God of Illusions

The two stood facing each other. As of this point, all their abilities had been revealed. Each of the revealed abilities was an ability many people would be envious over. Zhao Ziyun’s main puppet – Quakemountain Armor – and his gravity-controlling gloves were both rare and top-quality puppets.

As for Hu Xian’er, four of her abilities had been revealed. For the very first time, the name Phantom Fox was in the spotlight. This previously unknown magical beast had successfully piqued the interest of many big shots here. Nevertheless, the battle still had to continue. But after the earlier exchange, nobody was sure who would be the victor anymore.

“You are very strong. It is truly unfortunate that you got me as your opponent,” Hu Xian’er said coldly before she attacked again. As usual, she charged forward with extreme speed. Zhao Ziyun calmed himself and ignored her taunt. At this point, the only thing he could do was focus on the battle.

“Quakemountain!” The same scene from earlier repeated, but this time, Zhao Ziyun fired his rifle at Hu Xian’er instead of approaching her after using the Quakemountain ability.

“Fox Dodge!” Hu Xian’er had also learned from their earlier exchange. Although the Quakemountain ability had still sent her flying, she had been able to remain relatively close to the ground this time, which helped her regain her footing before she activated her Fox Dodge ability.

After dodging Zhao Ziyun’s attack, Hu Xian’er charged forth again. At the same time, terrifying gravity appeared around her, and Zhao Ziyun activated his melee mode and charged Hu Xian’er with his Shattermoon Spear in hand.

After getting into melee range, he shook his spear, creating about a dozen afterimages of spear tips that all stabbed at Hu Xian’er from various angles. Unfortunately for him, Hu Xian’er was much more nimble than him.

Even with the Gravity Gloves affecting her, Hu Xian’er was still able to match Zhao Ziyun’s speed. She waved her hands and accurately stopped Zhao Ziyun’s attacks as her hands clashed with the spear and produced clangs, a sound no one would expect from the collision of flesh and puppet.

“Quakemountain!”

Zhao Ziyun did not wait for Hu Xian’er to attack and directly used his Quakemountain at melee range. This time, he used a weaker version of Quakemountain with lower origin energy expenditure, and it only pushed Hu Xian’er one step backward.

Even if two people were to use the exact same puppet, each of them would have a different understanding of the puppet. For many people, Quakemountain Armor was a defensive puppet, but Zhao Ziyun was able to use it offensively. Thanks to his precise control over this puppet, the defensive puppet was transformed into a puppet that specialized in creating openings in his opponents.

The Quakemountain ability caused Hu Xian’er to lose her footing. As that happened, Zhao Ziyun was already charging at her. His gloves glowed again, increasing the gravity holding Hu Xian’er by thirty percent. The effect of the Gravity Gloves was reliant on the distance of the target and the amount of origin energy channeled into it. After making sure that Hu Xian’er’s movement had been slowed, Zhao Ziyun swung his spear at Hu Xian’er’s slender waist.

Zhao Ziyun’s sequence of movements all happened at the exact moment Hu Xian’er’s foot left the ground after she was pushed by the Quakemountain. Because of that, she was not able to use her Fox Dodge in time. As if to add salt to the wound, her defensive shield could only stop energy attacks. Thus, her only option was to receive the incoming attack with her flesh.

Hu Xian’er forcefully twisted her body and met the incoming spear with her right arm. Unfortunately, the difference in their strength was too huge. With a muffled thud, she was sent flying. Immediately after, Zhao Ziyun transformed his spear back into a rifle.

Once again, a violet shield appeared around Hu Xian’er and blocked Zhao Ziyun’s attack. Even though the rifle attack was blocked, Zhao Ziyun was definitely the one with the upper hand in this exchange. Regardless of whether it was origin energy exhaustion or injuries sustained, Hu Xian’er was worse off than Zhao Ziyun.

They separated, and once again, they stood still facing each other. In truth, Zhao Ziyun wanted to continue attacking, but he was aware that the opening was closed the moment Hu Xian’er’s foot landed on the ground.

“Looks like I am the stronger one here.” Zhao Ziyun smiled and countered what Hu Xian’er said earlier. All men had their own ego, especially when facing beautiful women.

“That won’t last long.” Immediately after Hu Xian’er spoke, she attacked again, ignoring the pain of her right arm. It was as if she had completely forgotten the injury she had received.

Zhao Ziyun was fully on guard, as he could afford no mistakes when facing Hu Xian’er. The spectators cheered without stop as the two fought. Some cheered for Hu Xian’er’s decisiveness, and some cheered for Zhao Ziyun’s resoluteness. Across the entire public square, only the main platform with all the VIPs remained silent.

“Principal, who do you think will be the winner?” asked the Divine Light Mercenary Group commander with a smile. Instead of feeling regretful, Duan Tianya’s defeat had caused him to be highly interested in Hu Xian’er.

For a mercenary group, growth was more important than results. As far as he was concerned, a defeat was a great opportunity for Duan Tianya to grow. Therefore, the commander was happy to see Duan Tianya’s defeat. One ought to know that if this was the outside world, a lesson like this might come at the cost of one’s life.

“Since you are asking me, it probably means that you already have an answer for yourself, no?” Lei Shan replied with a question.

The commander laughed heartily, his beard trembling from his laughter. He said, “I have no idea who’s going to win, but I am certain that the one to be defeated will only suffer defeat through origin energy exhaustion.”

The people around him were in agreement with this conclusion. All of them had been through many life and death situations, and with their rich combat experience, their judgment would be largely accurate. If neither of the two combatants had a new trump card, then it was obvious the two were evenly matched. That was why the commander had asked the principal that question. He was sure that the principal was capable of seeing something none of them had noticed.

“Continue watching. Spoilers will just spoil the fun. The children are fighting so hard. We should show them respect by watching their battle,” Lei Shan said with a smile, looking like a friendly grandpa.

“It has been so many years, but you have never changed, principal.” The commander laughed awkwardly before focusing on the match. Presently, the battle between Hu Xian’er and Zhao Ziyun reached an extremely intense level. 

Once again, the fox claws clashed with the spear. This time, Hu Xian’er was not sent flying. Instead, she grabbed onto the spear before dashing towards Zhao Ziyun.

“Quakemountain!” Faced with a crisis, Zhao Ziyun activated his defensive ability to push Hu Xian’er away. Unfortunately, he was slightly slow, as Hu Xian’er’s fatal claw was able to claw through his armor and leave five sinister claw marks on his chest before he was done activating his ability. 

Once again, the two separated and stood facing each other. This time, Zhao Ziyun was gasping for breath, disbelief on his face.

“How is that possible? Why are you suddenly stronger?” Zhao Ziyun shouted in shock with indignation on his face.

“You’re wrong. I have not become stronger. You are the one who has grown weaker. Staying in an intense state of concentration for an extended period of time will take a lot out of a person’s body. You are already doing very well to last this long,” Hu Xian’er said. There was a certain certainty in her voice that this was the end of the battle. As far as she was concerned, all humans were useless, with Bai Xiaofei being the sole exception.

“The origin energy you have left is much less than before, and the wound left by my Claws of Torment is not something easily healed. You no longer stand a chance.” Her calm voice was transmitted through the screen to all the spectators. The spectators immediately erupted into a tumultuous clamor. Finally, a result would be decided.