Chapter 61: Trembling Apocalypse
Five hours later, Su Xiao abruptly appeared in the training ground, with two longswords, a short war spear, and a broken halberd still stuck in his body.
Su Xiao's sudden appearance startled the surrounding contractors considerably. It was normal to be drenched in sweat from exhaustion in the training ground, but being covered in blood was extremely rare.
Su Xiao's aura was exceptionally sharp. His Blade Grandmaster had broken through a major bottleneck.
Crack, crack, crack...
The blood on Su Xiao's body began to freeze—this was the blood of soldiers from the Extreme Winter battlefield.
As soon as the blood froze, it gradually evaporated into a gaseous state. Su Xiao sat on the ground, panting heavily. In the previous five hours, he had lost count of how many enemies he had slain. It proved that as long as the average strength of soldiers was sufficient, the tactic of overwhelming numbers remained terrifying even at high ranks. Having numerical superiority was itself a manifestation of strength.
After resting for a few minutes, Su Xiao stood up, shaking the blood off his hands. Being powerful sounded impressive, but power required sweat and blood, and possibly... the sacrifice of one's life.
After returning to his Exclusive Room, Su Xiao used Paradise Coins to recover his injuries. However, the fatigue from five hours of chaotic fighting with Extreme Winter battlefield soldiers could not be erased by the recovery function; it required rest to restore.
Preliminarily calculating his stay time, Su Xiao felt he wouldn't be able to fight in the Arena this time. He needed good rest before going to the Land of All Beings to train his swordsmanship.
Su Xiao lay on the bed, opened his skill list, and checked his Blade Grandmaster ability. After using the [Bloody Trial], his Blade Grandmaster had been raised to Lv.41.
[Blade Grandmaster: Lv.41 (Passive Skill)]
Skill Effect: Increases blade-type weapon attack power by 599% (increase of 28%), neural reflex speed +185% (increase of 16%), immune to mental-type control, immune to mind-type seduction, inducement, etc.
Initial Additional Ability: Rhythm of All Things x+++ (exceeded the upper limit by three ranks).
Lv.10 Ultimate Ability: Phantom Flash (self-developing...)
Lv.20 Ultimate Ability: Soul Blade (Passive)
Lv.30 Ultimate Ability: Blade's Extreme (Passive/Active)
Lv.40 Ultimate Ability: Heart Soul Blade (Passive): When engaging an enemy in combat, the Hunter can use the 'Heart's Eye' to lock onto potential weaknesses the enemy might expose. If successfully attacking the enemy's weakness, the enemy will be forcibly forced into an extremely short period of being unable to defend/unable to parry/unable to move. During this time, the Hunter's slash will deal 3 to 5 times the normal slash intensity, ignoring **defense damage.
Tip: This ability has no cost, no cooldown, and can be used continuously.
Tip: This ability is exclusive to the Hunter.
Seeing the effect of Heart Soul Blade (Passive), Su Xiao was very satisfied. This kind of ability was not about energy bombardment or wildly slashing with a blade, but rather an ability that tested his swordsmanship and combat experience.
Once he successfully captured an enemy's weakness in battle and attacked accordingly, the enemy would be completely immobilized for an extremely short subsequent period. Although the time was short, it was enough for Su Xiao.
Capturing an enemy's small weakness was actually not difficult. When Su Xiao fought against Iron Feather King, he successfully captured the opponent's small weakness at least three times. On one occasion, Iron Feather King 'nearly' was kicked to the ground by Su Xiao, but Su Xiao couldn't take the initiative from such an opportunity. That was a small weakness deliberately exposed by Iron Feather King, waiting for Su Xiao to approach. If Su Xiao dared to advance, Iron Feather King would immediately unleash a storm of spear sweeps.
This kind of small weakness, Iron Feather King would actively expose, and Su Xiao would do the same. Sometimes, actively selling a small weakness, as long as it was handled properly afterward, was an opportunity to defeat the enemy. After all, at the level of Su Xiao and Iron Feather King, the possibility of making a mistake was extremely slim. Making a mistake would definitely lead to death. As for selling a small weakness, it was just routine operation—a trap in battle, not a mistake.
Therefore, for Su Xiao, capturing the enemy's small weaknesses was a must-do in battle, and the most common thing to do. After obtaining the Heart Soul Blade (Passive) ability, once Su Xiao caught a weakness, the enemy could start considering what model of coffin to use—sliding lid or flip lid.
As Su Xiao guessed, everyone's Grandmaster-level ability derived different ultimate abilities. If they were all Blade Grandmasters, the Lv.10 or Lv.20 ultimate abilities might be the same, but after reaching Lv.30 or Lv.40, they all became abilities with personal styles.
Iron Feather King had fought all his life, so his Spear Grandmaster's Lv.40 ultimate ability was very suitable for the battlefield. Su Xiao, on the other hand, was more adept at one-on-one duels with strong opponents, so his Lv.40 ultimate ability also leaned in that direction.
As for which was stronger, if on a battlefield, Su Xiao would be killed by Iron Feather King in a short time. But if it was one-on-one, after reaching Lv.40 Blade Grandmaster, Su Xiao was stronger. He could gain the upper hand in technique comparison. Of course, technique comparison had many variables, which was also the danger and exhilaration of fighting between technique masters.
Su Xiao soon fell into a deep sleep. This sleep was very comfortable, as the benefits gained in the Abyss World had basically been transformed into strength.
When Su Xiao woke up, there were still 10 hours left in his stay time. The first thing he did after getting up was to concoct permanent enhancement potions and have Beini take them to sell.
A few hours later, the materials for permanent enhancement potions were used up, producing a total of 11 successful bottles. If all were sold, the net profit would be around 1.6 million Paradise Coins.
Su Xiao didn't wait for Beini to finish selling the potions. He left his Exclusive Room, first went to Sha's place to help regulate her hidden ailment, then headed straight to the Land of All Beings to train his swordsmanship. This was something he did every time without fail, rain or shine. Only self-developed swordsmanship could maximize the power of Blade Grandmaster.
After a session of intense training, nearly exhausted, Su Xiao received a notification from Reincarnation Paradise.
[Tip: Stay time has reached the limit. The Hunter is about to return to the Real World.]
Real World, Accessory Shop, Second Floor.
Su Xiao dragged his tired body downstairs, opened the shop door, and then lay back on the sofa. He didn't want to move even a finger. He had trained too hard in the Land of All Beings, mainly perfecting 'Blade Dao Sword: Absolute Nether.' Having his move broken by Iron Feather King's spear sweep showed that this move was not yet perfected.
Of course, this was also related to Iron Feather King being too strong. That guy used his hooked-blade long spear to forcefully fling back Azure Demon. When Bubu Wang watched that scene, it was completely dumbfounded, stunned for a long time.
Real life was very peaceful. Su Xiao's condition gradually adjusted to its best. Items that could be sold in a short time were all converted into strength. As for whether he could win the top three in the Strongest Battle, he still wasn't sure, as there were always stronger people.
Time flew by. Su Xiao, who was immersed in gaming, received a summons from Reincarnation Paradise.
The sensation of teleportation hit. When Su Xiao's vision recovered, he was already in his Exclusive Room.
[Hunter is about to participate in the Strongest Battle.]
[Paradises participating in this 'Strongest Battle': Reincarnation Paradise, Apocalypse Paradise, Sanctuary Paradise, Death Paradise, Holy Light Paradise, Watchful Paradise...]
[Void races participating in this 'Strongest Battle': Feather Race, Demon Race, Arcane Eternal Star, Devil Race, Star Clan...]
[Transcendent Primordial World representatives participating in this 'Strongest Battle': Doom Star, Wind Sea Continent, Night Enchantment Witch Guild...]
[Reincarnation Paradise slots: 3/3 (The Hunter is within this slot).]
[Tip: If encountering allied personnel, the Hunter should avoid conflict with them.]
[Teleportation is about to begin. First stop: Void Twilight Island.]
[Twilight Island is the Seventh Battle Zone. 'Battle Zone' factions include: Apocalypse Paradise, Feather Race (Void), Dream Spirit Clan (Void), Death Sacrifice Clan (Void), Bajingsi Clan (Void), Death Paradise, Reincarnation Paradise, Doom Star (Transcendent Primordial World)...]
[Tip: A total of 56 factions are located in the Seventh Battle Zone, Twilight Island.]
Su Xiao looked at the notification before him with no change in expression. But if someone who understood the Strongest Battle saw the situation in the Seventh Battle Zone, they would absolutely be dumbfounded.
Reincarnation Paradise, Death Paradise, Feather Race, Doom Star—the most ruthless ones, two-thirds were all here. As for Apocalypse Paradise or Dream Spirit Clan, they weren't much better off than hiding in a corner trembling.
The Strongest Battle had just begun, and the nightmare-level 'Seventh Battle Zone' had appeared.
Just as the teleportation was about to start, Su Xiao received another notification from Reincarnation Paradise.
[Tip: A faction in the Seventh Battle Zone has forfeited.]
[Bajingsi Clan (Void) has forfeited, giving up participation in this Strongest Battle.]
[Death Sacrifice Clan (Void) has forfeited, giving up participation in this Strongest Battle.]
[Tip: Only at this stage can participation qualifications be given up.]