Life-and-Death Battle

The Chen Martial Arts Academy was located on the outskirts of the commandery, much quieter than the brightly lit center of Jinning Commandery.

Ever since a madman had appeared nearby a few months ago and slaughtered sixteen residents overnight, few people remained in this residential area.

The scavenging old man tightened his foul-smelling coat, glanced from the corner of his eye at the middle-aged man in gray robes standing with his hands behind his back, and quickened his pace.

Rip.

Bloodstains spread across the coat. The old man looked confused as he fell to the ground and died.

"We can't let you see what happens next." Academy Master Xu leisurely wiped the blood from his right hand with a silk handkerchief, then kicked the corpse into the grass nearby.

"Academy Master Xu, slaughtering innocent civilians isn't something an academy master should do. If the Martial Pavilion finds out, Zhicheng Martial Arts Academy will likely fall apart at once." Chen Xu placed the bag containing the brocade box in the grass, and a faint bronze hue spread across his palms.

"If the Martial Pavilion doesn't find out, then isn't that fine?" Xu Lie no longer wore the gentle smile he had shown during their daytime meeting at the Martial Pavilion. Undisguised killing intent rushed straight at Chen Xu.

His thumbs bent outward, while his other four fingers pressed together, the second and third knuckles tightly curled.

His curled fingers stretched forcefully toward the backs of his hands, his hand backs arching backward. With one hand high and the other low, his arms resembled a goshawk circling through the sky.

"Academy Master Chen, I specifically warned you never to walk alone at night!"

The moment the word "night" left his mouth, he darted forward several steps and clawed at Chen Xu.

A goshawk bore down on him, carrying the stench of blood and a violent gale.

Out of nowhere, a tiger's roar suddenly erupted. Chen Xu forcibly broke through the opponent's near-tangible pressure.

"His Eagle Claw Technique is no weaker than my Tiger Roar Fist!" Chen Xu slightly gathered his breath and activated the Bronze Body Technique and Tiger Howl Fist simultaneously, lunging like a starving tiger pouncing on prey.

Their clothes burst apart, exposing their lean, powerful upper bodies.

Seeing the flesh on his arm turned inside out, Chen Xu felt no fear. Instead, the violence lurking within him stirred eagerly.

Perhaps he had been born for the martial path.

"By the numbers, his Eagle Claw Technique is at least at the sixth level—possibly even the seventh."

Without question, he was the strongest opponent Chen Xu had faced since coming to this world.

The people he had fought before were not even worthy of carrying his shoes.

"You've already gotten the Bronze Body Technique started in such a short time?" Academy Master Xu's killing intent surged even more fiercely. With such a talented enemy before him, he would never rest easy unless he killed him.

"But didn't your master tell you that only by remaining devoted to a single path can one possibly reach the pinnacle?"

Academy Master Xu charged first again, dozens of claw shadows flashing through the air.

His academy possessed three ranked martial arts, but for forty-five years, he had devoted all his energy to the Great Strength Eagle Claw Technique. Only then had he earned the title of Jinning Eagle King.

His toes scraped over the dirt road, kicking up a layer of gravel and dust.

"You're even using such despicable moves. I'm ashamed to be associated with you!" Claw force burst forth, and the airflow swept aside the blinding sand.

Taking the opportunity to evade the deadly claw strike, Chen Xu raised both fists and drove them straight forward.

What did a little martial virtue matter if it helped him survive?

Two consecutive punches drove Academy Master Xu back again and again.

"Scum of the martial world, today I'll rid the people of you!" Forcibly suppressing his churning blood and qi, Academy Master Xu left several-inch-long claw marks across Chen Xu's chest.

The pain of his wounds did not slow Chen Xu's assault. It only made him fight more wildly.

Before reaching [Martial Form], everyone was merely flesh and blood. Relying on his Bronze Body Technique, Chen Xu stopped defending everywhere except his vital areas and traded injury for injury with Academy Master Xu.

"Damn it. If this keeps up, I won't be able to use my advantage at all." Academy Master Xu had not cultivated any body-tempering technique. In a head-on clash, he held no advantage and might even fall behind.

"Force him back, then regroup." Academy Master Xu immediately made the decision best suited to his fighting style.

He exerted force through his waist, channeling it through both shoulders and into his ten fingers.

"Eagle Strikes the Sky!"

Chen Xu had no time to withdraw his punch—or rather, he had no intention of withdrawing it.

He slightly twisted his body, preventing the attack from hitting his heart.

Ten fingers like iron hooks stabbed into Chen Xu's chest. Academy Master Xu was about to exert force and tear apart the man before him completely.

"Hm?" Academy Master Xu's pupils contracted. A trace of bronze shimmered over the mangled, bloodied chest. If not for his sharp eyes, he would never have noticed it.

He swiftly tried to pull his fingers out, but the Bronze Body Technique and Chen Xu's muscles locked them inside his chest.

"Got you." Chen Xu gave a savage grin. In Academy Master Xu's eyes, it was no different from a devil's smile.

A punch landed on Academy Master Xu's head, leaving him dazed. Before he could react, fists began raining down upon him.

Ora ora ora ora ora ora!

Only when the ten fingers embedded in his chest stopped struggling did Chen Xu finally loosen his blood-covered fists.

He forcibly pulled the ten fingers from his chest, then inspected Academy Master Xu, whose original appearance could no longer be recognized.

He lay sprawled across the dirt road, no longer breathing.

Xu Lie, the Eagle King whose name had shaken Jinning, died without a sound, forever falling in this desolate place.

After searching Xu Lie's body, Chen Xu took a deep breath and dragged him over to the innocent scavenging old man.

If he did not want to be wanted by the Great Abyss Martial Pavilion, he had to dispose of the two corpses that could expose him.

Even if he had technically acted in self-defense, considering Vice Pavilion Master Xu at the Martial Pavilion, Chen Xu would never entrust his life to someone else's character.

He brought the two corpses to an even more barren place and lit a fire.

Under the firelight, everything turned to ashes along with the corpses, their ashes scattering away in the wind.

Chen Xu played with several strings of keys he had taken from Academy Master Xu's body and silently watched the flickering flames. Academy Master Xu was the first person he had personally killed since arriving in this world.

The sounds of those fists striking flesh still echoed in his mind.

It was not that he mourned Academy Master Xu, who had wanted to kill him. He merely wanted to remember this day: without strength, he could be killed without reason, just like that scavenging old man.

If he lacked strength or underestimated his enemy in a martial battle, then Academy Master Xu's fate today would be his own tomorrow.

Academy Master Xu had taught him a lesson with his life: never underestimate anyone. If Academy Master Xu had fully displayed the strength of his Wandering Battle Eagle Claw Technique, Chen Xu might have been forced into a miserable situation, slowly accumulating injuries until he could no longer endure them.

Unfortunately, he had underestimated Chen Xu. From the start, he chose to clash head-on, and in the end, he was forcibly killed through a fight that traded injury for injury.

The blood dripping from Chen Xu's chest gradually lessened. After confirming that nothing remained but a patch of scorched black marks, he took the brocade box and returned to the academy.

Once his injuries had mostly recovered and no longer affected his fighting, he would take over Zhicheng Martial Arts Academy's resources. Originally, he had planned to deal with several weaker academies first.

But plans could not keep up with changes. Academy Master Xu had relied on his own strength to block Chen Xu's path and challenge him to a duel, only to end up with not even a corpse left behind.

His 1.5 constitution gave him recovery abilities far beyond those of ordinary people. At most, within a few hours, he would regain part of his strength and go claim the resources Zhicheng Martial Arts Academy had accumulated over so many years.

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