She noticed that Peter's movements seemed to have slowed down considerably.
Mrs. Gao didn't think Peter was intentionally taking it easy.
On the contrary, she felt it was a sign that Peter was on the verge of exhaustion.
After all... anyone seeing Peter constantly enveloped in those blinding special effects would think he couldn't possibly last much longer.
Little did she know... under the protection of the horse talisman, Peter was a literal human Tailed Beast.
Never mind maintaining the Lightning Release Chakra Mode for this long; even if he kept it up for three days and three nights, it would be a piece of cake for Peter.
Thinking that Peter was about to give out, Mrs. Gao perked up and began spewing trash talk at him, trying to mess with his head:
"Young man, you have nothing but brute strength, yet you have no idea how to use it!"
As she spoke, she first used a Tai Chi-like method to deflect the force of Peter's strike, guiding his fist to the side, then followed up with a low kick aimed straight for his groin.
"The essence of martial arts lies in restraint, not release! In my eyes, your current fighting style is no different from a Beast!"
"Oh? Is that so?"
Peter let out a light chuckle. Then, his arm suddenly transformed into pure electricity, wrapping around Mrs. Gao's leg.
He hadn't yet learned fighting styles like Tai Chi or the Golden Snake Silken Hand... but his energy-based body allowed him to accomplish it all with ease.
Immediately after... Boom!
A terrifying force suddenly erupted. Mrs. Gao was swung around by Peter and slammed into the ground, leaving her dazed and disoriented.
This was... her own Silken Hand!
Realizing that Peter had used her own offensive style to deal her a heavy blow, Mrs. Gao, who had just been lecturing him, felt her face flush with embarrassment.
She circulated her energy to suppress the damage and tightly pursed her lips, forcing down the mouthful of blood that had almost escaped.
At first, Mrs. Gao thought Peter's counterattack was because her words had hit a sore spot.
But as time passed, the smug look on her face gradually vanished, replaced by deep shock and disbelief.
She finally realized something was wrong.
This young man was stealing her combat experience!
At first, he seemed a bit flustered dealing with the pincer attack from her and the Silver Samurai, relying entirely on his incredible speed and bizarre Elementalization abilities to hold his ground.
Most of the moves he used for offense were Karate techniques.
But now, every dodge and every counterattack he made was becoming increasingly sophisticated.
There were no wasted movements, and every strike left room for defense.
The most obvious sign was... he was using that Elementalization less and less!
Initially, when facing the Silver Samurai's attacks, he could only rely on Elementalization to block.
But now, every time the Silver Samurai swung his blade, Peter could perfectly free up a hand and use various subtle techniques to make the strike miss!
The various arts she had spent four hundred years mastering were being replicated by Peter in just over ten minutes.
Although many techniques were forcibly replicated through Elementalization...
...if he could just elementalize, why would he bother putting in the effort to learn something like her Bone Shrinking Art, which required practice from childhood?
Realizing this, Mrs. Gao, who had originally wanted to provoke Peter, ended up breaking down herself.
"You damned thief!"
Mrs. Gao tried to get up from the ground to attack Peter again.
But as she rose, she felt waves of dizziness.
Only then did she suddenly realize that the 'Qi' in her body had already been completely depleted by the previous high-intensity combat!
The moment she realized this, Mrs. Gao's expression changed drastically.
She instinctively looked toward the Silver Samurai, hoping he still had enough strength to take her away from this little monster.
But as she looked, she found the Silver Samurai's condition was even worse than hers.
Although the Silver Samurai was barely managing to stay standing, his hands holding the blade were trembling incessantly, and the overclocked thermal energy on the blade had long since vanished!
Of course! His control over 'Qi' was inferior to hers, and he was wearing that silver armor weighing over fifty pounds; how could he possibly last longer than her?
In that moment, Mrs. Gao, who had lived for hundreds of years, finally felt a long-forgotten fear.
Just then, she heard Peter's cold voice:
"It seems you've outlived your usefulness."
Usefulness!
Only upon hearing those words did Mrs. Gao show a look of realization and regret.
It turned out that from the very beginning, he had truly just been using them as sparring partners!
Mrs. Gao noticed that Peter's speed suddenly increased several times over.
In the blink of an eye, he flashed in front of her and hoisted her entire body up.
This monster... had been suppressing his speed this whole time!
Crack! Crack!
The sounds of ribs snapping rang out one after another.
Amidst the agonizing pain, Mrs. Gao made another discovery: he had also been suppressing his strength by an unknown number of times!
What the hell kind of monster is this?
"No... you can't kill me!"
Feeling that undisguised, piercing killing intent, Mrs. Gao suddenly shrieked with false bravado:
"I am one of the Five Fingers of The Hand! If you kill me, The Hand will never let you get away with it!"
"The Hand?"
Peter tilted his head instinctively, but the next moment, the words he spoke made Mrs. Gao feel as if she had fallen into an ice cellar:
"How many divisions does The Hand have?"
The moment the words fell, Peter slammed Mrs. Gao head-first into the ground.
Liger Bomb!
Boom!
A terrifying tremor, like an earthquake, rippled through the ground. The earth cracked inch by inch, and a crater several meters deep and a hundred meters wide suddenly appeared.
Mrs. Gao's upper body, along with her centuries of 'Qi' Training, vanished completely in that instant... Not far away, the Silver Samurai, who had witnessed this bloody scene, was scared out of his wits.
He fell to his knees with a thud, completely forgetting his so-called Bushido spirit.
He even took off his helmet voluntarily, revealing a terrified Japanese face with a toothbrush mustache:
"Don't kill me, I'm just a mercenary. There's no hatred between us. If you spare me, I'm willing to serve you for the rest of my life!"
Looking at the wretched face under the Silver Samurai's helmet, Peter felt the killing intent in his heart surge even more:
"We indeed had no grudge before, but the moment you showed that face, we did!"
As he spoke, Peter held up a single finger toward the Silver Samurai:
"Tell you what, I'll give you a chance. If you can withstand this one finger of mine, I'll spare your life."
Hearing this, the Silver Samurai's eyes immediately lit up.
"Just one finger!"
His samurai armor was infused with Vibranium; it could withstand a direct hit from a missile without a problem.
If it were three or four fingers, he might need to think twice, but just one finger would surely... Pfft!
Before the Silver Samurai could even show an expression of relief...
...Peter's Hell Stab: One-Finger Spear pierced through the Silver Samurai's chest in the blink of an eye.
The armor infused with Vibranium was as fragile as paper in that moment... "Na...ni?!"
The Silver Samurai looked down in disbelief at the gaping hole through his chest, the last spark of life in his eyes quickly fading away.
Until the moment he completely lost consciousness, he couldn't figure out why he couldn't even withstand a single finger...