Decisive Kill! Land Godly Palm, Water Godly Fist

Zhang Chu stood atop the stone steps.

A razor-sharp aura flashed in his eyes. Like a mountain king tiger in the forest, he stood with incomparable pride!

Everyone in the crowd below changed expression at his words.

"Gasp! How could this Daoist priest be so conceited? Lu Chengfeng broke through to Hidden Force ten years ago!"

"That's right. Even across the entire Jianghu, the Lu Family patriarch is a seasoned veteran in the Hidden Force Realm."

"After this battle, True Martial Temple is likely to be destroyed beyond repair. Ah, fate toys with men..."

Regretful sighs rose from the crowd.

Situ Ying and the others felt the same.

They admired Zhang Chu's bold and heroic spirit.

But publicly provoking the Lu Family patriarch was not a wise move. The other man had come with murder in his heart.

"Bold!" Lu Chengfeng roared in fury.

"In Linjiang County, no one has ever dared speak to me like this. Die!"

"Iron Blood Divine Palm—Gang Qi Transforms into a Dragon!"

Lu Chengfeng struck in rage. Gang Qi surged from his entire body as his palms crossed and layered into afterimages, like two divine dragons.

For a moment, murderous energy soared beneath the mountain gate!

This palm technique was anything but ordinary. It was Lu Chengfeng's famed ultimate skill. Back then, relying on this palm art, he had nearly swept through every major sect within a thousand miles.

From beginning to end, he had never known defeat!

That was how he earned the title of Land Godly Palm!

The instant this palm technique emerged, Gang Qi churned wildly through the surroundings. Lu Chengfeng's body flashed like a ghost, appearing before Zhang Chu in an instant as he brought his palm down at him!

Seeing this, the crowd outside the arena could not help holding their breath, their faces filled with horror.

"What a vicious move! The Lu Family patriarch used his ultimate skill the moment they met, leaving the Daoist priest no path to survival at all!"

Hong Shijie secretly clenched his fists, hating his own meager strength and his inability to step forward to help.

"He truly has none of the bearing of a Martial World senior! Against a junior, he is actually going all out!"

"This is not the conduct of the Jianghu's Righteous Path!"

Situ Ying and Yu Mantang both revealed their displeasure.

Yet Lu Chengfeng turned a deaf ear. His palm wind was incomparably vicious, aimed solely at taking Zhang Chu's life!

But just as those iron hands gleaming with savage light were about to descend, Zhang Chu suddenly shook his head.

"All flash and no substance—pretty to look at, useless in a fight."

"True Martial First Form—Demon-Sweeping!"

Zhang Chu turned one hand over and met him with a palm of his own. There were no fancy flourishes whatsoever as he struck out with overwhelming force.

This palm appeared slow, but was actually swift as thunder, heavy as mountains, as though heaven and earth were collapsing.

"Bang!"

The two palms crossed the long distance between them and collided, like two massive boulders crashing together. A deafening blast erupted, shaking everyone's eardrums with pain!

"Hm?!"

At the instant of impact, Lu Chengfeng's expression changed.

But before he could react, an unimaginably immense force surged directly into his body.

Under that tremendous force, his internal organs were instantly destroyed. Even the Gang Qi he had been so proud of was completely scattered at the same time.

That one palm shattered his martial dream of many years—and took his life with it!

[Merit Points +8000!]

Just as the notification sounded in Zhang Chu's mind, Lu Chengfeng's body flew backward with a boom.

"Thud! Thud!!..."

The ground was smashed into a deep pit, and the earth around it trembled with dull rumbles.

Looking again at Lu Chengfeng, who had been so aggressively imposing moments ago, he was now a mangled mass of flesh and blood, utterly unconscious as he lay motionless in the pit, blood flowing continuously from his body...

The onlookers around them had all opened their mouths wide, completely dumbstruck!

Their eyeballs nearly popped out.

"This... the Lu Family patriarch was actually forced back?"

"No! He was killed by one palm?!"

The crowd found it hard to believe. Lu Chengfeng had entered the Hidden Force Realm ten years ago, while Daoist Priest Zhang opposite him was only eighteen at most!

Yet he had been killed head-on by a single palm from this youth before their eyes. How could something so absurd be possible?

"Gasp—!!!"

"Daoist Priest Zhang... how could he be this strong?"

"The Lu Family patriarch struck first and even used his ultimate skill, yet he could not withstand even one move?"

"Exactly. He had no power to fight back at all. Daoist Priest Zhang's strength has likely reached the limit of Hidden Force!"

"Unbelievable—terrifying beyond measure!"

Though they did not understand why Zhang Chu had become so powerful, at this moment, everyone's eyes were filled with shock, reverence, and even fear!

It was the attitude of the weak toward the strong!

Some were already filled with regret. Had they known, they would have spoken up for Daoist Priest Zhang's justice earlier.

It was all Hong Shijie and the others' fault. They must have known the inside story, yet they had not revealed even a shred of it.

They had made everyone miss such a good opportunity for nothing.

"Stop!!!"

Just as the crowd was blaming Hong Shijie and the others, an angry shout finally came belatedly from afar!

"Whoosh!...!"

The next moment, a figure arrived directly beside the deep pit. His Lightness Skill was clearly extraordinary.

The newcomer wore a blue robe and resembled Lu Chengfeng by seventy or eighty percent in age, though he was far thinner. He wore the distinctive clothing of Lake Heart Pavilion, the sect south of the city.

The moment he arrived, he unleashed a powerful presence.

"Boom—!"

A powerful Gang Qi pressure field made the surroundings turn oppressive.

"It's the Water Godly Fist! Fan Lingxiao, master of Lake Heart Pavilion and sworn brother to the Lu Family patriarch!"

Someone recognized the newcomer and cried out loudly.

At this, many nodded. "I knew today's conflict would not end so easily!"

"Water Godly Fist Fan Lingxiao and Land Godly Palm Lu Chengfeng are known together as the Water and Land Elders. How could he not come?"

"That's right. Lu Chengfeng was killed by a single palm. Fan Lingxiao certainly will not let this rest. The question is whether the Water Godly Fist can defeat Daoist Priest Zhang!"

A clamor rose beneath the mountain gate. Many were cowed by Fan Lingxiao's terrifying pressure and hurriedly retreated.

Yet many others could not help watching.

"I told you to stop! Why did you still commit murder? Do you wish to make enemies of the entire Righteous Path?!"

Fan Lingxiao was beside himself with rage, murder intent blazing as he strode step by step toward Zhang Chu beneath the pressure of his Gang Qi!

After learning today that his friend's most beloved grandson had died a violent death, he had originally intended to come early and lend a hand.

But when he learned that the opponent was merely a yellow-haired brat who had just entered the Hidden Force Realm, he did not take it seriously. Thus, he arrived a step late, intending to let his old friend vent his anger.

Yet he never expected that his friend, who was in the middle stage of the Hidden Force Realm, would not only fail to avenge the death, but would perish miserably himself!

Because he had been too far away and the villain had struck too quickly, he had wanted to save him but had not had time to act.

Now that his old friend was dead, if he, his sworn brother, did not act, where would he put his face in the future?

"You say stop, so I have to stop?"

"If I don't stop, I'm making enemies of the entire Righteous Path?"

Zhang Chu glanced at Fan Lingxiao, utterly calm. The other man's pressure was like air to him.

"Impudent! I am the foremost figure of Linjiang's martial arts, representing the Martial World's Righteous Path. What I say is an order!"

"At such a young age, you rely on your divine skill to disregard your elders, committing evil deeds and murder time and again!"

"If I were to turn a blind eye today, would I not be indulging you in bringing calamity upon the Martial World and slaughtering an entire region!"

Fan Lingxiao's face was full of malice, his eyes overflowing with fury. Every word sought to condemn Zhang Chu to death.

Hearing him, Zhang Chu did not grow angry but laughed instead. Truly, when a man had no shame, he was invincible beneath heaven.

"Leader of the Righteous Path? You think you deserve it?"

"Where were you when the Li Family was bringing calamity to the north of the city? Where were you when the Boat Gang slaughtered hundreds of young and able-bodied men?"

"Now that an old dog has died, you jump out? Do you fucking think everyone under heaven is your father, that they all have to indulge an old bastard like you?!"

"Boom!" Zhang Chu struck without hesitation.

An even more terrifying pressure descended.

This pressure was dozens of times more terrifying than Fan Lingxiao's. The surrounding onlookers felt as if countless mountains were pressing down from above, unable to bear it as they all fell to their knees. Even Fan Lingxiao could not move!

"Y-you, you..."

"How could you possibly be this strong?!"

Fan Lingxiao was terrified beyond measure. Zhang Chu's pressure was too horrifying; it was absolutely not something a Hidden Force Realm expert could possess.

"You're not in Hidden Force!? You are..."

In an instant, Fan Lingxiao understood.

He had originally believed his opponent to be in the late stage of Hidden Force, which was why he had dared step forward. After all, he too was in the late stage of Hidden Force, much stronger than his sworn brother Lu Chengfeng.

But only now did Fan Lingxiao realize.

He had been wrong—terribly, utterly wrong!

What late-stage Hidden Force? They were simply frogs at the bottom of a well. His horizons had been too narrow.

This young man was actually a True Gang Grandmaster!

"No, you can't kill me!"

"If you kill me, you'll be making enemies of the Righteous Path..."

Under that terrifying pressure, Fan Lingxiao felt like an ant that could be reduced to ashes at any moment.

He did not want to die. He still wanted to be Linjiang's leader of the Righteous Path, to stand above others. He could not die like this!

As for his sworn brother Lu Chengfeng, he was already dead. Fan Lingxiao could not spare him another thought—how could anything matter more than his own life?

"Noisy!"

Zhang Chu frowned and unleashed a fierce palm strike, instantly blasting Fan Lingxiao into a mist of blood.

Even at the moment of death, Fan Lingxiao had not finished his words. His eyes remained full of terror and panic.

"Th-this...?!"

The onlooking crowd stared at Zhang Chu in astonishment.

Whether it was the Lu Family patriarch or Fan Lingxiao, both had been figures who dominated Linjiang for more than a decade.

Yet they had died just like that?

One man, one palm each—not even an extra strike was needed. This young Daoist priest had smashed them alive into blood mist!