Forge a path to success.

Chapter 134 Gun and Sword Feud: A Deadly Battle in a Second (Part 2)

The location has been revealed; the snake will arrive in less than three breaths.

The battlefield he chose was the western part of the city, filled with high-rise buildings, which had already been cleared of people beforehand, turning it into a no-man's-land with complex terrain. The dense cover would normally be disadvantageous to both sides, but to the martial arts practitioners of Longxiang, buildings were no different from flat ground; Chu Hengkong would definitely move in a straight line. Like a cannonball, he would smash through buildings, stepping on walls to climb higher, bringing the most direct death.

Therefore, Shax did not move. The difference in mobility between the two was immense; by the time he turned with his gun, the enemy's knife would have already pierced his spine. He remained prone in his original position, the second bullet slipped into the ricochet, and the invisible threads of his mental energy severed at his will. The traps laid in advance on the battlefield were triggered.

A sharp whistling sound echoed between the buildings!
·
There would definitely be a trap. This was the battlefield the sniper had chosen himself, so he would have prepared in advance. Therefore, the moment he charged forward, Chu Hengkong focused his attention to the extreme.

His intensely concentrated energy was so intense it felt like his organs were about to tear apart. He could hear the sound of every speck of dust falling around him, distinguish the source of every odor, and feel the vibrations of the tiny gears turning inside the building.

Tentacles coiled and swung, Chu Hengkong burst through the window and flew into the deserted building. A grenade sealed within the wall was about to detonate when it was destroyed by a flying blade of spirit, and the trigger-activated cannon on the ceiling was smashed by flying debris. Calculating every bit of force, wasting not a microsecond, he charged up again, soaring upwards—

He heard a sudden whooshing sound, and crimson blood burst from his ears!

Hundreds of specially made bullets buried in the western part of Jinye City exploded simultaneously. It was like a thousand bats screeching at once, or ten thousand insects flapping their wings and chirping in unison. Extremely high-frequency sound waves propagated between buildings, resonating and superimposing, amplified to an extreme degree by specially adjusted mechanisms. A deafening roar, inaudible to ordinary people, surged in in an instant. Chu Hengkong's mind went blank; his extremely sharp senses ironically rendered him deaf!
—The secret to comprehensively improving physical fitness is the Qi of a Thousand Autumns.

Physical attributes such as physique, strength, reflexes, and all imaginable physical qualities will increase, and perception will naturally follow suit. However, strengths can also be weaknesses. Just as a dog with keen hearing is afraid of noise, a killer who is overly focused on reconnaissance may be killed by a noise trap.

This is a tactic that can only be used when fully prepared, which is why the once-immortal machine could not be used in the deathmatch. Its significance lies only in pausing the assassin's thinking, buying the sniper a moment.

According to the information provided by Wu He, the Undying and Immortal Technique can repair minor injuries in about 0.03 seconds.

A genius who is proficient in this art only needs 0.015 seconds.

The time required for the sacrificial snake to heal itself is probably less than 0.01 seconds.

That single, decisive moment was enough for Shax to make his next move. He locked onto his opponent, fired, and released a second bullet.

As the blood flowed back into his ear and the damaged organ was repaired, Chu Hengkong saw a golden "gun." At its tip was a spinning golden bullet, with metal clusters wrapped around its rear like a cloak, forming a matching "gun barrel." The gun aimed straight at Chu Hengkong's right shoulder, targeting the only opening created by the first shot.

He leaped up and charged forward, dodging attacks as he advanced. The moment the golden bullets struck the ground, golden rain fell from his eyes. The chanting of hymns shook the air, and countless spear tips shot out from the ceiling, from the windows, from the ground, like the crucifixion of sinners.

Blood Holy Lance - Piercing Crucifixion!

Besides sniping, Shax is also skilled with melee weapons such as javelins, an ability he gained after incorporating his martial arts into the Variable Blade technique. By channeling half of his hatred, he can create instantaneous piercing attacks within a 200-meter radius of the bullet's impact point, with each spear carrying the lethality equivalent to a direct bullet strike.

If Chu Hengkong had chosen to conceal his tracks and infiltrate secretly, he would have used this shot to force him to reveal himself. But now, to close the distance and break into the building, he was using the dismemberment bullet as a deadly move to enclose the space. Faced with such a high density of attacks, protecting oneself was impossible. If the assassin slowed his pace to defend himself, the third shot, heralding death, would arrive.

Guns. Guns. Guns. Sharp weapons were everywhere, golden spears raining down like a storm. Being hit by those spears would result in severe injury, the sharp weapons piercing through vital organs and bringing death. Chu Hengkong's tentacles fell straight to the ground, the blue flames on his whips blazing brightly, forming a pillar of fire that shot straight up from the ground.

The widespread devastation of the Azure Burning Blaze was triggered, the rain of bullets melting into golden streams of water in the flames of ambition. But the attack was not over yet; new spears pierced through the flames, relentlessly thrusting with a suicidal resolve. The piercing and dismembering execution was not finished, for the bullets that triggered the execution were still spinning. After piercing the floor, they reflected off the next level, twice tracing eerie sharp angles. After the Azure Burning Blaze was activated, it pierced through the floor and shot out, bouncing towards Chu Hengkong's right shoulder.

Half hatred, a quarter paranoia, and a quarter restlessness. This bullet is a modified "bounce bullet," like a golden hound that will relentlessly pursue its prey until the attack hits.

Even if it collides with the spine of a real machine, it doesn't matter. This bullet contains no material; it's entirely composed of Shax's own essence. He's betting that his power won't be defeated by an inanimate object. If even this trick is absorbed by the Immortal Machine, then he deserves to die! The golden bullet is fired like a javelin, as resolute as the sniper himself. It strikes the only opening, piercing into the crimson blood. The bullet, embedded in the blood, pauses, deforms, and is then repelled by the force.

It struck a blood-red shield!

His train of thought froze, his reaction halted. The sudden turn of events, like a sharp knife, shattered the sniper's plan. The blonde woman's assistance? Some kind of special relic? Impossible. Retrieving protective gear from the stored relic would take time, and his bullets couldn't possibly be intercepted by the power of the faint light. What method did Chu Hengkong use? That instantly appearing crimson heavy shield was—

At this moment, the sniper understood. Even stronger than the sense of defeat was the shock that struck him to the core.

According to the information provided by Wu He, the Zhengxuan Gangqi Armor is the essence of the Dragon Township martial arts' defensive techniques. Except for a few attacks targeting the Nether Body, it can amplify and reflect most attacks. If this secret technique has any flaws, it can only be two: First, it consumes too much energy, so low-level cultivators can only use it partially. Second, the energy originates from within the body, and the armor can only cover the surface of the body.

Therefore, Chu Hengkong tore his own body apart.

As the tentacles released their fiery energy, the assassin deliberately tore off about half of his upper body. The protective armor covering the flesh became a crimson shield, deflecting the second bullet. He used the shield to protect his sides and launched a magnificent charge into the hail of bullets.

Chu Hengkong recalled his partner's fearless spirit as they charged forward, and a smile involuntarily crept onto his face. He now understood his partner's feelings. There was no need to dodge those hard, sharp, and ubiquitous attacks. To win, one must use a self that surpasses them as a shield, shattering them and forging a path of blood!

This was a move that Shax hadn't anticipated at all, a tactic not typical of assassins. Like those secret techniques and ultimate skills, it was something he'd acquired after arriving in the Shallow Realm. The lingering rain of gunfire continued to fall, but it no longer posed a threat. The spears attacking from the front snapped before the shield, and the sharp weapons behind could only touch the green afterimages.

The shadow pierced through the glass, smashed through the wall, and compressed and tore through the air as if it were solid. Oval craters appeared in the buildings it passed through, and the subsequent burst of wind pressure cut the bricks and tiles into irregular fragments. In the endless dust, only the green shadow went straight ahead.

His speed became too fast, faster than Shax had anticipated. Even the most sophisticated machines couldn't capture his movements; it was a transcendent speed comparable to that of an immortal machine in a bloodbath. Using his body as a shield, Chu Hengkong was brought to the brink of death, allowing him to greatly enhance the efficiency of his Qi Thousand Autumns technique. Unpredictable, unpredictable, Shax only had time to grip the barrel of his gun before the assassin's afterimage was already close in on the air.

Chu Hengkong released his shield and gripped his sword with one hand. With a clang, the longsword was drawn, its blade gleaming like white snow.

Steel Edge Flow - No Return Strike.

He swung his iaido sword in mid-air, effortlessly as if wielding a sword in a dojo, cleaving a distant skyscraper in two. The smooth cut shifted nearly half the building, and then the force of the strike exploded, slicing the upper part into countless fragments. The building collapsed in an instant, the shattered structure disintegrating into hundreds of pieces that fell together. Shax was thrown back by one of these pieces, letting out a hoarse laugh that he himself didn't even realize.

That's how it is. It's always like this. We make thorough plans, but we never anticipate what will happen next. Once we step onto the battlefield, nothing is certain anymore; whether we live or die depends entirely on ourselves…

Only look at yourself!

He gripped the handle and pulled hard, disassembling the heavy sniper rifle. His left hand held the long, weapon-like barrel, while his right hand held a large pistol hidden within the gun. The last bullet was inside, his most powerful weapon, composed entirely of "death."

Sarks plummeted through the air, the upside-down world cascading like a waterfall, the blood pooling in his brain blurring his vision. Perhaps it was over before he could even fire, or perhaps this moment, along with all his experiences in hell, was just a delusional fantasy of death. He listened to the chanting of the gun, the weapon whispering a Hallelujah blessing to himself.

He saw a green shadow brush past the edge of his vision, the assassin leaping up from the stones. It was all like the nightmare from before, that despairing recurring haunting. He knew the assassin was about to strike, knew the flash of light. His gun and bullets would be severed, the helpless pain of falling coldly—

The assassins' eyes met in mid-air, and Shax laughed maniacally as he pulled the trigger.

No longer a helpless nightmare, in a completely different reality, whistling bullets meet the blade!
(End of this chapter)