Two fists brimming with terrifying power tore through the void, then collided violently beneath the crowd's grave gazes.
Boom!
The air itself seemed to explode.
A shockwave visible to the naked eye erupted in every direction from the point where their fists met. So dense it seemed solid, it swept outward like a massive transparent wall.
The cracks that had just spread across the stone platform were ripped wide open as the shockwave passed. Huge sheets of ice peeled away from the surface, scattering like fragments of a shattered mirror.
Space twisted at the center of the impact, bending the light into strange arcs and making the collision's epicenter resemble a sunken vortex.
The ground beneath their feet could not withstand the force either, splitting into a spiderweb of cracks.
Those cracks spread outward from where the two stood, reaching the edges of the stone platform and climbing the ice walls. The entire platform shook violently beneath that single blow, as though it might collapse at any moment.
Every Great Xia guard stared fixedly at the source of the impact. The light from the collision seared their eyes, yet none dared blink.
Then their expressions shifted slightly. They saw that Lin Ming, who had met Xia Xuan's blow head-on, had not budged at all. He stood as solid as a rock.
His feet were planted on the ice as though rooted there, his figure straight as a spear. Not even the hem of his robes had stirred.
Purple-gold light continued to flow steadily over his body, as though nothing had happened.
Xia Xuan, by contrast, shuddered as though affected by the recoil.
The tremor was so slight that anyone not paying attention would have missed it, but which of the guards present lacked sharp senses? They clearly saw Xia Xuan's