An invasion from the Abyss? I, a demonic cultivator, laughed.

Chapter 272 The Gods' Tactics

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The heavy sound of drums echoed in the arena. When Chu Xiu came to his senses, he found himself on a desolate planet.

There is no air, no sunlight, no life here, only eternal cold and deathly silence.

Chu Xiu felt the temperature; it was definitely below minus two hundred degrees Celsius.

In this extreme cold, awakened individuals at the levels of Fierce and General would likely freeze to death in no time, not to mention there is no air here.

Only when one evolves to the level of a "Heroic Spirit," where the body is no longer flesh and blood but high-density energy forming a perfect internal cycle, can one be freed from the need for sustenance.

Although Chu Xiu is not a heroic spirit, as long as he doesn't stay here for a month or two, it won't cause any major problems.

Looking around, a figure suddenly caught his eye.

It was a creature standing on a bluish-gray rock. It was humanoid in shape, covered with gray skin-like armor, and had two huge transparent wings tightly bound to its back like an insect. Its body was almost integrated with the rock.

Some basic information about the duel flashed through Chu Xiu's mind: the Giant Winged Scythe Clan, a special race living on a wild planet, are natural predators, and his opponent is the most talented "Holy Son" of this race.

Chu Xiu extended his divine sense, but before he could capture it, the figure flickered and vanished instantly!

Chu Xiu's pupils contracted slightly: "Such speed!"

Without the slightest hesitation, a large amount of demonic energy overflowed from his body, forming a dense, fortress-like defense around him!
"clang!!!"

Almost the instant it was formed, a sharp metallic clang rang out. Chu Xiu felt his demonic energy barrier being struck by a tremendous force, and in the next instant, the half-meter-thick barrier was torn open with a crack! Five sharp claws then pierced through!
Through the torn opening, Chu Xiu met a pair of cold, emotionless eyes.

With a cold snort, demonic energy condensed into eight long spears behind him, which then shot out towards the figure!

However, as the spear was fired, it pierced straight through the man's body, only hitting an afterimage.

This startled Chu Xiu once again.

The speed at which the demonic energy weapon he had cultivated to perfection was already extremely fast, yet it was still easily dodged by his opponent. This shows that the creature he was facing now had a reaction speed and movement speed that were extremely close to those of a heroic spirit!

Just as Chu Xiu was surprised, another sickening metallic scraping sound rang out behind him. He turned around and saw the strange gray-white creature lying on the demonic energy barrier, completely ignoring the corrosive effect of the demonic energy on him, and tearing open a hole with its sharp claws.

But this was far from over. Just as Chu Xiu was about to retaliate, there was another sharp sound. His left side had also been slashed open, and a gray-white monster was lying there, staring at him with vicious eyes!
Another sound rang out, followed by another. Chu Xiu looked up and saw monsters appearing on the demonic energy barrier. In just a few breaths, they filled the entire barrier, frantically tearing at the barrier, which was as sturdy as a legendary king-level armor, with their sharp claws!
A pair of furious and vicious eyes stared at Chu Xiu, accompanied by sharp tearing sounds, which only made him feel terrified.

"Pretend to be a ghost!"

With a soft hum, Chu Xiu's divine sense surged forth, and the demonic energy barrier instantly collapsed along with his thoughts, transforming into countless sharp thorns that pierced outwards like a hedgehog in the next instant!

"Puff puff!"

The gray-white monsters were unable to dodge in time and were pierced through one after another. But a strange scene occurred: the monsters' bodies twisted as if the surface of water had been stirred up, and then slowly disappeared into the air.

Just then, a bluish-gray phantom rushed out rapidly, and an incomparably fierce blade of light, as if it could cleave the heavens and the earth, rose up, instantly filling all of Chu Xiu's vision!
"clang!!!"

At the critical moment, the demonic energy contained within Chu Xiu's body was activated, transforming into a massive tower shield. The shield of the [Imperial Five Dragon Crown] was also generated at the same time. Even so, the domineering blade light still managed to cleave a gash in the [Great Sun Guardian Shield] after breaking through these two layers of defense.

This made Chu Xiu gasp slightly; he hadn't expected there to be a general-level creature capable of unleashing such a powerful attack.

Only then did he truly see the other's appearance: a streamlined body perfectly conforming to aerodynamics, about three meters tall, with a large amount of exoskeleton covering the skin, a pair of open transparent wings on the back, grayish-white skin like a gargoyle sculpture, holding a three-inch-long bone blade in his hand, and eyes as cold as a hunter without any emotion.

The ambush failed, but the creature showed no discouragement. It simply calmly and quickly changed its position, while a large number of "phantoms" that looked exactly like it appeared on the battlefield around it.

But Chu Xiu knew that this was not just an illusion, but a clone with the power to tear apart his demonic energy barrier!

"As expected of a top-tier gladiator," Chu Xiu praised.

Through the exchange just now, he had a clear understanding of the situation.

The gladiator opposite them must be a being of extremely high rank whose talent is no less than that of Asura.

Although he is only a general, he clearly has a lot of legendary equipment on him, and he has also taken special enhancement items for this competition. With these bonuses, his basic attributes are close to those of a normal Asura in the Old Trials.

Their strength is definitely still lacking, but their movement speed is already quite good, and even slightly faster!
"I see."

Chu Xiu glanced around and understood the strategy of the other three gods.

They had witnessed his previous battles and understood that his strength lay in his astonishing attack power, but his weaknesses lay in his movement speed and scouting ability. That's why, during the bet against the Fierce-rank opponent, Chu Xiu demanded that the opponent not be allowed to escape and must engage in direct combat.

Realizing this, the gods chose an opponent with extremely high movement speed and the ability to create clones.

This way, at least they are in an invincible position.

"And then."

Chu Xiu thought of the pale bone blade his opponent had held when he ambushed him earlier.

An extremely strange power was attached to that bone blade. Chu Xiu could feel his defenses being distorted and then collapsing the moment they came into contact with it.

Chu Xiu was certain that if he were touched by that bone blade, even with the slightest scratch, his body would be shattered by that strange power.

"That bone blade seems to be only a [Legendary] piece of equipment, but the power attached to it is a [Mythical] level enhancement item!"

Chu Xiu realized this instantly.

This is the opponent's tactic: using high movement speed combined with the power of [Myth] to constantly wear them down and slowly whittle them down!

It can be said that it is a set of counter-strategies completely aimed at Chu Xiu!
“If it were the old me, I really wouldn’t have any way to deal with it, but unfortunately,” Chu Xiu shook his head, “I am not the same as before.”

He has been constantly "filling in the gaps" during this period, and there are no obvious shortcomings anymore!

"boom!"

With a thought, Chu Xiu unleashed the immense divine consciousness brought about by the Perfect Golden Embryo Forging Divine Power, which spread outwards like a tidal wave!
In an instant, the battlefield within a three-mile radius was enveloped by Chu Xiu's divine sense! He deliberately reduced the coverage area of ​​his divine sense in exchange for unparalleled precise analytical capabilities!

"The drawback of divine sense is that at low levels, its detection range is far less than some skills that rely on sensory reconnaissance, but its advantage lies in its extremely high scanning accuracy!"

Under Chu Xiu's divine sense, the gladiator's disguise was completely exposed, and he instantly locked onto the main body hidden among the hundreds of clones!
The next instant, the powerful pressure of the Burning Blood Golden Eyes descended upon the Holy Son of the Nether Scythe Clan!

It immediately staggered as if it had been subjected to immense pressure, almost falling to its knees, while golden flames ignited on its body!
This pleased Chu Xiu. Just as he had expected, the opponent had strengthened his basic attributes to a level far exceeding that of a general, so he must be lacking in mental strength!

The powerful pressure from the Burning Blood Golden Eyes rendered him completely immobile!
Although it was only a brief moment, in a battle of this level, a moment was enough.

The giant sword formed from demonic energy descended from the sky and instantly shattered everything within a radius of 500 meters centered on the Holy Son of the Nether Scythe Clan. The domineering sword energy blasted a bottomless crater into the ground, even pulverizing hard rocks into dust!

Instant kill!

That's what real battles are like: seizing fleeting opportunities and deciding victory or defeat in an instant.

Of course, the fundamental reason why he could kill instantly was that Chu Xiu was too strong. His demonic energy condensed into weapons with an attack output comparable to that of a heroic spirit. How could a general-level soldier withstand that?
But just when he thought the matter was settled, he suddenly let out a soft "Eh".

He looked down and saw faint points of light rising from the bottom of the pit. The body of the Holy Son of the Youlian Clan, which had been crushed into mincemeat, was actually reforming at the bottom of the pit!
This is not a restoration, but more like a "time rewind"!
Its broken body seemed to be drawn by a strange force, constantly surging towards the torso, and finally "gluing" itself to the tattered skeleton.

"Is there another trick up their sleeve?"

Chu Xiu frowned, but didn't pay it any mind, and prepared to summon the giant sword for another attack.

However, as soon as he mobilized his magic power, his expression suddenly changed, revealing a look of surprise and uncertainty!
He discovered that, for some reason, the magical power within his body had become incredibly viscous, as if mixed with glue, making it impossible to mobilize. Moreover, it seemed as if an invisible force was absorbing his life force!

He shouted and forcibly mobilized his magic power, but in that brief moment of delay, the Holy Son of the Youlian Clan at the bottom of the pit had already disappeared!

Chu Xiu's expression darkened, and he quickly withdrew the surrounding demonic energy to form a defense. At the same time, his brain was working at high speed, analyzing different possibilities.

He quickly figured out what had happened.

Blessed by the three gods!
"So that's how it is. This is their real tactic."

The scene that just happened, and his own condition, completely matched the three high-level blessings that Chu Xiu had browsed!
【Time Capsule (S)】, 【Curse of the Dead (S)】, 【Child of Calamity - Short-Term (S)】!
The Time Recall ability allows the holder to briefly rewind to a state a few seconds before death, while the Curse of the Dead leaves an unremovable curse on the killer upon the holder's death. Finally, the Child of Calamity is a constitution that can greatly enhance the power of curses!
These three blessings have one thing in common: they are all one-time or short-term!

The boost from the S-rank general's blessing was no longer particularly significant for a combatant of Chu Xiu's level, which is why Chu Xiu agreed so readily.

Unexpectedly, the other party used this one-time condition as a constraint, which greatly enhanced the power of the blessing!

Through their combined efforts, this holy son sacrificed his life to leave Chu Xiu with a powerful curse!

After leaving behind this curse, the Holy Son of the Youlian Clan quickly moved more than ten kilometers away, maintaining a safe distance from Chu Xiu.

The three gods' tactics on the surface were just a disguise; this was their true strategy!
After all, no matter how fast you move, you still have to get close to your opponent to really hurt them. But by using a curse, you can wear Chu Xiu down to death without fail!

"So that's how the super-fast movement speed is used." Chu Xiu frowned.

This was the first time he had encountered a curse-type attack. He could feel his life force being constantly eroded, but he couldn't grasp the source of the devouring force.

It was as if it were a superior being, billions of miles away, in the void.

If he could win the competition, the blood pool would naturally be removed from his body. But now, the holy son seemed determined to wear him down, quietly watching from afar. He would leave whenever Chu Xiu made a move.

To prevent one side from avoiding the fight, the rules of the gladiatorial combat do demarcate a specific area, but this area is a huge circle with a radius of more than ten kilometers, enough for them to play a game of cat and mouse.

"Indeed, the wisdom of the gods should not be underestimated," Chu Xiu sighed softly.

Seeing that he remained motionless, perhaps thinking that Chu Xiu had no other options, the phantoms of the other three gods in the sky swayed triumphantly, clearly very pleased with their own handiwork.

This gave Chu Xiu a strange feeling: "A gladiator like me is probably no different from a video game in the eyes of these gods."

"Develop your character, customize your gear, and then compete?"

Somewhat amused, Chu Xiu shook his head and looked at the Holy Son not far away.

It must be said that these gods did come up with a pretty good tactic.

Unfortunately, Chu Xiu is just too strong and too well-rounded right now.

With just a thought, a blood-red phantom appeared behind the Holy Son without warning!
Before he could even realize it, the overwhelming crimson blood engulfed everything!
[The Blood Sea Domain]!
This holy son is, after all, only a general. Although he has elevated one of his strengths to a level close to that of a heroic spirit, this is not without its price.

His mental defense, perception, and defensive capabilities are all only at the level of an ordinary king.

The Blood Demon Incarnation is a genuine Asura-level powerhouse, almost on par with a Heroic Spirit!
While it doesn't have any particularly strong features, its unparalleled versatility stems from its hundreds of traits and skills, making it capable of fulfilling almost any role, from support to tank to assassin! This is why Chu Xiu insisted on fully restoring it before the King-level trial!
At that moment, the Holy Son was completely unaware of the Blood Demon's approach and was instantly swallowed up!

Now, the outcome is completely decided.

However, just as Chu Xiu was about to finish off his opponent, the four divine phantoms suddenly became agitated, and at the same time, three powerful pressures descended upon Chu Xiu without warning!

Chu Xiu's expression changed drastically. He felt that under the pressure of those three powerful forces, he could not even move a finger!
"What does this mean?" He stared intently at the sky.

What? Even gods cheat?

(End of this chapter)