Forge a path to success.

Chapter 135 Gun and Sword Feud: A Deadly Battle in a Second (Part 2)

No trigger needed; the bullet was fired with the thought. The final "death shot" flew from the barrel, transforming into a gray line in the erratic rain. The bullet's trajectory was unaffected by its environment, undistorted by will; it flew resolutely and persistently, like an endless straight line. This line had only one endpoint: the wound on Chu Hengkong's right shoulder.

The gray line, reflected in the assassin's eyes, seemed like a newly added line among countless crimson slashes.

In the past, before he reached the realm of motion, he learned how to deal with bullets.

Catch the bullet that's not far away with your hand.

The dense hail of bullets was blocked by the terrain.

Bullets encountered in the midst of battle were cut down with weapons.

Fearless. Unperturbed. He could dodge. He could block. The "gun," which terrified trained fighters and whose invention had effectively ended hand-to-hand combat, was no different to him from a cold weapon. He was not afraid of the age of firearms!

Until his long-held confidence was shattered by someone's sniping.

The gun hit him. Bullets are deadly weapons. Shooting is a fatal "death" that requires more than just skill; it demands a stroke of luck for even a sliver of hope. The common sense of Earth that he had once ignored was profoundly taught to him by the man before him. The gray line of death overlapped with the bullets of the past, and a sense of déjà vu welled up in his heart.

I couldn't withstand that shot.

He recognized his limits once more. He recognized the danger of bullets once more. And so he laughed, so he was invigorated, so he wielded his blade amidst a bone-chilling cold. The physical body alone could not overcome all difficulties; thus, weapons and techniques were born. Shax's weapon was his bullet; Chu Hengkong's technique was his blade!

The blade flashed and swirled as it slashed down, its trajectory as graceful as a bird in flight. It was no longer a one-way attack, but a righteous blade striking back with double the force. Too intense, too powerful, it was as if the very spirit forced forth from life itself was racing across steel, making the longsword clang as if roaring through blood.

At this moment, the third secret technique taught by Ji Qiufeng was activated, and Chu Hengkong unleashed his full power without reservation. The bird of light, draped in blood-red wings, flew towards the inevitable gray line of destruction, so wild and so proud, as if it wanted to transcend its ultimate death!
The Sax's Death Will Bullet is a special bullet composed entirely of self-elements. These self-elements are the manifestation of the user's own mental state, and its power originates from the user's ego.

The Radiant Blessed Blood Holy Lance, in essence, is a weapon that transforms the gunner's experiences into power. It is because they have experienced anguish and hatred that their weapon-forged ammunition possesses such power. It is because they have personally experienced the despair of death that they can unleash that experience as ammunition for certain destruction.

His unique experiences forged a power that could never be possessed by someone of low quality; relics and supernatural abilities within the same range were virtually incapable of matching him. Therefore, Chu Hengkong chose to fight fire with fire. His blood-red aura was a boundless vitality; he used his life force, burning to its limit, to resist the death of his enemy!
Life and death clashed, the future and the past clashed. A fleeting encounter, a clash that seemed to freeze time itself. With a secret, highly refined crimson aura, an unstoppable force of life cleaved through death. Crimson birds disappeared into the sky, gray streaks swept across the earth like the wind.

At the same time, both sides suffered their most severe injuries to date. Shax's upper body was grazed by the blade of intent, and he roared in hellish agony, a heat comparable to the terrifying heat of a 3-point pure fire. Chu Hengkong bled from all seven orifices in silence, the shattered bullet piercing his right side, bringing an incomparably cruel "death".

Blood festered, muscle dissolved, even bones were turning withered and yellow. Flesh and internal organs fell from the wound, half his body almost reduced to skeleton. But he was still alive, struggling with unparalleled willpower, because he had pierced the bullet; he had not lost!
At the same time, both crashed to the ground. Their bodies, strengthened many times over due to the ascension, emitted a series of groans as they approached their limits during this ordinary fall. They were already at their breaking point, long past their limit; the severe injuries caused their bodies to groan, yet the spirit of the strong roared in the face of adversity.

The men rose, in an ugly and fragile posture, utterly vulnerable. They advanced through the dripping blood, their bodies sustained only by sheer will to fight. Piercing through the dust, they spotted the enemy: Shax held a pistol in one hand and a strangely shaped gun barrel in the other, while Chu Hengkong held a shattering knife.

They charged forward, screaming, arms raised. The hastily loaded bullets were sliced ​​in two by the blade; through the dust, the crimson gleam of the blade caught their eye. Everything was like that rainy night, as cold as a nightmare that haunts every night. Shax felt as if he had returned to a dream, and this time he could finally let go of his obsession and accept his defeat—

no way.

no way! !
Where did that strength come from? Was it the angry cry of a dying soul? The sniper raised his gun barrel, an extremely long barrel with a white blade at the tip. His own blood flowed through the gun, and the blade emitted a thirsty, ringing sound.

The final transformation of the Blood Holy Lance was into a javelin, which, after disintegrating, transformed into a throwing spear. He hurled his final weapon, the blade shooting out like a beam of light, shattering the assassin's blade!
"—I have defeated Chu Hengkong!!"

Roaring and howling, the unarmed man charged at his enemy, having exhausted all his weapons. He was facing the greatest fear of his life.

"I have defeated your sword!!"

The overloaded longsword shattered upon impact with the strange blade, leaving only the bare hilt on his right hand.

We really need a good weapon. If only we had a better knife, or a relic weapon with a provenance...

That's an embarrassing idea.

How can you make excuses?

There is never a battle that is fully prepared. Life and death are always in your own hands.

Sighing, yet smiling, Chu Hengkong released the hilt of his sword. Supporting his faltering will, he unleashed his final move. A burst of blood shot into the sky, and the men lay frozen in pools of blood.

"Yes, you did it. Your gun didn't lose."

"My gun is the same."

He straightened up and sheathed his "weapon." It was his left arm, which hadn't moved since the start of the iaido attack, and transformed into a silver, lightning-fast spear the moment the dust settled.

Heavenly Spear.

Was it regret? Resentment? Or relief? The sniper lay in a pool of blood, so his expression was hidden. Chu Hengkong sat down against a pile of rubble, gazing up at the clear sky. The scars in his pupils faded and reappeared, as if the crimson bird had not yet flown away, leaving faint marks.

I've had a craving for a cigarette in ages, but unfortunately I've given it up.

The Thousand Autumns of Qi had been dispelled; he wouldn't have been able to hold on for even a second longer. Chu Hengkong leaned against the rubble, breathing slowly. The stone demon's sand fell from his wounds, appearing like dust due to the depletion of his magic power. His internal organs healed, new flesh grew, and his bones turned pure white before returning to a dark yellow under the erosion of death.

Now he had to focus all his power on his immortality technique, his body a tug-of-war between life and death, the two forces locked in a struggle to determine his fate. Under such intense pain, he was losing control of the immortal machine; silver steel worms crawled in his eyes, as if trying to pierce his bones with their needle-like limbs.

Fortunately, the tentacles could still move. He rolled up the medicine bottle and poured a few Fuli Pills into his mouth. He held on until the medicine took effect. The hallucination of the silver steel insect faded. He felt better. Much better.

This action nearly drained Chu Hengkong's consciousness; he felt as if he had been injected with ten sedatives, and the sky and earth became ethereal. Perhaps a minute passed. Maybe ten minutes. He heard the sniper's voice.

"Do it..."

"I have something else I want to ask you," the assassin said calmly. "Being able to live again is a rare thing, not worth it."

He harbored no hatred for Shax. In the avalanche that had destroyed his family, Shax was merely the initial snowflake. Snowflakes cannot foresee the future; they simply do ordinary things, drifting with the wind, seeking similar opponents, and settling their scores before being melted by the sun. As for the mastermind behind the avalanche, he had already killed him with his own hands.

But is that so? If the living can enter the Realm of Submersion, so can the dead…?

So it turns out the dead can be resurrected.

"Hahaha."

The assassin laughed, a vague, indescribable smile spreading across his face like cotton wool in a spring breeze, making the sky seem brighter and clearer. By then, half of his arm had grown back, and he had finally regained some strength. He took out his communication relic and waited for Ji Huaisu to answer.

He's quite impressed with himself for still being conscious after being beaten like this; he might have to ask his partner to carry him back this time.

"Captain, help me out."

no respond.

He was silent for a moment, then struggled to his feet. His legs wouldn't obey him. He switched to Vande. Qingye. Gulibo. No response. Only a hissing sound in his ears. The communication had failed, like a telephone with a scrambled signal, the connection disrupted by some force. The white gun fell into his hand, and he forced himself to stand, moving his broken limbs.

"Ah. Ah..."

From the fading dust, a hunched figure emerged. It was an old man, the kind of ordinary, harmless citizen you'd see anywhere. He held a matchlock gun in his hand, the muzzle pointed at his own head.

boom!
The bullet pierced the skull, scattering red and white sparks like fireworks. The mangled head spun around and fell to the ground, revealing half a blood-stained talisman at the severed neck.

"—The talisman opens, and the blood seals the mystery."

A smile emanated from the corpse, the power of the talisman activated by the ritual. The innocent sacrificial body suddenly exploded, spraying out red light far exceeding the total amount of its blood, forming hundreds of blood-red barriers that imprisoned the ground.

Chu Hengkong's heart pounded uncontrollably, almost beyond his control. He suddenly vomited blood, and in his fragmented vision, the steel insect formed from the Immortal Machine reappeared, its steel limbs piercing his bones.

His body went out of control. The talisman shattered the balance, and in his weakest moment, the Immortal Machine launched a counterattack, and he was now utterly powerless to fight!
(End of this chapter)