So when orange lightning coursed across Fu Yuan's body, Scáthach mistook it for "Mana Burst."
Humans capable of using Mana Burst... were a rare sight indeed.
After all, doing so consumed an enormous amount of mana. Modern Clock Tower magi and Holy Church Executors did not have that much mana to use.
Even if they possessed that much mana, their fragile bodies would be unable to withstand such an immense amount of it.
When she saw the changes in Fu Yuan's body, Scáthach, who had been lounging atop the gate to the Land of Shadows, straightened up slightly and focused on the battle about to unfold.
See?
If one wanted the recognition of the strong, the simplest and most direct method was to display one's own strength and make her take back her earlier judgment.
Crack Open Your Skull!
Assuming the opening stance of Swift Feather Transformation: Azure Pine, Fu Yuan cast aside all distracting thoughts, steadied his breathing, then solemnly threw a punch at the Land of Shadows Skeleton Soldiers charging toward him.
Fu Yuan's qi-infused fist was powerful enough to split mountains and shatter stone. The air suddenly exploded with a boom—the sound of a sonic blast intertwined with a thunderclap.
Amid the deafening roar born from the sonic blast and thunderclap, boundless lightning shot forth from Fu Yuan's fist in the form of Swift Feather Transformation: Azure Pine!
Scáthach, seated atop the gate to the Land of Shadows, stared in astonishment. In her eyes, the punch Fu Yuan threw was not a punch at all, but a dense, terrifying mass of orange lightning...
The lightning Fu Yuan unleashed roared toward the Land of Shadows Skeleton Soldiers ahead like a lightning dragon, baring its fangs and claws.
As the lightning dragon swept in, the Land of Shadows Skeleton Soldiers were instantly engulfed. Then, amid that terrifying heat and energy, they turned to bone ash... No, not even bone ash remained.
Even the Skeleton Soldiers' ashes had been blasted away by Fu Yuan's punch!
There were no longer any Skeleton Soldiers in front of Fu Yuan. The swarm that had charged at him so fiercely moments ago had all been obliterated by a single punch.
And that was with Fu Yuan deliberately restraining his strength to just ten percent, because he was worried that a full-force punch would smash apart Scáthach's magecraft formation as well.
If Fu Yuan had used his full strength just now, he probably would have... punched straight through the entire Mount Ensō.
As the saying went... one punch through a mountain, nothing less.
Although Fu Yuan had wiped out the Skeleton Soldiers charging from the front with one punch, Skeleton Soldiers from the Land of Shadows were attacking him from every direction. The ones behind him swung their great blades down at him.
Without life, thought, or fear, the Skeleton Soldiers paid no heed to Fu Yuan's earlier punch. They had only one objective.
Obey the Queen of the Land of Shadows' command and overwhelm this man.
Thus, the Skeleton Soldiers' great blades swept toward Fu Yuan's back on a foul wind.
Yet it was as though Fu Yuan had eyes in the back of his head. With a slight turn of his body, he casually evaded the attack from behind, then gave a light slap.
Boom!
Like thunder streaking across the sky, the Skeleton Soldier struck by Fu Yuan's palm instantly shattered into a pile of bone fragments.
"This... should be Mind's Eye (False), right?" Scáthach watched Fu Yuan battle the Skeleton Soldiers, and a delighted gleam began to appear in her bewitching eyes.
The way Scáthach looked at Fu Yuan now was like a treasure hunter discovering an inexhaustible treasure chest—intensely eager, eager enough to claim it for herself.
Mind's Eye (False) was an ability.
It was an ability honed by heroes through countless difficult adventures. Based on instinct and a sixth sense, it granted the ability to perceive danger and evade incoming attacks.
If this ability reached a high enough level, it could even predict whether danger or ambushes lay ahead.
Those who possessed Mind's Eye (False) were either born with keen senses or had learned it through repeated trials and hardships.
Scáthach did not know where Fu Yuan's Mind's Eye (False) had come from, but that did not stop her from appreciating him.
In truth, Scáthach had guessed wrong again. What Fu Yuan possessed was not Mind's Eye (False). His ability to sense danger came from cultivating Great Void Sword Qi.
Ever since Fu Yuan had cultivated true qi, both his senses and instincts had become exceptionally sharp. If he focused, not even the slightest movement within a thousand meters could escape his perception.
So even though Fu Yuan had his back to that group of Skeleton Soldiers, he still detected their attack.
One punch smashed open a Skeleton Soldier's skull.
With arcs of electricity flowing over his body, Fu Yuan spun around.
One kick sent a Skeleton Soldier's cervical vertebra flying.
Radiating lightning, Fu Yuan raced across the battlefield. Every time he flashed past a Skeleton Soldier in a streak of lightning, that Dragon Tooth Soldier's skull was smashed apart.
Once their skulls were destroyed, the Skeleton Soldiers could no longer maintain their bodies. Their pale bones clattered to the ground, becoming piles of useless remains.
The speed Fu Yuan displayed now was unbelievably fast. He truly resembled a bolt of lightning.
Scáthach's beautiful eyes remained fixed on Fu Yuan. It seemed the Queen of the Land of Shadows possessed dynamic vision capable of tracking his movements.
But Fu Yuan's enemies were not Scáthach. They were an astonishingly numerous horde of Skeleton Soldiers. Unfortunately, they could not track Fu Yuan at all; they could only see the lightning-colored afterimages he left behind.
With movement like phantom thunder and the perception granted by cultivating Great Void Sword Qi, even the Skeleton Soldiers' overwhelming numbers could not touch so much as the corner of his clothes, let alone strike Fu Yuan.
This was a battle—a battle in which Fu Yuan utterly crushed them one-sidedly.
It was clearly supposed to be a crushing victory for the countless Skeleton Soldiers, so how could they fail to deal with even a single man...?
The sounds of Skeleton Soldier bones cracking and exploding rose and fell throughout this place that had become a battlefield. Fu Yuan was in no hurry to finish them all off; instead, he used them to practice and warm up.
Equipped with Monet's Stigmata Set, Fu Yuan used these Skeleton Soldiers of the Land of Shadows to train, gradually gaining control over the power that had suddenly surged within him.
The feeling of every punch landing on flesh... no, on bone, filled Fu Yuan with an indescribable thrill and exhilaration.
Sure enough, a real man should fight barehanded. That was what felt truly satisfying.
Seated atop the gate to the Land of Shadows, Scáthach watched the Skeleton Soldiers being relentlessly beaten down by Fu Yuan. Her beautiful eyes shone with wonder as she murmured, "From the looks of things, I really did underestimate him. No wonder he dared to challenge me to a spar even knowing who I was."
"Since that's the case, I'll strengthen the Skeleton Soldiers a little. Let's see how you deal with them next."
With a faintly pleased smile, Scáthach extended her delicate hand and touched the gate to the Land of Shadows beneath her rounded hips.
Hoo...
Following Scáthach's action, a black aura suddenly surged from the gate to the Land of Shadows. This black aura swept over the Skeleton Soldiers, coiling around their pale, withered bones before instantly merging into them.
Most of the dry bones forming the Skeleton Soldiers had slight cracks in them, but after being wrapped in and infused with that black aura, every remaining crack vanished!
And not only that—the Skeleton Soldiers' bones now shimmered with a crystalline luster, clearly having been strengthened!
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