The night wind howled, kicking up dust from the street, but it couldn't disperse the suffocating oppression in the air.
Yan Kui's enormous crimson body was like a living volcano moving at a crawl. Every step he took pounded heavily against everyone's hearts. He now stood eight feet tall, his muscles bulging like armor. His dark red skin gleamed with a metallic chill in the torchlight, and his eyes, burning with dark red flames, were especially terrifying. Just one glance from him made people feel as if their souls were about to burn away.
"Gulp..."
No one knew who had swallowed first, but the disciples of the Martial Arts Hall Alliance, who had been packed tightly together, began instinctively backing away. Their weapons trembled in their hands, and some were so frightened that their legs had gone weak. If the people behind them hadn't been holding them up, they would have collapsed to the ground already.
Though they were usually hardened souls who lived by the blade, when faced with a monster that completely defied common sense, their instinctive fear as human beings still won out. Even the armor-piercing crossbows couldn't penetrate his defenses. How were they supposed to fight him?
"None of you are allowed to retreat!"
A sudden shout rang out like thunder on a clear day, making everyone's eardrums ache.
The speaker was Zhao Tieshan, master of the Crushing Stone Sect.
This master of hard-body martial arts, renowned throughout Tianwu City for many years, wore a grim expression, but his eyes flashed with ruthless determination. Watching Yan Kui steadily approach, he pulled a pair of black iron gloves from his waist and slowly put them on.
"Alliance Leader, that brat may have practiced some kind of unorthodox hard-body technique that can withstand sharp weapons, but that doesn't mean he can withstand blunt force!" Zhao Tieshan said heavily. "My Mighty Stone Splitting Hand specializes in breaking inner-family qi and hard-body techniques. As long as I shatter his internal organs, no matter how tough his skin is, he'll still be a corpse!"
At those words, Li He, master of the Tiger Crane Twin Forms Sect, brightened.
"Exactly! Those crossbow bolts didn't pierce his skin, but they must have drained a lot of his strength, right? I refuse to believe he's truly invincible!" Li He moved in a blur and raised his hands into claws, taking the opening stance of the Tiger Crane Twin Forms. His bones cracked loudly. "Old Zhao, I'll attack his legs and eyes. You go for his chest. Together, we'll cripple him!"
The two exchanged a glance, and each saw the greed and murderous intent in the other's eyes.
In their minds, Yan Kui was so powerful because of that "unorthodox technique." If they could kill him and seize the cultivation technique...then who in Tianwu City would dare slight them? Even cultivators would have to think twice before crossing them!
Fortune favored the bold!
"Kill!"
Zhao Tieshan struck first.
He stomped hard against the ground. The bluestone slabs shattered, and he used the recoil to charge at Yan Kui like a galloping rhinoceros, carrying an unstoppable momentum.
"Die! Stone-Splitting Palm!"
With a furious roar, his right palm, clad in an iron glove, turned black as ink. A heavy palm strike howled forward, producing a deep sonic boom in the air. He had poured decades of cultivation into this blow. Forget a person—even a thousand-pound boulder would be smashed to dust!
"Excellent! Sect Master Zhao's skill has improved again!" Chen Bantian, watching from behind, couldn't help but nod in approval.
The power of that strike was already close to the limits of the peak Blood Change Realm. Even he would have to use his true qi to defend himself if he took it head-on.
At the same time, Li He made his move.
He darted like a ghost, instantly circling around to Yan Kui's rear flank. His hands curved like hooks, whistling through the air as they went straight for Yan Kui's lower back and the hollows behind his knees. Both were vulnerable points on the human body. If he hit either one, Yan Kui would be forced to his knees, if not killed outright.
One attacked from the front and the other from behind; one was forceful, the other supple.
The two sect masters worked together flawlessly, sealing off every possible escape route in an instant.
However.
Faced with this deadly combined attack, Yan Kui didn't even raise an eyelid.
He kept up his unhurried pace, as if the two deadly experts coming at him were nothing more than a pair of annoying flies.
Closer!
Five steps...three steps...one step!
Zhao Tieshan's iron palm was about to slam into Yan Kui's chest. Its force distorted the air in front of Yan Kui.
"Die!!" Zhao Tieshan snarled. He could almost hear Yan Kui's breastbone shattering.
At that critical moment.
Yan Kui moved.
There was no flashy technique, no motion to build up strength. He simply raised his right hand, clenched it into a fist, and then—smashed it down!
Like a pile driver crashing down!
No one even saw when he threw the punch. They only saw a dark red blur flash through the air.
BOOM—!!!
A deafening crash drowned out every other sound.
Then came a series of bone-chilling cracks.
Time seemed to stop.
Everyone stared at the center of the street, dumbstruck.
Zhao Tieshan's iron palm, which seemed capable of splitting mountains and shattering stone, was twisted at an unnatural angle. The wrought iron glove had been completely smashed apart, and its fragments flew everywhere along with blood and flesh.
His entire right arm had vanished!
Yes, vanished.
Under the terrifying force of Yan Kui's punch, the flesh and bones of that arm had been blasted into a cloud of red mist. Even half his shoulder had caved in.
"AAAHHHHH—!!!"
Only then did a shrill scream ring out.
Zhao Tieshan flew backward like a broken rag doll, tracing a streak of blood through the air before crashing into a wall more than fifty feet away. He passed out on the spot, his life hanging in the balance.
One punch.
Just one punch.
The master of the Crushing Stone Sect, a man who had struck fear throughout Tianwu City, was crippled!
"What?!"
Li He, who had been attacking Yan Kui's lower body, was so terrified that he nearly lost his soul.
His once-deadly Tiger Crane claws went limp the instant he saw what had happened to Zhao Tieshan.
"Run! I have to run!"
The moment the thought crossed his mind, a suffocating gust of pressure descended from above.
It was Yan Kui's left hand.
Like a giant hand snatching up a chick, the enormous dark red palm clamped down on Li He's head with an irresistible force.
"You came all this way. Did you think you could leave?"
The deep voice rang in his ears like a demonic chant.
Li He felt as if his skull were about to be crushed. He cried out in terror, "Spare me! Sir, please—"
Crack!
His plea cut off abruptly.
Yan Kui expressionlessly closed his fingers.
Like a watermelon bursting, red and white matter instantly seeped between his fingers, splattering all over him. But he didn't care in the slightest. He didn't even blink.
He casually flung his hand.
The headless corpse was tossed to the side, where it continued twitching unconsciously.
An eerie silence fell.
The entire street seemed to have become a graveyard. Apart from the howling wind, not a sound could be heard.
The disciples of the Martial Arts Hall Alliance had completely lost the ability to think. One by one, they stood gaping, staring blankly at the two bodies—one of them still barely alive—while their minds went blank.
So this was a mighty expert of the Blood Change Realm?
So this was one of Tianwu City's overlords?
Yet he couldn't even withstand one move from this monster? He seemed so fragile, so laughable!
"Gulp..."
This time, the sound of swallowing was clear as day, rising and falling from one person to the next.
Yan Kui shook the blood from his hand and calmly looked toward Chen Bantian, who had risen from his grand chair some distance away. His face had gone ashen.
"Warm-up's over."
He rolled his neck, producing a series of loud pops.
"Are you next?"
Chen Bantian's face twitched violently.
He looked at Li He's body on the ground, then at Zhao Tieshan, who lay far away with his fate unknown. The shock in his heart was beyond words.
Even he could defeat the pair together by using the true qi of the Half-step Innate Realm, but he could never have done it so cleanly and decisively, so...brutally!
How could this be martial arts?
This was nothing but an overwhelming difference in sheer scale! It was like an elephant trampling an ant—no skill was needed at all!
"Good...good! Very good!"
Chen Bantian drew a deep breath. His robes stirred without a breeze, and an invisible current began to swirl around him.
That was true qi!
The hallmark of a Half-step Innate expert!
"Your old man has roamed the world for decades, and I've never seen a younger generation so arrogant!" Chen Bantian's voice was icy, his killing intent soaring. "You think brute strength alone can make you invincible? Today, I'll show you what it means when everyone beneath the Innate Realm is an ant!"
"Everyone, fall back!"
At Chen Bantian's command, his aura erupted. The disciples of the martial arts halls scrambled backward, as if they'd been granted a pardon, retreating dozens of feet.
In the middle of the street, only two men remained, facing off.
One stood eight feet tall, a dark red demonic body like an ancient Demon God.
The other's hair and beard bristled, his true qi surging around him like a peerless grandmaster.
Yan Kui looked at the faint transparent barrier around Chen Bantian, almost invisible to the naked eye. A flicker of interest passed through his eyes.
"So this is the so-called outward release of Inner Force, the embryonic form of true qi?"
The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.
"I hope you're tougher than those two useless fools."
"Because right now..."
Yan Kui clenched both fists. His muscles rippled like dragons turning beneath his skin, and terrifying heat erupted from within him once more. The ground beneath his feet instantly turned black and charred.
"...I'm in a really bad mood!"
Before he'd even finished speaking, Yan Kui vanished from where he stood.
Two craters half a foot deep were left in the ground. His massive body burst forward at twice Li He's speed, bringing a suffocating rush of wind as he appeared in front of Chen Bantian in an instant!
No words—just the same brutally simple punch!
But this seemingly simple punch contained power and speed so overwhelming they were despair-inducing. The air compressed instantly, letting out a strained wail.
"So fast!"
Chen Bantian's pupils contracted.
He hadn't expected the big man to move with such terrifying speed. With no time to think, he raised both hands, unleashing all the Inner Force within him to form a translucent wall of qi in front of himself.
"Primal Chaos Qi Strength—Guard!"
This was the Chen family's signature technique, famed for being able to deflect a thousand pounds of force and keep out even a drop of water.
However.
The next second.
The moment that crimson fist touched the wall of qi.
A muffled boom rang out.
Chen Bantian's vaunted protective wall of qi held for less than half a breath before shattering.
Like glass smashed by an iron hammer.
The fist continued without losing momentum and slammed into Chen Bantian's crossed arms.
Crack!
The clear sound of breaking bones rang out.
Chen Bantian felt an unstoppable, overwhelming force crash into him. His arms instantly went numb. As if struck head-on by a battering ram, he plowed two deep furrows through the ground with his feet and skidded backward more than fifty feet before finally managing to stop.
"Pfft!"
He spat out a mouthful of blood.
Chen Bantian stared in horror at his trembling, misshapen arms, then at the monster across from him, who had merely rocked back and forth slightly.
"What...what kind of strength is this?!"
He couldn't understand it.
He had clearly used true qi to deflect most of the force. Why had the remaining power still destroyed his defense in an instant?
Could this man's strength be endless?
Yan Kui drew back his fist and looked down at his knuckles.
That punch had broken through the wall of qi, but he had clearly felt a soft, resilient resistance, like punching into a thick layer of cowhide. It had deflected at least thirty percent of his strength.
"Interesting."
The red glow in Yan Kui's eyes grew brighter.
"This energy, like glue—is this true qi?"
"I wonder if you can take this punch!"
Yan Kui charged again.
This time, he held nothing back. He drove the Crimson Extreme Golden Body to its fullest. A layer of shimmering heat seemed to ripple across his dark red skin. It wasn't true qi, but a high-temperature field produced by the overflow of his body's raw energy!
"Damn it! You lunatic!"
Chen Bantian had lost all the arrogance he'd shown moments ago, replaced by deep fear.
That last punch had already shaken his internal organs and broken the bones in his arms. Another one? He'd die for sure!
"All disciples, heed my command! Form ranks! Fire! Shoot him dead!"
Chen Bantian retreated in a panic, screaming at the top of his lungs.
But this time, the disciples who usually obeyed him without question hesitated.
What a joke.
The crossbows couldn't pierce him, and even the sect masters had been taken down in an instant. Were they supposed to charge in and get themselves killed?
In that instant of hesitation.
Yan Kui had already caught up with Chen Bantian.
"Running?"
"There was no one who could escape me."
A massive hand clamped down on Chen Bantian's shoulder like an iron vise.
Chen Bantian struggled frantically, his true qi erupting as he tried to shake the hand off. But it didn't budge. If anything, it tightened, its five fingers sinking deep into his flesh.
"Get... the hell off me!!!"
Desperate, Chen Bantian roared and jabbed backward with a move called "Poison Dragon Drill," aiming for Yan Kui's armpit.
His fingertip struck Yan Kui's skin with a crisp clang, like metal clashing against metal. Chen Bantian felt as though his finger had nearly snapped, while Yan Kui's skin wasn't even scratched.
Yan Kui lowered his head, bringing his savage face close to Chen Bantian's. A cruel smile spread across his lips.
"So this is Half-step Innate?"
"Too weak."
Crack!
His five fingers suddenly tightened.
Chen Bantian's shoulder blade shattered instantly.
"Argh—!!!"
Amid Chen Bantian's screams, Yan Kui lifted him bodily with one hand, like a lamb being led to slaughter.
His gaze swept across the entire courtyard.
The martial arts school disciples who had still been hesitating felt their spines turn to water the moment they met that gaze. One after another, they fell to their knees with thuds.
Weapons clattered to the ground in a steady chorus.
"Demon God... Lord Demon God, spare us!"
"We surrender! We surrender!"
"It was all Chen Bantian's doing!" one disciple cried. "That Old Fox has been squeezing every martial arts school dry, forcing us to hand over our secret manuals and silver. Anyone who refused had their whole family wiped out! He even colluded with the Blood Saber Sect, treating Tianwu City like his private property and bleeding it dry!"
"That's right!" another disciple shouted. "The slaves tortured to death in those underground boxing arenas were all part of their scheme! We wanted to abandon this organization long ago!"
"Lord Demon God, we surrender. We're willing to serve you! Please spare us low-level disciples who were forced into this!"
Fear had utterly crushed their will to resist.
Looking at the crowd kneeling before him, the red glow in Yan Kui's eyes gradually faded, replaced by a trace of cold disdain.
He looked at Chen Bantian, who was still struggling in his grasp, and said calmly:
"Looks like your era is over."
"Starting today, Tianwu City..."
"Will answer to me."
Before you continue