[710] Everyone's Growth

On the deck of the Aska, everyone remained completely composed—in fact, they had seen this sort of thing so often that nothing fazed them anymore. Over the years, fighting time and again to compete for Calamity Origin, they had survived countless battles big and small, transforming from raw recruits into hardened veterans. Finishing off the wine in his hand, Zhang Shou stood up and asked, "Do you want a one-on-one, or do you want our whole crew ganging up on the two of you?" "One-on-one, of course, or two-on-two! Don't tell me you shameless lot plan to overwhelm us with sheer numbers?" Robos retorted immediately. Although they were not afraid of being mobbed—as brothers united could hold off a million troops—given the choice, they naturally preferred not to be jumped by a crowd. Zhang Shou nodded. "One-on-one it is, then. And just so you know... there's no two-on-two option. It's either all of us beating on the two of you, or one-on-one." "Hmph, fine! Then I'll fight you!" Apollo had a naturally hot temper and spoke up without hesitation. Zhang Shou nodded. "Works for me. As for your younger brother, come on over and have some tea first." "You know who we are?" Robos felt a bad premonition creep over him. Zhang Shou smiled. "The Sun and Moon Brothers. You're hunting for prey, and we're hunting for prey. Isn't running into each other just perfect?" "..." Robos's heart sank slightly. It seemed this was no chance encounter. In fact, the other side had likely figured out their backgrounds and capabilities down to the last detail. This was not going to be an easy fight. Zhang Shou stepped off the deck. In the next instant, he appeared in the void several hundred meters away and called out, "If you want to fight, hurry it up. If not, hand over the Origin and get the hell out of here, nice and snappy." "Brother, be careful," Robos could only caution, before flickering through space to hover near the Aska. Still, he did not board the ship, much less join them for tea. Contests over Origins between Mighty Ones were not necessarily battles to the death. As long as an Origin Seed had not yet been condensed, there was always room to retreat; only once an Origin Seed was formed did one truly reach the point of no return. This was because an Origin Seed and its Mighty One shared glory and ruin alike; only by killing a Mighty One could their Origin Seed be extracted and swallowed. Right now, the Sun and Moon Brothers had yet to decide which of them would condense an Origin Seed, nor had Nora's side condensed one either. Thus, neither party had any intention of turning this into a lethal showdown. Naturally, whichever side lost would have to yield their Calamity Origin. This was an unspoken understanding that had gradually formed over the years among certain Mighty Ones who were less inclined toward senseless slaughter. The Sun and Moon Brothers were among them; they had already seized Origins several times, yet had never killed their defeated foes in the end. Yet this carried both pros and cons. The advantage was that if they ran into an opponent they could not beat, they might also be spared. The disadvantage was that their intelligence had been leaked. Many people even knew the locations where they were likely to show up—and Nora's group had come specifically to intercept them. Therefore, their meeting was no accident at all, but an event bound to happen. ... ... In the void, Zhang Shou gripped his saber, his eyes fixed on Apollo. From his early days of constantly getting battered, he had grown as well. The Dao of the Saber inherently demanded endless battles and nonstop slaughter to grow stronger. Having survived countless battles on the razor's edge of life and death, Zhang Shou now carried a fierce, brutal aura even before unsheathing his blade. Moreover, a long scar now marked his face. That scar had come from his closest brush with death, so he had intentionally preserved it to constantly remind himself of his state of mind at that moment and that bone-deep thrill of bordering on death. Now, drawing his saber, he slashed once toward a distant meteorite, sending an arc of saber qi hurtling toward the rock. Seeing Apollo's puzzled look, Zhang Shou chuckled. "How about we start the second that saber qi hits the meteorite?" "Fine by me!" Apollo nodded in agreement. The saber qi traveled at a steady speed, making the moment of impact easy to anticipate. Zhang Shou did not pull any cheap tricks either; after all, underhanded tactics were uncouth and rather pointless. The instant the saber qi struck the meteorite, Apollo raised his hand, unleashing miniature suns that blasted toward Zhang Shou. Zhang Shou flickered through the air, shearing every miniature sun in two in a flash, and had already closed the distance to Apollo, bringing his blade chopping toward Apollo's head. "Great Sun Ring!" At that very instant, Apollo deployed his weapon. It was an unusual weapon. Far from a simple circular ring, its inner rim was smoothly circular and razor-sharp, while its outer edge was lined with numerous flame-shaped blades. One could easily imagine how, once spun, the outer edge would saw through anything like serrated teeth, while the interior resembled a flying guillotine—if slipped over an enemy's head, it could sever it in an instant. Rising from behind him, the Great Sun Ring collided with Zhang Shou's saber in an instant. With just that single clash, the Great Sun Ring erupted with terrifying heat. Zhang Shou disengaged the moment they touched, rapidly backing away from the scorching heat while calling out, "Don't hold back. I know your weapon can explode too. What was it called again? Solar Flare?" "You'll see it soon enough!" Apollo retorted. He then commanded the Great Sun Ring to spin rapidly as it pressed the attack. Yet Zhang Shou was no longer the fledgling scrub anyone could bully back in the day. Having taken plenty of beatings, his footwork and movement had vastly improved. Facing the assaults of the Great Sun Ring, he dodged effortlessly with a few flickers, even finding the leisure to slash multiple arcs of saber qi back toward Apollo. In the past, his saber qi had not posed much of a threat, but now it was utterly terrifying: blisteringly fast, devastatingly powerful, and imbued with an aura of life and death cycling into one another. Even someone with astonishing defensive strength struck by his blade would, in all likelihood, have their vital essence drained and necrotic death qi injected into them. The sensation was roughly akin to being forced by one's wife to turn in marital rations every single day for an entire month straight. Naturally, Apollo did not dare take Zhang Shou's saber qi head-on. He could only bombard them with sun after sun, even conjuring the phenomenon of ten suns blazing across the sky behind his back to vastly amplify his offensive power, seeking to shatter Zhang Shou's saber qi in a single blow. Both combatants constantly shifted positions in the void, relentlessly attacking one another. Wherever the saber qi passed, matter split in two, trailing remnants of death qi in its wake; meanwhile, around Apollo, the temperature soared limitlessly, forging a domain of intense heat where nothing existed except boiling energy. "A miscalculation." "Just one of them is already this strong." "It looks like I have to find a way to secure at least one victory, so we can walk away from this contest with a draw." Watching Zhang Shou fight on equal footing with his elder brother in a dead heat, Robos wore a poker face, but his heart sank sharply. He was certain Zhang Shou was definitely not the strongest among them; after all, Zhang Shou had not been sitting in the primary seat. His own upcoming opponent might be even stronger. Thus, he needed to seize the initiative. If his brother lost, perhaps he could use that as an excuse to pick his opponent himself. Then who on their side was on the weaker end? Robos quietly observed the crew on the deck of the Aska. First, he ruled out Nora, who sat in the main seat, and Niman beside her. Both were women, but one look told him they were not to be trifled with. Next were Gong Qian and the others, who felt roughly on par with Zhang Shou. Finally, his gaze landed on the two little ones.