Hidden Force Pierces Bone, Tail Scissor Delivers the Killing Blow

On the opera stage, the wind suddenly sharpened.

"Die!"

Li Bawang roared. His voice was like thunder cracking across level ground, setting the lids of the teacups on the front tables rattling.

He wasted no words. His arms, each as thick as a thigh, swung out. He drove his feet into the floor with a boom and charged straight at Qin Geng like a mountain of flesh, dragging a foul gust behind him.

There was no finesse to it. He meant to use brute strength to crush every skill.

Many spectators cried out. Qin Xiu clapped a hand over her mouth in fright.

To them, Qin Geng was tall and straight-backed, but he looked far too slight beside this Foreigners' monster. If that charge struck him squarely, it would surely break his bones and tear his tendons.

Qin Geng did not move.

His feet stood neither parallel nor splayed on the stage's blue bricks, like two nails driven into the earth.

He still held the Tiger Guards the Cave stance. His long gown clung tight to his body though no wind blew.

Just as Li Bawang's palm, broad as a fan, was about to strike the crown of his head, Qin Geng moved. His back arched sharply. At the base of his neck, a great dragon seemed to wake, sending out a deep crack of bone that shook the heart.

He neither retreated nor dodged.

Qin Geng raised both hands. His arms coiled like old vines around a tree, then rolled like a great python. The dragon of his spine cracked, sending force through both arms as he braced upward.

Coiling Dragon Guarding Stance!

Thud!

Flesh struck flesh, bone struck bone.

It sounded less like a fight than two iron pillars wrapped in oxhide smashing together.

The stage shuddered. The