"What the hell was that? Was it human?!"
"Stop! Which prisoner are you? How did you get out?!"
"Too fast! I can't see a thing..."
Chaos erupted inside Liucheng Prison. The guards shouted, but their quarry was a Transforming Strength Great Boxer at his physical peak. He moved like the wind, and if he wanted to hide, ordinary people had no hope of finding him. A boxer of his caliber had already begun to transcend the limits of a normal human. His Essence Qi Spirit was full and balanced, giving him an uncanny sense of danger. Unless he was caught on open ground, only an area-of-effect weapon like an artillery shell stood a chance against him.
Even a gunshot would only pierce his skin before his Internal Force stopped the bullet. To him, it was a flesh wound, no worse than an ordinary person nicking himself while peeling fruit. Meanwhile, he could cover more than ten meters in a single stride, making him difficult to aim at. One punch could smash through reinforced steel plate. He was a monster in human form, capable of killing a hundred men alone.
In fewer than ten breaths, a tall figure ran up the five-meter prison wall, crossed the electrified fence without a sound, and landed outside. His eyes locked like lightning onto Li Hansha, thirty meters away.
The Transforming Strength Great Boxer hidden in the prison was named Wang Tianba. He was the most formidable of Gu Chen's Refine Falsehood Into Truth creations. In Gu Chen's script, he was obsessed with martial arts, proficient in boxing styles from both China and abroad, and in peak physical condition, with powerful muscles and tendons. He was the perfect final sparring partner for Li Hansha, Gu Chen's Core Condensation Gang Qi avatar.
"Hahaha... Good! It's been a long time since I met such a pure boxer. I'm Wang Tianba. I've studied all sorts of styles, both internal and external. Nothing more to say."
Wang Tianba gave a martial salute, his eyes shining as he regarded Li Hansha across from him. He could barely contain his excitement.
"I've long heard of your obsession with martial arts. Li Hansha. Please show me what you've got!" Li Hansha returned the salute. His Internal Force drove his blood and qi into motion, and his clothes stirred without a breeze.
Thirty meters away, streamer Sun Na and her best friend Pan Xiaoli had their livestream equipment ready. They aimed the camera at the two men facing each other.
The two women had announced the stream in advance, so plenty of viewers were already waiting in the Livestream Room. Bullet Comments flooded across the image.
—"Wang Tianba? Now that's a badass name for a master!" "Damn! He jumped out of the prison? There's a National Martial Arts Master hiding in there too?!" "Holy shit! They're fighting outside a prison this time? Aren't the cops going to do anything?!" "Are you kidding? If a master like that wanted to leave, a hundred people couldn't stop him!" "If someone at that level committed a crime, I doubt anyone could catch him!" "How long do you think Grandmaster Li will take to beat this boxer?"...
Amid the prison sirens' piercing wail, Wang Tianba and Li Hansha moved almost simultaneously. Wang Tianba stamped his foot and charged like a tank. Muscles bunched along his arm, and his palm turned a deep red. It was the Iron Sand Palm, an external hardening art that could crack stone tablets with a single strike. His other hand formed a Vajra Hand Seal, giving him the bearing of a wrathful guardian.
Feeling the heavy rush of air coming at him, Li Hansha refused to yield. He drew a deep breath, his bones and tendons ringing in unison. His body swelled as his Internal Force, blood, and qi erupted like a volcano, and he charged straight in.
The two blurred together and collided in the blink of an eye, whipping up a fierce gust. Wang Tianba's Iron Sand Palm struck Li Hansha, but it rang like a hammer blow against a great bell.
Dong!!
"The Roaring Tiger Golden Bell Shield? What a hardening art!" Wang Tianba laughed. He closed his left hand into a fist and swung his arm, turning Iron Sand Palm into Three Emperors Cannon Punch. His fist came down with the weight of a massive hammer.
The Roaring Tiger Golden Bell Shield was an external hardening art. Ordinary punches and kicks could not faze it, but heavy, forceful impacts were another matter.
Li Hansha exhaled a sharp blast of air. Without dodging, he drove his Gang Qi into a punch. Wang Tianba's Three Emperors Cannon Punch stopped before it could meet Li Hansha's fist, as though an invisible force had blocked it.
Boom!!
The Three Emperors Cannon Punch slammed into the Gang Qi produced by Pill Embracement. A sonic boom cracked out, and a ring of distorted air spread around them. Wang Tianba lost the first exchange. He retreated three full steps, leaving clear footprints in the concrete as he bled off the force.
"Core Condensation Gang Qi, One-Inch Strike in Midair? Excellent!" Wang Tianba's eyes lit up as if he had found a rare treasure. He drew a deep breath, his muscles swelling further, and unleashed a dense flurry of punches. "Perfect! I know the Dragon's Roar Iron Shirt! Come on—let's see whose fists are stronger!"
Before he finished speaking, they collided again. Like two Fierce Beasts locked in combat, they fought from the road into the nearby woods.
Driven by their Internal Force and the brutal external hardening arts of the Dragon's Roar Iron Shirt and the Roaring Tiger Golden Bell Shield, every punch and kick carried terrifying power. Trees as thick as a man's thigh could not withstand the force of their clashes. Their passage looked like the wake of a tornado.
Crack! Snap!
Innocent trees broke under their blows, so spectacularly it looked like a movie. Sun Na's Livestream Room viewers cried out in amazement and sent a nonstop stream of small gifts, including rockets.
Gu Chen, whose mind was linked to his Core Condensation Gang Qi avatar Li Hansha, found himself surprised. Wang Tianba, whom he had brought to life through Refine Falsehood Into Truth, was utterly true to his martial-arts-obsessed character in both personality and behavior. Once the fight began, he threw himself into it with no regard for his life. He reminded Gu Chen of Feng Yuxiu, a character from a film Gu Chen had seen before crossing over, who had become consumed by his pursuit of martial arts.
During their fierce battle, Li Hansha unleashed his Gang Qi more than once, breaking through Wang Tianba's Dragon's Roar Iron Shirt. Yet Wang Tianba only became more engrossed. Each encounter with Pill Embracement-level Gang Qi seemed to bring him closer to an insight, as if he might take the next step at any moment.
Sensing what was happening, Gu Chen's eyes flashed. He quickly decided to leave the body to his avatar, Li Hansha, and let him fight with undivided focus. Gu Chen himself would observe as a third party through God Vision.
The violent commotion outside finally drew the prison's attention. A group of guards came out carrying batons and shields, while others held pistols. They were on high alert: the strange shadow suspected of being an escaped prisoner had still not been found.
But when they stepped outside and saw the concrete torn up as if by a bulldozer and the ruined woods beyond, they stared in disbelief. What had happened? How had the place been wrecked so quickly? Could humans have done this?!
"Stop! Drop your weapons! Hands up and surrender! Don't think you can get away with this, or we'll shoot!" shouted the Prison Guard Captain leading them.
Consumed by their martial contest, the two men ignored the warning. They blurred through the woods, snapping trees as thick as a man's thigh and sending them crashing down.
Sun Na and her best friend Pan Xiaoli looked tense, but the viewers in the Livestream Room were thrilled.
—"This is bad! Grandmaster Li and that boxer might be strong, but they can't stop bullets, can they?" "Not necessarily. They can punch through concrete walls and steel plates. You can't judge them like ordinary people." "They're both pure martial artists. They're so absorbed in their match that no one else exists to them anymore."...
A prisoner's escape would have severe consequences. Who knew how many guards might lose their jobs? The Prison Guard Captain hesitated briefly, then made his decision: they would open fire.
"Aim for their legs! We have to catch them!"
At his order, two guards aimed at the men locked in combat and pulled their triggers.
Bang! Bang!!
Two shots rang out. The bullets flew toward each fighter almost simultaneously. A sudden surge of danger ran through Wang Tianba and Li Hansha like an electric shock, and the world seemed to slow around them. Under that mortal threat and the pressure of Li Hansha's Gang Qi, Wang Tianba seized the fleeting opportunity for Pill Embrace Cross-Legged Sitting. His Internal Force, blood, and qi condensed to a single point. The same danger drove Li Hansha's mental cultivation a step further, into the state of Shattering the Void and Seeing God and Not Being Bad.
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