Yakos's eyes flickered with surprise. Fish decided to fight, and he didn't even need preparation, nor a verbal warning; he was instantly in a full combat state. Truly, this wasn't someone who only knew how to bury their head in practice without understanding what real battle entailed.

Bang, bang, bang! Qian Jin’s soles struck the ground three times in succession. With every step, the hard earth cracked open, sending clods of dirt erupting and flying, resembling a large cavalry unit trampling the ground. The soil scattered wildly, transformed into blooming, earth-colored lotuses under Qian Jin's heavy tread.

Faced with such a ferocious assault, Yakos neither dodged nor retreated. His eyes gleamed with a warrior’s keen delight in facing a worthy opponent. His battle aura contracted and then expanded! With a thump beneath his feet, his entire body suddenly sank two inches lower as the power from the Fumo First Battle surge channeled through the soles of his feet, forcefully cracking the earth and embedding him deeper into the ground.

Facing the Fumo First Battle surge from Qian Jin, Yakos was confident that neither his combat techniques nor his experience required the power of Fumo Second Battle to completely suppress the opponent. He needed to show this young man, who had just entered the Fumo Warrior realm, that even warriors of the same level had significant differences. He shouldn't be so arrogant about everything.

The ground of the military camp had always been where warriors practiced their drills. It had been compressed and trampled by countless soldiers over time. In truth, the soil here was likely harder than flagstones in many places. An ordinary person striking the ground with a wooden staff could, at best, kick up surface dust, but could not inflict any real damage upon the hardened earth.

Yakos shrugged his shoulders, forming his hands into hammers, rotating his ankles as his battle aura erupted. His arms became like massive crossbow bolts or great lances braced on a gigantic siege engine. With a rumble, he unleashed his full strength. The formidable recoil shook the ground around his feet so violently that clods of earth jumped high into the air. The Vajra Giant Ape fighting technique smashed down toward Qian Jin’s head.

This was no mere beast fighting technique learned from academy cadets; this was a beast fighting technique honed by excellent warriors who had fought and bled on the real Human-Demon battlefields, making it a hundred, even a thousand times fiercer than when used by academy students!

Qian Jin saw the incoming fist, and his face already felt the gust of wind generated by the blow. His eyes, narrowed to slits, shimmered with an excited gleam. He violently shook his forward foot’s ankle, his waist snapping back and forth along with the shaking force. His shoulders momentarily pressed downward, and his entire body moved like an eel, or a slick little snake, slipping past the trajectory of the fist and continuing his charge.

“This?” Yakos couldn't hide his astonishment. What kind of movement technique was this? It wasn't like a snake, nor was it like an eel?

Yakos couldn't afford to dwell on his surprise at Qian Jin’s movement technique. His whole body swayed as his feet dug into the earth, his battle aura surging repeatedly through his arms, which swung with his shoulders, transforming into twin iron whips. He lashed out with a storm of blows. Though his palms were still several feet from the ground, the sheer force of the wind had already whipped up the dust. Wherever his arms passed, the air cracked with explosive pats, as if the wind itself were turning into iron whips.

Qian Jin tilted his head slightly, watching the twin hand-whips. His shoulders shook rapidly, and his hands clamped together. An incomparably sharp aura exploded from his fingertips, completely replacing his previous slippery combat posture. Yakos even suspected that he was no longer facing Qian Jin, but rather a hundred demon race members in a forest of swords and spears!

Qian Jin thrust forward with his palms pressed together. The air seemed to turn into a tangible entity being cut apart, and a clear, sword-like ringing could be heard. Fourth level, Earth-Breaking Slash!

The palm shadows merged with Qian Jin’s body, issuing a shrill, howling force. The sharp metallic energy surged relentlessly. Yakos sucked in a cold breath; what kind of fighting technique was this? Where had he learned it?

The Fumo First Battle aura instantly soared rapidly—Fumo Second Battle! Yakos abandoned any thought of using Fumo First Battle strength to suppress Qian Jin. Any intelligent person could see that the angle and position Qian Jin chose for this attack were too cunning. The momentum generated by the strike was so confident, carrying absolutely no thought of retreat. Even the person engaging him could feel that this strike had only one thought: Forward, Forward, Forward, Forward!

Yakos’s palms struck Qian Jin’s arms, erupting with the profound sound of colliding muscle. His iron-whip-like arms seemed to crash into a fully charging heavy cavalry unit, and they were forcefully knocked aside. A tingling numbness spread through both arms. Qian Jin’s Earth-Breaking Slash continued its unstoppable thrust!

“Can’t block it? How is that possible? What kind of battle aura burst is that?” Yakos stamped his foot and rapidly retreated. This was not a fight that could be won by standing still!

As he retreated, Yakos fiercely raised his right knee and swayed it left and right like a shield, blocking the advance line of Qian Jin’s Earth-Breaking Slash. Just before the palm and knee collided, Qian Jin, whose neck had been raised, let out a deafening roar. His conjoined palms suddenly separated, transforming into two battle blades resembling arms! A sharp momentum burst forth from within him again, just like an arrow volley being followed by a tide of blades.

Yakos felt his vision blur. Qian Jin’s two arms seemed not to be human arms, but two great sabers! And the man himself was no longer a man, but a praying mantis—an Iron-Backed Mantis rumored to be capable of easily tearing apart metal armor!

The Wind and Cloud Battle Aura simulated Bloodline Warrior technique, Divide Metal Severing Slash, unleashed unprecedented impact. The palm winds were like blades cleaving metal and severing iron. Where they passed through the air, thin wind blades were left behind, slicing against the face with a stinging pain like a fierce gale, striking the metal greaves Yakos wore.

“Clang, clang, clang…”

The torrential flurry of rapid slashes struck the greaves a dozen times in quick succession, knocking aside the obstructing right leg, and then struck the arm protected by the metal bracer…”

Bang, bang, bang, bang…”

Yakos’s legs retreated uncontrollably. His two arms rose almost mechanically to block. With every strike, the stinging pain pierced through the bracers and reached the flesh and bone. He retreated for over ten meters before stopping, staring blankly at the arms that had stopped only at his neck—I lost… I lost!

Yakos stared dumbly at Qian Jin, who was clearly only at the Fumo First Battle level. The ten warriors of the Torrential Current stared with wide-open mouths at the unexpected outcome. If Qian Jin hadn't held back, the subsequent rapid slashes would not have needed to be so numerous; Yakos would have been cut down even if he had ten lives.

How could Qian Jin be this strong? Wasn't he only Fumo First Battle? How could he break through Yakos’s defense? That slippery movement method could instantly transform into a fierce and sharp charge! If he hadn't wanted to test the subsequent slashes, perhaps that single, headlong thrust might have already sealed the final victory.

Qian Jin retracted his striking arms, continuously flexing his hands. He used his battle aura to dispel the pain in his two arms—a sensation like being pierced by ten thousand needles and cut by a thousand blades. The Divide Metal Severing Slash simulated by the Wind and Cloud Battle Aura was judged as Level Three in the Endless World, yet it still failed to eliminate the pain of simulated use. In fact, the more powerful the release of the technique as the simulation level increased, the greater the pain became, as if his muscles were about to be torn apart.

This was only the Divide Metal Severing Slash. If he could simulate the second level of the Iron-Backed Mantis Bloodline Technique, Water-Severing Wave-Splitting, or the third level, Earth-Rending, or even the fourth level, Ocean-Slaying, wouldn't his arms really be torn apart and shredded by the battle aura?

Give up practicing it? Qian Jin shook his head lightly. How could that be possible? This technique, rated as Saint-level by the Endless World, generated wind blades even when using the Fumo First Battle strength to its full extent, blades that carried a faint killing intent. If he could unleash the full power of this bloodline technique, the sheer force generated by his palm edge could slice a person apart.

“I must find a way! A way to continue practicing without harming my body!” Qian Jin’s eyes darted back and forth as he repeatedly ran through various possibilities in his mind. If he didn't possess the Wind and Cloud Golden Body, he probably wouldn't even be able to drive the Level Three Divide Metal Severing Slash. On the other hand, the Earth-Breaking Slash, another Saint-level technique, caused no pain upon activation.

“If…” Qian Jin lightly tapped his temple with his fist. “If I merge Earth-Breaking Slash with the Iron-Backed Mantis Bloodline Technique, perhaps not only will the power increase significantly, but it might also completely eliminate the pain upon activation.” He paused. “Mastering even one incredible technique is hard enough. These two Saint-level techniques were created through the sweat and heart’s blood of countless predecessors, near-perfect fighting methods. To fuse them? The difficulty is likely far from ordinary.”

“I… lose…” Yakos remained silent for a long moment, forcing out the bitter words through clenched teeth: “I lost…”

He lost! Yakos lost inexplicably. A Fumo Second Battle warrior had lost to a Fumo First Battle warrior. Theoretically, the purity and solidity of Fumo Second Battle battle aura should surpass that of Fumo First Battle. With the same rotational speed, the eruption of battle aura from Fumo Second Battle should be able to crush the battle aura of Fumo First Battle based purely on quality.

Fumo Second Battle! Both the quality and rotational speed of the battle aura should be far superior to Fumo First Battle!

Yakos couldn't understand. If Qian Jin had won purely through superior combat skills, it might be understandable. But just as he was about to win using skill, Qian Jin suddenly converted to pure, brute-force confrontation. No matter how he urged his Fumo Second Battle aura, it was shattered by Qian Jin’s Fumo First Battle…

“Bizarre, truly bizarre!” Yakos stood on the spot with his hands on his hips, shaking his head in frustration.

“Fumo Second Battle…” Qian Jin clenched his fist lightly, musing internally. If the strength of Fumo Second Battle warriors was only comparable to Yakos, then it was entirely possible to defeat a Fumo Second Battle warrior while only being Fumo First Battle.

The Iron Forging Breathing Method was like a battle aura refining device. Whether it was the battle energy in the battle crystals or the inherent Fumo Ninth Battle aura, after being tempered by the heat flow, the quality of the battle aura alone was far superior to Yakos’s—

It was like…” It was like…” Qian Jin thought deeply. The battle aura inside his body seemed to be completely melted by the Iron Forging Breathing Method, then recast by a master smith, purging all impurities to create refined iron essence. Meanwhile, Yakos’s battle aura was merely the equivalent of second or third-grade refined iron.

Fen Tu Kuangge squeezed his eyes shut. A Fumo First Battle warrior had actually defeated a Fumo Second Battle warrior? And by brute force, leaving the Fumo Second Battle warrior with no ability to even parry. Was Qian Jin truly an ordinary warrior? The Fen Tu family had geniuses among ordinary warriors throughout history, but none as ferocious as him… No! Ferocious!

Even just watching gave one a feeling of boiling blood, inspiring the desire to fight like him in battle—Forward! Forward! Never retreating!

Fabredis rested his chin on his hand, his eyes thoughtful, breaking the silence on the sidelines. “Qian Jin, give me a palm strike. Do not use any fighting techniques, just fully activate your battle aura for one palm strike toward me.”

Qian Jin took a deep breath and struck toward Fabredis. A full-power strike from Fumo First Battle, even without utilizing any specific technique, still generated a whistling gust of wind.

The two palms collided tightly. The air between them was violently compressed, resulting in an explosive roar. Qian Jin felt like he had struck a thick piece of iron. He couldn't help but take a step back, watching Fabredis’s shoulder tremble slightly.

Lord Fabredis’s shoulder actually shook! The ten warriors of the Torrential Current stared wide-eyed, watching the shoulder of Fabredis that had just twitched. The Battle Soul—battle aura refined countless times by battle aura to achieve high precision—had collided with Qian Jin’s battle aura and exhibited a slight tremor? And he had only pushed Qian Jin back one step… or perhaps half a step.

“Indeed, your battle aura rotational speed is exactly ten thousand. If I hadn’t known beforehand that you had a ten-thousand rotation speed, I would have been the one retreating just now,” Fabredis nodded gently, looking at the palm he had just exchanged. “However, it’s not just that your rotational speed is too fast; the quality of your battle aura is far beyond that of Yakos’s.”

“How is this possible?” Yakos stepped forward. “I am Fumo Second Battle.”

“Yes, you are Fumo Second Battle.” Fabredis massaged his temples with his fingers, his face filled with troubled contemplation and confusion. “Theoretically, every time the battle aura level is raised, a tempering process occurs to improve the quality. But Qian Jin’s battle aura quality is far, far superior to yours, like refined iron smelted a hundred times, while yours is merely a piece of refined iron.”

“Battle Aura Cultivation Secret Method!” Yakos’s eyes suddenly lit up. “I know, it must be the Battle Aura Cultivation Secret Method! I use the Forty-Two Battle Aperture Secret Method. What number do you use, Qian Jin?”

Qian Jin looked at Yakos’s eager expression and felt a slight hesitation. This warrior, calm and decisive on the battlefield, who faced death with the spirit of returning home, had been struck too many times today. He truly couldn't bear to deal another blow. The Forty-Two Battle Aperture Secret Method was indeed a very excellent battle aura cultivation method, but compared to the Wind and Cloud Battle Aura, which the Endless World rated as Saint-level, the difference wasn't just a little bit.

“What is it?” Yakos looked expectant, as if he would suffer insomnia this month if he didn't find out the truth, even if it meant dying.

Qian Jin held up one finger… Yakos opened his mouth in astonishment. “No way? Only ten?”

“It’s one hundred…” Qian Jin scratched his head, looking at Yakos’s expression, which seemed as if a massive boulder had struck his chest. He gently let the final words slip from his tongue: “…Zero eight Battle Aperture Zhou Tian Secret Method…”

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