Chapter 176: Then Hand Over Your Lives to Me

After a long separation, the eldest of the Beidou brothers, upon seeing his third brother, spoke his first words—

"It seems you are indeed a worthy opponent for me, Rao."

Unlike Duo Qi and Ken Shi Lang, Rao, towering and rugged as a mountain, unyielding and unlike any ordinary man, never showed extraneous emotion; he merely paused his gaze for a second on Jia Qi's empty right hand, then looked away.

"Still capable?"

He asked.

"Come at me."

Jia Qi instantly understood his meaning, standing straight as a steel spear driven into the ground, fearless.

Even with just the naked eye, his condition was clearly terrible—wretched beyond words—but Rao cared nothing for his appearance or missing limbs; he saw through one truth: today's Jia Qi was far stronger than the one of the past.

Ability—that was his standard for judging everything.

If his brother lacked sufficient strength, Rao would have no need for Jia Qi, nor for Duo Qi, Ken Shi Lang, or anyone else beside him.

He would never stand still waiting for others, waiting for anyone who could not keep pace with him; he would solve every matter alone, bear all burdens alone.

His fists were given by heaven, so he must use them to fulfill the path heaven had laid out.

He came to permit, to acknowledge, to bear the entire world.

Whether Jia Qi had lost an arm did not matter; what mattered was how far his strength had grown—that was Rao's recognition of him, and his… special concern, as the eldest brother.

Jia Qi understood his brother's stubborn nature; he had long held the same intention—to make his fellow disciples no longer see him as an invalid, a cripple.

And the simplest way to prove it was—

To speak with absolute martial power.

As before, when they trained together, who won, who lost, who was stronger, who weaker—all were clear at a glance.

He twisted his neck, jumped twice in place; because he had only one arm, Jia Qi skipped the routine of clenching his left fist with his right hand and vice versa.

"Be careful—I might be a bit stronger than you imagine."

Jia Qi offered what seemed like a kind warning, but his tone brimmed with eagerness and malicious provocation, nearly overflowing.

"I know."

Since three years ago, Rao had never underestimated him, nor dared to; that was his trust in Jia Qi.

"Beidou—"

"Beidou—"

Both used their left hands, their left fists.

Simultaneously, they clenched their fists—one as if squeezing the sun and moon into his palm, the other as if seizing the stars of the heavens; the entire world seemed to dim with their movements.

Blue and crimson battle energies erupted simultaneously from Rao and Jia Qi, their terrifying auras colliding and reverberating, the surrounding air swirling violently around their bodies like a tornado, their hair and robes whipping wildly, their eyes blazing with ferocity.

Their battle energy surged to its peak in the shortest time, their overwhelming power reaching its zenith—now, they could not hold back!

Rao and Jia Qi spoke at the same moment.

"Punch!"

"Strike!"

—Shiiiiim!!!

Time seemed to slow.

In that instant, with no technique, no pattern, no form—only raw power unleashed in direct competition—the two beams of light collided head-on like pillars, white shockwaves surging, the violent wind pressure exploding like tidal waves in an instant.

Amidst the thunderous roar, the clear vision shattered; the brilliant, blinding light engulfed everything before them.

Amidst the deafening sonic booms, their bodies shot backward like meteors, smashing the surrounding walls to rubble, the ground beneath them cracking like shattered glass.

Boom—Boom—Boom—

Duo Qi and Ken Shi Lang immediately activated the technique "Empty Flow Supreme Dance," stabilizing their forms amid the chaotic air currents, then strained their eyes to see—who had won this "single punch"?

Was it the eldest, Rao, who always crushed others with superhuman, absolute power?

Or was it the third brother, Jia Qi, who had grown terrifyingly strong in another world?

The two men paused and scanned the surroundings: the blue stone floor within a hundred meters of their feet had been pulverized by the force of their clash; the intense heat from their colliding battle energies had overturned and shattered hundreds of objects within the blast radius—the entire "Beidou Qi Refining Dojo" lay in ruins.

They turned their gaze to the two combatants—

One strike could not determine the final victor.

But as someone had said, "Let the winner be decided by height—the one whose head stands higher in altitude wins!"

The same applied here: the victor could be determined by how far each had been thrown from their original position.

Jia Qi had been flung back 105. meters; his opponent Rao had been thrown 106. meters from his starting spot.

Jia Qi, by a negligible margin, had overwhelmed Rao.

After this strike, both withdrew their stances and ceased fighting.

The taller one's expression remained unchanged, seemingly neither disappointed nor angry; the shorter one, however, was visibly shaken.

"Though he only used battle energy to match Rao, he has clearly touched it."

Jia Qi could feel that Rao, like himself when he had clashed with Hu Yu Lu Di to the final blow, stood just a hair's breadth away from entering Beidou's top tier—and that final step, for him, might come as naturally as water flowing downhill, perhaps in the next second.

Then Jia Qi noticed something more important—their clash had caused destruction ten to a hundred times greater than the fight between Xi En and Ken Shi Lang.

"Uh… I think it's time to change the Shanmen."

Jia Qi scratched his head with his left hand, grimacing.

"Ah, let's wait until Master Long Quan returns," Duo Qi chuckled, shaking his head with weary fondness for his younger brother.

But seeing him now, vibrant and full of life, he no longer worried excessively.

…

Leaving the ruined dojo untouched, the group entered the house; before Jia Qi could recount his experiences, he posed a new question.

"Must we four brothers wait any longer?"

The others froze, then understood—his meaning was clear.

"No more waiting."

"The time has come…"

"Yes, it is time."

Now that the last of the Beidou brothers had returned, certain things must be done.

"Then hand over your futures to me."

Jia Qi met the gaze of each—Duo Qi, Rao, Ken Shi Lang—each pair of eyes burning with boundless flame, radiating a power that stunned and suffocated.

In the end, only one shared meaning emerged…

"Yes."

Now was the time—now they must utterly obliterate that place which had devoured countless lives, buried countless tragedies—

—"The Asura Nation"

(End of Chapter)