# Chapter 37: Battle Qi Steel Armor
The sky was filled with heavy snow, the world between heaven and earth a vast expanse of white. But in this weather that was like a natural disaster, one person stood in the air, splitting the dark clouds, while another stood on the ground, blocking the blizzard.
Joshua stood in midair, his eyes like rolling molten lava, releasing a vast and scorching torrent of life energy. And on the ground, there was also a similarly terrifying gaze that contained enough power to melt ice and pierce through steel and solid rock.
The warrior was no longer restraining his life field. Energy fluctuations like a tsunami radiated from his body, evaporating and pushing away the snow clouds for several kilometers around. Rings of invisible light radiated outward, making the warrior shine as brightly as a second sun. His battle qi gathered and continuously radiated life force outward, colliding with the cold, silent power of the person on the ground, causing the atmosphere between them to undergo violent distortion. One after another, violent purple arcs of electricity shot out and spread, making crackling explosive sounds. The light released was comparable to lightning, illuminating the faces of both sides.
Without a doubt, the other party was He Er La Si, the current High Priest of the Plague Evil God Cult, a peak Ultimate-rank expert.
His opponent. His enemy.
After completely locking onto his target, Joshua took a deep breath. Air currents surged like a storm sweeping through heaven and earth, and the deep, ocean-like life energy within his body began to operate and explode like a volcanic furnace, releasing enough heat on the surface of his body to melt steel and metal.
An enemy always has only one outcome.
Death.
So the warrior raised his hand.
And on the ground, the man who seemed indifferent to everything and cared about no one also raised his hand.
---
On the banks of the Majer Non-Freezing River, two men wearing white light snow robes, who appeared to be adventurers, were hiding among the bushes and thickets. These two wore refined long swords at their waists and carried cross heavy crossbows on their backs. Their equipment could not be said to be anything less than excellent. And judging by the energy fluctuations around them, even if they were restraining and holding their breath as much as possible, one could vaguely guess that one was a Gold-rank expert and the other was a Silver High-rank.
For adventurers of this level, even if hailstones fell from the sky or blizzards caused disasters, it wouldn't make the two of them frown in the slightest. But at this moment, they were huddled in the bushes, shivering, not daring to make any rash moves.
[Iron Wrist] Sukrash, a knight who had made his name in the northeastern desert region of the Empire. This gray-haired man, when he was at Silver-rank, had used his bare hands to dismantle a out-of-control Steel Construct that was at Silver Peak, and thus earned the name Iron Wrist. More than ten years had passed. The bold rider who once galloped across the desert had become a calm and composed first-rate adventurer. Over the years, his strength had steadily increased. Now he had reached Mid-Gold Rank and had joined the famous ruins exploration team [Caesar's Eye].
At this moment, Sukrash was leading his apprentice, preparing to go from the team's camp in the main city to the foot of Modeth Mountain to assemble. But unexpectedly, they had encountered this scene midway, which made him not even dare to breathe loudly.
"Teacher, who are these two people..." Beside him, the knight's apprentice spoke softly with a trembling voice. The young man looked at the scene of the two people confronting each other on the distant riverbank, his expression a mix of fear and a hint of longing.
"I don't know." Sukrash shook his head. But just as the apprentice showed a look of disappointment, he said in a deep voice: "But I do know that these two people are both experts who have transcended the limits of mortals and reached the Ultimate realm."
Ultimate! Such a simple word, yet so heavy. Even Sukrash's apprentice clearly understood what this word represented. It meant the peak level of an empire, a major power. If adventurers like them reached the Ultimate realm, they could leave a heavy mark in history. If they were willing to join other powers, they could even lead armies, govern a region, and become great nobles of Count rank.
A battle between two Ultimate-rank experts was equivalent to two armies of over a hundred thousand men fighting each other. Their destructive power over the terrain was even greater. Sukrash even regretted a little that he had walked too fast and gotten too close to them. If these two really started fighting, this short distance would easily be caught in the aftermath.
But why would two Ultimate-rank experts appear in Moldova to fight each other?
Boom! Just as the two were deep in thought, thunder exploded out of thin air on the distant riverbank. They quickly looked up, only to find that powerful gales were gathering and swirling between the two Ultimate-rank experts. The powerful impact stirred the air into semi-transparent shockwaves, shredding sunlight and dark clouds together into twisted patches of light and mist.
And this large patch of light and mist, under the increasingly fierce wind, began to rotate rapidly, then transformed into a black and gold two-colored tornado that connected the ground to the sky. It sucked the cold river water from the Majer Non-Freezing River up into the sky, only to turn it back into rain and let it fall.
At the two ends of the sky, one end had wind driving away the dark clouds, light blazing brightly, like a second sun descending upon the world. The other end had cold, torrential rain falling, light rapidly dimming, and the ground instantly turning into an abyssal mist of impenetrable darkness.
But the end full of light, because the light at its center was too bright, actually made the surroundings seem dim. And the center of the dark end, because of the extreme concentration of power, actually radiated a light like a new star.
"Drastic changes in the weather!"
Sukrash and his apprentice stared dumbfounded at this scene. The bone-deep fear made them unable to help but take a few steps back. Only then did they truly understand why battles between Ultimate-rank experts generally took place in deep mountains and distant seas, high in the sky and dense forests. Because even before the fight began, the stirring of their auras was enough to cause a region to suffer drastic natural disasters, resulting in enormous losses.
"Mana is gone, elements are dissipating. These are two Ultimate-rank warriors! Those tornadoes and gales are formed by the collision of their life energy flows!"
Sukrash muttered to himself. He reached out to touch his own sword, sensing the energy flow within it: "This place has become a high-level dead mana zone! Even the mana circuits in magical weapons can't activate!"
The Gold-rank knight could still analyze the situation calmly, but his apprentice was already scared and sitting on the ground. The young man looked at this scene, swallowed hard, and then stammered: "They... haven't they started fighting yet?!"
"No!" Sukrash concentrated and looked carefully. Layers of fine battle qi gathered in his eyes, helping the knight observe the distance. After a moment, he said softly: "It has already started. It started long ago!"
After using a secret technique to temporarily gain life energy vision, the gray-haired knight could ignore most of the clutter in the world. Neither the wind, nor the sand, nor the distorted air currents could block his vision. And because of this vision, Sukrash could see the astonishing scene above the distant riverbank.
On the distant riverbank, from within the heavy, dark, lightless mist that was as deep and heavy as an abyss, deformed tentacles entirely composed of life energy emerged. These tentacles were covered with dense, cyst-like lumps, within which was gestating a nameless, dark green substance. In an instant, the mist dissipated, revealing on the ground a giant beast shaped like an octopus, composed of hundreds of terrifying tentacles tens of meters long.
The giant beast struck first. Layers of energy flowed along the veins, and the deformed tentacles were instantly accelerated to more than ten times the speed of sound. The tips were so fast that Sukrash couldn't even catch them with his naked eye. It fiercely lashed out towards the light-covered area not far away, exploding with thunderclaps in midair.
But a huge black-red hand reached out from the light, firmly grabbing this tentacle. And in the next instant, a vast, ocean-like life energy converged around the humanoid form at the center of the light. A black-red giant thus appeared in the high sky and began to grow continuously.
Ten meters, twenty meters, thirty meters. Until finally, the giant stepped onto the ground. Its height of over a hundred meters made it like a towering mountain peak.
The first attack was fruitless. The giant beast immediately swung its other tentacles in pursuit. Continuous sonic booms echoed between heaven and earth. But the giant of light caught the countless complex tentacles one by one. By now, it had taken on a preliminary form. Six arms, as if cast from steel, moved steadily, cutting off, shattering, and punching the incoming tentacles into pieces of light.
This was a scene that only experts with life energy vision could see. In the real world, the young apprentice could only hear thunder exploding out of thin air between heaven and earth, and see air currents violently twisting and surging, then suddenly exploding. But in Sukrash's eyes, it was a fierce, close-quarters brawl between two behemoths. Although the giant beast's attacks were all neutralized, its body was more than five times larger than the six-armed giant of light. If this evenly matched struggle of strength continued, the giant of light would surely be the one to lose in the end.
"External combustion type battle qi steel armor!"
This term suddenly flashed through the Gold-rank knight's mind. His memory suddenly returned to his childhood, to the words his grandfather, the shaman of the oasis tribe, had once said to him.
In this world between heaven and earth, the reason humans became the lords of all spirits and occupied the most fertile lands of the main material continent was not because they possessed overwhelming violence, but because they had the wisdom to learn, optimize, and progress. Through wisdom, humans continuously studied the innate spell-like abilities of all magical beasts and alien races on this land, improved upon them, and turned them into the spells and combat techniques used by mages and warriors.
But in the world, there were always some innate abilities that could not be learned at all. And battle qi steel armor was one of them. This skill, which originated from imitating the power and image of terrifying giant beasts like ancient dragons and legendary magical beasts, could only be learned by geniuses... no, 'monsters' whose battle qi and life force were so abundant that they were inhuman. If one truly mastered it completely, then that human could, with a human body, unleash power comparable to a legendary giant beast's ability to overturn mountains and seas.
Human civilization was built precisely by using wisdom to create various tools. Armor was the most primitive tool humans used to resist the claws and teeth of wild beasts. To resist giant magical beasts, even larger armor was needed. This was the original idea behind the creation of battle qi steel armor.
"No, it's not battle qi steel armor yet. Neither of them has perfected it!" The giant of light and the tentacle giant beast were still locked in combat. The forest where Sukrash and his apprentice were hiding had already had its leaves scattered by waves of strong wind. But he had no intention of retreating. The Gold-rank knight even took a small step forward, his eyes shining with a bright, yearning light. He looked at this scene in the distance and said in a heavy, trembling voice: "This is just a prototype! Neither of them has done more than imitate a rough outline. The most core 'steel armor' hasn't manifested yet... But they are only at the Ultimate realm!"
Battle qi steel armor was a powerful legendary-level combat technique. In ancient times, those who could use such a technique were existences who could leave behind legends like 'Titan Giant'. And these two Ultimate-rank warriors before him could both simulate a rough version of it. This meant that both of them would surely be able to advance to the Legendary realm in the future!
Being able to witness the battle of these two experts was a tremendous opportunity for Sukrash. As long as he didn't die from the aftermath, he would surely learn countless essences of power from their fight.
But at this moment, the battle between the two colossal beings broke the deadlock.
Thunder exploded in the sky. The giant beast composed of countless tentacles suddenly used its full strength. Its body, larger than a mountain, rolled violently, crushing towards the six-armed giant of light. At the same time, dozens of tentacles shot out rapidly. The dark green cysts on them also burst immediately, releasing streams of strange green life energy aggregates that stuck to the giant's body.
Originally, the giant of light could have resisted or dodged. But after being covered by this strange dark green life energy, it froze for an instant. One could see these green liquid life energies spreading along the giant's body like living things, forming glowing patterns that restrained all its movements.
Then, the giant beast crashed into the giant, making a sound that shook the mountains. Countless tentacles shot out like bullets, then immediately tightened, firmly imprisoning the giant of light in its embrace. The powerful tentacles squeezed tighter and tighter, bit by bit, like a python crushing its prey's body, wanting to completely grind the giant to pieces.
"Not good!" Sukrash exclaimed. He wasn't stupid. He could naturally tell that the tentacle giant beast couldn't possibly be on the side of a normal person. Thinking of the recent rumors about the evil god cult spreading in Moldova, how could the Gold-rank knight not guess the other party's identity? Seeing the Plague Evil God Cult's Ultimate-rank expert gaining the upper hand, he couldn't help but start worrying about the giant of light.
If the other party won this battle, it wouldn't just be Moldova. The entire Northern lands would fall into catastrophe!
---
And at this moment, Joshua's condition was indeed very bad.
The warrior had actually never learned any techniques like battle qi steel armor. What he had just done was simply to condense his own unmatched life force, shape it into a form he thought was most suitable for battle, and then fight against the other party's life force incarnation.
Originally, this body of Joshua van Radcliffe was merely of above-average talent among ordinary people, and could be considered a genius. Without the system, the original Joshua should have been able to break through the environment before the age of thirty-five, then reach the Ultimate realm in his fifties in the environment after the Great Magic Tide. As for the Legendary realm, that would only depend on whether he had a miraculous opportunity. But after the warrior crossed over and gained the recognition of the Azure Orb, his own talent was continuously strengthened and broken through.
One hundred and thirteen thousand eight hundred and ninety-two. This was the number of Chaos monsters Joshua had killed in other worlds like Carlis and Ilgna. The Azure Orb converted the Chaos power of this astronomical number of monsters into pure life energy and infused it into the warrior's body, step by step washing, purifying, and strengthening his talent, giving the warrior a terrifying body far surpassing that of dragons and abyssal demons.
At this moment, if Joshua used the power stored in the Azure Orb, he alone would be equivalent to the total life force of tens of thousands of people or even magical beasts. If he released his power to the fullest, he could form a colossal object similar to battle qi steel armor, a giant of light like a mountain peak.
But this power could not compare to He Er La Si's decades of accumulation from devouring heaven and earth.
The life force incarnation of the Plague Evil God Cult's High Priest was several times more abundant than the warrior's. This level of life force was something even most Legendary-rank experts couldn't match. Joshua knew this very well. But in comparison, his progress in the application of power was stronger than the other party's, so he could use technique to temporarily hold He Er La Si to a draw. But with just one moment of carelessness, he would end up like this, falling into a disadvantage.
"As expected of you, He Er La Si. The chosen one who led the Plague Evil God Cult to ravage the Western Mountains in the future, who didn't die even when surrounded and hunted by five Legendary-rank experts."
At the very center of the giant of light, which was being wrapped and squeezed by tentacles, the warrior let out a sincere exclamation: "In terms of pure life force, I am inferior to you."
But a battle is not decided by who has the more abundant life force!
A slightly ferocious curve appeared at the corner of his mouth. Joshua moved his mind, then forcefully swung his right hand.
And outside, in Sukrash's eyes, the giant of light, which had been completely swallowed and wrapped by the tentacle giant beast, suddenly punched out with all its might. This punch seemed capable of piercing through heaven and earth. Not only did it shatter more than a dozen tentacles wrapped nearby into pieces, but the aftermath surged up into the sky, smashing layers of dark clouds to pieces.
"But it still can't break free!"
Although the Gold-rank knight's spirits lifted, he also knew that this was completely useless. The tentacle giant beast had hundreds of right hands that could regenerate at any time. Breaking through the blockade with just one arm was far from enough, and it couldn't even attack the other party.
But in the next moment, in the shocked gazes of Sukrash and the tentacle giant beast, this fist suddenly exploded from the wrist. The terrifying sound waves spread across the northwest of the Great Aias Mountains, causing countless snowy mountains to avalanche. The suffocating gale instantly pressed the Gold-rank knight flat to the ground.
And barely lifting his head, struggling to look into the distance, Sukrash saw a dazzling giant fist, red-gold like molten lava, flying out from the explosion and smashing heavily into the very core of the tentacle giant monster!
In the next moment, countless tentacles were forced to loosen, revealing the body of the giant, battered all over but still standing tall in its original place!