Chapter 935 - 416: Wounds (Part 2)
The three of them were already extremely proud by nature.
But when they saw Xu Ran, saw this existence whose talent was that of a Young Divine King.
Even the three of them felt a bit ashamed of themselves.
The three knew better than anyone just how difficult it was to undergo trials in the Nine-Layered Giant Tower.
Before the trial was over, they had no idea that even if you failed, you could be resurrected again.
In other words, Xu Ran had completely staked his life here, and in such a perilous situation, he was using his talent to see through the monkey’s Staff Technique.
Such an act, placed on any one of them, was something they simply could not do.
Even they could feel nothing but boundless respect toward Xu Ran.
Clearly, the three of them had completely forgotten that the one undergoing the trial at this moment was just a child not even two years old!!!
...
Inside the Dueling Arena.
Don’t look at the three senior and junior disciples outside the arena being full of emotion—actually, only the time of one breath had passed.
Within that single breath, Xu Ran’s eyes locked onto the monkey that was continuously charging at him, thoughts racing.
In an instant, it was as if everything in his world vanished, leaving only the monkey, endlessly swinging its Staff Technique.
In Xu Ran’s world, the monkey’s Staff Technique, under the gaze of his faintly golden eyes, was continuously broken down into segment after segment of phantom images.
These phantoms were like the little figures recorded in martial scriptures, displaying every bit of the essence of the Staff Technique right before his eyes.
At this moment, Xu Ran’s heart quivered.
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration streaked through his mind, like finally grasping that ray of Light after groping in the dark for so long.
In that instant, it was as if he had grasped the core key of the Staff Technique.
"Use stillness to counter motion, strike later to seize the advantage!" Xu Ran’s heart cleared, "No need to rush the attack—wait for it to expose a flaw, then deliver the killing blow."
Xu Ran suddenly bellowed, his voice like a great bell, and the wooden staff in his hand spun fiercely.
The wooden staff carved a graceful arc through his hands, leaving behind a faint golden trail in the air.
As if after countless precise calculations, that golden trail drawn through the air collided perfectly with the blood-colored trail of the monkey’s strike.
At once.
The two staffs collided—one gold, one red—bursting into dazzling sparks that lit up the entire Dueling Arena.
Immediately after, he thrust forward, following through in one smooth motion, fluid and natural.
In the eyes of others, it was an impossibly ingenious angle, precisely deflecting the monkey’s most ferocious strike.
The monkey clearly hadn’t expected Xu Ran to undergo such a shocking change in such a short time; unable to dodge in time, its arm was pierced dead-on by the wooden staff.
In that split second, the monkey’s messy fur scattered like snowflakes.
Then the monkey let out a shrill scream, its voice filled with pain and fury.
"Oh my god!" The little junior sister watching Xu Ran’s trial cried out.
Her ethereal voice echoed through the empty viewing stands, as if many people were whispering.
Not only the little junior sister, even Second Senior Brother and First Senior Brother were startled by this sudden shift.
"That strike was exquisite. The monkey attacked at full strength, never even considered that Xu Ran could counter! Never even considered that Xu Ran could see through its Staff Technique!"
First Senior Brother spoke word by word, his tone full of shock at how fast Xu Ran’s Staff Technique had improved.
"Tsss--"
Taking a strike from Xu Ran, the monkey was in agony and completely flew into a rage out of humiliation.
In its eyes, Xu Ran was just a baby, not even as tall as it was.
And its entire body was almost sealed, unable to unleash its full Power at all.
In such a state, it still couldn’t kill him instantly, and even got injured by him. For a former Great Power like it, such humiliation was immense!
At once.
Its eyes turned blood-red, and the killing intent that had previously only circled outside its body surged into the monkey’s body from all angles.
In an instant.
The monkey’s body also turned blood-red; even the breath it exhaled was a dark crimson, accompanied by a stench of blood, like a beast that had completely lost its mind.
At this moment it had utterly lost its sanity, its entire body as if occupied by killing intent; even the wooden staff in its grip was coated in a layer of blood-red killing intent.
Right after.
The monkey once again frantically swung the wooden staff, attacking Xu Ran. Empowered by killing intent, its staff speed grew even faster, terrifyingly fast, its figure impossible to see clearly—only a blur of blood-red rapidly closing in!
Not only that, as its speed shot up, its Power also surged. With every swing of the staff, the surrounding air was compressed, shattered, erupting in thunderous booms!
If the monkey’s change this time was tremendous.
Then Xu Ran’s change was even greater than the monkey’s.
At this moment he was no longer who he had been; his gaze brimmed with confidence and resolve. "Right now it’s attacking purely on rage, with no structure at all."
Xu Ran calmly analyzed, his eyes narrowing with unshakeable confidence. "I can use that to completely defeat it."
At the same time.
Xu Ran mimicked the monkey’s posture, rapidly swinging the wooden staff in his hands. With each inhale and exhale, it was as if a golden barrier formed in front of him!
The staff whistled through the air with fierce wind, as if answering Xu Ran’s fighting spirit!
"Boom!"
Moments later!
Blood-red and gold collided together.
"Rumble---"
A massive roar rose within the Dueling Arena, and at the point of impact, a cloud of dust billowed up, obscuring everything inside.
Before anyone could see what was happening within, two small, thin figures burst out of the dust—it was Xu Ran and the monkey.
Man and monkey, even as they rushed out of the dust, had no intention of stopping.
Before they even landed, both used a bizarre posture to spring up again, charging toward each other once more.
Bang--
Bang--
Bang--
Bang--
...
Soon, the two clashed again and again. With every collision, fresh sparks flared within the Dueling Arena, accompanied by crisp impact sounds.
At this moment, the monkey was like a tireless attack machine, the wooden staff in its hands its only hope of breaking through everything, endlessly swinging its Staff Technique, strike after strike hacking down at Xu Ran.
The speed was terrifying; in the eyes of outsiders, it looked as if the monkey wasn’t even moving.
In truth, the monkey’s movements were simply too fast, causing those without enough Cultivation to be unable to see its true motion trajectory.
However.
Right now, Xu Ran was like a solid shield, brandishing the wooden staff in his hands.
"Whoosh--"
Every exhale carried a faint golden glow, blocking every single one of the monkey’s Staff Techniques!
Though Xu Ran was defending the whole time, in reality he was cleverly maneuvering against the monkey. Every defense was perfectly timed, his guard seamless as his body merged with the staff, his movements flowing casually along with the staff’s swings.
One man, one staff, like perfectly in-sync teammates, performing a graceful dance, blocking every one of the monkey’s all-out strikes.
As time passed, all of the monkey’s fierce assaults were stopped by Xu Ran, failing to find a single flaw, unable to inflict even a trace of Damage.
However.
Every time Xu Ran blocked a chopping strike from the monkey’s staff, he would knock off another little bit of the monkey’s already sparse fur.
As time ticked by, the floor of the Dueling Arena was almost covered in monkey fur. Though not thick, for the monkey, this was absolute humiliation!
These were its precious few hairs!
As its fur fell, the monkey’s skin gradually came into view.
What they saw.
On the pitch-black skin, blood marks and bruises were everywhere, with countless scars crawling over it like centipedes, coiled all around.
Seeing the state of the monkey’s body, Xu Ran froze for a moment.
He hadn’t expected this monkey to have so many scars!
"Something’s wrong!"
Xu Ran snapped back to his senses—these scars hadn’t been inflicted by someone else.
Looking closer.
All the scars ran downward, and judging from the depth of the wounds, the lower side of each was deeper!
Scars like these could only be made by striking oneself!!