Hu Xiaotian called out, "Brat, whatever you do, don't take General Dong's life! He's Her Highness the Worthy Consort's younger brother! He's imperial kin, you know!" This was hardly a reminder for Xiong Tianba to show mercy. He was deliberately humiliating Dong Tianjun in front of everyone.
Dong Tianjun seethed at Hu Xiaotian's words. Seeing Xiong Tianba step forward and pick up the hammer, he shot forward, stamped his right foot hard against the ground, and used the rebound to launch himself into the air. Raising the great hammer in his right hand above his head, he attacked Xiong Tianba with the force of a thunderbolt. Nobody was a fool. Dong Tianjun knew his strength fell short of this dark, skinny youngster's. His only chance of victory lay in seizing the initiative.
Xiong Tianba had just picked up the great iron hammer and was admiring it when he saw Dong Tianjun pounce like a fierce tiger descending a mountain. Having lost the initiative, most people would have avoided the brunt of the attack, regrouped, and then fought back. But Xiong Tianba had been born unwilling to admit defeat. "Out of my way!" he roared. Fixing his eyes on Dong Tianjun's incoming attack, he swung the great iron hammer upward to meet it.
Clang! The two great iron hammers collided squarely in midair, sending sparks flying. The tremendous crash nearly split the eardrums of everyone nearby.
Dong Tianjun's tactic of seizing the initiative had indeed worked. He had put all his strength into that blow, while Xiong Tianba had been too slow to get moving and was forced to take its full force. The strike drove his feet more than two inches into the ground.
This is bad, Hu Xiaotian thought. But when he looked at Zhou Mo, he found him