148 Chapter 147: Might of the Battle Puppe (2/2)
Well, I could do it for him if he paid me a tremendous sum of money, but after his attempts to kill me and Zhu Jiao, he had burned that bridge. Serves him right.
In any case, judging from his stunned expression, it seemed that Jiang Jun Hao had never imagined that the battle puppet that he so fiercely desired would actually appear in Zhu Jiao's hands.
”Just how many treasures did this kid obtain in the tomb?!”
”Now you're showing off, aren't you?!” I snapped at Zhu Jiao, irritated. ”You want to show your protagonist luck and power, how many treasures you acquired in the ancient tomb, don't you?! You had the advantage and were clearly winning. Why even bother with the battle-automata? You could have won without it.”
The battle-automata was a mid-level battle puppet similar to the Castellax that I had obtained, but it sported a different chassis. For one thing, it did not mount a ranged weapon over its shoulder, and was instead built for close combat. Crackling qi arced around its thick forearms like silver electricity, and what appeared to be power claws clacked incessantly.
A Domitar-class battle-automata, a monstrous machine built for melee engagements, usually functioning as a monster slayer. In the past, owners would set these ferocious killing machines on magical beasts and demonic creatures, hunting them down mercilessly. It could even perform anti-vehicle duties with haywire attacks!
”Ha ha ha…I didn't have the advantage that you think I have.”
Zhu Jiao had dropped his voice to a whisper. I then noticed how his qi was circulating sluggishly in his system, and how his arms were trembling uncontrollably. It appeared that he had been injured in the last exchange.
”If I continued to fight that bastard head-on, my Heavenly Golden Draconic Gauntlets would have been destroyed. And I can barely feel my arms…I don't think I'll be able to throw another punch.” He swallowed. ”I have no choice.”
On the other end, Jiang Jun Hao had turned very pale. He clearly knew how powerful this battle-automata was. Not only could it fight on par with a Pure Spirit Stage practitioner, it did not have the capacity to feel any pain. It could shrug off debilitating injuries that could incapacitate a living, human martial artist and continue fighting on as relentlessly as before. Essentially it was the perfect killing machine, a la the Terminator. T800. Cold, relentless and merciless, and pretty much unstoppable.
It would be a formidable opponent. I was glad that we had one on our side.
Zhu Jiao jumped up to hover above his battle-automata and stared coldly at the slightly injured Jiang Jun Hao, an icy smile spreading across his handsome face. He reached into his spatial bag and grabbed a handful of Pure Yuan Pills, which he then fed into his Domitar-class battle-automata without any hesitation.
Damn it…I knew that scoundrel somehow got his hands on tons of Pure Yuan Pills! The luck of a protagonist was so overpowered it might as well be considered a cheat ability! While normal people like me were doomed forever to mediocrity, the protagonists always had convenient encounters that got them whatever they needed for a crisis! It was so beyond coincidence or convenience that it seemed like the whole plot revolved around them or something!
Why couldn't anything good happen to me!? Why did Zhu Jiao have all the luck!?
Okay, perhaps that was an exaggeration. I did have some good fortune of my own, and had an army of non-functional battle-automata, the yin-based elixir, and an Azure Lotus Sword. But even so my luck was nowhere as near as Zhu Jiao's. For one thing, he had a functioning battle-automata. As for me, until I repaired or reinscribed the Spirit Engravings (which was a long, tedious and complicated process for even one of those damned things), the battle-automata would essentially be useless. Whereas I got myself a bunch of junk that I had to repair and restore by myself, Zhu Jiao found thousands of Pure Yuan Pills, got himself a minimum mid-class Spirit Treasure Weapon, a functioning Domitar-class battle-automata (which was considered an Elite rather than the normal Troops-type Castellax-class and Thallax-class battle puppets I acquired) and even got to have sex with an ultra-beautiful girl.
Some people had all the luck. Zhu Jiao's luck was clearly protagonist-level.
He also conveniently happened to come across a huge stash of Pure Yuan Pills that turned out to be useful for this current encounter, as if this whole thing had been plotted out from the beginning. Even though the battle puppet consumed a huge amount of Pure Yuan Pills whenever it attacked, Zhu Jiao didn't care. As long as he was able to cripple or kill the bastard, he was willing to go bankrupt.
”You do realize that you can just infuse the battle-automata with your own qi, don't you?” I called out. ”If you're not going to fight, you might as well use your qi instead of spending Pure Yuan Pills. You have three sexagenaries of qi, I'm sure you can spare some!”
”I tried,” Zhu Jiao replied without glancing at me. ”But my injuries caused my qi circulation to be clogged up, so I was unable to infuse it with my qi. Moreover, I need my inner qi now to recover from the wounds that son of a bitch dealt me.”
I nodded in understanding. Fair enough.
After the elite Domitar-class battle-automata absorbed the Pure Yuan Pills, it glowed even more brightly than before. An ominous red glow appeared in its eyes as it focused its optical lenses on the trembling Jiang Jun Hao.
”Go!”
Casually feeding his new toy two thousand Pure Yuan Pills before he could feel his heart ache, Zhu Jiao commanded his battle-automata with a flick of his hand. In an instant, the Domitar-class battle-automata vanished into a blur as it dashed forward at an extremely fearsome speed. Before Jiang Jun Hao could react, the battle puppet appeared in front of him and threw a devastating punch with its fiercely glowing arc claws.
Bam!
Jiang Jun Hao wasn't able to catch up to the battle puppet's speed. He suddenly realized how difficult it was for him to deal with a battle puppet on his own. Unable to avoid it, he parried its punch with his golden Heavenly Spear.
Crash!
Like a battleship carving a path through an iceberg, the silver fist slammed heavily against the Heavenly Spear with such formidable strength that it actually directly bent the shaft of the Spirit Treasure Weapon. Jiang Jun Hao was sent hurtling backward, his body helplessly smashing into a nearby cliff and disappearing in an avalanche of rock. Blood spurted from his mouth like a volcanic eruption, the color leaving his face as he shuddered from the tremendous impact.
”Again!”
Zhu Jiao mercilessly pursued his fallen victim.
”Wait…” I began uncertainly as I raised my hand. ”You've already won. Don't you think you should…?”
Ignoring me, Zhu Jiao reloaded his battle puppet with another two thousand Pure Yuan Pills. I sighed. What a waste of Pure Yuan Pills. Following its master's will, the killing machine emotionlessly dashed forward, completely immune to pain or exhaustion.
Even though he was severely wounded, Jiang Jun Hao was far from down. Yeah, I know, I was an idiot. Anyway, Jiang Jun Hao leaped into the air, his expression defiant to the end. Infusing his Heavenly Spear with qi, he then hurled it forward like a projectile. With a thunderous roar, his golden spear streaked across the air and viciously pierced the battle puppet's body.
Wham!
The high-class Spirit Treasure Weapon actually punctured the battle puppet's body, penetrating the crackling silver barrier that shrouded is mechanical structure and exiting through its back with extreme force.
Admittedly, that attack of Jiang Jun Hao was impressive. Had his opponent been a normal human, such an injury would surely be fatal. Unfortunately, the battle puppet felt no pain at all, and despite its body being pierced and damaged, it continued plowing forward determinedly, its mind focused on a single directive.
To kill the target that its master designated it to slay.
”No way…!”
To Jiang Jun Hao's horror, the Domitar-class battle-automata reached him in less than a millisecond and smashed its silver fist ferociously into his body.
Boom!
Having thrown his spear earlier, Jiang Jun Hao had nothing to block the attack with. Not being able to evade in time, his body took a direct hit. Another spray of blood erupted from his mouth, this time in a much higher volume than earlier, and his clothes disintegrated from the tremendous impact before he was sent hurtling away.
”…seriously?”
While I was gaping in disbelief at how Jiang Jun Hao was literally beaten to a naked stage, Zhu Jiao wasn't as unresponsive. He spotted something black being flung out from the flying Jiang Jun Hao. He quickly jumped up and used his qi to ensnare the black object, gathering it into his hands as eagerly as someone hoarding rare gaming cards.
”You…you…!”
Jiang Jun Hao spluttered, shocked and enraged when he saw Zhu Jiao snatch the object out of the air.
”Oh…”
A grin split across Zhu Jiao's face as he studied his new trophy. He realized that the object was a black spatial bag. Not only that, judging from its color and craftsmanship, it was clearly a rare, high-class spatial bag.
”After all I have spent, this shall be my reward!”
Smiling triumphantly, Zhu Jiao greedily kept the spatial bag and chuckled coldly. I gaped at him, not believing what I heard.
”Dude…do you realize how villainous you sound right now? And you're supposed to be the main character.”
”Who cares? He attacked me first. This is only just desserts.”
”Two wrongs don't make a right. You already beat that poor guy up blue and black…or naked, for that matter. There's no need to take his things too.”
Seriously, what was this? Ancient China? This was practically robbery. If you were that annoyed with Jiang Jun Hao, you should just report to the authorities and have him reported. I was sure that once his atrocities came to light, he would be kicked out of his sect and his reputation completely destroyed. More importantly, he would be thrown in jail and have a record for life. No reputable sect would ever want to accept him as a disciple.
That was enough punishment, no? So why the fuck would you risk your own future and punishment by committing a crime? Even if Jiang Jun Hao deserved it, that didn't give you the right to rob him.
”You should stop being a goody-two-shoes, Wu,” Zhu Jiao reprimanded me. ”The readers want to see psychotic protagonists who mercilessly kill anyone stupid enough to get in their way. Not weak, pussy protagonists who stick to their morals and refuse to kill even when it is completely unnecessary to. Start acting like an edgelord, or you'll lose readers.”
”Why are you breaking the fourth wall now? That's supposed to be my job.”
While I grumbled and shook my head, Zhu Jiao turned toward the naked and bruised Jiang Jun Hao. Qi began gathering in his gauntlet as he cocked it back.
”Hey, hey, hey! You've already defeated him! Just report him to the authorities! Killing him will be too much!” I protested, but Zhu Jiao snorted coldly.
”Don't worry about the authorities. If this bastard is dead, nobody will know anything, and nobody will go to jail.”
”No way…” Jiang Jun Hao's eyes widened in fear. ”You can't…”
”You should have considered that when you tried to kill me.”
Zhu Jiao delivered what would be the killing blow, his gauntlet shrieking terrifyingly as golden qi shrouded it.
Bang!
”?!”
Zhu Jiao immediately jumped back when someone intercepted his punch. Explosive qi billowed from the collision and buffeted the Golden Kirin Sect disciple as he winced, shaking his armored hand. He turned a little green when he saw the person who had appeared in front of his original target.
It was a gentle-looking old man, hovering in the air atop a gray disc of light. The imposing aura he emanated was not inferior to that of Lei Yong Chun.
”Elder Shen!” Jiang Jun Hao cried out in delight. ”Kill this brat!”
The old man shook his head in disapproval, and turned to the stunned Zhu Jiao, who had recalled his Domitar-class battle-automata and was swiftly retreating. His heart sank when he sensed the immense power radiating from the old man.
The robed elderly gentleman didn't seem to care, and tilted his head slightly toward Zhu Jiao, his mouth turning into a polite smile.
”I'm sorry, but could you please stop pursuing the matter? I will have to ask you to refrain yourself from killing my charge.”