Chapter 39

“It seems you won’t go down that easily.” Jian Shen stared at Fu Chen and spoke.

“Yeah! I don’t have the habit to go down without a fight.” Fu Chen replied.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Is that why you always get beaten up instead of running away from Zhu Tan?” Jian Shen smirked and asked.

But, his question made Fu Chen a little angry. He clenched his fists and asked, “So what?”

Jian Shen shook his head and said “Nothing! I just respect the people who do not run away from the battle no matter how hard and painful it might be.”

His words made Fu Chen’s anger fade away.

“Is that so? I feel like both of us are fairly the same?”

‘I don’t think so, Host!’ Suddenly, Ysla spoke from his mind.

Fu Chen was startled by her voice. For some time, he has been trying to avoid her but now he got curious about her response. But before he could get her response, Jian Shen replied.

“I guess so. Both of us were considered trash at the beginning. Both of us awakened our talents at the latter stages. Both of us improved at an extraordinary rate.”

“And, both of us feel the same way about the battle. I know you are betting on your Martial Spirit but do you think your body can handle it? We are in the middle of the battle. You will fail if you try it.”

Fu Chen shook his head. He knew he will succeed but he didn’t understand what Ysla meant. At this moment, Jian Shen continued.

“Either you win the bet or fail, I am going to win this battle.”

And, at the same time, Ysla spoke.

“This is the reason why you two are not the same. I don’t know the reason why you are trying to ignore the system instructions but you aren’t using everything in your arsenal for this battle.”

“Remember, no one has everything. Some are born with something, some acquire something, and some just do not get anything. Look at him and then look at you.”

“He is using everything in his arsenal but you are not.”

At this moment, a black sword appeared in Jian Shen’s hand. This black sword was his Sword Spirit and it was much stronger than his Martial Spirit. Jian Shen didn’t give him the chance to process Ysla’s words and slashed.

“Crescent Moon Slash!”

The same martial art but the power increased twice than before. The gigantic slash with double the sharpness and power dashed towards Fu Chen with double the speed.

“Damn!”

Fu Chen healed his Tiger Armor and strike his right fist.

“First Stance- Crushing Fangs!”

When he struck the slash, his armor got split in half. But, it didn’t end there. He also slashed his left claw. Spiritual Qi transformed into drops of red liquid that fell on the sword and started melting it.

“Second Stance- Pouring Blood Fangs!”

And, his claw also struck the slash but the moment it collided, his claw also got broken. Now, both of his hands had lost the armor. But, he didn’t stop there. He retreated immediately and combined both of his wrists, and shot a powerful beam of energy.

“Third Stance- Tiger Cannon!”

Boom!

The beam of energy struck the slash as well but just like before, it got split in half even so the energy managed to break most of the slash, making it nearly the same size as before.

Splash!

The slash finally reached his chest and struck. The armor broke into pieces and the scales couldn’t stop it completely. Thankfully, the slash has weakened to the point where it only cut his skin but nothing else.

Thud!

Fu Chen fell on one knee while holding the blood flow. He was releasing his Spiritual Qi to stop the blood flow but slowly he realized that if he loses more blood, he will lose consciousness.

‘Damn it! With that Sword Spirit, there is no way I can win this battle. This is impossible.’

Fu Chen gritted his teeth with anger and disappointment in himself but at this moment, Ysla spoke.

“Host, are you planning on giving up? Is that what you are thinking right now?”

Hearing her words, Fu Chen clenched his fists and said ‘Then, how am I supposed to win? My Spiritual Qi is almost halved. I don’t have a more powerful martial art.’

“Then, why are you ignoring the system?” Ysla asked.

Her words made Fu Chen frustrated. He was ignoring the system to prove that he can do things on his own as well. He wanted an opportunity and he got one. For that, he is incredibly grateful to the system but he doesn’t want to rely on the system forever.

After all, if the system ever leaves his body, what would he do? He doesn’t have the answer to this question. So, that’s why he was trying not to use the system or be completely dependent on it.

But at this moment, he felt like he had no choice.

“Host, I don’t know why are you suddenly trying to ignore the system. But if you think, using the system in the competition is cheating then you are completely wrong.”

“From the very beginning, there was no fairness. You have only cultivated for a week and you have only mastered two martial arts. Not to mention, you have only gotten stronger because of your hard work.”

“From the beginning, everyone else was already cheating. Only you haven’t used the system which means you have been playing fair. But, if you play fair among the cheaters, how can you even think of winning?”

“And, didn’t you realize something? You are getting good at reading others’ movements because you had done it with the help of the system before. If you continue doing it, then you will master it, and later on, you wouldn’t need the system’s assistance to do it.”

“Don’t cheat for the sake of just winning the battle. Cheat for the sake of improving yourself. So, what are you waiting for? Click it!”

[Crescent Moon Slash has been copied]

[Would you like to comprehend Crescent Moon Slash?]

[Yes] [No]

‘Don’t cheat for the sake of just winning the battle. Cheat for the sake of improving yourself.’

These words deeply resonated inside his mind. A few seconds later, he opened his eyes with a strange determination coming out of his eyes. His hand moved and clicked on ‘No’.

He swiped the panel in front of him and another panel appeared.

‘You are right. I don’t need to cheat for sake of winning. But, I must cheat for sake of improving myself. Strongest Offline System, let’s go!’

The next moment, he dashed toward Jian Shen with incredible speed.

[Crouched down and slide on your knees.]

He landed on his knees and dodged the slash of Jian Shen’s sword. It happened so fast that even Jian Shen was caught off guard.

[Jump on the sky with a backflip]

Fu Chen pushed his hand to the ground and his body jumped. His legs jolted up in the mid-air as he completed his backflip but his legs landed on Jian Shen’s shoulders.

[Fall towards the ground while locking your legs, and throw your opponent with all of your strength.]

As his legs landed on his shoulder, Fu Chen fall on his back but only his hand landed on the ground. He locked his legs around Jian Shen and threw him out off the stage.

Crack!

But, Jian Shen pierced the stage with his sword and barely hung on the edge. He didn’t waste a single second. He noticed a strange change in Fu Chen’s movements, so he decided to make a move.

[Move to the left and punch from the left side]

Before even the slash released out of his sword, Fu Chen had already moved to the left. He also advanced toward Jian Shen while the sword slash moved towards him and punched from the side.

His fist struck Jian Shen’s ribs and slammed him to the ground. But, suddenly, Jian Shen’s right hand moves as well. His sword released another slash.

[Jump]

Splash!

Fu Chen immediately followed the instruction from the system but before he could completely evade it, the sword energy slashed his legs.

Thud!

Fu Chen fell to the ground and the blood spilled out of him. He realized that his Martial Spirit defense wasn’t strong enough but of course, it wasn’t going to hold him for long.

‘Damn! I am losing too much blood but I hope it is working enough.’

Fu Chen quickly covered the wound by using his clothes and retreated.

Ba-dump!

Suddenly, his heartbeat got louder and the next moment, a smirk appeared on his lips.

His Blue Snake slowly disintegrated and entered his dantian. Inside his dantian, its blue eyes sparkled for a moment and then, an immense amount of Spiritual Qi drove inside his body.

“Argh!”

The amount of spiritual qi was so much that it made him scream. But, his first meridian was getting the final cleaning. All of the clogs hidden in the first meridian got driven inside the dantian and the amount of Spiritual Qi inside his dantian exponentially increased.

Bang!

Suddenly, his Spiritual Qi burst out of him and exploded on the ground near him. The part of the stage crumbled and his body started overflowing with Spiritual Qi once again.

Fu Chen clenched both of his fits and stared at Jian Shen.

“Now, the real battle starts! And, this time, I won the bet.”

“We are not the same after all.”