Bai Jinlong was in no hurry to end the fight.
Instead, he kept provoking the giant white ape, taking its attacks head-on again and again to show off his formidable defense to the audience.
In his eyes, this was nothing more than a show.
He had to constantly steal the spotlight and make himself the center of attention.
And he had succeeded.
The entire arena stands were chanting his name. He relished the feeling of being idolized and cheered on by thousands.
Better yet, all this adoration could be converted directly into cold, hard cash.
"Weak, powerless punches."
"If this is all you've got, what difference does it make whether I provoke you or not?"
Looking at the giant ape controlled by Zhou Tai, Bai Jinlong smirked disdainfully, casually blocking Zhou Tai's punch with one hand as he sneered.
Sure enough, his taunts only made the giant ape's fists fly faster.
Yet the ape was flesh and blood after all. Striking his alloy body did zero damage; instead, lacerations began appearing across the ape's own knuckles.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Just die, damn you!"
Under Zhou Tai's control, the giant ape's eyes were bloodshot. Adrenaline surged through its system, rendering it numb to pain in this heightened state of stress.
However, after Bai Jinlong transformed entirely into iron alloy, the strength the giant ape took so much pride in was completely useless. Even its bullet-resistant body seemed terribly frail by comparison.
A single punch from the ape could shatter boulders and punch through steel plates, yet it failed to inflict even the slightest scratch on Bai Jinlong.
Kill.
Kill.
Kill.
Zhou Tai's killing intent boiled over. Even if he couldn't hurt Bai Jinlong, he would keep swinging.
Unbeknownst to him, under his control, the blood inside the white ape began heating up, unleashing vast amounts of Transcendent factors from its bloodline. Compared to the white ape's original temperament, Zhou Tai's ferocious personality was far more attuned to the Transcendent bloodline within it.
"You were hiding your strength!"
Bai Jinlong remarked with some surprise upon noticing the surge in the giant ape's strength.
The next moment, he noticed a flush of crimson creeping over the white ape's arms.
"A bloodline awakening?"
"Ladies and gentlemen, this white ape is undergoing a bloodline awakening right before our eyes!"
"Do you want to see it? This is a once-in-a-century spectacle! Cheer! Make some noise!"
Bai Jinlong instantly realized what was happening to the white ape's body and shouted toward the stands.
Cheers erupted across the stands at once. When he asked, "Do you want to see it?", countless spectators yelled back in unison, "Yes!" Bai Jinlong's lips curled into a grin, deciding to indulge his audience.
With his power, what could the white ape possibly do even after awakening its bloodline?
*Bloodline awakening?*
Zhou Tai also heard Bai Jinlong's words. Through the brain-hugging neural worm, he sensed that earth-shaking changes were indeed unfolding within the ape's body.
Yet judging by the release of Transcendent power, even a bloodline awakening wouldn't be enough to defeat Bai Jinlong.
*Unless I can guide the bloodline inside this white ape into a deep awakening!*
Zhou Tai was no mindless brute. Even as his murderous intent surged, he remained coldly rational.
Fighting spirit! Killing intent!
He swiftly grasped the key to the white ape's bloodline awakening.
He then relentlessly flooded the ape's brain with signals of rage and slaughter.
Under the onslaught of excessive rage and bloodlust, the structure of the white ape's brain began to mutate.
Originally, the white ape possessed an ordinary brain structure, but under Zhou Tai's stimulation, a blood-red substance was rapidly secreted. Under the influence of this red secretion, the brain-hugging neural worm fused deeply with the ape's brain.
At the same time, the temperature of the blood within the ape climbed to a thousand degrees.
Under the terrifying heat, its bones, meridians, and internal organs underwent frenzied mutation.
Externally, wisps of flame-like crimson began spreading through the white ape's snowy fur. Its arms and feet in particular turned entirely from white to fiery red.
Bai Jinlong had been full of confidence, convinced he could overpower the awakened ape.
But under the ape's relentless flurry of blows, he quickly realized he could no longer fight back. The force behind the ape's punches was astonishingly heavy, and its strikes grew faster and more ferocious by the second.
The ape's strength had escalated too abruptly for him to react in time.
The moment he attempted to counterattack, another punch slammed into him, forcing him on the defensive; the moment he tried to move, yet another fist was already crashing down.
*Not good, I overplayed my hand!*
Bai Jinlong's heart skipped a beat. He tried to retreat, but the white ape seemed to see right through his intentions and stayed glued to him.
He looked up into the ape's eyes. They were blazing with fire, as if all the warfare and carnage under heaven were contained within them.
"The Zhuyan bloodline!" Bai Jinlong cried out in horror.
The next instant, Zhou Tai blasted him back with a single punch. Bai Jinlong smashed heavily against the cage, his steel body battered out of human shape.
Shock fell over everyone present. The cheers died instantly. Every eye was fixed on the white ape, which now looked entirely different from before.
"Is it getting bigger?"
"God, its eyes are on fire... I think my heart is beating kind of fast."
"Run! That's a Zhuyan! Run!"
Someone suddenly realized the truth, leaping to their feet and screaming.
The moment the words left their mouth, the person turned and fled, and several sharp-witted spectators immediately followed suit.
*Thump!*
*Thump, thump!*
*Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump!*
Heartbeats like war drums resonated through the arena. Slower-reacting spectators quickly realized the thumping was coming from the giant ape, accompanied by an intense, suffocating panic in their own chests.
The next moment, everyone's hearts pounded violently, and then... exploded!
Spectators coughed up blood with wet splatters before collapsing onto their seats, while the stronger Transcendent audience members began evacuating in a frenzy.
The disaster had struck too quickly.
Just then, four Transcendents charged out from the arena tunnel. One of them phased straight through the cage into the ring, thrusting his hand toward Zhou Tai's chest in a heart-plucking strike.
He possessed the ability to phase through matter. In battle, he could slip his arm through a target's body, seize their heart, and rip it out, easily dispatching the vast majority of opponents.
This time, however, he miscalculated.
The instant his hand phased into the white ape's body and gripped its heart, the extreme heat cooked his hand to a crisp in a fraction of a second.
"Aaargh!"
His power instantly broke. Shrieking in agony, he tried to pull back, but the giant ape grabbed him the next moment.
The giant ape's body temperature was now unimaginably high; being touched by it was like being pressed against a red-hot iron. The man let out an even more horrific shriek before the ape opened its maw and swallowed him whole.
Having grown somewhat emaciated from the deep bloodline awakening, the giant ape immediately absorbed energy, its body filling out once again.
Glaring at the other three standing outside the cage, it growled, "Come in!"
The three retreated in unison.
Inside the VIP box, there appeared to be materials insulating against the Zhuyan's abilities, so the wave of heartbeat attacks had spared the four people inside.
"Not good, something went wrong. Old Zhang, go check if anyone in the stands can still be saved. I'll go... buy us some time!" Yu Xian stood up, staring down at the arena as he spoke to Zhang Shou.
It had all happened too fast.
From the giant ape's counterattack to the slaughter of countless spectators, barely ten-odd seconds had passed. By the time Yu Xian realized this was no performance, the stands were already strewn with casualties.
Nora stood up. "I'm coming too!"
"No, stay with Chen Ling. If things get really dangerous, evacuate immediately," Yu Xian refused.
The current white ape was clearly beyond the reach of firearms. Had he not spent this recent period rigorously training his abilities, he would have run as far away as possible right now.
He dared to step up only because he was confident he could withdraw in one piece.
Chapter 29