Chapter 219: Chapter 219: The Red Sun Sets Over the Nine Heavens
The one they call “Son of Heaven” Gu Xiao lacked all grace.
He was not even in the mood to ride in his Golden Palanquin and left the house alone, without bringing along maids or servants. Only his Uncle Quan flitted in a blur, vanishing into thin air, secretly following behind him.
Unlike the Heaven, Earth, and Human rankings posted inside the grand taverns of the Prefectural City, County City had a special wall in front of the martial administration office for posting the latest Heaven, Earth, and Human rankings.
Therefore, although the grand taverns of County City also displayed the Heaven, Earth, and Human rankings, those who wanted to know the latest rankings as quickly as possible still had to come outside the martial administration office to see the lists on this wall.
Without stopping, Gu Xiao made a beeline for this place, casually pushing through the crowd to reach the very front.
This action greatly displeased the onlookers.
However, most of the crowd were just common folk. Seeing that Gu Xiao had an extraordinary bearing and was dressed in fine silk brocade, clearly no ordinary person, they could only suppress their dissatisfaction, curious to see what he intended to do, or whisper quietly among themselves.
By this time, Gu Xiao had no mind to care about these commoners. His focus was entirely on the latest rankings of the Human List.
His eyes scanned from top to bottom, passing over each name in turn.
“First: ‘Sword Maniac’ Fang Wen, true transmission of Longevity Way…
“Second: ‘Tri-flowered Youth’ Chen An, true transmission of Qing Emperor Palace…
“Third: ‘Jade Heaven Immortal’ Cheng Jianjian, true transmission of Pure Yang Palace…
“Fourth: ‘Ocean Sword Immortal’ Cui Guanlan, direct lineage of the Fengzhou Cui Clan…
“Fifth: ‘Buddha’s Fury’ Cheng Zhi, true transmission of Infinite Temple…
“Sixth: ‘Demon Slayer Blade’ Zhou Heng, true transmission of Pure Yang Palace…
“Seventh: ‘Son of Heaven’ Gu Xiao, true transmission of Solar Divine Palace…
“Eighth: ‘Heavenly Mountain White Dragon Lady’ Li Qingyao, true transmission of the Jade Pool Sect…
“Ninth: …”
…
“It’s true, it’s actually true.”
Staring at the list posted on the wall, Gu Xiao fell silent for a long while. From initial disbelief, he gradually began to feel a profound humiliation.
“Dammit, I’ve actually been surpassed by Zhou Heng, I’ve actually been surpassed again by a disciple of Pure Yang Palace. First, it was that Cheng Jianjian, and now this Zhou Heng!
“I don’t believe it, Zhou Heng has never truly fought me, I don’t believe he really has such strength. What makes him so strong that he surpassed Sixth Rank in just half a year?
“Just because he is the reincarnation of a powerful being? Just because he possesses the Pure Yang Body? No, no, since ancient times, even among the reincarnations of powerful beings, few have had more talent than me!
“He cannot possibly be stronger than me!”
As someone who was extremely proud, and would scarcely touch the ground when he walked, Gu Xiao had always felt that he deserved to be first on the Human List. But unfortunately, those ahead of him were simply too strong, and these past years he had only been able to maintain the sixth position.
In his view, he should be invincible under the top five of the Human List.
Without the top five, he thought he should be number one, the strongest under the age of thirty in the entire world.
Such an invincible, proud individual, to be surpassed by a youngster who had not even made the top ten in the previous ranking of the Human List.
And to stake out the sixth position on the Human List, no less!
Another disciple of Pure Yang Palace, no less!
The key point was, the day before, he had publicly ridiculed Zhou Heng for not being able to make it into the top ten of the Human List.
Now, overnight, Zhou Heng had surpassed him.
Gu Xiao found it utterly absurd.
“Well done, Zhou Heng. Well done, Human List Sixth. I really want to see just what abilities you possess!”
With a dark expression, Gu Xiao turned to walk out of the crowd, intending to find Zhou Heng. But as he turned, he caught sight of a familiar face.
“Zhou Heng!” he called out in a low voice, walking up to him. His gaze was icy as he said, “Demon Slayer Blade, Bane of Evil Master of Thunder, Purple Lightning Thunder Blade, what great imposingness, what a great reputation. Without even a comparison to me, you’ve taken the sixth place on the Human List, how remarkable!”
Zhou Heng and Wang Xiuye had come together to check the latest Human List rankings.
Making it into the top ten was within his expectations, but he had not anticipated that the Martial Administration would directly promote him to sixth, surpassing the “Son of Heaven” Gu Xiao.
Nor had he anticipated running into Gu Xiao here.
“The ‘Son of Heaven’ actually came himself to check the Human List rankings. Where are your servants and maids?” Zhou Heng chuckled lightly. “Or is it that after seeing the copied rankings, you refused to believe them and ran here to see for yourself?”
“Nonsense!” Gu Xiao flatly denied, snorting coldly. “I merely came to see the details written on the original list. As for the ranking, I never believed it anyway.
“Come on, let’s see just how much you weigh, ranking sixth on the Human List.”
As he spoke, he had moved right in front of Zhou Heng.
Looking down from above.
Standing tall, this “Son of Heaven” was extremely tall, at least 2.2 meters if measured by modern Earth standards, towering over Zhou Heng by quite a bit.
Gu Xiao’s words stirred up excitement among the surrounding onlookers, who eagerly cleared a large space, eager to watch the confrontation between him and Zhou Heng.
They whispered amongst themselves.
“This is ‘Son of Heaven’ Gu Xiao and ‘Demon Slayer Blade’ Zhou Heng about to fight!”
“Fight, fight!”
“Still, the ‘Son of Heaven’ should be stronger than ‘Demon Slayer Blade,’ right? The name alone feels different, no wonder Gu Xiao isn’t convinced.”
“I’ve heard the storyteller say, Pure Yang Palace and Solar Divine Palace have been mortal enemies for ages; they never get along.”
“I actually support ‘Demon Slayer Blade’ Zhou Heng more. He wandered alone through Sui State and Fangzhou for ninety thousand li, slaying countless evil masters and saving who knows how many civilians. His merits are boundless.”
“Zhou Heng and Gu Xiao have never truly battled each other, so the outcome is difficult to predict.”
…
…
The discussions never ceased.
Though these people all lowered their voices, to Zhou Heng, Gu Xiao, and Wang Xiuye with their cultivation strength, even if the volume got lower, they could hear everything clearly.
“Are you challenging me to a showdown?” Zhou Heng chuckled, glanced around at the crowd, and said to Gu Xiao, “Aren’t you afraid of being killed by me right before everyone’s eyes?”
“Just yesterday, you were mocking Zhou Heng for not being able to enter the top ten of the Human List, and now he has surpassed that,” Wang Xiuye said with a chuckle. “You should remember the words you said.”
“Where’s this buzzing fly coming from?” Gu Xiao didn’t even glance at Wang Xiuye and focused intently on Zhou Heng. He said sternly, “If you really can kill me, then do it. I’m just afraid the one ending up dead will be you!”
“Fine, I will kill you right now!” Zhou Heng nodded in agreement, his hands subtly motioned, and his fingers immediately lit up with silver light, as if he were putting on a pair of bladed gloves.
Instantly, he struck out with a palm toward Gu Xiao who was right in front of him.
Clang!
It was like the sound of a bell tolling burst forth from Zhou Heng’s palm, as if within his strike lay a great golden bell. As the force of his palm erupted, the bell resounded, thunderous and deafening.
Golden Light Three Forms!
Ring Gold Palm!
“Well done!”
Gu Xiao laughed heartily, moving forward instead of back in the face of Zhou Heng’s palm. His fist suddenly lit up with a red glow, bright as a flaming fire, and he slammed it fiercely towards Zhou Heng.
This punch shone with a dense red light, akin to attacking Zhou Heng with a fireball. Moreover, the punch was accompanied by a blinding brightness, capable of affecting an opponent’s vision.
The Secret Sixth Rank martial art of the Solar Divine Palace, Red Sun Nine Forms, the first stance.
Red Sun Crossing the Sky.
Boom!
Clang!!
Their punch and palm collided, with the golden and red lights reflecting each other, mingling together, neither yielding.
Simultaneously, as these two immense forces collided, the surrounding air instantly turned into a vacuum, compressed and pushed out, forming powerful stormy waves that blew hundreds of feet away.
The stone slabs beneath their feet crumbled and shattered on the spot, cracks spreading rapidly; in the blink of an eye, the ground tiles within a twelve-yard radius were all broken into debris.
Below Zhou Heng and Gu Xiao, the stone pavement had been pulverized into powder, not even fragments remained, and even the ground beneath the stone slabs had sunk down, forming four concave pits.
This was their first confrontation.
Wang Xiuye, who was the closest to them, had been forced back six or seven yards by the shockwaves of the fight and could only watch from a distance.
As for the ordinary people and common martial artists, they were all blown about awkwardly by the pressure waves, retreating more than a dozen yards away and no longer daring to watch from up close.
Zhou Heng and Gu Xiao were simply too strong; even the natural sounds and forces that erupted during their attacks or the shockwaves produced from their collisions might inadvertently cause the death of ordinary people and common martial artists.
In fact, that was exactly the situation for the audience at that moment.
The remnants of the battle, the tolling of the bell, and the high temperatures were, in reality, something they couldn’t withstand.
Under normal circumstances, when Zhou Heng unleashed his palm strike, some people might have been deafened by the shock, while Gu Xiao’s move could have blinded others.
But such situations didn’t occur.
Because the moment Zhou Heng made his move, a gentle force appeared out of nowhere, enveloping the entire street.
Furthermore, an invisible transparent film formed around each person, shielding them from the shock of the ringing and reducing the brightness of the red light.
Thus, while people could still feel a thumping power in the ringing and saw the fist’s red light as very bright, it did not cause them any real harm.
In addition, this protective film also provided a buffer, reducing the impact of the blast by tenfold so that bystanders would not be injured by the aftermath of the fight.
Only in this way could they safely watch the battle between Zhou Heng and Gu Xiao.
And this force that protected the spectators originated from above this block of streets.
It was merely a faint azure silhouette, its true features unclear, but the aura it emitted had already reached the pinnacle of the Sect Fifth Rank.
This was an incarnation of Wang Xueyuan.
The favor that Zhou Heng had asked of him the night before also included preventing ordinary people from being harmed by the aftereffects.
…
“Zhou Heng! Bring out your full strength!” Gu Xiao shouted fiercely, his whole body emitting a red glow, and even his hair seemed to lift slightly. “Or is this all you’ve got?
“If that’s the case, today you will surely die without a doubt!”
As he spoke, the air of divinity about this Son of God began to climb rapidly. Behind him, it seemed as if a fiery red sun was rising, with a three-legged crow flying within it.
Bathed in the red sunlight, Gu Xiao suddenly appeared godlike, as if a deity from the Ancient Mythological Era had come forth, the Divine King who wielded the sun.
Whoo-whoo-whoo!
The sound of wind roaring filled the space between heaven and earth as vital energy was stirred, converging around Gu Xiao and instantly turning into a tremendously hot, fiery red flame that enveloped his entire body.
His hair seemed to have turned fire-red as well.
At this moment, Gu Xiao’s aura and might had increased by more than tenfold from before.
He then abruptly lifted his left hand, formed a fist seal as if it were a sphere, and instantly gathered all the red light around him, condensing it together into a blazing red sun.
Finally, with an incredibly ferocious punch that seemed as though it aimed to shatter the nine heavens, he smashed down at Zhou Heng!
“Take this move!
“Red Sun Falling Nine Heavens!”