Translator: CinderTL
"Who are they?"
"They're really bundled up!"
In the vast Martial Arts Arena, the crowd lining the corridors recoiled as they spotted two figures deliberately concealing themselves. Their faces paled as they hastily widened the distance.
The two black-clad figures stepped into view, like riverbed stones revealed by the receding tide, their presence mirrored in every gaze.
They wore wide-brimmed sun hats, masks, and sunglasses, their disguises almost ostentatiously thorough. Each carried a black backpack, hinting at formidable weapons or powerful artifacts.
"They appear to be Pinnacle Realm Martial Artists," Flying General Zhao murmured, his brow furrowed. A blue light flickered in his eyes as his Scanning Module detected faint energy field fluctuations.
Chu Shihong's expression grew grave. The two figures then removed their sunglasses and masks, revealing a man and a woman with pale skin and striking blue eyes.
The crowd froze, momentarily stunned, before someone recognized them.
"It's Iphia!" Old Leader Zhang exclaimed, his brow furrowing slightly.
One of the pair was none other than the Star Palace Swordsman who had suffered a psychological scar at the hands of Chen Feng during the Niduo Kingdom's Capital incident.
The other was quickly identified as well.
"And Kagor too."
"They actually came."
Celine's eyes flickered as she quickly grasped the situation, shaking her head inwardly.
As if to confirm her suspicions, the man beside Iphia stepped forward and clasped his hands in a respectful greeting.
"Grandmaster Chen, greetings. Iphia and I mean no harm. We're simply curious about the Martial Arts Method you're about to unveil."
The man, Kagor, was tall with short brown hair and a square, angular face. To demonstrate his sincerity, he deliberately spoke in the Red Nation's language.
"This disguise was a regrettable necessity," he explained. "We had no involvement in the recent riots and wish to avoid being embroiled in such matters, which would only complicate things."
His explanation drew mixed reactions. Some frowned, while others seemed relieved.
Just days prior, the Nanjiang High Wall had been attacked during a riot, leading the Platinum Federation to impose strict city controls. The stronger one was, the more restrictions they faced—a reality Chen Feng couldn't deny.
He could sense that these two harbored no ill intentions. Discovering them had been simple: his Perception had swept through the area and detected the concealed aura of Pinnacle Realm Martial Artists.
His gaze then shifted to the unusually silent Iphia. Her face was pale, and her once-proud and aloof demeanor was now marred by exhaustion, with dark circles under her eyes.
Their eyes met, and Chen Feng clearly saw the flicker of fear and the slight tremor in her gaze.
She gripped the black backpack containing her longsword tightly, betraying her anxiety that he might strike at her.
"Scared out of your wits?" Chen Feng mused inwardly, unsurprised.
During the World Fighting Tournament, he had spared Iphia's life out of respect for Old Leader Zhang. But the mental shock from Wrath of the Storm had left an indelible shadow, a harsh and unforgettable punishment.
"Take your seats," Chen Feng said calmly, his voice devoid of warmth. He no longer considered ordinary Pinnacle Realm practitioners worthy of his attention.
Kagor, the man beside her, visibly relaxed at these words. He quickly thanked Chen Feng and led Iphia toward Old Leader Zhang's seating area.
Watching this, Chairman Li Yun maintained his practiced smile, while Flying General Zhao behind him looked thoughtful. The Grandmasters of the Saint Sect and several traditional martial arts elders wore complex expressions. Chen Feng's magnanimous spirit, unburdened by petty worldly conflicts, was simply beyond the reach of ordinary people.
No one dared question him, and everyone assumed the brief interlude had finally come to an end.
But then...
"What about you?" Chen Feng's deep voice suddenly cut through the silence.
The crowd in the Martial Arts Arena froze, surprised to see Chen Feng slowly turn his head to focus on another spot within their ranks.
"Those two were sincere enough," Chen Feng said calmly. "I can overlook their actions."
"But..."
His voice remained even, though a flicker of crimson flame flashed in his eyes.
Chen Feng's gaze locked onto the edge of the arena, near the cliff, where a seemingly inconspicuous figure lurked within the crowd.
"Why do you dare harbor malice toward me?"
Whoosh!
The crowd erupted in murmurs, their heads swiveling to follow Chen Feng's gaze.
Flying General Zhao Fei was taken aback. His Scanning Module hadn't detected any other anomalies.
Yang Wudi, Celine, and the others furrowed their brows. Could there be another hidden expert among them?
Tap, tap, tap, tap!
The tightly packed crowd parted once more, revealing a tall figure clad in a black windbreaker.
A baseball cap shaded his bronze-skinned face, the stubble around his lips giving him a weathered appearance.
A medium-sized hiking backpack slung across his shoulder completed the image of a seasoned mountaineer.
For some reason, Celine's brow furrowed as she studied the newcomer from afar. He looked strangely familiar.
As she racked her memory, the man suddenly lifted his head and spoke in an even tone.
"Even Flying General-class cyborgs couldn't detect this cloaking device, yet it failed to deceive your senses."
"No wonder you managed to kill Martial Divinity."
As the words faded, an invisible pressure rippled through the air.
The wind and clouds beneath the cliff stilled, and the man in the duckbill cap revealed a middle-aged face with tanned skin.
His amber eyes shone like polished gemstones. Celine, observing from afar, her pupils constricting, finally recognized him.
"It's Blade!" she declared, her tone grave and serious.
Beside her, Old Leader Zhang tensed, and Yang Wudi slowly lowered his cigarette.
"Blade?"
"Could it be Raging Thunder Blade?" Chairman Li Yun tilted his head, frowning, the name vaguely familiar.
Behind him, Flying General Zhao searched through the database and nodded gravely, his expression solemn.
Blade was one of the Star Palace's earliest elders and the only Ultimate Martial Artist on Earth to have perfected the fusion of Gun Martial Arts, reaching the pinnacle of both disciplines.
Moreover, he had once successfully assassinated a Sixth-Tier Flying General from a neighboring nation.
Rumor had it that Blade had recently grown close to the Platinum Federation's military.
"Originally, I intended to wait until your lecture was over before challenging you to a spar," Blade said calmly. "It would have been a chance to test my Gun Martial Path and redeem the Star Palace's honor."
"But now it seems..."
Tick!
Blade's expression remained impassive as a wristband suddenly appeared in his hand.
The crowd looked on in confusion.
The next instant—
Whoosh!!!
A deafening sonic boom shattered the air.
A massive blue energy beam, several meters wide, shot from the distant wilderness at terrifying speed, tearing through the air and transforming the gray-bricked Martial Arts Arena into a live-fire range.
Everyone froze, their faces rigid with shock. Even Flying General Zhao and Yang Wudi's expressions shifted abruptly.
"An Energy Cannon!"
Boom!!!
The blue beam struck the earth, obliterating the ground.
The youth in the black robe with crimson patterns vanished in a cloud of smoke and dust, leaving a colossal crater in his wake.
The ground shook violently as a shockwave swept outward like a storm. Stone bricks shattered into lethal shrapnel, propelled outward with terrifying force.
"Senior Brother!!"
"Senior Brother!!!"
The members of the Flame Tiger Sect cried out in shock and fury, barely managing to block the hail of exploding debris.
A dense wave of fragments scattered wildly, shattering tables and chairs, and cracking support beams.
Just as the shockwave threatened to escalate into a widespread massacre—
Thump!
The world fell silent, as if a heartbeat echoed through the air.
A powerful Pinnacle Intent, fused with the Wrath of the Storm, drew upon the World Force, creating a Force Field that radiated outward.
Flying General Zhao and his companions, who had been about to intervene, froze mid-motion. Before their eyes, the world seemed to solidify, trapped in absolute stillness.
"What..."
A corporate director, drenched in cold sweat, stared fixedly at a stone fragment suspended inches from his nose.
Every shard hung motionless in the air. Veteran martial artists swallowed hard, realizing their bodies had stiffened, making movement difficult.
Until finally—
Tap!
A footstep broke the silence, and all the suspended debris clattered to the ground.
With a flick of his sleeve, Chen Feng dispersed the smoke and dust from the energy cannon's impact crater. He emerged slowly, his Glazed Crystal armor shimmering with diamond-like brilliance, reflecting the heavens and the earth.
"Oh?"
Blade, still standing at the cliff's edge, raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"So you really can withstand a miniature energy cannon."
He had always dismissed the Niduo Kingdom's Capital's claim of breaking human limits as mere boasting to save face.
But now...
"No wonder you dare call yourself an Ultimate Martial Artist."
Blade's initial surprise quickly dissipated, replaced by an almost arrogant composure.
The bracelet on his wrist pulsed again, and another thunderous explosion tore through the sky.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several more beams of blinding energy shot forth, but this time they weren't aimed at the crater.
Instead...
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Sonic booms reverberated as Chen Feng's crimson-patterned black robe billowed violently.
He froze mid-motion, having stomped the ground to flash before Blade. The incredibly powerful energy lasers, precisely predicting his position, relentlessly struck at his forehead.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
Cracks spiderwebbed across the ground, and the violent shockwaves sent his Qi and Blood surging violently.
Chen Feng tilted his head slightly, his eyes cold, sensing a peculiar enhancement in the energy beams.
The concentrated impact far exceeded the damage of dispersed strikes, and a new hairline fracture appeared on the Glazed Crystal on his forehead.
Yet...
"Just a hair's breadth away."
With a mocking grin, Blade leaped backward at the last moment. Liquid metal rapidly formed over his eyes, solidifying into fiberglass goggles resembling scanning modules.
Anticipating the attack, Blade activated his Force Field Shield just in time to evade the deadly punch.
Boom!
The air exploded, sending a pillar of shockwaves erupting skyward.
A fierce gust of wind, deflected by his blue light shield, tore past the cliff, scattering the clouds above.
The howling wind, now blocked by the Force Field, threatened to destabilize Blade, nearly plunging him into the abyss.
But then, in the next instant...
His travel backpack ripped open, revealing a disc-shaped single-person aircraft. With a roar of its engines, it rose to support him.
As he hovered in mid-air, Blade refocused his mind and issued commands through the ring on his finger.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Another ear-piercing sonic boom echoed as seven or eight beams of energy streaked across the horizon.
A faint black dot could be seen suspended high above—a specially designed Energy Cannon platform, equipped with flight and weight-bearing modules, hovering under the control of his Force Field.
The extraordinary spectacle unfolded before everyone's eyes. Old Leader Zhang and the others wore grave expressions, while Celine's gaze held a complex mixture of emotions.
This was the Gun Martial Path she had once pursued.
A path where an elevated spiritual will rivaled technological intelligence and precise algorithms, and a Physical Body pushed to its limits endured the recoil of advanced weaponry.
Blade, once the target of their relentless pursuit, had pushed this path to its absolute peak, exhausting the full potential of the human body.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The enhanced Energy Cannon struck with pinpoint accuracy, shaking the earth to the brink of collapse. A raging storm of smoke and dust swept across the landscape, threatening to obliterate all life in its path.
"Flying General Zhao!" Chu Shihong shouted in alarm and fury, pleading for the legendary warrior to intervene.
Zhao Fei nodded grimly, his face grave as he prepared to act. Chairman Li Yun, his brow furrowed deeply, made no move to stop him.
But then...
"Intriguing," Chen Feng murmured.
Hum!
Pinnacle Intent descended, dispelling the smoke and dust. The storm of energy vanished entirely. At the bottom of the crater, Chen Feng's black coat billowed around him, his body radiating a golden aura a foot thick—an indomitable presence soaring skyward.
Blade, observing from his cliffside perch amidst the sea of clouds, registered a flicker of surprise before Chen Feng vanished without a trace. His goggles, equipped with a Scanning Module, relentlessly searched for any sign of him.
But neither earth nor sky revealed a trace.
Only the air beside Blade suddenly trembled, erupting with a deafening boom.
(End of the Chapter)
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