Chapter 13 The Poem's Meaning

"This...this poem is..." Before the person who recited the poem even appeared, Tie Shu was already breaking out in a cold sweat.

His eyes darted around, his whole body tense. He clearly hadn't seen the enemy yet, but he was already extremely nervous, as if the opponent would appear in front of him at any moment.

*Chi*—

A moment later, a soft sound was heard.

A peerless figure appeared before the demon army.

The newcomer was dressed in white with white hair, with a face like jade. The breeze stirred his robes, and his aura was extraordinary.

The aloof and taciturn Feng Zhihen (Wind Trace) didn't need to attack; just standing in front of the enemy was enough to render them immobile.

His unparalleled cultivation was evident.

"Damn it..." Tie Shu unconsciously tightened his grip on his weapon, thinking to himself, "A monster-like powerhouse has arrived..."

"Oh~ It's Uncle Feng." Ning Ning felt relieved when she saw Feng Zhihen. She smiled and turned to Ruo Yu, saying, "Miss, no need to worry now. Uncle Feng is super reliable."

"I know..." Ruo Yu replied, and as she spoke, she put away her sword.

Clearly, Li Ruo Yu was quite familiar with the characters from the Pili series. When Feng Bujue first met Ruo Yu and Xiao Ling, he had complained that the nicknames [Si Yu Ruo Li] and [Bei Ling Xiao Gu] sounded rather "Pili"-esque. His speculation was indeed correct; Ruo Yu had chosen the nicknames in the style of Pili, which showed her love for the series.

"Mo Liu Jian (Demon Stream Sword), Feng Zhihen (Wind Trace)," Ruo Yu continued, "one of the three legendary swordsmen of the Demon Realm."

"Oh~ So Uncle Feng is such a famous person." Ning Ning didn't know much about Feng Zhihen; she had only seen him a few times on the battlefield.

"Hey! You with the surname Feng... are you also going to participate in the Martial Arts Tournament?" On the other side, Tie Shu finally mustered his courage to say something to Feng Zhihen.

Feng Zhihen only replied with two words: "Get out of the way."

His cold tone and disdainful gaze, with the simple command "Get out of the way," caused the demon soldiers to subconsciously retreat.

"Tch..." Tie Shu gnashed his teeth and muttered, "Fine... fine... anyway, your strength is enough to cross the bridge..." As he said this, he looked at Ning Ning and Ruo Yu behind Feng Zhihen, "But... those two..."

"Hmm?" Feng Zhihen interrupted Tie Shu with a questioning interjection.

This "Hmm" if you were to analyze it carefully, I think it should be translated as—are you fucking looking for death? Hurry up and shut your mouth and make way?

Of course, a master like Feng-shu (Uncle Feng) wouldn't say such lines; even Jue-ge (Brother Jue) rarely would.

True powerhouses don't need to say too much. They only need to use short interrogative or declarative sentences to communicate with their opponents... such as "Not bad," "You did your best," "The human world is filthy once again," etc. The more calmly you say it, the more impressive you seem.

"Uh... fine... just... just let them pass too..." Tie Shu revealed his fear. Under the pressure of Feng Zhihen's aura, he could only obediently gesture to his subordinates behind him to let them pass.

Thus, Ruo Yu and Ning Ning followed behind Feng Zhihen and crossed the suspension bridge ahead.

"Hmph... you can only be arrogant for now..." After they had gone far away, Tie Shu resentfully muttered, "In front of Lord Orochi, even Mo Liu Jian (Demon Stream Sword) is useless..."

...

Switching perspectives, let's look at Feng Bujue's side.

After the battle at Luan Shi Gang (Chaotic Stone Mound), he eavesdropped on Xiao Tan's conversation with the other two NPCs for a while, gaining a general understanding of the situation of the Martial Arts Tournament.

Since the wilderness outside Luan Shi Gang (Chaotic Stone Mound) was very open and there weren't many shelters for him to hide in, he didn't continue to follow the three of them.

Once Xiao Tan and the others had left, Jue-ge (Brother Jue) finally showed himself.

"Hmm... let me sort out the situation..." As Feng Bujue walked out of Luan Shi Gang (Chaotic Stone Mound), he was still muttering about the information he had just heard, "The Martial Arts Tournament's arena is built directly below Gu Zhi Cheng (Ancient Ambition City). That area has been protected by a barrier and cannot be entered from the air. To get in... I have to go through four suspension bridges guarded by demon soldiers and generals. And the basic condition for crossing the bridge is... that the demon general guarding the bridge must recognize my strength."

While thinking, he headed towards Gu Zhi Cheng (Ancient Ambition City) (as long as you looked up at the sky, you could see the floating demon city, so there was no need to worry about getting lost): "As a 'traveler from another world,' my reputation here is undoubtedly zero... If I want to cross the bridge, I will inevitably have to fight the demon generals. Assuming that the demon generals guarding the bridge are also 'generic-face generals,' then their strength is probably not much different from that Jiao just now..." He licked his lips and sighed, "Ah... I feel like this script is a bit difficult. Just to 'participate' in the Martial Arts Tournament, there is already a considerable threshold. I'm not worried about others... but can Hua Jian, who just reached level forty, pass the demon general's gate..."

*Bang*—

Just as Jue-ge (Brother Jue) was leisurely traveling, a sudden change occurred!

A low gunshot rang out, and a golden ray of light came towards him.

[Name: Divine Arbitration]

[Skill Card Attribute: Active Skill, Permanently Mastered]

[Skill Category: Shooting]

[Effect: Fires a shot with divine power, causing massive damage upon contact with the target (must be fired from a rifle-type weapon, and there must be at least one bullet in the gun).]

[Consumption: 800 Stamina Value]

[Learning Condition: Shooting Specialization A]

[Note: Can be used on spiritual bodies, dealing 200% damage to evil spirits; hitting holy spirits restores their health.]

"Damn it..." Before he even heard the gunshot, Feng Bujue had already reacted (the flying speed of Divine Arbitration was faster than the speed of sound). Besides instinctively blurting out a curse, he also instantly activated [Ling Shi Ju Shen Shu - Gai (Spirit Consciousness Gathering Body Technique - Modified)], twisting his body at super speed to perform a classic "kneel back and dodge bullets" move.

At the same time, on a small hill one kilometer away...

"Hmph... as expected of Zero Time Lag Calculation..." Gu Xiaoling saw this expected scene through the scope of her sniper rifle, "He can even dodge bullets."

As she spoke, she ejected a shell, calm and composed, and fired another shot.

*Bang*—

It was still [Divine Arbitration], completely the same as the previous attack.

"Here it comes again?" After the first shot, Feng Bujue already knew the other party's location, so dodging this second shot wasn't as difficult.

However, Xiao Ling was using an A-level skill after all. No matter how powerful Jue-ge (Brother Jue) was, he had to use Ling Shi Ju Shen Shu (Spirit Consciousness Gathering Body Technique) to barely dodge. With his physical skills alone, he wouldn't have been able to avoid such an attack.

"Alright... it's about time for him to fall for it..." After firing the second shot, Xiao Ling calmly aimed again and fired a third shot...

*Bang*—

The same skill, the same attack method, but a different result.

This time, Feng Bujue couldn't dodge the bullet...

When the golden light approached his brow, he realized... the speed of this third shot had changed.

All of this happened too fast. Jue-ge (Brother Jue) hadn't even taken out his Death Poker yet, and he couldn't use the [Shield] to block it. The only thing he could do was... to lean back as much as possible and use his arms to block this unavoidable strike.

*Boom*—

A deafening explosion announced that [Divine Arbitration] had hit its target.

A hint of a smile appeared on the corner of Gu Xiaoling's mouth, but she didn't relax because she knew... Feng Bujue was definitely not dead yet.

"The system notification hasn't come yet, as expected..." Xiao Ling looked at the plume of smoke in the distance through the sniper scope and muttered, "With Captain's personality... he will definitely use the smoke from this explosion to do something..."

Thinking of this, she raised the muzzle of her gun and looked at the sky...

As expected, Feng Bujue was already in the sky, and he was rushing towards Xiao Ling at an extremely high speed.

At this moment, both of Jue-ge (Brother Jue)'s forearms were a bloody mess, and his Survival Value had dropped by more than half. In normal circumstances, the correct course of action would be to prioritize fleeing or healing.

But Jue-ge (Brother Jue) resolutely endured the pain and unhesitatingly chose to charge towards the enemy...

"A strike that could at least cripple a person only blew up your two forearms..." Xiao Ling seemed unhurried, taking out two Uzis from her knapsack with quick movements and standing up, "It must be [Artemis' Embrace] that saved your life..." As she spoke, the muzzles of the two submachine guns in her hands spat out flames.

"Tch... so you found out so quickly." Seeing this, Feng Bujue activated Ling Shi Ju Shen Shu (Spirit Consciousness Gathering Body Technique) again, rapidly changing direction in mid-air to dodge the dense barrage of bullets.

"As expected of Captain... I haven't even fired yet, and he already realized that I'm using 'special ammunition'..." Xiao Ling thought, "If it were someone else, they would probably assume... that high-rate-of-fire submachine guns wouldn't be loaded with expensive special ammunition, and treat it as ordinary bullets."

"It really is enhanced ammunition... If I had taken it for granted that it was ordinary ammunition and relied on [Artemis' Embrace] to be immune to the effects of ordinary ammunition to tank it head-on... I would have been riddled with holes by now..." On the other side, Jue-ge (Brother Jue), who was leaping and dodging in the air, thought, "Damn it... A whale is a whale. Shooting like this... is burning through several RMB per second..."

The battle between these two was not only a clash of strength but also a battle of psychology and intelligence.

They could both come up with brilliant plans that ordinary people couldn't react to, and they could both see through brilliant plans that ordinary people couldn't react to. Most importantly... they both understood each other's abilities quite well. This meant that it was almost impossible to win by surprise.

Therefore, in this battle, whoever fell into a disadvantage first would most likely be the one to ultimately lose...

Right now, Jue-ge (Brother Jue) had fallen into this unfavorable situation... If he really lost in the end, there would be two reasons: first, the environment here was more favorable for shooting-type players, and he failed to discover the other party before they discovered him; second, it was because he had been "in seclusion" for too long, so he had no idea about the new equipment, new skills, and character growth that Gu Xiaoling had gained during this time.

For example, that suddenly accelerating third shot... was designed under the premise that Jue-ge (Brother Jue) lacked information.

[Name: Budding Peach Half-Spitting Spreads Fragrant News]

[Type: Weapon]

[Quality: Perfect]

[Attack Power: Strong]

[Attribute: None]

[Effect: Miracle Strike]

[Equipment Condition: Shooting Specialization A]

[Note: This is an old-fashioned Soviet infantry rifle without any optical aiming devices, but a sniper hero used it to create a miraculous record of 32 days of solo combat, firing 442 times, killing 214 enemies, and remaining unscathed... Many years later, this gun reappeared in the world, and a line of text has been engraved on its barrel—We are all sharpshooters, each bullet eliminates an enemy.]

Jue-ge (Brother Jue) wasn't unfamiliar with the effects of Xiao Ling's weapon, but... based solely on the four words "Miracle Strike," he couldn't determine the specific effect, so he suffered a great loss just now.

"Heh... he's still charging over, huh..." After five or six seconds, the first magazine of the two Uzis was basically empty. Although Xiao Ling could almost seamlessly connect the bursts with a cross-firing method and excellent reloading skills, the reduction in the bullet screen was ultimately unavoidable.

Feng Bujue took advantage of this not-an-opportunity to use a self-created [Moon Step - Consecutive Flashes], forcefully eating three or four bullets to break a bloody path and close the distance between them in one breath.

However, Xiao Ling still had a confident look on her face: "Captain, the real killing move... is about to begin."

"Ah... well done." Feng Bujue replied.

In this thrilling and dangerous battle, these two could still talk very easily, even complimenting each other. This could be considered a manifestation of their mental fortitude...

*Click*—*Click*—

In the next second, two metallic clicking sounds were heard... [Shi Yue (Worldly Moon)], [Yun Xing (Fallen Star)], were drawn out in response.

In this battle, Xiao Ling fully utilized the advantages of a gunslinger, effectively using "every inch of distance" between her and her opponent. Every time Feng Bujue got closer, he had to pay a price, and his situation became more and more dangerous.

"Hmm... her [Shi Yue (Worldly Moon)] and [Yun Xing (Fallen Star)] both have automatic correction, and coupled with her own A-level Shooting Specialization, it's almost impossible to dodge her bullets at this distance. I can only think of ways to defend." In the face of adversity, Feng Bujue's brain worked at lightning speed. His beyond-limits thinking speed made everything in front of him seem to freeze, "But my hands are crippled, so I basically can't use any items, and I can't use Death Poker either... [Artemis' Embrace] can't block her special ice and fire bullets, at most it can reduce some damage..." He thought to himself, and even glanced at the game menu, "I lost a lot of health earlier from [Divine Arbitration], and the injuries on my hands and [Ling Shi Ju Shen Shu - Gai (Spirit Consciousness Gathering Body Technique - Modified)] are all slowly reducing my Survival Value. At this moment, the remaining 19% of my Survival Value can last for... at most two shots."

Feng Bujue's estimate was very accurate. Setting aside attributes, the basic attack power of Xiao Ling's two spiritual energy weapons was "extremely strong." It was impossible to completely defend against them with just the equipment's defense. At this distance, even if they didn't hit a vital area, one shot would reduce his Survival Value by 7%-9%. After taking two shots, Feng Bujue, with only single-digit health remaining, would definitely die.

"Since I can't use my hands, I can't take things out of my knapsack... If I can't take things out, I naturally can't get Survival Value Replenishment Agents... Without Survival Value, Ling Shi Ju Shen Shu (Spirit Consciousness Gathering Body Technique) will also have to stop... And without the support of super speed, at this distance of seven or eight meters, she can do whatever she wants with my last sliver of health..." Feng Bujue had already deduced in his mind what would happen next, "Then... the only hope for a comeback lies between these two shots..."

The intense pain and desperate situation didn't have any negative impact on him. On the contrary, they made his mind clear and his thoughts flow like a spring: "I have three seconds to end this battle... If she's not dead after three seconds, I lose. In other words... I have to instantly kill the other party." With this in mind, he already had a conclusion: "With my current posture, the distance between me and her, and this high-altitude state... I only have one skill to choose, and I'm afraid this is the only skill on my body... that can forcefully instantly kill a level forty-six player from the front."

Having seen this, I believe you readers have also come to a conclusion.

That's right... [Qi Gong Cannon]!

Feng Bujue thought like lightning, and all the analysis just now was completed in an instant. After making up his mind, he raised his two bloody, charred hands in front of his eyes with a tremble, and tried his best to bend his fingers, using his hands to form a trapezoidal "frame," aiming at Xiao Ling on the ground.

"Qi Gong Cannon?" Xiao Ling also reacted quickly. She knew that Jue-ge (Brother Jue) was running out of time and was preparing to make a desperate gamble. "Hmph... don't dream about it..."

In this life-or-death moment, Xiao Ling didn't get hot-headed or become impatient. She was very clear that the one who couldn't afford to delay was Feng Bujue.

Therefore, as the two guns fired in succession, Xiao Ling moved abruptly... attempting to escape the attack range of the Qi Gong Cannon.

"Hmph... too naive..." Feng Bujue smiled. Although two bullets had hit him when he smiled, reducing his Survival Value to 4%, he still revealed the smile of a victor.

*Boom*—

In less than half a second, the Qi Gong Cannon was fired.

The place where Xiao Ling was, was blasted out by a violent energy into a trapezoidal deep pit that was slanted and embedded in the ground.

[Player, Bei Ling Xiao Gu (Sorrowful Spirit Laughing Bone), has died.] The system notification announced Jue-ge (Brother Jue)'s victory.

However, he didn't have time to celebrate anything. The first thing he did was to deactivate [Ling Shi Ju Shen Shu - Gai (Spirit Consciousness Gathering Body Technique - Modified)] and descend from the sky.

After landing on the ground, the effects of the [Qi Gong Cannon] on the caster continued, giving Jue-ge (Brother Jue) a feeling of exhaustion and dizziness. But Feng Bujue still gritted his teeth and persevered, slowly kneeling down (he was afraid that falling to the ground would cause him to lose health).

"Replenishment Agent, Replenishment Agent..." As if reminding himself what to take, he repeatedly chanted these three words. In a state of mental dizziness, this kind of psychological suggestion might really be a little useful.

"*Hiss*—" Enduring the intense pain, Feng Bujue probed his injured arm into the opening of his knapsack. This action caused him to lose another 1% of his health.

It took a full ten seconds for Jue-ge (Brother Jue) to barely pull out the bottle of Survival Value Replenishment Agent from his knapsack...

"Phew... saved..." Finally, with only 1% of his health remaining, he poured the medicine down, renewing his life.