Chapter 572: Mortal Combat
Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
Without thinking much, Lou Cheng relied on his past experiences and danger premonition, and suddenly squatted down, guiding his Qi, blood, force, and spirit to compress at his lower abdomen.
At that moment, Ge Hui, with silver strands in his dark hair, had a callous look in his eyes that accentuated the intertwining red and white. He uttered, “Army!”
There weren’t any hand seals or preparations. The effect came as soon as the sound did!
In the interior of the lift, a sinister wind suddenly developed, wafting with the smell of bloodl.u.s.t and overflowing with a cold sharpness. The wind, almost tangible and unmistakably real, blew at Lou Cheng from all directions!
The mind has augmented reality!
This was power exclusive to Physical Invulnerability Martial Artists!
The sinister wind rushed into Lou Cheng’s body, but, as though he had turned into a corpse, there was not a sign of life or vigor in him, rendering the bloodl.u.s.t and hostility ineffective.
The reason why he compressed his mind, Qi, soul, will, and strength into one was to enter the Dan Stage. Had he been a second slower, his mind would have been infiltrated, causing his will to waver. If that happened, he would have fallen into a state of fear and wouldn’t have been able to compress his powers even if he wanted to!
But if he performed it too much in advance, then his opponent would have had enough time to modify his strategies.
The power of the Ice Mirror allowed him to have perfect timing!
Impa.s.sive, Ge Hui seemed to have been mentally prepared for his first attack to fail. Facing the semi-squatting Lou Cheng, he visualized his opponent’s imminent counterattack and raised his right palm, pointing it at his enemy like a mirror.
Bam!
After a dull boom, a red fireball shot out from the center of his palm, towards Lou Cheng. The lift door closed inwards around him, but begrudgingly opened again when the sensor detected a presence.
Boom! With a burst of Dan Force, Lou Cheng’s right arm bulged as he stood up and punched at the fireball. A dense white-hot glove formed around his fist.
Boom!
The lift shook from the shock waves of the explosion. Reflected in Lou Cheng’s eyes, scarlet and white energy revolved around the young man with silver-streaked dark hair, the red like fire, and the white like ice. They intertwined, like the vermillion dragon and the frost Chi (hornless dragon).
The scent of Jindan?
Sh*t!
Lou Cheng’s danger premonition went from intense to the extreme. Without holding back, he worked his Qi and blood, extracting the maximum amount of strength from the Jindan in his lower abdomen.
In a breath’s time, every patch of his muscles was engorged with blood, and every inch of his blue-black fascias protruded. His frame had increased ten or so centimeters all of a sudden, his body thickened to twice its original size, and like a descended heavenly general, he threw a punch forward, popping the air and vacuuming the surrounding.
At that moment, the vermillion dragon and ice Chi revolving around Ge Hui pounced out at once, intertwining as they bit at Lou Cheng in an attempt to devour him.
Boom!
The ma.s.sive sound of an explosion filled the lift with clangor. The savage shockwaves dented the metallic walls around them, covering them with cracks. The walls were partly frozen and partly charred.
The lift was completely stuck at that level!
The noise that rang out aroused attention from many people. In the security room, the alarms shrilled. Started, the security staff sprung into action, checking through the screens to find the source of the sound.
The vermillion dragon and frost Chi broke off inch by inch, falling down like rain. Lou Cheng stood in the center, but could not move a single step forward. His fist, with its skin peeled off, was a mess of blood and flesh and cracked bones. His clothes were in tatters, partly burning and partly dangling with ice crystals. Below that, his dented rib cage, nearly-torn muscles, and hideous skin could be discerned.
His mind was filled with fear, bewilderment, and terror at the mighty enemy that had sprung out of nowhere. Still, these negative emotions were rapidly suppressed by the Ice Mirror, failing to ripple his mind-lake.
In mortal combat, the only thing that mattered was the fine line between life and death.
There was a slight change in Ge Hui’s expression. Without any more hesitation, he uttered once more,
“Confrontation!”
The ancient word triggered something mysterious, reverting him back to an unblemished state. The scratches from the shockwaves recovered rapidly. Lou Cheng, on the other hand, as though someone had drained him of power and mental strength, could no longer hold down feelings of sleepiness and exhaustion, letting it get to his head and nearly fainting.
His heart tightened and immediately worked his Qi and blood to stimulate his body, using a Simplified Version of Wholeness Formula for a second time. A gleaming light converged in his eyes once more.
But that had delayed precious time. Ge Hui’s palms, facing each other with one above the other, condensed a pellucid ball in the center of his palms. The lower half of the ball was a lump of brilliant white, vaguely dotted with blots of scarlet, like a magical reflection of a starry sky.
With a solemn expression, he turned his palms and pushed them out, sending out the brilliant ball.
Since the beginning, he had been going at full strength, clutching tightly to the dominant position and using his strongest killer moves. He hoped to end it as quickly as possible!
The scarlet-white reflected in Lou Cheng’s eyes grew bigger, but the fear in his heart had decreased instead. Without mentally relying on the Ice Mirror, he had spontaneously entered the state of All-Seeing G.o.d, watching down from above indifferently. He then visualized and swiftly composed the vast, endless galaxy that was dark and freezing, and the Great Sun ignited from the acc.u.mulation of dust.
Bam!
He jerked his arm in robot-like motion, rapidly throwing out fists covered in a layer of darkness.
Right as the darkness contacted the lump of brilliance, a dull pitch-black consumed the area around them.
Following that, a dazzling radiance broke out, then came the dull and out of scale explosion.
Boom!
By now the lift had been distorted beyond recognition. Ge Hui took two steps backwards. The surface of his body was scattered with ice crystals, but his T-s.h.i.+rt was undamaged. In a nimbus of flames and mist, Lou Cheng’s bones were protruding from his chest, many of which were broken. His left arm, a charred pile of flesh and blood, hung limply. His legs were blatantly shuddered with his muscles jiggling.
Ge Hui saw the bloodthirsty look in his opponent’s calm eyes. Placidly, he parted his lips once more, spitting out a word before Lou Cheng pounced on to him.
“Formation!”
The ancient word reverberated in the air. The air around Lou Cheng condensed inch by inch, turning into boards of steel and rooting him to the spot. In his eyes, the enemy with silver-streaked dark hair rose his right arm, forming a sword with two fingers. At the sword’s tip was a dangerous pellucid white l.u.s.ter aimed at his forehead!
At the same time, a slight pity came into his enemy’s eyes, as though he was sending him off to his death!
Without any more consideration on how much damage his body would receive, Lou Cheng entered the state of Dan Equilibrium, gritting his teeth as he borrowed the strength from the nebula in his lower abdomen to compress his Qi, blood, mind, and fire force, separating them from the edging darkness.
A thin beam of light was about to shoot out. Ge Hui saw Lou Cheng, with his Dan Force erupting, dragging his bound self forward and struggling to push a palm forward from more than a meter away.
The corners of his mouth curved up slightly. He was ready to end his opponent’s life with Ice h.e.l.l Holy Light.
At that moment, Lou Cheng’s extended palms airily patted on the vacuum. The air before his arms sharply dropped in temperature, a pale-blue formed and spread rapidly, freezing onto Ge Hui.
At the same time, the dangerous, pellucid, white light shot out, penetrating the layers of ice crystal and landing on Lou Cheng’s other raised palm. It went through half his palm, but there was no blood and only clear, sparkling ice crystals.
The complete version of Lament of the Ice Queen!
Snap! With the shock from the pain, Lou Cheng mustered all his remaining strength, completely freeing himself from the containment. Pus.h.i.+ng his feet into the ground, he pounced at his dangerous enemy who body was encased in ice. His fist, a mess of flesh and blood, shot out from his waist, hitting the enemy’s abdomen with a thud.
At the moment, there was nothing in his mind, and he relied solely on the judgments of his instinct.
Since the enemy stuck to using ranged attacks, he had to turn the fight into a melee brawl!
It’s either you or me that dies here!
No, I’m going to leave alive!
Lou Cheng’s astounding momentum shook Ge Hui’s will. He felt fear, something he had never felt in a long time. Hurriedly, he worked the Jindan that had formed in his body, extracting a few times more power output.
Snap!
Ge Hui’s muscles bulged, cracking the layers of ice and tearing his black T-s.h.i.+rt apart. His left arm had expanded to twice its original size, like the arm of a demon. Then, he threw a punch, surrounded by scarlet and white energy, in retaliation to his opponent’s attack.
He was very confident that no Inhuman Martial Artists could defend against his punch. If his opponent didn’t retreat to disperse the impact, he would surely be left with broken bones, or even worse!
Boom! The two fists collided, producing a deafening boom. A hint of delight flitted across Ge Hui’s mind when he sensed Lou Cheng’s weakness.
Still rejoicing, he suddenly heard the sound of bones cracking. His opponent’s arm and hand were abnormally distorted, but he didn’t yield a single step. The metal at the edge of the lift shattered to pieces under his aligned feet.
Pompf! Ge Hui’s strike had broke Lou Cheng’s fist and arm, and the remaining impact landed on his abdomen, piercing his blood and flesh and crus.h.i.+ng a part of his intestine.
Why didn’t he retreat? Bewildered, Ge Hui noticed that Lou Cheng’s calm eyes had turned callous. However, there was something else in those eyes—the vehement desire to live, and a wild vigor. The muscles at Lou Cheng’s abdomen wriggled, instantly binding Ge Hui’s fist before he could reclaim it. At the same time, his unbroken right arm was raised in the air, empowered by the Simplified Version of Fighting Formula!
When two enemies encountered each other on a narrow road, the brave one wins! Eyes wide with rage, Lou Cheng smashed at Ge Hui’s head with the fist on his bulging right arm.
Hurriedly, Ge Hui raised his arm to block, on which a layer of ice formed.
Bam!
This fist landed. There was a cracking noise as the layer of ice on Ge Hui’s arm shattered. His arm was bent.
In a physical matchup, Lou Cheng had the absolute upper hand!
Yelling savagely, without a shred of care for the energy backflow, he used a Simplified Version of Fighting Formula once more. His fist gained power on the spot as he smashed down once more!
Panic showed in Ge Hui’s eyes. Lips parting, he spat out a beam of frost light at Lou Cheng in an attempt to save himself.
Lou Cheng didn’t dodge and merely tilted his head. The cold light gashed his face, biting off a portion of his flesh and blood.
Bam!
The air burst apart as his fist lodged itself in Ge Hui’s reclining head, exploding it with a splat. Scarlet blood and milky brain matter sprayed behind, like a watermelon that had been ran over by a car!
Plop, plop. Two popped eyeb.a.l.l.s fell onto the ground in succession, in which there was still a hint of despair,
Ge Hui’s b.l.o.o.d.y fist retracted from Lou Cheng’s abdomen, falling back along with his limp body and what remained of his head.
From the start till now, the whole proceeding happened in less than twenty seconds!
Just as Lou Cheng caught his breath, he suddenly felt a strong danger premonition. He quickly jerked his broken and unbroken arm, one barred at the bottom and one raised to the top, protecting his vitals. He also swiftly shrunk his body into a ball as he tried to reduce his surface area that could be damaged.
Boom!
At Ge Hui’s lower abdomen, the Jindan that had lost control suddenly exploded, filling the surrounding with scarlet and white light. Two sides of the wall were destroyed. Lou Cheng was covered with bruises and wounds.
The shock waves died down. His body was still curled up, feeling sleepy and cold. He could not open his eyes. Life was quickly seeping away from him in the darkness.
Don’t sleep! Don’t sleep! You won’t wake up again if you fall asleep here! Lou Cheng tried his hardest to remember his parents’ silhouettes, to recall Yan Zheke’s pretty and easily-embarra.s.sed countenance. Scenes flashed through his mind, one after the other, igniting his strong desire to live. He hung in difficulty with his solid willpower.
After G.o.d knows how long, he finally heard raucous footsteps and the sound of people inhaling sharply.
It’s okay, it’s okay, there’s ERs right at the Martial Arts Stadium… Eventually, his consciousness went blurry.
…
In the Sky Moon Martial Arts Stadium, the audiences were enchanted by the fierce fight on stage, not realizing a thing. It was not until a while later that they noticed the chaos at the ER.