The massive arena stood silent, Qin Fen and Luan Nanji positioned at opposite ends of the raised platform.

Five million spectators held their breath, the quietude thick with the surging current of expectation.

Luan Nanji looked up, sweeping his gaze across the countless eyes in the dueling stadium, his heart far from calm.

Since the flourishing of Ancient Martial Arts and New Martial Arts, which had become one of the Federation’s most vital pillars, never had a Nine-Star martial artist engaged in combat under such intense scrutiny from so many people.

To compete before five million pairs of eyes filled Luan Nanji with a surge of exhilarating pride, yet also a sliver of disappointment—it was just a shame that the catalyst for this five-million-strong frenzy wasn't him, but the arrogant 'Thirty-Six Hours' standing nearby.

Shanhe Sheji had temporarily relegated his system access to the audience seats; Luan Nanji’s role had shifted from challenger to spectator.

“When the duelists are ready, please select to commence the battle,” the synthesized, beautiful announcer’s voice flowed softly into the ears of the combatants.

In the sky, the system prompt sounded slowly. This was a rule of the Sky Battle Net duels, reminding both parties to check their opponent's profile data within the system—details like height, arm span, martial arts used, and combat records, all data recorded from previous fights by Battle Net warriors.

Qin Fen didn't bother pulling up Luan Ji’s file. He had already studied the profile of the Sky Battle Net’s number one ranked Nine-Star warrior when selecting his opponent not long ago, committing it to memory.

Luan Ji: Height 186, Arm Span 197, Martial Art used: New Martial Art 【Nuclear Fusion Fist】…

Nuclear Fusion Fist! The most famous of the New Martial Arts. Not only did its punches carry terrifying explosive force, but its radiation energy was also brimming with astonishing destructive power, capable of instantly annihilating a large portion of the opponent's cells, severely depleting their stamina and viability. It was a specialized New Martial Art developed purely for combat.

Special. Expensive. Troublesome. These were the bywords for this New Martial Art.

New Martial Arts inevitably required surgical assistance, and the procedures for Nuclear Fusion Fist were even more complex, imposing specific physical requirements on the user, with the necessary drug treatments being prohibitively costly. Even a middle-class family selling everything they owned would struggle immensely to cultivate a user of Nuclear Fusion Fist.

Had Qin Fen not seen Shanhe Sheji’s profile, he might well have chosen Luan Nanji as his opponent. Merely the name 【Nuclear Fusion Fist】 was enough to make almost anyone hesitate to underestimate Luan Nanji.

Luan Nanji opened Qin Fen’s profile, a fleeting spark of caution flashing in his eyes.

A Nine-Star martial artist, and indeed the top-ranked Nine-Star on the Sky Battle Net, would naturally not react with the scorn and contempt that lesser Two or Three-Star warriors might show upon seeing an opponent using mere Calisthenics Fist techniques.

On the contrary, Luan Nanji, battle-hardened, felt a profound sense of vigilance arise within him. A man whose records showed a hundred percent win rate using only Arhat Fist and Hong Fist styles was someone who absolutely could not be taken lightly.

“Preparation complete, duel commencing! After confirming, the start countdown will immediately begin.”

The synthetic virtual beauty reappeared in the sky, beginning the final countdown broadcast: “Ten… Nine… Eight… Seven…”

“FIGHT!”

The battle began! Luan Nanji spread both arms wide, and the air within a meter of his body began to ripple and distort, as if the entire space were about to collapse. This was the intense heat generated by nuclear fusion, causing the surrounding air to visibly warp.

A Nine-Star user of the Nuclear Fusion Fist was himself like a colossal furnace, seemingly ready to tear apart anything enveloped within it.

Engaging with the Nuclear Fusion Fist for the first time, Qin Fen didn't rush his attack. This time, the objective wasn't just to defeat the opponent, but to seek the pressure needed to breach the Nine-Star martial arts barrier, which was why he came to the Battle Net. If he didn't allow his opponent to unleash his full potential, how could he feel the necessary pressure?

Tens of thousands of spectators gasped simultaneously—the sound of their collective intake of breath was so vast it became majestic. Luan Nanji roared, pushing the output energy of his Nuclear Fusion Fist to the very limit his body could endure! Though everything here was virtual, it felt intensely real; the invisible heat waves had transformed into a massive furnace.

“Thirty-Six Hours!”

Luan Nanji looked like a legendary war god. As he clenched his ten fingers inward toward his palm, the intensely hot air seemed to crackle and explode under his grasp!

“I hope you won’t disappoint me,” Luan Nanji slowly spread his arms, his stance shifting to that of the New Muay Thai: “Come on!”

Qin Fen nodded slightly. The Nuclear Fusion Fist was indeed a New Martial Art created specifically for combat; that intense heat flow was clearly a specialized domain generated by radiation. No wonder this New Martial Art was so expensive that one had to sell their property to afford it.

“Fight! Fight!”

“Thirty-Six Hours! Weren’t you just boasting? Why are you standing still?”

“Are you scared?”

“I knew it…”

Roar! Qin Fen suddenly let out a thunderous yell, shattering the noise of the crowd. The Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill erupted with full power. His heart, which could normally push eight thousand five hundred kilograms of blood in a day, now generated a single, instantaneous compression force capable of propelling hundreds of kilograms of blood!

Qin Fen’s bones felt like a string of firecrackers about to explode; his muscles swelled like inflated balloons; thick, dark-green tendons wrapped around his musculature like a layer of black iron skin, expanding his frame before everyone’s eyes to a height of two meters ten.

From a distance, Luan Nanji felt dwarfed before Qin Fen, like a hobbit in the land of giants.

Luan Nanji’s body trembled slightly. It wasn't just his physique that had grown; the aura rising from within him carried an immense, imposing majesty.

Heavens! What kind of monster was this? Five million spectators shared a single thought of astonishment; none had expected a Nine-Star martial artist to possess such a physically formidable presence!

As tens of thousands cried out in shock, Qin Fen moved! Though he was just one person, his movement carried the momentum of a thousand charging horses. The flagstones beneath his feet within a five-meter radius shattered as if small landmines had detonated, blasting fragments a meter high into the air!

Crash…

Qin Fen’s body tore through the flying stones blocking his path, like Chu Bawang charging through an ambush from ten directions. The continuous explosive sounds of his body friction against the air resembled the rapid impacts of a warhorse’s hooves on a battlefield. Before the debris could even fall back to the ground, Qin Fen had already surged forty meters forward!

Thump!

The arena echoed with a world-shaking drumbeat, as if ripped from the battlefields of ancient gods and demons. The impact of his footfall shook the ground, creating a six-meter radius of shattered flagstones that shot into the air. Before the stones could fully ascend, Qin Fen had rushed another forty meters.

Thump-thump-thump!

Three consecutive earth-shattering impacts resonated like war drums, shaking the hearts of the five million spectators, and striking deep into Luan Nanji’s soul.

Five steps! Five surges forward—before the debris from the first stride had settled, Qin Fen was upon Luan Nanji.

Eighteen Divine Dragons Gather the Wind and Clouds!

Qin Fen unleashed eighteen streams of true energy coiled and erupting within his arm. The exterior of his entire arm seemed to visibly shimmer with eighteen rotating currents of true energy, and the air crushed by his punch roared like a giant dragon’s bellow.

In that instant! Luan Nanji’s vision played tricks on him. The opponent charging from afar was not one man, but a dragon! A dragon stirring the rivers and seas, gathering clouds and rain! That massive fist was the dragon’s gaping maw, a maw ready to swallow everything under heaven.

Retreat? Impossible! To retreat now would not just mean defeat; it would leave an indelible scar, creating a martial blockage on his path of cultivation!

Luan Nanji, rich in combat experience, instinctively merged his Nuclear Fusion Fist hands, streams of churning energy bubbling from his fingertips, rapidly compressing and undergoing fission! The air before him became extremely unstable, as if it could explode at any moment.

The Nuclear Fusion Fist possessed an ultimate, self-sacrificial combat method. It could easily eliminate surrounding martial artists across multiple tiers. The name of this move was 【~>Boom】!

Qin Fen had only vaguely witnessed this move once before—on the evening he acquired the liquid metal sphere—when a Three-Star Nuclear Fusion Fist user had committed suicide with 【~>Boom】 to eliminate all pursuing trackers.

Luan Ji’s technique was the initial stage of that move: 【Nuclear Fission】! While it wouldn't result in mutual destruction, the power unleashed was enough to kill an ordinary Ten-Star martial artist across levels!

Of course, every ultimate move carried side effects. The side effect of 【Fission】 was that after use, the body would enter a state of extreme exhaustion, rendering the user unable to employ the Nuclear Fusion Fist again for ten days.

Luan Nanji could no longer concern himself with the aftermath or other Nine-Star martial artists’ upcoming duels; without using 【Nuclear Fission】, there was no future for him.

“A mere speck of dust dares to vie with the bright moon!”

Qin Fen’s cold shout, accompanied by that dragon-like, domineering aura, shot straight into the heavens. This air explosion from 【Nuclear Fission】 was certainly formidable, but compared to the boundless power of the great ocean, how many waves could it truly stir?

In the Sky Battle Net, without the constraint of the 4,000-jin heavy lead suit, Qin Fen’s power could easily reach its absolute peak strength.

He struck down with one punch, the dragon’s roar startling the heavens!

The intense heatwaves and unstable air pressure radiating from the blooming 【Nuclear Fission】 were met by the pressure of Qin Fen’s punch. In that instant of contact, they burst like a struck balloon, sending splashes of heat energy scattering everywhere!

The Eighteen Divine Dragons shattered the Nuclear Fission capable of cross-level killing of Ten-Star martial artists. Luan Nanji heard the sound of his own arm bones snapping. The gravitational pull of the earth beneath his feet abandoned him entirely. The overwhelming force launched him airborne. The bones in his shoulders and chest cracked like popping beans, and the vertebrae in his spine, witnessed by all, ruptured his back skin and flew outward!

In an instant! A single moment, Luan Nanji’s entire body exploded from within! His vision abruptly went black, and he was ejected from the Sky Battle Net.

“Waaah!”

A scream echoed in the quiet villa. Luan Nanji, lying in bed, shot upright. His pajamas felt as if they had just been plunged into water, and his hair was dripping with moisture.

He gasped for air, raising his head to stare at a painting on the wall opposite his bed—an image of Virūpākṣa, one of the Four Heavenly Kings from temple mythology.

Below the divine beasts of every planet were their own formidable subordinates. The White Tiger, the Vermilion Bird, and the Azure Dragon each commanded their own Four Constellation Generals. He was already falling behind.

“Who… who was that?” Li Tianji stared blankly at the painting. “My Nuclear Fission, which could kill a Ten-Star martial artist across levels, why was it so fragile before him? Even facing my father, I only admired his strength; I never felt fear. Why, why did I feel fear facing that single punch just now? Thirty-Six Hours… it seems you truly are just one step away from Ten-Star…”

The villa fell silent again, just as the massive arena’s special channel for five million viewers entered an unprecedented quiet.

No one had anticipated this outcome.

The top-ranked Nine-Star martial artist, Luan Nanji, who utilized the expensive killing art 【Nuclear Fusion Fist】, could not withstand a single punch from Thirty-Six Hours.

In just one punch, Luan Nanji was not only defeated, but dead! If this were reality, Thirty-Six Hours’ punch would have already turned him into a bloody mess of torn flesh!

Three punches? It turned out that 'Three Punches' was merely Thirty-Six Hours being modest!

Qin Fen exhaled, his ruddy complexion showing a faint pallor, though this paleness was instantly replaced by returning color. The skin on the back of his hand simultaneously turned slightly charred black but quickly reverted to normal.

That momentary flash of paleness was only perceptible to the stronger martial artists among the five million viewers.

The Nuclear Fusion Fist was not an ordinary New Martial Art; its radiation was incredibly potent! Even though Thirty-Six Hours was surging with imposing momentum, he could not completely block the assault of the radiation.

In that instant, the radiation had killed a significant number of Thirty-Six Hours’ cells, which was why his face had turned pale. The intense heat of the Nuclear Fusion Fist had even scorched Thirty-Six Hours’ fist.

However, Thirty-Six Hours’ physical functions were too powerful. His body instantaneously generated new cells, compensating for the lost ones, and simultaneously restored his arm.

Even in reality, in such a situation, although Thirty-Six Hours’ hand burns might require a brief period to heal, his body’s cells could definitely recover instantly.

Luan Nanji was truly unlucky! Many martial artists’ minds echoed the same thought.

The terror of the Nuclear Fusion Fist lay in its radiation—its ability to kill the body’s cells, causing the martial artist to gradually lose stamina and combat power until…

It could be said that the Nuclear Fusion Fist, beyond its terrifying external attack power, hid a poisonous, corrosive method of attack. And this hidden attack was the most lethal!

Luan Nanji was too unlucky! He met an opponent who wouldn't grant him the time to prolong the battle. This punch from Thirty-Six Hours, like a true dragon breaking its seal, instantly shattered Luan Nanji completely.

Luan Nanji was too unlucky! Even if he could extend the fight, the eventual victor might still be him. His opponent, Thirty-Six Hours, possessed incredibly robust physical functions; his inner strength was filled with vitality, capable of instantly manufacturing massive numbers of cells. His defense was too bizarre.

The 【Nuclear Fission】, capable of cross-level execution against Ten-Star martial artists, should, even if it didn't kill the target, have its instantaneous radiation instantly destroy vast numbers of Thirty-Six Hours’ cells, leaving him pale and combat-ineffective for a short time.

Yet, the ferocious Nuclear Fission, when facing Thirty-Six Hours, was as gentle as a newly married bride, only causing a slight whiteness to cross Qin Fen’s face.

The arena remained as quiet as before. Qin Fen took a deep breath and fixed his gaze on Shanhe Sheji, who was still nearby. He raised a hand, pointed toward Kuang Lang in another direction: “Now, can you all come at once?”

The vast audience suddenly remembered: Right! The reason Thirty-Six Hours played a one-on-one with Luan Nanji just now was to prove his capability of fighting a group!

The Nine-Star martial artists who had previously spoken out and revealed their positions instantly became the focus of everyone’s attention. The special channel appropriately gave them close-ups, projecting magnified images of their facial expressions into the air.

Kuang Lang’s silent face gradually broke into a smile: “Thirty-Six Hours, although I have never fought Luan Nanji, I can certainly feel that I am perhaps just a little stronger than him. Fighting you one-on-one, I have no chance of winning, but perhaps engaging with the Nine-Star who might be the strongest among us could stimulate me to break through again.”

“Since Big Brother Kuang Lang agrees to a group fight, then I, Xiong Hai, have no reason to object.”

“Big Brother Kuang Lang?” Kuang Lang frowned. “Am I that old? I’m only twenty-five this year. You look a bit older than me, don’t you?”

Martial artists, much like women, are sensitive about age. Theoretically, the older a martial artist is, unless they have reached a certain pinnacle, the narrower their future path in martial arts.

A twenty-five-year-old Nine-Star martial artist, within a certain context, qualified as a minor genius given his age and attainment level.

It was just that people really shouldn't compare themselves. Qin Fen was not yet nineteen and had already reached the peak of Nine-Star, leaving many widely acknowledged geniuses behind and trampled underfoot.

The explosive period of growth in strength was something even Heaven understood. His Nine-Star experience seemed extensive, likely the most seasoned among those about to fight.

“A woman’s age is always kept secret, but since everyone has shared theirs, I shall too,” Fengchen Tianxia smiled and nodded. “Today happens to be my twenty-sixth birthday.”

“Hahaha… Didn’t expect the Nine-Stars to be a group of old uncles!” Shanhe Sheji strode onto the platform with the imposing gait of a dragon, a hint of arrogance coloring his brow. “I am not yet twenty-one! I entered the Nine-Star realm a year ago! And I wasn't even twenty when I did!”

Gasps erupted from the audience time and again. Entering the Nine-Star realm before the age of twenty! Even though he had remained in the Nine-Star realm for a year, this young man’s future martial achievements were likely astonishing, and he must have considerable background and connections, one would assume?

Qin Fen sized up Shanhe Sheji again, secretly praising his own discerning eye for being able to single out such an opponent from mere battle records.

While Qin Fen was assessing Shanhe Sheji, all the martial artists on the platform, and the audience, were focused on Qin Fen—he was the only one on the stage who hadn't disclosed his age.

“I say…” Shanhe Sheji raised an eyebrow. “Thirty-Six Hours, even if your appearance is something you can’t bear to show the world, you should at least tell us how old you are?”

“Me?” Qin Fen straightened his back with greater pride. “I am not yet nineteen, and I entered the Nine-Star realm nearly three months ago…”

The audience erupted! The collection of gasps converged, like a sudden clap of thunder striking from the sky.

What? Not yet nineteen? This Thirty-Six Hours before them was only eighteen years old! And he was in the very first year of his period of explosive strength growth!