The Terrifying Right Hand

Xu Xiaoshou woke as if from a dream.

In the group stage, he had stood against the crowd; in the breakout stage, he had consecutively defeated tenth-ranked Liu Zhen and seventh-ranked Wen Chong; in the advancement stage, he had faced half-innate Zhou Tianshen and entirely innate Chao Qingteng...

And those two both possessed acquired Intent!

Then there had been the "parasite" and "vampire," Mu Zixi, in the semifinals...

Along this road through the Wind and Cloud Tournament, he had passed five gates and slain six generals, enduring untold hardship and bitterness.

Xu Xiaoshou felt like the most unfortunate person in the world.

Look at Mo Mo. All the way here, she had only used one hand.

What a bleak contrast...

His face suddenly turned cool. Xu Xiaoshou slowly woke and saw a staff member wiping his face, and he could not help feeling touched.

"The finals?"

"Mm."

The staff member responded, stuffed the rag back into the basin, and watched Xu Xiaoshou stride away.

Sigh, what kind of person was this? His heart was so big that he could even fall asleep moments before the finals...

Received admiration, Passive Value +1.

Xu Xiaoshou suddenly turned around. The staff member jumped, hurriedly moving the basin behind his back to hide the rag.

"What?"

"What do you mean, what?"

Xu Xiaoshou was utterly baffled. He summoned Hidden Pain and leaped onto it with his back facing the door.

The black sword drifted slowly, its rider poised and elegant.

The staff member: "..."

Received curses, Passive Value +1.

Why the hell did you have to fly your sword backward? Couldn't you face forward? Didn't you know staring at someone like that could easily lead to misunderstandings? Xu Xiaoshou found this incredibly strange. Cursing him again for no reason? He had always felt that the two staff members in his waiting area were inexplicable, but that was fine. Once they parted, they probably would never meet again.

He waved, bidding farewell to those two idiots who could at most give him "+2."

Received ridicule, Passive Value +449.
Received doubt, Passive Value +224.
Received admiration, Passive Value +3.

Once he left the waiting area, Xu Xiaoshou cheered up again. Wind and Cloud Token in one hand, he twisted his head as hard as he could and wore the most sincere smile possible.

Sure enough, crowds were his battlefield.

Just look at that Passive Value...

Hm? Why were there only three instances of admiration?

Heh, what right did you humans who could not even fly have to mock him?

Thinking this, Xu Xiaoshou raised the black sword another level, seemingly wanting to put more distance between himself and ordinary people.

Received ridicule, Passive Value +541.
Received ridicule, Passive Value +623.

Hm? There were bonus gains too?

Xu Xiaoshou's eyes lit up, and he rose another zhang.

Received ridicule, Passive Value +777.

Oh-ho...

Again!

Received ridicule, Passive Value +864.

Good, good! Keep going...

"Ow!"

He suddenly felt his head collide with something overhead...

This was high in the air. Could there really be an aerial accident?

Xu Xiaoshou looked up.

Xiao Qixiu's face was as dark as water. His right hand gripped the sword on his back, his voice so calm it was as though he were speaking to a dead man.

"Keep flying. It's fine. You can fly even higher."

"Oh, it's Lord Referee!"

Xu Xiaoshou instantly put on a fawning smile and plunged headfirst into the barrier.

Holy shit! That scared me to death!

"Hahaha, this Xu Xiaoshou, I'm truly convinced!"

The audience laughed until they doubled over. There was truly no one else who could provoke Elder Xiao into such fury.

Opposite him.

Mo Mo had never left the arena. She had even been regulating her breath onstage, so naturally she had witnessed Xu Xiaoshou's cowardly retreat.

A smile rested on her lips. "Xu Xiaoshou, I watched your matches during the group stage. You're very... humorous."

She deliberated for quite a while before forcing out that word.

Received praise, Passive Value +1.

Xu Xiaoshou had been staring at her bronze furnace—or, more precisely, at Mo Mo's right hand holding the bronze furnace.

"It's so beautiful!"

The sudden confession made Mo Mo's cheeks redden. This was the first time in her life someone had told her to her face that she was beautiful.

Just as she wondered whether she should compliment him in return, Xu Xiaoshou hurriedly added, "I mean the bronze furnace."

Mo Mo: "..."

Xu Xiaoshou scratched his head, feeling that this did not seem right either.

"Of course, you're beautiful too. It's a different kind of beauty from the bronze furnace."

Mo Mo: "..."

Received curses, Passive Value +1.

Xu Xiaoshou: ???

What was going on? He had praised her for being pretty, and she still cursed him? Heh, women! He stepped forward, seemingly drawn to the bronze furnace, looking as though he wanted to touch it but felt it would be abrupt. In the end, he could not help asking, "May I take a look at this?"

Mo Mo hesitated, but still extended her hand and passed the bronze furnace over.

If it had been anyone else, that would have been impossible. But this guy...

Forget it. He had barely counted as complimenting her just now. She would take it as sincere.

There was no harm in letting him look.

Having received permission, Xu Xiaoshou immediately stepped forward and grasped Mo Mo's right hand. It was warm, pleasantly soft.

"You..."

As if shocked by electricity, Mo Mo let go, leaving only the bronze furnace cradled in Xu Xiaoshou's palm.

Xu Xiaoshou stared at her in astonishment. His gaze dropped to her right hand, and he seemed only then to realize something.

He hurriedly apologized. "Sorry, I was abrupt. I was only drawn to this bronze furnace. I had no other intentions..."

"Hoo... It's fine."

Mo Mo let out a breath and waved slightly, thinking that this fellow looked so sincere that he probably had not done it on purpose.

For a moment, the audience was utterly bewildered by their antics. Why were they being so polite?

Praising each other, touching hands... why not just hold hands successfully and end the match?

"What are you doing? Why haven't you started yet?"

"What's the rush? Xu Xiaoshou has time to regulate his breath. Besides, what's wrong with looking at a bronze furnace? If you can't wait, then don't watch!"

"What's so interesting about a bronze furnace?"

"Heh, the divine artifact that never leaves first place's hand. If it were me, I'd want to see it too!"

Xu Xiaoshou could not care less about the outside world. He pretended to examine the bronze furnace while his heart pounded wildly.

It was real! His feeling had been real! The moment he entered the arena, under the coverage of Perception, he had vaguely detected a terrifying energy within the barrier that differed from ordinary people.

After searching for a long time, his target had finally settled on Mo Mo's right hand holding the bronze furnace.

Yet without contact, he was destined to be unable to sense it clearly. In order to touch that right hand, he had lured Mo Mo in step by step, and at last his wish had come true.

At the instant of contact just now, he had clearly sensed that the energy contained in Mo Mo's right hand exceeded all the spiritual essence in her entire body combined...

At least tenfold! And that did not even include the energy he had failed to detect! What the hell...

What kind of terrifying monster was she?! One had to know that Mo Mo had used her left hand all the way into the finals!

Xu Xiaoshou panicked. He felt that the opponent before him was not on the same level at all as Chao Qingteng, Mu Zixi, and the like.

He recalled Elder Qiao's letter.

Sealing art...

"Don't scare me. Could it be that an entire arm full of eyes is sealed inside?"

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