Strongest Among the Heavens
Chapter 316: Arrow Zhou

Chapter 316: Arrow Zhou

"Those gauntlets...must be S-class." Arrow Zhou closed his eyes. "No...it can’t be..."

’A cultivator.’ There was a common saying within the journals of great men that masters could sense fellow masters; thus, cultivators could sense fellow cultivators. ’His Qi Sense is able to locate and gauge the statuses of the bodies in the Grand Hall. He’s avoiding the walls. Perhaps...’

"What did you do?" Arrow Zhou asked, eyes opening with emotion.

Dasha analyzed Arrow Zhou. He was nearly seven-feet tall and built with power in mind. An advantage well-suited for a hall like this. His Ming-era Brigandine armour was scarlet red and thin. Stains of blue, green, and black were splattered, a distant memory of the blood of the monsters he slayed.

"Unequip."

The Replica Gae Bulg disappeared from his hands.

Meanwhile, Arrow Zhou reached into a pouch at his side and consumed a pill. Dasha recognized it as a Qi-boosting pill; it thickened Qi quality. According to the textbooks he read, this was largely for those in the Orthodox Sect that practiced the Snake Style.

Arrow Zhou sized his opponent up. "Impossible. How could a mere Foundation Establishment get this far? How did you break the laws of the White Abyss?"

No answer.

Arrow Zhou went into a Snake Kung Fu stance, both arms bent at the elbows to create a serpentine curve. He was facing him with a turn of his torso, both feet spread with one forward.

"That eye of yours isn’t fully healed. Are you sure you wish to die like this? As a martial artist, I prefer my opponent not to make excuses at the end."

Dasha refused to respond and acted first. He was glad he had not done a surprise attack on this man. Arrow Zhou’s fingers darted out like a serpent’s fangs, aiming for the exposed side of Dasha’s face. Dasha slapped the strike aside from the elbow and countered with a Thunder Clap Palm. The sound echoed in the confined space, but Arrow Zhou absorbed the blow with his armoured forearm.

’He’s at the same level as me—Foundation Establishment Late Stage.’

For his size, Arrow Zhou was unexpectedly fast. Dasha wasn’t surprised at this point. He was a hunter like everyone else was. A key factor in their battles was reaction speed, so regardless of size, they were able to live, fight, and time their attacks. Arrow Zhou either struck with two fingers or with a bent palm mirroring Snake Kung-Fu. Each movement was precise, every attack calculated. Dasha refused to be struck.

’His Qi Sense is at a higher level than my own. It’s taking everything I have to block him. I can’t get close.’

Qinggong was often something Dasha employed based on intuition and instinct. It was always running in the background, always increasing his agility and deftness by fifty points in exchange for 150 MP per minute. This was the first time he was ever so unconscious of it. His opponent was using Qinggong as well except at a level that was above his own. To be able to keep up with Arrow Zhou, Dasha needed to think thirty steps ahead.

’Qi Sense and Qinggong. He’s superior to me in both aspects—’

Dasha deflected again, except this time he smacked him away by hitting his arm. Space was suddenly created. Too much space.

Arrow Zhou brought together his feet, hands raised, and hissed, "Snake Style: Venom Strike!" His fingers glowed with a sickly green aura that manifested into the image of a false snake.

"Black Cards." Dasha filled the creases of all ten fingers with darkness and hurled them at the small snake. His attack won and tore through the snake, scratching Arrow Zhou in the cheek and leg.

But it wasn’t his victory. The green snake of Qi turned into mist and spread throughout the room. The moment he breathed, his nose and throat felt fried. His Qi Sense was suddenly disabled.

"Snake Style: Serpent Coil!" Arrow Zhou’s shoulder twisted, his arms extending unnaturally and travelling four feet forward. He ensnared Dasha in a constricting grip, his flesh burning. The tighter his arm choked him, the deeper the poison went inside his system.

His Internal Healing ignited to life, fighting off against the poison with great effectiveness. His gauntlets crackled simultaneously. "Rocky chin," he said, refusing to panic and playing to his position. Grabbing the stretched arm, Dasha muttered, "Thunder Clap Palm."

The black lightning spread through the arm and back to Arrow Zhou. Almost immediately, he tried to release him but Dasha wouldn’t allow it. He pulled on the arm, lifting the large man off his feet, and slammed his palm against his face.

Thunder Clap Palm.

[ Critical hit landed! ]

The entanglement had been his undoing. Dasha ignored the poison pouring into his system, his nose and ears bleeding. His own Qi grew thick, manifesting as lightning that shocked Arrow Zhou to the brink of death-like pain. Gritting his teeth, Arrow’s arms snapped back in place and staggered back.

But Zhou was resilient. He activated a technique, the glow of the magic circle on his back intensifying as he launched another assault. "Snake Style: Death Fang!" His fingers glowed brighter, his Qi infused with a potent toxin as he slashed at Dasha’s torso.

Cue the best footwork Dasha had ever done.

Miss, miss, miss.

Arrow Zhou’s fingers brushed past Dasha’s skin several times, each near misses. If he stood still and activated Rocky chin, the increase in defence would do nothing. Dasha was like butter and Arrow Zhou was the knife.

’So this is the Snake Style of the Orthodox Sect! It is as dangerous as they say.’

The Twelve Styles of Nature—the Orthodox Style. The paths to becoming one in nature according to the Orthodox Sect. Each style corresponded to one of the Chinese Zodiac animals with its own characteristics and specializations. Arrow Zhou wielded the Snake Style. The attacks were sharp and critical with little room for defence. Against a non-cultivator, its effectiveness was superb. Poison resistance wasn’t a run-of-the-mill aspect. Heavy amounts of mana could counteract the poison but that was only when the difference was as great as an ant and elephant.

Against Arrow Zhou, though Dasha was a cultivator that possessed Internal Healing, a super effective counter to the Snake Style’s poison, it wasn’t enough. His movements were slowing and his Qi Sense was refusing to function. At this rate...

His fingers finally sliced his cheek and the green poison instantly replaced the red blood. His vision was gone now. No Qi Sense, no visual cues.

His balance was off. There was a shift in the air. Arrow Zhou intended to end this.

"Snake Style: Venom’s Strike!"

There it was. The summoning of the snake itself. Dasha saw the opening and before the snake could appear, he grabbed Arrow Zhou’s wrists, twisted them aside, and drove a Storm Surge Kick into his chest. The impact sent Arrow Zhou reeling, but he quickly regained his footing, his Qi Sense flaring as he prepared for another attack. Dasha couldn’t see with his eyes or Qi Sense so he decided to wait instead.

He was blind, technically speaking. The mask blocked off his only remaining eye and so he was left with his hearing, smell, taste, and other minor senses.

Crack.

The right part of his mask broke, a giant piece that unveiled the eye. Scars remained of the knives that punctured the flesh above and below. But even this eye became eroded with poison; blurry and dysfunctional. His Early Stage Internal Healing was fighting the poison at full capacity. He was lucky he could still move.

This duel wasn’t over yet.

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