Chapter 34

After escaping Ghost Street, Li Yi did not delay too much and turned back along the route Brother Tao had brought him on the first time.

Although he had already activated his Spirit Medium, he still dared not change direction, fearing he might encounter another danger.

The road was silent, with only the sound of Li Yi's hurried footsteps.

His figure was even more nimble than before, and his speed was faster as he shuttled directly through this abandoned city district.

In the darkness, Li Yi's eyes glowed, and he could clearly see any abnormalities around him. His night vision had become even more special; some things that didn't exist before could now appear in his eyes.

For example, there was cyan-black smoke drifting on a building in the distance, as if it were on fire, but without activating his Spirit Medium, that building showed no change at all—there was no cyan-black smoke whatsoever.

Or, for instance, he could always see some strange plankton drifting in mid-air.

Li Yi could even see some buildings that only existed in the Spirit Medium vision. Those buildings were dilapidated, oddly styled, and did not look like products of Earth, yet they exuded a dangerous aura that made one afraid to approach.

"Is everything I see now the real world? But I can feel that as my body continues to evolve, my Spirit Medium vision will become stronger and stronger, and I will see more and more things. I have just stepped into this realm." Li Yi's expression shifted slightly.

He was like a newborn, opening his eyes for the first time to see everything around him clearly.

"Very good, I'm about to leave the danger zone. As long as I pass this city district, I will be able to see that blocked road. Yang Yi Long's car should be there waiting to pick me up," Li Yi thought to himself, while accelerating his speed.

However, just at this moment, his peripheral vision caught a black figure flashing by silently.

Although it was very stealthy, Li Yi still discovered a clue.

"What is it? Come out!"

Li Yi stopped abruptly, let out a low shout, and his whole body tensed up.

The surroundings were dead silent; there was not a sound, only the cold night wind blowing. There was no one else here besides him, and the other practitioners had long since withdrawn from the danger zone, as if the glimpse he had just seen was just an illusion of his own.

But Li Yi did not think so; he trusted his intuition.

Moreover, at this moment of leaving the danger zone, practitioners were most likely to let their guard down. If that dangerous creature chose to strike now, it would certainly be the easiest time to succeed.

"Still not coming out? How long do you want to hide?"

Li Yi shouted again, his eyes searching rapidly.

Although his eyes had activated the Spirit Medium and could see at night, they did not have X-ray vision. There were many cluttered concrete blocks and broken buildings nearby; it was very easy for something to hide.

Li Yi did not act rashly; instead, he calmed his heart, stood still, and began to learn from Brother Tao, attempting to analyze the current situation.

"That fierce creature has been following me all the way, silently, without striking directly. This shows that its strength is not very high. If it really considered me prey that could be easily handled, it would have come out long ago; there would be no need for such trouble."

"Therefore, I don't need to be afraid."

Thinking of this, he took a deep breath, lowered his body slightly, and slowly raised his arms into fists.

Unknowingly, Li Yi used the fist stance his master had taught him.

Li Yi held the stance, his figure steady, alert to his surroundings.

Time passed second by second.

Everything remained calm.

He didn't know how much time had passed.

Suddenly.

A muffled low growl sounded from behind a protruding concrete block.

The lurking figure lost its patience and slowly stepped out.

"So it was that fierce tiger." Li Yi immediately saw the figure, his eyes narrowing as he thought of the tiger that had chased him into Ghost Street earlier.

However, unlike before, this fierce tiger had a mouth full of blood, and several pieces of torn clothing hung from its protruding fangs. It seemed that in the hour Li Yi had disappeared, it had successfully hunted several practitioners. Its sunken belly was now round and full, and its gaze was even more ferocious.

Having eaten its fill, the tiger seemed even stronger and more savage.

"I didn't expect that after so much time, this thing would still be stalking me. It looks like if I want to leave the danger zone, I won't be able to avoid a fight with it."

Li Yi understood this in his heart.

This thing had targeted him; now he only had two choices: either beat it away or kill it.

Otherwise, he would be stalked to death here by this fierce tiger and wouldn't be able to leave safely.

Moreover, he had already missed the best time to withdraw from the danger zone, and he couldn't count on other practitioners to help. Now, everything depended on himself.

After realizing his situation, Li Yi's previously tense gaze immediately turned cold and sharp.

A desperate madness and a fierce will to survive gradually welled up.

The fierce tiger growled, eyes fixed on Li Yi, its body slightly crouching as it kept closing in.

It had already hunted three practitioners.

One of them had even activated a Spirit Medium.

With successful experience, this fierce tiger had established its position in the food chain of this area. It now considered Li Yi its food and would certainly not let him go.

Li Yi held his stance, steady as a rock, his spine taut like a dragon, power rising from the ground, fully on guard.

He had no experience in fighting, and this was his first time dealing with such a fierce beast. It was impossible not to be nervous, so he did not attack first, to avoid revealing any openings, waiting for the opponent to make the first move.

"Calm your heart, be patient, don't rush. I am no longer in my previous state; I can definitely deal with it." Li Yi kept giving himself suggestions to increase his confidence.

The fierce tiger was still closing the distance between itself and Li Yi, while looking for a suitable angle of attack.

With just one strike, its sharp fangs could bite through the neck of the prey before it.

Man and tiger stood in a standoff.

However, as the distance slowly shrank, the dangerous aura grew increasingly intense.

Until a certain moment, when the distance between the tiger and Li Yi had narrowed to a limit.

A sense emerged.

The tiger sensed the timing for an attack, let out a low growl, and instantly charged out. In the blink of an eye, it had pounced before Li Yi, its mouth full of sharp teeth wide open. It only needed one tear to kill him instantly.

"This is the moment."

Li Yi also let out a low shout, his eyes glowing. A muffled sound suddenly came from the ground beneath his feet, and the solid concrete road actually cracked inch by inch.

Power rose from the ground, passing through his legs, knees, waist, and spine, finally transmitting to his fist. His entire body's strength was twisted into one, condensed and not dispersed.

This was the perfect punch he had thrown.

It was also his most rigid and powerful punch.

"Bang!"

Without a doubt, the fist force was achieved; the air exploded, and a loud noise occurred.

This punch landed on the tiger's lower jaw like a thunderbolt.

The terrifying fist force vented, instantly piercing through the tiger's tough fur and hard bones.

A beast's mournful cry echoed.

This fierce beast, which was larger than Li Yi, was like a ragdoll in a gale, swaying unsteadily before flying backward, crashing heavily onto the ground, rolling several times, and finally coming to a stop.

"Did I knock it away?"

Li Yi was stunned for a moment: "How can this be? My fist force was condensed and didn't disperse; logically, this punch should have pierced its head."

But then, looking at his own fist, which was already extended, he immediately realized: "It's because my fist's reach wasn't enough. At the moment of throwing the punch, after the force was released, my body should have moved forward another step to generate a second wave of force, closing the distance. Only then could I have pierced its head, and even after the second step, I could have used the opportunity to throw a second punch."

Subsequently, such an epiphany appeared in Li Yi's mind, and he also realized the difference between practicing boxing and fighting.

Practicing boxing is dead; fighting is alive.

Master Zhao Ge had only taught Li Yi how to practice boxing and didn't have time to teach him how to fight. If Li Yi had learned the fighting techniques, the tiger's head would have already exploded from that one punch.

And now...

The tiger's mouth was full of blood, its lower jaw was shattered, and its fangs were broken, but it was still alive. Because no vital organs were hit, it hadn't died. It staggered and stood up again. Looking at Li Yi now, it no longer had its previous ferocity.

Its eyes seemed much clearer.

And after suffering such a big loss, the tiger also realized it was no match for Li Yi and actually turned to try to escape.

"Want to run now?"

Li Yi reacted instantly, exerting force with his feet.

"Bang!"

Another loud noise, the ground cracked, and his entire body flew out like an arrow released from a bow, almost skimming the ground.

Understanding one thing leads to understanding everything.

Li Yi could release fist force, so this force could also propel his body to move rapidly.

At this moment, the roles of attacker and defender between man and tiger had swapped.

Li Yi launched an attack like a top-tier predator.

The tiger, having just turned around, hadn't run a few steps before it was hit by Li Yi again, the fist force venting.

This punch landed on its back.

The fist force seeped through the fur.

A sunken fist print was clearly branded onto the tiger's body.

Its spine shattered, and the fierce beast wailed.

The tiger instantly collapsed to the ground, half its body losing sensation, paralyzed and powerless.

"Again." Li Yi growled, his eyes glowing. He flipped over and sat on the tiger, exerting force with his feet, his body suddenly sinking to pin the tiger down, and then he raised his fist again.

"Bang!"

The fist force appeared again, and the air exploded.

This punch landed on the tiger's head. Although it didn't shatter the hard skull, it shook the tiger's brain severely. Blood immediately sprayed from its nose, and its previously clear eyes were instantly swallowed by fear, turning bloodshot red.

"So that's it. The fist stance is dead, but the punch is alive. As long as I master the technique of exerting force, I don't even need to hold a stance to keep the fist force from dispersing."

As Li Yi punched the tiger, he had many epiphanies in his heart.

It's not that you have to hold a stance to release fist force; otherwise, in a life-and-death struggle, there would be no time to pose.

"Fist, leg, elbow—every part of the body can release force. As long as you can mobilize the strength of your whole body and condense it into one, that's it. This is what Master meant by 'understanding one thing leads to understanding everything.' I understand now." Li Yi's body seemed to erupt with endless power at this moment.

He brought his palm down.

A palm print appeared on the tiger's body, embedded several inches deep, enough to shatter its internal organs.

He pressed down with his knee like a falling boulder; the tiger's massive body twisted, and the sound of cracking bones was continuous.

Li Yi used his fists, palms, legs, knees, and elbows one after another, his whole body like a frenzied beast, continuously attacking this man-eating tiger.

This fierce beast, more savage than a tiger, wailed continuously, blood gushing out, and gradually stopped struggling.

In less than a minute.

This tiger was beaten to death by Li Yi alone, with his bare hands.

They say tigers are fierce, but the current Li Yi was even fiercer than this tiger.