Chapter 251: Feuding Knight!

Clearly, Happy had no intention of reconciliation; in fact, Wu Chang's actions had completely extinguished the last sliver of hope for peace.

Happy looked at Wu Chang, his eyes filled with awe, shock, and regret—as if, among a troop of monkeys, he had spotted one holding a laser sword. He marveled that a monkey could have found a laser sword, yet mourned the waste of such a treasure.

That feeling was incredibly rude; just being looked at could make someone's face flush.

How could Wu Chang read so much from a single glance?

Because back in the dorm, when they saw He Wei losing every match in Cloud Top Gold division, barely scraping a bad score, they all gave that same look of regret and disdain, adding, "Even a pig could've done better in this game."

His fists hardened.

Wu Chang was unconvinced; could blocking a power really mean victory, that he was already defeated?

As long as he hadn't reached the Principle Realm, this was his domain. He, Wu Chang, had elbow-striken more than one or two deities—didn't each of them wield several powers?

Anger surged from his heart, malice rose from his gallbladder; he roared:

"Man!"

Haven't eaten? Then eat my elbow!

Since Wu Chang's current size was three times Happy's, this elbow strike differed from his usual aerial strikes—it was a downward lunge, the massive elbow crashing down like Mount Tai bearing down.

Though Happy didn't know why Wu Chang shouted "Man" when striking—whether to slow him down or if it was some true incantation—it didn't stop him from responding with stillness. He raised both hands high in a sky-supporting posture to meet the descending elbow.

Happy's arms caught the elbow strike firmly; from the feedback at his palms, the blow was ordinary, nothing special.

But before he could relax, his palms suddenly slipped—his arms slid aside, and the elbow continued downward, smashing straight onto his crown.

Even as mighty as Happy, being struck from above by a 600-meter giant's elbow made him shrink his neck and stare wide-eyed.

This elbow struck like a mole-hammer, driving Happy several meters into the ground; the shockwave was clearly felt even in the distant suburbs of Wildo City.

Effective.

Wu Chang clicked his tongue; powers seemed grand and impressive, but in practice, his iron elbow was more reliable.

Recalling how this move had humbled countless deities, he sighed—how many bottles of Ice Red Tea must the sports students he had chanted over before entering the Abyss Game have drunk to master the essence of the Mamba Iron Elbow so thoroughly?

If it worked, use it more.

Wu Chang straightened his body, leaned back slightly, raised his elbow high—his entire frame taut like a drawn bowstring, the elbow like an arrow on the string. The next instant, he slammed down again.

"Man!"

Happy took the elbow, staggered, nearly toppled over—but only for an instant.

A flash of Jin Guang surged over Happy; he instantly cleared dizziness, blindness, poisoning, and other debuffs, returning to normal—only the least threatening bleeding remained, blood trickling from his nose, ears, and gums due to the impact.

As soon as he regained clarity, he saw the second elbow coming—faster, fiercer, clearly aimed at shattering his crown.

Happy snorted; this elbow had some real technique—it could partially break through his guard, covered multiple debuffs, and concealed two hidden forces: one of lightning, one of special energy—both attacks that countered divinity.

Had his Buddha Body not reached near-completion, had he not preliminarily formed his flawless body, he might truly have been caught off-guard by Wu Chang.

Powers that counter divinity are exceedingly rare; possessing even one grants dominance within the same realm. How could this boy, still not out of the Wasteland Realm, have mastered two?

Add to that the power that disrupts the mind—how did such treasures elude everyone else, yet the Administrator dumped them into this boy's hands like they were free?

Could it be this boy is the Administrator's illegitimate son, and the Wasteland Realm dungeons are being scored to Principle Realm standards for him?

Happy exhaled a foul breath, cleared the chaotic thoughts from his mind, and refocused on the elbow crashing down upon his head.

In his eyes, Wu Chang's elbow was slow—so slow that if he drifted off for a moment, he still had ample time to react.

The gap between them was still too great. Such tricks only work once; using them a second time truly thought him a fool.

He sat cross-legged on the ground, hands forming the meditation mudra. The lotus platform he had summoned upon arrival flew to him, transforming above his head into a giant umbrella, its canopy like a sky-cover, fully shielding his crown.

He wouldn't clash head-on—then how could that elbow strike him?

Happy sank into meditation, free of joy or sorrow, watching Wu Chang's frustration.

But when Wu Chang's elbow struck the umbrella's canopy, there was no violent collision—instead, lateral pressure arose along the curve, pushing the canopy aside. The elbow then slid along the gap, tracing an arc, and smashed into Happy's face, leaving him stunned.

Happy, seated on the ground, was thrown backward, rolled over to stabilize himself. His meditative state was violently shattered; the nosebleed he had just stopped surged again. The Desecrator and Divine Thunder struck together, shattering one of Happy's front teeth.

Lying on the ground, Happy's face was a mess of confusion: What the hell?

Wu Chang's two elbows hadn't inflicted much damage—but nearly shattered Happy's understanding of the Abyss Game, and along with it, his Dao heart.

Happy turned red—furious, utterly enraged.

Seeing Wu Chang raise his elbow for the third time, Happy clasped his palms together, inserting them into his prayer beads, then pushed his palms outward—the silk thread snapped, and the eighteen beads scattered, encircling Happy.

Happy's face lost all serenity and joy; now only the wrathful gaze of a Vajra remained. He sat motionless, waiting for Wu Chang to strike again.

Come on! Have the guts to keep elbowing!

As long as Wu Chang dared to strike, the eighteen beads surrounding him would pierce eighteen holes through Wu Chang's body!

Seeing this, Wu Chang gathered full force into his elbow—but dared not strike down.

As Happy had thought, the Mamba Iron Elbow was a trick; against opponents stronger than Wu Chang, if the first use didn't secure absolute advantage, subsequent uses would fail utterly.

The reason was simple: the Mamba Iron Elbow guaranteed a hit—but if the target, like Happy, surrounded himself with area-effect skills, the "guaranteed hit" would also mean Wu Chang was guaranteed to be hit by those skills, resulting in a trade of damage.

And the Mamba Iron Elbow's greatest flaw? It dealt no damage—only control.

Against Happy, who could dispel the Mamba Iron Elbow's control, another direct strike would trigger the background music: "See You Again."

Wu Chang couldn't bring himself to strike—but he could act otherwise.

He widened his eyes and shouted again: "Man!"

Happy immediately went on high alert, drawing all eighteen beads close around him, leaving no gap for Wu Chang.

But Wu Chang only shouted loudly—his body didn't move at all. Taking advantage of Happy's hesitation, he pulled out the Four-Sided Flame Lamp from his inventory, lit the wick, and tossed it into Schultz's white mist.

The moment the Four-Sided Flame Lamp touched the mist, its flame instantly spread, igniting the entire white fog.

The Sui Fire skill triggered: when the Sui Fire extinguished, Schultz's nearly shattered body reformed.

This was Wu Chang's original plan—the Sui Fire had to be used on Schultz.

If Schultz died, Wu Chang would be left in a 1v1 true man battle with Happy—Happy could kill him once, and kill him again. Even if he could survive a few more times, it still wouldn't be enough.

Only by uniting with Schultz could they, as brothers united in heart, have any chance of victory.

Suihuo successfully saved Schultz, but the situation was still grim; Suihuo only deferred death once and did not restore him to full health and mana on the spot.

Schultz merely used Suihuo's power to reconstitute his body; his mental state remained unstable.

Wu Chang had suspected this—Huanxi had previously mentioned that Schultz's Hymn Project was imperfect, and Schultz had gambled everything, treating himself as an experiment.

Human will is finite; Schultz absorbed too many virtues and sins, each virtue and sin shaped by the entire life force of its original owner, carrying that owner's will.

One person's will could not bear so many wills; only by using the Omniscient Crystal to balance virtue and sin could he barely maintain control.

But when Huanxi shattered this balance, Schultz's will directly contacted countless others; his will instantly scattered under their onslaught, descending into irreversible collapse.

Suihuo could extend his life, but it could not save him.

Perhaps influenced by Xiao En's memories, Wu Chang felt sorrow as he gazed at Schultz's pale face.

Yet Schultz was utterly calm; he did not even care for himself, but directly communicated with Wu Chang through telepathy:

"I know you. You are one of the Hymn Hunters. It always warned me to be wary of you, yet you are stronger than it imagined."

"My plan has failed. My power is fading. All I can do now is weaken him as much as possible and create the most favorable battlefield for you."

Before Wu Chang could react, Schultz fused once more with the body of the Child of Sin on the ground.

This time, he did not revert to a human form; his body was white above and black below, sharply divided.

He forcibly activated the power of the Hymn, gathering the wills of all citizens of Fullwell City again; black and white energy surged toward the sky.

Through temporary administrator privileges, Wu Chang saw that under Schultz's control, Hymn Corp halted dimensional ascension—not only did it cease merging further with the Rational Realm, but it was actively pulling the sub-realm outward.

Schultz's voice echoed in Wu Chang's ear: "His power comes from a higher-tier world. The closer he is to his world, the stronger he becomes. Conversely, the farther we are from his world, the weaker he grows."

"But I cannot sever all connection to his world—that would cause me to vanish instantly. If he obtains the Omniscient Crystal, you will die without doubt."

Wu Chang looked at Schultz—his so-called cousin—clearly knew of the Abyss Layer Two's existence, and the Hymn Project had always aimed to complete dimensional ascension from the start.

Just as Huanxi wondered why Wu Chang, being in the Desolate Realm, had acquired so many skills to combat gods,

Wu Chang also wondered why Schultz, a world-famous billionaire, abandoned his fortune to obsess over dimensional ascension, even willing to become an experiment himself.

But now was not the time to ask—because Huanxi had moved.

Huanxi noticed Wu Chang had abandoned another elbow strike, but no one could be sure Wu Chang wouldn't suddenly strike again; he kept his scattered prayer beads circling around him, slowly expanding them outward.

If facing any other Wasteland Realm player, Huanxi would have already slapped him to end the fight. Even though his avatar in the Hymn Corp dimension limited him to Level 45 power, the gap between the Wasteland Realm and the Rational Realm was not merely a matter of level-based stat differences—it was a gap in realm.

But with Wu Chang, he could not afford such arrogance.

Wu Chang was unlike any Wasteland Realm player Huanxi had ever seen—not even the troublemaker who stirred chaos in the Wasteland Realm years ago was as unusual as Wu Chang.

Authority, ability to counter divinity, the uncanny elbow strike that could not be dodged, and the powerful artifact that forcibly stabilized Schultz's life.

!

Any one of these was exceedingly rare in the Wasteland Realm, yet they clustered on Wu Chang as if they cost nothing.

Who knew what other strange trump cards this kid was hiding? If the opponent possessed a specific counter to his Buddha Body, he might still lose.

Thus, Huanxi's entire strategy now boiled down to one word: stability.

Win through stability—press Wu Chang's entire arsenal out of him, step by step, without making a single mistake, then claim final victory.

While Huanxi sought stability, Wu Chang and Schultz completed their communication—Schultz acted.

Schultz moved with perfect calm; beside him, Wu Chang felt no emotional fluctuation—he simply ignited himself, becoming black-and-white flames.

The forces of virtue and sin burned into a fierce blaze, continuously condensing—from a sky-consuming inferno, compressed to the size of a marble.

Just as the ultimate origin of saving-world merits or monstrous evils in reality was merely a corner of a human heart,

the black-and-white flame, condensed to its limit, carried Schultz's entire strength and shot toward Huanxi.

Schultz's all-out strike caused Huanxi to show a solemn expression.

He first reverted his giant umbrella back into a lotus platform, using it as a shield to meet the black-and-white flame.

Yet Huanxi's lotus platform was not a true artifact—it was merely the manifestation of one of his abilities—and under Schultz's pure energy assault, the platform shattered on contact, igniting into black-and-white fire.

The black-and-white flame did not weaken; it advanced further. Huanxi swung his cassock toward the flame, attempting to absorb it outright.

But such a condensed flame was impossible to contain—the crimson cassock only enveloped the flame for an instant before burning through with a massive black hole; the flame surged forward again.

The black-and-white flame pierced two defenses in succession, yet both had weakened it considerably. Seeing this, Huanxi clasped his palms together and struck the flame from left and right.

With a hiss, Huanxi extinguished the black-and-white flame with his hands. Schultz, depleted of all strength, collapsed heavily to the ground, sending Wu Chang his final message.

"I can do no more. The rest is up to you."

Wu Chang nodded, silently replying in his heart: It's my turn now.

Huanxi clasped his palms together, his face solemn and compassionate, his golden body glowing brilliantly, like a true Buddha, invincible.

That palm-strike extinguishing the flame had seemed effortless, but Wu Chang knew Huanxi's true condition was far from calm.

The reason was simple: his Authority had begun to affect Huanxi—the breakthrough lay in Huanxi's palms!

Huanxi refused to unclasp his hands because his golden body was cracked; once cracked, his flawless state could no longer be maintained, and he began to be influenced by the Authority.

Strike while the iron is hot.

Wu Chang activated his Chaos Authority to maximum and launched a furious assault on the weak point of Huanxi's golden body.

Huanxi felt wave after wave of Authority washing over his body and said:

"Where did you obtain this Authority? From the Wasteland Realm, or reality? Not long ago, you used this Authority to seize that World Pillar."

Wu Chang said nothing, silently increasing the output of his Authority. Huanxi was affected only slightly, but the trio of Moqiu Li were crumbling—their bodies swayed precariously, on the verge of crossing the Authority's execution threshold.

Yet one thing Wu Chang could not understand: he had found Huanxi's golden body's crack and could influence him with Authority—so why was Huanxi's susceptibility to Authority so low?

That made no sense.

Was it because Huanxi used a World Tree branch upon descent, granting him greater power—or simply because this bastard had his own cheat?

Huanxi smiled faintly, his tone as calm as a mentor's:

"Can't you understand why your invincible Authority has lost its effect here?"

Wu Chang continued pushing his Authority and countered: "Because you have Authority too?"

Huanxi shook his head. "To grasp Authority, one must comprehend the true meaning of rules, master the laws of all things. I'm still far from it."

Wu Chang asked, "Then what is it because of?"

Huanxi finally released his palms pressed together. Wu Chang could see that the golden body at Huanxi's palms was indeed broken, revealing the mortal flesh beneath the golden body.

He reached out with a wave, pulling Mercury and the other two through the air behind him, shielding the three from the influence of Authority. As for Huanxi himself, he was like a reef standing firm in a giant wave—no matter how the sea battered him, he remained unmoved.

Huanxi formed the Abhaya mudra with one hand and the Varada mudra with the other, one hand pointing to the sky, one to the earth, simultaneously exposing the two gaps in his golden body before Wu Chang without any concealment.

His gaze looked at Wu Chang, then turned to Schultz, and said: "Whether it is your Authority or his divinity, both originate from external objects. Divinity that is not divinity seen from within the self—how could it become a true god? Even among gods, there are differences."

"A true god, once awakened, is the one and only. False Authority naturally cannot shake true divinity."

Wu Chang's gaze passed over Huanxi and looked at Mercury and the other two shivering behind Huanxi under the influence of Authority.

He thought to himself, Don't you look at your own underlings when you're bragging? They all awakened their divinity themselves—how come the moment they lose their stats, they're completely useless?

Let alone Mercury and the others—even if Lehmann and the Desire Mother Goddess descended into the Wasteland Realm, wouldn't they still be unable to resist his Authority?

Huanxi noticed Wu Chang's gaze and gently added: "Divinity awakened through items and aid from the Abyss also counts as external objects."

This line left Wu Chang completely stumped, and the expression of a subway old man looking at a phone immediately appeared on his face.

Wait, what do you mean? You're not saying that everyone's abilities all come from the Abyss, and only you are the real cultivator, are you?

That would be a bit overpowered.

Wu Chang felt unbalanced inside. No matter how you put it, his Transmigration Talent was used within the rules of the Abyss game, and yet he was still being targeted by the administrator as a cheater.

The Huanxi before him obtained power through means outside the game system—a proper cheat—and you don't sanction him? Could it be that you two are in cahoots?

Wu Chang asked: "You just told me your secret like that—aren't you afraid I'll awaken so-called true divinity in the future too?"

"Afraid!" Huanxi answered very crisply.

If anyone else had said this, Huanxi would have sneered and replied, "You say awaken and you awaken—why don't you just fly up to the sky?" But Wu Chang was different. Wu Chang had the favoritism of the Abyss game administrator, so awakening true divinity was far easier than gaining Authority within the Wasteland Realm.

At this moment, both sides believed that the other had something shady going on with the Abyss administrator.

Wu Chang asked curiously: "If you're afraid, why tell me?"

Huanxi said bluntly: "That's why I don't intend to let you leave this instance alive."

Wu Chang shrugged. The intel from Huanxi had pointed out a path of true divinity for him, and his intuition told him that path was the correct one.

But for now, he still had to run a while longer on the wrong path.

He said to Huanxi: "I think there's one point you're wrong about."

Huanxi asked: "Which point?"

Wu Chang: "The reason we couldn't defeat you before wasn't that an external power cannot overcome one's own power—it's just that the external power wasn't strong enough."

After Wu Chang finished speaking, the runes symbolizing Order and Chaos behind him stopped pulsing, no longer releasing Authority outward, but imprinting onto his body instead.

The next moment, a divine power that even made Huanxi's heart tremble surged out from within Wu Chang.

Wu Chang used his ultimate skill from his class change for the first time.

"Ultimate Skill: Knight of Strife!"

(End of this chapter)