Martial King's Retired Life

Book 14: Chapter 127

The Winner Is?

The clouds had shrouded the moon. The grey brick walls were the same grey brick walls that stood erect for every night as they had been for ages, but the absence of moonlight cast an eerie silence. The one who was entrusted with guarding the imperial city from the hostiles outside was lying still on the ground and had no audible breaths.

“Kill him. Evil must be thoroughly eradicated.”

All of a sudden, the idyllic monk had a sinister vibe, while the warrior who wielded jet-black energy came off as the one you’d call a hero in a pinch.

Shitou, staring at the body on the ground, didn’t comprehend the order because “killing” was a verb only applicable when the subject was alive. Killing a dead man wasn’t a command he could carry out.

Divine Realm adepts who were able to perform demanding skills whilst hanging on by a thread weren’t invincible. In the event that they had ran out of gas, died or passed out, they were helpless. Considering how unimaginably difficult it was for a Divine Realm adept to be unconscious, that possibility was ignored. In order to cast Enlightenment at maximum power and Stillvoid to reduce damage in the blink of an eye, essence was necessary. Death was self-explanatory. Running out of essence and Tianhu’s state didn’t match up. Anyone who witnessed the battle that was still ongoing a moment ago would’ve concluded that Tianhu couldn’t get up again.

Frankly, the potency of Tianhu’s internal energy significantly exceeded Liaoliao’s estimations because it exceeded the potency among Divine Realm adepts by an enormous margin. Without discussing Tianhu’s reckless method of blasting without reservation, Tianhu abandoned all considerations for accuracy and technique, purely throwing weapon after weapon at his enemy without any consideration for internal energy expenditure. Nobody in their right mind would’ve done that unless they had a death wish. Thus, the only explanation was that Tianhu had a huge reservoir.

More than once, Liaoliao wondered if Tianhu cared more about killing himself than defeating his opponents, especially when Tianhu opted to destroy the illusion despite already breaking free of the lotus. Tianhu seemed persistent on winning through overwhelming internal energy, and even thoughtlessly utilising Battle of God’s Nine Diagrams, when it was unlikely necessary.

Battle of God’s Nine Diagrams derived its techniques from nine insurmountable rules of nature on top of Ran Feikong’s spearplay. While it required immense internal energy to execute each section, it didn’t expend a large volume. To the contrary, as the discipline loaned natural energy rather than drawing it from the practitioner, the practitioner had the ability to constantly utilise the skills. That was how its practitioner could fight for days on end. Considering Ran Feikong went up against thousands of troops and over a dozen generals on his own, it made sense that he needed that sort of system. Though he was no longer alive, the enemies by the border still sung his praises.

Compared to Tianhu’s approach, Ran Feikong was calculated in his usage of God of Battle’s Nine Diagrams, which wasn’t to say that it was a fundamental rule. That was why Liaoliao thought Tianhu didn’t hold back in expending internal energy when the latter started using God of Battle’s Nine Diagrams, so the thought of abandoning the scrap did cross Liaoliao’s mind early on. Sure, he had a backup plan, but it was impossible to be too cautious against God of Battle’s Nine Diagrams. For that reason, he was quite vexed with himself when he realised his assessment of Tianhu was erroneous.

Tianhu’s version wasn’t developed through the same internal discipline or the same mental cultivation Ran Feikong practiced. Tianhu either saw the original or left-behind version somewhere, analysed it and then came up with his own interpretation of it. Therefore, despite sharing the same spirit, the result was different, one such result being the cost of internal energy being more than twenty-times more. In addition, he was unable to sustain his loan of natural energy for more than a moment, which was usually long enough for him to overwhelm the majority of his opponents. Evidently, Tianhu was neither an inheritor of the blood lineage or a student of the legend. If anything, Tianhu humiliated the discipline and Ran Clan’s name with his display.

In comparison, Liaoliao learnt the authentic version of “Lotus Every Step” and had been practicing it from a young age. If they continued their one-on-one, it was only a matter of time before Liaoliao inexorably won unless Tianhu had another trick up his sleeve. God of Battle’s Nine Diagrams had the potential to overcome Lotus Every Step; however, Tianhu used the discipline incorrectly, not to mention there was Shitou, as well.

Notwithstanding knowing that Liaoliao was biding his time, Tianhu made no effort to change his strategy, insisting on using his Enlightenment that he could barely maintain to resist the fourth lotus whilst fighting Shitou. The second spear attack was borderline insane, utilising his own energy to pull it off. Liaoliao absorbed the majority of the energy Tianhu released, while Shitou forced Tianhu to utilise high amounts of energy through his explosive and fast-paced style.

Because of how insane Tianhu’s strategy was, Liaoliao became complacent for a while. Tianhu would’ve been a much more competitive opponent if he just switched to another discipline earlier. Bound to the laws of physics, the collision of Tianhu and Shitou’s last attacks sent the reciprocal forces back to them. Shitou still had energy to dissipate the force, but Tianhu was too spent to manifest qi armour solid enough to withstand the force. The force they generated was enough to shatter organs and bones in an elite fighter, let alone an exhausted mad man.

“Kill him.” There was urgency in Liaoliao’s tone.

As Shitou had only just woken from the illusion he’d spent two decades in, his brain functioning was still compromised. He only remembered that the dead person on the ground was an opponent worthy of respect. Although he was now a grown man, he was put under an illusion when he was still a naughty brat.

Shitou’s talent and keen senses were still intact, and his trapped mind got a breath of fresh life. He was starting to build up his cognitive capacity at a gradually increasing rate, but the large volume of information influx inevitably slowed down his ability to receive the input, integrate it and make a decision. His limbs just wanted to move on their own as soon as he heard Liaoliao’s order; it was a feeling of despise from deep within that kept him from executing the order.

“Shitou, kill him.”

Shitou remembered the new voice. It belonged to the man he respected the most and the father figure of his teacher. Gongsun Chu was someone who could spur Shitou into action.

Gongsun Chu was privy to the fact that Liaoliao wasted no time for he wanted to promptly put Shitou back under his control. Liaoliao was one to minimise risks. Were Shitou to resist, Liaoliao wouldn’t hesitate to bind him inside a lotus again.

Shitou raised Sacrificial Sage.