Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
“Lou Cheng!”
“Peng Leyun!”
A sea of voices erupted in that instant. Countless audiences raised their hands up in the air, as though forests were springing up inside the stadium. They screamed the name of their idols at the top of their lungs, as though a fighter jet was flying above them.
Lou Cheng did not unleash his aura. He walked along the walkway with an easy gait, slowly ascended the stone steps, then stood on the left-hand side of the referee. At the same time, Peng Leyun entered the arena in a similarly plain fashion. It seemed like they were both waiting for the battle to officially begin before unleashing all of their accumulated power at once, with the intention of imitating the horror of a flood breaching a dam.
They smiled when their gazes connected, knowing what was on each other’s mind.
The referee with beard half-white cast a glance on his left and right side. Once the digital clock hit the minute, he raised his right hand and announced in a booming voice,
“Talk-time starts now!”
Peng Leyun lowered his stance, his body gently swaying to a natural rhythm. Somehow, Lou Cheng couldn’t find a single opening in his movements.
Peng Leyun looked at him and smiled faintly.
“I have been waiting for you for a long time.”
“Me too,” Lou Cheng replied with a casual smile.
In the two minutes that followed, neither of them said another word. They both began counting down in their mind, like racers trying to get a head start on each other.
Two minutes, one minute, thirty seconds... Peng Leyun’s body began emitting a low hum redolent to a turbocharger revving up. The drawn-out, disjointed noises bespoke his readiness.
Ten, nine, eight, seven... Lou Cheng’s muscles and fascias tightened. Hotness and coldness intertwined in his body, as though a terrifying cyclone was brewing.
Three!
Two!
One!
Begin!
As the referee’s hand swung down, Peng Leyun instantly rebounded his center of gravity. The sound of a turbocharger revving up boomed at once. He dashed out like a bolt of lightning, the floor below him rattling, the dull rumbling stirring everyone’s hearts like the first blast of firecrackers at the beginning of spring.
His shadow, still wavering, was still at the spot where he was initially standing, but he was already sixty feet away dashing towards Lou Cheng. Lou Cheng, muscles bursting, made a quick turn by hastily rotating his waist. Skirting to the side, he jabbed at his enemy’s face, his punch ripping through the air and stirring up frigid winds.
Bam!
The attack went like a tidal wave that could knock an adult off his feet. With a pull of his left arm, Peng Leyun blocked his face with a raised palm. At the same time, the silvery sparks in his eyes flowed downwards. Electricity sparked all over his body. With a jolt of his right shoulder, he threw a spinning back-fist to his side. His arm was engorged and his presence dominating.
Initially, Lou Cheng planned to parry the attack with a right uppercut. After that, he would have straighten his waist and follow up with a left burst punch, finishing off with a knee thrust and low kick combination. That would have given him all the advantage he needed. However, from the reflection of his Ice Mirror, he noticed the irregular state of Peng Leyun’s taut muscles and fascias. It was similar to when he himself executed the simplified version of the Fighting Formula.
Something’s not right!
The thought flashed across Lou Cheng’s mind. His trapezius muscles swelled up, bringing his right arm upwards. He punched out with a hollow fist. It was hard to tell whether he was blocking, parrying, or leading the opponent in.
Bam! The moment they contacted, Lou Cheng felt his opponent’s extraordinary strength. He knew if he took it at full power, his arm will indubitably be repulsed and cause him to recoil backward.
Snapping open his hollow fist, he curved his ascending palm diagonally, artfully directing Peng Leyun’s back-fist away with a lift and a push. Though it looked effortless on the surface, this move was actually extremely perilous.
Peng Leyun turned his body using the momentum, raising his left arm again. In the flash of an electric arc, he hammered down with his swelling arm.
The fundamental kungfu of the Thunder Sect, the Lightning and Fire Stance, could stimulate one’s coccyx, giving its practitioner bursts of strengths. In the upper tiers of the Dan Stage, there were, of course, corresponding upgraded versions of the secret arts. When Peng Leyun referenced the Golden Blaze, he simplified many steps in between and created his own move— one that could be executed faster but had a weaker effect— by using his extremely strong control abilities to damage the body with pure electric shock.
Bam, bam, bam!
In the flashing electric arcs, he hammered savagely and unceasingly with large movements of his arms. The air around them condensed, as though forming nimbuses of thunderclouds. Lou Cheng felt a scary mental intimidation accumulating in his head. Even the audience began getting weird illusions— in their eyes, Peng Leyun had transformed into the hammer-wielding Thor, half-nude and ripped with muscles. Sweat rolled off his bronze muscles as he brought down snakes of electricity with swings and smashes. His manly image, drastically different from his style in the past, was oddly refreshing.
Lou Cheng dared not dally. He instantly channeled his Qi and blood to stimulate the corresponding body parts.
The simplified version of Fighting Formula!
His muscles burst out in an exaggerating fashion. He drew back his arm like he was going to fight heaven and earth, and shot out a punch at his opponent’s huge hammer. He was going to meet brute force with brute force.
Boom, boom, boom!
After three strikes and three recoils, the shapeless air current spread outwards, splashing the flickering lightning everywhere.
Boom!
Their arms swelled up their sleeves with muscles that seemed to be on the edge of bursting. Peng Leyun’s empowerment skill was, after all, a cut below the secret arts. Body swaying, he took a step back.
Just as Lou Cheng was about to seize the initiative of the battle by relaxing his waist and initiating a combination attack, Peng Leyun suddenly clapped his hands together, appearing as if he was about to cast a thunderbolt and strike with his Thunder Blade.
Shifting the center of his gravity, Lou Cheng immediately swerved to his right to avoid being directly struck by lightning.
However, Peng Leyun’s clap didn’t produce any noises. Instead, the sound of a turbocharger revving up like crazy played from his body again. A massive and eccentric suction force formed from nowhere, pulling Lou Cheng forward.
When he swung his fists like crazy earlier, he secretly imbued electric arcs, leaving a layer of electric charge of the same type. Presently, the South and North attraction was coming in handy!
Magnetism from lightning, and power from magnetism!
After a round of suction, Peng Leyun pulled his clapped palms apart, dragging out a silvery lightning snake the thickness of a cicada’s wing. The light emitted from it was blinding.
Pseudo Cloudless Thunder Blade!
However, as if prepared, Lou Cheng squatted downwards the moment his body toppled forward from the suction. Not only did he avoid the rapid lightning in time, but he also managed to launch a burst punch at his opponent’s solar plexus.
How could he have not noticed the electric charges accumulating on the surface of his body after attaining the stage of Encountering Gods In The Void—Self Reflection? The reason why he didn’t use it earlier was precisely to create an opportunity!
Bam!
With less than half a step between them, the burst punch was near before the crisp sound dissipated completely. Cold sweat beaded on Peng Leyun’s forehead. Reversing the “turbocharger” in him, loud vrooms erupted once more.
Lou Cheng’s fist gradually slowed down, as though it had entered a repulsion field. But at that moment, he jiggled his joints and snapped open his fist, releasing rays of pellucid, gelid Ice Spirit Light.
The rays of light penetrated the magnetic field. Seeing that the frosting light was about to hit his body, Peng Leyun— who hadn’t let his guard down after reversing his ‘turbocharger engine’ and exerted his coccyx in advance— dodged diagonally backward. Rays of white light missed him by a hair’s breadth, leaving a layer of frost on the surface of his clothes.
Lou Cheng stood up with a spring of the waist and chased up to his opponent, throwing a forward punch with his clenched fist.
Peng Leyun’s palms ventured downward, crisscrossing into the shape of a web and catching the blow steadily. With his attack parried, Lou Cheng immediately wheeled around, facing his back to the enemy, and swung his elbows backwards violently.
There was another crisp thud. Peng Leyun’s raised blocking arm recoiled backward helplessly, forcing him to take more steps back.
Lou Cheng had swiveled around by then. He concentrated his Qi and blood, then released it at once. With measured precision, he launched a seemingly endless flurry of attacks— shuffling between Ice Spirit Force on the left and Emperor Yan Force on the right.
But at that moment, Peng Leyun quickly lowered his stance and rebounded. In the noisy rattling of the arena, he made a Flash Attack to his back, moving beyond 100 feet and putting him on the edge of the arena.
Snap!
A burst of Dan Force rushed towards Lou Cheng’s feet. The bricks around him softened and turned to powder. With the frightful recoiling momentum, he spread his arms, like a Roc spreading its wings, and leaped into flight, closing up to his opponent again in no time.
Roar! Boom! Peng Leyun began maneuvering, making a few zig-zags in a row and whipping up gusts of frigid wind, not giving his opponent a chance at gaining an advantage.
Lou Cheng vaguely realized the main objective they were fighting for. On the surface, it appeared as if they were competing for the dominant position, but in reality, they were fighting for control over the pace of the battle. The one who can disturb and disrupt the opponent’s momentum and control the pace of the battle would be in the tactical high ground, an advantage that could be snowballed into a victory!
Without realizing it himself, he had gained a whole new understanding of what battles were like between high-tier Dan Stage martial artists.
Even after making more zig-zags, Peng Leyun could still not wriggle out of his attacks. He had, however, found an opportunity to visualize the jade seal. Gathering a den of electric snakes at the center of his palm, he released a vast beam of scorching lightning that turned from blue to purple in its path.
The simplified move of the Physical Invulnerability—Thunder Seal!
With the help of his Ice Mirror’s detection ability, Lou Cheng had seen it coming. Applying strength at his waist, he adjusted his center of gravity and dodged to the side instantly. The lightning bolt struck the floor of the arena, marking the floor with a winding black burn-mark the size of a tree.
Sensing the pause in his opponent’s movements, Peng Leyun immediately launched a counterattack. Condensing his Qi and blood to one point, he gained a mad burst of strength and savage energy.
Bam! He took a step forward, punching out with his swelling right arm. A layer of sizzling electric snakes, silvery white with stains of blue, matted his fist as though he was wearing a magnificent lightning glove that was heavy and dense and strong and powerful!
Lou Cheng used Force Concentration, aligning his feet and rushing forward with a hammer-fist that blocked his opponent’s punch.
Boom!
The explosion shattered the electric arcs, sending tremors with its impact. The two of them had a draw, one with slight paralysis and another with slightly upturned Qi and blood.
Bam, bam, bam! Peng Leyun began working his arms and throwing heavy punches without pause. When the two of them were at a stalemate, he suddenly did a spinning back-kick, summoning lightning once more!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
He connected his whip-leg with a knee-thrust, then with an arm-swing, then with a back-fist, then with a hammer fist with his other hand. Everything was done in one fell swoop, imbued with Dan Force, spitting out electric snakes and limning the arena.
From the audience point of view, Peng Leyun at the start was reminiscent of Thor swinging his hammer. Presently, he had transformed into lightning itself, sending one strike after the other, blinding them with white light time and time again. Nine bolts of lightning struck down in a row with impressive grandeur.
Spirits flinching, Lou Cheng wavered a little. Luckily, the Ice Mirror had already fully formed. With his consciousness floating in the midair, he barely managed to resist the effects and not slow down in his movements.
With his firm grasp of his surroundings and enemy, he threw himself into an entangled fight with Peng Leyun. Triggering bursts of Dan Qi ceaselessly, he punched and kicked— at times powered by Ice Spirit Force and at times Emperor Yan Force— with no breaks in between.
Every one of their clashes was as though a bomb had gone off, shaking the floor and forming pit-holes smoldering with smoke.
Lou Cheng’s paralysis was accumulating, and Peng Leyun’s internal instability was worsening. Though they managed to dispel most of the effects with Force Concentration, a portion of the effects inevitably lingered on.
Peng Leyun’s self-created move, Nine Calamity Strikes, which he derived from referencing the secret art of Physical Invulnerability, Nine Heaven’s Ensemble, was tightly connected and powerful. Even with the techniques from 24 Blizzard Strikes, Lou Cheng’s disadvantage was accumulating.
Boom!
Just as their fists clashed once more, Peng Leyun suddenly tightened his fascias and jiggled his joints, throwing out a flurry of attacks that left afterimages in a series of thuds.
Machine Fist!
He took the initiative to change up his style, hoping to assume control over the pace of the battle!
However, when he made the adjustments, Lou Cheng had shifted his center of gravity to his back and tightened his waist. When the punches came, he dodged backwards effortlessly at the exact timing!
Missing his punch, Peng Leyun’s follow up was interrupted. Seeing Lou Cheng’s stable standing posture, Peng Leyun knew Lou Cheng had already understood the importance of the pace of battle. If one controls the pace of battle, then the enemy will be in a passive position and be restricted whenever he attacks. Eventually, he would be in a tough position!
After a long round of back and forth exchanges, they were at a stalemate once more!
At that moment, the audience finally came out of their stupor and began cheering.
Before that, the battle was extremely intense with Lou Cheng and Peng Leyun taking turns on the offensive; the audience could hardly catch their breath on the edges of their seats.
It’s too exciting!
They are literally murder weapons disguised as humans!
“They are evenly matched... Aren’t they almost at the level of Fourth Pin?” Liu Chang cried in the commentary box.
He Xiaowei nodded blankly. “They are... But I doubt they will attend the Ranking Event. Not when they can get Third Pin straight away after reaching the Physical Invulnerability State...”
Peng Leyun never attended many Ranking Events, and Lou Cheng only went once. With their rapid advancements in power, they collected their certification easily with their blatantly overqualified attainment in Stage.
...
Nice! Peng Leyun thought to himself. The fighting spirit in his eyes intensified. Closing up to his opponent with a Flash Attack, he was about to launch another bout of powerful attack.
Nice, thought Lou Cheng excitedly. Without dodging or giving way, he made his Qi and blood flow in reverse, balancing into a Dan and giving him power. Afterward, aligning his feet, he swung out his right arm like a steel whip, then made a diagonal forearm strike.
Bam!
A loud sound erupted on the spot. The ground was battered and torn. They each teetered, then drew close to each other again, blasting Cannon Punches and raining down Zen moves.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Fragments of sand and rocks went flying as they fought. The noise was deafening. It was a perfect demonstration of the terrifying power of Inhumans. Learning from the experience from earlier, they gained some insight and stopped giving away openings. They were evenly matched throughout, with the occasional exception of one of them gaining a fleeting advantage. The brutal, intense brawl was a feast to the eyes for the audience, making their blood boil with excitement. They raised their hands high up, shouting loudly, cheering and blowing off steam at the same time.
After a whole seven to eight minutes of inordinately intense exertion, it was inevitable for them— especially Peng Leyun— to begin falling off in multiple aspects. Affected by both decaying spirit and stamina, he was starting to show signs of fatigue.
With the nourishment from his Jin Dan, Lou Cheng’s body was still in very good shape, but his spirit was drying up.
It’s time!
As the thought crossed his mind, he controlled his Qi and blood to stimulate his body, trading the Simplified Version of Wholeness Formula for mental alertness.
Pam!
Relaxing his waist, he dashed forward and struck out with his right fist, which was wrapped in a red— nearing white— flame. He jabbed forward, instantly overwhelming his opponent in terms of presence.
Peng Leyun’s heart skipped a beat. Lowering his arms, he smashed down with a hammer-fist that directly collided into Lou Cheng’s fist.
Bam!
In the loud bang, a shocked look flashed across Peng Leyun’s eyes. His forearm involuntarily recoiled, nearly hitting himself in the chest. His body began swaying uncontrollably.
Bam, bam, bam! With no joy in his eyes, he spread his arms apart with the plainness of ice and snow. In his Dan Stage overdrive, he swung both fists in succession with meticulous precision, delivering pellucid, gelid punches with one fist and dense, scorching punches with the other. Under his attack, Peng Leyun went on the defensive, struggling to keep up.
With the pace of battle at his command, Lou Cheng made a sudden pause in his rush of attacks to further condense his flames, Force, and spirit that had balanced into a Dan, separating them from the coldness and darkness.
His eyes turned pitch-black in an instant— an indescribable, profound darkness, like a night without the moon and stars.
Bam!
Blood flowing back, Lou Cheng came back to his senses again. Stepping out with his left foot, he mounted his right arm up, hammering towards Peng Leyun with the ferocity of a storm and a blizzard.
Self-created secret art, Lament of the Ice Queen!
Peng Leyun was not shocked, but overjoyed. At the split second his opponent changed his rhythm, he had reversed the Yin and Yang in his body. Yin and Yang devoured each other, forming a whirlpool.
According to reliable sources, Mouko Yamashita had mastered the Swordsman Formula and used it multiple times on his companions. Therefore, there was enough reason to suspect that Lou Cheng, with his close ties with the military, had attained the Wholeness Formula!
This is precisely the moment I have been waiting for!
Though he was unsure what changes took place for him to cast the Nine Words Formula so quickly without hand seals or chants, there was no way he would let the chance slip past!
In a snap, Peng Leyun’s palms interlocked in an odd way. He pushed them out to take on Lou Cheng’s hammer fist. A petrifying quality spawned in the light around him.
Pom!
There was a dull, squib-like sound. The palm Peng Leyun used to contain Lou Cheng’s fist was sparkling with a crystal clear layer of ice.
The cold spread quickly, sealing his body in ice in an instant, as though he had been put into a transparent coffin.
On the other hand, Lou Cheng felt his spirit and stamina leaking rapidly into the whirlpool in Peng Leyun’s palms, as though he encountered the Star-sucking skill. (refer to Jinyong’s novel, The smiling, proud adventurer).
The self-created secret art of his own— Whirlpool Reversal!
Thump, thump, thump! Lou Cheng hastily withdrew his hand and took three steps back. His feet were almost strengthless, and his expression was wearisome.
“Mutual destruction...” commented He Xiaowei in amusement.
Before he finished his sentence, Lou Cheng was alive and kicking again. With a sliding step, he closed up to his opponent who had not yet completely recovered from the seal of ice.
The simplified version of the Wholeness Formula, part two!
“You are telling me he’s not stopping?!” cried He Xiaowei in shock.
How many lives does he have?
Does he get a “continue” cheat after mashing a series of buttons?
It was only a simplified version, so the effects were weak. Lou Cheng’s status was nowhere near his peak, but his movements weren’t the least bit slow. He swung out his left arm in the form of a huge lance, piercing towards Peng Leyun’s throat.
In his frozen state, his muscles will have delayed reaction, so he will most likely not be able to parry this!
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning flashed past, striking Peng Leyun in his elbow. His forearm swung out violently on reflex, blocking off Lou Cheng’s fist with a thud.
After that, Peng Leyun kept summoning silver electric currents to stimulate the corresponding parts of his body, commanding the sluggish muscles to move accurately and ward off Lou Cheng’s rush of attacks.
What the? Shocked, Lou Cheng almost gave his opponent a chance to counterattack.
“What the?” cried He Xiaowei, wide-eyed and tongue-tied.
The knee jerk effect, completed by sending electric currents that imitates nerve signals to his body to forcefully enable the numb parts?
Is he still f****** human?
Eh, he’s already Inhuman, I guess!
No! I can’t let Peng Leyun wriggle out of his stiff state. I have to end this quickly! Without any more conservation with his spirit, he triggered one Force Concentration after the other, gaining bursts and bursts of Dan Force. One of his fists was covered in frost to add on to the frozen effects, and the other was wreathed in red flames to trigger external explosions and cause internal instability.
Peng Leyun managed to use a Force Concentration. The stiffness from being frozen was fading. Though the wounds on his internal organs deteriorated, he didn’t look like he was about to lose at all.
Lou Cheng moved in large strides, whipping up frigid winds. Seizing the opportunity of his opponent’s movements being restricted, he delivered eight strikes imbued with Ice Spirit Force from eight different directions. Fumbling, Peng Leyun was on the brink of falling.
With a Snow Cover and Cold Swallow, Lou Cheng had circled behind Peng Leyun with the nimbleness of a fox and the bizarreness of a ghost. He was about to take the win by leveraging on Peng Leyun missing his move.
At his crisis, Peng Leyun’s internal turbocharger began turning again, releasing a strong force of repulsion.
With a mind as cool as ice, Lou Cheng was not shaken at all. Channeling his Qi and blood to stimulate his body, he used the simplified version of Fighting Formula once more.
Bam!
He retracted his arm. As his body enlarged and muscles swelled up, he swung out a backhand strike, breaking through the air and disabling the magnetic field!
After that, he swung both his arms, sending Zen strikes one after the other, not giving his opponent any breathers.
Bam, bam, bam! Peng Leyun’s Qi and blood tumbled, his muscles twitched madly. With his electric current disrupted, his movements became slower and slower.
Running low on spirit, Lou Cheng slowed down to use a simplified version of Wholeness Formula for one last time.
Invigorated again, he rushed forward, punching out a Zen Punch with his left fist. Peng Leyun staggered, feeling as though his organs were about to burst.
Bam!
Without any conservation, Lou Cheng made a few visualizations in a row and raised his right arm up high. Severe Warning!
Peng Leyun’s body was too sluggish to dodge. He could only stimulate himself through electric currents and take the blow head on.
Bam! Peng Leyun shuddered. He stood rooted to the spot. Though his mind wasn’t completely frozen with the presence of Thor, he couldn’t send signals to control his body in time.
Swinging his left arm with a snap, Lou Cheng spread his fingers and pressed his palm on his opponent’s forehead.
The judge raised his right hand to mark the end of the long and tedious battle.
“First round, Lou Cheng wins!”
Lou Cheng immediately heaved a sigh of relief. Before the match ended, he always felt as if Priest could turn the tables.
Relaxing, his spirit instantly withered. All things considered, he was still slightly weaker than Peng Leyun. The effect of the simplified version of Wholeness Formula is weaker with each cast; if Peng Leyun managed to parry three more moves, he would have probably been the one to lose. Of course, Priest’s energy consumption couldn’t have been a lot less than himself. Even if he broke free from the numbing effects, he might not have been able to seize the win.
There was only a thin line between victory and defeat!
Peng Leyun, catching his breath, stared at Lou Cheng and asked,
“Encountering gods in the void?”
“Yup,” Lou Cheng nodded frankly.
“Magnificent!” praised Peng Leyun. Staggering, he turned and walked off.
As he walked, he shook his head with a faint smile, not in the least bit upset from the defeat. He couldn’t wait for their next fight.
The audience around them, coming out of their trances, offered a thunderous applause.