Chapter 54: Rainstorm Wild Temple 16 Part 2
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“Now, we can have a face-to-face fight.”
His voice carried an undisguised arrogance and mocking smile. In the suddenly quiet hall, his words resounded clearly, sharp as a broken silver bottle.
“How can one attack a defenseless and vulnerable individual? You have two weapons, and I’m unarmed. Fighting like this would be quite dull.”
Yan Shixun laughed wildly, “Now you have one, and I have one too; that’s what fairness means.”
“Come on, you pretender, let me see what kind of creature dares to impersonate the Mountain God and even lay hands on the nearby village. Let’s see what sort of shady character you are!”
Yan Shixun’s voice echoed in the quiet hall, circling around.
His arrogance, however, was backed by the confidence and strength necessary to be so audacious.
No matter how dire the circumstances, Yan Shixun never doubted himself.
Even if you took away his spells and incantations, even if you stripped him of his ability to commune with the spirits, even if you took away all the knowledge he had ever learned, he never felt fear.
—As a human being, the power to intimidate the supernatural never came from external forces!
It came from his intellect, his honed and disciplined body, and an unwavering will.
For over a decade, the path beneath his feet had been clear and resolute.
Yan Shixun’s eyes were as bright as the cutting edge of a snow-white blade as if even the deities themselves would be cut if they met his gaze.
Meanwhile, the figures depicted in the murals on the walls surrounding the main hall were stunned by the extraordinary turn of events, breaking all conventional wisdom. They stood in their murals, dumbfounded, not knowing how to react.
Some of the villagers had initially raised their hands in excitement, cheering for the god statue, but they were taken aback when they realized that instead of the deity punishing Yan Shixun, whom they saw as disrespectful to the God, Yan Shixun had actually disarmed the deity.
Their raised hands hung frozen in the air as they stared around in bewilderment, not understanding why such a strange turn of events had unfolded.
Could humans really defy the gods?
At this moment, the deeply ingrained belief among many villagers that “the Mountain God is all-powerful, and anyone who resists will die” came crashing down.
For over a decade, this notion had cast a shadow over many of the villagers, but now it was showing cracks.
Light was seeping through those cracks.
And the young woman who had initially rushed over to point something out to Yan Shixun, upon witnessing this scene, had an even brighter light in her eyes.
It was as if she had glimpsed the peaceful resolution she had longed for all along. The smile that had been suppressed at the corner of her mouth couldn’t be held back any longer, and tears flowed from her eyes against her mood.
Laughter and tears, all filled with bitterness.
—The soul had long since departed from the body; where could tears come from?
These were all unvanquished obsessions and resentments, manifested as tears.
The god statue, it seemed, was utterly stunned by this completely unexpected turn of events. It stared blankly at its empty hand, devoid of weapons, and had yet to grasp what had occurred.
Even the colorful creatures on the ceiling were taken aback.
The grotesque and lecherous expression on its face froze halfway, leaving it looking like a comical clown.
Never, never before had any being, not even malevolent spirits or many deities of darkness, ever been able to snatch away a divine weapon from the hands of a “god”!
Who was this person, and how had he dared?
How had he accomplished this?
The animal, which took a while to come to its senses, was infuriated. It screamed wildly, its massive and corpulent body trembling, appearing almost frenzied.
But Yan Shixun was entirely unfazed by the animal’s bizarre appearance.
The long spear wrested from the god stature’s hand spun in Yan Shixun’s hand behind his back, smoothly and effortlessly forming a flower-like pattern. Its considerable length and thickness did not hinder his control in the slightest.
The spear, which was about three meters long and weighed several hundred pounds, felt as if it were Yan Shixun’s natural weapon, fitting perfectly in his hand.
“Has the sheep gone insane?”
Yan Shixun chuckled softly, his deep voice tinged with casual contempt. “Oh, my apologies, I forgot. You’re not a sheep. Sheep are cute and delicious. How can something like you be comparable?”
He glanced at the creature with disdain. “There’s just so much fat on you. Are you a rat that’s been sipping lamp oil? Neither cute nor edible.”
Yan Shixun curled his lips and, right in front of the creature, slowly enunciated each syllable with added weight. “Useless, trash.”
The creature felt a surge of anger that instantly shot up to its brain, leaving it devoid of reason. Its carefully cultivated air of dignity and superiority, honed over decades of living in luxury, crumbled to pieces.
It was like a mischievous creature wearing the clothes of a god, strutting around arrogantly. It reveled in the fearful worship of those who didn’t know what a true immortal looked like, believing itself to be a god.
But little did it know, a fake was a fake.
There would always be someone to strip away its divine robes, revealing its dirty truth and reducing it to its original form.
In its fury, the creature pointed its sharp claws at Yan Shixun and screamed at the statue, demanding that the damn ordinary human be killed right there.
Everything it had struggled to achieve should not be ruined by a wretched ordinary person!!!
However, Yan Shixun impatiently tapped his ear and asked the creature, “Are you mute? How come there’s no sound when you howl? But you know what? That’s just fine. My poor ears would suffer if you made a sound.”
The creature was so infuriated that its fur stood on end: Aaargh!!!
At the same time, the statue began to move once more.
The enraged statue, fueled by the creature’s anger, no longer held back. It swung its massive axe with immense force at Yan Shixun. Utilizing the momentum from its descent, the axe carried a destructive and overwhelming pressure.
Under such tremendous force, no object could remain intact.
“Boom——！”
The ground was once again split open, and fragments of rocks tumbled down throughout the hall.
Yan Shixun agilely leaped aside, avoiding a head-on confrontation with the statue’s heavy blow. Instead, he took advantage of the giant axe being stuck in the soil and the fact that the statue’s hand was currently weaponless. He brandished the long spear in his hand and charged towards the statue.
“Bang!”
The forceful thrust of the long spear struck the statue’s neck. The already bent-over statue due to the lodged axe suddenly shifted its heavy head to the side. Its metallic face displayed a look of confusion, not knowing what had just happened.
A direct hit and Yan Shixun immediately leveraged the momentum of the long spear to swiftly retract it and resume his attack.
“Bang, bang, bang!!”
Amidst a series of consecutive striking sounds, the long spear relentlessly hammered the same spot on the statue’s neck.
The long spear left a trail of afterimages in the air, making it impossible to discern which attack was which.
The statue, dazed by the unrelenting barrage of attacks, momentarily couldn’t find an opportunity to retrieve its own weapon and counterattack.
Yan Shixun didn’t give it any time to react.
He was arrogant but not overconfident.
He was well aware that if it came down to a pure contest of strength, he and his opponent were not in the same league. However, his opponent had forsaken many other things in exchange for power.
Such as agility and speed.
And that happened to be Yan Shixun’s advantage.
Before Yan Shixun had taken the weapon from the statue’s hand, he was completely lacking in strength. That’s why he hadn’t impulsively launched an attack at that time; it was precisely because of this deficiency.
Even if one were agile and exceptionally fast, approaching an opponent of this magnitude recklessly would only lead to certain death. Without the strength, there was no way to stand on the same battlefield.
That’s why Yan Shixun had taken the weapon from the statue’s hand, turning the statue’s power into his own.
Even though the long spear’s weight of hundreds of pounds and its three-meter length slightly slowed him down, it was a very worthwhile trade-off.
As long as there was strength, coupled with enough speed, and a continuous assault on the opponent’s weakest point, victory was still possible!
Dozens of consecutive strikes had the stature’s condition deteriorating further. It unintentionally released its grip on the massive axe, reaching for its nearly severed neck in an attempt to save itself. At the same time, Yan Shixun’s stamina was rapidly depleting.
A copious amount of sweat soaked through Yan Shixun’s shirt. He could feel his strength rapidly draining from his body. Each muscle fiber quivered and cried out in agony, and his heart began to beat irregularly, sending him warning signals.
His stamina was likely to reach its limit very soon.
But…
It didn’t matter!
Sweat trickled down his forehead and into Yan Shixun’s eyes, but he didn’t blink as he continued to gaze intently at the stature. A smile grew wider on his lips.
This was a battle of endurance.
The question was who would prevail first: him…
Or the statue?
“Kacha, cha………”
A slight metallic cracking sound suddenly caught Yan Shixun’s ears amid the continuous thudding of their battle.
The neck of the stature, which had been under relentless assault from the long spear, had cracked open.
Although compared to the statue’s enormous body, the crack was pitifully small, it was slowly widening, running down the statue’s neck.
Yan Shixun’s lips curled into a faint smile, and he took a deep breath, retracting the long spear in his hand, halting his attack for the first time.
The animal that had been anxiously watching the stalemate now looked at Yan Shixun in confusion, wondering what he was up to.
Had he run out of strength?
It observed the sweat on Yan Shixun’s face and thought triumphantly, “No matter how unexpected this is, he’s still just a human. As long as he has a mortal body, he’ll get tired, he’ll have limits.” Wasn’t that the case? In the end, victory would still belong to their side.
The animal, which had been trembling with fear, finally let its guard down, no longer worried that Yan Shixun would decapitate or break the statue directly.
However, just as the animal relaxed, the statue slowly turned its head back. At the very moment it did, Yan Shixun, who had been building up strength, launched another attack.
This time, the attack was heavier than any before.
Yan Shixun no longer held back his strength. He raised the long spear high and swung it directly at the statue’s neck—
“Kacha！”
“Boom——！”
The statue’s head actually snapped clean off along with its neck. The metal had reached its limit in bearing the force and, under the impact of the long spear.
It was sent flying straight towards the ceiling at an angle calculated by Yan Shixun earlier. After a massive rumble, it embedded itself into the ceiling.
The animal’s eyes widened in agony and terror as the enormous head of the statue struck it, causing it to writhe in pain and panic, struggling to get free.
Inside the main hall, silence reigned.
Only sporadic fragments of stone tiles fell from the ceiling, landing on the floor with faint sounds.
Yan Shixun’s golden long spear, with a clear clang, was propped into the deep pit created by the giant axe’s earlier swing.
One hand rested on the long spear, while the other was placed on his slender waist.
Inside the main hall, a breeze stirred by the stature’s head flying out had settled, and it now gently blew past Yan Shixun. It lifted a corner of his clothes, revealing his strong and smooth muscles.
Faint light seeped through the slightly ajar main hall doors, casting him in the spotlight amidst the debris and darkness, making him impossible to ignore.
Yan Shixun grinned ecstatically, his expression proud as he declared, “It seems I’ve won.”
“The so-called evil deity, even if dressed in divine robes, is no god. It can only be a malevolent spirit,” Yan Shixun tilted his chin slightly upward, openly displaying his disgust for the animal. “Every one of them must be exterminated.”
The painted figures covering the walls stood there dumbfounded, gazing at the young man who stood tall in the backlight.
They stared blankly at Yan Shixun, their expressions complex. Besides themselves, no one knew what was going through their minds.
Perhaps they regretted believing the rumors too quickly and choosing this path.
Perhaps they regretted not resisting earlier, fearing the Mountain God as an invincible entity.
Or perhaps they harbored resentment, resenting this outsider who knew nothing and disrupted their profitable venture…
But Yan Shixun didn’t care about what they were thinking.
When he was standing on top of the statue earlier, he had keenly observed that the statue was fully armored with battle gear, its entire body appearing impenetrable.
However, the statue’s neck was exposed and unprotected, and it was the thinnest part of the entire statue.
Even though the statue, now capable of movement, had transcended the boundaries of the normal world, it was still a tangible entity, crafted from metal in an industrial setting. This imparted immense weight and strength to the statue but also gave it a fatal weakness.
— The weakness of metal was, well, its weak point.
As long as he could target the weakest point on the statue’s body, he could destroy it. Although he didn’t know if the statue would be able to move after its integrity was compromised, there were no better means of attack at the moment.
So Yan Shixun chose to take a calculated risk based on the available information.
People who fear death before the game even begins are destined to lose.
But he believed he could win.
And so—
He won.
Completely and utterly.
However, this victory brought another problem.
Yan Shixun placed his palm on his waist and subtly massaged his muscles, a hint of resignation curling his lips.
In order to successfully leap to the pre-calculated landing point in mid-air, he had strained his muscles. And after dozens of attacks followed by the final all-out assault, he was now in a state of exhaustion, his limbs feeling weak and powerless.
In fact, he had reached the point where he needed the support of the long spear. Without that support, he might have already collapsed.
If, at this moment, there was anything left with the strength to attack him, he might easily get injured due to his inability to dodge.
Just as Yan Shixun cautiously scanned his surroundings, his brain rapidly processing how to safely leave the main hall, a deep muffled sound suddenly echoed in the hall.
“Creak, thud—”
It was the body of the statue, now without its head, slowly tilting and falling to the ground.
Looking in that direction, it was precisely where Yan Shixun had been standing.
After estimating the range that would be affected by the collapse of such a colossal statue, a hint of helplessness crossed Yan Shixun’s face.
With his current stamina, it seemed that he couldn’t retreat from this area in time.
However, Yan Shixun’s helplessness didn’t stop the statue from falling.
The headless statue continued its slow descent. Without its head, it was nothing more than an immobile giant block of iron, weighing several tons.
Yan Shixun supported himself with the long spear, his slender body already exhausted. He looked up as the golden mass came closer and closer, seeming to be unstoppable….
Suddenly, a powerful pair of arms reached out from behind Yan Shixun, encircling his waist and pulling him backward.
Yan Shixun felt his vision blur for a moment, as the scenery around him rapidly retreated to both sides of his view. His waist was encircled by a pair of cold yet strong arms, holding him protectively against a firm chest.
He could even sense a chilling breath against his neck, causing his skin to tingle.
A loud roar echoed in his ears, and dust and rubble scattered everywhere.
When Yan Shixun regained his composure and looked around, he found himself standing outside the main hall.
Inside the wide-open doors of the main hall, the headless statue had already crashed to the ground.
A low chuckle reached his ears.
“Why didn’t you run? Do you enjoy being buried alive?”
Yan Shixun: Get lost.
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