Chapter 20: A Sudden Upheaval
I've been discovered! Su Jingxing's heart gave a jolt.
How could the young man have noticed him from dozens of meters away? How had he managed it?
Su Jingxing had come purely out of curiosity, just to take a look. He hadn't expected the young man, in the midst of a fight, to sense his presence.
Was this fellow that skilled?
Not that Su Jingxing was afraid. Judging by how long it took the young man and his companions to bring down the burly man, their cultivation level wasn't high. The young man in the lead was probably at the eighth rank, at most the seventh.
Even if Su Jingxing couldn't defeat a seventh-rank martial artist, he was confident he could retreat with ease. If it had been a sixth or even fifth-rank expert, he would have left the moment he laid eyes on them.
Because he felt no fear and trusted in his own abilities, Su Jingxing had dared to hide in the shadows and observe the whole process. Being discovered now filled him only with doubt, not dread.
There wasn't much harm in stepping out to meet the young man. But was it really necessary?
As Su Jingxing hesitated, a sudden upheaval erupted on the field.
With a thunderous boom, the supposedly dead burly man abruptly rose from the ground, his massive frame looming. Like giant fans, his hands swung toward the two nearest men and came down with crushing force.
Smack! Smack!
Blood spattered, skulls shattered. The two men struck had their heads burst open instantly.
"Watch out!"
"What’s happening?"
"Kill him!"
The others were thrown into chaos, panic-stricken by the unexpected turn. They scattered, regrouping to besiege the burly man anew.
"How can this be!" the young man exclaimed, unable to care about Su Jingxing any longer. He turned, staring at the burly man in disbelief, his eyes filled with alarm.
"All of you, together! Don't hold back—cut off his head!" the young man barked, charging at the burly man himself.
The others, seeing this, had no choice but to grit their teeth and follow, encircling the burly man and launching into a frenzied assault.
From a distance, Su Jingxing watched with growing astonishment and confusion.
He wasn’t dead?
The burly man hadn’t died before?
The young man's final blow had landed right on his chest, the force sufficient to shatter a heart. Yet not only had the burly man survived, he seemed even stronger.
A moment ago, he'd clearly been on the verge of defeat, cornered and finished off by the group. Now, he was displaying terrifying power.
His defenses had become impenetrable—swords and blades left no mark on his body. His hands, broad as fans, seemed to possess infinite strength.
With every sweep, the very air shuddered.
Even his speed surpassed what it had been before.
Of the young man’s followers, only a few could barely keep up with the burly man’s movements. The rest were useless, not only failing to help but falling victim to crushing blows—chests caved in, skulls obliterated.
Bang! Bang! Bang—
Explosive thuds resounded one after another, relentless in the night.
But soon, the chaos subsided. Only the young man remained, still resisting the burly man’s onslaught.
The burly man attacked relentlessly, charging in a mad fury. The young man could only dodge and retreat, step by step.
His path of retreat, Su Jingxing realized, was leading directly toward his own hiding spot!
Trying to draw trouble my way?
Su Jingxing saw through the young man’s ploy, a cold sneer flickering in his heart.
As the distance closed, Su Jingxing could finally make out the faces of both the burly man and the young man. The latter was unremarkable, but the burly man—his mouth had been sewn shut!
No wonder he hadn't made a sound this whole time.
Su Jingxing's eyes gleamed as he stood, preparing to leave.
But at that very moment—
Whoom!
The air exploded with a sharp crack.
The burly man, enraged as if provoked, suddenly accelerated. With a thunderous crash, he rammed into the young man, sending him flying like a ragdoll tossed by a speeding car.
Before the young man even hit the ground, the burly man lunged again, seizing the young man’s ankles in his enormous hands and swinging him down with brutal force.
Crash!
The ground trembled, fissures spiderwebbing outward from the impact. At the center, the young man's body was mangled, bones shattered, driven into the earth—only his feet and lower legs remained in the burly man's grasp.
So fast—
It was both swift and savage!
The young man didn’t even have time to scream before he was battered to death, his corpse utterly destroyed.
It was merciless, and paired with the burly man’s emotionless face and bloodthirsty eyes, he seemed a veritable killing machine.
A machine?
Watching the entire scene, Su Jingxing’s thoughts raced.
He had just decided to make his escape when the burly man, now only ten meters away, made his move.
Swish! Swish!
The sound of air being torn apart.
The burly man hurled the young man’s severed legs at Su Jingxing with violent force.
And as he threw them, his massive body charged in pursuit, barreling toward Su Jingxing like a runaway locomotive.
So fast!
That was Su Jingxing’s first thought.
Impossible to dodge!
His second thought.
In a flash, Su Jingxing made his move. Instead of retreating, he faced the threat head-on.
If escape was impossible, then he would fight!
In that instant, his mind was unprecedentedly clear. He unleashed Seven Steps Fist, holding nothing back. Five thousand pounds of force erupted with each movement.
Bang! Bang!
He smashed the flying legs to pieces with two punches, his body shifting forward.
One step, two steps, three steps...
On the fifth step, he met the burly man head-on.
In a split second, both hands flared with five thousand pounds of strength each. The Seven Steps Fist exploded forth, unleashing a combined force of twenty-five thousand pounds in a direct clash with the burly man.
Crack!
His right fist, reinforced with inner energy, collided with the burly man's hand, shattering it into fragments and bloody pulp.
With a sickening squelch, his left fist, also wrapped in inner energy, punched straight through the burly man’s chest, his entire arm passing through.
But the burly man still didn’t die!
He continued his attack, his remaining hand swinging at Su Jingxing’s head with deadly force.
With his mind racing, Su Jingxing acted first. Using his arm lodged in the burly man’s chest as a lever, he heaved the entire giant forward.
The burly man’s strike missed, his huge frame dragged along uncontrollably by Su Jingxing, sent hurtling backward over ten meters before slamming into the ground and rolling several times as Su Jingxing wrenched his arm free.
Whoosh!
Regaining his freedom, Su Jingxing dashed forward, arriving before the burly man could rise. He aimed a punch directly at the man’s head.
With a dull boom, the burly man’s head exploded in a spray of white and red, splattering the ground.
[Barbarian corpse discovered. Do you wish to collect?]
Barbarian?
The Barbarians!?
Su Jingxing, not yet relaxed, was stunned by the prompt.
The burly man was a Barbarian?
The young man and his group had been attacking a Barbarian?
A Barbarian had appeared within Qinghe City, yet there was no sign of alarm?
Could it be...