Res stood suspended high above the surging ocean. He gazed down at the young men clad only in swim trunks on the sand. His two slender, azure eyes flashed with sorrowful fury.
If only—perhaps even sigh. The quality of this generation’s young martial artists is truly commendable.
Today, however, Hares possessed no inclination for praise. His eyes swept across the assembled youths, causing them to instinctively leap to their feet, every ounce of Zhenqi within them pushed to the absolute limit.
In the world of martial arts, a Divine Beast martial artist truly sits on a pedestal, a god among men. Though the young warriors maximized their Zhenqi, Hares’s immense aura remained like a mountain of a million jin, crushing down upon their shoulders. In mere seconds, their legs felt the strain of cramping fatigue. Even the most confident youths, upon seeing the White Tiger, finally understood their own insignificance.
Every young person present had once aimed to reach the level of a Divine Beast, believing that with enough effort, they could attain that sacred strength.
Seeing the White Tiger now, they truly grasped the gulf between them—the difference between the ocean and a single drop of water. If the White Tiger’s aura were unleashed without restraint, it would be impossible not only to kneel on the sand but perhaps even to avoid being crushed to death by the sheer pressure alone.
Hares’s ghostly blue pupils suddenly contracted as they focused on Qin Fen, the only one in the sand who did not flinch from the killing intent. His thick lips parted slowly, and a deep voice, seemingly echoing from the primordial ages, rumbled, “You are Qin Fen?”
Those four words drifted from his mouth like the sharpest blades forged in any world!
Qin Fen’s heart hammered uncontrollably—thump-thump—in rapid succession. The blood in his veins instantly accelerated. Even the robust vitality, guaranteed by his hundred-percent mastery of Marrow Cleansing and Rebirth to the Xiantian realm, was thrown into chaotic disarray by a single sentence from the Divine Beast White Tiger.
Qin Fen closed his eyes, steadying the circulation of blood and recalibrating his internal mechanisms. He reopened his eyes, now calm, and slowly rose, nodding gently. “I am Qin Fen.”
A flicker of surprise crossed Hares’s deep blue gaze. He nodded repeatedly, murmuring, “Good. Very good. Excellent!”
The voice, choked with fury, was saturated with a murderous chill. The Little Dragon King, Yang Lie, stared at the White Tiger in disbelief. Would this powerhouse titled Divine Beast truly move against Qin Fen?
Divine Beasts possessed their own dignity and honor.
They stood supreme; even when their Star Constellation subordinates requested guidance or sparring, it depended entirely on the Divine Beast’s mood.
Qin Fen’s heels twitched, and his body shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow, launching him out of the crowd. A dragon’s roar ripped from his throat, soaring toward the heavens. The Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill instantly flared to its peak. The air around his body seemed to resonate with the circulation of his Zhenqi, forming a special, layered armor of energy.
After the battle with the Little Nether King, Qin Fen had benefited immensely from the ensuing surge of Zhenqi. Though he had broken through to the Eleven Stars, more valuable than the grade breakthrough was the profound realization he had gained. The fusion of the Martial Way of Slaughter, the Martial Way of Ferocity, the Martial Way of Underhanded Tactics, the arts of venom and shadow, and the Martial Way of Utmost Softness was finally beginning to coalesce into a clear direction.
In that instant, Qin Fen clearly perceived the White Tiger’s naked killing intent. It was absolutely not a calculated display meant to intimidate, nor was it simply a byproduct of his own Slaughter Martial Way, whose killing aura was already heavy. No, it was because he genuinely intended to strike!
That’s right!
The White Tiger was going to act. He was going to kill, to avenge his son!
Divine Beast martial artists held the honor of masters, but Divine Beast martial artists were also men. To have the son they loved most, the one they saw the greatest future in, wounded to such a degree that even a Divine Beast’s supreme skill could not heal the resulting damage—how could the White Tiger not be enraged?
“White Tiger, you aren’t seriously planning to attack and harm someone, are you?” Brooks exclaimed loudly. “Are you going to bully the small with your size?”
“Bully the small?” Hares’s icy blue gaze flashed, and the seawater beneath his feet parted to either side. He let out a sorrowful roar to the sky. “My son has been grievously wounded—do you think I still care about bullying the small? I, Hares, am first and foremost a father, and only then a Divine Beast!”
Hares’s eyes darted toward Qin Fen, whose Zhenqi emission, now at its absolute peak, was subtly lifting the strands of hair around his head. “Boy, you injured my son until he lies bedridden. Today, I shall strike you with one palm…”
“White Tiger, you should be seeking out the Qilin.”
Xing Wuyi forced himself to take a step forward against Hares’s ferocious killing intent. A dazzling streak of crimson bloomed at the corner of his lip. The overwhelming pressure caused him, the weakest among them, to suffer internal injuries on the spot.
Wiping the blood from his mouth, Xing Wuyi gritted his teeth and said, “If Song Wendong had been here, your son wouldn’t have fought Qin Fen. Do you only dare attack our juniors?”
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A trace of faint admiration flickered in Hares’s icy blue eyes. Such a young age, such low personal strength, yet he could stand up and speak purely on the backbone within him. If he had encountered such talent in the past, he might have offered guidance, perhaps even accepted him as a disciple.
However, today…
Hares glared with eyes that held the chill of absolute zero. His two eyebrows, like crimson daggers, shot upward, his expression supremely arrogant. “The Qilin, I will naturally seek him out. But Qin Fen…”
Before anyone could react, Hares flipped his wrist, spread his five fingers, and unleashed an open-palm strike across the void toward Qin Fen. A blinding, dazzling golden light erupted, resembling a golden tiger, and the air exploded with a sound like thunder.
The Divine Beast White Tiger casually delivered an empty-handed palm strike, causing the hearts of the crowd to leap wildly. They were utterly unable to react, unable even to discern the shape of this long-range palm force.
The moment Hares called his name, Qin Fen’s body had already reacted ahead of him. He channeled his internal strength into both hands, forming a closing gate shape in front of him—a move as simple as Sealing and Closing, yet the most appropriate defense at that moment.
"Impossible!
Under the palm strike of a Divine Beast level White Tiger, Qin Fen’s reaction speed was clearly no match for the incoming force. Even if he managed to dodge, he would only invite an even more violent surge of power. His explosive counterattack, the Eighteen Divine Dragons Gathering Wind and Cloud, would only cause his body to shatter his arm directly under the strain of two violent forces.
Soft force to deflect? Qin Fen knew well that even pushing his gentle deflection techniques to their absolute limit could not dissipate this single strike.
Against absolute power, softness could never divert tons of force.
“Hmph!”
Hares saw Qin Fen attempting to close his simple gate defense to lock his palm energy outside. A cold snort escaped his nostrils. He watched as the gate Qin Fen had just sealed was instantly battered open by a stronger force.
Qin Fen first felt a tremor run through both arms, followed by the sensation of being simultaneously slashed by thousands of battle knives. The overwhelming power pierced his arms and slammed into his chest.
The next moment, he felt a force surge through his chest and exit from his back! A massive palm print must have appeared on the beach where his back struck the sand.
The White Tiger’s palm had passed directly through Qin Fen’s body. No matter how powerful the protective divine technique, it proved utterly fragile against this blow.
In a flash, Qin Fen’s internal organs—stomach, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys—felt as though they were being churned by ten thousand knives. Every bone and blood vessel seemed to be slashed apart.
Pain. The moment this single thought reached Qin Fen’s mind, his legs, which had been rooted to the spot during combat, were lifted off the ground by a unilateral blow for the first time. He could not control the surge of blood welling up in his throat. He opened his mouth and sprayed a vast mist of blood. Simultaneously, the pores across his entire body flew open.
In the blink of an eye, Qin Fen was drenched in his own blood, unable to contain the sheer magnitude of the power that penetrated his entire body. He didn’t even have time to let out a scream of agony. His body tumbled uncontrollably through the air, already unconscious.
Bang!
Qin Fen landed heavily on the sand, kicking up clouds of golden sand stained crimson, which stuck to his body.
“You…”
Xing Wuyi swayed and lunged toward Qin Fen, but the other young martial artists were faster, positioning themselves in front of Qin Fen before he could reach him. Brooks, wielding the Sky-Opener blade, let out a clear, resonant cry as his weapon pointed high toward the White Tiger in the sky.
After several days of interaction, Qin Fen’s selfless sharing regarding martial arts, coupled with his genuinely likable nature, had deeply endeared him to everyone. Though they were rivals, they were also friends, brothers!
Divine Beast or not, when a brother was injured, they would fight even if they stood no chance against the Divine Beast.
“Whiiiite～～Tiger!”
Across the wide expanse of the sea, a roar filled with overwhelming fury rose up, managing to subdue the very crashing of the ocean waves. Hares’s crimson eyebrows twitched.
Since his appearance, other than that single palm strike, his body had remained motionless. The roaring fury behind him compelled him to turn his head and look back for the first time.
A silver lightning bolt, seemingly equal in speed to the golden palm strike just delivered, shot toward Hares! A piercing blade intent, laced with the vast momentum of the ocean, intercepted the White Tiger ten meters away.
Brooks’s eyes widened in shock. This was the true [Furious Slash], Xue Tian. The Xue Tian who had acted in the New Recruit Competition was merely Blade Wielder Xue Tian, not the [Furious Slash]!
Xue Tian’s body, saturated with mad rage, flashed through the air. The White Tiger’s eyebrows twisted strangely a few times. He flicked his finger lightly in the air. A pressure of golden Zhenqi slammed down onto the tip of the blade. Before it could even emit the ringing sound of metal striking metal, it fragmented into countless shards that rained down toward the sea.
“Oh?”
A hint of surprise flashed in the White Tiger’s slender, azure pupils. He had intended this single finger flick to simply bounce the blade back, allowing the attacker to taste his own medicine. He hadn't expected the power contained within the sword to exceed his calculation. This generation of youngsters...
Hares, without even glancing at the enraged sea, ignored the ascending Xue Tian. He turned his gaze back to the bloodied, unconscious Qin Fen.
“Tough bones. The force of that single palm should have been enough to leave him even more grievously injured than my son. I didn’t expect this brat’s sudden burst of power to actually dissipate a good portion of the force,” Hares thought with a cold sneer. “Very well. Although this palm didn’t shatter his bones, it severed every single meridian in his body and heavily damaged his internal organs. It will likely be impossible for him to recover in this lifetime. That will serve as revenge for my son.”
Hares’s body flickered slightly, and he was already hundreds of meters away, his figure vanishing completely in the blink of an eye.
“Qin Fen…”
“Old…”
A series of anxious cries rose up from the beach one after another. Whether one could survive taking a Divine Beast’s palm strike was questionable enough, let alone living through it.
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