Chapter 176: Then entrust your lives to me

After a long separation, the first words the eldest brother of the Super Beidou said to his third brother were—

"It seems you are indeed an opponent worthy of Raoh's attention."

Unlike Toki and Kenshiro, Raoh, who was as burly as a mountain and as tall and hard as if he were not human, never revealed any superfluous emotions. He merely paused for a second at Jia Ji's empty right arm before shifting his gaze away.

"Still able?"

He asked.

"Bring it on."

Jia Ji understood his meaning instantly and stood straight, like a steel spear planted in the ground, without a shred of fear.

Even to the naked eye, his condition was miserable—extremely miserable—but Raoh did not care about his appearance or his limbs. Instead, he saw through a fact at a glance: the Jia Ji of today was far stronger than the one of the past.

How capable one was... this was his standard for measuring everything.

If his brothers did not possess sufficient strength, then Raoh would have no need for Jia Ji, nor would he need Toki or Kenshiro to be with him.

He would not mark time waiting for others, waiting for anyone who could not keep up with his pace; he would only solve everything alone and shoulder everything alone.

His fists were given by the Heavens, so he had to be able to use these two fists to fulfill the path arranged by the Heavens.

He would permit, he would acknowledge, and he would shoulder the entire world.

Whether Jia Ji had lost an arm was not important; to what extent his strength had increased was what mattered. This was Raoh's recognition and... special concern for him as an elder brother.

Jia Ji understood his awkward nature, but he had long since held the same intention as Raoh: to make his fellow disciples stop seeing him as a patient, as a disabled person.

And the simplest way to prove this was—

To speak with absolute martial force.

Just like in the past, when they sparred, who won and who lost, who was stronger and who was weaker, was clear at a glance.

He twisted his neck and jumped in place twice. Because he only had one arm, Jia Ji skipped the step of squeezing his right fist with his left hand and his left fist with his right hand.

"Be careful, I might be a bit more formidable than you imagine."

Jia Ji offered what seemed like a well-intentioned warning, but the eagerness and malicious provocation in his tone were almost overflowing.

"I know."

Raoh had not looked down on him since three years ago, nor did he dare to, and this was his trust in Jia Ji.

"Super Beidou—"

"Super Beidou—"

Both used their left hands, their left fists.

At the same time, they clenched their hands fiercely. One was as if he had grasped the sun and moon of the sky in his fist; the other was as if he had grabbed the myriad stars of the sky into his hand. The entire world seemed to dim along with their movements.

Two streams of fighting spirit, one blue and one red, erupted from Raoh and Jia Ji simultaneously. The terrifying momentum surged and transmitted between them, and the surrounding air swirled crazily around their bodies, wrapping them up completely like a tornado. Their hair and robes danced wildly, and fierce light shone in their eyes.

The flow rate reached its peak in the shortest time, and their tyrannical auras rose to the apex in an instant—they had to let it out!

Jia Ji and Raoh's voices rang out at the same time.

"Throw your punch."

"Swing your fist."

—Whoosh!!!

Time seemed to slow down.

In this moment, without any secret techniques, routines, or moves, but simply a clash of unleashed power, the two beams of light collided like pillars of light. White air waves surged, and the violent wind pressure was as turbulent as a tidal wave.

Accompanied by a rumbling sound, the clear field of vision shattered, and the dazzling, intense light enveloped everything before them.

Amidst the shocking sonic boom, their bodies flew backward like meteors, smashing the walls on both sides into powder; the shattered ground looked like broken glass.

Boom—Boom—Boom—

Toki and Kenshiro hurriedly channeled the secret technique "Void Flow Extreme Dance" to stabilize their figures in the chaotic airflow, then tried their best to open their eyes wide to see who was the winner of this "one punch."

Was it the eldest brother Raoh, who always crushed others with unreasonable, absolute power?

Or was it the third brother Jia Ji, who had become excessively formidable in another world?

The two who had stopped looked around first, only to see that the bluestone floor within a hundred-meter radius beneath their feet had been shattered by the tyrannical power they had just unleashed, and the high-heat airflow caused by the eruption of fighting spirit had overturned and smashed hundreds of large and small objects within the affected range. The entire "Super Beidou Qi Refining Dojo" was now a miserable sight.

Then, they cast their gaze toward the two who had sparred—

A single strike could not determine the final winner.

But as someone once said, "Then let us determine the winner by height; the person whose head is at a higher altitude is the winner!"

It was the same now; one could determine who won and who lost by the distance their feet had left the ground.

—The distance Jia Ji flew backward was 105.8 meters, while his opponent Raoh was about 106.3 meters from his original standing position.

Jia Ji had overwhelmed Raoh with a negligible advantage.

After this strike, both sides withdrew their stances and did not continue.

The taller one had a normal expression, seemingly not depressed or angry about the result, while the slightly shorter one was somewhat heart-palpitating.

"Although I only used fighting spirit to clash with Raoh, he has indeed touched upon it."

Jia Ji could feel that Raoh was just like he had been when he clashed with Younger Brother Toguro in the final strike; he was only a hair's breadth away from stepping into the first tier of the Super Beidou, and this hair's breadth was likely as natural as water flowing for him—he might reach it in the next second.

Subsequently, Jia Ji noticed something more important—the destruction caused by their clash was ten or a hundred times greater than that caused by the clash between Shin and Kenshiro.

"Uh... I think it might be time to change our mountain gate."

Jia Ji scratched his head with his left hand and said with a headache.

"Sigh, let's wait until Master Ryuken returns to discuss it." Toki shook his head with a smile, feeling quite helpless toward his younger brother.

But seeing him full of vigor at this moment, he was no longer overly worried.

Leaving the ruined dojo unattended, the group went inside. Before they could hear Jia Ji recount his experiences one by one, they heard him raise a new question.

"Must we four brothers keep waiting?"

The others were all startled, then thought of something and understood who he was referring to.

"No need to wait any longer."

"The time has come..."

"Yes, it is time."

Now that the last member of the Super Beidou had returned, it was time to do certain things.

"Then entrust your lives to me from here on."

Jia Ji looked at Toki, Raoh, and Kenshiro one by one. In each person's gaze, there was a vast, boundless flame, containing power that was heart-stopping and suffocating.

In the end, only one identical meaning could be read...

"Good."

Now was the time to go, to thoroughly sweep and level that place which had swallowed countless lives and buried countless tragedies.

—"Land of Shura"

(End of Chapter)