Chapter 300: The Path of the King (4700)

Nuclear weapons are one of humanity’s ultimate forms of force; the last time they were detonated in actual combat was on August 9, 1945, and before then, no one had realized that just a single tiny weapon could kill hundreds of thousands.

Since then, this terrifying weapon has been pushed forward again and again by advancing technology, its destructive power growing daily, and now no one knows how far it has reached…

But not today.

Because of someone, or some people, or some unknown will, the ultimate weapon meant only for mutual deterrence has finally been launched in madness.

So now, in this world, is there anything left that can oppose them?

Unknown, but it is worth a try.

This ultimate weapon, capable of killing millions in an instant, exceeding a hundred million tons of TNT equivalent, before it fell, had three foolish brothers standing before it—

Somewhere on Earth, the three brothers of Beidou arrived here simultaneously, attempting to shatter it all with their own strength alone.

They stood straight-backed, motionless, muscles firm, bodies balanced, each filling heaven and earth, radiating an unshakable, mountain-like majesty, their tightly clenched fists faintly shimmering with magical hues, wielding the most terrifying power in the world, their eyes blazing with sunlight-like radiance.

Since learning of this moment of destruction, they had waited, waited, endured, continued enduring… never pausing to hone their strength, their fist arts, their resolve, awaiting the arrival of this great calamity.

And the closer this day drew, the more their inner potential was forced to erupt—unprecedented power, like a volcano slumbering for ten million years, began to awaken, and their abilities began to spiral upward without end.

Eighteen-year-old Ken Shi Lang, twenty-four-year-old Duo Qi, twenty-five-year-old Luo Wang—each stood at their youngest, most peak state, tall, powerful, invincibly strong, displaying the most formidable form of their lives, undefeated and unstoppable.

Unthinkable abilities appeared on them—sudden intuition, foresight of the future, boundless energy, harmony between heaven and man… unimaginable illusions manifested around them.

Whoever in this world saw the three brothers now would involuntarily tremble and kneel, for their very existence unquestionably represented the fate of this heaven and earth.

Finally, the crimson star of death hung in the night sky, shining in tandem with the first incoming nuclear warhead, descending from above with the shadow of death and the black will of annihilation; the moment they saw that “thing,” the three brothers understood—still not enough! Their current power was still not enough!

So…

“Power, I command you to emerge!!!” x3

The destiny star of Beidou and the stars of the Southern Heaven began to flash at frantic frequencies; the power of the stars, the power of heaven, the power of countless past fist masters poured endlessly into them, preparing to fight alongside them.

Their combat power surged at breakneck speed, breaking through the critical threshold in the blink of an eye; with every breath, their strength multiplied, climbing exponentially!

“Brothers, I go first…”

The young man first clenched his right fist with his left hand, then his left fist with his right, bones cracking loudly, then twisted his neck, leapt twice into empty air, and without hesitation, transformed into a blazing streak of light, shooting straight upward.

“Heaven has granted me, Luo Wang, this fist…”

Roaring, Luo Wang’s body likewise transformed; his aura grew heavier, his stature rising, each breath expanding him, a force to trample all heaven and earth rapidly emerging, then he swung his invincible, world-destroying colossal fist.

“Ancestors of Beidou… my wish…”

Even facing this, Duo Qi’s expression remained calm, serene; yet his mighty battle qi enveloped him, his state unprecedentedly perfect, his palms Ningju the proof of his past existence.

The sky boiled, the void twisted endlessly, starlight poured down without cease.

The next instant, three terrifying beams of energy, three resolute figures, pierced the night sky and collided head-on with the nuclear warhead initiating the world’s destruction.

With righteous might, unyielding and unevading, fists thrust toward heaven!

At the moment of impact, the metal casing uncontrollably swelled, white light exploding outward, the next moment transforming into a colossal fireball that fully consumed the surrounding space, swallowing the three brothers whole.

The earth-shattering explosion and shockwave, wind pressure of thousands of meters per second, swept across the night sky; wherever it struck the ground, it would instantly crush everything in its path—buildings, humans, all beauty—everything destroyed.

This horrifying scene was clearly witnessed by every person on the ground, who trembled in terror.

Yet even as the deafening thunder and earth-shaking roar echoed through the heavens, powerful battle auras erupted from every corner of the earth—roars, laughter, bellows, simultaneously bursting forth from the prepared fist masters of Nan Dou and Bei Dou—

“Bai Luo Mie Jing, kill!”

“Eat my Magic Liu He Lie Po!!”

“Final Secret of Bei Dou Liu Fist—An Liu Tian Po!!”

“The sky’s phoenix never lands! My Sa Ao Sha’s Phoenix Fist is the strongest! Tian Xiang Shi Zi Feng!”

“Nan Dou Water Bird / Lone Eagle / Bai Lu / Red Crane / Red Falcon / Twin Eagle Secret! Go all the way! Soar to the heavens! Fight to your last breath!”

Vast waves of battle spirit enveloped and sealed the sky; each powerful ultimate secret technique was unleashed, warping space, twisting gravity, reversing all shockwaves as they surged upward against the heavens, piercing the starry sky.

Blinding red light flared in the night sky, as if the entire heavens and stars had been violently torn away, trembling violently.

On the ground, fighters fought desperately; at the epicenter of the nuclear blast, Luo Wang, Duo Qi, and Ken Shi Lang endured pressures a thousandfold greater, gritting their teeth against the nuclear explosion’s extreme heat, radiation, shockwaves, and light.

Around them, all was covered in nuclear white light; the entire world fell silent after the brief, colossal roar, as if frozen in absolute stillness.

The lethal radiation and temperatures of hundreds of thousands—even millions—of degrees at the blast’s core made survival impossible for any living thing; even their invincible Zhuan Long battle qi, operating beyond all limits and reason, could only barely sustain them.

And what was despairing was that this was only the beginning.

The next instant, through the thick nuclear flames, the entire starry sky was filled with a dense, relentless barrage of nuclear warheads, as if even the boundless, infinite heavens had become crowded and clogged.

At this moment, the end of the century truly bared its fangs.

These countless nuclear warheads drifted across the night sky like a meteor shower, neither fast nor slow, as if mocking the foolish men who fought in vain.

Human cities occupy only 3% of Earth’s surface, yet these nuclear warheads, spreading in all directions, sought to cleanse the globe, shatter the land, evaporate the oceans, like boundless stars falling, bearing the crushing pressure to shatter tectonic plates, descending from all ten directions.

With such quantity, such numbers, such terrifying power—how could these fist masters, who fought with fists alone, possibly resist? How could they possibly stand against them?

“If you have grievances against the world, direct them at me!”

“The history we are about to create is burning fiercely!”

“If we stray from the path, heaven will laugh at us!”

They embodied the will of “Beidou,” yet the world’s destruction was also “heaven’s will”; two grand wills manifested in heaven and earth, clashing through their hands.

So—it descended.

A colossal wave capable of shaking the entire world arrived in this darkest night, in its strongest form.

A towering Dharma body, capable of summoning tidal waves and monstrous tsunamis, destroying all, shattered the void behind the three brothers and descended.

Legends say fist masters possess “Five Stages of Borrowed Form: First Stage—‘Self-Hypnosis,’ Second Stage—‘Form Born of Will,’ Third Stage—‘Form Shifts with Heart,’ Fourth Stage—‘Heavenly Demon Transformation,’ and Fifth Stage—‘Heart Illusion as Desired.’”

With powerful spiritual force, one can condense a “formless, shapeless thing” within the mind sea, even temporarily splitting off a separate body. In Daoism, this is called Yang Shen; in Buddhism, it is called shentong; in True Word Esotericism, ancient Yoga, Jewish Kabbalah, and Sufi Islam, it is called astral projection.

Those who cultivate Nan Dou mostly pursue this highest realm—manifesting their will externally, descending into the mortal world—but they could see that what now appeared behind the three Beidou brothers was not mere “borrowed form,” but something far grander, more celestial!

It was the descent of those beings from myth who once received their faith, crossing worlds to appear!

Behind Luo Wang stood a wrathful Mingwang Dharma body, its entire form dark blue-black, muscles coiled like ropes, hair hanging to the shoulders, brows furrowed, eyes glaring, wielding a ritual sword, teeth clenched; its armor was grotesque, its features identical to his own.

Behind Duo Qi stood a noble humanoid form with three eyes and six arms, entwined by a giant serpent, wrists bound with prayer beads and bands, each palm bearing an eye, the serpent’s hair writhing down to his chest and abdomen; his eyes, now, were Duo Qi’s eyes—they shared the same gaze.

And Ken Shi Lang, possessing the most orthodox Beidou bloodline and inheriting the ancestral fist style, summoned the deity of Beidou’s lineage—the compassionate woman figure entwined with feathered ribbons!

A thousand meters… ten thousand meters…?

The three towering figures had grown so immense that their size could no longer be accurately judged.

This might be the strongest enlargement technique in history.

The furious Luo Wang raised his colossal palm and pressed down from afar, as if dragging the sky down, unleashing an invincible fist that crushed the heavens.

——Ultimate Secret: Luo Wang Heaven’s Fall Strike!

The calm Duo Qi opened his six hands; all six palms’ eyes opened at once, six energy waves, a million times larger, rippled across the universe.

——“Friendship Breaks the Face” sweeps heaven and earth!

Ken Shi Lang, his body ruled by conviction, the woman figure slowly shed tears, then sprouted a thousand slender arms, each delivering one of the strongest, most absolute killing techniques.

——Bei Dou Tian Xiang Bai Lie Quan!

BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!!!!

The three Dharma bodies, capable of obliterating all obstacles, caught up with the countless nuclear warheads hurtling toward the globe in one-thousandth of a second; a thousand, ten thousand weapons, each at least ten million tons of TNT equivalent, were wiped clean in an instant over Asia and America, across the Pacific, beneath the watchful gaze of ancient stars.

Great fireballs floated in the atmosphere; the planet’s temperature rose, scorching hurricanes swept across the surface ecosystem; they entered the vision of every human on Earth with a savage, unstoppable force.

The flames and aura surrounding them faded; starlight dimmed; it seemed all had been spent, exhausted, drained to the last drop; the shadows behind the three brothers grew feeble, yet the chaotic sky fell silent.

Had they… won?

But the glow of the death star, at the very moment joy was about to rise, overwhelmed all other stars, coldly and mercilessly informing all sentient beings on this land that their efforts were meaningless.

For in the next instant, the next second—‘Apocalypse-class Nuclear Weapon · Emperor’s Thunder’—descended.

The ultimate nuclear weapon, the limit of nuclear destruction, capable of annihilating the world in an instant, surpassing all before it, a planetary cleansing weapon that could sever planetary history, human civilization, and the fate of all beings—finally activated at the last moment, shattering the final hope.

And the entire history of the planet would be rewritten.

After witnessing the descent of ‘Emperor’s Thunder,’ everyone’s eyes lost their luster… their gathered power, their inner hope, their awakened resolve, gradually collapsed and disintegrated, like stacked blocks crushed underfoot, crumbling piece by piece.

“There is no saving it…”

Yulia, who had been under the control of some will—the embodiment of the Mother Star, possessing foresight and healing powers—had been anxiously praying within.

Suddenly, anguish and pain appeared on her pale face; her tightly shut eyes trembled, tears welling but not falling, for she had clearly seen the hopeless future—

A burning blue planet.

All hills shattered.

A rusted sky.

Everyone weeping.

Except…

“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”

Someone still roared in fury—it was Ken Shi Lang, Duo Qi, Luo Wang—they were still fighting!

The Mother Star prayed from beyond the earth, yet she knew the three brothers would fail; their efforts would be futile; the uncertain future, after the appearance of ‘Emperor’s Thunder,’ had become absolute despair.

They had fought until now because they could not endure that future, but if they directly confronted ‘Emperor’s Thunder,’ they would surely vanish…

That is to say, this mission had ended in utter failure—yet…

——A miracle, a miracle must appear!

The girl couldn’t help but think this.

Few knew that Yulia had possessed heavenly-given power since childhood: upon seeing another’s sorrow, she could foresee that person’s future.

Once, she had nearly been crushed by the endless “sorrowful” futures her eyes revealed, terrified of her “power beyond strength,” terrified of futures without hope, unable to move forward or backward, the Mother Star unable to bear the love and expectations of others.

……Sighing at her own helplessness against unchangeable fate… but even now, in this utter despair, so many still fight, risking their lives!

All terror, all despair cannot make them retreat a single step, nor extinguish the fighting spirit in their hearts; even if they must lose, even if they must die, they will die in this struggle…

Because such people exist, the girl prayed—for the tomorrow she had never seen!

Even if no one ever loves me for the rest of my life, I don’t care!

——So let a miracle happen!

——Let a miracle happen!!!

——Let a miracle happen!!!

——Let a miracle happen!!!!!!!!

“Huh? Kid, why are you crying?”

A familiar, teasing voice rang out before the girl—the same voice the girl named Yu Li Ya had heard years ago!

That time, she had begged him to save her brother Ken Shi Lang.

This time, she would beg him again—to save his brothers.

Your brother, the only one among the Ci Mu Star whose future cannot be seen, the third son of Beidou—

Jia Ji is online!

And hearing that voice,

sensing his aura.

“Hahahahaha!”

The weakened flames that had clung to the three brothers now unfurled their forms, took stances, and surged wildly—abnormally, furiously—once more!

Then—Jia Ji clenched his fists, and behind him, a colossal divine form suddenly materialized; the light of the Death Star vanished instantly from his back.

“Sacred Spirit, Unleash!!!”

Grand Middle Rank·Great Earth Jia Ji, arrives!!!

(End of Chapter)