The dojo was deathly silent.
Wu Hui Li'ang's expression was uglier than ever as he cursed Raian inwardly for being a complete idiot. He'd relied on brute force for so long that his brain had practically turned into muscle.
Facing an unfathomably deep expert like Kurosaki Rei, how could Raian open with a wide, heavy-hitting move like Breaking Mountain? It was riddled with openings—far too easy to counter with soft techniques.
Raian getting shut down by Breaking Mountain was exactly what Wu Hui Li'ang had expected. What truly unsettled him, however, was that Kurosaki Rei hadn't countered with grappling or evasion at all. Instead, he had seen through the flow of Raian's muscular power and, in an exquisite manner, redirected it—causing Raian to expose a massive opening the instant his technique failed.
Two seconds later, Raian regained consciousness and realized he was kneeling on the ground.
He lifted his head and saw Kurosaki Rei standing before him, looking down from above with a cold, indifferent expression.
I… just got knocked unconscious?
Shock instantly ignited into raging fury. When he saw Kurosaki Rei raise his hand and curl a finger at him in a beckoning gesture, he felt as if every blood vessel in his body was about to explode.
Yet to the astonishment of all the Wu Clan members present, the usually violent Raian didn't roar.
Instead, he stood up in silence.
Those pitch-black eyes locked tightly onto Kurosaki Rei. Rage condensed into icy killing intent.
He was serious now.
Seeing this version of Raian, the corner of Kurosaki Rei's mouth lifted slightly.
"My holding back wasn't in vain. Looks like you can still last a few more moves. Come—let me experience the profundity of the Wu Clan's martial arts."
At this point, more and more Wu Clan members were gathering around the dojo. Their current number-one fighter, Raian, had been knocked down—this was explosive news.
For thirteen hundred years, the Wu Clan had continuously refined and optimized their bloodline through intermarriage with powerful individuals. Today, they were practically a race of "new humans," a clan with no weaklings. In terms of physical ability, every single person present could be called superhuman.
And Raian—
Raian was a superhuman among superhumans. With his ability to use 100% Release, no one had ever seen him suffer a setback.
But now they were witnessing someone even stronger.
That young man standing in the center of the dojo was like an immovable mountain.
Steady.
That was the only word the Wu Clan members could think of.
Raian sensed it too. It felt as though he wasn't facing someone his own age—or even younger—but an old grandmaster who had immersed himself in martial arts for seventy or eighty years, and who possessed physical ability no weaker than his own.
Facing Kurosaki Rei felt like facing an abyss—one whose depth he could never fully gauge.
As they confronted each other, invisible pressure collided.
For the first time in a long while, Raian felt true pressure. Sweat slid down from his forehead.
The next instant, the silence shattered.
This time, it wasn't Raian who moved—
It was Kurosaki Rei.
Kurosaki Rei exploded into motion. The wooden floor beneath him cracked apart, and his figure was so fast that many Wu Clan members couldn't see him clearly. In the blink of an eye, the distance between him and Raian vanished.
A steel-like punch shot out, carrying an overwhelming momentum like mountains and seas. The fist hadn't even arrived yet, but the shockwave was already slamming into Raian's face.
In martial arts, there was a crucial concept: striking before the strike.
Raian had intended to read the signs before Kurosaki Rei's attack and counter with a late strike that arrived first—but Kurosaki Rei was far too fast. Worse still, there were no signs at all.
At the critical moment, Raian drove his left elbow upward from below, slamming it fiercely toward Kurosaki Rei's fist.
This move was called Buddha Slayer, originally meant to strike an enemy's throat. Now, he was using it defensively.
Though he had lost the initiative, Raian believed he had responded perfectly. Elbow against fist—at this distance, Kurosaki Rei wouldn't be able to change his move in time. The outcome was obvious.
Kurosaki Rei's fist should shatter.
Bang—
Just as Raian thought he had regained the upper hand, searing pain erupted from his elbow.
His body staggered backward from the collision. In his peripheral vision, he caught sight of Kurosaki Rei's fist.
A gray-black sheen like forged metal shimmered across it. Not only was it completely unharmed by the impact—Raian felt as though his own bones were about to crack.
Before he could even process that thought, another gust of force arrived.
Kurosaki Rei's kick.
Raian could only hastily abandon offense and raise his arms to guard his side.
The tremendous force transmitted through his body. He barely managed to stabilize himself—and then Kurosaki Rei's next attack was already there.
The spectators stared in utter disbelief.
Raian was fully serious now, fighting in complete Release—yet he was being beaten so badly that he couldn't fight back at all.
Once he lost the initiative, Raian never found another opening. Kurosaki Rei's offense was like a raging storm, relentless and endlessly shifting, impossible to fully defend against.
If Raian weren't truly a combat genius, he would have been overwhelmed and broken within three moves.
Even so, after dozens of exchanges, he began to show clear signs of decline.
After all—constant defense always leads to failure.
During one exchange, Raian exposed an opening.
Kurosaki Rei instantly closed the distance, entering Raian's inner range. One hand brushed aside Raian's punch—both attack and defense in one—while the other delivered a one-inch punch straight into Raian's heart.
Release relied heavily on the heart's blood supply. Struck at such a vital point, Raian's body instantly stiffened, his balance collapsing as he stumbled backward uncontrollably.
Kurosaki Rei followed up with three consecutive one-inch punches, each landing squarely on Raian's heart.
As Raian completely lost balance and fell backward, Kurosaki Rei stepped forward again, his fingers forming a spear-hand that stabbed straight downward—
Aimed directly at Raian's throat.
"Don't!"
Wu Fengshui's cry rang out across the dojo.
Kurosaki Rei's spear-hand stopped just short of Raian's throat.
Raian's body slammed to the ground with a dull thud.
Kurosaki Rei straightened up and smiled in Wu Fengshui's direction.
"I said it already. I'm only here for martial exchange. I have no intention of killing anyone."
As he spoke, he stomped downward, planting his foot squarely on Raian's chest.
The floor beneath them shattered completely.
Raian, who had been trying to counterattack, coughed up blood violently. The purple hue across his body rapidly faded as his Release state was forcibly undone.
Kurosaki Rei glanced down at Raian beneath his foot.
"Trying to sneak an attack during a spar isn't a very good habit. That said… I would like to see your assassination techniques."
"Kurosaki… Rei…"
With his vitals heavily damaged, Raian didn't even have the strength to roar anymore. In his pitch-black eyes, the man above him slowly blurred out of focus.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
In the silent dojo, applause rang out.
The sound came from the thin, elderly man.
"That was a truly magnificent match."
Wu Hui Li'ang, clan head of the Wu Clan, stood up with a smile on his face.
"And I must thank Mr. Rei for teaching Raian, that arrogant brat, a lesson."
This battle had genuinely shaken Wu Hui Li'ang. He felt that even in his own prime, it would have been difficult to defeat Raian so cleanly and decisively.
Kurosaki Rei looked barely in his early twenties, yet in the path of martial arts, his attainments were already this profound—truly rare.
"Take this useless fellow away for treatment. After this battle, he should finally understand that there's always someone stronger, and a higher heaven beyond. Secret techniques aren't invincible. Neglect proper martial cultivation, and defeat is inevitable."
Wu Hui Li'ang ordered the clan members to carry Raian away, his tone filled with reflection.
He himself had once suffered a defeat in his youth. But without that loss, he would never have achieved true greatness. It was precisely because he lost once that he returned to the clan and devoted himself to mastering combat techniques and secret arts—eventually becoming a peerless expert.
Raian now was just like him back when he had first become the Fang of Metsudo—relying solely on 100% Release to crush opponents with raw physical power, neglecting technique. Against truly top-tier experts, such arrogance was bound to fail.
So his earlier words of thanks to Kurosaki Rei were sincere. Kurosaki Rei's victory would make Raian stronger.
"Then,"
Kurosaki Rei turned his gaze toward Wu Hui Li'ang.
"Shall the legendary first-generation Fang of Metsudo exchange techniques with Rei next?"
If one spoke purely of skill, Wu Hui Li'ang was undoubtedly among the very top experts in this world.
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