Jiang Tieyi vs. Dai Mubai

The arena platform was brand-new.

After last night's battle, the old platform had become ruins. The organizing committee had hauled in six carts of Dark Azure Stone from a quarry outside the city overnight and spent the entire night laying it down.

The seams between the stone slabs had been filled with iron slurry that gleamed darkly after cooling.

The chief referee declared that this new platform could withstand the full power of a Soul Sage.

Jiang Tieyi stepped onto the stairs.

The instant his left foot landed on the edge of the platform, the hard stone slab cracked with a crack, spiderweb fissures spreading across its surface.

The chief referee's eyelids twitched violently as he quietly moved three steps back.

Jiang Tieyi paid no attention to what was beneath his feet.

He held a meat bun in his hand. The dough had been taken from his family's lamb soup stall, while the filling came from a lamb slaughtered fresh that morning, its gamey scent still carrying a vibrant wildness.

Across from him, Dai Mubai had long since taken his position.

The White Tiger Martial Soul possessed him.

Golden beast markings erupted from his neck and crawled across his brow. His pupils narrowed into two cold vertical slits, and the tiger eyes burned with a fire of vengeance that had raged since last night.

The purple poison mark on his tiger's mouth remained vicious.

Grandmaster had used two kinds of soul medicine, but they had only suppressed thirty percent of the poison. The remaining seventy percent clung to the gaps in his bones like a venomous dead snake, every heartbeat bringing needle-like pain.

But he could not feel the pain right now.

"The score from the team battle."

He stared fixedly at Jiang Tieyi, each word squeezed through clenched teeth.

"Today, I'll settle it with you, one debt at a time."

Jiang Tieyi took a huge bite of his bun, his cheeks puffed out as he mumbled, "Wait until I—"

"Die!"

Dai Mubai gave him no time to finish his bun.

White Tiger Vajra Transformation!

His Martial Soul true form was completed in an instant as he charged. Driven by the golden beast markings, the muscles across his body swelled by an entire size. He crossed thirty meters in only two steps.

First soul skill, White Tiger Fury Fist!

There was no probing, no restraint.

The opening was the finale.

Grandmaster was right. Since he could not fight a battle of attrition, he would stake everything on these opening three seconds!

Jiang Tieyi abruptly stuffed the remaining half of the bun into his mouth, crossing his arms before his chest to block.

Boom—!

The instant fist met arms, the air between them was compressed by immense force, forming an invisible shockwave that exploded outward in every direction.

The bronze railings on both sides of the platform snapped with piercing wails.

The first three rows of spectator seats were completely overturned by the blast, screams and curses blending together.

Jiang Tieyi took half a step back.

Dai Mubai took two steps back.

In the stands, someone slapped his thigh and sprang to his feet, roaring himself hoarse, "He can move him! That White Tiger can move him!"

Jiang Tieyi swallowed the last bite of bun and brushed the flour crumbs from his palm.

"White Tiger Vajra Transformation."

He rolled his wrists, his joints producing a string of muffled cracks like beating drums.

"Excellent explosive power."

He lifted his head, his gaze so calm that it carried not a trace of worldly heat, as though he were examining a high-quality ore.

"But your strength is explosive. Like blazing fire erupting from a kiln, no matter how fiercely it burns, it only lasts for a moment."

"My strength is constant."

The instant those words fell, he sank down on both feet.

With the soles of his feet as the center, the indestructible Dark Azure Stone slabs cracked inch by inch. The fissures spread across half the platform in an instant like savage black lightning.

Second soul skill—Myriad-Kilogram Body!

His height began to grow savagely from one meter ninety. The sound of his bones stretching was like someone forcefully snapping an entire bundle of wet firewood.

A grayish-brown horny layer appeared over his muscles, rough and hard. That was not skin; it was a vein of ore exposed above the earth.

Two meters twenty.

Two meters forty.

Two meters fifty!

The stone slabs beneath his feet crumbled completely into powder. The chief referee stared rigidly at the deepening footprint, every muscle in his face twitching uncontrollably.

A three-thousand-kilogram mountain of flesh and blood stood alive on the platform.

The entire arena platform groaned.

Dai Mubai did not retreat.

He charged again.

White Tiger Fury Fist, second strike!

The thunderous impact of his fist slamming into Jiang Tieyi's chest made every spectator's heart skip a beat.

Jiang Tieyi did not budge.

Third strike!

His left ribs took an even duller blow.

He still did not move.

Fourth fist! Dai Mubai's tiger's mouth split apart completely, blood spraying through his fingers and splashing a tragic dark-red flower across that grayish-brown body of stone.

Jiang Tieyi lowered his head and looked at his chest.

There were only four shallow fist marks there. The deepest had sunk in less than half an inch.

"You..."

Dai Mubai panted violently. He stared at those four nearly negligible fist marks, his voice trembling.

"What exactly are you... a man or a soul beast?"

"My father was a miner."

There was not the slightest mockery in Jiang Tieyi's voice, only an almost dull honesty.

"I went down into the mines when I was six. I carried ore by myself for four years."

"Those rocks were harder than your fists."

He raised his foot and stomped down heavily.

Third soul skill—Desolate Overwhelming Pressure!

The density of the air changed at that moment.

This time, it was no longer the fivefold gravity that had covered the entire field during the team battle.

All that power condensed into an invisible sharp cone, pinning Dai Mubai alone.

Eightfold gravity!

Dai Mubai's knees bent.

Under the crushing weight of eight times his own body weight, his spine let out overwhelmed cracking sounds. The golden light from White Tiger Vajra Transformation flickered violently, wavering between brightness and darkness.

For every second he maintained it, his soul power poured out at a frenzied rate like a breached dam.

"Give up."

Jiang Tieyi walked toward him.

One step, stone slabs shattered.

Two steps, the platform trembled.

"You're strong, the strongest opponent I've ever faced. But you can't overcome the hurdle of strength."

Dai Mubai knelt amid the rubble, both hands braced desperately against the ground.

Eightfold gravity pressed down on his spine like an invisible mountain range. Sweat mixed with blood and seeped drop by drop into the cracks in the stone.

He saw the purple poison mark on his tiger's mouth.

The humiliation of those twelve minutes last night followed the veins of the poison mark, turning into venom and slowly pouring into his heart.

His teeth ground together with a creak.

—You're right.

—In a direct contest of strength, I really can't beat you.

Dai Mubai gave up maintaining the full-body form of White Tiger Vajra Transformation.

The golden beast markings receded from his limbs like the tide. Every shred of remaining soul power surged madly into his right fist at that instant.

Only one fist remained.

He only had this final chance.

Gravity pressed down from above, holding him firmly in place.

The lower he was pressed, the tighter his body curled. His right fist, which had gathered all his strength, was almost touching his own knee.

Like a spring compressed to its limit.

The harder it was pressed, the fiercer its rebound!

Fourth soul skill—White Tiger Meteor Fist!

He exploded upward from his half-kneeling stance!

This punch did not travel in a straight line, but in a perfect upward arc that tore through the air!

An uppercut!

Borrowing the eightfold gravity you placed on me, I'll return this punch staked with all my dignity!

Bang!!!

Everyone in the arena heard that explosive sound.

It was not the sound of bones breaking.

It was the shriek of his fist tearing through the air after its speed surpassed the limit!

Jiang Tieyi's enormous three-thousand-kilogram body left the ground.

Only three inches.

But in the deathly silent arena, those three inches seemed as high as thirty feet.

The next second, the entire arena erupted!

Tens of thousands of spectators shot to their feet at once, the gathered roar nearly blowing the entire roof off the arena!

Jiang Tieyi landed, and the platform shuddered dully.

He touched his chin, his fingertips brushing over a scorching red mark.

"Good punch."

He grinned.

There was not a trace of anger in that smile, only the heartfelt appreciation that the purest miner would feel upon digging up a peerless ore vein.

"But that was your only punch."

Dai Mubai knelt on one knee.

The light of White Tiger Vajra Transformation had completely faded from his body.

The majestic Evil-Eyed White Tiger was gone, leaving only a young man drenched in blood, exhausted and gasping.

He no longer had the strength even to stand.

Jiang Tieyi walked over, crouched before him, and held out his hand.

That hand was as rough as the bark of an ancient tree, its palm covered in thick calluses like medals earned in dark mine tunnels.

"You're the toughest bone I've ever fought."

The platform fell silent for three seconds.

Dai Mubai raised his head and looked at that hand for a long time.

Then he extended his right hand, the one with the split tiger's mouth, and gripped it tightly.

"First match, Sky Abyss Academy's Jiang Tieyi wins!"

The chief referee's announcement was completely drowned out by thunderous applause.

This applause had nothing to do with victory or defeat.

It was for the two men on the platform who had burned themselves to ashes.

At the competitors' seats, Su Chen leaned against his chair and nodded almost imperceptibly.

Across from him, Tang San watched Dai Mubai limp down from the platform, his eyes darkening.

One to zero.

Abyss was ahead.

At the commentator's booth, the lead commentator took a deep breath, trying to calm his surging emotions.

"Next, the second match of the individual round—"