"Boom!" His foot struck the ground, and a terrifying force slammed into the earth. The stone slabs paved with blue bricks shattered with a crash, sending countless fragments spraying in every direction.
Wu Yuan rolled to bleed off the force, then darted aside like lightning.
"You're unarmed now. You brought this on yourself—die!" The Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth's gaze was sharp, his killing intent surging. He swung his massive hammers and charged after the fleeing Wu Yuan at lightning speed.
The blow looked casual, but its power was astonishing.
"Whoosh!" "Whoosh!"
Two throwing knives shot from Wu Yuan's palm like lightning, hurtling straight toward the Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth.
They flew so fast it was terrifying.
"Hmph! Pathetic tricks!" The Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth swung both hammers in circles through the air, striking both knives at once.
"Bang!" "Bang!" The throwing knives, each carrying tens of thousands of pounds of force, were abruptly deflected to either side.
One pierced through a tree branch, bringing it crashing down. The other tore a gaping hole through the courtyard wall, kicking up clouds of dust.
The Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth's speed was also checked, slowing him down.
"Clang!"
Wu Yuan finally finished rolling off the force and snatched up the Mountain Splitting Saber that had been knocked aside from Yang Long!
He sprang up and stood with the blade in hand.
He faced the Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth from a distance.
"You think changing weapons will let you beat me?" The Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth held a hammer in each hand and strolled forward at his leisure. "Weapons are only an aid. Besides, mastering one takes a long time and plenty of practice."
"This is my junior brother's saber. You've only just picked it up—what do you think you can do with it?" The Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth stared at Wu Yuan.
Using words to undermine an opponent's confidence was a common tactic among experts.
A fight was never decided by strength and the relative merits of one's moves alone.
Willpower and quick thinking in the heat of battle mattered just as much.
"I never expected to run into a First-class Expert in a little place like Li City." Wu Yuan's voice was hoarse. Behind his bronze mask, his eyes burned with boundless fighting spirit. "You're worth making me use my real weapon—and worth making me unleash my full strength."
"Crack-crack!"
Wu Yuan's bones and tendons gave a faint series of pops. Before the Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth's astonished eyes, he grew from less than 1.7 meters tall to 1.8 meters in the blink of an eye!
"Bone Shifting?"
The Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth could hardly believe it. "Were you fighting me in a Bone Shifting state just now?"
Bone Shifting was nothing unfamiliar to the Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth.
As a First-class Expert, he couldn't achieve Internal Vision, but he had such fine control over his body that he could shift his bones slightly. He simply couldn't do it as dramatically as Wu Yuan.
Still, a warrior's normal bodily state was usually best for battle.
Bone Shifting greatly reduced a warrior's strength.
Wu Yuan had already been formidable. Now that his height and bones had returned to normal, he could only be even more terrifying.
"So what if you can shift your bones?"
"The boost to your strength is limited! You're going to die today!" The Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth's eyes were icy. "But an opponent like you is rare. To show you respect, I'll use my full strength to kill you, too."
The Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth didn't dare take him lightly.
As soon as he finished speaking—
"Boom!" "Boom!" The Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth swung his massive hammers. The air let out faint, shrill whistles as he struck at Wu Yuan like lightning.
His speed was greater, and the hammers' power was even more terrifying!
His hammer technique had changed, too.
Before, his blows had been broad and forceful, each one pushed to the limit. Now, they flowed one after another, vast and unceasing.
"The spear is only the weapon I use against groups. What I'm best at is saber technique!" Wu Yuan fixed his gaze on the incoming hammer.
His fighting spirit burned just as fiercely. His blood seemed to boil.
Wu Yuan had encountered Martial Dao Grandmasters in the Human Federation in his previous life who were no weaker than the Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth; some had even been more terrifying.
But he had never been in a fight to the death like this. It was so thrilling that his mind reached a state it had never known before.
Between life and death lay immense terror.
But between life and death, a person's potential was also unleashed to the fullest—something no training or sparring could ever match.
"Triple Extreme Strength—kill!" The skin, tendons, membranes, and bones throughout Wu Yuan's body quivered together, as if unified into one whole.
With his spine as the core, an endless stream of force surged through his limbs and torso, pouring into his arms and legs.
His body's potential soared to its absolute peak.
A heavy saber flash, solid as a mountain, burst forth and blocked the terrifying hammer crashing toward him.
"Bang!" Even though he redirected the force to one side, Wu Yuan—whose Triple Force had united as one—had unleashed sixty thousand pounds of power, yet he still felt an utterly terrifying force crash into him. His blood surged, and he could barely keep hold of the Mountain Splitting Saber!
He was hurled backward, smashing through the house behind him. Wood, bricks, and tiles flew everywhere.
Nearly a hundred thousand pounds of force? Wu Yuan was stunned as he burst out of the rubble.
"Clang!" He had no time to think. His saber flashed out again and collided with the hammer, but this time he blocked it with ease.
Fifty thousand pounds of force? Wu Yuan understood at once.
The Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth had actually mastered Double Extreme Strength. Though he wasn't very proficient, he could still unleash two layers of force at a critical moment.
That doubled the force, bringing it to a hundred thousand pounds.
How terrifying!
Force Extreme was a special technique for exerting power, made possible by an exceptionally high degree of control over one's body. Its power was terrifying, but it placed an enormous strain on the body and could only be used as a trump card.
Use it too often, and the consequences ranged from needing a period of recovery to collapsing from exhaustion.
"Bang!"
"Bang!" "Bang!" Hammer shadows rained down in a mad frenzy.
They tore through the air with piercing shrieks, their power far greater than before. Wu Yuan was driven backward again and again, but he still managed to hold them off.
As the two experts clashed in their frenzied battle, a house right beside them collapsed!
The courtyard wall was like paper before them. Caught in the battle, it too crashed to the ground.
Some Fierce Tiger Gang members who hadn't yet fled far stood gaping at the terrifying fight. It was beyond anything they could have imagined.
In the blink of an eye, the two had clashed a full fifty-eight times.
Two cuts now marked the Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth's arm, but they were only flesh wounds. He tensed his muscles and easily stopped the bleeding.
The longer they fought, the more shocked he became.
Where had this man come from? His strength was astonishing. He'd used Force Extreme Blade five times, yet still hadn't managed to wound him?
His saber technique was terrifying, practically flawless. He was clearly faster, yet he was the one getting injured first.
If not for his armor, he might already be dead. The Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth was shaken. Did his opponent really possess sixty thousand pounds of strength, or had he reached the "Hard and Soft in Harmony" state his master had spoken of?
The more he thought about it, the more afraid he became!
Besides, after using Force Extreme Blade five times, the Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth could feel his body growing weak, as though it had been hollowed out.
The strain on his body was simply too great!
"I can't beat him. Run!" The Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth suddenly unleashed a hammer blow, his speed surging by dozens of percent as he smashed it viciously at Wu Yuan. But his step was feigned; he meant to leap onto a rooftop and escape.
Wu Yuan seemed to see right through him.
"Take my saber!" Wu Yuan pressed forward instead of retreating, his figure almost completely blurring. Terrifying flashes of saber light burst forth, slicing toward the Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth.
One slash after another!
Each slash stronger than the last!
Thousand Mountain Blade!
This was the strongest saber technique with which Wu Yuan had stood at the pinnacle of the Human Federation's martial world in his previous life. He gathered his strength before unleashing it, drawing on every muscle, bone, membrane, and ounce of focus to reach his peak. In an instant, he could deliver a succession of saber flashes, each layered upon the last, as immovable as towering mountains. Hence the name, Thousand Mountain.
The technique placed an enormous strain on the body and couldn't be used lightly. In his previous life, after reaching the peak of physical fitness, Wu Yuan had been able to unleash at most twenty-nine slashes.
Today was the first time he had used Thousand Mountain Blade since crossing over.
In an instant—
A full seventeen saber flashes burst forth!
"Clang!" "Clang!" "Clang!" A rapid series of weapon clashes rang out. The Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth fought desperately, managing to block the first fifteen slashes.
He evaded the sixteenth slash with his neck, but the blade passed through the gap between his bracer and soft armor and sliced down from his shoulder. His entire arm was severed in an instant.
"Argh!" The Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth screamed in agony. His hammer fell, and his aura plummeted as blood poured from his wound.
"Run!"
Knowing that his life hung in the balance, the Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth frantically retreated.
But the seventeenth slash still came for him. It struck with unerring precision, cutting through his beast-hide clothing and the fastening where his soft armor met.
"Boom!" His clothes burst apart. The soft armor shattered into several pieces, and a small wooden case fell from its inner layer as well.
A terrifying gash opened across the Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth's chest, and blood ran freely.
He didn't dare waste a moment trying to grab the wooden case.
Whoosh!
Blood streaming from him and his upper body bare, the Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth fled into the distance at astonishing speed.
"This grudge will be avenged! Even if you flee to the Three Overseas Prefectures, you won't escape me!" His voice was filled with boundless hatred.
How could he not hate Wu Yuan?
He had lost an arm, crippling his strength, and he had also lost an important treasure.
This trip had cost him dearly!
"Planning to come after me someday?" Wu Yuan's eyes were cold and his aura towered. He watched his opponent disappear, but didn't pursue him.
Before you continue