Clash

Heros saw that the creatures were enlarged versions of the explosive mouse-monkey from before, only exceptionally numerous at a glance, and at this moment, all of them were heading his way. Meanwhile, Xu Chan, who had just shed his outer clothing, blurred into motion and appeared instantly before him, a fist flickering with faint luminescence striking toward him. Xu Chan knew full well that even if those winged mouse-monkeys posed a threat to Heros, bringing the man down by relying solely on these beasts was out of the question; however, pinning him down from the flank was another matter entirely. Furthermore, he had already applied an odor-masking medicine beforehand. The mouse-monkeys were also quite intelligent—seeing that he too was attacking the object of their hatred, they wouldn't attack him. Yet no sooner had he thrown his punch—even though he was clearly the one taking the initiative—did he discover that Heros's fist was astonishingly fast, arriving before him a step ahead of his own. Even from a distance, he felt a crushing pressure bearing down. He made an immediate judgment: given the opponent's height and reach, Heros's fist would definitely slam into him first. Having left room to maneuver in his strike, Xu Chan merely adjusted his waist and back slightly, meeting the incoming fist head-on. The punch jin of both sides collided midair and dissipated. Finally, the faint luminescence over their knuckles clashed and mutually cancelled out, yet it was clearly visible that a trace of light remained on Heros's fist in the end. Thus, at the very brink of physical contact, Xu Chan twisted his body aside, dodging out of the way. Just from that contact of jin, he could sense that his opponent possessed an exceptionally resilient body, harboring immense brute strength underneath, while the density of his power of spiritual perception surpassed his own. Under such circumstances, he naturally wouldn't force a direct collision. Combat, however, depended on holistic application. In a life-or-death battle, whether one could fully exploit one's strengths and avoid shortcomings while targeting the enemy's weaknesses came down to actual battlefield performance; the one who appeared stronger didn't necessarily win. Seeing him evade, Heros twisted his towering frame in pursuit. Guarding his face with one hand, he swung his other hand forward like a colossal hammer, driving through with the residual power of his punch. Drawing a breath, Xu Chan's speed surged abruptly. Following Heros's pivot, he was even a fraction of a beat faster, instantly reaching Heros's flank. A low punch chiseled toward Heros's ribs, air waves churning over the knuckles. Heros sank his elbow in time to block it. Xu Chan then felt a fist jin pressing against his face; he immediately leaned backward, swiftly retreating under the shadow of the opponent's punch. Heros pursued relentlessly, launching several consecutive strikes with both fists. Every blow unleashed an ear-splitting sonic boom, the rumbling detonations setting the surrounding gravel and water's surface dancing wildly. Xu Chan swayed left and right, ducking low and leaning back, dodging every single strike without making physical contact with Heros even once. The moment their distance widened slightly, Xu Chan seized the opportunity, pushing out with both hands. With a bang, two waves of jin collided across the air, and he rode the jarring recoil to open up space. Just as Heros went to press the attack, an eerie screech rang from the sky, and a dark shadow plunged straight toward him. Without even looking, Heros reached out, caught it, and slammed it downward, instantly smashing it to a pulp against the ground. Countless feathers fluttered at his feet, but that single movement inevitably interrupted his offensive tempo. Having retreated to a safe distance, Xu Chan drew his hand across his waist and pulled free a slender, flexible longsword with a swish. With a flick of his wrist, the long blade undulated in an arc, stabbing straight toward Heros's neck as faint light flickered at the sword tip. Heros had a short sword at his waist, but he showed no intention of drawing a weapon. He merely raised his arm in a parry, light rippling along the surface of his forearm where it met the sword tip. As the tip clashed with his forearm, the two gleams swiftly eroded each other until solid met solid. Heros's arm shook with a bang; the supple, flexible longsword bounced back from the impact. Yet Heros had not anticipated that the Mind Jin on the sword tip was concentrated to an extreme point, penetrating straight inward and even affecting his taut mutated tissue, leaving his arm numb and sore as though rendered temporarily useless. He looked at Xu Chan with a touch of surprise. To condense the power of spiritual perception onto a weapon and do so in such a subtle manner—if one did not possess an extraordinarily abundant reservoir of spiritual perception, it required an exquisite degree of control over the power. Xu Chan evidently belonged to the latter. In a condescending tone, Heros remarked, "It seems I must adjust my assessment of you, Mr. Xu. But this is not a fair contest. You are destined to fail." Seeing that even his slender sword couldn't pierce the man's flesh and bone upon contact, Xu Chan instantly knew Heros would be exceptionally difficult to handle. Had he taken his medicine, he might have stood a fighting chance, but that vial of medicine had already been used to lure the mouse-monkey cub earlier. Yet by his own estimation, even with the medicine, his combat capability would at most equal Heros's current level, let alone overwhelm him—especially since Heros's mastery over the power of spiritual perception was undoubtedly deeper and more substantial. Furthermore, based on experience, he could sense that Heros likely hadn't unleashed his true power yet. Adding the fierce mouse-monkeys swarming in wouldn't increase his odds of winning by much. In that case, finding an opportunity to withdraw first was the wiser course. Earlier, when he saw the relic in the guide's hands, he had roughly guessed that his teammates had probably handed it over to the man, and he understood the possible intention behind it. However, he couldn't pin all his hopes on the enemies fighting among themselves; if there was an opportunity, he had to take his shot. Besides, he had captured the winged monkey cub; if he didn't throw it at Heros, he would have had to suffer the consequences himself. Once things reached that point, it was an arrow nocked on a drawn bow—it had to be released. Now that he saw this path wouldn't work, he certainly wouldn't fight stubbornly to the death here. Shaking his arm, he sheathed his sword around his waist, spun around, and sprinted away in a low crouch, opening up a gap in an instant. Seeing him retreat, Heros gave chase immediately. But barely had he taken a step when even more mouse-monkeys arrived. Their eyes glowed blood-red as they glared at him; some circled and screeched overhead, while others leapt continuously toward him. Yet the moment they landed on him, they were shattered to death by the jin surrounding his body and slid down. Even so, mouse-monkeys surged forward in an endless stream. Having witnessed what happened to the first wave, the creatures quickly learned: instead of clinging to him, they used their flight momentum to claw and tear at him, mostly targeting his face. Heros had tried a psychic blast earlier, but it had had no effect. It felt as though his power dissipated, or vanished into nothingness upon entering them. Thus, he could only rely on solid physical strikes. He swung his hand, tearing through the air as if ripping fabric, shredding those creatures in an instant. Where his fingers swept through, trails of pulverized flesh and blood lingered in the air. Yet the mouse-monkeys threw themselves forward without fear of death, hindering his movements while countless shrill screeches assaulted his senses relentlessly. After tearing apart several more of these creatures, he looked up and analyzed their flight paths and the distance and positioning of each strike, swiftly spotting an opening to move through. The next instant, his frame blurred as he darted through the crisscrossing gaps at extreme speed, bursting clean out of the encirclement and catching up behind Xu Chan in a flash. Yet just as the momentum of Heros's previous stride waned and before he could muster power for the next, Xu Chan suddenly spun around mid-run. His longsword unfurled with a sharp snap, its tip piercing straight toward Heros's face with a piercing whistling sound. Gazing at the faint light flickering at the tip of the blade, Heros locked his eyes forward. With no time to raise a guard, he lowered his head, a sheet of luminescence flashing across his forehead as it collided with the sword tip. The faint gleam upon the blade was rapidly eroded, and the Mind Jin that followed was dispersed by his power of spiritual perception, leaving his charging momentum virtually unaffected. In just two strides, he arrived before Xu Chan. Clenching his fist to gather force, he unleashed a punch with a thunderous roar, detonating the air before him. Seeing that Heros had already breached inside the sword's reach, Xu Chan simply let go of the weapon. Facing the incoming fist, he thrust out a palm with icy composure. The faint lights atop them rapidly cancelled each other out before their Mind Jin slammed together, immediately bringing the sound of snapping sinews and cracking bone, as flesh and blood ruptured at the point of impact. At that moment, Heros's other hand smashed forward in a follow-up, likewise gleaming with faint light. Yet despite his injuries, Xu Chan's expression remained unchanged as his other hand came down swiftly to press against the fist. As the faint light between fist and palm dissolved, it was Xu Chan's power of spiritual perception that had more to spare this time. Upon impact, Heros's fist faltered, and the jarring spiritual perception sent a series of sharp cracking sounds rattling through his arm. As an air shockwave blasted out between them, both men recoiled backward. Heros was somewhat surprised. He had distributed his power of spiritual perception relatively evenly between both hands, but Xu Chan had exploited this by allocating his spiritual perception unevenly—weak in front and strong behind—risking injury to himself to wound Heros in turn. It had been a long time since he faced an opponent who was clearly weaker in overall strength yet could still fight him to a standstill on the field. Yet the more such an opponent proved himself, the less Heros could let him go; who knew how much trouble he might cause later? In just a few more minutes of stalling, his own reinforcements would arrive, more than enough to pin him down. Just as he prepared to strike again, however, a sudden sense of danger washed over him. He lashed out with a grab—bang! A wooden short spear was caught in his grasp, snapping into several pieces the moment he gripped it, yet in that split second, his arm had nearly failed to hold it. Astonished by the force behind it, he looked up to see a broad-winged giant bird hovering overhead. A figure previously prone on its back flipped over, executed a midair somersault, and unfurled his limbs before landing firmly on both feet with a heavy thud, throwing up a cloud of dust. As the newcomer straightened, Heros saw a tall man with broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and sharp eyebrows. Clad in a sleeveless training uniform, the muscles on his arms were full, and his lustrous skin radiated a surging vitality. Though not quite as tall as Heros, his presence was formidable—and Heros sensed a distinct aura of danger emanating from him. Qi Qianyang glanced at Xu Chan first, then looked toward Heros, his eyes finally shifting to the relic in Heros's hand. "Looks like I got here just in time. The item's right here." No sooner had his voice fallen than he appeared abruptly right before Heros. Their eyes met for a fraction of a second. Watching Heros's pupils constrict, the corners of Qi Qianyang's mouth curled slightly. In the next instant—boom! Heros flew backward in a straight line, crashing into a pile of boulders and kicking up a massive plume of dust. Qi Qianyang already held the sphere in his hand, tossing it lightly into the air twice. ... ...