Chapter 427: Dragon Festival Champion

Chapter 427: Dragon Festival Champion

Ji Xinghuo's target was one of the afterimages of the Stinger Dragon Warrior, a clone that he had carefully selected. Among the eight dragon warrior clones that Guxingli had created, the Stinger Dragon Warrior was the slowest and had the weakest defense, and its afterimage clone was even less formidable. It couldn't share damage with the other clones, making it the perfect target.

With a burst of his blade, he slashed and killed it instantly!

No matter how powerful the other clones' healing and recovery abilities were, there was no way to bring back the fallen afterimage.

With one less clone, the amplification effect between the legion slightly weakened, and the remaining 23 clones became slightly feebler.

The degree of weakening was minuscule, barely noticeable to the average person, but it proved that Ji Xinghuo's strategy was effective.

However, just as he struck down the afterimage, Guxingli's counterattack arrived.

Bang, bang, bang!

Three deafening gunshots rang out.

The Skyfeather Dragon Warrior and its two afterimages fired their Stellar Guns simultaneously, hitting Ji Xinghuo.

Ji Xinghuo had seen the "Stellar Gun" at an auction in the City of Eternal Day. It was a type of firearm usable in the Stellar Realm, consuming stellar power and possessing immense destructive force. It was a one-star Apocalypse weapon with a starting bid of 1500 ether crystals.

Now, he personally experienced the gun's lethality.

Three stellar bullets bombarded his back, instantly exploding and piercing through his flux barrier. Although his holy scale armor eventually blocked the attack, scales shattered, and blood splattered.

Ji Xinghuo involuntarily stumbled forward from the impact.

Three Misty Shadow Dragon Warriors leaped out of the shadows, their blades aiming for Ji Xinghuo's eyes, heart, and lower back—three fatal strikes, and they were already within striking distance.

Huh!

Ji Xinghuo controlled his acceleration, abruptly halting and regaining his balance.

In his left hand appeared a wavy longsword—the "Melodious," which he hadn't used in a long time. It synchronized and enlarged in his grip, complementing the blade in his right hand. Wielding a sword and a blade, he danced amidst the flashing blades and flying sparks.

Clang, clang, clang...

A chorus of metal collisions filled the air as sparks flew.

Before most of the spectators could comprehend what was happening, they saw the three Misty Shadow Dragon Warriors, who had been surrounding and ambushing Ji Xinghuo, being knocked back. Two of the weaker afterimages had their blades knocked away, leaving them in a precarious state.

The Misty Shadow Dragon Warriors retreated, and the Blazing Flame Dragon Warrior and the Tungsten Mountain Dragon Warrior seamlessly took their place, continuing the onslaught.

Crack!

Ji Xinghuo transformed into a bolt of lightning, teleporting a hundred meters out of the encirclement.

Almost the instant he left, the three Skyfeather Dragon Warriors fired their Stellar Guns again, but they all missed.

Ji Xinghuo's wounds on his back healed instantly, and he teleported back down. His electromagnetic field and spiritual power erupted once more, with a million magnetic lines covering an area of a thousand meters. Like a dense spider web, they restrained the multitude of pursuing clones and manipulated the stagnation of matter.

With a thunderous roar, Ji Xinghuo's figure split into two, creating two identical versions of himself. One with a sword veered left, and the other with a blade veered right, each unleashing supersonic sword energy and lightning blade. They struck down an afterimage of the Stinger Dragon and an afterimage of the Thorn Dragon.

His speed was too fast, and with the electromagnetic field hindering them, Guxingli couldn't rescue those two afterimages in time through his displacement ability.

With two fewer afterimages, the legion's strength was further weakened.

However, Guxingli remained unflustered.

His afterimage clone of the Whale Dragon Warrior stood firm, and with a heavy thud of its trident, an invisible wave spread out, instantly enveloping an area of ten thousand meters.

Starfall ability: Spatial Lock!

Instantly, the space within ten thousand meters was locked down, and all space-related abilities were greatly weakened. Teleportation and stellar realm transitions were temporarily unavailable.

The spatial lock wasn't absolute, and a vacuum string user would have the means to break free.

But Ji Xinghuo wasn't one.

After this burst of power, he immediately found himself surrounded by the clones again. His afterimage clone endured several attacks and was on the verge of collapse, so he transformed into a bolt of lightning and retracted, merging back into his body to avoid losing half of his stellar power.

Ten of Guxingli's clones surrounded Ji Xinghuo, blocking all escape routes and attacking from multiple directions.

Spears, hammers, tridents, long swords, and daggers.

Guxingli had equipped each of his clones with the most suitable weapons, all of them super-ability three-star weapons.

The ten clones moved as one.

They compressed the encirclement, trapping Ji Xinghuo from above and below, forcing him into close-quarters combat once more.

Ji Xinghuo felt the pressure surge.

Myriad Phenomena Star Eyes!

He finally activated his Myriad Phenomena Star Eyes, and the world around him quieted. The movements of each enemy around him seemed to slow down, and in that instant, he clearly gathered information about his opponents: their speed, direction, abilities, and their next moves. Countless images flashed and jumped in his vision, foretelling the future.

Beyond the encirclement, he could also see the movements of the other enemy clones, their actions clear to him.

In the blink of an eye, the scene before Ji Xinghuo froze.

The future was within his grasp!

From the spectators' perspective, Ji Xinghuo seemed like a cornered beast, much like Titanium-Cobalt River before him. He appeared on the brink of being overwhelmed by the legion, battered and quickly pierced through his defenses, accumulating injuries until his eventual defeat.

But in Ji Xinghuo's eyes, he had already grasped his opponent's weakness, and this was just the beginning.

Clang!

Ji Xinghuo took a lightning-quick step forward, his Electric Battle Blade colliding head-on with the Tungsten Mountain Dragon Warrior's hammer. His electric spiral energy burst forth, his strength greater, and he pushed back his enemy.

At the same time, his left hand slashed diagonally backward with Melodious, parrying the Blazing Flame Dragon Warrior's spear and using the force to retreat, completely ignoring inertia. His movement trajectory formed an acute angle, and the turbulent flow drove his flux barrier, accelerating his turn to face the enemy behind him, slashing with a lightning blade.

The Misty Shadow Dragon Warrior afterimage, who had been sneaking up from behind, didn't expect Ji Xinghuo to turn around so quickly and was caught off guard.

The two nearby afterimages immediately came to their clone's aid, but it was too late.

Lightning-fast, the electric blade slashed.

One more afterimage clone was eliminated.

At this moment, the Blazing Flame Dragon afterimage lunged from the side, its spear tip glowing crimson and spewing rainbow-like flames. The terrifying heat seemed capable of piercing through the void, and even before it struck, Ji Xinghuo felt extreme danger.

Previously, Titanium-Cobalt River had been impaled by a Blazing Flame Dragon avatar, its spear piercing his heart.

Ji Xinghuo had no intention of taking that attack head-on.

In an instant, one of his shadow clones appeared at his side, blocking the spear with its body. This shadow clone, composed of only 300 stellar power, was easily impaled and burned to ashes, but it succeeded in halting the spear's momentum.

Seizing the opportunity, Ji Xinghuo employed his Instant Step to retreat, his blades dancing to parry the oncoming longsword and trident attacks from different directions.

Once more, electromagnetic oscillations and spiritual power erupted with full force.

Boom!

A million magnetic lines appeared, entangling and controlling all matter within a kilometer. All of Gu Xingli's avatars stagnated simultaneously, as if time had slowed down for them.

Ji Xinghuo split into two, brandishing the Electric Battle Blade and the Melodious sword.

This time, Gu Xingli anticipated Ji Xinghuo's outburst. Just as his blades swung, two locked-down shadow clones shifted positions with two clone avatars, enabling them to share the damage and avoid instant death.

However, just as the Thunder Cut and the Ultrasonic Blade were about to be unleashed, Ji Xinghuo's two shadow clones suddenly changed direction.

Their targets switched to the two nearby shadow clones.

"I predicted your prediction!"

The two shadow clones were immediately slain, reducing Gu Xingli's avatar count to 18. Each remaining avatar was noticeably weaker than when the battle began.

Finally, a look of astonishment appeared in Gu Xingli's eyes.

The legion's formation fell into disarray, and Ji Xinghuo seized the opportunity. He decisively abandoned the idea of recalling his shadow clones and instead burst through a gap in the encirclement with his main body, accelerating to the extreme and unleashing another Thunder Cut, this time aimed at the distant Skyfeather Dragon Warrior maintaining the spatial lock.

Without the spatial lock, the legion's encirclement would lose much of its effectiveness.

Gu Xingli was well aware of this.

He left four avatars to attack Ji Xinghuo's shadow clones while the others pursued Ji Xinghuo's main body. The Skyfeather Dragon Warrior, the fastest of them all, could reposition itself by flapping its wings, but even then, it couldn't catch up to Ji Xinghuo.

Boom! The Thunder Cut struck the Skyfeather Dragon Warrior's avatar, but the damage was shared among the other seven avatars, preventing a fatal blow. The Skyfeather Dragon Warrior was knocked back by the force of the attack.

The spatial lock was disrupted by the powerful strike.

Swish!

Ji Xinghuo instantly teleported but didn't pursue the Skyfeather Dragon Warrior. Instead, he returned to where he had come from and appeared behind a pursuing Skyfeather Dragon shadow clone, slicing it to pieces with a swift slash of his blade.

Then, in a flash of electricity, Ji Xinghuo teleported in front of a Holy Blood Dragon avatar and swung Melodious to dispatch it.

With fewer avatars and weakened strength, it became increasingly easier for Ji Xinghuo to eliminate Gu Xingli's shadow clones.

Meanwhile...

Ji Xinghuo's shadow clone, which had been under siege, was in a perilous situation. Taking advantage of the momentary chaos, it teleported back and merged with Ji Xinghuo's main body.

Ji Xinghuo attempted to teleport again, but the Whale Dragon Warrior had reactivated the spatial lock.

However, the legion's formation was in disarray from the pursuit, and the stretched battle line created gaps as they tried to regroup and re-encircle Ji Xinghuo. There weren't enough avatars to seal all the gaps, and Ji Xinghuo seized the opportunity, making a decisive move.

His blades danced as he charged towards a shadow clone, ignoring the attacks from behind and the sides, his eyes locked on the Greenthorn Dragon shadow clone before him.

The Electric Battle Blade and Melodious pierced the enemy's body, and the electric spiral energy erupted.

Boom!

The shadow clone exploded.

Several attacks landed on Ji Xinghuo, but not the Blazing Flame Dragon's spear. His Tantalum-Silicon Battle Armor shattered, and most of the attacks were blocked by the flux barrier. Even the strikes that pierced the barrier were stopped by the holy scale armor, resulting in only minor injuries.

Under the electromagnetic oscillations, Ji Xinghuo's wounds healed instantly, leaving him unhindered.

He immediately employed the Instant Step, moving on to the next shadow clone.

"No matter how many paths you take, I will take only one."

Ji Xinghuo traded blows, continuously sacrificing his shadow clones to eliminate four of Gu Xingli's avatars, all of which were shadow clones. He completely ignored the eight clone avatars.

Gu Xingli frequently shifted his avatars' positions, trying to substitute clone avatars for shadow clones to bear the brunt of Ji Xinghuo's attacks.

But time and again, he was half a step too slow.

Ji Xinghuo didn't fall for it.

It was challenging for others to distinguish between the clone and shadow avatars, including Titanium-Cobalt River. They often mistook one for the other, but this strategy was useless against Ji Xinghuo, who could see through the deception with his insightful gaze.

Moreover, Ji Xinghuo turned Gu Xingli's strategy against him, using his penetrating vision to mislead and confuse his opponent, luring the shadow clones into his path.

Bang! Bang! Bang...

Every few seconds, the Skyfeather Dragon avatar fired its Stellar Gun.

However, aside from the initial shot, none of the subsequent bullets found their mark. Ji Xinghuo always managed to dodge at the last moment, just as the gun was fired.

The Skyfeather Dragon Warrior was baffled.

Although he wasn't a dedicated marksman, his shooting skills surpassed those of most sharpshooters, and he was equipped with the Apocalypse-level Stellar Gun. In the past, he had never missed, but today, it was as if he was deliberately aiming wide.

Gu Xingli's number of avatars continued to dwindle—14, 13, 12...

With each loss, the remaining avatars weakened.

A shift in the balance of power was evident.

When Gu Xingli was left with only ten avatars, the power of the eight clone avatars dropped to the first stage of the Celestial King realm, and the two shadow clones fell from the peak of the Legendary realm to the second stage of the Legendary realm. The encirclement was severely diminished, riddled with flaws.

In contrast, Ji Xinghuo grew stronger and more courageous as the battle progressed, showing no signs of fatigue.

The spectators in Tantalum City were left dumbfounded, witnessing a battle that surpassed their understanding of legendary beings.

At this point in the fight, even those with poor eyesight could tell that Ji Xinghuo had the upper hand and was the stronger of the two.

However, some disagreed, "Gu Xingli only lost a shadow clone, and he can create more to make up for it. Even if he's left with just eight clones, Jing still can't kill him."

"Moreover, Gu Xingli definitely has an ace up his sleeve!"

Many people agreed with this statement. For Gu Xingli to have come this far, to have such high renown in the True Dragon Dynasty, and to be known as the "First Legend of the Emerald Dragon Realm," he wouldn't be so easily defeated.

"Gu Xingli is about to lose his patience," Tai Yanyanluo suddenly said on the platform in front of the Yuan Magnet Palace.

The Titanium-Cobalt Dragon King nodded slightly.

Just as the True Dragon people beside him were about to speak, within the Heart Spirit Fantasy World, they saw Ji Xinghuo enduring the attacks of the other clones as he took down the last two shadow clones.

In an instant, Gu Xingli was left with only eight clones.

Through the "Life Link," each clone could share the damage, reducing it to one-eighth of its original strength.

Ji Xinghuo attacked the Whale Dragon Warrior maintaining the spatial lock, using "Acceleration" to rush over.

The Stinger Dragon Warrior had already taken its position, standing beside the Whale Dragon Warrior. Its body turned transparent, and a blurry shadow expanded outside its body, resembling a jellyfish-like dragon shadow swimming in a dreamlike state.

A gleam flashed in the Stinger Dragon Warrior's eyes as it locked gazes with Ji Xinghuo.

At that moment, among the hundreds of millions watching the battle, everyone's spirits wavered as if they had entered a dream, only to snap out of it moments later.

The onlookers were stunned.

Even though they were outside the Heart Spirit Fantasy World, separated by a vast distance, just a glance from the Stinger Dragon had affected them.

How could Jing withstand it when he was directly locked onto by the Stinger Dragon?

"Fantasy Dream, Heart's Will!"

Some people recognized this psychic Star Fall ability and exclaimed in shock.

It could directly attack an enemy's spirit, pulling their consciousness into an illusory dream state, where everything in the dream world was under their control, and only their law prevailed.

The Stinger Dragon was primarily focused on controlling illusions, and Gu Xingli had fused the "Fantasy Dream, Heart's Will" ability with his Stinger Dragon Warrior clone, making it extremely compatible.

The Fantasy Dream, Heart's Will ability was slow to cast, and he had been waiting for the right opportunity to use it.

However, once released, it would be a decisive move. Enemies who fell for it would have their consciousness ravaged within the illusory dream state, losing their connection to their physical bodies until they were killed, perhaps never to wake up again.

This was Gu Xingli's trump card.

Any enemies who had seen this ability in the past were already dead.

For this Dragon Festival Championship and the chance to become an Ender, Gu Xingli was willing to expose his killing move. In the future, his enemies would be prepared for it, making it more difficult to successfully cast Fantasy Dream, Heart's Will, and less likely to be effective.

But in the next second, Gu Xingli's expression changed drastically.

"Why isn't it working?"

Instead of being affected, Ji Xinghuo's charge became even faster, his gaze resolute and his consciousness clear. The Fantasy Dream, Heart's Will seemed to have been cast upon a rock, with no effect at all.

All the spectators were equally baffled.

In fact, some of them didn't even realize what the Stinger Dragon Warrior had done. In their eyes, Ji Xinghuo had simply rushed forward.

"Hmm?"

The Titanium-Cobalt Dragon King raised an eyebrow, a hint of confusion in his eyes.

Based on his understanding of Fantasy Dream, Heart's Will, typical mental protection abilities should be useless against it.

Abilities like "Firm Will," "Steel Will," and "Mental Barrier" could weaken the control of Fantasy Dream, Heart's Will and allow one to break free from the illusion more quickly, but they would still be affected to some extent, unlike Ji Xinghuo who seemed completely immune.

Unless Ji Xinghuo possessed a mental protection ability of the same caliber as Fantasy Dream, Heart's Will, or he was carrying a corresponding piece of equipment.

Thunder Cut!

Ji Xinghuo slashed horizontally with his blade, and a lightning blade dozens of meters long simultaneously struck two of Gu Xingli's clones.

At the same time, a white wave of ultrasonic blade energy engulfed them.

The Stinger Dragon Warrior transformed into the Tungsten Mountain Dragon Warrior.

The blade energy struck their bodies, piercing through their protective force fields, armor, and dragon scales, turning their flesh into a bloody mess. Although they didn't suffer fatal injuries due to the damage being shared with the other clones, their wounds immediately began to heal.

The Whale Dragon Warrior stood firm, like a reef in the midst of raging waves, maintaining the spatial lock.

Ji Xinghuo swung his blade again.

The Tungsten Mountain Dragon Warrior showed no fear and stood in his way.

Suddenly, Gu Xingli's eight clones simultaneously burst with stellar power, the energy fluctuations boiling as shadows flew out from their bodies, instantly condensing into shadow clones, and there were even more of them than before!

Each clone created eight shadow clones.

In total, 72 clones!

At the same time, the eight clones all activated the "Mirror Image Medal" they were wearing, each creating two mirror images, for a total of 16.

Gu Xingli's clone count instantly reached 88!

The numerous clones almost filled the entire area, in the sky and on the ground, surrounding Ji Xinghuo from every direction. The "Legion" control ability immediately took effect, amplifying each other and pushing the strength of each clone to its peak.

Light shone, and energy boiled.

Countless clones crowded the space, blocking all paths, as they relentlessly attacked Ji Xinghuo from all sides.

"This..."

"It's terrifying!"

The hundreds of millions of spectators exclaimed in awe, unable to imagine how Jing could possibly survive such a desperate situation.

Ji Xinghuo rose into the air, ignoring the attacks landing on him, as he unleashed his electromagnetic oscillations and spiritual power without reservation. A million magnetic lines covered a thousand-meter range, controlling all the enemies and matter around him, causing them to pause momentarily.

Electricity erupted from Ji Xinghuo's eyes.

Boom!

A substantial electromagnetic field flashed with a luminosity comparable to that of a star.

Each magnetic line was composed of thick lightning bolts that pierced through the air, decomposing matter into plasma-like flames.

Ion Storm!

None of Gu Xingli's 88 avatars could escape the storm's wrath.

The overwhelming majority of his avatars and 16 mirror images were vaporized by the plasma's scorching heat and then blasted into ashes by the electrical onslaught.

In the blink of an eye, the enemies surrounding Ji Xinghuo were wiped out.

The spectators were awe-struck by the display.

However, they were also perplexed.

Wasn't Gu Xingli's Legion supposed to get stronger the more avatars there were? Why were the 88 avatars, amplifying each other's power, so easily defeated?

"Gu Xingli is getting desperate," commented the Titanium-Cobalt Dragon King.

Tai Yanyanluo nodded in agreement. "Yes, the ideal number of avatars for a Legion is 24. Any more, and the amount of stellar power invested in each avatar decreases, making it harder to compensate for the overall weakness with amplification. It seems he couldn't wait any longer."

"Jing is quick to spot the opening and responded with the Ion Storm to clear out his enemies." The Titanium-Cobalt Dragon King didn't hide his admiration.

Tai Yanyanluo's expression grew complex. "He's got this in the bag!"

Finally, a smile of joy appeared on Tai Yanyanluo's face. Without needing the analysis of the two Seventh-Stage powerhouses, she could tell that the tide had turned decisively.

Gu Xingli had maximized his number of avatars, only to lose them in an instant, depleting over ninety percent of his stellar power.

He was left with only eight clone avatars.

Although these clone avatars hadn't been directly vaporized by the Ion Storm, they were severely weakened, their faces pale and their bodies badly wounded. The injuries inflicted by the Ion Storm were slow to heal, leaving them bloody and mangled.

On the other hand, Ji Xinghuo still had nearly ten thousand points of stellar power, and his three Ether Harmonics were rapidly regenerating his strength.

Gu Xingli refused to give up.

The followers of the Doomsday Dragon never conceded defeat. In the Doomsday Dragon Rite, one fought until the very end, until annihilation.

At this point, the safe zone had shrunk to a circle with a diameter of less than ten kilometers.

The countdown timer showed less than three star-beats.

Ji Xinghuo immediately took action, brandishing his sword and blade as he charged at the enemy. His first target was still the Stinger Dragon Warrior avatar, as it was the weakest.

The other seven avatars rushed to surround him.

However, Ji Xinghuo completely ignored their attacks, focusing solely on the Stinger Dragon Warrior avatar. No matter which avatar Gu Xingli swapped in, Ji Xinghuo relentlessly assaulted the avatar in front of him.

At this point, Gu Xingli's strength had declined significantly, and the attacks from his avatars could no longer penetrate Ji Xinghuo's defenses. There was no need for Ji Xinghuo to be overly cautious.

Thunder Cut, Ultrasonic Blade, Electric Spiral Force, Lightning Blast! Ji Xinghuo relentlessly pressed his assault.

Gu Xingli's eight avatars failed to form an effective encirclement, and Ji Xinghuo easily outmaneuvered them in close quarters.

No matter which avatar was swapped in, it immediately faced a barrage of attacks.

Gu Xingli kept shifting his avatars to distribute the damage, but everyone could see that he was stalling for time. As long as he endured until the end of the Doomsday Dragon Rite, when they were both killed by the Doomsday Blackflame Dragon, they would tie for second place, and he wouldn't truly lose.

Of course, Ji Xinghuo understood his opponent's intentions.

But he wasn't in a hurry.

Gu Xingli's clone avatars took turns enduring Ji Xinghuo's attacks, sharing the damage and retreating to heal before swapping back in to hold off Ji Xinghuo's advance.

With one star-beat left on the countdown, the terrifying breath of the Doomsday Blackflame Dragon loomed overhead, signaling the impending destruction of this world.

The safe zone's diameter was now less than one kilometer, and the battle continued unabated.

The hundreds of millions of spectators were on the edge of their seats.

"Faster!"

"Why can't he finish off Gu Xingli? Is he really going to let it end in mutual destruction?"

"He needs to make his move now, or it'll be too late!"

"I don't want to see a tie for second place. I want to see the champion of the Dragon Rite, the Ender!"

The people in Tantalum City couldn't contain their excitement. Just as they were feeling tense and disappointed, Ji Xinghuo unleashed another burst of electricity, and his substantialized electromagnetic field enveloped the entire safe zone, immobilizing Gu Xingli's eight avatars.

Time seemed to slow down.

Ji Xinghuo's eyes emitted a ray of light that twisted and turned, locking onto one of the avatars. In an instant, the avatar was engulfed in searing heat and penetrated by the ray.

In the blink of an eye, the avatar was on the verge of disintegration.

Gu Xingli hastily swapped out the avatar, but he couldn't do it in time.

Boom! Before he could sever the life link, the Tungsten Mountain Dragon Warrior avatar exploded.

The damage it received exceeded its limit, even with the damage being shared by the other seven avatars.

In that moment, all eight of Gu Xingli's avatars simultaneously perished, exploding into eight blobs of blood and gore.

[Spiritual Source Energy +411]



Ji Xinghuo ceased his electromagnetic ray, and the electricity in his eyes faded away.

He hovered in mid-air, his expression calm as if everything that had transpired was only to be expected and not worth celebrating.

Only one of the Seven Dragon Guards remained.

Time froze in the Heart Spirit Fantasy World, and the Doomsday Blackflame Dragon was frozen in the sky, its world-ending dragon breath about to engulf Ji Xinghuo. The space in front of him rippled and slowly closed, disconnecting everyone who was watching the Doomsday Dragon Rite.

Cheers erupted in Tantalum City, shaking the heavens.

"Wow, Jing wins..."

"The champion of the Doomsday Dragon Rite, the final victor, a new Ender has been born!"

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end