Extermination

The atmosphere on the plaza before Saint Dao Hall was taut as drawn bows.

Thunder Roar Ravine was wreathed in lightning, his aura surging. He had astonishingly broken through to the middle stage of the Tai Xu Realm! Clearly, he had obtained no small opportunity within the hall.

But blood stained the corner of his mouth, and his chest rose and fell slightly. He had clearly gone through a fierce battle.

Two people stood opposite him.

One was Young Master Yuxi of Heavenly Palace Academy. His aura had also reached the initial stage of the Tai Xu Realm. Nine dazzling jade beads revolved around him, emitting powerful spiritual pressure. He had evidently encountered an opportunity as well.

The other was a young man with bronze skin and a flame totem branded upon his bald head. He folded his arms, his gaze arrogant. His blood and vitality surged like a dragon, radiating the terrifying pressure of the peak Tai Xu Realm. His aura was domineering and blazing, far surpassing Yuxi's!

"Yan Kuang of Burning Heaven Valley, Western Desert." The bald youth's voice was like thunder, making everyone's eardrums buzz. "Barbarian, your physical body is not bad. You survived a punch containing thirty percent of my strength, so you are qualified to know my name. Now hand over the Saint pill you obtained from Saint Dao Hall, then cripple both your arms. I may consider letting you crawl out of the battle realm."

Young Master Yuxi sneered coldly from the side. "Brother Yan Kuang, why waste words on this Eastern Wasteland bumpkin? Just beat him to death, and the item will naturally be ours. Everyone from Eastern Xuan Academy deserves to die!" His hatred for Xuanyuan Che and the others had already soared to the heavens.

Thunder Roar Ravine spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva and grinned viciously. "Pah! You two pieces of trash only know how to kick a man when he's down! Your Grandpa Shi had just passed the trial and was a little drained, yet you ambushed me. You want to steal my pill? Keep dreaming your spring and autumn dream! If you have the guts, wait until your Grandpa Shi recovers. See if I don't beat the shit out of you!"

As it turned out, Thunder Roar Ravine had only just barely passed Saint Dao Hall's trial and obtained a Saint pill when, in his weakened state, he was ambushed by Yuxi, who had entered later, and the suddenly appearing Yan Kuang. He suffered a great loss.

"Courting death!" Yan Kuang's gaze turned cold. He stopped wasting words and stepped forward, shattering the ground beneath him.

He threw a simple punch. A terrifying flaming lion's head condensed over his fist, roaring as it tore through the air and burned the void, striking straight at Thunder Roar Ravine's face! Yan Kuang held nothing back in this punch—it rivaled a Saint's strike!

At the same time, Young Master Yuxi activated the nine jade beads, turning them into nine streaks of light that sealed every route of retreat for Thunder Roar Ravine.

Thunder Roar Ravine roared, unleashing his lightning with all his strength. Crossing his fists before him, he prepared to withstand this fatal blow head-on!

"I spared your lives before, and now you've laid hands on my senior brother again. You really are finding new ways to court death."

At that moment, a clear voice rang out.

Then, a figure silently appeared before Thunder Roar Ravine.

Facing Yan Kuang's violent flaming lion fist and Yuxi's successive attacks with the nine beads, the newcomer merely raised his right hand casually, spread his fingers, and pressed gently forward.

There was no burst of spiritual light, no overwhelming aura.

It was like brushing away dust.

Yet—

Bang!!!

That savage, roaring flaming lion fist shattered the instant it touched that palm!

Yan Kuang's burly charging body suddenly froze. After pausing for a moment, he... flew backward like a kite with its string cut!

Yuxi suffered a heavy backlash as well. The nine spiritual beads struck an invisible barrier with crisp chimes, then their light dimmed. Wailing mournfully, they flew back and rebounded upon Yuxi. Yuxi spat out blood, his face filled with horror.

Dead silence!

"Junior Brother!" Thunder Roar Ravine cried out in shock and delight.

Xuanyuan Che withdrew his hand without even looking at Yuxi or Yan Kuang. With a flick of his hand, he sent Thunder Roar Ravine a pill brimming with vitality. "Third Senior Brother, heal yourself first. I'll swat these two flies."

His tone was calm to a terrifying degree.

"Y-you... who are you?!" Yan Kuang stared fixedly at Xuanyuan Che. From the incomparably handsome youth, he sensed an exceedingly terrifying aura of danger.

Young Master Yuxi looked as though he had seen a ghost and shrieked, "Xuanyuan Che! It's you?!"

"Yan Kuang? Never heard of you." Xuanyuan Che finally turned his gaze toward the two of them, his eyes indifferent. "You have three breaths. Kneel, kowtow to my senior brother and apologize, cripple your cultivation... or die."

"Arrogant!" Yan Kuang had never suffered such humiliation. Fury instantly drowned his reason. "I don't care who you are—die!"

He erupted completely, unleashing the blood and vitality of his peak Tai Xu Realm cultivation without reservation. The flame totem across his body lit up, making him resemble a god of war forged from fire! Both fists shot forth, and behind him emerged the manifestation of an enormous flaming mad lion. It roared toward the heavens, pouncing at Xuanyuan Che with the might to burn the sky and boil the seas!

"Burning Heaven Valley's secret art—Mad Lion World-Burning Fist!"

He had used twelve-tenths of his power in this punch, unleashing his ultimate trump card. Its power was infinitely close to the full-force strike of a mid-stage Saint! He was confident that even a true early-stage Saint would be unable to receive this punch!

Young Master Yuxi gritted his teeth and disregarded his injuries, once again activating the jade beads covered in cracks to join the assault.

Faced with their combined attack, Xuanyuan Che merely shook his head lightly.

"Stubbornly refusing to repent."

He did not even assume a defensive stance. He simply slowly threw an equally simple punch forward.

It was still plain and unadorned, without the radiance of any divine ability.

Yet at the instant he threw his punch, the space within a hundred zhang around his fist abruptly twisted and collapsed, as though it could not bear this power refined to its utmost purity!

Wherever his fist swept through, all things returned to the void!

Yan Kuang's terrifying flaming mad lion manifestation melted and crumbled soundlessly the instant it touched the force of that punch, like ice and snow beneath the blazing sun!

The flames around his fists were instantly extinguished, while his bones gave off a teeth-grating sound of shattering!

"No—!!!"

The fury in Yan Kuang's eyes became boundless terror and utter disbelief. He felt an irresistible, incomprehensible force of destruction race up his arms and into his body, madly annihilating every trace of life within him!

Splurt!

Like a kite with its string cut, he flew backward at a speed countless times faster than when he had arrived. Blood sprayed wildly from his mouth as he carved a miserable arc through the air, crashing heavily onto the edge of the distant plaza. Every bone in his body was shattered, his meridians severed, his cultivation destroyed. Only half a breath remained to keep him alive.

As for the nine jade beads, they exploded under the aftershock of Xuanyuan Che's fist, turning into dust!

Swept by a gust of force, Young Master Yuxi screamed as he tumbled away, gravely wounded and on the verge of death.

The power of one punch was terrifying beyond measure!

The entire area was silent as cicadas in winter. Everyone secretly watching was aghast, their scalps tingling!

Yan Kuang, the peerless prodigy of Burning Heaven Valley in the Western Desert and a peak Tai Xu Realm cultivator, had been crippled by a single punch?!

What kind of monster was this Xuanyuan Che?!

Xuanyuan Che slowly walked toward the two heavily injured men, who had completely lost the ability to move. For the first time, anger appeared on his face.

"You chose this yourselves. But you two are really annoying, like flies. If my brother and sister were here, heh heh, you'd have died eight hundred times already."

Another punch shot out. Yan Kuang and Yuxi could only watch as the fist drew closer and closer, desperately trying to gather even a shred of strength to crush their jade tokens.

But they probably could not do it.

The fist wind remained, but the two had already exploded into a cloud of blood mist, their Divine Souls utterly destroyed.

Xuanyuan Che withdrew his fist and looked at the dumbfounded Thunder Roar Ravine. He waved a hand before him. "Snap out of it, Second Senior Brother! Senior Sister and the others should be coming out soon too."

If you can't find the book by its title, try searching for the author—it may simply have been renamed!