"Boom!"
The successive crashes stopped abruptly, and dust and smoke spread.
Two figures, one above the other, slammed into a dilapidated, abandoned room.
Lian Youming still held both palms thrust downward. His arms bulged, veins and sinews standing out, and his palms had swollen almost a size larger. He had gathered every ounce of strength in his body into that strike.
The instant they hit the ground, Lian Youming braced hard with both palms and flipped backward. After rolling several times and stumbling into balance, he finally stood again, blood surging violently upward beneath his Iron Mask.
But before he could catch his breath, the piled bricks and rubble exploded outward. A figure sprang rigidly upright like a snapping centipede, covered in dirt, eyes wide and face twisted hideously.
"I will never lose to you. How could I possibly lose to you... I... urgh... aah!"
Gan Xuantong poised to lunge, looking utterly deranged as he glared at Lian Youming, who stood panting several paces away. He tried to raise his palms again, but before his right foot had advanced half a step, his face suddenly flushed, then darkened to purple. A wisp of white vapor escaped his mouth, followed by a jet of scalding blood between his teeth. Blood seeped from his crotch as well.
With a scream, he toppled rigidly backward again.
Lian Youming's chest pumped like a convulsing bellows, swelling and contracting as he gasped with wrenching violence.
With somewhat unsteady steps, he approached Gan Xuantong and looked down into his eyes without a word. Then he inhaled gently, drawing in air like a wandering dragon returning to its nest, producing an extremely faint dragon's roar.
Dragon Roaring Iron Shirt.
At that dragon's roar, Gan Xuantong's hideous face suddenly froze. Then he began laughing, like a madman possessed.