Chapter 43: Unstoppable Ability
Inside a dense forest, Su Xiao sat on a broken tree. Within a radius of several hundred meters, all the trees had been severed, and flames burned fiercely.
"Huff, huff..."
A young man with wine-red short hair lay on the ground gasping for breath. His entire body was covered in slash marks, and even a piece of his head had been cut off.
"Hey, you weren't going all out, were you?"
The wine-red-haired youth spoke, but Su Xiao just sat on the tree trunk, saying nothing.
"I admit defeat, you're better than me."
The youth was teleported away. Su Xiao exhaled a stream of hot, turbid air. This opponent was quite troublesome—after all, he was the tenth-ranked contender in the Fifth Rank Paradise Arena. It had taken Su Xiao nineteen minutes to settle the match.
[Tip: The Hunter has been promoted to 10th place.]
[Do you wish to claim the 10th place reward?]
[Tip: This reward can be accumulated. Each time the Hunter improves their ranking, this reward will be cumulatively enhanced based on the current rank.]
...
Su Xiao thought for a moment and decided to accumulate the rewards. He still had strength left, and the accumulated rewards would be far richer than claiming them one by one.
He waited for the next match. This time, within just a few minutes, he was matched against the ninth-ranked opponent.
Raindrops fell from the sky. Su Xiao stood in the rain, facing an enemy whose gender was indistinguishable, shrouded in a mass of black mist.
Almost simultaneously, Su Xiao and his opponent stepped forward and charged. The raindrops scattered as Su Xiao rushed ahead, and the blade's gleam cut through the darkness...
Half an hour later, Su Xiao sat astride the abdomen of a woman dressed in black. Their posture was somewhat ambiguous, but Su Xiao's longsword was pressed against the woman's brow, blocked by a layer of golden light.
"I wasn't wrong. The ones before me were no match for you, but Gu Sheng Yi is basically unbeatable within the Fifth Rank. No, I should say unbeatable in the arena. Here, she truly is the 'Sea God,' the most shameless 'Sea God.'"
The black-clad woman vanished, and Su Xiao was teleported back to the rest area. He chose to continue matching opponents.
Fifteen hours later, inside a palace.
Boom, boom, boom...
Magnetic explosions erupted repeatedly. A gloomy man covered in blood sat slumped against a stone pillar. A slash mark crossed his face, half his arm was severed, and there was a penetrating wound in his abdomen.
When the magnetic explosions ceased, a figure emerged from the smoke and dust. He was wrapped in a layer of shattered crystal, blood dripping down the crystal layer—it was Su Xiao.
Su Xiao felt like everything around him was swaying. His opponent this time was the second-ranked contender in the Fifth Rank Paradise Arena. His name was unknown, but his abilities were extremely comprehensive, clearly a lone wolf from Death Paradise.
If Su Xiao guessed correctly, the other party was a Punishment Knight of Death Paradise, similar to a Hunter of Reincarnation Paradise.
"Hey, Hunter of Reincarnation Paradise."
The gloomy man spoke. Su Xiao could guess he was a Punishment Knight, and it was only natural for the other party to deduce that Su Xiao was a Hunter.
"I've challenged Gu Sheng Yi many times. Completely helpless. That ability of hers is practically tailor-made for arena combat. She has the advantage of rank and can choose the terrain—there's nothing wrong with that. If it were me, I'd do the same. So, good luck to you. Heh."
The gloomy man let out a malicious sneer before forfeiting, giving up the second-place spot. But his expression... seemed like he had found relief?
[Hunter has been promoted to 2nd place.]
[Tip: You have received a new email.]
After being teleported back to the rest area, Su Xiao picked up a water cup and gulped down several mouthfuls. He had nearly lost due to dehydration earlier. That gloomy man was quite formidable. Su Xiao hadn't used his big moves—Blood Beast, Dead Silence Descends, Demon Blade, and other abilities were all on cooldown, and the same went for his opponent.
Only one opponent remained before Su Xiao could claim the top spot in the arena. But from the other top-ten contenders, Su Xiao had learned the same conclusion.
Gu Sheng Yi was nearly invincible. Some ability of hers was extremely well-suited for arena combat.
Su Xiao naturally wouldn't give up because of this intelligence. He summoned Bubu Wang to the arena to boost his mana and stamina recovery. Now, he needed four to five hours to fully recover his stamina before fighting at full strength.
With nothing else to do, Su Xiao opened the email he had just received.
'Don't call me shameless, Kukulin Bai Ye. If I'm not mistaken, we're the same kind of people. Let's go hunting often—Gu Sheng Yi.'
Seeing this email, Su Xiao guessed that Gu Sheng Yi and Gu Sheng Yi were the same person. Arena names could be freely set once, and most contractors liked to use their own codenames.
Gu Sheng Yi's email hinted at a code only Hunters could understand: hunting. The other party was probably also a Hunter of Reincarnation Paradise.
This made Su Xiao even more interested in the upcoming battle. It was his first time encountering another Hunter, or perhaps he had met one before during arena matches but hadn't recognized them.
Four hours later, Su Xiao had recovered his state and chose to match opponents. In less than a minute, the match was successful. Gu Sheng Yi seemed to have been waiting.
A teleportation sensation appeared. When Su Xiao's vision cleared, he stood in a circular arena surrounded by towering metal walls. The entire arena had a diameter of 200 meters.
Su Xiao felt like he was inside a metal chimney, with the chimney top sealed shut. However, this terrain was within the normal range for arena matches.
A woman in casual clothes, with a well-proportioned figure and a ponytail, stood several dozen meters away. She held a large paper cup with a sealed lid, a straw in her mouth.
"Another one looking to get shut down. Why bother? If this were a life-or-death fight, you'd definitely be able to cut me down. But this is the arena. That gloomy guy in second place hasn't challenged me in a while. I bet he's pretty speechless. The last time he challenged me, he was cursing his mother."
Gu Sheng Yi spoke, a mischievous smile on her face.
"..."
Su Xiao drew his longsword. As soon as the match began, he would close the distance immediately.
"Don't ask why my arena name is Gu Sheng Yi. I'm not good with high-tech stuff. I messed up the pinyin input."
As Gu Sheng Yi spoke, she kept her eyes fixed on the sky above, clearly waiting for the moment the match started to activate some ability.
[Match, begin!]
Su Xiao vanished from his spot. In at most 0.3 seconds, he was in front of Gu Sheng Yi.
Boom!
Seawater surged toward him. Su Xiao's longsword slashed forward, cutting through the water and passing through Gu Sheng Yi's neck without any resistance.
The water rushed past, and Su Xiao felt a cool sensation on his face as large splashes of water flew around him.
With a splash, Gu Sheng Yi dissolved into seawater. She had swapped positions with the water at that moment.
In an instant, the seawater filled the entire arena. Gu Sheng Yi appeared in the water above, a half-centimeter-deep cut on her neck.
Su Xiao held his breath, standing in the seawater. Just as he was about to charge at the enemy again, Gu Sheng Yi gradually merged into the water.
[Warning: The Hunter is now within the Azure Blue Sea. You are affected by the following debuffs (no abnormal status judgment, Level Lv.67).]
[Tip: Your stamina consumption rate increases by 34%, and you take 17 points of damage per second (29% has been exempted).]
[Tip: This status resets every 2 minutes.]
[If the Hunter leaves the Azure Blue Sea, this debuff will be immediately removed.]
...
In Su Xiao's perception, Gu Sheng Yi had disappeared. Her aura occasionally appeared, but not as a single entity—clearly, she had split apart and merged into this Azure Blue Sea.
Now, Su Xiao finally understood why no one could defeat Gu Sheng Yi. This Azure Blue Sea was likely only a small part of her ability. Even if he froze it here, new seawater would replenish it.
If it were any other terrain, Gu Sheng Yi's ability wouldn't be that strong. But here, it was completely sealed, and an unbreakable sealed environment at that.
"You're the first to wound me in the arena. I, Uchiha Gu Sheng Yi, hereby acknowledge you as the strongest!"
After saying this, Gu Sheng Yi fell silent, taking shamelessness to its extreme.
Gurgle, gurgle...
Bubbles floated up. In the seawater, Su Xiao gently rubbed his forehead. Gu Sheng Yi's ability was indeed nearly unstoppable in the arena, especially at high rankings. As for Gu Sheng Yi calling herself shameless, Su Xiao didn't feel that way at all.