An Unstoppable Force

Compared to the indignation of Iron Mountain Hall's members, most of the other spectators in the arena held their breath, their eyes fixed unblinkingly on the stage.

In a life-or-death struggle, victory or defeat often hinges on a split second. Xiong Wu's seemingly shameless yet highly effective move had successfully created a fleeting opening.

This preemptive punch was heavy and powerful, aimed straight at a vital point. If Chen Yue reacted even a moment too slow or made a wrong move, he could be severely injured on the spot, or even killed outright!

Yet, just as Xiong Wu's fist, the size of a clay bowl, was about to connect with Chen Yue's head, Chen Yue moved!

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It was as if he had long anticipated the opponent's surprise attack. His gaze, drawn by the flash of the blade, instantly refocused. He chose neither to retreat nor to dodge widely, as that would completely surrender the initiative and leave him vulnerable to the opponent's relentless barrage of heavy punches.

Instead, his left arm shot up like a flexible whip from below, at an extremely tricky angle, lightning-fast. He didn't directly block the heavy fist but precisely struck the junction between Xiong Wu's right wrist and forearm.

That was exactly a node of force in Xiong Wu's arm.

"Thud!"

A dull impact sounded. Xiong Wu felt the surging forward momentum in his right arm suddenly stall. His entire arm went numb and sore, and a good portion of the accumulated fist force was dissipated.

The punch, originally aimed at Chen Yue's temple, was involuntarily deflected, whistling past Chen Yue's left ear.

The strike missed. Xiong Wu's massive body tilted slightly forward from the momentum, leaving his center wide open!

Without retracting his blocking left hand, Chen Yue took a sudden step forward, sinking and twisting his waist. All the power in his body instantly converged on his right shoulder—it was the most ferocious and explosive close-combat killing move of the Iron Mountain Fist, the Iron Mountain Lean!

This lean condensed the surging inner breath of the fully activated Mountain-Crushing Art and the strength of his entire body's bones and muscles, heavy and unstoppable.

At this critical moment, Xiong Wu's rich combat experience saved his life. He let out a fierce roar, and his left arm shot across his chest like a gate bolt!

"Thud!"

Another sickeningly dull impact!

Chen Yue's shoulder slammed heavily into Xiong Wu's hastily raised left arm. Xiong Wu felt a colossal force surging toward him like an avalanche. His left arm ached as if it would break, and he could no longer hold his stance. His whole body staggered backward three large steps.

Each step left cracks in the thick wooden floor of the stage. His chest churned with surging blood and qi, and his face instantly flushed red.

Chen Yue's lean was blocked, and the recoil force came back at him. But instead of retreating to dissipate the force like an ordinary person, his feet rapidly tapped the stage floor in a strange rhythm. His waist, like a drawn bowstring, twisted sharply again. He actually used the recoil force to transform the backward momentum into a second forward charge.

The essence of borrowing force and generating continuous motion from the Treading Mountains and Rivers movement technique was displayed to its fullest!

With almost no pause, Chen Yue closed in again like a shadow, sticking close to the retreating Xiong Wu.

His right fist shot out from his waist like a venomous dragon leaving its cave, carrying a sharp, piercing whistle. The Crushing Fist, like a cannon blast, drove straight at Xiong Wu's face, which was tilted up in shock.

Before the fist even arrived, the fierce wind from it made the hairs on Xiong Wu's face stand on end!

Xiong Wu's pupils contracted, and terror filled his heart.

He had never imagined that his carefully planned preemptive strike would not only fail but be neutralized and countered in the blink of an eye. This Chen Yue's reaction speed, his grasp of the battle opportunity, and the terrifying power he erupted with were all far beyond his expectations. How could this be a Pearl Diver who had only trained in martial arts for a little over a month?

Shocked and enraged, Xiong Wu's vicious nature was fully provoked. He refused to believe that in a pure contest of strength, he would lose to some greenhorn!

A savage glint flashed in Xiong Wu's eyes. He let out a beast-like roar. Instead of retreating, he stepped forward. His right fist, which had just regained some feeling, gathered all the strength in his body. Without dodging or avoiding, he met Chen Yue's incoming fist head-on with an equally straightforward, unadorned heavy punch.

He would use brute force to clash head-on and reverse his losing momentum!

If Chen Yue showed even a hint of hesitation or fear, if his fist's power weakened even slightly, Xiong Wu would immediately crush him with superior strength and completely turn the tide!

Facing Xiong Wu's desperate, life-risking clash, a fierce cold light blazed in Chen Yue's eyes. He didn't retreat in the slightest. Instead, he pushed the Mountain-Crushing Art to its limit.

The inner breath in his dantian boiled like molten lava, surging violently, madly flooding into his right arm through his meridians, and finally condensing at his fist.

On the surface of his fist, a faint, almost imperceptible dark metallic sheen appeared—a sign of inner breath highly concentrated and blood and qi pushed to the extreme.

"Boom!!!"

The collision of fists no longer produced the dull thud of flesh hitting flesh, but a deep, explosive boom like two pieces of raw iron smashing together. A violent wave of air erupted from the point of impact, spreading in all directions and kicking up dust on the stage.

"Crack!"

Following the boom came a clear, unmistakable sound of bones breaking!

"Ahhh!"

The sneer on Xiong Wu's face instantly froze, replaced by immense pain and disbelief. He let out a miserable, agonized scream.

The sound of breaking bones came from his right hand!

In their unadorned, head-on clash, his fist—which he had boasted could split rocks and shatter tablets—along with the bones of his wrist and forearm, was shattered into pieces by Chen Yue's fist, twisted and deformed!

An excruciating, piercing pain flooded Xiong Wu's nerves like a tidal wave. His right arm hung limply, like a broken branch, bent backward at an odd angle, completely useless.

And Chen Yue's right fist, after shattering Xiong Wu's arm bones, seemed to carry on with undiminished momentum, still bearing the residual force of destruction, driving straight toward Xiong Wu's pain-twisted face.

At the brink of death, Xiong Wu showed the ruthlessness of a desperado.

Biting through the agony of his shattered right arm, a mad gleam flashed in his eyes. He recklessly swung his left arm, like a thick iron whip, in a suicidal arc aimed straight at Chen Yue's right temple.

He was willing to take Chen Yue's punch if it meant dragging Chen Yue down to hell with him!

Seeing Xiong Wu's desperate left-arm sweep, Chen Yue's fist changed trajectory in an impossible instant. The right fist, which had been aimed at the opponent's face, twisted in a flash of lightning and smashed heavily into the elbow joint of Xiong Wu's sweeping left arm.

"Bang!"

A crisp crack sounded as Xiong Wu's sweeping left arm was abruptly halted mid-swing, its motion distorted, and the desperate force behind it scattered by more than half.

Borrowing the recoil from that punch, Chen Yue activated Treading Mountains and Rivers once more, stepping forward again, closing the distance between them to a hair's breadth.

At the same time, Chen Yue's left arm bent, his hardened elbow turning into an unbreakable iron spike. Carried by the momentum of his entire body charging forward, it tore through the air with thunderous force, driving viciously toward Xiong Wu's chin.

If this Heart-Piercing Elbow landed cleanly, it would shatter the jawbone, the force traveling upward to snap the cervical spine, killing him on the spot.

Xiong Wu's right arm was already crippled, his left arm intercepted, his old strength spent and new power not yet born. His body was still leaning back, off-balance. Faced with this lethal elbow, he had no room to dodge, no way to block!