In the void, Carosus's eyes suddenly turned blood-red, and his muscles began to tremble at an eerie rate. His facial expression became extremely ferocious, and the originally neat and white teeth morphed into sharp spiky shapes, like a mouthful of white steel nails...
The most peculiar change occurred at the position of his shoulders on his back, as they began to rise abruptly. From the bulging area, the sound of flesh growing could be heard. Although faint, everyone present heard it clearly.
After a short while, with a tearing sound, two black wings extended from the white suit, reminiscent of emerging from a cocoon, tearing the originally intact suit to shreds.
Carosus's entire upper body was suddenly exposed to everyone's view; a pair of black wings stretched out from his back and began to flap. With every flap, they stirred up strong gusts of wind.
"My combat power and speed have both increased by one rank; I really want to see how many moves you can take now," Carosus said with a cold laugh, his wings suddenly flapping and his figure instantly vanished from the spot.
Guding's pupils shrank sharply; his eyes could no longer capture the other's movements. Before the transformation, he could barely see a blur, but now, even that was gone. The other had just flapped his wings and disappeared from his sight without leaving any trace that could be captured.
"Right side!"
But Guding's martial arts realm and innate sense of danger immediately prompted him to react. He swiftly turned to the right, crossing his arms to shield his head.
"Boom!"
A vicious force struck against Guding's arms, sending him flying outwards.
At the same time, Guding felt that his right forearm had completely fractured under the impact. His back soon violently collided with the arena's protective shield, creating ripples, while his internal organs also sent out intense shockwaves.
But a strange smile flickered across his face.
Because he saw that within his soul space, the Bronze Gate finally emerged, and thousands of black chains, as if blown by the wind, clinked pleasantly.
"You've finally appeared!"
Seeing Guding stand up again, Carosus licked his lips and shook his wings, once again disappearing from Guding's line of sight.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!..." The incessant sounds of impact followed.
Guding, with his body slightly bent, continued to defend, as Carosus's attacks poured down like a violent storm.
In just a short moment, Guding's body endured countless strikes, his bones nearly shattered all over, yet he made no attempt to dodge or counterattack, simply allowing the other to strike him.
"What's happening with Guding? Even if he can't keep up with the speed, he shouldn't be taking so many hits," Reid remarked from below the arena, feeling something off. Logically, if Guding could defend the first attack, he should be able to barely defend against the subsequent ones. But now, he was just letting the opponent attack.
"It's possible that the first hit caused damage to his internal organs, affecting his body's functions. While physical body practitioners are strong, they do have some fatal weaknesses," Belinda speculated from the side.
Meanwhile, Guding's consciousness had mostly sunk into the soul space, where, using external force, he began attacking the chains furiously. In just a moment, hundreds of the chains were shattered.
"Let the attacks come more fiercely!" Guding shouted in his mind.
And Carosus was relentless in his onslaught against Guding.
Guding's back was against the arena's protective shield, and ripple after ripple vibrated out, sending chills through the onlookers. They knew that to leave ripples upon that shield would take at least a Six-star Half-step True God's attack. And for Carosus to shake such a large area of the shield through Guding, his attack power must be at least that of a Seven Stars Half-step True God. Such an intensity of attack, on the Sixth Floor of Purgatory Gate, barely anyone could withstand it unscathed.
"Carosus, stop!" The Black Armor referee intervened, seeing Guding no longer resisting.
Carosus seemed not to hear and continued his furious barrage.
Only then did the Black Armor referee act, grabbing his arm and flinging him away.
Inside the Soul Space, Guding had already destroyed half of those chains. Seeing his speed suddenly slow down, his consciousness then returned to his body. What he saw was the referee appearing in front of him.
"Consciousness still there..." The Black Armor referee slightly furrowed his brow, "Guding, just give up. Continuing like this will kill you."
"I won't give up!" Guding firmly shook his head.
The referee hesitated for a moment but ultimately stepped aside.
However, to everyone's surprise, Guding even took the initiative to provoke Carosus, "Didn't you have breakfast? Your strength is as feeble as a woman's."
Carosus, who originally wanted to mock his opponent a few words, did not expect to be mocked in return. He instantly flew into a rage, with his wings once again flapping, he charged toward Guding, his heavy fists crazily landing on Guding's body. "You little punk, today I'm going to smash every bone in your body into dust!"
Guding just sneered with a provocative smile.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!…"
The sound of booming, once again, reached everyone's ears. Many people couldn't understand why Guding was making such a self-digging grave move.
"What on earth is Guding doing? If he doesn't forfeit, he's going to fall. Should I stop the match?" Belinda's brows knotted tightly as she turned to look at Reid.
"It seems like he's intentionally provoking the opponent... let's wait a bit longer." Reid didn't believe Guding was the kind of person to treat his own life as a joke. Based on his understanding of Guding, there must be some purpose behind his actions.
In the Soul Space, Guding furiously hammered away at the chains binding the bronze giant gate, one by one, the chains kept breaking apart. This time, with the help of an external force, the speed was countless times faster than before.
Thousands of black chains, in less than twenty minutes, finally broke down to the last ten.
"Guding, your vital signs are showing signs of danger. Either give up or quickly smash these remaining chains!" The Sea Emperor's warning voice suddenly came through.
Guding immediately sped up, directly summoning the Demon Face and blasting toward those last ten chains.
"Crack, crack, crack..."
When the last chain broke, Guding finally let out a sigh of relief as the bronze giant gate slowly opened.
Guding had no time to see what was hidden behind the Bronze Gate as his consciousness immediately returned to his body. Almost at the same time, a new surge of life force emerged from an unknown location, quickly permeating every corner of Guding's body. His body also began to quickly recover at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"What is happening?" Not only was Carosus taken aback, but even the many spectators below sensed this new aura emanating from Guding.
And quite a few people saw Guding's body begin to repair itself, "Look quick, Guding's body is healing automatically."
"This aura, it seems to be that of a Middle-level God... I see now..." Reid finally understood why Guding had deliberately provoked his opponent, "He was using his opponent's attack to challenge the Middle-level God status. It's so like Guding to use such a risky method to ascend."
In the face of this eerie state, Carosus was not content to simply back down. Instead, he accelerated his attacks, hoping to re-destroy Guding's now-repaired body. However, he soon realized that all his efforts were in vain.
"Have you hit enough?" A voice suddenly rose from the arena.
Below the arena, the crowd also saw that Guding, who had been reduced to nearly a puddle of mud, was slowly standing up...
~~~
[I accidentally wrote a 4K word long chapter, I felt it wouldn't be right to split it, so here it is... (To be continued. If you like this work, please support me by voting for Recommended Ticket and Monthly Ticket on Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)]