Showing Off

Dust and sand swept through the air, smoke curled and lingered. Welcome Peak's original plaza had been utterly destroyed, reduced to a vast concave, bowl-shaped crater. At its center, the red glow of lava flickered, faintly illuminating two figures—one standing, one lying down.

The standing figure was a young martial artist. He wore white-gold armor, his battle plate sturdy and imposing. Geng Metal Malice traced profound Dao Patterns across its surface, and as spiritual light shimmered, it radiated an unbreakable aura.

He stood within the deeply sunken pit, looking down from above at the humanoid form sprawled amid the lava, not a single part of its body left intact.

There was no question that he was the victor of the battle.

Yet An Jing did not lower his guard. Even as cries of shock and admiration rose and fell from the surrounding spectators, even as the Mingjing Sect's cheers for his victory surged like a tide, his expression remained calm. He watched intently as that humanoid figure slowly twitched, struggling to rise.

"Kan Youli."

He said, "What are you waiting for? If you are a martial artist, then use your true methods."

The man who had taken several thousand consecutive blows, every bone in his body shattered—Divine Treasury Adept Kan Youli—opened his blue-gray eyes and returned An Jing's gaze with an icy stare.

And within those eyes, there was even a trace of... nostalgia.

Death—he had indeed tasted it just now.

Death. Death...

What a familiar flavor.

'Kan Youli' was not his real name. Or rather, he had no parents, nor a name bestowed by parents. He had been a mixed-blood bastard born on the border between Chenli and Da Chen, the child of a Da Chen merchant and a Chenli woman. He had never received his father's acknowledgment, while