The True Meaning of Order

[Match Found] [Opponent has accepted your wager] [Opponent has initiated a wager: The loser must yield all level experience to the winner. Do you accept?] Just then, the text on the light screen shifted. An opponent had been matched. Not only had this challenger agreed to Yu Xian's wager, but his counter-wager raised the stakes even higher. Yu Xian looked at the final line of text, his eyes narrowing slightly as he formed his first impression of the contender. A lunatic. A very powerful lunatic. *Could it be... that Shi Bao?* Yu Xian stroked his chin and chose to decline the opponent's wager. Losing a single level was tolerable, but going all-in with all of his experience was far too risky. Just then, his opponent was teleported across the ring. Sure enough, one look at his appearance confirmed he was a madman. The first thing Yu Xian noticed was that the man wore no shirt. Scars riddled his body—some from claws, some from blades, and many so bizarre that even Yu Xian couldn't tell what kind of weapons had inflicted them. [Yu Xian (137 Points) VS Dao Lang (101 Points). Match start!] The next second, movement was unlocked. Yu Xian instantly activated Forward Light Shield, while Dao Lang let out a long howl and charged straight at him. "Come, let's fight! Let's tear each other to pieces!" Mid-stride, Dao Lang's body rapidly morphed into the form of a metallic werewolf. A blade protruded from his head, running along the length of his spine all the way to his tail, gleaming with a chilling, radiant sheen. Yu Xian couldn't even be bothered to speak. He simply steered Forward Light Shield straight toward him. In truth, Yu Xian was quite hoping Dao Lang wouldn't dodge and would crash head-on into Forward Light Shield. Unfortunately, Dao Lang only seemed insane on the surface; in reality, he was calculating. An instant before Forward Light Shield collided with him, he leaped high into the air, evading the impact. Midair, he whipped his tail around, slashing swiftly at Yu Xian. But in the next split second, an umbrella snapped open, cleanly blocking the tail's strike. Grip tightening on the Wolf-Tooth Umbrella, Yu Xian abruptly spun the shaft with immense force. The canopy of the Wolf-Tooth Umbrella was bristling with spikes. As it rotated, the spikes snagged firmly on Dao Lang's tail. Yu Xian swung hard, while Forward Light Shield coordinated with his throwing motion to execute a high-speed drift across the arena. Under the enormous centrifugal force, Dao Lang had nowhere to find purchase in midair. He was instantly spun around like someone being swung by the tail. Finally, Yu Xian gave the umbrella shaft a twist, releasing the snagged tail, and Dao Lang's massive body was hurled away. Boom! Dao Lang crashed down, gouging a heavy crater into the floor before skidding a considerable distance to a halt. Up in the air, Yu Xian held his umbrella and stood atop Forward Light Shield, looking down at Dao Lang to gauge his condition. He felt a twinge of regret. Had he known his opponent wasn't Shi Bao, he would have accepted the wager. Formidable though Dao Lang was, Yu Xian felt confident he could take him down. If he had agreed just now, all of Dao Lang's experience points would be his. Down on the floor, Dao Lang stirred. He slowly rolled over and pushed himself up onto all fours, twisting his body before gradually raising his head toward Yu Xian in the air. "Rank three truly lives up to the title. You're pretty tough. But... I still have a trump card!" Dao Lang said excitedly. He lowered his head and clamped both arms around his legs, curling into a tight ball. His tail connected seamlessly with his head, and the blade running down his spine formed a continuous circular ring. "Galloping Wolf Ring Blade!" Dao Lang himself didn't spin, but the blade along his back began to flow in a blur. In an instant, he tore across the arena, leaving deep gouges wherever he passed. At first, he circled the ring. Gradually, he began running along the walls of the spectator stands. A protective barrier separated the stands from the arena, and he could even run along the barrier. Circling at breakneck speed, he rapidly climbed until he was level with Yu Xian. Next came the attack. He lunged swiftly at Yu Xian, the razor-sharp ring blade buzzing like a chainsaw with terrifying cutting power. Yu Xian blocked the strike with the Wolf-Tooth Umbrella. Failing to break through with one hit, Dao Lang immediately dropped back to the floor and resumed circling the arena. Yu Xian frowned, feeling this was dragging out far too long. The problem was that Dao Lang's all-metal body possessed exceptionally high defense, and backed by that spinning ring blade on his back, he was genuinely tough to dispatch. Unless Dao Lang was foolish enough to slam into Forward Light Shield on his own, the shield could hardly threaten him. Then there was the skill With and Against the Flow: if there were sufficient natural phenomena around, its power was immense, but without special conditions, its damage was mediocre. There were virtually no natural phenomena to exploit in the arena. At best, the skill's firepower would match a Barrett sniper rifle. Against ordinary creatures, that was plenty, but against transcendent beings, it was far too weak. Just then, Dao Lang slashed in again. Yu Xian's brow furrowed. Swinging the Wolf-Tooth Umbrella fiercely, weapon clashed against blade, sending sparks flying in every direction. Another whiff. Sure enough, Dao Lang didn't linger for a fraction of a second, breaking away instantly and leaving Yu Xian floating in midair with umbrella in hand. "At that kind of speed, I doubt you can keep it up forever," Yu Xian probed, watching Dao Lang loop across the ground. Dao Lang laughed maniacally as he kept moving at high speed. "Then let's see whose stamina runs out first, yours or mine! Hahahahaha!" In his metallic wolf form, his body housed a nuclear fusion magic core that supplied an endless stream of magico-electric power. Moving at this velocity, he wouldn't tire even after ten thousand years. In a battle of attrition, he had absolute confidence he could wear Yu Xian down to the bone. Hearing Dao Lang's boast, Yu Xian deduced that the man likely possessed absurd endurance. If it came down to a war of attrition, he might actually lose. Though he had an abundance of Grand Dao Myriad Phenomena power, it couldn't replenish his physical stamina, let alone restore his depleted mental energy. *The power of Grand Dao Myriad Phenomena is fundamentally a power of order, capable of magnifying all natural phenomena.* Yu Xian reviewed his abilities, concluding that breaking this deadlock would still require Grand Dao Myriad Phenomena. But where should he apply it? There were no natural phenomena here. Yet... was order truly confined to natural phenomena? As he defended against Dao Lang's sporadic attacks, a thought grew sharper and clearer in his mind. What was order? It was solidified chaos—truths that had settled into regular laws. Yu Xian's eyes grew brighter and brighter. Suddenly, he snapped the Wolf-Tooth Umbrella shut, collapsing it from shield form into a spiky club. Every form, every stance. Methodical, structured, precise. From nothing to something; from riddled with flaws to watertight perfection. All martial arts, all stances. All skills were, in their own right, a part of order. Dao Lang struck once more. This time, Yu Xian didn't dodge or parry defensively. He simply tightened his grip around the spiked club. "Come on, then!" Yu Xian raised his arm, watching Dao Lang close the distance. With a resounding roar, he swung the spiked club downward toward Dao Lang. Cleave Mount Hua! Arguably the earliest martial technique ever wielded by humanity. It was nothing more than raising whatever weapon was in hand and bringing it crashing down with all one's might—whether a saber, a staff, or a spiked club. The Wolf-Tooth Umbrella collided with Dao Lang's blade in a flash. In that instant, the power of Grand Dao Myriad Phenomena erupted! Dao Lang felt as though a mountain had crashed down on him from above. The blade along his back snapped clean in half on impact. Before he could even scream, he plummeted like a falling meteor and slammed violently into the arena floor. In the span of a lightning flash, the victor was decided.