Chapter 67

"The seven of you are all martial artists. Defeat these seven, and I shall let you all leave."

Lin Heier and the other six men stood at the very front; it was clear that the martial artists the Unborn Mother spoke of were these seven.

Su Xing and his two companions did not argue about fairness. Although they were three against seven, they were the ants driven to a dead end. This opportunity had only been secured because Su Xing had truly been willing to commit suicide, forcing the other side to hesitate for fear of damaging the "mouse" (the hostage). It could be said that this was their only chance at survival.

Amadai stepped forward and said, "I'll go first!"

"No!"

Su Xing immediately said to Amadai, "You two must absolutely not step even half a step outside the shelter. The Unborn Mother will not kill me; she wants to enslave me. But for you two, she will not hesitate in the slightest. She might even use you to threaten me. Therefore, I must be the one to fight this battle!"

Amadai did not insist. As a veteran of three wars, he naturally had no indecisiveness. Upon hearing this, he immediately retreated, standing about fifteen to twenty meters away from Su Xing. At the same time, he gripped the N5 bombs in his hand and said, "If I discover you have been mentally controlled, I will immediately throw these bombs to kill you. Is that acceptable?"

Su Xing laughed heartily and said, "Well done!"

Xu Shilan was silent for a moment. She held the now-active Jiu Jiu in her hand and said, "Be careful."

Su Xing said nothing, merely raising his head to look at the seven people before him once more.

This time, no strange tricks occurred. The five-colored lotus flowers no longer appeared in the seven people's eyes. When Su Xing looked directly at them, they also looked at Su Xing. Moreover, as Su Xing watched, their eyes actually began to slowly regain their vitality. Then, the seven of them stood apart, twisting their bodies, and gradually seemed to recover like normal people.

But Su Xing knew this was merely an illusion.

Among the seven, Lin Heier was the first to step out. Her face was full of sorrow, and she seemed to have more to say but stopped. Finally, she could only sigh and cup her hands, saying, "Lin Heier, greetings!"

Su Xing felt sad in his heart as well, but at this moment, he could not afford the slightest emotional distraction. He also cupped his hands and said, "Su Xing, greetings!"

He saw Lin Heier tread on lotus steps, flashing with every step. After three steps, she arrived before Su Xing. Her single palm struck straight in, and with a move of "Respectful Buddhist Gate," she slashed toward Su Xing's throat.

Su Xing was fully focused, and he saw this palm seem to slow down by nearly ten percent.

This sensory experience was extremely wondrous. Even though he knew exactly what the opponent's speed was, when he looked at it, he clearly felt a sense of time lag. This perception allowed Su Xing to have more reaction time when facing attacks, and he could see them more clearly.

(Is this... the specialty of Transformation Jin? Or has my current Tier 3 physical body's attributes become stronger?)

At this instant, this thought flashed through Su Xing's mind. Then, he saw him extend his palm backward, striking Lin Heier's forward-supporting palm with a back-to-front slap.

With a loud "pop," Lin Heier's palm actually hung limp. Bones were broken and protruding from the back of her hand. In just a single exchange, one of Lin Heier's hands was crippled. That was not all; Su Xing's palm struck out, then transformed into a claw, directly grabbing Lin Heier's web of the hand. In the blink of an eye, Su Xing almost pulled Lin Heier into the shelter area behind him.

But he suddenly saw a slight movement in Lin Heier's eyes. Instinctively, he switched from pulling to pushing, using a flick of his palm to push Lin Heier at least five meters away.

As Lin Heier retreated, she smiled lightly at Su Xing, and then her entire body began to gradually dissipate as she moved backward. Before she even hit the ground, she turned into fly ash.

Su Xing stood silently on the spot, his mind recalling Lin Heier's smile and the slight fluctuation in her eyes just now. He suddenly realized that if he had dragged Lin Heier into the shelter's range, it definitely wouldn't have destroyed the shelter; rather, it might have been some kind of trap.

The Unborn Mother had too many methods, and he could not afford to take a single wrong step.

"Come again!"

Su Xing remained with half his body outside and half inside, beckoning to the remaining six people in the distance.

"The youth of today is truly remarkable. Looking at you, you have only just entered the Transformation Jin realm, yet this strength is already immeasurable."

A short, thin man among the six suddenly spoke. However, he did not step forward; instead, a large man wearing Qing Dynasty military attire beside him took a large stride forward.

This military officer stood three meters away from Su Xing. He looked down at Su Xing coldly and cupped his hands, saying, "Imutu, greetings."

When Su Xing saw this military officer, his heart felt a bit cold, but he still cupped his hands and said, "Su Xing, greetings!"

This military officer was at the Transformation Jin level!

When Su Xing saw this officer cup his hands, he immediately understood this point.

Although the battle with Lin Heier had only lasted two seconds, Su Xing had roughly understood his own current strength, as well as the strength of Lin Heier after being controlled by the Unborn Mother.

Lin Heier had originally been at the Dark Jin level, but during the fight just now, she had already reached the peak of Dark Jin, one step away from Transformation Jin. Moreover, her physical strength and force were at least two or three times stronger than before. The most terrifying thing was the cold energy when they made contact.

However, compared to Lin Heier, Su Xing's strength had increased even more exaggeratedly. Taking two top-tier heavenly treasures had directly pushed his Human Immortal Martial Dao to the peak of Skin Refining and the beginning of Flesh Refining. His physical constitution had skyrocketed, and his blood and qi had multiplied several times over.

Now, even without circulating his blood and qi, his conventional physical strength alone was about three to four tons with one hand. If he exploded his blood and qi, he could unleash over fifty tons of force with his Jin. This was already non-human strength; a Tier 3 physical body was already in the transcendent realm. It was perfectly normal that Lin Heier was crippled by a single move.

The military officer before him, Imutu, stared at Su Xing for two or three seconds, then stepped forward and arrived before Su Xing. Both fists struck out simultaneously like two drum hammers—one toward his face, one toward his chest. When the fists struck, the wind howled. With just these two punches, they gave a sense of being invincible and unstoppable. This was Intent!

Martial Intent, Fist Intent, Blade Intent, Sword Intent... all of these were this!

At this instant, Su Xing immediately realized this aspect of martial arts and the Martial Dao.

Speaking of which, it wasn't actually that mysterious; it was essentially a form of self-confidence forged through long-term training.

Just as a person who has been immersed in something for decades naturally has great confidence in the field of that thing, whether talking to others or doing things within that field, they give off the demeanor of a master who has everything under control. This is what is called Intent.

The military officer before him was also a martial arts master, perhaps even a hidden Grandmaster within the imperial court. He had honed this move to the extreme, and when the fist struck, no one could stop it. Over time, this Intent naturally formed. If fighting someone of the same level, the difference between having this Martial Intent and not having it was vast.

However...

Su Xing faced these two incoming punches, and now that he had a measure of things in his heart, he also extended both hands, meeting the two fists with his palms.

A look of disdain immediately appeared in Imutu's eyes. His fists suddenly accelerated again, the power behind them becoming even more violent. Moreover, at this moment, the fists rotated slightly, containing a sense of circularity.

Parry and Punch!

The two punches struck out, meeting Su Xing's palms head-on. When they made contact, the Jin exploded simultaneously. Imutu's fists also carried cold energy, which crashed into Su Xing's palms along with the Jin, then surged up his arms.

But the Jin and cold energy had barely entered his palms by thirty percent before a vast Jin surged back from his palms. Even the cold energy was repelled by the vast Jin at this moment.

Imutu felt that what his fists were striking was not a human body, but a mountain—a mountain crushing down upon him.

!

Palms against fists, Su Xing pressed his palms downward. Imutu wanted to withdraw his fists, but under the massive disparity in strength, he couldn't even retreat.

According to Su Xing's current estimation, excluding the cold energy, Imutu's fist Jin alone was about seven to eight tons. This was already a terrifying amount of power; a single punch could almost shatter a human body.

But Su Xing's palms held about fifty tons of force. The Jin unleashed by both sides was simply not on the same level. A seven-fold difference was no longer just a simple crushing.

Everyone saw Su Xing's palms grinding against the fists and pressing down, seemingly slow but actually fast. In Imutu's horrified gaze, his arms were directly pressed into meat paste. Then, the palms closed like a python coiling around its prey. With a single squeeze, Imutu's entire body rotted away, collapsing to the ground motionless, and quickly turned into powder.

Su Xing withdrew his palms, stood, and breathed. Two seconds later, he waved his hand again and said, "Come again!"

"Good!"

The short, thin man let out a violent shout and was about to step forward, but another Qing military officer took a step ahead of him. Standing in the distance, he cupped his hands and said, "Erguawa, Baturu, greetings!"

Erguawa was the military officer's surname, while Baturu was his title, meaning "brave."

Su Xing didn't care. He was carefully experiencing the qualitative change after the combination of National Arts and Human Immortal Martial Dao. Human Immortal Martial Dao increased the essence of the human body, making his physical body transcendent and possessing powerful blood and qi. National Arts, on the other hand, multiplied this blood and qi, which was why he could have this crushing effect.

He also cupped his hands and said, "Su Xing, greetings!"

Erguawa let out a strange cry, stepped forward, jumped to a height of three meters, and kicked toward Su Xing's temple with one foot like an awl.

Su Xing remained standing on the spot, not even dodging. He supported his temple with one palm and grabbed toward the lower leg with one claw. But halfway through the claw, Erguawa changed his move in mid-air, turning the kick toward the temple into a stomp toward the arm that was grabbing him. At the same time, his other leg extended, his body rotated slightly, and he kicked toward Su Xing's other temple.

In the blink of an eye, Su Xing's entire body also flipped, his hands supporting him on the ground, and his legs met Erguawa's in a kick-to-kick clash.

Two muffled "pops" sounded almost simultaneously. Su Xing's legs were like refined steel, directly breaking Erguawa's two legs. Then, his legs did not stop, crossing and clamping like scissors, actually snapping Erguawa's waist and spine. By the time he landed, his upper and lower body were paralyzed on the ground, unable to even struggle.

The next second, this Erguawa also turned into powder and dissipated.

Su Xing flipped up, took a deep breath, and beckoned again, "Come again!"

The remaining four people were silent for a time, each looking at Su Xing with solemn gazes.

In the distance, Amadai and Xu Shilan stared fixedly at the battle in the arena, their hearts about to jump out of their throats.

Yet, neither they, nor Su Xing, nor even Jiu Jiu, had discovered...

That the powder turned from Lin Heier, Imutu, and Erguawa had scattered onto the ground outside the shelter. Invisible to the naked eye, every grain was burrowing into the soil, surrounding the very edge of the shelter's range, and was...

Eroding inward, millimeter by millimeter!

Su Xing, without realizing it, was already more than half-stepping outside the shelter's range!!

And in the deepest part of Su Xing's memory, that information which had been deliberately forgotten seemed to be flickering and emerging...