Chapter 572: The Winner, Su Jiu! (3.5k)
The arena immediately erupted with various exclamations. Many spectators in the ordinary seats even stood up, shouting and screaming, pushing the atmosphere to its peak. While Snow Tiger’s refined cannonball only reached the Intermediate Battle King level in power, this was only because he appeared weak in front of the Female Chief and others. One must remember that Battle King level experts were considered top-tier in external kingdoms. An alchemical artifact that could unleash Battle King level power was a height that many alchemists could not reach in a lifetime.
However, laymen focus on the sound, while insiders understand the substance. Snow Tiger’s alchemical items did not elicit much reaction from the VIP seats. Instead, their gazes turned curiously towards the second participant, the burly Snow Demon. Snow Tiger might be strong for ordinary alchemists, but who were they? They were at least individuals wearing crystal gear badges, meaning their own strength was not weaker than that of an Alchemy Master. For an Alchemy Master, creating such a cannon was not overly difficult.
“Mr. Sanzu, is it ready for testing?”
After asking, the burly Snow Demon held a “gun” with a massive barrel, slightly raising its muzzle towards the white opening. This bore a resemblance to the Destroyer in Su Jiu’s previous life’s game, CF. Glancing at him, Mr. Sanzu nodded. With a wave of his hand, he returned the indicator needle to its original position, his gaze calmly fixed on the Snow Demon. He parted his lips and amplified his voice: “Begin. Remember, range and damage are both scoring points.”
“This is called the Plasma Wyrm Cannon. The cannon body can withstand three shots, and its power is around the High-Rank Battle King level,” the burly Snow Demon explained honestly before pulling the trigger with his finger.
“Sizzle—”
Energy began to accumulate in the muzzle. Black arcs of electricity swirled unceasingly around the barrel. Following that, a fierce wind howled, and a deep thunderous sound emanated from the muzzle.
“Boom!”
Suddenly, a deafening roar erupted. Before everyone could hastily shift their gaze, they felt a surge of powerful energy fluctuations flash like lightning into the white opening. Accompanying this surge of energy, countless silver serpents darted across the ground in front of the burly man, while the energy gauge in mid-air suddenly accelerated its rotation as if stimulated. The needle directly passed the Intermediate Battle King mark, slowing down only upon reaching the High-Rank Battle King indicator. It finally came to a slow stop slightly to the left of the High-Rank Battle King and to the Initial Stage War God positions, not yet reaching the center.
“Still a little short of the Demigod level. The effective range is about 95 meters. Not bad, you’ve exceeded expectations.” Seeing the power on display, Mr. Sanzu nodded, a rare praise escaping his lips. He then turned his gaze towards the part of the competition that most people considered the main event – the Female Chief, a hint of anticipation in his eyes this time.
“Next.” Perhaps due to Snow Tiger’s earlier performance, although the big guy still performed very well on the stage, he wasn’t who everyone expected the most. All eyes were eagerly fixed on the Female Chief. It was like a family with three brothers; the eldest and youngest were the focus, while the middle child was overlooked. Most families were like this.
Feeling the gaze of many, the Female Chief did not show any stage fright, after all, she was already at the Demigod level. She first glanced at Su Jiu, who had been silent throughout. “Why isn’t she nervous?” she mused, raising an eyebrow. With a wave of her right hand, she produced a large, cement-tube-like cannon from her storage ring.
“Click—Hiss!”
The cannon was supported by her arm and propped up by her left hand. A section of the muzzle was raised further, gathering dots of blue light, giving it a rather sci-fi appearance. In fact, alchemical technology, compared to modern technology, possessed both advanced and lagging aspects. This was why Su Jiu had said that electronic technology and alchemical technology needed to be combined for the Snow Demon Kingdom to progress.
“Rumble!!”
As everyone held their breath, a massive blue beam, nearly ten zhang in size, shot out from the muzzle and directly into the white opening. The surrounding air rippled with frost along its path. Underneath this blue beam, the white opening, which had previously easily swallowed the Snow Demon’s lightning arcs, actually trembled slightly. Clearly, the power contained within the blue beam was not insignificant.
Following that, next to the white opening, the clock’s hands spun wildly. In just a few blinks of an eye, they directly surpassed the Intermediate Battle King mark, and after reaching the High-Rank Battle King level, they only slightly slowed down, but the speed of the hands was still considerably faster than the burly man’s.
“Will she succeed in creating an item with the power of a War God?”
“Look at that pointer, to reach the War God level, it’s still too tough… the power should be between Demigod and quasi-Demigod.”
“That should be enough to win first place, right?”
Almost everyone’s eyes were fixed on the pointer above. They watched as it glided past the halfway mark, then approached the latter half, the Initial Stage War God, and after a few more jitters, it stopped very close to the Initial Stage War God position. Mr. Sanzu waited for a moment longer. After the fluctuations inside completely ceased, a smile finally appeared on his face, and he nodded gently. “Not bad, quasi-Demigod level, range of two hundred meters, and the ice frost spreading outside the explosion radius is a considerable bonus.”
“Alchemical weapons with quasi-Demigod level power?!” Hearing Mr. Sanzu’s words, the entire plaza erupted at that moment! It’s important to note that the greatest advantage of alchemical weapons was that they could be used even by High-Rank Warriors who only knew how to channel External Qi. If such items could be mass-produced, they would be no less than ultimate weapons. However, some keen observers noticed that the metal cannon on the Female Chief’s arm shattered into pieces and fell to the ground after releasing this shot, clearly indicating it was a single-use item. But with such power and range, even if it was a single-use item, what did it matter? It was enough to serve as an ultimate weapon on the battlefield.
“Everyone, please remain calm. There is still one final contestant.” Raising a hand to quell the surrounding chatter, Mr. Sanzu’s gaze finally shifted to Su Jiu. Unlike those who thought Su Jiu might be at the bottom, he felt that this Blood Clan girl could very likely secure the championship steadily. At the very least, it would be no problem to surpass Snow Tiger. With the power of [Fusheng] and its immense area of effect, she was at least a contender comparable to the burly Snow Demon.
Smiling, Su Jiu took out the longbow temporarily crafted from the dragon bone and sinew of a Western Flame Dragon. She squeezed the bowstring, as if warming up. She was actually quite curious about the power of the upgraded [Fusheng] Plus. Looking at this Blood Clan girl, who was not particularly tall, the crowd’s eyes held both anticipation and regret. Anticipation for whether she could turn the tide as in the first round, and regret that, due to Snow Tiger’s interference, she hadn’t truly completed the competition’s objective. Snow Tiger, on the other hand, had his arms crossed, a rare look of smugness on his face. “You wanted to hit me? Serves you right for not being able to finish now!” And apart from those who couldn’t see through Su Jiu, the truly skilled individuals, like the Female Chief, or some of the top alchemists in the VIP seats, watched her with great interest. They all knew that the girl they saw wasn’t crafting the Battle King level [Dream Flower], but [Fusheng], which possessed quasi-Demigod level power.
Under the gaze of countless eyes, Su Jiu reached for “Sunflower” at her waist, then slowly drew her bow and nocked an arrow. A blood-golden External Qi emerged from the “flower” area, and the arrowhead targeted the white opening. “Why is she using a bow?”
“It feels like it might not be as good as Snow Tiger’s…”
“But the arrow in her hand doesn’t seem to be the prismatic Dream Flower. It looks too beautiful, like a decoration.”
The ordinary spectators didn’t understand why Su Jiu had chosen the most primitive method of shooting. Without the enhancement of an alchemical carrier, the power would be significantly reduced. “Thump!” Facing the countless gazes filled with various emotions, Su Jiu smiled gently. Her eyes widened slightly, and as the bowstring reached its full draw, she slowly released it. The twanging of the string echoed like thunder, followed by a wave of energy expanding outwards from the bow.
As the meteor-like arrow entered the white opening, everyone’s gaze was fixed intently on it. Soon, they noticed the “clock” on the side moving. The pointer slowly moved past the Intermediate Battle King position, then moved even slower. “As expected, it’s not as good as Snow Tiger’s…” Many spectators in the ordinary seats showed disappointed expressions. They had originally thought the position of National Master would be decided today, but now it seemed they would have to wait a few more days for a tie-breaker match.
“Heh heh, I won…” Snow Tiger scratched his messy hair, a smug smile appearing on his face. He was about to turn and leave the arena, preparing for the subsequent tie-breaker. Those who knew what Su Jiu’s arrow was frowned or looked puzzled about the current result.
“Let the bullets fly for a moment…” Su Jiu watched the scene unfold, glanced at her reddened finger, then looked up again, her gaze also fixed on the white opening, as if waiting for something. “Why haven’t they announced the results yet?” About ten seconds later, the spectators grew impatient, looking towards Mr. Sanzu. They found that not only was he not announcing the results, but he was looking intently at the white opening with a grave expression, forming hand seals towards it. In the blink of an eye, several more defensive barriers appeared around the white opening, as if to prevent something terrifying from leaking out. “Mr. Sanzu, isn’t your spring-loaded compass capable of withstanding the power of an Intermediate War God, and there’s a thousand-meter-wide open space inside…” Seeing his actions, many were confused, including some elders. However, this confusion was soon resolved by the scene that followed.
“The pointer! The pointer has started spinning wildly!”
“What’s going on?!”
Suddenly, someone noticed the pointer spinning wildly, directly bypassing the Battle King level and reaching near the Initial Stage War God level. However, the speed did not decrease, and it directly passed the Initial Stage War God stage. Along with the pointer’s abnormal movement, the entire white opening emitted a blinding light, causing many spectators with lower strength on stage to involuntarily close their eyes, tears streaming from their eyes as they were blinded. A portion of the light even penetrated the entrance of the white opening and shone directly onto the energy shield, emitting a “sizzling” burning sound. The situation lasted for nearly five seconds before slowly dissipating. Looking at the gauge again, the pointer had stopped at some point, and where it stopped was… between the Initial Stage War God and the Intermediate War God.
“This test should be inaccurate. Did the damage get artificially inflated because the space inside was too small? Do you know the specific damage?” Ignoring the dumbfounded crowd, Su Jiu asked Mr. Sanzu after a moment of thought. She felt the damage reading was inflated, as she could sense that its power would be difficult to pose a real threat to a prepared War God. Control over damage was crucial; sometimes, these trump cards could determine life and death.
“Blood Clan Su Jiu, quasi-War God level power, range… over a thousand meters, specific range immeasurable.” As if to verify Su Jiu’s words, Mr. Sanzu’s mouth twitched as he announced to the astonished and silent crowd. This time, not only was Snow Tiger stunned, but even the Female Chief, who had always been confident in herself, was full of astonishment. She even thought she had misheard the announcement, but looking at the equally surprised faces around her, she quickly realized that this was the truth. After a moment of silence, she looked towards Su Jiu, who remained calm and composed, and met a gentle, smiling face. A sense of defeat washed over her.
“Not skilled in martial arts, not exceptional in academics either.” She even felt her temperament was inferior to that of the other party… Mr. Sanzu then retrieved the slightly damaged compass, looked at Su Jiu as if she were a monster, paused, and then continued to declare the results, announcing loudly: “The winner of this Alchemy Competition is Su Jiu of the Blood Clan!”
