Stranger Danger

The descending fist was like the sun itself. It possessed the power to break anything and everything.

In order to make sure that what happened last time would not happen again, Ye Qing had imbued a wisp of fist intent in his fist—the fist intent of Break Hammer.

Suppression, Break, Annihilation. He had reached the initiate level in “Suppression Hammer” a while ago, and he could barely use it at the cost of much strength and focus. However, he was far, far from being able to use “Break Hammer” and “Annihilation Hammer”. “Annihilation Hammer” in particular invoked the total annihilation of everything, leaving behind only pure emptiness. Just recalling the moment the Dark Overlord had used “Annihilation Hammer” was enough to give him migraines powerful enough to threaten the integrity of his mind, much less use it.

“Break Hammer”’s fist intent was also quite tyrannical and powerful, but it was far more manageable than “Annihilation Hammer”. At the very least, it wasn’t at a level where he was completely unable to grasp it. Besides, the Dark Overlord had personally passed down the “Three Origin Hammers” to him, and he had witnessed each hammer’s power during his stay at the Demonbearer Abode. As a result, he was able to improve his understanding of “Break Hammer” even though his main focus was on “Suppression Hammer”.

Although he was still far from being able to use “Break Hammer”, he could now imbue some of its fist intent into his techniques and increase its deadliness.

The fist intent of “Suppression Hammer” was in the name: suppression. In essence, suppression was the avoidance of killing. Therefore, even though “Suppression Hammer” could be used offensively, it was by no means a killer move. In terms of deadliness, it was completely outclassed by the likes of “Break Hammer”.

That was why Ye Qing chose to imbue a wisp of “Break Hammer”’s fist intent in his fist. It wasn’t even close to being complete, but it was still deadlier than his initiate level “Suppression Hammer”.

Earlier, his carelessness—well, it wasn’t really carelessness, but there was no denying that he had underestimated Duanmu Longhua—had cost him his best chance to kill her. He wasn’t going to make the same mistake again.

Boom!

The punch broke Duanmu Longhua’s protective astral qi and Strange Artifacts like paper. Anything and everything shattered into countless pieces. Unfortunately, right before his fist would make contact with the woman’s skull, two golden lotuses bloomed on her head once more.

At the beginning, it was three golden lotuses. Now, it was only two—or more accurately, one and a half since one of the lotuses was only half-formed.

Ye Qing’s fist was less than a second away from crushing Duanmu Longhua’s head and consciousness into nothingness when the fully-formed golden lotus swayed a little and enveloped Ye Qing’s fist force and fist intent in its light. The next moment, Duanmu Longhua disappeared without a trace.

Seriously? Again?

Ye Qing frowned with displeasure, but before he could do anything else, blood suddenly poured out of his orifices, and every part of his body was suddenly screaming with pain. His muscles felt like they had been ripped in half, and his internal organs felt they were cracked all over.

This was the sequela for using a wisp of “Break Hammer”’s fist intent. Even at his current strength, he could not use it without suffering a significant amount of damage.

The “Three Origin Hammers” were unlike any fist art he had ever seen or practiced. An ordinary fist art emphasized on either strength, body, or intent. Qi, essence or spirit; strength, body or intent. They demanded only one aspect from each category only.

However, the “Three Origin Hammers” demanded its practitioner to be accomplished in every aspect. Not only must their qi, essence and spirit be on par with their strength, body and intent, their strength must be great so that the fist would be fierce, the body must be tough so that the fist would be unyielding, and the intent must be strong so that the fist would be lofty.

To put it in simpler terms, a practitioner of the “Three Origin Hammers” must possess a tough body, a vast reservoir of true qi, and a powerful mind. Not a single aspect must fall behind the curve, or they would never be able to unleash its true strength. In fact, the “Three Origin Hammers” would hurt a weak practitioner first before they hurt the enemy.

Currently, he was strong enough in body to withstand the rebound of “Suppression Hammer” and “Break Hammer”, but not in mind. This was especially true for “Break Hammer”. If he wasn’t careful, he could easily deal a serious blow to his own mind.

The good news was that this problem was easily remedied. All he needed to do was to evolve his yin god into a yang god, and he should be able to withstand the rebound of “Break Hammer”’s fist intent and practice it in earnest. In fact, this was the next milestone in his training.

That wasn’t important at the moment though. What mattered was that Duanmu Longhua had pulled another vanishing act, and his full-powered attack had missed… again!

They said that once bitten, twice shy. Those who did not learn from their mistakes were doomed to repeat history. This was definitely not his fault though. He had already given his all, but the bitch still somehow eluded his grasp.

On the ground tens of meters away from Ye Qing, a golden lotus burst out of the earth once more. This time though, it was blooming much, much slower than before.

Duanmu Longhua came into view once more, but she had aged yet another thirty to forty years. Right now, she was an old woman with dirty white hair and wrinkly skin.

“Impossible! How could you wound me? Just how?”

Duanmu Longhua fixed Ye Qing with a blank, disbelieving stare after reappearing. Then, she opened her mouth and threw up a glob of bright red blood mixed with bits of flesh in it. Not only that, she was bleeding from her eyes, ears, nose and mouth as well. It was a horrid sight to say the least.

Duanmu Longhua couldn’t care less about her injury, however. She was too shocked and terrified to even feel pain.

No one knew better than her just how potent the Golden Lotus of Fortune and Merit was. Not only could it block one fatal strike, it could safeguard her from all damage as well.

Or at least, it was supposed to. For whatever reason, Ye Qing’s latest punch had partially pierced through her invincibility and given her a taste of death. She could tell it was the kind of death that she would never recover from either. Assuming that the Golden Lotus of Fortune and Merit had failed, she would have been erased from existence completely.

Technique wise, the punch was neither too exquisite or ferocious. However, the fist intent that was imbued in it was a completely different story.

Break everything, shatter the world itself. It was as if nothing in the world could withstand the punch, much less stop it.

Such was the case of the Golden Lotus of Fortune and Merit. Although it ultimately saved her life, it had failed to block the terrible fist intent completely. Or rather, the fist intent had exceeded the limits of the Golden Lotus of Fortune and Merit. That was why she had taken a serious blow to both her body and her mind.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the fist intent was clinging to her like a maggot and eroding her mind and body by the second. It slowed down her recovery drastically and weakened her even more than she already was.

It was no exaggeration to say that the shock she received from this punch was on par with the unexpected destruction of her Destiny Slaying Sword.

“Phew! I’m glad. My punch wasn’t in vain after all.”

Ye Qing broke into a toothy, happy grin after looking Duanmu Longhua up and down. He thought for sure that he had wasted yet another opportunity, and he had suffered the rebound of “Break Hammer” for naught. He was wrong though. He should have known better than to doubt “Break Hammer”, the GOAT!

“Who are you? Just who are you?!”

For the first time, Duanmu Longhua felt deep regret and resentment. She regretted underestimating her opponent too much, and she resented her enemy for completely ruining her way.

If before she still had a chance of making up for the loss of one Golden Lotus of Fortune and Merit and becoming a Sage, now, there was not even a sliver of a chance anymore. She would never be able to attain sagehood for as long as she lived. Her lifetime of effort and planning had all gone up in flames!

Eyes bloodshot and frenzy-gripped, Duanmu Longhua screamed at the top of her lungs. “Whoever you are, you are the man who destroyed my future. I will ruin you if it’s the last thing I do!”

“Peh. Sure, whatever.”

Ye Qing spat out a glob of blood before drawing in a deep breath. Vigor circulating his veins like a raging river, he ignored his injuries and charged toward Duanmu Longhua once more. Always be kicking the dog when it’s down.

It was at this moment Duanmu Longhua did something no one was expecting.

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