The young man swiftly circulated his qi, channeling it to envelop his transformed hand. An illusory aura materialized, shrouding his hand in a protective barrier that amplified its strength and acted as a layer of protection. A confident smirk spread across his face as he glanced at Qichen, eager to gauge his opponent's reaction and savor the moment.
Qichen looked at all this with fighting spirit in his eyes. He didn't want to waste time talking and shot out with unparalleled strength. The ground beneath his feet cracked due to the immense strength Qichen exerted.
"Court death!" The young man snorted coldly and shot out. His hands were like an eagle's talons, poised to strike its prey. Boom! The collision was louder than the previous one, causing the wind to howl in protest as the ground shattered beneath their feet and the leaves of trees swayed with the wind. The result was still the same as before, with both of them stepping back.
"Come again!" Qichen gave a shout and punched out. His blood was boiling, and he exerted his strength to the fullest. The young man also shot out more ferociously.
He couldn't accept being beaten by a mere youth. Boom! Boom! Boom! The sound of head-on collisions kept ringing out. Just like that, they had clashed more than ten times. The ground was filled with cracks as a result of their fight. Trees were broken, making it look like a demonic beast had passed by.
They quickly separated, their bodies numb from the impact. The young man's face was distorted with intense pain spreading throughout his limbs. Even though he used his qi to cover most of his body, he still felt the pain. What if the qi wasn't covering his body?
Qichen was slightly better off. Most of the black mass covering his body was gone, and most of his clothes were torn or gone. His body felt some pain, but it was negligible. It was as if the more he fought, the stronger his body became. His eyes burned with a fierce fighting spirit.
The young man looked at Qichen, who was gazing at him with a fierce fighting spirit. He gritted his teeth and tried his best to calm down. "Do you have any other moves? If not, you're just waiting for death!"
Qichen's voice sounded cold, like the grim reaper coming to harvest lives. This made the young man's heart stir as he tried to calm himself down, causing his qi to almost deviate.
Qichen looked at all this happen and didn't attack. He knew that the young man must still have some moves he hadn't yet used. Their previous battle was a test of strength, and even though the young man used his qi to his advantage, the young man was still no match when it came to pure strength.
After a minute or two, the young man opened his eyes and looked at Qichen. The look this time around wasn't like a king looking at an ant, but like someone who was on par with him. "Don't be proud yet, I haven't lost." The young man still replied coldly. "Bring it." Qichen replied with expectation.
"Arrogant!" The young man gave a shout and hurriedly ran his qi towards his transformed hands. "Eagle's Talons technique." He gave a shout, and all his qi was quickly channeled towards his hand faster. A phantom of a talon slowly materialized above his head.
The 'Eagle Talons technique' is a yellow medium-level technique. Pills, techniques, and weapons are classified as follows: yellow, mysterious, profound, earth, and heaven. Each is also separated into three qualities: low-grade, medium-grade, and high-grade.
The Eagle's Talon technique is known for its swiftness and sharpness, combining speed and precision to make it a formidable skill.
"Die for me!" The young man gave a shout and charged out. His speed had increased by half. Qichen's hair was moving along with the wind, and his eyes released a fierce light. He looked at the upcoming attack and slowly clenched his fist. You could hear the sound of his knuckles creaking with a tense, anticipatory snap.
The world seemed to have slowed down, and then he shot out with an unparalleled punch. He was going to use force to break all techniques. Boom! The moment he shot out, there was a noticeable sonic boom. The materialized claw technique also followed the young man, its direction was Qichen's head.
The man's claw and Qichen's punch were about to clash when the materialized claw was above Qichen's head, ready to strike at any time. Qichen's scalp went numb, and he sensed danger. He raised his left hand to block the claw attack while his right hand was still heading towards the young man's transformed hand.
Boom!!!
And before you knew it, they clashed once more. The ground beneath their feet cracked even further, and the wind howled like never before.
"Crack..!"
The chilling sound of bones breaking echoed through the battlefield.
Qichen was sent flying, crashing through trees like a meteor. His body smashed into trees after trees, leaving a trail of destruction in his path. But the other young man fared even worse, he too was blasted away, colliding with several trees. His right arm was completely broken moving as if it could fall at any time. He spat out a mouthful of blood, as if he were giving it away like charity.
A minute or two passed in silence.
The young man slowly pushed himself up, groaning in pain, and spat out another mouthful of blood. His breathing became distorted. He had to use his left hand to support himself because his right arm was broken beyond recordnition. As worse as you could imagine.
He looked in the direction Qichen had flown and, seeing no one walking out from the wreckage, he slowly breathed a sigh of relief.
With trembling hands, he pulled out a small jade bottle from the pouch hanging at his waist and retrieved a healing pill. He popped it into his mouth and swallowed it without hesitation.
Then he quickly sat down cross-legged and began circulating his qi, initiating a basic healing technique to stabilize his injuries. His breathing gradually steadied as his internal energy started soothing the worst of the pain.
After a minute or two, he opened his eyes with a smug expression forming on his bloodied face.
But the smile didn't last.
"You…" he gasped.
Before he could finish his sentence, a kick landed squarely on his chest.
"Pffft!"
He spat out another mouthful of blood as he flew backward, slamming hard against a broken tree trunk.
"Did you really think it would be that easy?" Qichen's voice rang out, cold and sharp like a blade.
Qichen walked toward him slowly, step by step. Only his pants remained on his body, everything else had been torn away in battle. His hair was messy and wild, as though he hadn't groomed it in years. Yet his posture was firm, his gaze fierce.
"How... how is it possible...?" the young man groaned as he struggled to rise, speaking with great difficulty.
"Anything is possible," Qichen replied.
When he had crashed through the trees earlier, there had been wounds scattered across his body, but none were serious. Now, he stood tall, like an indomitable war god, without a single injury on his body.
"You… you can't kill me," the young man stammered, panic in his eyes. "I'm a core disciple of the Purple Cloud Sect!"
"I don't care," Qichen said flatly, continuing his slow approach.
With every step Qichen took, it felt like a heavy pressure pressed against the young man's chest, squeezing his heart until it thudded erratically in fear.
"No… no… please! It was Senior Brother Lin who sent me after you! He doesn't like it when people who offend him live for long."
"I can help you!"
"Oh?" Qichen's interest was piqued. He raised a brow and stopped momentarily. "I'd like to know how you plan to help me."
"I… I can give you information on Senior Brother Lin!" the young man blurted out like a prisoner begging for his life. "I know everything about him! I can even act as your inside man. Just... just swear not to kill me!"
Qichen tilted his head slightly and gave a half-smile.
Then slowly shook his head.
"No need. He'll be joining you very soon."
"No—you don't understand!" the young man cried out in desperation. "Senior Brother Lin is in the top ten of the core disciple rankings! And… and he's the adopted junior brother of the Sect Master's direct disciple!"
"I said," Qichen replied calmly, "I'll send you on your way."
As he finished his sentence, he threw a punch aimed directly at the young man's chest.
But before it landed—
"Then let's die together!" the young man screamed with madness in his eyes.
His qi burst out violently in a final act of desperation as he reached into his pouch with a crazed expression. A moment later, he pulled out a round, crimson orb.
The orb glowed ominously, emitting a terrifying heat. The air around it shimmered and warped as if trying not to get close.
Qichen's pupils shrank as he sensed the destructive power emanating from the orb.
The young man quickly channeled the remaining qi in his body into the red orb. His body trembled, but he gritted his teeth and channeled everything he had left into it.
Qichen's scalp went numb and without hesitation, he pushed his body to its limits and backed away as fast as he could.
BOOM!!!
A deafening explosion rang out, shaking the surrounding forest. The shockwave blasted everything nearby, uprooting trees and turning the ground into a cratered wasteland. Even those far from the scene could hear it—so loud that it could have made a person go deaf.
Qichen was thrown away by the blast, his body breaking trees as he could not even stop.
Back at the camp…
"What was that!?" someone shouted in alarm.
"I'm not sure," another replied. "But it sounded like an explosion caused by a Yellow-tier high-grade explosive weapon!"
The group went silent for a moment, eyes wide.
"Who the hell would use something like that around here?! Are they trying to lure demonic beasts with all that noise?" someone said angrily.
The senior brother, who was busy meditating frowned upon hearing this.
"Senior Brother Jin," Liu Xianyi called out nervously, "what was that? The explosion came from the direction where Zhang Tianwei went."
The senior brother brow furrowed even more.
'What the hell is that fool doing? Couldn't he even handle a little Qi Condensation waste?' he said in his mind