147: Shen Xiaochuan vs. Perfect Devil

The wind whipped ash across the hillside as Shen Xiaochuan stood on the high ground, looking toward Skydome City.

Ten minutes had passed, and the signal flag had yet to rise.

He understood in his heart that something had gone wrong on Yang Lie's end.

He glanced down at the Faith Mall; two Speed-up Talismans remained.

Without overthinking, he gave both of them to the Logistics Group.

Saving lives couldn't wait; the faster, the better.

"Charge!" He stepped onto the roof of the storm chariot and shouted.

The convoy charged down the hillside, the roar of engines waking the morning.

Three kilometers away, the East Gate had been torn open, and black-armored demons were surging into the city like a tide.

The defenders hid behind broken walls, their arrows spent.

Some were fighting with kitchen knives and stools.

Shen Xiaochuan jumped off the vehicle and drew his zanpakuto.

It was a B-grade weapon he had exchanged for in the Faith Mall three days ago, capable of piercing the defenses of low-level monsters.

"Combat Group, with me! Vanguard Battalion, go to the West Street and hold the intersection! Medical team, follow behind!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he charged out.

Three thousand elites roared in unison, following behind him.

While running, he opened the Faith Mall and selected "Heavenly Thunder Flash."

A massive bolt of lightning struck from the sky, crashing into the middle of the demons.

With a boom, it blasted out a hundred-meter-wide clearing; over a thousand lesser demons were instantly obliterated, and the air was filled with the smell of scorched flesh.

The remaining demons were stunned, and their assault halted.

Shen Xiaochuan didn't stop upon landing and charged into the breach.

He swung his zanpakuto, cutting down three axe-wielding demons.

The blade got stuck in one's neck, so he twisted it hard, and the head flew off.

"Hold this position!" he yelled back, "Whoever dares to retreat, I will nail them to this wall!"

The remnant soldiers looked up and saw him: a man in dark blue work clothes standing on a pile of corpses, holding a dripping blade, his eyes completely steady.

Some began to pick up their weapons and stand back in formation.

Just then, a cold laugh came from the clock tower.

"Humans... to dare to be so arrogant."

The voice wasn't loud, yet it drowned out all the battle cries.

Shen Xiaochuan looked up and saw a figure in a dark red cloak standing on the edge of the roof.

Its skin was cyan-gray, and its eyes glowed like molten lava.

A perfect grade demon had finally appeared.

Shen Xiaochuan stabbed his blade into the ground, put his hands on his hips, and shouted upward: "Hey! You're that perfect grade, right? Stop acting cool up there. If you've got the guts, come down and fight!"

The demon turned its head and stared at him.

The next second, it vanished.

The wind suddenly jolted.

Shen Xiaochuan instinctively dodged to the side, and a large cyan-gray hand slammed into the ground, brushing past his nose.

Boom! The ground cracked open, and the shockwave sent him flying ten meters, crashing into a broken wall.

A dull pain flared in his chest, as if his bones had cracked.

He coughed, no blood coming out of his mouth, but his throat tasted metallic.

"So fast..." he murmured, wiping the corner of his mouth.

The demon stood before him, looking down coldly: "A Mortal like you dares to challenge me? Get back to your pathetic hole."

Shen Xiaochuan wiped the blood from his mouth and laughed loudly: "What? Speak up! I didn't hear you!"

The demon narrowed its eyes, raised its hand, and flicked it, sending five blades of Qi flying toward him.

Shen Xiaochuan rolled out of the way.

The first two missed, the third sliced through the sleeve of his left arm, the fourth sheared off half the fabric on his shoulder, and he blocked the fifth with his blade, sending sparks flying.

He caught his breath and shook his numb hand.

"Come again!" he roared, "Is that all you've got?"

The demon snorted coldly and suddenly charged.

It was so fast it created a sonic boom, its fist aiming straight for his face.

Shen Xiaochuan barely managed to raise his blade to block.

Clang! His right arm instantly went numb, and he was sent flying, sliding over ten meters across the ground before coming to a stop.

He lay there, his fingers digging into the gaps between the bricks, pushing himself up bit by bit.

"It's no use... the zanpakuto can't hurt it," he thought to himself, "I need to use my ultimate move."

He remembered the golden option: [Divine Sense Resonance] — it could summon a Heroic Spirit to possess him, granting him a short burst of power.

He had tried it once before using Zhang Fei, but he had collapsed from exhaustion after only thirty seconds.

This time, he had to choose someone stronger.

"Xiang Yu... you're the one." He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, "Give me strength!"

The sound of war drums suddenly echoed in his ears, distant yet clear.

A surge of heat rushed from his back to his head.

He opened his eyes, his pupils glowing gold, and ancient characters emerged on his body, burning like fire.

His strength returned.

It wasn't just a little; it was surging throughout his entire body.

He stood up, half a head taller than before, his muscles larger, his Aura terrifying.

"Overlord... let's fight once more!" He growled, pulled up his zanpakuto, and vanished.

This time, he struck first.

He appeared behind the demon and swung his blade at its neck.

The demon reacted quickly, tilting its head to dodge, but it was still sliced by the Saber Qi, and cyan-gray blood splattered out.

"Pah! Stop with the nonsense!" Shen Xiaochuan's eyes turned cold as he shouted.

The demon roared: "I was born of Chaos, a perfect body; how dare you insult me!"

Shen Xiaochuan sneered: "Perfect? Your right hand is ruined, and you call yourself perfect?"

Before he finished speaking, he charged again and thrust his blade into the other's stomach.

The zanpakuto sank in half a foot, and black filth spilled all over the ground.

The demon flew into a rage, grabbed his chest with its left hand, and slammed him hard into the ground.

Boom! It created a crater, and debris flew everywhere.

Shen Xiaochuan lay at the bottom of the crater, his chest in excruciating pain.

He tried to move but was held down.

The demon pressed a knee onto his chest and gripped his throat with its left hand.

"An ant... wants to lift a stone?" The demon grinned, tightening its grip.

Shen Xiaochuan's face turned red, his eyes bloodshot, and he tried to pry the demon's wrist off, but he couldn't budge it.

He reached out to tap the Faith Mall, but he was just a hair's breadth away.

As his consciousness began to fade, he suddenly laughed.

"You... forgot one thing..." he struggled to say.

"What?"

"I... gain 1 faith point per second..."

As he finished speaking, his fingertip finally touched the mall, and he immediately exchanged for a "Neural Burst Enhancer" and injected it directly.

Boom! His body shuddered, his muscles swelled, and his strength surged violently.

He kicked hard with his right leg, drove his knee into the demon's stomach, pried its fingers open with both hands, and flipped up to his feet.

"Is it hard to catch your breath?" He coughed twice, "This is just the beginning."

The demon clutched its stomach, face full of shock: "Who on earth are you!"

Shen Xiaochuan stood straight, his eyes firm, and shouted: "Listen well! My name is Shen Xiaochuan, Lord of Skydome City, a graduate of the Mechanical System, and I specialize in curing all kinds of defiance!"

After saying that, he charged up again, using his blade and lightning together.

The two fought in the ruins, fists and kicks whipping up wind, blade light and lightning fire flying everywhere.

During one exchange, he was swatted away by a palm strike and crashed into a house.

The roof collapsed, and he rolled on the ground to dodge, grabbing a charred piece of wood as a weapon.

"How annoying!" The demon kicked through the wall and chased him in.

"You're tired, but I'm not. How would you know?" Shen Xiaochuan jumped out of the window, circled behind it, and struck its left leg with another bolt of lightning.

The lightning exploded, charring the flesh, and the demon fell to its knees.

"Still able to stand?" Shen Xiaochuan panted; he wasn't doing much better himself.

His stamina was almost gone, and the characters on his body were starting to flicker.

He knew that Xiang Yu's power wouldn't last much longer.

But at that moment, the demon let out a strange cry, and the wound on its right arm began to move.

Broken bones reconnected, muscles grew back, and the skin healed; it recovered in a few seconds.

"A perfect body... cannot die!" The demon stood up and spread its arms. "Now, it's my turn!"

It charged over, fast as a shadow.

Just as Shen Xiaochuan raised his blade, he was punched in the chest, sent flying backward, and crashed through a wall.

He lay on the ground, wanting to crawl up, but his arms went limp and he collapsed again.

His mouth was full of blood, and his vision was blurring.

"Damn it... how can you regenerate so much?" He gritted his teeth, leaning against the wall as he slowly scraped himself upward.

The demon walked over, its shadow looming over him: "You are quite strong. But you are only a Mortal. Kneel, and I can let you die quickly."

Shen Xiaochuan ignored it and looked down at his faith points—they were still rising, +1 per second, very steady.

He laughed: "Hmph, what do you know! My backing is very strong."

After saying that, he forcefully mustered his last bit of strength and activated Divine Sense Resonance again.

The heat flowed in his body once more, and the characters lit up again.

"Still want to fight?" The demon sneered and raised its foot to stomp on his head.

At the critical moment, Shen Xiaochuan tilted his head to dodge and backhanded his blade across the demon's ankle, leaving a deep gash.

The demon felt pain and stepped back.

Shen Xiaochuan seized the opportunity to jump up, climbed onto the nearby half-collapsed clock tower, and stood on the high ground looking down at it.

"You say you're perfect..." he panted, "but you cry out when it hurts, you retreat when you bleed, and broken bones have to grow back on their own... in what way is that perfect?"

"I just... lived a few seconds longer than you." He grinned, his teeth stained with blood, "But that's enough."

The demon roared and leaped up, punching toward the clock tower.

Boom! The entire building collapsed, and dust and smoke shot into the sky.

Shen Xiaochuan was buried under the rubble and didn't move.

A few seconds later, a stone was pushed aside, and he crawled out, covered in dust, his clothes tattered, but his eyes were still bright.

"Come on!" He raised his zanpakuto, pointing at the demon, "Keep fighting! Let's see who falls first!"

The demon stared at him, a trace of fear appearing in its eyes for the first time.

In the distance, the city was still burning.

The wind blew ash across the battlefield.

The two stood there, neither moving.

Shen Xiaochuan's hand was trembling—not from fear, but from exhaustion.

But he didn't lower his blade.

He knew that he couldn't retreat from this battle.

And he couldn't lose.

Even if he only had one breath left, he would remain standing.