The area around the sparsely populated Mingyue Lake was dim, with only faint streaks of light emanating from distant streetlamps. In this darkness, the bald, burly man known as ‘Shiva’ was brimming with fighting spirit.

“Hahahaha…” Shiva roared with laughter, his legs churning like a pair of massive cleavers, hacking wildly at Teng Qingshan.

Teng Qingshan managed a grunt, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“Thwack!” The right leg descended with terrifying speed.

The sheer impact forced Teng Qingshan’s arms against his chest, and he quickly pivoted on the balls of his feet, stepping back rapidly to dissipate the force.

“Flying Dagger Lone Wolf, your skill is impressive. You have certainly stepped through the gate to the ‘Unity of Heaven and Man’ realm—what you Chinese call the ‘Grandmaster Realm.’ However, judging by your age, you must have only just entered it. A true pity, hahaha…” the bald brute, ‘Shiva,’ spoke in English.

Teng Qingshan knew that ‘Unity of Heaven and Man’ was the highest attainment in ancient Indian Yoga, equivalent to the Grandmaster level in internal martial arts.

Without the Tiger Form Divine Skill doubling his physical constitution, Teng Qingshan might very well have died today. After all, the two opponents before him were established SS-rank powerhouses.

The strength Teng Qingshan had revealed thus far was merely that of an initial Grandmaster; his true capabilities remained concealed.

“Finish it quickly; don’t waste time,” the man in white, ‘Vishnu,’ interjected from the sidelines.

“Understood, Big Brother.”

Shiva acknowledged this with a low hum, his muscles instantly twisting and bulging, even his spine convulsing and writhing. His body began to visibly elongate; his arms, thighs, abdomen, and neck all swelled, adding bulk. At this moment, Shiva looked like a demon descended.

“To force me to use my full strength, even in death, you should feel proud,” Shiva declared, then pushed off the ground, shooting forward like an arrow.

Teng Qingshan’s face changed drastically, and he instantly tried to flee at top speed.

“You cannot escape.” Shiva’s speed had increased exponentially, rapidly closing the distance to Teng Qingshan.

Teng Qingshan roared in frustration, turning to deliver a counter-strike with a Crashing Fist from a reverse grip.

“Hahahaha…” Shiva casually swept out a leg, catching Teng Qingshan squarely on his right arm, simultaneously sweeping the entire man away. Teng Qingshan smashed into a large tree in the distance, the impact causing a noticeable bulge beneath the fabric of his back as he hit the trunk.

He tumbled to the ground after the collision.

“Pfft.” A trickle of blood escaped Teng Qingshan’s lips.

“Hahahaha…” Shiva grew more triumphant and charged again at full speed.

“It’s about time,” Teng Qingshan mused internally. That trace of blood was from biting his tongue deliberately. Everything he had shown from the start was meant to lull Shiva—and Vishnu watching on—into a false sense of security. The strength Teng Qingshan displayed perfectly matched that of a newly ascended Grandmaster, aligning with their assumptions. They harbored no suspicion.

“Die,” Shiva commanded, his tone sealing the opponent’s fate, bringing his leg down in a devastating chop. “Sssshhh~~” This ferociously powerful kick tore the air with a low whistle as it plummeted towards Teng Qingshan. Even before the foot made contact, Teng Qingshan felt a crushing air pressure bearing down on his head.

At that very instant—

His form blurred, his left hand lunging like a water-dragon emerging from the depths, carrying a peculiar spiraling force to meet the descending kick, while his right fist was already coiling power.

“Thump.” Teng Qingshan’s left arm met Shiva’s right leg at a slant, deflecting the bulk of the opposing force. Even so, Teng Qingshan used the momentum to shift sharply to the right, simultaneously unleashing his already charged right fist—like a cannonball fired—straight towards Shiva’s chest.

“Hahahaha…” Shiva continued to laugh maniacally, utterly unconcerned by the incoming punch. He countered immediately with another left leg strike, slicing through the air toward Teng Qingshan.

Teng Qingshan’s right fist attack meant he could not block the incoming left leg strike in time.

“Thud!”

His right arm swelled with power. The fierce punch, just as it neared Shiva’s chest, suddenly surged with explosive might. In high-level internal martial arts duels, masters typically unleash their peak power in the instant their fist makes contact. The exemplary Wing Chun Cun strike, while seemingly mysterious, relies on a straightforward principle: transmitting force sequentially through bone and muscle, erupting with maximum output only at the final point of impact, the ‘fist.’

While transmission through muscle alone was the method of ordinary internal masters, Teng Qingshan, as a true Grandmaster, executed it differently. The punch appeared innocuous initially, drawing little caution from Shiva, but the final, instantaneous burst of energy was—

“Boom!”

It struck the Shanzhong acupoint directly!

“Crack!” A deep sound of fracturing bone echoed, and a violent surge of internal energy bypassed the skin, sinking directly into the vital organs.

Teng Qingshan’s true power was revealed in that single moment!

It was the most devastating move of the Five Element Fists: the Cannon Fist!

“Whoosh.” The mighty, demon-like ‘Shiva’ was thrown backward weightlessly, spewing a massive gout of blood.

“Bahadur!” The white-robed ‘Vishnu,’ who had been observing quietly, cried out in alarm, his face contorting in anxiety.

Teng Qingshan surmised that ‘Bahadur’ must be the true name of ‘Shiva,’ one of the Triumvirate. In truth, Shiva’s actual strength was likely on par with Teng Qingshan’s. Shiva had reached the ‘Unity of Heaven and Man’ state over a decade ago, while Teng Qingshan benefited from the Tiger Form Divine Skill.

However, their initial assumption that Teng Qingshan was weak—and their very decision to send only two men against him—led to this carelessness. That underestimation resulted in Shiva suffering a brutal lesson at the critical juncture.

Teng Qingshan, an equally matched powerhouse, unleashed the devastating Cannon Fist, compounded by Shiva’s arrogance in trying to absorb the blow with his body. The consequences were inevitable. A faint trace of organ tissue could be seen mixed in the blood he coughed up.

“Big Brother.” Upon hitting the ground, Shiva realized the gravity of the situation and attempted to scramble up and flee. As a 'Great Achiever' of ancient Yoga, Shiva’s skin, bones, and viscera were honed to an incredible degree. Even with internal damage, he shouldn't die so easily; his tenacity for life was unmatched.

“Escape?”

Teng Qingshan crouched low, pushing off the ground with both hands and feet, launching forward like a striking tiger. The ground shuddered as Teng Qingshan leaped ten meters, his sharp gaze fixed on ‘Shiva,’ like a tiger descending a mountain, utterly determined to tear him apart.

“Swish.” The white-robed ‘Vishnu’ immediately lunged toward Teng Qingshan the moment his brother was critically wounded.

At that precise moment—

The members of the Special Action Team, who had sped from the Ancient District Headquarters at over one hundred miles per hour, arrived at Mingyue Lake. The screech of emergency brakes and the sound of multiple footsteps were immediately registered by the heightened senses of Teng Qingshan and the two titans of the ‘Divine Nation.’

“Hahahaha, my sect members have arrived,” Teng Qingshan laughed. “Neither of you is escaping today.”

“Sect?” That single word shocked both Vishnu and Shiva to their core.

What they feared most were the inner martial arts sects of inland China, such as the Xingyi School, Wudang, or Bagua Gate. How many Grandmasters did each of those major sects command? They had sent two men to hunt down 'Flying Dagger Lone Wolf' precisely so they could retreat safely if danger arose.

Initially, they had never taken ‘Flying Dagger Lone Wolf’ seriously. After all, he was originally just an S-rank assassin; even as a new Grandmaster, he was insignificant.

But reality deviated sharply from their expectations.

The phrase ‘Sect’ caused a tremor in Vishnu and Shiva’s composure. In high-stakes combat, state of mind and momentum are paramount; a disturbed psyche can weaken one’s strength by ten or twenty percent.

“Hoo.” Shiva was desperately fleeing. Although he knew his ‘Big Brother’ Vishnu was not far behind, he dared not look back or change direction, fearing that even a moment’s hesitation would allow the rapidly approaching Teng Qingshan to seize the opportunity and kill him instantly.

He vaulted over boulders and across the road, sprinting relentlessly.

“Stop!” The white-robed ‘Vishnu’ moved with eerie swiftness, his speed nearly matching Teng Qingshan’s.

“Kill me?” The bald strongman ‘Shiva’ roared in defiance, whipping around to unleash a powerful whip kick. The sudden exertion likely aggravated his internal injuries, causing more blood to stream from his mouth.

Teng Qingshan dismissed Shiva’s ferocious facade as empty bluster. He was confident that his preceding punch had grievously wounded Shiva; the man was now just a hollow shell. Teng Qingshan swept in like a whirlwind, his hands moving like arrows loosed from a bow, relentlessly hammering Shiva.

His Crashing Fists rained down like arrows, striking Shiva’s head repeatedly until it exploded like a melon.

Because of this momentary delay, the white-robed ‘Vishnu’ caught up.

“Slash.” The enraged Vishnu brought down a punch from above with terrifying force, like Pangu splitting heaven and earth, aiming downward.

“Sshhh~~” A large section of Teng Qingshan’s back inexplicably concave inward, managing to keep the opponent’s fist from making full contact.

Suddenly, Vishnu’s right fist extended into a claw shape. Like a lion from the Americas tearing into its prey, the sharp claws raked viciously across Teng Qingshan’s back, ripping away a large chunk of flesh. Just as he finished killing Shiva, Teng Qingshan shot away.

Having a huge slab of flesh torn from his back, the agony was unimaginable.

A gory mess!

But almost instantly, Teng Qingshan’s back muscles convulsed, and the bleeding ceased. Through sheer muscle control, he temporarily stabilized the wound.

“Damn it, a large portion of my back muscle is torn. This severely impacts the power generated by my back, reducing the force of both my left and right fists by twenty percent.” While Teng Qingshan ignored the immediate pain, the drop in combat effectiveness gave him a headache, as fist power was intimately linked to the musculature of the back.

For an ordinary man, losing that much flesh from his back would render him unable to throw a punch.

“But it’s a small price to pay for killing Shiva. If he hadn’t died, while I fought Vishnu, I’d constantly have to worry about Shiva launching a sneak attack.” Teng Qingshan glanced at the corpse lying in the mud. A master of ancient Yoga, given a little time, could stabilize severe internal injuries and recover at least seventy or eighty percent of their strength. At that point, Shiva would certainly have posed a threat to Teng Qingshan. That was why Teng Qingshan had risked everything to finish him.

The white-robed ‘Vishnu’ took a deep breath, and his loose white robes billowed outward.