One Punch, One Kid

The night wind howled, kicking up dust from the streets, but it couldn't dispel the suffocating sense of oppression.

Yan Kui's massive, crimson body was like a slowly moving, living volcano. With every step he took, it struck a heavy blow against everyone's hearts. He stood two and a half meters tall, his muscles bulging like armor beneath his dark red skin, which gleamed with a metallic coldness under the torchlight. His pupils, burning with dark red flames, seemed capable of incinerating the soul with a single glance.

"Gulp..."

Someone swallowed audibly, and then, the disciples of the Martial Arts Hall Alliance, who had been packed shoulder-to-shoulder, began to subconsciously retreat. Their weapons trembled, and some were already so terrified their legs felt weak. If not for the people behind them pushing them forward, they would have collapsed to the ground long ago.

Even though they were usually ruthless individuals who lived by the sword, facing a monster that completely defied their understanding of the world, their primal fear took over. Even powerful crossbows designed to pierce armor couldn't break through his skin. How were they supposed to fight this?

"No one retreats!"

A furious roar suddenly erupted, like thunder from a clear sky, making everyone's eardrums ache.

It was Zhao Tieshan, the sect leader of the Crushing Stone Sect.

This renowned master of hard qigong in Tianwu City looked grim, but a fierce glint flashed in his eyes. He watched Yan Kui approach, drew a pair of jet-black iron gloves from his waist, and slowly put them on.

"Alliance Leader, this brat may have practiced some evil hard qigong that can resist sharp weapons, but he might not be able to resist blunt force!" Zhao Tieshan said in a deep voice. "My Mighty Stone Splitting Hand specializes in breaking internal energy and hard qigong. As long as I shatter his internal organs, his tough exterior will be nothing more than a corpse!"

Hearing this, Li He, the sect leader of the Tiger Crane Twin Forms Sect, also's eyes lit up.

"Exactly! Those crossbow bolts might not have pierced his skin, but they must have drained a lot of his stamina, right? I don't believe he's truly invincible!" Li He's body flickered, his hands forming claws as he adopted the starting stance of the Tiger Crane Twin Forms, his bones cracking audibly. "Old Zhao, I'll attack his lower body and eyes, you attack his chest. Let's work together to cripple him!"

The two men exchanged a look, seeing the killing intent and greed in each other's eyes.

In their view, Yan Kui's strength must have come from some "evil technique." If they could kill him and seize this cultivation method... who in Tianwu City would dare to disrespect them then? Even cultivators would have to treat them with caution!

Fortune favors the bold!

"Kill!"

Zhao Tieshan attacked first.

He stomped his foot down hard, shattering the bluestone slabs beneath him. He used this recoil to charge at Yan Kui like a rampaging rhinoceros, his momentum unstoppable.

"Die! Stone Splitting Strike!"

With a furious roar, his right palm, clad in the iron glove, turned as black as ink. An incredibly heavy palm strike whistled through the air, even creating a low sonic boom. This strike contained decades of his cultivation. Forget a human, even a thousand-pound boulder would be pulverized into dust!

"Good! Sect Leader Zhao's power has advanced again!" Chen Bantian, watching from behind, couldn't help but nod in approval.

The power of this palm strike was already close to the limit of the peak Blood Change realm. Even he would need to use his true energy to defend himself if he were to take it head-on.

At the same time, Li He was not to be outdone.

His body flickered like a phantom, instantly appearing behind Yan Kui. His hands, like hooks, whistled through the air, aiming directly for Yan Kui's lower back and the back of his knees. These were both vulnerable points on the human body. A hit there would force Yan Kui to his knees, if not kill him.

One from the front, one from behind. One hard, one soft.

The cooperation between the two sect leaders was seamless, instantly sealing off all of Yan Kui's escape routes.

However.

Facing this deadly combined attack, Yan Kui didn't even lift an eyelid.

He maintained his unhurried pace, as if the approaching figures were not two deadly masters, but two annoying flies.

Closer!

Five steps... three steps... one step!

Zhao Tieshan's iron palm struck fiercely towards Yan Kui's chest, the gust of wind distorting the air around Yan Kui's torso.

"Die!!" Zhao Tieshan's face contorted in a savage grin. He could already hear the sound of Yan Kui's bones shattering.

At this critical moment.

Yan Kui moved.

There were no fancy moves, no charging up. He simply raised his right hand, clenched it into a fist, and then—smashed!

It was like a pile driver crashing down!

No one even saw when he threw the punch; they only saw a dark red afterimage flash through the air and disappear.

"BOOM—!!!"

A deafening roar instantly drowned out all other sounds.

Following that, a series of sickening "crack" sounds.

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

Everyone stared dumbfounded at the center of the arena.

Zhao Tieshan's iron palm, which seemed capable of splitting mountains and cracking rocks, was now twisted at a bizarre angle. The fine iron glove had completely shattered, fragments mixed with flesh and blood flying everywhere.

And his entire right arm had vanished!

Yes, vanished.

Under the terrifying power of Yan Kui's punch, the flesh and bones of that arm were blasted into red mist, and half of his shoulder caved in.

"Ahhhhhh—!!!"

Only then did a piercing scream finally ring out.

Zhao Tieshan flew backward like a rag doll, leaving a bloody streak in the air before smashing heavily into a wall over ten meters away. He immediately lost consciousness, his fate unknown.

One punch.

Just one punch.

The master of the Crushing Stone Sect, who shook Tianwu City, defeated!

"What?!"

Li He, who was attacking Yan Kui's lower body, was so scared his soul almost flew out of him.

His originally sharp Tiger Crane Dual Claws instantly became weak and powerless after seeing Zhao Tieshan's tragic state.

"Escape! I must escape!"

As soon as this thought arose, he felt a suffocating wind pressure coming from above his head.

It was Yan Kui's left hand.

Like grabbing a chick, the giant dark red palm, carrying an unparalleled sense of oppression, directly clamped onto Li He's head.

"Since you're here, you think you can leave?"

The low voice was like a demonic sound piercing his ears.

Li He felt his skull about to be crushed. He screamed in terror, "Spare me! Lord, spare..."

Crack!

His plea for mercy stopped abruptly.

Yan Kui's five fingers closed expressionlessly.

Like crushing a watermelon, red and white matter instantly overflowed from between his fingers, splashing all over Yan Kui. But he didn't care at all, not even blinking.

He casually waved his hand.

The headless corpse was flung aside, still twitching unconsciously.

Deathly silence.

The entire street seemed to have turned into a mass grave. Apart from the whistling wind, there was no other sound.

The martial arts school disciples had completely lost the ability to think. Their mouths hung open, their eyes staring blankly at the two corpses (one half-dead), their minds blank.

Is this... a master of the Blood Change realm?

Is this a hegemon of Tianwu City?

In front of this monster, they couldn't even last a single move? They seemed so fragile, so laughable!

"Gulp..."

This time, the sound of swallowing became clearly audible, and it came one after another.

Yan Kui wiped the blood from his hands and calmly looked at Chen Bantian, who had stood up from his grand tutor chair not far away, his face ashen.

"Warm-up complete."

He stretched his neck, making a series of cracking sounds.

"Next, is it you?"

Chen Bantian's face twitched violently.

He looked at Li He's corpse on the ground, then at Zhao Tieshan, whose fate was unknown in the distance. The shock in his heart was beyond words.

If it were him, even using his Half-step Innate true qi, he could defeat the two of them together, but he could never do it so cleanly, so... brutally!

What kind of martial arts is this?

This is purely an overwhelming difference in power! It's like an elephant stepping on an ant, requiring no skill at all!

"Good... Good! Very good!"

Chen Bantian took a deep breath. His robes fluttered without wind, and an invisible airflow began to swirl around him.

That's true qi!

The mark of a Half-step Innate expert!

"I have roamed the Great Gan for decades, and I have never seen such an arrogant junior!" Chen Bantian's voice was icy, his killing intent soaring. "Do you think you can be invincible with just brute force? Today, I will show you what it means to be an ant beneath the Innate realm!"

"Everyone, step back!"

As Chen Bantian gave the order, his aura erupted. The martial arts school disciples, as if granted amnesty, scrambled backward dozens of meters away.

In the center of the street, only the two of them remained, facing each other.

One was two and a half meters tall, with a dark red demonic body, like an ancient demon god;

The other had his beard and hair bristling, his true qi surging, like a peerless grandmaster.

Yan Kui looked at the faint, almost invisible transparent energy shield around Chen Bantian, a flicker of interest in his eyes.

"Is this the so-called internal energy projection, the nascent form of true qi?"

His lips curled upwards, revealing a mouth full of stark white teeth.

"Hope you can take a bit more punishment than those two trash from earlier."

"Because right now I'm..."

Yan Kui clenched his fists fiercely, his muscles writhing like dragons coiling and uncoiling. A terrifying heat erupted from his body once more, instantly scorching the ground beneath his feet black.

"...really fired up!"

Before he even finished speaking, Yan Kui vanished from his spot.

Two pits, half a foot deep, were left in the ground. His massive body had exploded with a speed twice as fast as Li He's earlier, carrying a suffocating wind pressure as he instantly charged in front of Chen Bantian!

No wasted words, still the simplest, most brutal punch!

But this seemingly simple punch contained a power and speed that inspired despair. The air was instantly compressed, letting out a mournful groan under the unbearable strain.

"So fast!"

Chen Bantian's pupils contracted sharply.

He hadn't expected this brute's speed to be so terrifying. With no time to think, he instantly raised his hands, pouring his internal energy out without reservation, forming a semi-transparent wall of qi before him.

"Primal Chaos Qi Strength - Defense!"

This was the famed technique of his Chen family, rumored to be able to deflect thousands of pounds of force, impervious to water.

However.

The next second.

The instant that crimson fist touched the qi wall.

A dull explosion rang out.

Chen Bantian's proud protective qi wall lasted less than half a breath before it shattered with a roar!

Like glass smashed by a sledgehammer.

The fist's momentum unabated, it smashed fiercely into Chen Bantian's braced arms.

Crack!

A clear bone-cracking sound echoed.

Chen Bantian felt an overwhelming, terrifying force surge through him, his arms instantly going numb. He was hit head-on like by a battering ram, his feet plowing two deep furrows in the ground as he slid backward for over ten meters before he finally managed to stop.

"Pfft!"

A mouthful of blood sprayed out.

Chen Bantian looked at his trembling, deformed arms in horror, then at the monster opposite him who had merely swayed his body.

"What... what is this strength?!"

He couldn't understand.

He had clearly used his true qi to deflect most of the force, so why could the remaining power instantly destroy his defense?

Was this guy's strength endless?

Yan Kui retracted his fist and glanced down at his knuckles.

Although that punch had broken through the qi wall, he had clearly felt a flexible resistance, like hitting a thick layer of hide, which had absorbed at least thirty percent of his force.

"Interesting."

The red light in Yan Kui's eyes intensified.

"This glue-like energy, is this true qi?"

"I wonder if you can still take this punch!"

Yan Kui charged again.

This time, he held nothing back. His Crimson Extreme Golden Body operated at full power, and a layer of distorted heatwaves actually appeared on his dark red skin. This wasn't true qi, but a high-temperature force field formed by the overflow of pure physical energy!

"Damn it! Madman!"

Chen Bantian had lost all his earlier arrogance, replaced by deep fear.

That last punch had already shaken his internal organs and fractured his arms. Another punch? He'd be dead for sure!

"All disciples, heed my order! Form ranks! Shoot! Shoot him to death!"

Chen Bantian roared hysterically as he retreated frantically.

But this time, the disciples who usually obeyed his every command hesitated.

What a joke?

Even siege crossbows couldn't penetrate, and several sect leaders were instantly killed. Are we supposed to charge forward and become cannon fodder?

In that moment of hesitation.

Yan Kui had already caught up to Chen Bantian.

"Running?"

"No one can escape from me."

A large hand, like an iron clamp, seized Chen Bantian's shoulder.

Chen Bantian struggled desperately, his true qi erupting madly, trying to shake off the hand. But the hand remained motionless, even tightening its grip, his fingers digging deeply into Chen Bantian's flesh.

"Get... GET OFF ME!!!"

Chen Bantian roared in despair, flicking his hand back in a "Poison Dragon Drill" aimed at Yan Kui's armpit.

His fingertips struck Yan Kui's skin with a crisp clang, like metal hitting metal. Chen Bantian felt his fingers were about to break, yet the other man's skin hadn't even been scratched.

Yan Kui lowered his head, his ferocious face leaning close to Chen Bantian, a cruel smile spreading across it.

"Is this Half-step Innate?"

"Too weak."

Crack!

His fingers suddenly tightened.

Chen Bantian's shoulder blade shattered instantly.

"Ah--!!!"

Amidst the screams, Yan Kui lifted Chen Bantian entirely with one hand, as if carrying a lamb to slaughter.

His gaze swept across the entire scene.

The disciples of the martial arts schools who had been hesitating moments before, the instant their eyes met Yan Kui's, felt their spines snap. One by one, they "thumped" and "thumped" as they knelt on the ground.

The sound of weapons hitting the floor rose and fell.

"Demon God... Lord Demon God, spare us!"

"We surrender! We surrender!"

"It was all Chen Bantian who forced us!" one disciple cried, "That old fox has always been squeezing the martial arts schools, forcing us to hand over secret manuals and silver. Anyone who dared to refuse had their entire family wiped out! He even colluded with the Blood Saber Sect, treating Tianwu City like his private property to extort!"

"That's right!" another disciple shouted, "The slaves who were tortured to death in the underground fighting rings, they orchestrated all of it! We've wanted to betray this organization for a long time!"

"Lord Demon God, we surrender, we are willing to pledge allegiance! Please spare us lower-level disciples who were coerced!"

Fear had completely crushed their psychological defenses.

Watching the crowd kneeling on the ground, the red light in Yan Kui's eyes gradually receded, replaced by a trace of cold disdain.

He looked at Chen Bantian, who was still struggling in his hand, and said faintly:

"It seems your era has ended."

"From today onwards, Tianwu City..."

"I call the shots."