Zhang Zanyuan's eyes, shimmering with a golden glow, were fixed on Gu Zheng as he growled.
"I discovered the Source Fruit first!"
'...You discovered it?'
Gu Zheng's expression remained unchanged. He spoke calmly, "If you discovered it, why didn't you pick it?"
"That's none of your business."
Zhang Zanyuan snapped, "In any case, the Source Fruit is mine! After the Domain opens, whoever discovers a Source Fruit first gets to keep it. That's a rule all the Noble Families agreed upon!"
Heh~
If he hadn't spoken with Nangong Yaoyue a few times, Gu Zheng might have actually believed him.
Still, it was just one Source Fruit. There was no need to fight over it.
Zhang Zanyuan had a grudge against Yuan Qianjun, a feud between two Noble Families that had nothing to do with Gu Zheng.
With this in mind, Gu Zheng calmed himself and was about to speak.
Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly glimpsed a dark, willow-like trunk to his right and front. On one of its branches, a slender leaf abruptly bloomed with threads of golden light that swirled around it, covering the entire leaf.
When the golden threads stopped moving, a mysterious aura emanated from the leaf. Like wind and mist, it brushed against Gu Zheng's Spirit.
A Marvel!
Gu Zheng felt the aura, and a word popped into his mind.
A Marvel derived from the Power of Rules.
It had actually just formed right under their noses.
"...So whose is this Marvel leaf?"
Gu Zheng was inwardly astonished, but his face remained calm. He looked at Zhang Zanyuan and said coolly, "Don't tell me you saw this one first, too..."
SWISH!
WHOOSH!
A sudden gale rushed toward his face.
Without a word, Zhang Zanyuan abruptly attacked. His body blurred as his speed shot to its absolute limit.
A fist wrapped in a faint golden light smashed fiercely toward Gu Zheng's head.
The air was forcibly torn apart by the punch, letting out a muffled boom as it was pierced.
BANG!
The dull impact echoed through the valley.
Fist met fist. The force of the collision blasted outward, kicking up a huge shockwave that sent fallen leaves and weeds scattering for dozens of meters.
THUD!
Zhang Zanyuan was forced back, his golden-light-covered arm trembling slightly.
SWOOSH~
An afterimage flashed past.
BANG!!
The sound of a dull, explosive collision, accompanied by a sweeping shockwave, spread in all directions.
Gu Zheng's arms swelled, bursting his sleeves. His muscles were solid as if forged from steel, containing terrifying power. Wreathed in a bronze glow, his fists blasted through the air, smashing toward Zhang Zanyuan one after another.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Zhang Zanyuan defended himself wretchedly, crossing his arms as his body was continuously forced back.
He had no control at all, knocked backward by punch after punch, almost sent flying.
In a fit of shock and fury, all the blood in his body began to thrum and boil.
"ROAR!"
It was like the roar of a giant beast, forming a sonic shockwave.
The golden light around Zhang Zanyuan erupted violently, releasing a majestic and domineering aura like that of a colossal steel city. It unleashed a terrifying force capable of shattering mountains and breaking peaks.
DONG!
Gu Zheng's Spirit, physical body, and Divine Wondrous power all took a blow. His barrage of punches was interrupted, and he instinctively retreated to regulate his breathing and steady his mind.
Yet his gaze never left Zhang Zanyuan. He watched as the man's body visibly swelled to over two and a half meters tall, stretching his clothes taut without tearing them.
Zhang Zanyuan's eyes had become entirely golden, his gaze icy and devoid of all emotion. At this moment, he stared intently at Gu Zheng.
Above his head, a pair of curved horns had forcibly sprouted. They glowed with an eerie light and flashed with a dazzling, cold gleam. At a glance, they looked like a pair of soul-stealing weapons.
"I want you dead!"
A deep, cold voice came from Zhang Zanyuan's mouth.
Before the last word had even fallen, Zhang Zanyuan's body transformed into a streak of golden light and shot in front of Gu Zheng.
SHING!
WHOOSH~
Gu Zheng dodged, moving rapidly.
He could sense that Zhang Zanyuan's strength, speed, reflexes, and even his Divine Wondrous fluctuations were all two to three times greater than before.
'Is this the effect of activating the Power of Royal Blood?'
In this state, Zhang Zanyuan was clearly not the same man Gu Zheng had suppressed in three moves a few days ago.
After the Domain opened, the power of the noble youths had increased so quickly.
However...
BOOM~!!
A deafening explosion sent shockwaves rolling out, shaking the mountains on both sides.
As he dodged, Gu Zheng launched a surprise attack. His bronze arms smashed fiercely into the back of Zhang Zanyuan's head, sending him flying. He crashed to the ground, plowing a deep trench.
It was true, Zhang Zanyuan's speed had increased two to three times.
But Gu Zheng's had increased even more.
He had spent the Demon Points he'd acquired earlier on his agility.
In terms of speed, at least, Gu Zheng was simply faster than Zhang Zanyuan, with sharper reflexes.
Zhang Zanyuan had just landed, but before he could get up, Gu Zheng was on him. His feet underwent Bronze Transformation as he stomped down viciously on the downed Zhang Zanyuan.
BAM!
RUMBLE~
The ground shook. Amidst the muffled impact, Zhang Zanyuan was stomped half a meter deep into the earth.
"Ugh~"
A muffled grunt escaped Zhang Zanyuan's lips, and a trickle of blood flowed from the corner of his mouth.
'He's injured?'
'Not enough!'
Gu Zheng bent down and swung his fists, which carried a terrifying, air-shattering force. The bronze glow canceled out the faint golden light as he unleashed a violent torrent downward.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!
The ground shook and trembled. Dust billowed, and rubble flew into the air.
Zhang Zanyuan's body sank deeper, and deeper, and deeper.
With his arms crossed over his chest, he had no strength to resist—or rather, no time to resist. He could only block passively.
However, with a few sickening CRACKS, Zhang Zanyuan's arms were forcibly shattered and broken, and finally punched straight through.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
The bronze arms breached Zhang Zanyuan's chest. The frenzied, ceaseless blows broke his ribs, tore through his flesh, and finally, pulverized his organs.
SQUELCH! SQUELCH!
"Ah!"
Zhang Zanyuan let out a furious roar and struggled to fight back.
But he was only halfway through his cry when a bronze arm smashed into his head, dazing him and cutting him short.
The next moment, his heart—the most vital organ—was smashed to a pulp with a muffled BANG.
Zhang Zanyuan's eyes instantly went wide as his life force rapidly faded.
His body lost all power to resist, growing rigid as if he were already dead.
However, Gu Zheng didn't stop. He continued to relentlessly punch Zhang Zanyuan in the head.
'With the Power of Royal Blood, who knew if he could still live even with a shattered heart?'
Only by crushing both his heart and head to a pulp could he completely eliminate the threat!
And so, the muffled BANGING continued for a few more moments. Only when Zhang Zanyuan's skull was smashed open, its red and white contents splattering everywhere, did Gu Zheng finally stop. He panted lightly and stepped out of the four-to-five-meter-deep, man-shaped crater.
He had now truly experienced the might of the Four Noble Lineages—specifically, the Royal Bloodline.
No wonder they could fight against Demon Fiends!
With that kind of destructive power, lethality, resistance, defense, and explosive speed, if it weren't for the ridiculously overpowered Equipment Effect of his Bronze Elephant Body, even a Thousand-Man Iron Armor Army could be smashed through with ease.
'You want me dead?'
With a soft scoff, Gu Zheng deactivated the bronze effect. Bare-chested and with his thighs exposed, he walked back to the Marvel leaf and reached out to pick it.
SHING~
The leaf vanished and appeared in one of his equipment slots.
[Storage Leaf]