Plum Silver Great Spear (Please Keep Reading)

"Giant Whale Martial Hall wins! The martial artist who drew lot number three, take the stage!"

At the referee's command, Wang Xuance exhaled and leaped onto the arena.

The moment he saw who had come up, he could not help but freeze.

Not far away, Li Mingyu was staring at him with the same astonishment.

It was Li Mingyu, whom he had encountered in the first life-and-death bout. Back then, his cultivation had been insufficient to sustain the Vajra Fist, forcing him to withdraw from the stage unscathed.

"I never thought I'd run into you again in the second match!"

Li Mingyu gave a helpless, bitter smile and flipped out a black rod from the sleeve pouch on his back.

Gripping the rod in one hand, he gave it a fierce flick. Crack! A series of mechanisms sprang into motion.

Bzzzz—

"Bright Silver Refined Iron Spear. Please enlighten me!"

Li Mingyu flexed his arm and dragged the spear with one hand. In an instant, a bloody Sha Qi, like that of a battlefield steeped in blood, rushed straight at Wang Xuance.

"You use weapons too? Looks like you've been hiding your true ability behind clever tricks as well!"

A sharp glint flashed through Wang Xuance's eyes. He clenched both fists as his blood and qi began to circulate. His loose black robe billowed without wind, snapping loudly.

"These two met in the first match too. I wonder who will come out ahead this time!"

"Hah, in that first match, this fellow called Wang Xiu clearly hid all his strength. He defeated Hua Ruoxi of White Ape Martial Hall with one punch. Wang Xiu is definitely stronger!"

"What do you know? Wang Xiu hasn't used a weapon from beginning to end. He probably never learned any martial arts involving weapons. I say he'll lose to Li Mingyu this time!"

"The spear in Li Mingyu's hand is the Plum Silver Great Spear used by Yan Zhen, master of Flying Fish Martial Hall, when he made his name as a youth. Back then, it was a vicious weapon that slaughtered a thousand foreign tribesmen!"

"The match... begins!!"

At the referee's command, both sides moved at once.

"Dragon Swimming into the Sea!"

Li Mingyu suddenly raised one arm with explosive force, using his powerful muscles to lift the great spear from the ground. With the spearpoint as its starting point, it traced a perfectly round arc before smashing viciously toward Wang Xuance's head.

If that blow struck his skull, it would surely shatter into pulp. He would be dead beyond any doubt.

Before the great spear even drew near, the sound of it splitting the air rose sharply. Wang Xuance already felt a foul wind battering his face, pressing his black robe until it gave a mournful wail.

"Hmph!"

He swung out both arms. The skin of his palms turned golden at a visible speed, covered in densely packed Sanskrit characters and looking ferocious beyond compare. His ten fingers curled like hooks as they seized savagely at the great spear.

The great spear cleaved downward, carrying tremendous force!

With a dull, booming clang, the ground instantly cracked apart like a giant spiderweb, kicking up countless clouds of dust.

[True Martial Qi +90!]

[True Martial Qi +90!]

[True Martial Qi +90!]

"What?!"

Li Mingyu's pupils abruptly contracted as he cried out. His Dragon Swimming into the Sea was the most domineering move in the Six Harmonies Spear Art.

To unleash this spear technique, Li Mingyu had stirred his blood and qi and seized the right moment. Every step had been meticulously calculated. By all reason, Wang Xuance should only have been able to evade the spear move; there was absolutely no possibility of blocking it head-on.

Yet this man had actually braced the spear's momentum with both arms and forcibly taken the move with his bare flesh!

"Just who are you?!"

When experts exchanged blows, timing was everything. As one of the most outstanding disciples of Flying Fish Martial Hall's generation, Li Mingyu would never use this move without reason.

His aim had been to seize the initiative, then let his spearwork pounce like a silver serpent, each killing intent building upon the last and forcing Wang Xuance back again and again.

Thus, from the very moment he struck, victory and defeat should have been decided; only the length of time remained uncertain.

But things went against his wishes. Whether in schemes or strength, Wang Xuance had ultimately broken the situation through sheer force!

Wang Xuance locked both hands around the spear shaft, his feet driven more than a foot into the ground. The robe behind him had long since been shredded by the force of that cleaving strike. He raised his head and grinned at Li Mingyu!

"Why are Wang Xiu's fists golden?"

"That spear strike of Li Mingyu's had such tremendous force! The great spear came chopping down, yet Wang Xiu actually held it up with both hands!"

"Tsk, tsk, another battle between dragon and tiger. It seems these two have only now revealed all their strength!"

In the Flying Fish Martial Hall seating area, Hall Master You Changlin spat out a chicken bone and narrowed his eyes.

"What a formidable little fellow. To train a martial art to perfection at his age—is it natural talent, or is there some master behind him?"

"His blood and qi seem to have reached the Three-Knock Blood Pass as well. Is he also someone accustomed to hiding his true ability?!"

In a pavilion not far from the arena, General Li stood with his arms folded, watching Wang Xuance and Li Mingyu's fierce fight with repeated praise.

"To have trained the Vajra Fist to perfection at such an age, could this little fellow be another person with a special physique?"

"But his blood and qi are not particularly abundant. Could he be the disciple of some reclusive master, traveling the world after descending the mountain?"

Just then, a faint breeze suddenly rose in the otherwise windless pavilion. General Li's expression tightened, and he abruptly turned solemn.

An old man in a dark robe appeared within the pavilion, his long brows hanging down to the ground.

"My lord, could it be the foreign tribes—"

Before he could finish, the long-browed elder spoke words that shocked him.

"General Li, a large number of unfamiliar desert bandits have appeared outside the city. They are wantonly slaughtering refugees, and there are traces of disciples from the demonic sect!"

Boom!

Incomparable yellow True Martial Qi poured through the pavilion like the Yellow River bursting backward through its banks. Baleful Intent filled General Li's eyes and brows as he gave a savage sneer.

"Looks like I have gone too long without making a move. They've forgotten my iron-blooded methods!"

"My lord, please help me maintain order at the martial meet. I'll be back in a moment!"

The instant his words fell, he vanished from where he stood, leaving behind only the calm-faced elder with long brows. The elder shook his head and smiled.

"Young people truly are full of hot blood. This old bag of bones of mine is the pitiful one!"

Skin withered like an old, dying tree slowly opened, revealing a pair of black-and-white pupils. Yet around each pupil, a faint golden ring seemed to be embedded.

Runes whirled through the air, golden shadows mottled and flickering.

"This little fellow was still at the Two-Knock Blood Pass yesterday. How did he break through so easily after only one day? Looking at his bones and aptitude, he shouldn't be able to..."

"Interesting... interesting..."

"Tsk, tsk. The Vajra Fist at perfection. Though it is merely a mortal-tier martial art, it is still not something you should be able to achieve at your age."

"Could he be an outsider disciple of some great clan from the Central Plains heartland, traveling here?"

The old man's murmuring voice drifted like words borne on a breeze, making the pavilion as cool as the bottom of a lake and sweeping away the scorching summer heat.

"Up!!"

Wang Xuance raised his arm and flicked it. The great dragon of his spine drew taut like an iron-backed hard bow. "Strength entered like a collapsing bow, released like exploding thunder." Enormous force lifted the spear shaft, and after gathering power, he swung fiercely to knock the spearpoint away.

The next moment, he bent his legs to gather strength, then shot forward like a cannonball with a whoosh.

"Weituo Presents the Pestle!"

Golden radiance flowed endlessly over his pair of fists. Like a mighty Vajra Buddha, they struck with a force as fierce as a hard pestle striking acupoints.

As the spear shaft rose, Li Mingyu used the stance technique of his martial hall, the Heaven-Roaming Flying Fish Skill. Wind rose beneath his feet as he slid along the spear.

He clasped the middle of the shaft, twisting and bending it. In an instant, the Plum Silver Great Spear was pulled into a rounded arc.

Bang!

The spear shaft exploded beside the ear like scorching thunder. Both ends sprang and trembled outward, like cavalry encircling and exterminating their prey, spearhead and butt crashing toward one another.

Wang Xuance saw that Li Mingyu's spear-shaking technique was incomparably fast, instantly forcing him to withdraw his fist to defend himself.

Left with no choice, he raised his left fist and smashed it down, then swept sideways to knock away the silver spear. The force wrapped around the shaft was immense; while he sent it flying, he himself was forced to retreat several steps.

After only two exchanges, neither had gained the upper hand!

Wang Xuance retreated several steps to steady himself, feeling a numb, itching sensation spread through his left arm. His expression could not help turning grave.

His strength had already advanced by leaps and bounds compared to yesterday, yet he still could not knock his opponent off the arena. A trace of irritation flashed through his eyes as he glanced at the great spear and sighed softly.

"In the end, weapons hold the advantage. If my Vajra Fist had not reached perfection, after two moves, I fear my defeat would already have shown!"