Chapter 322 The Man Who Wants to Become a Hero (6800, First Update, Seeking Monthly Tickets~)

To be fair, Su Zhou knew very well that Zhou Buyi had done better than he had imagined. This was how things should be done in this world. No, it should be said that this was the only way to do it! Otherwise, how could such a massive alliance maintain its original intentions and be integrated into a collective in just over a hundred years?

Of course, this behavior did cause some casualties among ordinary people, but there was really no other way. Even a nitpicker like Su Zhou could only say, "But it's still not good enough." Beyond that, he couldn't offer any further comments, because if he were in charge, he wouldn't be able to achieve better results. Su Zhou wasn't a devil, after all, incapable of criticizing and evaluating everything.

But Zhou Buyi, at that moment, took the initiative to steal Su Zhou's thunder and said, "It's still not perfect."

And at that moment, through the thoughtless heart derived from the Silent Observer, Su Zhou heard Zhou Buyi's inner voice.

—It was the painful voice of self-condemnation, because even though he had made such a choice, innocent people had indeed suffered.

*Sacrificing one person to benefit the world, I am unwilling to do.*

*If someone has to pay the price, isn't it enough for me alone?*

What Zhou Buyi wanted in his heart was a perfect peace where no one but himself had to be sacrificed.

For the happiness and peace of more people, sacrificing a small number of people... wasn't making a small evil for a prosperous age a choice that wasn't too difficult to accept?

—But that was wrong.

Sacrifice is a shortcut.

In that man's heart, a voice called hero was whispering.

—Giving up something to gain something, being forced to make this kind of choice, only proves that he is not strong enough, that he is not qualified as a hero!

Being praised for this kind of choice is simply a ridiculous joke.

What Zhou Buyi needed was not someone who agreed with his choice. He, who was praised and revered by the entire Tiance Alliance as a guardian deity, didn't want a voice of 'agreement.'

What he needed was someone who could condemn him, criticize him, and clearly tell him that he was wrong and that it wasn't perfect, that there were other better choices.

He needed someone to wake him up and pull him out of the illusion of 'You did the right thing!' 'It's the only way!'

He needed someone to urge him towards perfection, towards absolute peace.

Zhou Buyi needed a devil.

But in this world, who could criticize Zhou Buyi, the first chairman of the Tiance Alliance, the director of the Demon Subduing Bureau, the Tiangang Martial God?

Fortunately, Su Zhou was here.

"Deciding to protect the vast majority of people, making such a choice, is what a qualified leader does. But only 'wanting to protect everyone' and facing up to this responsibility can be called a hero."

"Zhou Buyi, you want to be a hero, but you have been forced to become a leader. You were originally a guy who would be sad and angry for any innocent person who was sacrificed, but now you have to harden your heart and make ruthless choices... so you want to fight me?"

"Because you are surrounded by voices of praise and agreement, you are afraid of being assimilated by this atmosphere and truly becoming a 'leader' who can treat human lives as numbers, who can consume them for the sake of peace... so you want me to beat you up? To wake you up?"

Even if you don't know how to go, or even if it's the right way, at least, you have to show the attitude of 'moving forward', towards 'more perfect'.

Whether you can do it or not is another matter, whether you want to do it or not is the guideline in your heart.

It was precisely because he was such a twisted person himself that Su Zhou could understand the entanglement in Zhou Buyi's heart—he didn't really want to fight Su Zhou, but wanted to use Su Zhou's hand to fight against the arrogance in his heart, against the sense of satisfaction and complacency caused by success. For one hundred and forty-seven years, his name had been praised for too long, and Zhou Buyi wanted to hear a different voice.

—Then, as you wish.

Because of this, Su Zhou would go all out.

In the central region of the old Thirty-Six Central States of the Tiance Alliance, in the vast Two Rivers Plain, all the residents along the way were shocked to raise their heads and look at the flash of light in the high sky. There, a light spot as swift as lightning, like a meteor, dragged a long cyan-purple light band and rushed south with the constantly spreading clouds and mist behind it.

The immense spiritual energy fluctuations even affected the weather along the way. The already cloudy area was struck by thunderstorms, and areas with unstable air pressure were swept by strong winds. The staff in the airships chasing the light spot were even shocked to report that they faintly heard a long roar like a dragon's cry from afar.

"Target has reached the Central Southern Plain, speed is 1528 kilometers per hour! And the target is still accelerating!"

"The target's flight path is an absolutely standard straight line. According to speculation, its target is the Third Neo-South Heavenly Capital, the Divine Tree Relic!"

"At this speed, it will reach its target in ten minutes! We can't catch up with it at all!"

In the temporarily organized crisis response office, bad news came one after another. Neither airships nor defensive magic items could catch up with the speed of that light spot. The deputy director of the Demon Subduing Bureau, a balding middle-aged man who was actually in charge, sighed, grabbed a handful of white hair from his head, and then asked, "How is the evacuation situation in Neo-South Heavenly Capital?"

"Not very good. They've had peace for too long, and they don't have the experience of the border regions. The number of shelters is also insufficient." The secretary rapidly reported, her tone anxious. "Deputy Director, I've already contacted the Director, but he hasn't responded yet..."

The deputy director sighed again: "That proves he's already set off... Alas, that we still need the Director's protection at this point, we descendants are truly unqualified."

In Neo-South Heavenly Capital, the orderly evacuated city residents, under the guidance of various martial artist troops, were quietly moving towards the shelters. Although no one had ever attacked the heartland of the Tiance Alliance in its more than one hundred years of history, the anxious founders had arranged shelters large enough to accommodate more than three million people from the very beginning of the city's design.

As Neo-South Heavenly Capital expanded, the number of shelters also increased. Although they couldn't completely accommodate everyone even now, at least the most densely populated areas could be completely sheltered.

Just as a *Xiantian* (Pre-Celestial) martial artist was releasing his aura to calm the somewhat fearful people as they entered the underground shelters in order, he vaguely sensed something, and then raised his head to look at the divine tree not far away. Although it had no leaves, it still supported the sky and the earth, towering into the clouds. He slowly opened his mouth, his eyes glazed over.

Because, at the top of that divine tree, a light cyan glow was lighting up, becoming brighter and brighter, more vigorous, like a small sun shining at the top of the clouds.

And coincidentally, a point of cyan-purple light was descending from the distant horizon. A pale purple light suddenly appeared in the gray-blue sky of the evening. The *Xiantian* master who observed this scene immediately changed his expression, because that aura was no less than, even greater than, the pale light cluster that appeared at the top of the divine tree.

At this moment, the sky was divided into two parts, one half light cyan, carrying the wood energy that nourished life, and the other half cyan-purple, carrying a grim and bone-chilling *sha* (killing intent).

In the next instant.

The cyan-purple meteor streaked across the sky, leaving a light trail in the retina at a speed that ordinary people could not observe at all, and directly crashed into the top of the pale cyan light.

Then, the sky was a sheet of incandescent white.

Immediately afterward, tens of seconds later, a thunderous explosion swept through with rolling sound waves—the diffused clouds at the top of the distant divine tree had been dispersed, a perfectly circular gap was constantly expanding, and the red light of the setting sun poured out from it, covering the entire divine tree and the surrounding land with a layer of red gauze.

"That, that is..."

Withdrawing his hand that was blocking his eyes, the *Xiantian* master did not dare to breathe loudly. He just stared at the starting point of the incandescent flash, staring at the two figures vaguely visible at the top of the divine tree, thousands of meters above the ground.

The huge cyan wooden statue, treading on the top of the divine tree, looked up at the high sky, and the small figure in mid-air looked down at the earth.

Without a word, the battle had already begun.

And in mid-air, five thousand meters away, Shao Qiming, who was hanging one hand under a drone and using a special camera to film, thought: "Two twisted guys, something that could be solved by having a drink, eating barbecue, and chatting, they have to fight... but I can understand why this Zhou Buyi is Ah Zhou's friend."

On top of the withered divine tree, the blazing spiritual light suddenly spread. Since he understood Zhou Buyi's thoughts, Su Zhou would not hold back at all when fighting. After confirming that the huge wooden statue in front of him was Zhou Buyi's Divine Tree Body, that is, the 'seed' of the future new Divine Tree, he did not hesitate to release his full power, allowing the spiritual power of the Fire, Thunder, Water, and Wind elements to burst out and merge violently, dyeing the entire sky into a gloomy, raincloud-like black.

*Boom*, the sound of the air being pierced rang out. Su Zhou accelerated himself to three times the speed of sound. At this time, he used the *Lan* (Mist) Shield as his wings, propelled the water vapor to accelerate, then strengthened his body with the Fire element, and condensed the Thunder Light into a spear, gathered on his tightly clenched right fist—in a frame that even the camera could hardly capture, he had already blasted out a simple and unadorned straight punch, heading straight for the center of Zhou Buyi's forehead.

But Zhou Buyi had also experienced hundreds of battles in the past one hundred and forty years. He actually ignored the heavy punch aimed at his vitals and directly slashed towards Su Zhou's waist with his right hand forming a hand blade—compared to the huge wooden statue, this hand blade of his was like the guillotine on a dragon-slaying platform, wanting to directly chop Su Zhou in two.

Instantly, the huge wooden statue's forehead was blasted with layers of cracks by the punch. Even the incomparably strong Divine Tree fiber could not withstand the heavy punch containing such spiritual power. Under the rubbing and squeezing of the great force, a large hole was blasted out, and even a bulge appeared behind the head, as if the entire head had been punched through.

But Su Zhou was also hit by the opponent's hand blade, and his entire spine seemed to be bent and broken, sending him flying out thousands of meters.

But this little injury was not even a tickle to both sides, who possessed the power of the Divine Tree and Undying Blood. In the next instant, the spine of the young man who was knocked away directly returned to its original shape. He turned in an arc, and then once again turned into a meteor and crashed towards the wooden statue, while the hole on the top of the wooden statue's head was restored as if time had reversed. He also threw out a punch face to face.

And only at this time did the huge rumbling sound generated by the two people's mutual attacks just now begin to spread in all directions, and the violent sonic boom and shock wave, presenting in a ring shape, erupted. But the second confrontation had already begun—and this time, they were even more unwilling to give way to each other.

Although Su Zhou did not use the *Medu* (Extinction) Blade, his fists and feet themselves were weapons of the Overlord tier. He raised his leg and kicked, and the air was kicked out of a vacuum by the enormous force. The high temperature even ignited the air, making every strike seem like hellfire rain falling from the sky.

But Zhou Buyi's wooden statue's body, although huge, was very agile. He easily blocked Su Zhou's every attack with his huge body, either parrying, or using force to shift and deflect. Facing the dragon breath cannon that Su Zhou suddenly condensed behind him, Zhou Buyi's hair, which was like roots, all floated up, forming a halo-like shield behind him, blocking all attacks.

Even, he still had the strength to counterattack—the pupils in the giant statue's eyes instantly jadeized, and a light cyan spiritual light rotated incessantly like a vortex, erupting in bursts of dark light. In the next instant, two high-energy light beams transformed into *Jiamu* (First Wood) Divine Thunder were ejected from his eyes.

But this move was used on the wrong target. Su Zhou had already begun to use thunder magic the moment he noticed the spiritual power on Zhou Buyi's body begin to change. At the same time as the *Jiamu* Divine Thunder was flying towards him, the equally powerful, even more powerful, Five Elements Thunder Light had already been rotated into a thunder spear in his hands. Facing the flying dark cyan thunder light, Su Zhou threw his thunder spear out. The terrifying power of the same source directly devoured Zhou Buyi's thunder light, and instead bombarded him.

"Good!"

Decisively, Zhou Buyi immediately stepped forward. His arm actually transformed from cyan-jade texture into silver metal texture in an instant, and then grabbed the bombarded thunder spear—then, the violent thunder light directly followed Zhou Buyi's metal arm to the Divine Tree beneath him, just like lightning striking a lightning rod. At the same time, bright *Jiamu* Thunder Light lit up around the metal arm that had transmitted the thunder light.

But this time, Zhou Buyi did not intend to directly release thunder, but used electromagnetic acceleration to transform his already metalized arm into a heavy hammer, and directly crushed Su Zhou's flesh with brute force!

The power of the Divine Tree creates all things, freely changing the properties of the body, turning into metal, wood, or jade, is just a thought. As early as when he entered the Tiangang Martial God realm, Zhou Buyi knew that there were no forbidden areas for him to set foot on in this world. Apart from the Earth's core crust, he could freely survive even in the magma sea of the Earth's mantle.

But Zhou Buyi, who originally thought that Su Zhou would avoid his attack, was shocked to find that Su Zhou actually did not dodge or avoid it, and even rushed directly towards his giant fist. Then, in a burst of dazzling flashes... he transformed into a giant dragon!

*Boom!* The huge dragon claws also clenched into a fist, with layers of *Lan* Armor wrapped around it, transforming into a rocket-like shape—imitating the Silent Observer's technique of bombarding himself with a rocket-propelled exoskeleton armor in the past, Su Zhou also accelerated this punch of his to the realm of ten times the speed of sound in an instant.

The muscles on his right arm bulged, and the strengthened Fire Element spiritual power and self-healing Undying Blood ran through it. In the continuous self-harm and self-healing, self-strengthening, Su Zhou roared, and then the rocket punch burst out with a blasting-like roar. He collided head-on with Zhou Buyi's electromagnetically accelerated metal heavy punch, and then, in the midst of flying flesh and wood chips, he directly blasted his right arm's front half, along with Zhou Buyi's right arm, into a sky full of fragments!

Hard-heartedly smashing his own arm, this kind of pain would probably cause ordinary people to faint instantly, but for the two sides who were fighting, it was just an appetizer. Accompanied by two loud laughs, the giant dragon and the wooden statue crashed together, and the raging flames and the green wood energy burst out from the collision of their mutual punches and strikes, surrounding the two sides.

In a few breaths, the shattered right arm had been regenerated, and the other party had also reborn a new hand, even a third, fourth hand. Su Zhou saw that Zhou Buyi instantly transformed into an eight-armed Asura. The huge wooden statue, as solemn as a god, was now simply like a killing machine. His eight arms brought the striking frequency of four times that of ordinary humans, completely suppressing him.

However, he could grow hands, and Su Zhou, who had turned into a dragon, also had a tail. Ignoring Zhou Buyi, who was pouncing on him, Su Zhou just turned sideways. Like an iron whip, the iron tail with heavy barbs and thorns directly exploded the air, bringing thunder light in a vacuum, and directly smashed the wooden statue's left thigh—even though Zhou Buyi immediately grew countless vines and roots to sew up his left thigh, his attack progress was suddenly stagnant, and he paused for a moment.

And Su Zhou seized this opportunity. He stepped on the top of the Divine Tree of the *Pan Rong* (Twisting Banyan) Undying Tree. The solid texture of the Divine Tree began to collapse under the crushing force of the giant dragon, and even rubbed out flames. At the same time, the powerful reaction force instantly accelerated Su Zhou to the extreme. He blessed himself with the *Lan* Shield, directly turning himself into a rocket, and then used a headbutt exceeding eight times the speed of sound, directly hitting the chest of the Divine Tree giant statue, sending the giant statue, which was nearly forty meters high, directly flying into the air, and then falling towards the earth outside the Divine Tree's top platform.

One could hear the crisp sound of broken ribs and spine, and the flashing thunder light.

At the moment of impact, the two thick dragon horns began to discharge electricity with all their strength. Su Zhou was at zero distance, or even negative distance, and began to control the Five Thunders directly, simply and directly destroying all the spiritual energy organs and structures in Zhou Buyi's body, directly igniting the other party's entire wooden body.

But this little pain could not affect Zhou Buyi's counterattack. His eight arms grabbed Su Zhou's dragon horns with two arms, pressed on Su Zhou's shoulders and arms with four arms, and continuously bombarded Su Zhou's spine with two arms, wanting to pull these two dragon horns out of his body. In response, Su Zhou was also unwilling to show weakness. He condensed more than forty-five dragon breath cannons around his body, and the violent dragon breath divine light focused on the head and limbs of the Divine Tree giant statue, burning out huge holes one by one.

On the ground, the specialists from the Martial Arts Administration and the Demon Subduing Bureau, who had sealed off the entire Divine Tree area, raised their heads in shock. They saw a giant dragon, a giant intertwined with each other, transforming into a flaming meteor, falling towards the uninhabited root system of the Divine Tree.

Between heaven and earth, it was all red.

"De, demonic dragon!"

"That is, is that Director's statue?! Is it alive?!"

"Director is fighting some kind of monster!"

The shocked people did not have time to think, because soon, a huge roar and an earthquake-like violent shaking came, causing countless dirt and dust to be shaken into the sky, turning into twisted dust and smoke pillars, covering the falling meteor.

And in the dust and smoke pillars, the battle had not ended, and it could even be said that it had just begun the main topic.

"Su Zhou!"

The roar of the soul came from the heart of the giant statue who was punching. His eight fists, palms, blades, or hammers, attacked like eight weapons at the same time. Zhou Buyi's voice vibrated the spiritual realm: "In the past one hundred and fifty years, you were the deterrent of the Hundred Schools, making no one in the Tiance Alliance dare to use the power of the Divine Tree, or even dare to be corrupt!"

"But now, those people are dead, and no one in today's world has witnessed your heroic deeds in protecting this world, and no one needs to be deterred by you anymore... So, become a threat!"

"Become a threat to our world, become our enemy, and in this way, let everyone be united because of an external enemy, and feel fear because of a new Demon Emperor—if there is no turmoil in the world, who will know the value of peace? If no enemy raises the flag, who will know the reason for the birth of our beliefs?"

—If there is no enemy, then create one!

This was Zhou Buyi's choice in the past, so he created splitters and tolerated the Undying Cult. A Tiance Alliance without an external enemy was destined to be reduced to a combination of horizontal and vertical alliances between one hundred and forty-four states, fighting each other internally. In that case, even if it was nominally unified under a flag, what difference would it be from splitting? Peace would be lost, and no one would care about why Tiance was born in the past, and no one would care about how many sacrifices of pioneers this name represented behind it.

What can truly unite most of the world, dozens of ethnic groups, and hundreds of different cultural regions has never been slogans, creeds, or beliefs, but common enemies! Whether this enemy's name is death, terrorism, the Great Depression, or nuclear war or aliens, it is all the same.

But even so, Zhou Buyi was unwilling to really launch a turmoil as the price of peace, and he hoped that Su Zhou would become such a target, even if it was just pretending, even if it was just acting.

Therefore, he needed a battle, a real battle, a battle that was enough to hurt him, to hurt everyone, and to make the entire Tiance Alliance fear it!

The battle between Tiangang Martial Gods, a battle that was enough to destroy everything! A battle that was enough to make ordinary people fear, tremble, and never want to see a second time!

"You guy, you are really a qualified leader, using old friends, you really don't leave any room!"

Countless *Lan* seeds flew around him, condensing into different shields or air arms. Although Su Zhou did not have eight real arms, he could create far more than eighty attack ports. He and Zhou Buyi fist against fist, palm against palm, impact against impact. For a time, a huge hurricane suddenly rose out of thin air, and the earth shook violently in the mutual bombardment and beating of the two behemoths, so that the blockade line set up by the Action Bureau, and the already empty scenic buildings all collapsed like sand castles, turning into nothing.

If the battle of the Transcendent tier can briefly create the power of the heavens, summon heavenly thunder, destroy a block, or even half of a city, and exert the destructive power comparable to an artillery position.

Then, the battle of the Overlord tier can easily destroy the city structure and create destructive power that affects hundreds of buildings, or even destroys the entire city!

Just like now, in the wailing sound made by the tearing of the air, Su Zhou's eyes were as bright as two clusters of flames. Under his feet was the crushed scenic gate that had been turned into dust, and within a few thousand meters around, there were all shattered building debris.

The high-temperature hot wind of several hundred degrees was enough to stifle all life in this space. Even bacteria were extremely difficult to survive in the space between his and Zhou Buyi's battlefield.

Of course, there was no one in this place. He and Zhou Buyi had carefully chosen a place before they started fighting. But even so, any onlookers around, whether it was the Demon Subduing Bureau or other ordinary people who were recording, when they saw such destructive power, they would probably imagine what would happen if such a battle took place in the city center—the two Tiangang Martial Gods had not fought each other for more than ten seconds, and the city could be destroyed like this.

And for Zhou Buyi's proposal, Su Zhou's response was just a loud laugh. In the ears of others, it sounded like a wild dragon's roar, and in the spiritual realm, the sound of the soul was shaking the heavens and the earth: "Zhou Buyi, I promise you, provided that you can survive my all-out attack."

Immediately afterward, behind Su Zhou, the violent energy jets turned into dragon wings like light, and he flew into the air, and endless thunderstorms began to gather above his head.

Thunder light flashed, water vapor spread, and flames and hot wind created thousands of degrees of milky white boiling water vapor, and behind this hot white mist, two points of cyan-purple spiritual light lit up, and the eyes of the Undying Dragon shone like stars.

"—Ten seconds! My full power is only ten seconds."

"Survive ten seconds, be able to live, and I will promise you!"

Without hesitation, a voice rang out.

"Good!"

Then, in the next instant.

Thunder light like a waterfall, tearing apart the heavens and the earth.

The first update is a combination of two chapters. The second update will be a little later.