Chapter 1696: Battle of the strong

After putting on the full set of black armor, Gu Qing Shan strolled back and forth around the room for a little bit.

“How does it feel?” Laura asked.

“Not too bad, this armor is stronger than I thought, we can now begin” Gu Qing Shan said.

“To become the strongest—– this is probably the simplest of the three conditions, what do you intend to do?” Laura curiously asked.

“First, let’s learn more about this city’s rules”

After saying that, Gu Qing Shan called Black City Manager.

[Young master Gu, how may I be of service?] the electronic voice asked.

“I just wanted to know, what would happen if someone killed someone else in Black City?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

[Black City is the place of rest and relaxation for all Professionists, so arbitrary murder is forbidden] the electronic voice answered.

Gu Qing Shan: “—–What if someone does anyway?”

[The peacekeepers will send out a large number of Combatants to eliminate the culprit] the electronic voice answered.

“This place is the Grand Evil world, is public order really that good?” Gu Qing Shan doubtfully asked.

[Young master Gu, what you asked about was ‘arbitrary murder’, which is naturally forbidden, but if you instead use a legitimate method to kill someone, Black City will allow it] the electronic voice answered.

“Legitimate method?” Gu Qing Shan asked in surprise.

[Indeed, we absolutely forbid the act of openly murdering someone on the streets. This would be an open provocation of Black City’s murder, so if you want to kill, the only method would be to do it discreetly—– this way, no one would care]

“...You mean assassination?”

[Correct. Done neatly, killed in a single strike, doesn’t bother anyone else, then clean up their corpse as well, and also not destroying the cityscape in any way—– this form of murder is allowed]

“Other than assassination, are there no other methods?” Gu Qing Shan asked again.

[You can also freely kill people in the gladiator rings. Aside from that, reasonable self-defense and assassination missions would also be exempt from all responsibilities] the electronic voice answered.

“What do you mean by assassination missions?”

[Those who accept one of the many open bounty missions in Black City would be given the right to kill, you would also get paid for it] the electronic voice answered.

That’s a good idea!

Gu Qing Shan nodded.

Since I’ve already decided on a method, let’s—–

“Who’s the strongest person in Black City?” he asked.

[The strongest Professionist was hailed by the name of Gladiator King, the number one Combatant that every resident of Black City must admire, born within the gladiator rings] the electronic voice explained.

“Can I challenge him?”

[Your grace must first win a hundred matches in the gladiator ring before you’re qualified to challenge the Gladiator King]

“That troublesome?” Gu Qing Shan frowned: “Then how about this, I want to pay money and issue him a mission”

[If you pay 100 million Evil coins, you can request the Gladiator King for a basic mission]

“I’ll pay the money, I want him to kill a certain person”

historical

[An assassination mission? Then please pay 1 billion Evil coins]

“Alright, go and issue him a mission to come and kill me”

[Are you sure?]

“I’m sure”

...

The gladiator ring.

Today is the day of a grand event that occurs only once every thousand years, so the gladiator ring had gone on rest for one day.

The entire gladiator ring was empty without a single audience member of staff.

Gu Qing Shan had moved a chair to the center of the gladiator ring itself and sat down, looking a bit bored.

I’ve already issued the bounty.

Now, the only thing I need to do is wait for him to come and kill me.

“Will he actually come?” Laura asked.

“I’m not sure, but if the other party had accepted the mission, he probably won’t change his mind” Gu Qing Shan yawned and answered.

“This is an opponent you’ve never met before, he has surely awakened Realm Force as well, perhaps he might be even stronger than you are—— do you have a plan?” Laura asked.

“On our way here, I’ve discovered a hidden function of this armor” Gu Qing Shan told her.

“What kind of function?” Laura asked out of interest.

“While observing any person, I would be able to see the sins they’ve committed in the past” Gu Qing Shan answered.

“That’s natural, you need to first see the sin in order to reenact it” Laura naturally commented.

She suddenly realized and said excitedly: “That means when you look at someone, you’d be able to gain a general understanding of their past, that’s truly impressive”

“Indeed” Gu Qing Shan agreed.

He suddenly sensed something, put the chair away, then stood up.

A shadow had appeared on the gladiator ring at some unknown point.

“Gu Qing Shan?” that shadow asked.

“That’s me” Gu Qing Shan replied.

The shadow remained silent for a short moment before saying: “You’re going to die very soon”

Gu Qing Shan gazed at the other party, then suddenly noticed lines of glowing text appearing in the void of space:

[A Phase Realm belonging to the other party is rapidly approaching]

[After five seconds, that world will overlap with the main world and replace it]

[5]

[4]

[3]

[2]

[1]

Black City completely vanished, taking away the gladiator ring with it as well as the shadow opposing him.

The world had turned into an ashen-colored ocean.

Gu Qing Shan was lightly hovering above the vast ocean as he looked around himself.

Numerous hands were reaching out from the ocean, rapidly filling the entire ocean surface.

The other party’s voice echoed:

“This place is my Phase Realm, every person that had ever died at my hands resides within this world to suffer eternal torture—- they’ve become a part of me”

Boom!

Seawater splashed everywhere.

Professionists stood up from the ashen ocean one after another.

They emerged from every direction, completely surrounding Gu Qing Shan.

Gu Qing Shan looked around and lamented: “How impressive, I still don’t have my own Phase Realm yet”

He reached his hand up and clenched his fist.

Skeletons started descending from the void of space one after another, disappearing as they landed behind him.

Lines of glowing text appeared behind him:

[Following your continuous practice, your Deathmatch Dance had once again been improved]

[Your battle form: Four-sided Demon King had disappeared]

[You’ve grasped a new form of Deathmatch: Chaotic Horde of Demons]

Gu Qing Shan felt a sense of enlightenment.

Four swords appeared behind him as his presence started rising to a certain limit and he shifted into a pose.

Dance jiu~~

Dance jiu~~

Dance ju ju ju jiu!

As the music started playing with the sound of record scratches, Gu Qing Shan suddenly said: “Stop! A bit more serious, we’re killing people here”

The music instantly faded.

Doon——- doon doong doong—–

A harrowing low sound of drumming began to echo.

“Now that feels better” Gu Qing Shan muttered.

「 YAAAH!! Kill him! 」around him, countless Professionists had begun to charge towards him.

Gu Qing Shan stood still.

Skeletons started to appear behind him one by one.

These skeletons all had a pair of skeletal wings on their back with the shadow of four swords drifting around their bodies while they started attacking their surroundings.

The skeletons clashed with the Professionists into a huge chaotic mess.

Each of these skeletons had 50% of Gu Qing Shan’s strength.

—-Chaotic Horde of Demons!

The sound of numerous clashes resounded throughout the world.

Gu Qing Shan simply stood still.

But skeletons continued to emerge from behind him one by one to face the incoming Professionists.

“Come one now, they’re all fighting in such a lively manner, don’t you want to fight me as well?”

Gu Qing Shan told the void of space.

A second later.

A shadow emerged from within the ocean.

“What kind of technique is this?” the shadow asked.

“This isn’t a technique, it’s a Dance” Gu Qing Shan answered.

“I can tell that although this Dance is very powerful, it’s still only in its infancy stages—— if you want to use it to kill me, you’re daydreaming” the shadow told him.

“Very observant” Gu Qing Shan praised.

“Of course. I’ve already killed numerous living beings and saw through everything there is to see. The only thing that can interest me now is murder and torture” the shadow said.

Gu Qing Shan sighed and replied: “I can see that”

He could faintly sense something.

Since the other party had taken the initiative, he needed to dispel their Phase Realm before he could use the Title Skill [Yesterday Recollection].

Because [Yesterday Recollection] would also create a unique Phase Realm!

But he still has no idea how to dispel or even destroy a Phase Realm.

And there’s no time to think about it now!

Then... there’s only one solution...

Gu Qing Shan reached his hand into the void of space to take out a sword.

“Bing Li?” he whispered.

A yawn came from the sword.

“What is it? I’ve just woken up” Luo Bing Li lazily said.

“So—— I heard that women all like sleeping to nurture their beauty?” Gu Qing Shan nervously asked.

“A little bit... wait, what are you thinking about?” Luo Bing Li instantly became cautious.

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