Complete Technique

"Dark Magic Evil Thunder? You're going all out right from the start!"

Feng Xinglie cursed under his breath and hurriedly used his second Soul Skill, Falling Leaf Crazy Foot. His legs tensed, and in the blink of an eye, he leaped dozens of meters into the air. The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger was clearly not in its best condition, but he still didn't dare take the attack head-on. It was a large-scale, mixed-element attack that fused its demonic and evil powers, wielding the attributes of wind, thunder, and evil. As Feng Xinglie dodged, a violent shockwave instantly obliterated everything within a hundred meters. The ground was left as a barren crater, without even a pebble remaining, while Feng Xinglie was hurled far away by the aftershock.

"Heh, no wonder it's a mutated Soul Beast possessed by an evil god. It really does want me dead..."

Having barely shed the momentum, Feng Xinglie clung one-handed to a branch overhead, his eyes fixed on the scene below as cold sweat poured down his face. The dust hadn't even settled when a black tail spike shot out of it, aimed straight at his chest.

"Not good! First Soul Skill: Collapsing Ape Giant Arm!"

Evil God Sting was an attack the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger launched with its tail. It could create a small black hole that sucked an enemy inside, where they would fight in another dimension after being transformed back into a child. The terrifying technique could only be undone once one side died. Using the branch as a foothold, Feng Xinglie swung himself toward the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger and brought his fist crashing down onto its lumbar vertebrae. But the punch, which could usually dent steel, was effortlessly blocked by a layer of faint gray energy.

"Evil God Protection... Will this ever end?"

Looking at a defensive Soul Skill that could rival Xiao Wu's Invincible Golden Body and didn't restrict movement, Feng Xinglie ground his teeth in frustration. Every one of these skills was outrageously powerful, and now they were all being used against him. He spread his fist, planted his palm against the gray energy, and suddenly exerted force.

"Void Path!"

Soul Beasts weren't human, after all. Relying on their powerful bodies, they often met their enemies head-on. Faced with a palm strong enough to smash the reinforced glass of a missile-proof window, it neither dodged nor retreated, instead biting back to trade injury for injury. Unfortunately, it had underestimated the move's power. Evil God Protection broke in an instant, interrupting the black hole that was almost fully charged. The violent pain in its waist made the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger howl. Dozens of black-and-red blades of light then shot toward Feng Xinglie. With no other choice, he canceled his Soul Skill and leaped away. But the distance was too short and there were too many blades; several deep, bone-revealing gashes still appeared across his body.

"No good. I can't hold out at all. This thing's way stronger than Zhao Wuji!"

Feng Xinglie fumbled out some sausages and Sugar Beans and stuffed them into his mouth. His body throbbed with pain as he was sent leaping around again and again, his expression grim. That last strike hadn't felt right. Though he'd been in contact with the evil energy cloaking the tiger's body for only an instant, his arm was already starting to go numb.

"I have to finish it quickly. If this drags on, I have no chance of winning. What can hurt it... Do I have to use that move?"

After a moment's hesitation, Feng Xinglie made up his mind. He drew his right fist back beside his ribs, bent his front leg and straightened his rear one, then beckoned to the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger with his left hand. The tiger had always lorded it over Star Dou Forest, its strength comparable to that of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. When had it ever been taunted like this? That last palm had broken through its defense, but apart from a little pain, it had caused no real harm. Now it glared at Feng Xinglie, burning with rage.

With a roar, it dug all four claws deep into the earth and lunged, charging straight at Feng Xinglie. The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger moved so fast that it was almost like teleportation. But this time, Feng Xinglie was faster.

Fist techniques evolved over time, but some moves had already reached their end point. No matter how much time passed, they would never change. These were known as "Complete Techniques." One such technique specialized in speed. Its principle was to use the joints of the body to accelerate the transmitted force, increasing its speed with every joint it passed before layering the force again and again until the fist struck.

But that alone wasn't enough to qualify as a "Complete Technique."

The human body had only so many joints, which meant there was a limit to how much speed could be added. So how could one break through that bottleneck? The answer was simple: add more joints.

Just as you had to picture a stone shattering in your mind before you could break it, or feel a phantom pain when you saw someone else stub their little toe against a corner, imagination could add joints—and as many as you wanted. With endless layers of acceleration, the speed of this punch would reach a terrifying level. Only then would it qualify as a Complete Technique. This move was called:

Supersonic Fist

"First Soul Skill: Collapsing Ape Giant Arm!"

"Second Soul Skill: Falling Leaf Crazy Foot!"

"Third Soul Skill: Mirror Still Water!"

"Fourth Soul Skill: Heart Pump Overpressure!"

Unfortunately, Feng Xinglie still couldn't fully execute a technique of this level. He could only force it out with the help of his Soul Skills. Before his fist, moving faster than sound, could hit the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, it struck the air in front of him first. After a piercing boom, his fist broke the sound barrier and collided with the charging tiger at true supersonic speed.

The speed was so great that the sound of breaking the sound barrier and the impact of fist against flesh seemed to merge into one. When the brief clash ended, Feng Xinglie was still bent-legged in place, holding his punching stance, but his right arm had been reduced to a ruin. Forcing out a Supersonic Fist he hadn't mastered while bearing the strain of Heart Pump Overpressure had caused immense damage to his body. Broken bones pierced his skin, the pressure of breaking the sound barrier had nearly torn the flesh from his entire arm, and the fingers of the hand that had struck the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger head-on were all bent and broken. Feng Xinglie had, by then, completely lost the ability to fight.

But the result was worth the terrible cost. The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's head had been driven entirely into its chest. Death came so swiftly that the tiger never realized what had happened before its life faded away. Yet in that moment, a blue-black bead gently fell to the ground, and a deep-black Soul Ring slowly floated above the corpse.

"Phew... It's finally... over..."

Feng Xinglie collapsed to the ground, all strength gone, and spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with bits of his internal organs. With all the strength he could muster, he lifted his one remaining arm, took all the auxiliary Sugar Beans left in his Storage Soul Tool, and tossed them into his mouth. He closed his eyes and regulated his breathing for a long while before finally opening them again.

"Good thing it was a Soul Beast. No matter how devious and cunning they are, they just can't scheme as much as humans. And it helped that it didn't think much of me, a little Soul Ancestor. If it hadn't faced my incomplete Supersonic Fist head-on, I really wouldn't have had any way to deal with it... But I suppose I turned disaster into fortune."

Feeling his Soul Power break through the level-fifty bottleneck after the fight, he smiled. After so much effort, he'd finally gotten to experience the treatment of a protagonist. Without another moment's hesitation, he sat cross-legged and began absorbing the Soul Ring.