Morale

With a bang, Lu Shan and Li Qi collided.

Li Qi immediately felt a wave of soreness in his shoulder. It was nothing like the crushing rout he had expected—the other side had not budged an inch!

The sensation in his skin had already grown rather faint, yet this blow still left him weak and limp.

Most terrifying of all, Li Qi could see that the duration bar for his Ox-Strength Technique had suddenly accelerated from 8% to 25%!

That single collision had shortened the Ox-Strength Technique's duration by nearly twenty percent!

Li Qi was stunned. Lu Shan was that strong?

If he truly were that strong, the Wave-Pushing Gang would have been wiped out long ago. How could they have held on until now?

However, he immediately noticed something.

There were also two progress bars on Lu Shan's body.

"Array Enhancement: 84%."

"Charging: 56%."

The Charging bar was rising at an astonishing speed and was about to fill.

Ignoring the soreness wracking his body, Li Qi forcibly drew another breath and slammed his head into Lu Shan with a headbutt.

Lu Shan seemingly had not expected Li Qi to recover his ability to move so quickly. Forced to change his stance, he was driven back by Li Qi's headbutt.

Li Qi saw the other man's Charging bar get interrupted and let out a breath of relief.

But then the next "Attack: 100%" progress bar filled instantly, leaving him no time to react at all!

Lu Shan's punch came crashing straight into Li Qi's nose.

Li Qi's skin was thick and flesh tough now, so he did not feel any pain.

It did not hurt, but he was bleeding.

As the nosebleed flowed, the boat trackers revealed delighted expressions and burst into cheers. The panic in their hearts eased considerably.

The moment this happened, Li Qi saw "Array Enhancement: 84%" change to 78%.

It had actually gone backward!

That could happen?

Li Qi immediately realized—it was morale!

Whether it was forming ranks, charging together, the various events just now, or even tonight's march, all of it carried the faint air of an army.

Uncle Liu and the others could not recognize that military air, but Li Qi had watched military parades several times. He understood the imposing spirit of orders being carried out without fail, and he could clearly tell the difference between a rabble and a military formation.

Though he had no idea where Lu Shan had learned this array, it was probably inseparable from the military.

Since it was related to morale...

Li Qi ignored his nosebleed, decisively rolled like a donkey to escape Lu Shan's attack range, then seized a Mighty Gang boat tracker within the formation.

With one savage punch, he drove the man's head straight into his chest cavity! A crisp, resounding thud rang out.

The instant Lu Shan saw it, he understood what Li Qi intended to do.

"How dare you!" he cursed, charging forward fiercely in an attempt to stop Li Qi.

At the same time, Lu Shan was inwardly aghast. How could this bastard's eye be so sharp? Why could he spot the array's weakness at a glance?! He was only a boat tracker—where had he gained such knowledge?

Yet Li Qi relied on his thick skin and tough flesh to take Lu Shan's punch head-on. Though pain and bruising bloomed across him, he deliberately acted as if he did not care. He grabbed another boat tracker, lifted him up, and tore his head clean off.

The bloody spine, along with the boat tracker's scream that had yet to faded into the darkness, spread an atmosphere of terror in every direction.

"Kehehehe!" Li Qi bulged his eyes and let out a strange laugh. Then he took another bite, smearing his mouth with blood that dripped onto his clothes, making him look especially horrifying!

On top of that, white streams sprayed from his nostrils with every breath, his skin had turned red, and his bizarre laughter made him look exactly like a demon.

He did not look human in the slightest.

The progress bar on Lu Shan's body jumped straight to 97%.

Clearly, he too sensed that the array was about to end, and he panicked.

"Bastard! Go die!" He picked up a stone from the ground, gripped it as a weapon, and ran toward Li Qi, trying to salvage their morale.

But Li Qi did not dodge as he had before. Instead, he charged straight at him.

Li Qi neither dodged nor evaded, taking the stone directly on the head. This was Lu Shan's full-force blow, carrying a tremendous force of two thousand jin. Even with the Ox-Strength Technique's thick hide, it smashed Li Qi's head open, made his vision swim with stars, and nearly knocked him unconscious.

As for the stone, it shattered into fragments, which embedded themselves in his skin.

It could be said that this blow had wounded him badly.

Yet he forcibly endured it and deliberately let out a roar. Rather than avoid that strike, he bit down hard on Lu Shan's nose and viciously tore it off!

Half of Lu Shan's nose was bitten clean off!

"Arghhh!" Even Shan Dazhuang, famous for his strength, could not help crying out in agony.

The other boat trackers were so terrified by the sight that their livers and gallbladders nearly split apart. Not a trace remained of the morale that had been roused earlier; some even fled in blind panic.

"Come back! Running now is courting death!" He endured the pain and shouted at the boat trackers.

But with that shout, Li Qi seized the opening and slammed a punch into his head.

Lu Shan reacted quickly, forcibly turning his head aside. The punch only struck his shoulder, making his steps stagger and his body dip.

However, this blow also completely shattered the formation.

Li Qi watched as the progress bar for the other side's enhancement state reached 100%, then ended outright.

Every boat tracker felt as though the thread binding them had been snapped.

This time, they lost all courage and scattered in flight, tumbling and scrambling away like birds and beasts scattering.

The array's enhancement on Lu Shan's body also collapsed completely.

Originally, he had barely been able to contend with the Ox-Strength Technique. But once the formation broke apart, his strength returned to its usual level, and he could not even break through Li Qi's defenses.

Yet he did not sit and wait for death.

Grasping a stick in his hand, he roared. Even without the military formation, he still launched a fight to the death against Li Qi.

Such fighting spirit was nothing a mere boat tracker ought to possess.

Li Qi was not afraid either. The enhancement on the other man had ended, so he was certainly no match for him.

Yet once they truly exchanged blows, Li Qi's eyes widened as he was thrown directly to the ground!

Lu Shan's offensive was swift and ferocious. He looked as though he had received proper training. Though his physical strength was inferior to Li Qi's, his moves were broad and forceful, fierce and deadly!

Though Li Qi was strong and thick-skinned, he knew nothing of combat techniques. For a time, he actually could not take Lu Shan down.

He did his best to fend off the attacks, but he could never withstand them properly and was struck instead.

Only because his skin was so thick could Lu Shan not hurt him.

Combat techniques, in the end, could not compare to mystical arts.

However, in the instant Lu Shan blocked Li Qi's attack once more, Li Qi suddenly changed moves midway. Empowered by his immense strength, he caught Lu Shan off guard and smashed him into the ground with a back suplex!

Li Qi immediately went in with a knife-hand strike aimed at Lu Shan's neck. If this blow could knock Lu Shan unconscious, this farce would be over.

But Lu Shan sprang up like a carp, instantly flipping back to his feet and dodging the strike as he had before.

However, Lu Shan was somewhat alarmed!

Li Qi had been so clumsy just moments ago—how had he suddenly started using technique?

Naturally, he had no idea why.

Only Li Qi himself knew.

He had begun learning to watch the progress bars on his opponent's body amid the rapid battle!

As long as he counterattacked while the progress bar was halfway through, he could seize the initiative and strike before the enemy.

In other words, it was called interrupting a cast!