"Are you Gong Shouzhuo?"
Zhou Yuanjue sized up Gong Shouzhuo, his eyes narrowed slightly, and asked bluntly.
Hearing Zhou Yuanjue address his teacher by his full name, the tall young man known as A Nan, who stood behind Gong Shouzhuo, suddenly snapped open his half-closed eyes.
It was like a vajra's wrathful glare, like Yama opening his eyes. This young man had surely taken more than one life; otherwise, he could never have cultivated such an aura.
"Yuanjue! Mr. Gong is an honored guest of the family! You will not be rude!"
Seeing this, the expressions of the main line of the Zhou Family standing behind Zhou Shiyou all changed. Zhou Shiyou's eldest son—Zhou Yuanjue's uncle, Zhou Ruixuan—scolded Zhou Yuanjue with clear displeasure.
The Zhou Group was at a critical juncture. They would need to rely on Gong Shouzhuo for many things, both now and in the future. They couldn't afford to have him harbor resentment over something so trivial.
Hearing Zhou Yuanjue's words, Zhou Shiyou also frowned slightly. Zhou Yuanjue was usually cold but always well-mannered. He shouldn't be acting so rudely.
However, he was his grandson, after all. Just as Zhou Shiyou was about to make an excuse for him, Zhou Yuanjue spoke again, his expression calm. "A great master of the Profound Heart Fist. I've never met one before. Let's trade a few moves."
As he spoke, Zhou Yuanjue suddenly shot out two fingers, thrusting toward Gong Shouzhuo's eyes at extreme speed.
The move was vicious and decisive, carrying a bloody aura, as if he truly intended to gouge out Gong Shouzhuo's eyes.
"How dare you!"
Seeing Zhou Yuanjue's attack, A Nan could no longer hold back and let out a furious roar.
THUMP!!
A muffled sound, like a water pump starting up, echoed in the courtyard. A Nan's fist, as large as a punching bag, shot forward to meet Zhou Yuanjue's jabbing fingers head-on.
This punch also carried an incredibly cruel aura. It was launched instinctively, stirring up a powerful gust of wind.
If an ordinary person's fingers collided with a fist, they would instantly shatter. A Nan intended to teach Zhou Yuanjue a lesson for his arrogance. The pain from one's fingers is connected to the heart—a pain he would remember for the rest of his life.
Just as A Nan's massive fist was about to collide with Zhou Yuanjue's two fingers, the fiercely stabbing fingers suddenly became pliant and yielding. They coiled around A Nan's wrist like a vicious viper opening its maw to reveal its fangs. At close range, his two fingers generated force and clamped down hard on A Nan's wrist.
A powerful, electric shock shot through A Nan's brain. To his horror, he discovered his entire right arm was completely numb. The major tendons in his arm were spasming wildly, completely beyond his control.
"Hmm?!"
Seeing Zhou Yuanjue's technique, Gong Shouzhuo, who had been standing by with a smile, not even moving in the face of the attack, finally showed a slight change in expression.
'A perfect blend of hard and soft, transitioning seamlessly. In that instant, it was flawless and complete.'
'So subtle, so hidden. My eldest disciple, A Nan—so accomplished in his training, a dominant force in Nanjiang, a decisive killer with a reputation even in the East Luoni region—had an arm crippled just like that. This is an absolute top-tier master!'
'The Zhou Family actually has someone like this?!'
BANG!!
Suddenly, a dull sound like the beating of a war drum emanated from Gong Shouzhuo's body, clearly audible.
CRACK!!
The next moment, several distinct cracks appeared on the thick floor tiles of the Zhou Clan residence. Zhou Yuanjue saw every hair on Gong Shouzhuo's body, including the hair on his head, suddenly stand on end.
WHAP!!
A fist appeared before Zhou Yuanjue without any warning. The surrounding air vibrated violently. Under the immense force, the loose sleeve of Gong Shouzhuo's modern Tang suit collided with the air, creating a massive boom like a cannonball exploding.
It was launched from the heart; where the heart willed, the fist arrived. There was no warning, no trace to be found.
The heart is the gunpowder, the fist is the bullet. This punch was like a bullet loaded into a chamber. Once the trigger was pulled and the powder ignited, not even a Ghost God could stop it.
Compared to the Fist Techniques of Lin Heng and A Nan, Gong Shouzhuo's strike was truly like a celestial steed soaring across the sky, or an antelope hanging by its horns—utterly untraceable and unpredictable.
Because they punched with their bodies, while Gong Shouzhuo used his "heart" to release power.
The Power Release of this punch was so concealed and swift that even with Zhou Yuanjue's skill, he hadn't detected any sign of it beforehand and was unable to intercept it. This was an existence whose skill could match his own.
CRACK-SNAP!!
However, just as his opponent's fist was about to break the skin on his face, a series of bone-cracking sounds suddenly came from his body. His head instantly dropped a significant distance, as if a turtle were retracting its head into its shell.
But for a human to perform this action, it looked as if his head had suddenly been severed, giving off an extremely creepy and bizarre feeling.
'Bone Shrinking?!'
Even as his opponent, Gong Shouzhuo was stunned by Zhou Yuanjue's response. He knew how fast his punch was. To be able to adjust his bones and retract them in that split second... that level of control over his skeleton was simply godlike, not something a human could do.
This made Gong Shouzhuo fully realize that he wasn't facing some hot-blooded, arrogant youth, but a thoroughbred Fist Technique master who could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with him.
"Good!!"
Gong Shouzhuo suddenly let out a great shout. Spurred on by his opponent, it was as if a raging fire had ignited in his heart. Scalding hot blood, propelled by a heart as powerful as an engine, surged through his limbs and torso, providing immense nourishment to his body.
THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP!!
His heart thundered like a war drum, causing the hearts of the ordinary people nearby to resonate uncomfortably with the rhythm.
He moved with unpredictable footwork. His originally fair face and body suddenly turned crimson, and the hairs on his body stood on end. He looked as if he had transformed from a gentle, refined middle-aged man into a red-faced, wild-haired Asura from a sea of blood.
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!!
With his steps, the courtyard ground rumbled and shook, covered in a web of cracks. The women of the Zhou Family behind Zhou Shiyou lost their footing, letting out piercing screams at the sudden, terrifying sight.
Several afterimages of his fists, moving too fast for the retina to capture, enveloped Zhou Yuanjue's entire body, faintly corresponding to the pattern of the seven stars of Beidou.
Under the immense Fist Force and the drag of the air, the cuffs of Gong Shouzhuo's modern Tang suit exploded, sending fragments of cloth flying everywhere.
'Seven Tribulation Celestial Stars!!'
Seeing his master's stance, A Nan's pupils shrank.
Profound Heart Fist was derived from Profound Heart Swordsmanship, an ancient Martial Art of the Xuan Sect. Its ultimate killing move was the Seven Tribulation Celestial Stars!
Profound Heart Fist trains the body from the outside in, refining the five viscera and six fu-organs. The training for the heart is the most formidable. Therefore, Profound Heart Fist uses the "heart" to punch. Qi and blood are abruptly propelled by the powerful heart to the limbs and torso, allowing for Power Release without any warning—truly originating from the "heart."
The Seven Tribulation Celestial Stars could be called the ultimate killing Secret Technique of the Profound Heart Fist. Seven consecutive punches, seven bursts of "Heart Power," seven unpredictable attacks. Even a top-tier Fist Technique master would find it difficult to defend against, becoming flustered and eventually revealing a fatal flaw.
However, this technique placed extreme demands on the heart, blood vessels, and body control. If one's cultivation level was insufficient, forcing its use could lead to ruptured blood vessels and cardiac arrest, resulting in death. It was truly a tribulation for both the target and the user.
'Forget seven punches,' A Nan thought, 'I wouldn't even last three before collapsing dead on the spot.'
Even his master would surely suffer physical damage from throwing seven punches and would need a certain amount of time to recover.
'What is this opponent's background? To think he forced Master to use this ultimate killing move right from the start?!'