Original chapter title: "Tiger-Leopard Thunder Sound, Spirit Snake Wild Dance! Mad Python Dragon Tail!"
Looking at Jeremy's sickly face as he approached step by step, electricity coiling around his hands, Dilos couldn't help cursing inwardly.
You bastard, what did I ever do to you?! Why won't you leave me alone?! As he cursed, he sealed every pore across his body and made the vital energy inside him circulate rapidly and frantically. He also tried to control his muscles and bones, making them vibrate at a certain frequency in sync with the flow of energy.
It was a training method, though under certain circumstances it could also help disperse blood stasis in the body. Even in a situation like this, it could ease pain and spasms.
Perhaps because of his anger, the vital energy in his body circulated a few times faster than before. As it coursed through him, the muscles and bones in Dilos's body began vibrating furiously. And perhaps because his body had been convulsing wildly ever since the electricity struck him, these healing vibrations were faster than ever before.
Rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble...
His bones and muscles vibrated, slamming against one another. Then, as the frequency grew too fast, a rumble like thunder sounded inside Dilos's body.
Is this Tiger-Leopard Thunder Sound?! Dilos was both startled and delighted. He hadn't expected this accident to teach him the technique. Tiger-Leopard Thunder Sound was an extremely advanced body-tempering method. With gradual practice, it could eventually cleanse the marrow and reshape the bones. It was also highly effective for treating certain difficult internal injuries!
As the rumbling sounded, Dilos felt the pain and spasms in his body fade rapidly within seconds. He even felt more comfortable than before, and his mind grew a little clearer.
The electricity coiling around Jeremy's hands had grown incredibly thick. Looking at his sickly grin, Dilos couldn't help grinning savagely.
Then, under Jeremy's astonished gaze, Dilos's convulsions stopped in an instant, and he swiftly darted away.
When Jeremy saw Dilos trying to escape, he hurriedly flung the electricity from his hands at him, but it only struck a cloud of dust.
Jeremy quickly scanned the area and spotted Dilos more than ten meters ahead, watching him with an icy gaze. At the sight of those eyes, Jeremy felt as if a vicious, venomous snake had fixed its gaze on him, and instinctively wanted to retreat. But then a surge of anger swept over him.
"Why are you running, you evil bastard?! You all deserve to die! You all deserve to face my righteous judgment!"
Jeremy roared in fury, and even more thick bolts of electricity burst from his body—or rather, they were more like lightning now. The powerful bolts tore through the air with a thunderous roar. He raised both hands and hurled the raging lightning at Dilos.
But this time, Dilos didn't retreat. Not only did he stay where he was, he charged forward!
This distance is enough to get ready! Dilos roared inwardly. He seemed to have grasped something else during his earlier breakthrough under pressure. As the vital energy in his body surged at incredible speed, his muscles and bones vibrated wildly at the same frequency as before. Using the force of those vibrations, he contracted his muscles tightly, pressing them closer against his bones until they bulged like hard marble.
The muscles in his legs contracted until they formed row after row of slender ridges. As the blood and energy surged violently through his body, those ridges quivered like living scales.
Any master of Guoshu who saw this could easily have sensed the explosive power in those muscles. But besides Dilos, there wasn't a single person here who knew the art.
Thump!
A sharp crack rang out as Dilos launched himself from the spot and vanished. In the dusk, he left behind a series of afterimages, his body and its shadows twisting like a snake as he darted through gaps in the lightning at lightning speed.
That was right—he darted through them! Every time the raging lightning was about to hit Dilos, he shifted left or right at just the right moment, narrowly dodging it before racing forward with a blur of afterimages. He moved like a snake weaving rapidly around obstacles to catch its prey.
The lightning that seemed so ferocious, swift, and deadly to everyone else was nothing special to Dilos now.
So what if you're powerful? If you can't hit me, you're no different from a moving obstacle. Besides, a snake's attacks at close range are just as fast as yours.
This time, Dilos used the snake-style footwork known as "Spirit Snake Wild Dance." It was a combination of the snake form of Xingyi Quan and the gliding steps of Baguazhang, taught to him by his Guoshu teacher in his previous life. But because Dilos's mastery of Guoshu hadn't reached the Transformation Realm, he'd been unable to learn it. After accidentally learning Tiger-Leopard Thunder Sound, he was able to use this move through an unconventional shortcut.
Using "Spirit Snake Wild Dance," Dilos advanced swiftly toward Jeremy, his steps vicious, frenzied, tricky, and bizarre.
Ignoring Jeremy's terrified expression, Dilos used the momentum built up by the speed of "Spirit Snake Wild Dance" to channel power through his waist and into his shoulders. His shoulders then combined that force with his own strength and passed it into both arms.
Then he combined the strength of his arms with all the force he'd gathered before, added the vital energy in his body, and slammed it into Jeremy's chest!
"Mad Python Dragon Tail!" Dilos roared inwardly.
A sharp crack rang out. Most of Jeremy's ribs shattered, and his heart and lungs broke into several pieces. But it wasn't over yet!
As Dilos's arm made contact with Jeremy, the pores at the point of contact suddenly opened, and vital energy surged into Jeremy's body as An Jin.
The force, compounded again and again, exploded inside Jeremy's body!
With a boom, Jeremy flew more than ten meters. He spat out a large cloud of blood before crashing to the ground. His eyes bulged and were bloodshot, and blood seeped from his nose and mouth. As for the part of his chest Dilos had struck, the flesh had been mangled by the explosion of energy inside him when he hit the ground.
Even Jeremy's head had been left in that state by the aftershock of Dilos's attack. How could his torso, which had taken the full force of the blow, have escaped? His internal organs had already been pulverized.
Looking at Jeremy, who was well and truly dead, Dilos smiled with relief.
"I'm not someone who likes to cause trouble, but that doesn't mean I can't get angry. Push me too far, and I'll fight just as hard!" Dilos looked at Jeremy's corpse, which would have needed to be censored, feeling neither sorrow nor joy.
"However much pain you're in, you should take it up with whoever caused it. Sure, you're unlucky and miserable, but that doesn't give you the right to kill innocent people indiscriminately."
Of course, the dead Jeremy could no longer hear him. But Dilos wanted to say it anyway. He'd been under too much pressure. After learning how dangerous this world was, he'd worried about attracting the attention of other dangerous factions and had been forced to keep a low profile. But things never went as perfectly as he'd hoped.
"Cough, cough." Dilos suddenly felt a sharp pain throughout his body. He dropped to one knee and spat out a mouthful of blood. Using "Spirit Snake Wild Dance" without reaching the Transformation Realm had placed an enormous strain on his body. Then he'd gone and used an even more powerful killing move, "Mad Python Dragon Tail." His muscles and internal organs had suffered severe damage.
The fact that he could still stay upright was already his limit.
No, if this goes on, my injuries will get worse. I'll die. Dilos then thought of the new move he'd just figured out.
Right, there's still time to use Tiger-Leopard Thunder Sound. Without hesitation, Dilos began using Tiger-Leopard Thunder Sound, gradually stimulating the blood and energy in his body to disperse the blood stasis and help his internal organs repair themselves.
As the seconds and minutes passed, Dilos felt more and more exhausted. Still, he gritted his teeth and held on. He couldn't stop using Tiger-Leopard Thunder Sound yet. At the very least, he had to recover enough to keep his injuries from being fatal.
Dilos had never felt time pass so slowly, nor had he ever felt so helpless. He was too far away from Clark, and Clark wouldn't come looking for him until some time had passed. After all, Dilos had told Clark he was leaving.
Dilos's eyes began to grow bloodshot, taking on a somewhat terrifying look. But to stay alive, he held on until he felt his injuries were no longer life-threatening.
When that moment came, Dilos could hold on no longer. His strength gave out, and he collapsed to the ground, his consciousness slowly fading. Just before it slipped away, he thought he saw a bald man shouting his name...
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