The Mad Beast's End! Netherworld God Art!

For this battle, both the Mad Beast and Tang Jie would have to give their all. As Martial Cultivators, they both possessed the will to pursue ultimate strength. Facing the strongest Martial Cultivators of the current and past eras, neither was willing to admit they were inferior to their opponent!

Which of the martial artists who became Innate Martial Cultivators wasn't exceptionally talented? Many had opened their own martial arts lineages and mastered unique ultimate techniques. Take the Mad Beast, for instance; he cultivated the Mad Beast Way, created by imitating demonic beasts.

The simplest way to prove oneself superior to the opponent was to defeat them. Ultimately, martial artists were about strength; their fists spoke for them!

Black energy permeated Tang Jie's entire body, like the gates of Hell had been thrown open.

"Mad Beast Way. Lion Tiger Shattering Gold!"

The Mad Beast suddenly opened his massive mouth and let out a roar like a lion and tiger. Layers of ripples spread rapidly through the air towards Tang Jie. This roar could shatter metal and iron into dust!

"Demon Prajna. True Dragon Roar!"

"Roar!"

Tang Jie similarly unleashed an attack of the sonic wave type, opening his mouth to let out a world-shaking dragon roar. It seemed as if true dragons were flying through the void.

"Rumble!"

The two sonic waves collided head-on over an extremely short distance, instantly exploding like two bombs. A thunderous roar erupted.

From the outside, the sight was even more astonishing. The space where Tang Jie and the Mad Beast stood seemed to have turned into a shattered mirror, its surface covered in dense cracks, on the verge of being completely torn apart!

And this was merely a probing attack from both sides.

"Mad Beast Way. Myriad Demonic Beast Spirits!"

From the exploding air, the Mad Beast's eyes flashed with blood-red light. He pushed his True Essence to its absolute limit, fully displaying the martial path he cultivated.

In the air, countless phantom images of colossal beasts appeared. These beasts varied in appearance: lions with brown fur like steel needles, fierce tigers with the character "king" inscribed on their foreheads, exuding infinite majesty, and colossal turtles as large as mountains…

All sorts of phantom beast images completely enveloped the surrounding void. Fierce auras permeated the area, making one feel as if they were in a primeval mountain range occupied by demonic beasts, with the constant illusion of being torn to shreds and devoured.

This was the Mad Beast's strongest technique. He had researched, imitated, and cultivated various martial paths related to beasts, manifesting them through intent and True Essence, capable of unleashing infinite power!

"Tear him apart!"

The Mad Beast roared.

"Roar!"

Each phantom beast let out a roar, and the eyes of each beast flickered with ferocity, as if they possessed true life, pouncing at Tang Jie from all directions!

"Black Level Futu. Second Interstitial Battle Mark!"

The Black Level Futu True Essence within Tang Jie circulated rapidly. The sky seemed to turn dim as a bolt of lightning struck Tang Jie's body. Instantly, two golden battle marks appeared on Tang Jie's forehead, descending from his brow.

Tang Jie's entire being shone with a dark radiance, as if he had transformed into a Netherworld Hell!

"This is… the Tendon Strengthening Classic?"

Seeing this, the young monk in black in the distance showed surprise on his face. Tang Jie's Tendon Strengthening Classic and his own were on completely different paths!

As for which was stronger, only a battle would tell!

"What?"

The Mad Beast's pupils contracted slightly. He saw the black light on Tang Jie's body spread. Wherever the light passed, it formed a domain. The phantom beasts he had conjured became dazed as soon as they approached Tang Jie, completely losing their offensive power.

Whoosh!

Even more, the black light spread, enveloping the Mad Beast. His body trembled as he witnessed a scene of a mountain of corpses and hell, with countless evil spirits roaring, dragging him into hell to be torn to pieces!

In the Demon Suppressing Cave, the place where Darma created the Black Level Futu, Tang Jie gained enlightenment and further strengthened the Tendon Strengthening Classic, elevating the Black Level Futu to the Second Interstitial Battle Mark level. Its ability to erode the enemy's spirit had increased exponentially. With the slightest carelessness, one could be dragged into hell.

"Hell? Then I shall raze Hell!"

The Mad Beast roared and bellowed. Relying on his invincible martial will, he forcefully broke free from the influence of the Black Level Futu. He then charged at Tang Jie like a galloping demonic beast. With every step, the ground trembled violently. His body transformed into that of a ferocious bear, and with a seemingly clumsy swipe, he struck out with immense pressure!

"Bang!"

But to the Mad Beast's horror, when his palm struck Tang Jie's chest, it felt like it had sunk into a black hole. Although it caused the black light on Tang Jie's body to tremble slightly, it inflicted no effective damage on Tang Jie.

The Black Level Futu, having reached the Second Interstitial Battle Mark realm, had its gang jin transformed into True Essence. Furthermore, because the Black Level Futu cultivated qi, its True Essence was even more profound than that of the Innate Art, making it extremely adept at combat.

The protective True Essence it emitted alone had a defensive power no less than the Twelve-Layer Golden Bell Shield. It could even withstand a heavy blow from a powerful expert like the Mad Beast head-on!

After all, the Golden Bell Shield only had twelve layers and was still at the gang jin level, having not broken through its limits. Even if it was skilled in defense, it was normal for it to be inferior to the defense of the Black Level Second Stage, which possessed ten times the profoundness of its power.

"Arhat Vajra Fist!"

Tang Jie took the Mad Beast's punch with his body. Although his chest felt a slight pain, it was not a major issue. He unhesitatingly clenched his right fist, as if transforming into an angry Vajra, and unleashed a heavy punch at the Mad Beast's chest.

Trading injury for injury!

Bang!

The Mad Beast, with his old strength spent and new strength not yet gained, had no room to dodge. He was hit squarely in the chest by this punch that traded injury for injury. With a dull thud, the Mad Beast's burly body, like that of a small giant, was sent flying back. He flew back a hundred meters like a kite with a broken string, his feet dragging two deep gullies on the ground before he stopped his retreat.

The Mad Beast cultivated the Mad Beast Way, surviving like a demonic beast, feeding on the flesh and blood of various demonic beasts daily. He himself was a humanoid demonic beast, his strength and physique no less than that of demonic beasts. However, after taking Tang Jie's powerful punch head-on, the bones in his chest showed faint cracks!

This filled the Mad Beast with immense shock. Since his martial arts reached great accomplishment, he had usually remained unharmed even when fighting demonic beast kings. Now, in this battle with Tang Jie, he had sustained injuries shortly after the fight began.

What shocked the Mad Beast even more was that as Tang Jie's fist struck his body, a dark power was injected into him, making his entire body turn cold and causing unbearable agony.

That was the power of the Black Level Futu. Upon reaching the Second Interstitial Battle Mark realm, the Black Level Futu's ability to erode the enemy's spirit and physique had increased exponentially. Moreover, if it came into direct contact with the enemy, it could inject the Black Level Futu into the enemy's body, subjecting them to the torment of hell, causing their spirit and physique to collapse in pain!

"Damn it!"

The Mad Beast encountered this strange enemy for the first time. Before he could circulate his energy to expel the Black Level Futu within his body, Tang Jie, who was far away, took a step forward. He unleashed the Great Teleportation Movement Technique, covering a hundred meters in a single stride, instantly closing in on the Mad Beast.

This left the Mad Beast with no time to expel the power of the Black Level Futu within him, forcing him to grit his teeth and resist Tang Jie's fierce assault.

Tang Jie gave the Mad Beast no chance to breathe. He wasn't aiming for a swift, decisive victory, as that was unrealistic. Instead, he decided to wear the Mad Beast down with relentless attacks, dragging him into hell.

Seventy-Two Peerless Techniques. Thousand Leaf Hand!

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!"

Tang Jie launched a fierce assault on the Mad Beast with his swift Thousand Leaf Hand. His arms seemed to transform into a thousand arms, filling the air with dense palm strikes. They moved without discernible patterns, like scattered leaves, raining down on the Mad Beast.

The Mad Beast unleashed defensive moves from the Mad Beast Way, swinging his thick arms to block Tang Jie's palm techniques. His entire body's true essence condensed, faintly forming a turtle shell.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

In the blink of an eye, the two clashed dozens of times. The Mad Beast defended flawlessly, like an ancient turtle. Even Tang Jie's unpredictable and exquisite Thousand Leaf Hand struggled to penetrate the Mad Beast's defense, being blocked entirely.

However, with each collision, a trace of the Black Level Futu's power seeped into the Mad Beast's protective true essence, injecting into his body and eroding his spirit and physical form!

Cold sweat dripped from the Mad Beast's forehead. Under the erosion of the Black Level Futu, the Mad Beast endured immense pain in both his spirit and body. Every second, his spirit was torn apart by countless evil spirits, and every second, his body felt as if it were being sliced by a thousand blades.

This pain was terrifying. Even if the spirit could withstand it, the physical body could not; it would collapse from the agony, leading to mental death!

A high-level duel required complete concentration to deal with the opponent's attacks. How could anyone possibly manage to do that while enduring intense pain and fending off the onslaught of an equally matched expert?

This was the terrifying nature of the Black Level Futu. Fighting it was simply torture!

Even a powerhouse like the Mad Beast, with his robust physique and unwavering martial will, was beginning to falter. While resisting the torment of the Black Level Futu, he also had to face Tang Jie's continuous attacks, and the true essence of the Black Level Futu that had infiltrated his body continued to increase!

Finally, the Mad Beast's focus wavered for a fleeting moment. In that instant, Tang Jie transformed his palm into a fist and drove it straight into the Mad Beast's chest. Weakened by the Black Level Futu's erosion, the Mad Beast couldn't block the blow.

"Boom!"

The Mad Beast was sent flying once more, his body tumbling awkwardly through the air before crashing heavily onto the ground, bouncing up, and crashing down again!

"Crack crack crack!"

The sound of cracking bones accompanied this. Even though the Mad Beast's body was comparable to that of a Demonic Beast, he couldn't withstand Tang Jie's heavy blows repeatedly striking the same area. The bones in his chest shattered, caving inward.

Fueled by sheer willpower, the Mad Beast pushed himself up from the ground. He refused to face his opponent in such a pathetic state.

"Cough cough cough!"

But as soon as the Mad Beast got to his feet, his face turned pale, and he coughed up a large mouthful of blood. He had sustained severe injuries!

"You've lost!"

Tang Jie's body shimmered with a dark light as he spoke coldly.

Even at his peak, the Mad Beast couldn't suppress Tang Jie. Now, with his body eroded by the Black Level Futu and the bones in his chest broken, the Mad Beast's defeat was sealed!

The Mad Beast's face contorted slightly, a mix of pain and humiliation at being defeated by Tang Jie.

He, the Mad Beast, was a martial artist who had emerged before the human race had even formed its ten nations. He was more ancient than Bodhidharma and True Man Sanfeng, and the strongest Martial Cultivator of that era. He believed himself to be on par with any Martial Cultivator, past or future. In his time, no martial artist could match him for even a single exchange; he was peerless.

Yet, in this era of martial artists, his very first battle after reawakening had brought the taste of defeat! He was heavily injured by Tang Jie, almost without any ability to retaliate!

The Mad Beast gritted his teeth and declared, "I haven't lost yet... As long as I'm not dead, I haven't lost!"

"Go!"

The Mad Beast decisively chose to flee. Despite the humiliation, as he said, as long as he wasn't dead, he hadn't lost!

Crack crack crack!

Something astonishing happened. The ground beneath the Mad Beast's feet suddenly caved in, becoming incredibly soft. The Mad Beast's robust body, like an agile mudfish, rapidly burrowed into the rocky ground.

The Mad Beast Way was created through the study of various beasts. In nature, there were countless creatures with the ability to escape, and the Mad Beast Way also encompassed various escape techniques, though he had rarely used them before!

"Trying to escape?"

Tang Jie's expression turned cold. This Mad Beast was a notorious killer, having slain over a thousand martial artists within Peerless City and severely injuring Xuan Ye. Tang Jie was unwilling to let him leave alive.

Mountain-Pulling River-Shaking Divine Elephant Fist!

Tang Jie leaped into the air, appearing to transform into a colossal elephant even larger than the sky. He raised an elephantine hoof and slammed it down heavily onto the ground where the Mad Beast had disappeared!

"Rumble!"

Tang Jie's punch struck the earth with the fury of a celestial god. The entire sky trembled, and the land for several miles shook violently. Centered on the spot where Tang Jie's fist landed, the entire area caved in.

A massive crater, four to five hundred meters in diameter, appeared on the spot, as if struck by a meteorite.

If this punch had landed on flesh and blood, not even a speck of residue would have remained!

But Tang Jie's brow furrowed. "He escaped..."

Tang Jie could clearly sense that his punch had not killed the Mad Beast. The Mad Beast moved through the ground as if swimming through water, swiftly escaping over a thousand meters and evading the impact of Tang Jie's fist.

Those who reached the Innate Martial Cultivator realm possessed abilities beyond ordinary people. The Mad Beast's combat power was immense, and his survival skills were equally formidable. This was why he had wreaked so much havoc in the past, and even powerful immortal cultivators couldn't deal with him.

Though Tang Jie was somewhat unwilling to let the Mad Beast escape, he didn't consider it a major problem. The Mad Beast was incredibly arrogant; even if he sought revenge, he would do so openly. Furthermore, Tang Jie was confident that he would progress faster than the Mad Beast. If the Mad Beast couldn't defeat him now, he certainly wouldn't in the future; the gap would only widen!

Tang Jie's mood was also slightly complex.

The Mad Beast, a Martial Cultivator who had emerged in ancient times and even destroyed the Shaolin Temple, had shocked the world. Tang Jie had been deeply shaken when he first learned of this.

Moro's diary also mentioned the terrifying nature of this mysterious martial artist, describing him as nearly invincible.

And today, Tang Jie had gravely wounded him and forced him to flee head-on. Tang Jie's progress in strength was clearly foreseeable!

"Gulp!"

"Terrifying... terrifying! He's too terrifying. Even this fierce man isn't Tang Jie's opponent? He truly is a god among martial artists!"

Amidst the clouds in the sky, the immortal cultivators who witnessed the battle below were utterly shocked. They found it hard to believe this was the level a martial artist could reach.

Especially when viewed from above, the battlefield had completely devolved into a ruined wasteland. In particular, Tang Jie's punch had left a crater hundreds of meters in diameter on the ground, a level of destruction that even many immortal cultivators' spells and divine abilities couldn't achieve!

"He won. Just as I predicted. Although that person who calls himself Mad Beast is also an Innate Martial Cultivator, I felt his strength was rather ordinary."

The burly Daoist, standing over ten miles away, spoke. He had already felt Tang Jie had a higher chance of winning the battle against Mad Beast, and it turned out to be true.

"Martial arts... it's not that the more ancient they are, the more powerful they are. It's natural that later generations, by absorbing the experience of their predecessors, would create even more powerful martial arts!"

The young monk in black clothes on the side also nodded.

The development of martial arts was similar to technology; the more it developed, the stronger it became. It wasn't strange for later generations, by absorbing the experience of their predecessors, to create martial arts that were more profound than those of their ancestors.

The era Mad Beast belonged to was very ancient. Although his self-created Mad Beast Way had unique aspects, to some extent, only he had cultivated and researched it, and it hadn't reached perfection yet, appearing somewhat crude!

"May I ask your esteemed name, Daoist brother?" The young monk in black clothes withdrew his gaze and looked at the burly Daoist.

"My name is Wu Changkong," the burly Daoist replied.

"This humble monk's name is Maha," the young monk in black clothes introduced himself with clasped hands.

"Hahaha! It's fate that we meet. I can hardly wait. Let's go, the two of us can go have some fun elsewhere!"

The burly Daoist laughed heartily, his eyes flashing with crimson flames as he stared at the young monk in black clothes.

The burly Daoist Wu Changkong and this young monk in black clothes, Maha, had only just met. Wu Changkong could feel that Maha's cultivation was unfathomably deep, and he was already becoming impatient.

"Amitabha!" Maha also stood up, a smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

Both were the strongest martial cultivators of their respective eras, practicing the most superior martial arts. They did not belong to the same era, but now that they had gathered together, they were eager to test each other's mettle!

The two stood up and headed into the distance, disappearing from the area.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

A thousand miles away from this place, in a desolate mountain, Mad Beast stopped. He panted heavily and sat down cross-legged, circulating his energy to expel the Black Level Futu that was eroding his body and spirit.

As the power of the Black Level Futu was expelled, Mad Beast's contorted face looked a little better.

"Tang Jie's strength is indeed terrifying. Even I was defeated by him. His strength lies in that strange power that can erode the enemy's spirit and body. As long as I can deal with it, there's no saying I can't defeat him!"

Mad Beast recalled the battle just now while healing, a look of dread on his face.

Tang Jie's Black Level Futu was too terrifying; it had completely suppressed Mad Beast. Mad Beast immediately began to ponder a way to break it. Defeat was not frightening; what mattered was to summarize the experience and devise a countermeasure, perhaps for the next battle!

Mad Beast believed that one day he would be able to defeat Tang Jie. This was the confidence he had cultivated from living alone in the dangerous primeval mountains since childhood.

"Who?"

While healing and recalling the battle, summarizing his experience, Mad Beast's beast-like intuition sensed something. He let out an angry roar and prepared to enter a combat state.

But a pair of hands had already pressed down on his shoulders. A suction force emerged from those palms, causing Mad Beast to grunt. He felt his internal strength being continuously drawn away, and his entire body felt weak and limp, as if electrocuted, unable to muster any strength.

"Wh... who is it?"

Mad Beast was extremely alarmed. He tried desperately to resist, but he couldn't even move a finger. The hands pressing on his shoulders released a suction force that caused his internal true essence to surge out incessantly, like water from a breached dam.

"Des... despicable... despicable scoundrel!"

Mad Beast's eyes were filled with anger and unwillingness. The opponent had taken advantage of his severe injuries and ambushed him while he was healing. This was too despicable!

"Damn... damn it... I never thought I, Mad Beast, would die at the hands of such a despicable scoundrel... My martial path... has it finally reached its end?"

No matter how angry or unwilling Mad Beast was, he couldn't resist the feeling of his strength rapidly draining, like excessive blood loss. This was the feeling of death. He knew he was about to die.

He didn't die gallantly in battle against Tang Jie, but instead died at the hands of such a despicable scoundrel!

Tears trickled from the corners of Mad Beast's eyes. He was unwilling and sad. He was unwilling to fall here, and sad that after a thousand years of pursuit and countless years of waiting, he wanted to reach a higher realm in martial arts, but all of it had failed!

Like other martial artists, he had fallen on the road, destined to turn into a handful of yellow earth, with no one remembering him. This was the greatest sorrow.

Thump!

Mad Beast slumped to the ground, lifeless. All the strength within his body had been completely extracted!