Thunder Hand

"Mr. Wang, we meet again!" Seeing Wang Jing and Xie Bai looking somewhat bedraggled, Zhou Jiao's smile widened.

"You Shadow Star Pirates are only capable of this much. Once you leave the Sea of Stars and lose the support of technological weapons, you're nothing but trash! Tell whoever's in charge to come talk!" Wang Jing did not even bother responding to Zhou Jiao's mockery. Having fused with the Stealth Thunder Insect, his confidence was overflowing. He knew Zhou Jiao well; Zhou Jiao's gene count was around 150, roughly the same as his. But Wang Jing was confident that he could blow him apart within three moves—or even with a single punch!

Sure enough, Zhou Jiao's face turned livid at Wang Jing's words.

"Rich young masters are all the same. Let me teach you a lesson!" Another man emerged from behind Zhou Jiao. He moved like lightning as he spoke, his five fingers hooked as they shot toward Wang Jing's throat.

"Too slow!"

Wang Jing moved as he spoke. White light flickered around his hands, which clamped down like two massive pincers on the man's clawing strike. With a reverse twist, the tremendous force of inertia wrenched the man's arm around. Seeing things go badly, the man did not panic. He spun with Wang Jing's force, and his arm slipped back like a slick loach.

"Third Brother, the intelligence was wrong!"

Failing to land his blow, the man immediately retreated. He knew that if he continued fighting an opponent he could not defeat, he would only ruin the greater plan.

The instant he finished speaking, a withered, branchlike palm extended from Wang Jing's side. Its approach was as gentle and unhurried as an endless autumn rain, yet as irresistible as rivers flowing into the sea. Before their attacks even met, the hairs on Wang Jing's back stood on end.

Smack!

With a soft sound, Wang Jing was completely unharmed, while Xie Bai blocked the withered palm.

"Xu the Third, I knew it was you!"

Xu the Third, as Xie Bai called him, resembled an ape. He had three deep lines across his forehead, a protruding mouth, arms that reached past his knees, and exceptionally broad palms. One glance was enough to tell that he had trained extensively in hand techniques.

"Old bastard, it was a mistake not to kill you on Demon Cloud Star last time!" Xu the Third was not angered by having his attack blocked. He merely said this in a sinister tone.

"Where's that old Scorpion?" Instead of answering Xu the Third, Xie Bai spoke toward the tall reeds at the edge of the marsh.

The old Scorpion Xie Bai referred to was the old man who had clashed with Wang Jing at the auction that day.

"You knew we would be here?" After Scorpion emerged, he did not immediately attack. Instead, he asked Wang Jing and Xie Bai this question.

"Otherwise, we wouldn't have waited for you to show yourselves first!"

At Xie Bai's words, Scorpion's heart sank. It seemed they had been set up. He simply could not understand how word had gotten out.

"Where are Fifth and Sixth?"

With a sweep of his gaze, he realized that of the five who had arrived, one had somehow vanished. Even Tang Yu and Meng Xuanxuan, who had been hiding in the brushwood, had not noticed when Sixth had disappeared.

"There's a traitor!" At this point, even Scorpion understood that their Sixth had betrayed them.

"Hmph! Good-for-nothing trash. We're better off without one burden. The four of us are more than enough to deal with this old man and this brat! Go!"

At Scorpion's command, Fifth and Fourth charged straight at Wang Jing. Both were highly skilled fighters. Tang Yu himself had a gene count of 150, yet he had to go all out against Fifth, Zhou Jiao. With Fourth added to the mix, Tang Yu knew he would have a hard time dealing with them. Just as he hesitated over whether to intervene, Wang Jing made the first move.

His body seemed unaffected by air resistance or Earth's gravity. With both hands formed into claws, he lunged directly for Zhou Jiao's throat. They were both Origin Force-awakened martial artists. If that grab landed solidly, even a stone would have its surface torn away, much less a human throat.

Wang Jing's goal was clear: eliminate the weakest among the four first. Xie Bai tried to go over and help, but Xu the Third stopped him.

"Your opponent is me!" Xu the Third snorted and unleashed the Eagle Claw Technique he had cultivated for decades. The fleshy sheaths at his fingertips sprang out like switchblades. This was skill that could only be developed after hand techniques had reached a certain realm. Without eight or ten years of grueling training, it was impossible to achieve. It was genuine external martial arts. In this age of advanced technology, it was rare indeed for someone to cultivate external martial arts to such a level!

"Your Eagle Claw Technique is decent, but you're still lacking some refinement! Don't tell me you still haven't recovered from the injury I gave you on Demon Cloud Star?"

Though Xie Bai spoke, his hands did not stop. The technique he used was actually identical to Xu the Third's, as though the two had come from the same school.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Though it was called the Eagle Claw Technique, it was not purely a finger technique. Their lower-body clash was equally ferocious. Their feet spread apart as they advanced and retreated. The slightest mistake could give the other side an opening.

Riiip!

The sound of silk tearing rang out as Xie Bai's finger-sheath force tore open the clothing over Xu the Third's chest, leaving four bloody marks behind.

"Cough, cough... You broke through!" Xu the Third stared at Xie Bai in shock. He instantly realized that Xie Bai must have taken the X-4 Berserk Gene Serum they had purchased. Otherwise, with his injuries, he should have been weakening rather than recovering.

"Obviously!" Xie Bai gave a cold laugh. His hunched body straightened as well. Though he was not a large man, the powerful aura of an Origin Force martial artist radiating from him inspired awe.

"Second Brother! This one's tough. I need your help!"

Xu the Third did not need to say more. Scorpion had already entered the fray. Without another word, he leaped into the air, his legs turning into afterimages as they swept toward Xie Bai in a killing strike. Xie Bai naturally did not meet him head-on, retreating repeatedly instead. The opponent had been waiting in readiness for a long time, while Xie Bai had just gone through an intense battle. His old strength was spent, and new strength had yet to arise. Fighting Scorpion now was clearly unwise.

"Old Xie, hurry up! I can't hold on here!" Wang Jing roared from nearby. Handling Zhou Jiao alone would have been no problem, but adding Fourth, a Shadow Star Pirate with a gene count of 200, left him stretched thin.

Tang Yu had originally prepared to step in, but after hearing the exchange between the two sides, he held himself back. It seemed Wang Jing had known all along that the Shadow Star Pirates would intercept him and had deliberately given them the opportunity. From the looks of it, Sixth had been his planted informant.

Bang! With a muffled impact, Fourth became entangled with Wang Jing. Seeing this, Zhou Jiao suddenly launched an attack, smashing a fist viciously into Wang Jing's back.

Wang Jing's blood and energy churned violently, and he nearly spat out blood, but he forcibly suppressed it. If he spat out that blood, he would lose his breath. When fighting, the first breath mattered most. As the saying went, one's vigor waned after the first burst and was exhausted by the third. He could not let that breath scatter!

After taking Zhou Jiao's punch, Wang Jing showed no sign of decline. Instead, he grew fiercer as he fought. He immediately circulated the Origin Force within his cells, activating the Stealth Thunder Insect hidden inside his body. A flush even appeared on his face.

"Die!" As Fourth threw another punch, Wang Jing did not dodge. He raised his own fist to meet it.

Crack!

Their fists collided, and neither felt good afterward. But Wang Jing was far better off. At the very least, his bones had not been exposed. His entire arm had merely gone numb, leaving him unable to continue fighting with it. Fourth, the Shadow Star Pirate, was sent flying by Wang Jing's blow. His shoulder blade was knocked out of place and pierced through the skin. That entire arm was effectively ruined.

"Fourth Brother!" Zhou Jiao's eyes nearly split open at the sight, but there was nothing he could do. Though his gene count was close to Wang Jing's, he was no match for him. His Origin Force burst was not even 1,500 kilograms, while Wang Jing's combat power was at least over 2,000.

"Cough, cough, cough... Don't worry! Just hold him off. Once Second Brother and Third Brother finish off that old bastard, this brat won't be able to escape even with wings! This time, we'll definitely extort Wang Zhengguo properly! Pah!" As soon as he finished, Fourth spat out another mouthful of bloody saliva. Wang Jing was about to move in and finish him off, but after glancing at Xie Bai, he abandoned the thought. Xie Bai's situation was far from good.

Although Xu the Third was weaker than Xie Bai, they came from the same school, and he understood Xie Bai's fighting style extremely well. As a result, Xie Bai could gain no advantage against him. Scorpion was originally stronger than Xie Bai. Although Xie Bai's strength had improved after the X-4 Berserk Gene Serum altered his body, he was only slightly stronger than Scorpion. Now that Xu the Third and Scorpion had joined forces, Xie Bai was finding it hard to withstand them and was gradually falling into defeat.

Seeing this, Wang Jing could no longer concern himself with Zhou Jiao and Fourth. He charged straight toward Xie Bai's battlefield.

"Brat, you're courting death!" Xu the Third's eyes turned cold when he saw Wang Jing rushing over. He was merely a kid with a gene count below 200. Did he think having the Stealth Thunder Insect made him invincible?

Xu the Third practically did not even look at him. He turned and clawed out, flipped downward, then scooped inward. This claw, flip, and scoop contained profound skill: one move with three forms, each linked seamlessly to the next attack. It was flawless. Yet despite that, Xu the Third was disappointed. His fist force could erupt with combat power exceeding 3,000, but Wang Jing blocked the attack merely by raising both arms.

Xu the Third did not understand what had happened, but Tang Yu did. In the instant before Wang Jing charged in, he had somehow pulled out a pair of fists from somewhere on his body and slipped them over his hands before exchanging moves with Xu the Third. Though he was still at a complete disadvantage, he would not lose his combat ability in a single move. However, his right arm's tendons and bones had been injured in his clash with Fourth earlier, and the injury had now worsened.

"Thunder Hand?" When Xu the Third finally saw what Wang Jing was wearing on his hands, his expression visibly froze. He had never expected that this man, merely the son of a human base city's mayor, would possess such an advanced technological weapon.