Chapter Thirty-Five: Who Is the True Beneficiary?

The battle in the square continued, with Qin Shuang and Jue Wushen exchanging blows. Fists, palms, and kicks rained down upon one another. Qin Shuang had ceased meeting Jue Wushen’s attacks head-on, opting instead to circle him. Although Jue Wushen lacked speed, his defensive maneuvers were always efficient and close-range, allowing him to parry all of Qin Shuang’s techniques. Even when a stray punch or kick landed, Jue Wushen’s "Indestructible Golden Body" rendered him completely unscathed, as if he had not been struck at all.

Though Nie Feng and Bu Jingyun held the upper hand against Po Jun, the latter periodically unleashed bursts of profound internal energy to counterattack. The sound of blades and swords clashing filled the air as the three remained locked in a fierce struggle. Jue Xin continued to feign effort, keeping Duan Lang slightly suppressed. Jue Di was already dead, and Tian Xing had finally gained absolute dominance over the Captor God, whose situation was dire; without a new technique, he faced imminent defeat and death.

Further away, Sun Hao and Zhang Xing led the elites of the World Martial Arts Union and the Eight Great Sects in a bloody slaughter against the Ghost-Faced Rakshasa and the Gold-Faced Rakshasa. Yet, both Sun Hao and Zhang Xing understood that even a victory here would be futile. A massive encirclement might force Jue Wushen back, but it could never kill him. Moreover, with his Indestructible Golden Body, if Qin Shuang failed to defeat him, even a combined assault by their entire army would not be enough to break his defenses.

As the Captor God’s situation worsened, Xiong Ba, watching from afar, was forced to divert his attention toward him. "Wawa, prepare to act. If the Captor God falls, save him!" Wawa, also known as the Child Emperor, practiced the Child Emperor Sutra, a mental technique specifically designed to disrupt those with wavering minds. Because Wawa’s mental techniques were silent and subtle, they were difficult for others to detect. This was also how Wawa had sensed that something was amiss with the Dog King, the Limbs, and Dance. Wawa had already decided that after this, he must find an opportunity to leave Xiong Ba’s side; otherwise, he would never know when his own people might turn against him.

As for whether the Captor God had any hidden cards, Xiong Ba knew exactly what he possessed. He had taught him the Wind God’s Kicks, the Cloud-Piercing Palms, and the Frost Fists, but Xiong Ba was not entirely certain if the Captor God, who desperately sought to sever ties with him, would actually use them. Preparing Wawa was merely a secondary precaution. Even as a supreme hegemon, and despite the discord between father and son, Xiong Ba could not bear to watch the Captor God perish before his eyes. Qin Shuang, observing the Captor God’s plight, remained unhurried; knowing from the Dog King and the others that Xiong Ba was nearby, he understood that if anyone should be anxious, it was Xiong Ba.

Just as the Captor God’s crisis deepened, Dance finally caught up with the Supreme Ruler. With a casual strike, Dance killed the soldiers guarding him. "Who sent you?" the Supreme Ruler asked, hoping to win Dance over or at least stall for time. "I act on the orders of Sect Leader Xiong to send the fake Supreme Ruler to his grave!"

Dance raised a hand to strike. At that moment, Wu Ming was nearing the courtyard, only two steps away. "I am the real Supreme Ruler! I am the real one!" the Supreme Ruler screamed as Dance gripped his throat. Hearing the cries, Wu Ming quickened his pace. "Truth or falsehood matters not. If I say you are a fake, you are a fake!" With that, Dance covered the Supreme Ruler’s mouth and prepared to twist his neck with lethal force. The Supreme Ruler struggled, his muffled cries unintelligible.

Wu Ming arrived just as Dance was delivering the killing blow and shouted, "Stop!" He unleashed a sword aura, aiming for a critical point to force Dance to let go and save the Supreme Ruler. Alas, Dance, with his back to Wu Ming, seemed not to hear, as if all his senses were lost. After stubbornly completing his task, he was struck down by Wu Ming’s sword aura. Dance and the Supreme Ruler fell together; even in death, Dance’s hands remained clamped around the Supreme Ruler’s head, which had been twisted one hundred and eighty degrees.

Wu Ming stumbled toward them, hoping to find a flicker of life in the Supreme Ruler. With a final shred of hope, he reached out to check for breath, but his hand soon fell limp. He rose unsteadily, suppressing his grief and ignoring the warnings of his own reaching-its-limit body, and walked away step by step.

On the battlefield, sensing the death of the Supreme Ruler, Qin Shuang smiled at Jue Wushen. "My thanks. Your role is played out; you may exit the stage now." Without giving Jue Wushen time to react, Qin Shuang poured his power into his "Nine Heavens of Ice and Jade." He unleashed five consecutive strikes of the Ten Great Martial Arts’ "Mountain and Sea Fist Sutra": "Overturning Rivers and Seas," "Dragon Shadows Intertwining," "Coiling Dragon Entwining the Moon," "Coiling Dragon Flying," and "Piercing the Yellow Dragon."

During the first move, Jue Wushen blocked three punches but took three, his reaction speed beginning to falter. The subsequent four moves landed forty-six more blows, totaling forty-nine punches. After the forty-ninth, Jue Wushen was transformed into an ice sculpture—not only frozen on the surface, but with his blood and internal organs solidified. During their earlier exchanges, Qin Shuang had been secretly embedding cold energy into Jue Wushen’s body with every landed blow. This cold energy had numbed Jue Wushen’s senses, only to be detonated at the perfect moment to cripple his reflexes. Once he fell behind, every subsequent punch only slowed him further until he was encased in ice.

Qin Shuang gave him a light push, and Jue Wushen shattered into shards of ice. Seeing this, Jue Xin immediately used his full strength to force back Duan Lang, then retreated from the battlefield along a pre-planned route. Po Jun also unleashed his full power to push back Nie Feng and Bu Jingyun, cast one look at Qin Shuang, and vanished from the fray. Tian Xing, who had been a strike away from killing the Captor God, let out a furious cry of "Master!" upon seeing the turn of events, then glared at the others, struck his own forehead, and fell dead.

Wawa, who had been prepared to save the Captor God, stood down. Xiong Ba, still waiting for an opening, was stunned; Jue Wushen’s death had been so sudden that he hadn't had time to react. The entire battlefield collapsed in a chain reaction, and the great war came to an end. Qin Shuang struggled to recover the energy he had just exhausted. It had been a momentary window of vulnerability, but Xiong Ba, distracted by the Captor God’s fate, had failed to seize it. By the time Xiong Ba considered acting, the departure of Jue Xin and Po Jun meant that Qin Shuang’s forces now held enough power to deter him, leaving him with no desire to continue the fight.