirlwind. He did not wait for her to unleash her all-out attack, but instead slapped his sword across her waist.

This whip of his sword produced an incomparably loud and extremely clear ring. The whirlwind that was still forming around Bai Jie’s body vanished in an instant. Her entire body spun wildly about like a violently spinning top and she flew directly out of the arena.

“Ah, women, no matter how strong they are, they still can’t accomplish anything big.” Su Zhizhan stood where he originally was and sombrely shook his head as he mumbled to he muttered to himself.

Bai Jie collapsed to the ground as she had been turned topsy-turvy. Her jade sword had also flown off to some unknown location.

“Su Zhizhan… I… I’m going to have it out with you!!”

In front of all the heroes of the realm, a slap of her opponent’s sword had sent her flying. As the strongest member of the Bai Family in her generation and one of the most prominent talented women in the entire Illusory Demon Realm, she had never suffered such humiliation before. She hefted her sword once more and with a yell, gathered herself as she prepared to rush Su Zhizhan.

“That is enough.”

Bai Jie’s charging figure suddenly stopped as an invisible energy barrier appeared before her, not letting her move an inch forward. The Bai Family’s Patriarch Bai Yi stood up and restrained Bai Jie, saying, “You have already lost… In front of all who are present, what kind of behavior is this?!”

It was only then that Bai Jie realized she had already fallen outside the arena limits. She grit her teeth and shot Su Zhizhan a fierce look, but she could only obediently return to her seat after that.

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