Chapter 1314: Clash of Conviction
"Fuck..."
"God damn it..."
Zhang Shan and Qiao Jiajin were instantly overwhelmed by the excruciating pain, their minds going blank. Though they could still feel their legs, all they registered was a bone-piercing agony.
Sparks of residual electricity crackled around them. The two gritted their teeth and crawled in opposite directions.
While crawling toward the edge of the room, Qiao Jiajin said seriously, "Big guy, take your time recovering... I'm a bit tired. I'm gonna rest over there for a bit."
"Tattoo kid, don't you run away... God damn it..." Zhang Shan was sweating profusely from the pain. His Celestial Vitality was taking several seconds longer than usual to kick in. "This place is only so big—where the hell are you going to rest?"
Both of them felt like their legs were slowly waking from complete numbness, the return of sensation bringing with it waves of sharp, intense pain.
"Fuck... I kind of miss 'not feeling pain'..." Qiao Jiajin said.
Zhang Shan noticed that his Celestial Vitality was regenerating more slowly than usual. The damage to his legs must have been far worse than he'd imagined.
Both legs had been charred to blackened stumps. Whether it was flesh or bone, the difficulty of recovery was far greater than usual.
But what the hell had just happened?
Qinglong had been fine one moment, then suddenly he'd deactivated Soul Snatch on his own... could it be that his ability had limitations and he couldn't use two Echoes at the same time?
The two crawled toward the wall and looked back. There stood Qinglong, his entire body blackened, gray-black smoke rising from him.
If the two of them hadn't dodged to either side at the last possible moment, they'd be the ones charred black right now.
"Big guy..." Qiao Jiajin leaned against the wall, his forehead also drenched in sweat. He gritted his teeth and said, "Quick, quick, quick—go kick him. Little Green looks like he'd shatter with one kick now."
"God damn it..." Zhang Shan braced himself on the ground and frowned instantly. "Why don't you go kick him?"
"I need to rest a bit."
The smoke rising from Qinglong was growing thicker, and even his body began to tremble slightly. His recovery seemed to be accelerating.
Qiao Jiajin looked down at his own legs. Sure enough, Zhang Shan was also intently focusing his Conviction. Both their feet were gradually regenerating.
If this continued...
"Fuck..." Qiao Jiajin froze. "Big guy... something's not right."
"What's not right?" Zhang Shan said. "We're already regenerating... Don't rush, kid... It shouldn't take much longer..."
"No, no, no..." Qiao Jiajin struggled to move his body and said with difficulty, "Big guy... we can't regenerate like this. If we keep going like this, we're both dead."
"Then what do we do?"
"Don't bother with the other leg..." Qiao Jiajin stared at his own legs. "Focus on regenerating just one leg. That way, we'll be much faster than him."
Zhang Shan paused. "Just one leg? What are you planning?"
"I'm going to go kick him."
"Huh?" Zhang Shan blinked. "Wait... what do you mean by 'kick him'?"
Qiao Jiajin looked at Zhang Shan seriously. After a few seconds of silence, he gestured with his hands and replied, "When I say 'kick him,' I mean I'm going to lift my leg, use my thigh for power, let my knee drive my shin, and then make contact with Little Green's ass with my foot to inflict some damage."
"Has anyone ever told you that you're just asking to get hit?" Zhang Shan frowned.
"Yes. I get hit all the time."
Though he found Qiao Jiajin's line of thinking a bit ridiculous, Zhang Shan knew there was no time to waste. He quickly re-focused his Conviction, putting all his attention on his right leg. Now he could only hope that Qiao Jiajin actually had some martial technique that could work with just one leg.
Sure enough, the recovery of their left legs slowed down in a short time, while their right legs visibly regenerated at lightning speed. Large amounts of flesh began to regrow, sinews and veins started to reweave beneath the skin like writhing worms, and a strange, intense pain began to spread through their right legs.
Enduring the sensation spreading from his leg, Qiao Jiajin took the opportunity to size up Qinglong.
There didn't seem to be much of a "brain" in this room right now. If they wanted to beat this monster who was even scarier than a Terminator, relying solely on "fists" seemed a bit inadequate.
"Wait..." Qiao Jiajin's mind turned, and he finally spotted the problem.
Why had Qinglong so calmly let himself get struck by lightning all over...?
Didn't he have "eyes" in the back of his head?
It had been the same when he fought Xuanwu. Qinglong was like a rabid dog, not only disregarding all his own weaknesses but not even caring where he got hurt.
He hadn't watched that fight to the end, so he didn't know how the battle between Xuanwu and Qinglong had concluded. But judging by this situation... Qinglong had probably come out of it unscathed, right?
"This seems a bit troublesome..."
Qiao Jiajin found that his foot and lower leg had already fully recovered. He quickly took the chance to move his upper body.
The two of them had just thrown just about every killing move they had, yet Qinglong had found a way to counter each one with tricky, unorthodox techniques. Every single one of his moves seemed aimed at taking their lives. Regular boxing or martial arts training didn't include this kind of practice.
So, just as he'd said himself, his killing abilities had been honed through countless real battles. Now, combined with his Echo, he could launch multiple attacks against them. If they didn't shatter him now, the fight would only get more difficult.
As they watched Qinglong, they noticed that his recovery strategy seemed different from theirs.
He wasn't choosing to recover just an arm or a leg. Instead, he was fully regenerating every part of his body. Patches of intact flesh were beginning to appear on his limbs, torso, and head, piece by piece. His entire body now looked like a sheet of black paper splattered with white ink.
"Fuck, he looks like a Dalmatian."
One of Qinglong's eyes regenerated at that moment, and he began scanning left and right at the two of them. His body still seemed immobile, and his mouth hadn't recovered yet. But at this rate, it wouldn't be long before he could kill them without them being able to fight back.
He wasn't going for "partial" recovery—he was going for a complete, combat-ready "whole."
"Fuck... hurry, hurry, hurry..." Qiao Jiajin endured the intense pain and used the wall to force himself to his feet. "Big guy... don't zone out... Focus, alright? Is my thigh really that hard to regenerate?"
"God damn it... aren't your demands a bit too high... This is the first time I've healed an injury like this..." Zhang Shan closed his eyes, spreading his Conviction fully.
He wanted to win. Every failure he'd ever experienced, every corpse he'd witnessed across two cities—it was all for this moment of victory.
Qiao Jiajin's thigh began to fully regenerate almost instantly. The long-missed feeling of strength had all returned.
He crouched slightly, testing the state of his right leg, and a plan came to mind.
When it came to other strategies, he might be clueless. But when it came to fighting, this time he was counting on a real wild card.