Roadmap to the Boundless Sky-Chapter 43Book 3, : Barge In

The moment the drums rose, the two martial artists in the aquarium tank moved, and waves immediately formed on the surface of the water.

The Realm Passes instantly filtered out the splashes and waves and did their best to present the full fight before their eyes. Even so, most of the audience was unable to capture their movements. It was only when the superfrequency domain adjustment was activated that they were able to see everything clearly.

The wilderness faction martial artist was clearly faster and more proactive. The moment he was underwater, he charged forward like a fish.

The implant faction martial artist remained in place, but not because he didn’t know what the best way to move underwater was. Instead, he was still because it was easier to control his center of gravity and generate power like that.

Once the wilderness faction martial artist drew closer, he straightened his body and turned into a sharp arrow. A thin, long trail of ripples formed behind him as he threw a punch.

Despite the incoming attack, the implant faction martial artist didn’t dodge. He separated his legs a little and lowered his center of gravity to gather his strength. Then, he threw a punch as well.

Their fists clashed, and the audience was left in stunned silence. A shockwave appeared from the part where their fists connected.

Their arms were pushed back at the same time. The wilderness faction martial artist’s arm was shattered. Bits of bone, blood, and flesh spread outward. Meanwhile, part of the implant faction martial artist’s forearm flew away. Interstitial fluid and blood instantly filled the aquarium tank.

The audience was stunned. It had never crossed their minds that the match could be so intense from the moment it started. They had thought that the martial artists would test the waters and dance around each other for a little before fighting while dodging each other’s attacks. Instead, they went for a pure clash of strength!

Chen Chuan’s eyes were glued to the fighters. This had happened because the two had chosen the same strategy. The moment the match started, they poured all of their refined force into their arms for offense and gave up on all defense to stake everything they had in this one attack. This led to them having a clash of fists with no flourish.

Perhaps they had realized that their opponent was going to do the same thing, but they did not change their strategy and just delivered the punch that represented their conviction and belief that this was the correct move.

Even though the outcome was bloody, they did not bat an eyelid, as if their broken arms were inconsequential to them. The only thing they saw was each other.

The implant faction martial artist appeared to have come out of the clash with lighter injuries, but the refined force that had charged into the wilderness faction martial artist’s body had been negated by his shattered arm. Instead, part of the refined force from the wilderness faction martial artist had rammed into the implant faction martial artist.

His center of gravity tilted because of it. Even if he had the currents supporting him and wouldn’t collapse so easily, his body still shifted a little.

That slight tilt allowed the wilderness faction martial artist to use the bit of momentum he had left to close in. Pivoting around his head and spine, he spun around, swinging his arm in such a manner that it looked like a whip. His fingertips slashed across the implant faction martial artist’s chest and stomach.

It was as if a sharp scalpel had cut him. A huge gash instantly appeared on the implant faction martial artist’s chest and stomach. The muscles, bones, neurons, and organs inside were halfway cut through.

But the attack didn’t deliver the results it should have. Despite being so severely wounded, the implant faction martial artist remained quick on his feet, even though his physiological functions should have been greatly impacted.

He retreated, and his mutated tissue closed up the huge gash on his chest and stomach. Then, he crouched down and delivered a side kick straight to the wilderness faction martial artist’s neck.

The powerful force cut through the water, stirring up violent ripples in its wake. Using the energy generated from his arm, the wilderness faction martial artist performed a partial spin and used the shoulder of his broken arm to block the kick. Another wave of blood blasted forth from both of them. Once again, they had attacked each other without holding back.

The wilderness faction martial artist’s shoulder shattered and sank, while the bones in the implant faction martial artist’s foot shattered. Two of the toes were snapped off.

Because he had used power for his attack just now, his closed wound tore open. Interstitial fluid from his implants and blood gushed out. The audience could even see the cut open organs and flesh in the torn section.

The two pulled back from each other. Then, with a stomp with his uninjured leg, the implant faction martial artist chose to attack. The wilderness faction martial artist was about to adjust his posture to face his attack, but a hole suddenly opened up under him, and a whirlpool appeared.

The implant faction martial artist seemed to have been expecting this and didn’t slow down his charge at all. He had an advantage over the wilderness faction martial artist in the sense that he knew when the holes would appear and included this into his plan of attack. Hence, this attack was actually premeditated. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

This might be a little unfair, but absolute fairness did not exist in any fight. Besides, since the wilderness faction martial artist had agreed to the match, he should have considered being at a disadvantage on someone else’s home turf.

The wilderness faction martial artist seemed to have been affected by the whirlpool, but at that moment, he suddenly moved along with the flow of the water, as if he were a fish. Not only did he avoid the punch coming at him, but he also used the flow of the water to arrive beside the implant faction martial artist.

Since changing direction in the water was a difficult feat, the implant faction martial artist had, once again, put his full power into his punch. Because of this, he was only able to turn his body a little and move his head out of the wilderness faction martial artist’s range.

The wilderness faction martial artist should have plunged into the implant faction martial artist’s chest, but at that moment, a huge creature suddenly shot out from the hole. Its setae wriggled, and sharp teeth jutted out of its mandible as it tried to bite the wilderness faction martial artist, who was closest to it.

Its sudden appearance caused the wilderness faction martial artist’s attack to change its course a little, and the implant faction martial artist used this to turn around to avoid the attack. They brushed past each other. Outside the tank, the audience saw a thin and long trail of water shoot past the two martial artists.

The implant faction martial artist had wanted to use the chance created by his opponent missing his opportunity to kill him to launch a counterattack, but just as he was going to do that, his movements froze, and he looked outside.

The wilderness faction martial artist did the same.

A person was walking toward them through the corridor outside the tank. The man was around 1.9 meters tall and was in his thirties. He had upturned eyebrows, a straight nose, a firm, set mouth, wide shoulders, and a thin waist, making him look heroic. By his waist was a hammer, and he wore a blue long robe with a belt.

The Gong family’s manager was shocked and pointed at the man. “That’s Wei Wusheng, Young Master!”

“What?”

Gong Zhanyi shot to his feet and fixed his eyes on the man.

The audience outside was curious about the man. They had been enjoying the match when he started walking toward the tank? The security guards immediately went up to stop him. They weren’t going to let any outsider get close to the tank.

The man shot past the security guards. While his robe fluttered, he arrived in front of the tank, and his eyes landed on the two martial artists.

They, too, turned to him.

He gave the tank a look and said, “How can you let such a thing restrict your movements in a fight against another martial artist?”

He grabbed the hammer by his waist. Then, right before everyone’s eyes, he brought it up, spun on his feet, and smashed it against the tank.

The security guards behind him rushed over to stop him, but they were too late. There was a loud thud, and cracks formed on the glass under the hammer. As the tank groaned under the weight of water, the cracks swiftly spread in all directions.

The martial artists in the arena realized their predicament right away and stood up to head outside. The quick ones soon found out that the door had been locked from the outside, and they were stunned.

There was a loud rumble behind them, and the water in the tank charged through the arena like a tsunami. The security guards were the closest, and they were instantly washed away.

***

Sun Zhiming and the managers of the cruise ship were all in the cabin on the main deck. When they saw this, the manager beside Sun Zhiming asked, “Mr. Sun, shouldn’t we open the door and let the audience members out?”

While staring at his Realm Pass, Sun Zhiming said sternly, “We can’t do that. Activate a regional domain interference. Tell the virtual audience that due to someone causing trouble, the match has been suspended.”

“Understood.”

“Also, figure out who the man is.”

Once he gave his orders, everyone’s Realm Passes turned dark, and they couldn’t see anything anymore.

Some time passed before the audience received a notification telling them that the security guards were fighting against the unwelcome troublemaker and that the match had been suspended. They were then to wait for the match to resume. In order to compensate for their losses, the passengers were allowed to tour the cruise ship and participate in its events for free over the next three days.

Most of the people who could come had the money to pay for the events on the cruise ship, but Azure Dragon owned Rhinoceros’ Horn and was one of the mega corporations in the Great Shun Republic, so no one would dare to offend them. Since the company had decided to show them some respect, they wouldn’t dare to openly complain about it. They would only do so in private.

“We figured out who he is, Mr. Sun. He’s the Heavenly Pardon Gang’s Wei Wusheng.”

A flicker of emotion appeared in Sun Zhiming’s eyes.

“The Heavenly Pardon Gang...”

He didn’t wonder about how Wei Wusheng managed to get on the ship. Every martial artist invited on the ship could bring a plus one or plus three, so someone must have taken him along. Trying to figure out who brought him was meaningless.

“Mr. Sun, we’ve received confirmation that due to the shattering of the tank, Multi-Eyes’ biofield is spreading outward,” another manager reported nervously to Sun Zhiming.

“Locking down the arena was the right move, then,” Sun Zhiming said grimly.

“Would the martial artists inside be affected?” the manager asked uneasily.

Most of the martial artists watching the fight in the arena were important figures and had powerful backgrounds. If any of them were hurt, it would be terrible for Azure Dragon.

“We saw the Gong family’s Gong Zhanyi inside...”

That instantly caught Sun Zhiming’s attention. “Gong Zhanyi? Why was he inside?”

Over the years, due to Azure Dragon steadily spreading their influence over the island nations, they had helped Ferris Wheel rise to power to fight against the company. The Gong family knew what Azure Dragon was up to, so while they appeared to be respectful, they usually avoided them like the plague.

Sun Zhiming realized how abnormal the situation was and guessed that his appearance might be linked to why Wei Wusheng had shown up. “Look into this and send someone to calm Multi-Eyes down as much as possible.”

***

Back in the arena, the wilderness faction martial artist and implant faction martial artist both came out of the water. Their eyes were glued to each other when the former said, “Gao Qiu.”

The implant faction martial artist was stunned for a moment before realizing that the wilderness faction martial artist had given him his name. So, he offered up his own as well. “Lu Shiqi.”

“Lush Tea? Interesting,” a voice said, and they looked over to see Wei Wusheng standing by the shattered tank with wisps of white steam coming out of his body. His originally wet clothes were gradually turning dry.

As he stared at the two martial artists, he said, “I believe that your match has yet to finish. You should continue.”

Gao Qiu shook his head. “The place has been destroyed. The match cannot continue.”

Lu Shiqi stared at Wei Wusheng warily.

In a casual fashion, Wei Wusheng said, “That’s fine. Either you fight each other, or you fight me. Don’t even think about leaving, because the door has been locked from the outside. No one can come in.”

With his eyes fixed on them, he said, “Only one person can walk out of this place alive today.”