Chapter 477: Time ReversalDespite the fact that he had lost consciousness and was perhaps inches from death, Suiyue had ingrained his time-reversal technique so deeply within his body that it activated the moment before he would have died.
The sword that Yang Ze had pierced through his body was forcibly retracted, Hong Xi was pushed aside, and Suiyue's wound quickly regenerated.
Suiyue looked no different than before, but in truth, he was twenty full years younger.
"As expected, such a technique is a headache to deal with," Yang Ze cursed.
Suiyue chuckled. "No matter how many times you kill me, nothing will change."
In the past, all the opponents who had seen this technique activated would begin to despair immediately.
"Wouldn't it be better for you to just lie dead?"
Neither Hong Xi nor Yang Ze wavered, however.
Suiyue praised, "As expected of hunters who are willing to seize the initiative against all odds. Your wills might be strong, but I wonder how long they'll last against me?"
After hearing Zhang Lie analyze Suiyue's methods, the two of them would hardly back down at this juncture.
Yang Ze brandished the sword in his hand. "Against you? If we can kill you once, we can kill you twice! I don't believe you'll be able to keep reversing time without suffering any consequences from doing so."
Hong Xi chuckled coldly. "Indeed, just how many times will you be able to revive?"
"That'll depend on how many times you can kill me." Suiyue still seemed rather relaxed—there were a few enemies in the past that also persevered for quite some time, but by his third or fourth reversal, their stamina had depleted to such an extent that they could barely continue, whereas Suiyue remained at full power. In the end, as their willpower broke, Suiyue would launch a counterattack and defeat them easily.
A giant shark appeared behind Yang Ze's back. Yang Ze swung down with his greatsword, and the giant shark flicked its tail and launched itself toward Suiyue.
This time, Suiyue chose to dodge. Under the effects of [Mirrored Refraction], Yang Ze seemed to phase in and out of existence, moving as rapidly as a fish darting through the water. He launched [Fists of the Silent Sea] in Suiyue's direction. Ripples of water drenched the combatants, and a fog rose into the air. Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ ɴøvᴇl_Firᴇ.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.
Yang Ze used the fog surrounding the battlefield as a means of shrouding himself while he attacked continuously with [Fists of the Silent Sea], sending ripples into the air. The ripples intersected, crossed, and bypassed each other as though they were in a dream, with reality and imagination intertwined.
Yang Ze launched another [Fists of the Silent Sea], magnified by the fog surrounding him, once again leaving Suiyue battered and bruised.
Suiyue shouted unhappily, "I dare you to use another technique!"
"Oh? Why should I? It looks like it's working just fine." Yang Ze laughed.
Stomping his foot, Suiyue sent a burst of energy all around him, dispersing the fog surrounding them. Then, he punched toward his back.
However, Yang Ze was nowhere to be seen. When Suiyue turned back around, he saw Yang Ze standing over a hundred meters away, waving at him cheerily.
Suiyue's face fell.
"[Moon Seeker]!" From behind, Hong Xi flew toward him, a radiant moon's aura shining by her feet. She kicked him in the head, causing him to stumble and fall, then pierced him through with her moonlit sword.
His heart vanished in a beam of light— but once again, Hong Xi was pushed aside as Suiyue reversed time once again. This time, his body was fifty years younger.
Every time he was revived, Yang Ze and Hong Xi killed him. This cycle repeated seven more times; by the eighth time, Suiyue's strength had deteriorated to such an extent that he was barely to be considered a sura king.
If his strength were to fall again, he would drop to the level of a sura lord instead.
The distinction between a sura king and a sura lord was just one word, but that one word represented a massive drop in strength.
"I know that each time you reverse time, your body gets younger, and the more times you reverse time in short succession, the more time your body loses. By this point, you're barely a sura king, aren't you? You're done for!"
"Hah! Am I? And how much stamina do the two of you have after killing me eight times?"
Against Yang Ze's taunting, Suiyue used his trump card. He burnt his blood, his potential, and his lifeforce simultaneously. His body turned blood-red, and capillaries appeared all over his skin. His body gave off pops and cracks like a series of fireworks, and his strength and aura seemed to increase by orders of magnitude.
If he could reverse time, he was likewise able to draw from future reserves of time, crushing his boundless future for an immense short-term strength. He was a sura king, and he would continue advancing almost without end. By burning his potential and lifeforce, the strength he would receive in exchange was extreme—Suiyue estimated that he was at about seven or eight times his peak strength.
With his future strength exhausted, his body shriveled until he seemed like an old sura, but the light burning in his eyes was fearsome. His heart beat like a furnace, steam pouring out of his body. Despite all appearances, he radiated such energy that the very air turned scorching-hot.
Suiyue had thought about the best way to make use of his strength.
Techniques and frameworks that dealt with the heart of natural law, of the fabric of space and time itself, were the most abstruse and the most difficult to comprehend.
Suiyue's understanding of time, despite immense effort, was incomplete. He was unable to make use of its full strength, and using the technique in its current state required a commensurate sacrifice on his part.
Except for reversing the damage to his body, it barely had a purpose at its current stage, and even Gaoyuan's regenerative capabilities were superior. After all, each time he used the technique, his strength would decrease more and more.
Fortunately, his opponents had expended a commensurate amount of stamina.
In the end, Suiyue settled on a rather unique strategy: to make use of secret, risky one-time techniques that drew on his lifeforce and potential to dramatically augment his strength for mere moments. Such techniques would ordinarily incur heavy penalties after the battle, and a hunter who used such techniques had to be prepared to give up on his career afterward.
Someone like Suiyue, who had used three such techniques in rapid succession, might die from the aftereffects—but he could simply reverse time and nullify those effects. As a result, he favored using such one-time techniques when pressed—he was uniquely capable of restoring his body to peak condition despite the drawbacks of those techniques.
By now, Suiyue's body had turned red all over. His emaciated body was stick-thin, but his eyes burned as bright as fire. Long, brittle hair fluttered in the wind, and his heart beat like a furnace.
"I had thought dealing with you humans would be an easy task, but I'll admit that I've underlooked all of you. Alright, playtime's up. It's time for you to perish!"