The Ancient Desolate Heaven Emperor's Unilateral Decree

Four in the morning, at the back mountain of Shrek Academy.

Shi Hao opened his eyes and rolled off the bed frame that he had repaired after it cracked.

He glanced at his roommates; Han Li's breathing was steady but he was clearly not asleep, Xiao Yan was curled up in the corner snoring, and Wang Lin was leaning against the wall like a statue.

Without a word, he climbed out the window.

Xiao Yan mumbled in his sleep, "Thirty years east of the river... don't steal my chicken leg..."

Han Li opened his eyes, glanced at the window, and closed them again.

Shi Hao arrived at the back mountain.

He chose a mountain, neither too big nor too small, just right for practicing his punches.

"Arbitrating the ages!"

The first punch slammed into the cliff face, sending gravel flying.

"Suppressing everything!"

With the second punch, the cliff face caved in, and cracks spread outward.

"Across the eternal sky, I shatter it with one punch!"

With the third punch, the entire mountain trembled.

Shi Hao stood before the mountain, his bare torso gleaming with a bronze luster under the moonlight. His fists were a bloody mess, but he didn't care.

He punched, punching incessantly.

No form, no routine, no technique.

Just punch after punch, each heavier than the last, each faster than the last.

Every punch was accompanied by those four words: Arbitrating the ages.

The first day, the mountain still stood.

The cliff face was covered in hundreds of fist marks, dense like a honeycomb. Shi Hao's blood dripped onto the ground, forming a small pool. He looked at the mountain, dissatisfied.

"Not enough."

He continued to punch.

The second day, Shi Hao returned.

The mountain had developed cracks, extending from the peak to the base as if split by an invisible blade.

Flender stood at his office window, watching the movement on the back mountain from afar. He frowned but didn't pay it much mind.

Young people exercising, it was normal.

The third day.

Boom!

The mountain collapsed.

Debris poured down like a waterfall, dust billowed into the sky, and the tremor of the ground could be felt for ten miles around.

All the teachers and students of Shrek Academy were jolted awake.

Dai Mubai jumped out of bed: "Enemy attack?"

Oscar clutched his sausages, shivering: "Did Martial Soul Hall attack?"

Xiao Wu rubbed her eyes: "An earthquake?"

Tang San rushed out immediately, his expression grave as he saw the dust rising from the back mountain.

And Shi Hao, standing atop the ruins, covered in dust and with blood dripping from his hands, laughed toward the sky: "Good! Good! Good! This is what it means to arbitrate the ages!"

An hour later, in Flender's office.

A village representative sat in a chair, tears and snot streaming down his face: "Headmaster, that muscle-bound lunatic from your academy destroyed our mountain!"

Flender's hand trembled as he poured tea: "The mountain... was destroyed?"

"It's gone! Not even a scrap left! That mountain was the feng shui treasure of our village, our ancestral graves were at its foot! Now the graves are exposed to the wind and rain, and our ancestors will haunt my dreams to curse me!"

The villager wept even more bitterly.

Flender took a deep breath and turned to Shi Hao, who was standing in the corner: "Student Shi Hao, why do you punch the mountain every day?"

Shi Hao stood straight, his face earnest: "I am arbitrating the ages."

The corner of Flender's mouth twitched: "...What does arbitrating the ages mean?"

Shi Hao's eyes lit up, as if someone had finally asked about his area of expertise: "It means with one punch, the ages wither, and heaven and earth are reborn. All the past, present, and future are reduced to nothingness under this one punch. This is true power, true..."

"Stop, stop, stop." Flender raised a hand to interrupt him, then turned to look at Yu Xiaogang, who was flipping through a book nearby: "Xiaogang, what do you think?"

Yu Xiaogang adjusted his glasses, expressionless: "Tendency toward schizophrenia, suggest isolation."

Flender nodded: "I think so too."

Shi Hao looked at them, confused: "I'm not sick."

"People who are sick always say they aren't," Flender sighed. "How about this: stop hitting the mountain from now on. The mountain in the village is someone else's property; if you break it, you have to pay for it."

Shi Hao thought for a moment. "Then what should I hit?"

Flender glanced out the window and pointed at an empty lot. "There's an open space over there. Go hit that."

"An empty lot has no target."

"Hit the air."

"What's the point of hitting the air?"

Flender took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to throw Shi Hao out. "Then hit wooden stakes. The academy will make some for you."

Shi Hao reluctantly agreed.

But his eyes told Flender that he was not satisfied.

When Shi Hao went to find Zhu Zhuqing, he was covered in blood.

It was his fists that were still bleeding, dripping all the way and leaving a red line along the corridor.

Ning Rongrong was startled when she saw him. "Shi Hao, are you hurt?"

Shi Hao looked down at his hands as if he had just noticed. "Oh, this? It's nothing."

"You can see the bone, and you call that nothing?"

Shi Hao ignored her and walked straight up to Zhu Zhuqing.

Zhu Zhuqing was in the courtyard practicing her claws. Her Hell Spirit Cat martial soul required extreme speed and power, and she practiced here every morning.

Shi Hao stood still and spoke. "Are you an Agility-Attack Soul Elder?"

Zhu Zhuqing retracted her claws and looked at him coldly. "Yes."

"Fight me."

"No."

"Why?"

"I don't fight lunatics."

Shi Hao tilted his head, sizing up Zhu Zhuqing.

This woman was cold—colder than anyone he had ever met. Her eyes were like ice, her expression was like ice, and she was like a walking block of ice herself.

But there was something about her that interested Shi Hao: killing intent.

Shi Hao smiled. "Are you afraid?"

Zhu Zhuqing's eyes narrowed slightly.

This movement lasted only a fraction of a second on her face, but anyone who knew her understood it was the precursor to her anger.

"...Fine."

Training ground.

The Shrek Seven Devils were all present, purely to watch the spectacle.

Han Li, Xiao Yan, and Wang Lin had also arrived, standing in the distance, each finding a spot to lean against. Their postures varied, but their eyes were the same: watching the show.

Dai Mubai frowned. "Is Senior Sister Zhuqing really going to fight him?"

Ma Hongjun gnawed on a chicken leg. "Let them fight. That lunatic needs a beating."

Tang San was worried. "Brother Shi Hao hasn't recovered yet; he sustained many injuries hitting the mountain yesterday..."

Xiao Yan scoffed. "Why do you care? He's enjoying it."

On the field, Zhu Zhuqing and Shi Hao stood facing each other.

Zhu Zhuqing released her martial soul, and the Hell Spirit Cat possessed her. Her speed increased several times over in an instant, her figure becoming blurred as if she had merged into the air.

Shi Hao stood where he was, feet apart, fists clenched.

There was no martial soul release; he simply didn't have one, or perhaps he disdained using one. He just stood there like an iron tower.

The battle began.

Zhu Zhuqing struck first. Her speed was so fast that it was difficult for the naked eye to capture; in a flash, she appeared behind Shi Hao, her sharp claws stabbing toward the back of his neck.

A normal person's reaction would be to dodge or block.

Shi Hao's reaction was to twist his body and smash a fist backward.

No technique, no pattern, just a punch.

Zhu Zhuqing's pupils shrank. She forcibly retracted her attack and dodged to the side.

Shi Hao's fist grazed her cheek, the wind from the punch stinging her skin.

That was close... Zhu Zhuqing was secretly shocked. If that punch had landed, she might already be on the ground.

But she was an Agility-Attack Soul Elder; her greatest advantage was not attack power, but speed.

Zhu Zhuqing changed her strategy. She no longer attempted a one-hit kill, but instead utilized her speed to constantly circle and harass him, attacking and retreating in a flash, never giving Shi Hao a chance to counterattack.

Shi Hao stood where he was, like a trapped beast.

He threw a punch, missing. He threw another, missing again.

Every one of Zhu Zhuqing's attacks brushed past him, leaving a shallow bloodstain before quickly vanishing.

There were over a dozen wounds on Shi Hao's body, but he remained completely oblivious to them.

He closed his eyes.

The crowd was stunned.

"What is he doing?" Oscar asked.

Dai Mubai shook his head: "I don't know."

Shi Hao kept his eyes closed, sensing the flow of the wind, the air currents stirred by Zhu Zhuqing's movements, and the ripple of killing intent that manifested the instant before each of her attacks.

Then, he threw a punch.

It wasn't a wild swing, but a strike aimed with precision in a specific direction.

Zhu Zhuqing was just about to attack from the right when she suddenly saw Shi Hao's fist already waiting there. She broke into a cold sweat, forcing herself to change direction to narrowly dodge it.

"Intuition?" Zhu Zhuqing couldn't believe it; this wasn't prediction, it was pure combat instinct.

The ensuing battle grew even more intense. Although Shi Hao kept his eyes closed, every punch he threw put Zhu Zhuqing in grave danger. His fists seemed to have eyes, always finding her position.

But the gap in speed was real.

An hour later, Shi Hao's stamina was exhausted.

He stood there, covered in wounds, his hands dripping with blood, gasping like an ox.

Although Zhu Zhuqing was also tired, she was in much better shape than him. She made her final move, striking Shi Hao's chest with a claw and knocking him to the ground.

Shi Hao lay on the training ground, staring at the sky.

Then he laughed.

He laughed heartily.

"Good! That was satisfying! Let's fight again tomorrow!"

Zhu Zhuqing stood at the edge of the arena, wiping the sweat from her forehead, watching the boy lying on the ground laughing like a madman.

"Psychopath." She turned and walked away.

But the corners of her mouth seemed to lift ever so slightly.

Tang San had watched the entire process.

He walked over to Shi Hao, crouched down, and said earnestly: "Brother Shi Hao, you need a method to your fighting; you can't just swing wildly."

Shi Hao lay still: "What method?"

Tang San thought for a moment: "For example, using soul skills, calculating distance, predicting your opponent, controlling the rhythm..."

Shi Hao interrupted him: "Too much trouble. I'll just throw one punch, and everything will be solved."

Tang San patiently explained: "But today, one punch didn't solve the problem. You lost."

Shi Hao finally turned his head to look at Tang San. His eyes were clear—so clear that Tang San felt his own words were ridiculous.

"Because I'm not strong enough yet," Shi Hao said, his tone as flat as if he were stating a fact. "When I'm stronger, one punch will be enough to shatter everything."

Tang San opened his mouth, wanting to say "combat isn't that simple," wanting to say "technique and strategy are also important."

But looking into Shi Hao's eyes, he suddenly felt that saying anything would be redundant.

This person—in his world, there were only fists.

If one punch doesn't work, use two; if two don't work, use a hundred. If you can't win, train until you can.

It was just that simple.

Tang San stood up and walked away in silence.

Xiao Wu was waiting for him: "Brother San, did you convince him?"

Tang San shook his head: "No. I realized... I have no right to convince him."

"Why?"

"Because I can't refute what he said." Tang San looked at his own hands. "I once thought that as long as you had enough power, you could solve anything. But later I realized that power alone isn't enough; you need technique, strategy, and trump cards..."

Xiao Wu: "So you're right."

Tang San gave a wry smile: "But he is also right. He is becoming stronger in his way, and I am becoming stronger in mine. Who's to say that a slower, clumsier way isn't also correct?"

Xiao Wu was stunned for a moment, then laughed: "Brother San, you're very profound today."

Tang San laughed too, but then immediately added: "Resurrect, my..."

Xiao Wu slapped him: "Shut up!"

On the training ground, Shi Hao was still lying down.

He looked at the sky; the sky was very blue, and the clouds were very white.

"Arbitrating through the ages." He said softly.

Then he flipped over and climbed up, starting to do push-ups again.

"Ten thousand and one... ten thousand and two..."

In the distance, Han Li watched this scene, silently writing a line in his ledger: Shi Hao, battle maniac, cannot be overcome by force, best to outwit.

Xiao Yan took one look and walked away, muttering to himself: "A maniac, even crazier than me."

Wang Lin leaned against the wall, his eyes filled with confusion as he watched Shi Hao:

"This Seat has seen many maniacs, but this is the first time This Seat has seen one this crazy."