Chapter 1 A Battle of the Strongest, A War of the Most Mad

On the desolate island of the vast sea, a new chapter of battle unfolds.

Under the astonished gaze of thousands of spectators, Feng Bujue not only shaved his head but also casually took off his coat.

Obviously, Jue-ge, who had completely transcended the limits, was no longer subject to the system's restrictions on clothing. He could even take off his pants if he wanted…

Seeing Jue-ge's transformation, Gui Xiao's surprised expression lasted only a few seconds before he accepted the situation.

"Hmph… That's more like it…" Gui Xiao said with a smile as he grabbed the clothes on his shoulders and flung the white coat with the Order Studio logo away. "It wouldn't be interesting otherwise…"

He was using his actions to tell Jue-ge that he, too, had stepped into the same realm as the other.

"Aren't you going to consider summoning your summons first?" Feng Bujue asked, unbuttoning the collar of his shirt near his collarbone before rolling up both sleeves to his elbows.

"No hurry," Gui Xiao replied. "I want to test your level first…"

*Hiss—*

At the very moment the word "level" left his mouth, Gui Xiao's figure flashed in front of Jue-ge, delivering a flying kick to the latter's face.

But, in the same instant, Feng Bujue turned his head as if he had precognition, narrowly avoiding the blow.

Then, with a "smack," Jue-ge grabbed the leg that was passing over his shoulder with one hand and flung Gui Xiao into the sky.

"Throwing me into the sky… presumably planning to use some kind of long-range beam technique on me…" Gui Xiao thought to himself as he flew backward. "Hmph… laughable. Surely I can use the air to gain leverage, can't I?"

With that thought, he tried to change direction in mid-air, but… as soon as he took his first step, he sensed something was wrong.

It was like putting all your strength into a punch but hitting air. The "solid feeling" that should have returned after the power output did not appear.

"This is…" Gui Xiao's combat instincts were unquestionable. In that split second, he immediately used his data vision to confirm what he had been hit with, "...Weightless Contact!"

Gui Xiao was very familiar with this move. It was a title skill that had been with Shiva for a long time. As Order's direct competitor, the Gods, even if Gui Xiao hadn't seen their leader's data with his data vision, he would have learned about it in the competition videos and the information provided by the studio.

Therefore, Gui Xiao was well aware of the principle and how to break this skill—to resist Weightless Contact, one had to use flight abilities like "sky dance." Using "stepping on air," which was essentially still "borrowing force," would not work.

But unfortunately, Gui Xiao did not have pure flight ability… and Feng Bujue was naturally well aware of this.

"God…" A second later, Gui Xiao was still in shock when Jue-ge's voice sounded.

Hearing this, Gui Xiao looked down quickly and was shocked to see that a small bottle had appeared beside the other's feet at some point, and the cork had already been pulled out.

"Crap!" Seeing this, Gui Xiao immediately guessed his opponent's intention and cursed inwardly.

"Feng…" But Feng Bujue's move had already taken shape, and Gui Xiao had no room to dodge, "...Wave!"

As the shout rang out, the Shen Feng Bo (God Sealing Wave) beam shot into the sky, hitting Gui Xiao directly.

The Season 3 finals were already here, and the fact that Feng Bujue "could use all his skills" was undoubtedly known to everyone, but no one expected that this man, who had clamored to "compete" with his opponent before the match… would use a "forced sealing" technique right from the start.

If this move succeeded, Gui Xiao, sealed in the bottle, would be equivalent to a lamb to the slaughter… Jue-ge only needed to unleash an attack skill with enough power to kill in front of the bottle to instantly kill his opponent, who was in an energy state and unable to defend himself in any way.

Of course, Gui Xiao… was not so easily calculated.

The so-called "strongest" meant having a way to deal with any situation; being impenetrable in defense and unstoppable in attack, only then could one be invincible.

Seeing the beam coming at him, Gui Xiao's mind raced, and he shouted, "Stand!"

As soon as he shouted, a two-meter-tall creature with a horse's head and a human body, wearing black armor and a giant sword at its waist, appeared in front of Gui Xiao, making contact with the Shen Feng Bo's energy first.

[Name: Summoning Skill—Ta Ye (Stand-in)]

[Skill Card Attribute: Active Skill, Permanently Mastered]

[Skill Category: Summoning]

[Effect: Summons a Ta Ye (Stand-in type summons can be summoned or dismissed at any time, with no cooldown time; duration is based on "durability"; non-plural Stand-ins cannot be multi-summoned)]

[Stand-in Ability Values: Destructive Power A, Speed A, Range B, Durability A, Precision C, Growth B]

[Stand-in Ability: Peerless Swordsmanship (extremely strong combat ability), Abyss Body (immune to all dark attribute attacks), Iron Will (almost unaffected by any mental abilities)]

[Cost: Concentrate your mind to summon]

[Learning Conditions: Activate Summoning and Spiritualism specialization; be shot or injured by an "arrow," implant the Stand-in "Disc," go to the "Devil's Palm" area, and equip the "Saint's Remains"]

[Note: Legend has it that in a certain abyss world that even demons cannot set foot in, there exists a kind of black horse; they are called "Raging Night," the embodiment of the most active and purest power in the abyss. One day, a soul from another space, known as the "Abyss Walker," came to this world. After a long period of time, he resonated with "Raging Night," and his soul merged with this power, and the abyss berserker named "Ta Ye" was born.]

The reason Gui Xiao summoned this creature was not because Ta Ye was the most suitable to use here, but because Ta Ye was the only summon he had mastered that could "appear instantly and in front of the player."

It could be said that this was a desperate move, but in any case… it could solve the immediate crisis.

Since the Shen Feng Bo could only work on the first creature it hit, Ta Ye's sudden appearance put Feng Bujue in a dilemma. He could either simply cancel the skill or grit his teeth and seal Ta Ye first.

After weighing the pros and cons, he naturally chose the latter; because Stand-in type summons had the basic characteristic that "the damage received by the Stand-in will be reflected on the main body" (there were exceptions, such as plural Stand-ins, but Gui Xiao's Stand-in did not belong to this category), so… if he could seal Ta Ye and kill it, he could still cause Gui Xiao's death.

However… how could Gui Xiao let him have his way?

When Ta Ye entered the energy flow of the Shen Feng Bo, Gui Xiao's main body had already started to move. He would not stand idly by and watch his Stand-in be sealed into a bottle. In the blink of an eye, he took out something from his inventory and threw it forcefully towards Jue-ge's location.

What he threw was not some rare item, but just a regular concentrated explosive. The power of this explosive was not enough to kill a level 60 player in most cases (unless the player had no armor on when the explosive hit their face and did not defend at all), but it was more than enough to shatter a bottle…

*Whoosh—*

The sound of wind breaking rose, and the explosive came as expected.

Although Gui Xiao had nowhere to borrow strength, it was easy for him to complete this "grenade throw" by relying on the strength of his own arm swing.

As for Feng Bujue… because the Shen Feng Bo had to be used with both hands, he had to use his feet to deal with the enemy at this moment.

No sooner said than done, Jue-ge's left leg flashed, and a Rankyaku (Storm Leg) slash flew out, accurately meeting the incoming item.

*Bang!*

In the next second, an explosion rang out in mid-air, and the shockwave and flames spread in all directions.

Although Feng Bujue's reaction and kick were already as fast as they could be, the aftermath of the explosion still managed to shatter the bottle on the ground… As a result, the Shen Feng Bo lost its sealing container and became ineffective.

But Jue-ge's expression remained unchanged as he finished the entire skill, guiding the energy flow carrying Ta Ye in front of him.

"Heh…" Gui Xiao, watching this scene from the sky, smiled and said, "What? Want to engage in close combat with my Stand-in? Just looking at it, you can tell that his physical strength is better than yours…"

*Boom—*

Before he could finish speaking, Feng Bujue threw a punch.

The moment the fist struck, Ta Ye tried to cross his arms to block, but… he had just come out of the Shen Feng Bo, was not standing firmly, and was also a beat slower than the player, so he failed to block.

As a result, Jue-ge's blow hit Ta Ye's torso squarely in the center, roughly where the stomach was… and blasted a circular, through-and-through hole.

"What a pity…" After unleashing this Ultimate Fist, Feng Bujue even mocked in a very lazy tone, "If your Stand-in was as short as you, my punch would have hit the face directly, wouldn't it?"

At the same time, Gui Xiao in mid-air had a pale face and could not even speak; without a doubt… at this moment, his torso also had a hole, just like Ta Ye.

At this moment, intense pain and even more intense anger did not prevent Gui Xiao from making the right judgment. He immediately thought and dismissed the Stand-in, preventing the injured Ta Ye from being chased by Jue-ge.

"I think this punch is enough to make you understand… when fighting me, releasing a Stand-in, which will 'reflect damage to the main body,' is a huge risk." Watching Ta Ye disappear from in front of him, Feng Bujue was not surprised at all, his tone still leisurely.

On the other side, Gui Xiao spent a few seconds using the Right Hand of Denial to repair the damage to his body and quickly adjusted his breathing.

However, after catching his breath, he did not respond to the topic of the Stand-in immediately, but roared, "Who did you just call short!"

"You're the only shorty here, who else could I be talking about?" Jue-ge narrowed his eyes and drawled.

"Bah! Who's short?" Gui Xiao retorted. "You baldy! What right do you have to say that about me?"

"Huh?" Feng Bujue's expression changed when he heard this, and his dead fish eyes widened at the time. "Who are you calling a baldy? I'm just trying to explain the fact that 'even with the height of your hair, you're not as tall as this Daddy,' so I'm visually showing everyone my net altitude."

"Stop talking nonsense! You're clearly using shaving your head as a way to enter the 'Transcended' realm!" Gui Xiao shouted loudly. "Becoming stronger at the cost of being bald! Only you would do such a tasteless thing!"

"Huh?" Feng Bujue tilted his head. "Tasteless?" He raised an eyebrow and replied, "Baldness is the biggest enemy of men, yet you call such a conscious act tasteless? Did you drink too much milk and it's gone to your head?"

"What the [beep] does drinking milk have to do with you! I just like to drink it, okay?" At this point, Gui Xiao also started to swear.

"Oh, is that so…" Feng Bujue said, suddenly reaching into his inventory, taking out a bag of snacks, tearing open the packaging, and putting a stick in his mouth.

"What… are… you… doing?" Gui Xiao asked, word by word.

In fact, during the preparation phase, he had already looked through everything in Feng Bujue's inventory, and one thing that made him feel quite critical was… in the finals of such a big competition, Feng Bujue actually had snacks in his inventory.

You know, even Order's "Chou He Tang" would not bring such things to the finals; any normal player, on such an occasion, would definitely make good use of every space in the inventory and put useful things in it.

But… Feng Bujue not only brought snacks, but also ate them openly in front of everyone.

"What's wrong?" Jue-ge heard Gui Xiao's question, gave a mean smile, and replied, "Are shorties only allowed to drink milk, and baldies not allowed to eat kelp?"

When he said this, Ruo Yu in the viewing space could not help but lower her head, covering her face with one hand and letting out a low roar, "Ah—"

Because she understood Jue-ge, Ruo Yu had this kind of reaction.

A moment later, not only Ruo Yu, but also many people… including Gui Xiao, belatedly realized what Feng Bujue was "doing."

To put it bluntly… this was all designed by him in advance.

Why would he specifically bring a bag of dried kelp to this match? That's because he had planned to use this thing from the beginning; from the start of the match to him finding an opportunity to say that line about Gui Xiao's height, and then the subsequent conversation… all the inducement and preparation were to make him say the sentence "Only shorties are allowed to drink milk, and baldies are not allowed to eat kelp."

Jue-ge did not hesitate to call himself a baldy in order to forcibly establish the fact that Gui Xiao was a "shorty"… It can be said that—he can lose the match, but Gui Xiao must be short.

Some people might ask, "Why does he have to spend so much effort doing such a boring thing in the eyes of others?"

When you think about this question, you have already lost.

Does Feng Bujue need a reason to "tease" others? As long as he thinks it's worth it or can get pleasure from it, that's enough.

"You bastard…" During the conversation between the two, Gui Xiao had broken free from the effects of the weightless contact and returned to the ground; however, his sanity did not land with him.

Some moves… require one to appropriately abandon reason to activate, just like the move he was about to use now.

"Ah—" After standing still, Gui Xiao made a gesture similar to a horse stance, his legs separated and slightly bent, his hands clenched into fists and bent, attached to his waist muscles, and then… he began to roar for a long time.

"Ho~ Is he going to transform…" Feng Bujue looked at his opponent, leisurely as ever, and muttered, "Super Saiyan…"

Yes, Jue-ge was not joking, Gui Xiao did have a Super Saiyan, an S-level transformation skill; however… he had never shown it in any public setting.

The reasons for not showing it were nothing more than two: First, to keep it a secret; second, there was no need.

Ask yourself, does a player who can beat top experts like Shiva in a normal state need to transform? The answer is definitely no.

But at this moment, in this ultimate battle, facing an opponent like Mad Bujue… both of these reasons no longer existed.

"Ah—" As Gui Xiao roared for a long time, golden fighting energy rose straight into the sky, angrily blooming into cloud vortices; the tyrannical energy made the entire battlefield tremble from the ground to the air, and even the spectators across the screen could feel the fierce and savage spirit.

However, Jue-ge, standing ten meters away in front of Gui Xiao, facing that force directly, looked at his opponent with a calm face, slowly sending dried kelp into his mouth.