Chapter 312: You May Go No Further

Must an idol be good-looking? Can’t they be hilarious instead? Sure, but as the heir of Hokuto Shinken, you must fight exceptionally well—you can be funny, but you must, must be the strongest in the world.

The strongest in the world!

The strongest on Earth!

Only one heir may inherit Hokuto Shinken in each generation—that is the fundamental logic of the Hokuto world.

As the strongest assassination fist art passed down once every two millennia, each generation’s heir has endured countless trials and ordeals to earn the title of legitimate successor, and will thereafter represent Hokuto, facing challenges from all under heaven, while the defeated must have their memories stripped or their fist art sealed for life.

It is both honor and responsibility, and signifies the tragic fate of brothers and fellow disciples killing each other, bringing endless bloodshed to the earth, fighting by heaven’s will and driven by heaven’s will toward death.

Nine out of ten fail to die peacefully.

‘Hokuto’…

‘It’s nothing but a curse!’

Long Quan, nearly seventy, lay on a chair, sipping tea and savoring the hard-won peace, yet his gaze seemed to replay countless flashes of memory.

And so far, there have indeed been heirs who tried to break this tragic cycle.

But all of them failed.

The men who ultimately inherited Hokuto and resisted this curse all possessed special bloodlines; without them, they could never bear such weight—they would either turn to darkness or die before even inheriting.

Long Quan naturally knew that only a descendant of the main lineage could rightfully inherit the Hokuto title—so why, on that day, had he made the decision to defy his 62nd ancestor?

‘Jia Ji… I am passing Hokuto Shinken to you out of selfish desire; even if there is only the slightest chance, I hope you can end the tragedy of the Hokuto bloodline…’

Long Quan said with deep emotion—Jia Ji had surpassed even his expectations; now, he possessed the ‘ability’ and ‘capacity’ to defy even ‘fate’ itself.

‘In other words, Jia Ji… you’ve passed!’

Long Quan announced to the crowd in as calm a tone as he could, yet his five powerful fingers, each knuckle sharply defined, betrayed his inner turmoil.

Fate truly mocks people—this ‘ordinary’ third brother of Hokuto has ultimately become stronger than anyone else.

He certainly has the qualification to inherit Hokuto Shinken—but… could anyone else besides him possess such qualification?

Yes, there are three other brothers like him.

‘You just said that, didn’t you…’

The first to interrupt with dissatisfaction was Duo Qi, his brows slightly furrowed, radiating palpable pressure as he spoke in a terrifying voice.

‘I can’t pretend I didn’t hear that!’

‘I admit, Brother Jia Ji, you’re strong—extremely strong—but I will never give up the heir’s title!’

Ken Shi Lang also declared firmly—Hokuto meant more than a title to him; it was proof of his past, proof of his life.

‘You? You’re nowhere near ready!’

A crushing, suffocating pressure and aura, like Mount Tai, loomed over the area as Rao fixed his gaze on his younger brother, who always brought him unexpected surprises.

All three of them had devoted their entire lives to this—how could they let Jia Ji, who spent his days wandering and fooling around, simply take the title without effort?

‘Huh? Didn’t you three just say you were getting jobs? Now you want it all? Want to taste my turtle punch, turtle punch, turtle punch, laser cannon?’

Jia Ji would never back down before these three—he stood up angrily, eyes bulging wider than walnuts; what a man must protect in his lifetime is this!

If word got out that the great Daimengshen couldn’t even claim the rightful heir title of Hokuto Shinken, how could he ever show his face among the multiverse?

Am I, Jia Ji, supposed to avoid their sharp edges?

What nonsense!

Brotherly affection is one thing; the heir title is another. The four brothers who had just fought side by side to avert apocalypse now slammed into each other with snarling faces; the heavenly fate power, which had begun to fade, coalesced again, even causing the stars above to boil.

Their heads collided with thunderous crashes, each refusing to yield an inch, teeth clenched, eyes blazing—fierce aura and willpower manifested as swords and blades slashing at each other; their eight arms entwined, the air bursting repeatedly under unbearable strain, the ground trembling violently, the entire street overturned in chaos.

Each had activated the Great Expansion Technique—their limbs alone dwarfed a normal human’s entire body; a single raised palm seemed capable of blotting out the sun and sky. The Nan Dou Six Saints watching nearby all paled and retreated hastily.

If you got caught in the crossfire, the consequences wouldn’t be a joke.

In the chaotic center, where no one could tell who was who, their furious roars, shouts, cries, and rebukes echoed endlessly.

‘I am the heir!’

‘I am the heir!’

‘You brat!’

‘If you don’t believe it, come try!’

‘I am the true heir—you’re all impostors!’

…

A hurricane began to rage as four terrifying auras, energies, and spiritual signatures entangled together—no one on earth could now separate them.

The air around them seemed to contract and expand slightly, radiating extreme danger; Yan Zhu tensed her entire body like a startled beast, leaping dozens of feet away, her two long ponytails even floating midair from fright.

If these four truly went all out, it might be only slightly better than a nuclear apocalypse.

‘Sister Zi, what do we do! Stop them… umm.’

Yan Zhu frantically appealed to Ba Yun Zi beside her, but the next second, the Boundary Demon slipped an Immortal Cracker into her mouth, silencing her.

‘Ah la la, it seems we have a good show—Yan Zhu mustn’t interfere with these men as they settle their victory.’

Ba Yun Zi stopped eating and withdrew a fan from a rift, covering her lower face like a fox ready to enjoy the spectacle, her voice echoing through the air with unmistakable delight.

She still clearly remembered how, after defeating Feng Jian You Xiang, Jia Ji had declared: ‘I, the great Jia Ji Ji Ji Ji Ji, am the true heir of Hokuto Shinken!’ But now it seemed his brothers still didn’t accept him.

But that was only natural.

Jia Ji, over the years of wandering and fighting in other worlds, had assassinated imperial ministers, escaped the Shadow of Spring, subdued the Eight Zodiac Beasts, defeated the Red World Demon Kings, crushed Hu Yu Lu Di, beaten demonic spirits and gods, toppled war goddesses and priestesses—each feat more extraordinary than the last, his resume unparalleled, his impact across worlds immense.

His brilliant half-life could be simply summarized as: ‘Slain, Subdued, Severely Wounded, Strongest!’

Yet only the members of the Wan Hua Jing knew these glorious deeds; to Long Quan and the other three brothers, though Jia Ji often returned from other worlds battered and broken, what he had actually done remained a mystery.

The most common sight was him leaving, then returning with his strength multiplied manyfold as if he’d cheated.

From their perspective, though he always returned just in time to turn the tide, his ordinary behavior never fully convinced them that he was truly superior—or that they themselves were losers in this heir struggle.

How could they admit it?

Their pride wouldn’t allow it!

This was the fist art they had cultivated their entire lives.

Their entire lives!

If they surrendered now, they could never have reached this point.

‘Kou Fu, Kou Fu—it seems the naive among you still don’t understand what terrifying being stands before you.’

Jia Ji gripped Ken Shi Lang’s shirt collar with his right hand and shoved hard, sweeping his other arm outward with overwhelming force, blasting all three Hokuto brothers back—and before the gathered Nan Dou, Yuan Dou, and other fist masters, he declared loudly:

‘I am Jia Ji, the true inheritor of Hokuto Shinken!!’

‘Lies! You need a lesson!’

‘Jia Ji, you damn—’

‘You’re not the one to say that!’

Rao, Duo Qi, and Ken Shi Lang—all witnessed by the crowd—had been preempted by their own brother; how could they not rage?

This was blatant provocation!

Their gazes clashed violently, sparking countless flames; the already scorching weather intensified under their fiery atmosphere, as if about to explode.

‘Huh? Are they going to fight?’

Hearing the terrifying noise from afar, Jian Zi dropped the melting matcha parfait she’d just grabbed and set aside the Xia Na she’d been holding, as if a battle-detection radar had activated in her head—her golden eyes blazed as she locked onto the four brothers, a bloodthirsty grin spreading across her face.

‘Hmph, I hope that guy gets his teeth knocked out.’

Xia Na turned her head away, sneering in displeasure—she still resented Jia Ji for returning to Hokuto alone without taking them along.

‘Unlikely.’

Aラストール remarked—he had once been one of the Three Gods of the Red World; though he might not be strongest in raw destruction, his rank was immeasurably high, and his perception was flawless—he could see that even without divine spirit enhancement, Jia Ji’s power subtly led all four.

While victory cannot be determined by sight alone, Jia Ji’s odds were clearly the highest.

A professional commentator must dare to declare a conclusion!

Around them, people halted their movements, eyes fixed on the impending battle.

Long Quan, witnessing this, finally realized his other three disciples had not abandoned the Hokuto title—they were merely lost after saving the world, unsure of what to do next.

But they would never, never retreat on this issue.

‘Hmm…’ After a two-second pause, Long Quan prepared to use the traditional three tests of the Hokuto sect—using sensitive animals as the trial.

In the original timeline, he had once brought an innocent tiger to test Ken Shi Lang and Rao—only for the tiger to die instantly, and the heir qualification still unaccepted by others.

Jia Ji cracked his neck, the bones popping crisply, a cold smirk on his face as he raised his right hand to stop Long Quan from pulling yet another stupid stunt, speaking calmly:

‘Master Long Quan, I have my own judgment…’

Before everyone’s shocked eyes, the third brother of Hokuto, with outrageous arrogance, challenged the other three again:

‘Come on, you guys are weak!’

No more pretense—he had always been this aggressively confrontational. Brotherly love? Camaraderie? Now, Jia Ji only wanted to knock Duo Qi flat, crush Rao underfoot, and shatter Ken Shi Lang’s naive dreams.

If Hokuto Shinken doesn’t decide its heir by fists, then by what? Words?

And the consequence of this?

Three pairs of eyes fixed on Jia Ji—each blazing with bloody, horrifying crimson light, temples throbbing with veins, every face darkening completely, ready to become launchers of the Hokuto Explosion Fist.

‘Everyone, retreat!’

All those lacking sufficient power swiftly withdrew, yet even as they fled, their eyes remained fixed with rapt anticipation on the brothers about to unleash a world-shaking battle.

BOOM—!!

Before anything could begin, another anomaly occurred.

A piercing roar erupted as intense cold surged like a tidal wave—massive ice crystals spontaneously erupted from the ground, stretching hundreds of meters in length, forming a wall of ice that blocked everyone’s path, its crystalline surface reflecting a brutally cold gleam under the blazing sun.

‘Ready to fight, huh~’

Esdes’s cold voice suddenly sounded beside Jia Ji’s ear.

“You dare ignore me?”

She meant that since she was present, she must be the first to act.

Whether it was a sparring match or a struggle for the inheritance of the North Star Divine Fist, any battle worthy of her intervention must begin with her!

“All four of you, come at once.”

A lethal, dangerous curve curled at Esdes’s lips; her crystal-blue eyes blazed with battle lust. “I hope you don’t disappoint me too much…”

Her expression seemed to say: precisely because your minds are resolute and your strength formidable, crushing you utterly will bring me even greater ecstasy.

The three of Tuo Qi froze at her words, their momentum faltering, staring at Jia Ji in shock—as if asking how he had provoked such a madwoman.

A bead of cold sweat slipped silently from Jia Ji’s temple.

I forgot Xiao Ai was here…

You’re not even my sister—I knew you’d grown stronger, but preparing to take on all four of these Super North Star bros alone? Isn’t that going too far? And…

You’re even crazier than I am?!

Whose territory is this anyway?

I can’t take it anymore!

“Xiao Ai… things are different now!”

Jia Ji clenched his fists and surged forward with a wild roar—the dozens of meters of street behind him shattered into rubble under his footsteps.

“My North Star Divine Fist is invincible!”

(End of Chapter)