Chapter Sixty-Eight: Xiong Wanhong
“Ocean, tell Brother Luo to go on stage ahead of schedule!”
“Yes, Father!”
Wang Haiyang received the order and left.
Xiaodao, however, wore a mournful expression and pleaded, “Boss, this won’t do! Cheng Qianfeng is even stronger than Cheng Longjian. Master Luo couldn’t even match Cheng Longjian; if he faces Cheng Qianfeng, who’s even more powerful, isn’t that a guaranteed defeat?”
“Boss! Please think twice!”
Xiaodao spoke the truth. Anyone with a bit of sense could see that Luo Qiankun was no match for Cheng Qianfeng, but at this moment, there simply was no better option.
Wang Jisheng’s face was ashen as he waved his hand, saying, “Xiaodao, say no more. Unless you have a better idea?”
“But... Boss!”
Xiaodao was at a loss for words, unable to offer any alternative. He could only watch helplessly as Luo Qiankun walked toward the stage.
At that moment, Luo Qiankun, dressed in a white training uniform, walked slowly and lightly. As he stepped out of the corridor, his phone suddenly rang.
He glanced at the screen—it was a call from Lin Feng.
“Hello, Master Lin.”
“Luo Qiankun, do you want to win?”
“Master Lin, you mean...?”
“Remember what I’m about to tell you. It’s crucial. ‘Let power be restrained outwardly, let inner breath grow strong. When the wind and clouds stand still, all directions may move; when the qi flows like a dragon, strength is born of itself.’ Whether you win this time depends on yourself.”
“Let power be restrained outwardly, let inner breath grow strong. When the wind and clouds stand still, all directions may move; when the qi flows like a dragon, strength is born of itself.”
Luo Qiankun repeated the words, and as soon as he finished, a flash of inspiration surged to the crown of his head, as if a profound secret had been revealed.
He kept muttering these words to himself, somewhat dazed as he stepped onto the stage.
He only snapped out of his reverie when the rising cheers of the crowd washed over him. Awkwardly, he cupped his hands and said calmly, “I am Luo Qiankun. It’s an honor to meet you.”
“Luo Qiankun? So you’re the number one martial artist of Binhai City? You do have some foundation, but before me, it’s not enough!”
“Mister, you are mistaken.”
“Mistaken? You’re merely at the peak of Inner Strength. Could I possibly be wrong?”
“What I mean is, the so-called number one martial artist of Binhai City is no longer me. With Grandmaster Lin present, at best I’m just a servant pouring tea and carrying water.”
“Oh? Then I’d really like to see just how powerful this Grandmaster Lin you speak of truly is!”
As he spoke, Cheng Qianfeng suddenly erupted with force, shattering his upper garment in an instant, revealing muscles as imposing as mountains, thick veins coiling around his bulging arms like dragons.
With a low roar, his tensed muscles gave an impression of iron and steel.
“Three years ago, I entered the realm of Transformation. Now, I stand at the peak of the Initial Transformation Stage. You’re lucky—I’ll let you experience firsthand the chasm-like difference between Inner Strength and Transformation!”
“Bazhi Suppression!”
Before his words had faded, Cheng Qianfeng’s body burst forth with a gust of force—a mark of the Transformation Stage: projecting internal energy, killing at a distance!
He spread his arms wide, and his muscles swelled instantly; already thick as bowls, his arms doubled in size.
With a thunderous crash, he launched himself forward like lightning, the stone slabs beneath his feet cracking from the impact.
“Die!”
Cheng Qianfeng roared, his voice carrying force, his form surging like a mountain to crash straight into Luo Qiankun. Raising his right hand, he gathered energy in his palm, inner strength emanating outward and enveloping his hand.
That palm strike could shatter a mountain.
Seeing his opponent’s ferocity, Luo Qiankun dared not be careless. He immediately adjusted his breath, recalling the message Lin Feng had just sent him.
“Let power be restrained outwardly, let inner breath grow strong. When the wind and clouds stand still, all directions may move; when the qi flows like a dragon, strength is born of itself.”
Luo Qiankun chanted the phrase repeatedly. Facing Cheng Qianfeng’s killing blow, a taut string in his mind seemed to snap!
As the saying goes, once a barrier is pierced, everything flows. Luo Qiankun felt the bottleneck that had long stifled his strength and cultivation vanish in that instant.
A month ago, thanks to Master Lin’s guidance, his power had soared, rising from the early stage of Inner Strength to its peak.
Now, with just a casual hint from Master Lin, he’d broken through the bottleneck again!
“Luo Family Seal!”
Luo Qiankun’s right hand flashed, transforming from palm to seal. Within him, a primal force long held in check surged forth, rushing through his meridians, breaking through the barrier of his realm.
With a thunderous boom, what should have been a minor technique exploded with a power that left Cheng Qianfeng dumbfounded.
“How could this be?”
Cheng Qianfeng watched as his own accumulated force was completely dissipated by Luo Qiankun’s single palm.
What shocked him even more was that his opponent had actually broken through to a new realm right in the midst of combat!
Luo Qiankun’s aura, which had been at the peak of Inner Strength, rose in an instant to the early stage of Transformation!
“Impossible! You broke through in the middle of a fight—and by an entire great realm! This can’t be!”
Cheng Qianfeng was instantly enraged. He had struggled for ten years with all his might to rise from the peak of Inner Strength to the Transformation Stage. He knew all too well the pain and torment involved.
Yet this man before him had broken through in the midst of a life-and-death battle, right under his nose!
It was as if his martial pride had been ground into the dirt.
“A genius, is it? Good, good! There’s nothing I love more than crushing geniuses!”
Cheng Qianfeng’s aura erupted. If he’d held back before, now he unleashed his killing intent completely, like a ferocious beast eager to devour its prey.
“Condensing Void Slash!”
He pressed his palms together, gathering all his energy into a single point. The very air around his hands seemed to warp and twist.
“Die!”
Cheng Qianfeng’s form flashed—he appeared behind Luo Qiankun, his right hand turning into a blade, the edge shimmering with spatial disturbance, as if wielding a blade that could cleave the very void.
He swung his hand-blade, aiming a fatal slash at Luo Qiankun’s back!
A strange sound twisted the air behind him. Luo Qiankun was startled and spun defensively.
“It really is... Condensing Void Slash...”
At the sound of those words, Luo Qiankun had already been shocked. Now, seeing the spatial blade before his eyes, his heart nearly exploded with astonishment.
Caught off guard, he dodged, but his right arm was still grazed.
Instantly, flesh and blood flew, a large portion of his arm shredded like meat in a grinder—gruesome beyond words.
“Aaah!”
Blood sprayed as Luo Qiankun, like a rag doll stained red, was swept aside by the violent force, clutching his arm as he tumbled from the stage—a sight of utter defeat.
A gasp swept through the crowd; everyone was stunned. But it wasn’t Luo Qiankun’s loss that shocked them—it was Cheng Qianfeng’s technique: the Condensing Void Slash.
Elder Tang, Elder Feng, Wang Jisheng—all of them, titans who had witnessed the catastrophic “Year of the Tiger Calamity” in the world of Chinese martial arts, were struck dumb, faces ashen, bodies trembling.
Elder Tang stared at Cheng Qianfeng, who stood proud on the stage, his pupils contracting, his lips quivering as he muttered, “Xiong Wanhong! Are you really going to break the taboo and return to China?”