Bai Pojun gave no answer, merely watching the arena calmly, looking utterly confident.
Hearing this, Bai Zhan decisively abandoned his defense and instead chose a ferocious offensive, trading injury for injury.
As Wu Moling punched him in the chest, he drove his knee into her abdomen.
Almost simultaneously, both of them hurtled backward.
Bai Zhan retreated three steps in succession, each step pulverizing the cracked stone slabs beneath his feet into fragments and dust. Only after those three steps did he steady his balance against the tremendous impact.
Even then, the soles of his shoes scraped violently against the stone slabs, dragging him a short distance.
"Pfft!" Pain crossed Bai Zhan's face as he spat out a mouthful of blood.
The destructive force of Wu Moling's earlier punch had penetrated his bulletproof flesh and reached his internal organs.
Wu Moling was faring no better on the other side. The instant she took the punch, her body curled up like a shrimp. When she stopped retreating, digestive fluids surged up from her stomach, filling her throat and esophagus with a burning sensation.
With a retch, she trembled all over and vomited a mouthful of digestive fluid and food remnants. Spurred by her pain nerves, tears welled up and blurred her vision.
Despite this injury, Bai Zhan's fighting spirit soared even higher. He carelessly wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his arm and laughed heartily. "What a rush! What a rush! It's been ages since I met an opponent like this!"
His expression turned serious, and he said in a deep voice, "You're strong, so I'm going all out."
Wu Moling's heart jolted. Had that not been Bai Zhan's true strength?
If that was the case, she might be forced to use True Martial Ultimate Strike...
Bai Zhan abruptly lowered his stance, clenched his teeth, and unleashed a beastlike roar from his throat, the blood between his teeth clearly visible. Veins bulged on his neck and arms, and the coiling-dragon muscles all over his body tightened to their limit.
Rip!
His close-fitting black shirt burst apart in an instant, its scraps scattering like butterflies. His bronze body looked as though it had been cast from molten copper, brimming with a terrifying sense of power.
As Bai Zhan exerted himself, enormous rootlike cracks spread outward across the entire square with him at their center, accompanied by a series of cracks.
In just an instant, every bluestone slab in the square shattered, turning the place into a ruin strewn with fragments!
The sight sent a shudder through everyone present.
Some gasped, some forgot to breathe, some felt their hearts lurch, and some widened their eyes...
The livestream's bullet comments erupted into an uproar.
"Holy shit, a Super Saiyan transformation?"
"You're that badass, bro? You straight-up burst out of your shirt? [laughing through tears]"
"Streamer, hand over your special effects!"
"Isn't this live? How did they do the special effects?!"
But the streamer himself was dumbstruck, unable to utter a word.
"Senior Bai, is this a move that burns through his life?" a member of the ancient martial arts community finally could not help asking.
Bai Zhan sneered and shook his head. "It merely pushes the body to its maximum load. Without going this far, Bai Zhan's current cultivation wouldn't allow him to use the next move."
"Hiss..." At those words, someone immediately sucked in a cold breath.
Wu Moling was stunned.
She knew Bai Zhan was fierce, that he was strong, that he could not be underestimated.
But Wu Moling truly had not expected his strength to be this outrageous!
Crack!
Bai Zhan stomped hard against the ground, forcibly gouging out a pit in an instant.
In the blink of an eye, he shot toward Wu Moling like a shell fired from a cannon, pushing against the savage gale whipped up by his tremendous speed!
"Hundred Fierce-"
Bai Zhan roared, a strand of blood still clinging between his rows of teeth, and swung his tightly clenched right fist.
"Fist Wind Fang!"
The old Taoist's heart jolted. He was about to step forward to intervene when Bai Pojun blocked him with one hand.
In that instant of delay, Bai Zhan had already unleashed his strongest killing move.
To everyone watching, he seemed to have thrown a hundred killing punches at once, or sprouted a hundred arms that attacked simultaneously.
Terrifying sonic booms rang through the air, making their scalps prickle.
In truth, Bai Zhan was simply moving too fast.
By exceeding the limits of what his body could bear, he had gained such terrifying strength and speed that he left a great swath of afterimages on everyone's retinas.
Yet under the lethal assault of Hundred Fierce Fist Wind Fang, Wu Moling did not fly backward and die on the spot as everyone had expected.
She looked as though she had accepted her fate, closing her eyes and turning her head as she threw one final, struggling punch.
But that single punch instantly sent a wild gale sweeping through heaven and earth!
Behind Wu Moling, an exceedingly faint, mysterious figure appeared.
The instant that figure appeared, Bai Zhan, who had unleashed such a ferocious attack, screamed and flew away like a kite with its string cut.
"Pfft!"
Bai Zhan felt his body become weightless and spat out a mouthful of blood in midair. Then he slammed into the ground with a thud, sending up a cloud of dust.
Wu Moling stood where she was, her right fist still extended. Her face was deathly pale, and her entire body trembled.
The exceedingly faint figure behind her also vanished in an instant.
"Heavens! That was Grandmaster Bai Pojun's Hundred Fierce Fist Wind Fang, wasn't it?!"
"The fist technique that swept through Rongcheng's ancient martial arts community was actually broken?"
"What move did Wu Moling just use? How could it be so powerful?"
The calm on Bai Pojun's face crumbled in an instant. His expression changed drastically, and he immediately rushed forward. "Son, are you all right?!"
Bai Zhan forced a pained smile. He was about to say something when he retched up another mouthful of blood.
Bai Pojun hurriedly pressed a hand to his pulse, and his expression grew even uglier.
Just what kind of tremendous power was this?
One move!
Just one move!
It had broken Hundred Fierce Fist Wind Fang, its force ravaging his internal organs, bones, and meridians.
Had Wu Moling not held back, that move... could probably have killed Bai Zhan on the spot.
And it would have been a horrific death, with every meridian severed, his organs ruptured, and his bones shattered!
Bai Pojun hurriedly channeled true qi into Bai Zhan's body to ease his severe injuries.
Ji Yaoguang stared at Lin Fei in disbelief, utterly tongue-tied.
Yet Lin Fei's expression was as calm as still water, without the slightest ripple.
Since Wu Moling had used True Martial Ultimate Strike, the outcome had already been decided.
"Master, that phantom just now looked like-" The young Taoist beside them finally recovered from his shock. He looked at the old Taoist in astonishment, not daring to voice his bold guess.
"Loose, disheveled hair, golden chain-mail armor, standing upon a five-colored spirit turtle, his hand resting on his sword..." The more the old Taoist spoke, the more excited he became. His entire body began trembling uncontrollably, and tears all but filled his eyes.
"It was Great Emperor Zhenwu!"
As his words fell, the entire crowd burst into an uproar.
Just what kind of move could make a phantom of Great Emperor Zhenwu appear behind someone?