Chapter 191: Law Breaker
Xiao Nian didn't have time to react as he hurriedly covered his ears and shut his eyes.
The very next instant, a sound even more powerful than before reverberated through the air, causing the withered trees around the plaza to tremble several times from the shockwave.
Xu Liunian kept his eyes tightly shut, feeling dizzy and lightheaded. Even though the sound had begun to fade, that lingering dizziness refused to leave him.
Chu Tianqiu couldn't care less about the consequences. He forced his eyes open and slowly stood up.
"What the hell is that...?" He walked forward step by step, staring fixedly at the words on the screen. "I need to find this person..."
Xu Liunian looked up in a daze and was startled to see another line of glowing text appear on the screen.
"I heard the echo of 'Break Ten Thousand Laws'!"
Chu Tianqiu approached the screen step by step, muttering under his breath: "Break Ten Thousand Laws... Wonderful... Absolutely wonderful... As long as I have this person's ability... then I... But who the hell are you?"
Xiao Nian, standing off to the side, felt there was something indescribable about Chu Tianqiu.
He seemed a little terrifying.
...
A gentle breeze swept across the rooftop.
Zhang Shan's body gave a series of cracking sounds. Bracing his hands against the ground, he pushed himself up, lifting the massive stone off his back.
The boulder, which must have weighed hundreds of pounds, slipped off Zhang Shan as easily as a quilt thrown off in the morning and tumbled into the hole.
The rock snapped a portion of the hemp ropes, crashed brutally into the depths below, and produced an earth-shaking rumble.
Qiao Jiajin's body trembled slightly. The stone on top of him scattered like dandelion seeds caught in the wind, dissolving into countless shimmering specks of starlight.
The two men stood up at the same time, side by side, shoulder to shoulder.
An extremely dangerous aura radiated from their bodies.
Seeing this, Xiaoxiao slowly took a step back.
What were those two bell chimes just now?
Had the two men before her "echoed"?
Both of them already possessed formidable combat skills. If they now had "echoes" as well...
"Old Sun!" Xiaoxiao turned and slapped Old Sun hard across the face. "Snap out of it!"
The slap was heavy, and Old Sun's dazed eyes began to clear up a little.
"Huh? Wh-what's going on?" Old Sun asked blankly.
"We've got trouble! Get ready to fight!"
Old Sun came to his senses and saw that the two men who had been restrained earlier were now standing perfectly fine in front of him.
"How are they fine?" Old Sun shook his head. "Don't worry... Leave it to me..."
He fixed his gaze on Qiao Jiajin, trying to psych himself up with mental suggestions.
"This guy can't move... He's a monster trapped in stone... He can't move..." After repeating this over and over, strange phenomena began to appear around Qiao Jiajin.
Qiao Jiajin paid no attention. He slowly extended his hand and said coldly, "Hey, no cheating. Come here and settle this with me face to face like a man."
As soon as he finished speaking, shimmering spots of light flickered around him. They seemed to want to coalesce around his hands and feet, but every time they were about to gather successfully, they scattered like dandelion fluff and flew away.
"What's going on...?" Old Sun stared at Qiao Jiajin in disbelief. "Why haven't you grown any stones yet...?"
"I told you, let's fight fair and square."
"You can ignore the 'echo'...?" Xiaoxiao was slightly stunned, feeling a sense of familiarity with the situation.
In the previous round, when she had personally gone to "persuade" Qi Xia, she had killed this tattooed-armed man.
She had added a large amount of metronidazole to her bowl of soup, temporarily immobilizing Qi Xia and his two companions.
But when she drove a nail-studded wooden plank into this tattooed man's head, Qi Xia inexplicably regained his mobility.
Back then, Xiaoxiao thought Qi Xia was incredibly powerful—capable of ignoring the "echo." But now it seemed that the strong one wasn't Qi Xia, but this thug.
At the moment of his death, he had apparently released a trace of the "echo's" power, but he died before he could hear the "bell chime," so he couldn't retain the memory.
"So you're the most dangerous one..." Xiaoxiao's eyes turned cold. "How terrifying..."
Zhang Shan stepped forward, bypassing Qiao Jiajin, and stood in front of Xiaoxiao.
Qiao Jiajin felt as though a gust of wind was emanating from Zhang Shan's body, and his aura had become strange.
"No need to waste words with this woman..." Zhang Shan took a step forward, drew back his fist, and punched Xiaoxiao with all his might.
Seeing this, Xiaoxiao quickly steadied her breath and summoned all her conviction to use "Frame."
*Boom!!*
A heavy, muffled sound rang out. Xiaoxiao didn't move an inch, but Zhang Shan was sent flying far into the distance.
The arc of his flight was horrifying—he crashed heavily to the ground a full seven or eight meters away.
The crowd had only seen such exaggerated flying in movies.
A trickle of cold sweat ran down Xiaoxiao's forehead.
What kind of force was that?
If "Frame" hadn't worked just now, she would have been dead for sure.
"Ha, hahaha!" Xiaoxiao snapped out of it, pointed at Zhang Shan in the distance, and laughed with a twisted expression. "You shot yourself in the foot!!"
She knew that even someone like Zhang Shan would be dead for sure after being hit by the backlash of such force.
"Serves you right, you—"
Before she could finish, Zhang Shan brushed the dust off his clothes and stood up.
His chest had been caved in, but it was visibly healing at an alarming rate.
"One punch wasn't enough, so I'll throw another." Zhang Shan stepped forward again as if nothing had happened. "Let's see how many you can block."
"Bloody hell..." Qiao Jiajin couldn't help but curse. "Big guy, you..."
"Careful, don't accidentally hit you," Zhang Shan said, waving Qiao Jiajin aside.
Qiao Jiajin naturally stepped back.
With that, Zhang Shan swung his fist again. The fist shot through the air at lightning speed, accompanied by a thunderclap.
"With this punch, the one who dies won't be me...!" Xiaoxiao shouted. "It'll be that thug!!"
*Bang!!*
Qiao Jiajin didn't move at all, but as Zhang Shan's fist landed on Xiaoxiao, countless shimmering white specks burst from Qiao Jiajin's body.
Xiaoxiao was stunned again.
She was certain she had framed that thug, but he was fine.
"Two punches weren't enough, so I'll throw a third," Zhang Shan said. "Go ahead and frame it to someone. Let's see who ends up unlucky."
Xiaoxiao quickly looked around. There were only four people on the bridge. Who could she frame the punch to?!
Frame it to Old Sun?!
If he died, wouldn't she be in even more danger?
"Old Sun! Original Object!" Xiaoxiao shouted.
"Got it, got it!"
Seeing Zhang Shan approach again, Xiaoxiao was terrified and kept backing away.
Old Sun quickly stretched out both hands and waved them at Zhang Shan. He closed his eyes and muttered incantations.
"Crush you... Crush you... Stones falling from the sky... Turn you into mincemeat..."
"Hey!" Qiao Jiajin bellowed. "Didn't I tell you not to cheat?!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, countless shimmering white specks rained down from the sky like a downpour, painting the entire arena in a brilliant river of stars.
But despite the spectacular display, not a single stone appeared among the glimmers.
"Ah... Good heavens..." Old Sun opened his eyes in disbelief. He had expected a hail of massive stones, but all he saw were white specks of light. "What the hell is this?!"
"Old Sun!!!" Xiaoxiao screamed again, her voice already hoarse.
Old Sun immediately turned and reached out toward Xiaoxiao.
He muttered a few words, and in an instant, Xiaoxiao's body was covered in a suit of stone armor.
Zhang Shan ignored Old Sun. Instead, he arched his entire upper body and then threw a punch with every ounce of strength he had.
Xiaoxiao squeezed her eyes shut and summoned her conviction again.
But the wind from Zhang Shan's fist was roaring, making it impossible for her to concentrate.
Who the hell was supposed to take this punch?!
The muffled sound rang out once more, and this time, it wasn't Zhang Shan who was sent flying—it was Xiaoxiao.