novelraw Chapter 132: Foreign Aggression, The Street Is the Dueling Ground (Part 2)
Chapter 132: Foreign Aggression, The Street Is the Dueling Ground (Part 2)
At these words, the expressions on Han Qichen and the others changed instantly. Their gazes sharpened as they looked at the tall, blonde white man.
This was especially true for Han Qichen. A faint aura began to emanate from him, causing the Martial Arts Dao enthusiasts from Jin Province who had been gathered around him to subconsciously back away, as if they had instinctively sensed an intense danger.
A school’s honor cannot be sullied.
He had only been able to walk the Martial Arts Dao thanks to the grace of his school. If he was publicly insulted and did nothing, wouldn’t he become a laughingstock? How could he then use these Martial Arts to seek the great path of Ascension?
He had also recently received a warning from the organizing committee that foreign Martial Artists might be coming to provoke them, and that they should be on their guard. He never expected someone to challenge him today, and in such a manner.
This was a blatant, open ploy. A public provocation in the name of his school, right here on the street under everyone’s watchful eyes. Should he accept or not?
"Who are you?"
Han Qichen faced the tall white man. He could sense that his opponent had not crossed that threshold into the Saint Realm either.
"Titan Ludric, from the Human Body School of the Starry Sky Country. I heard you Donghua people are holding an unprecedented event, and I wanted to join in the fun. Since you’re number one in Donghua’s Jin Province, do you dare to face me in a match?"
"Don’t worry, I’ll hold back a little. I won’t kill you. Oh, and if you’re worried this will affect your participation in that... what was it... Hundred Heroes Martial Arts Discussion, I can go even lighter. I guarantee you’ll be able to get out of bed before the competition starts."
"Of course, the choice is yours. A match requires mutual consent. If you say no, I’ll turn around and leave right now. Because fighting a coward would dirty my hands."
Derek said with a smile.
"You!"
Hearing this, the disciples of the Wandering Dragon Bagua Palm sect were instantly enraged and looked as if they were about to swarm him, but Han Qichen held them back.
"How do you want to do this? Right here?"
Han Qichen asked, his expression calm.
"Senior Brother!"
His junior sister beside him gently tugged on the corner of his sleeve, signaling him not to fall for the other man’s taunts.
However, faced with this open ploy, Han Qichen had no choice but to fight. Besides, since they were both below the Saint Realm, he didn’t think he had any reason to fear this foreigner.
"Of course. A street duel has always been a kind of man’s romance. Oh, I seem to have forgotten—your Donghua Martial Arts Schools prefer to spar behind closed doors, so outsiders don’t know who won or lost. But in my opinion, that’s just cowardice."
"The strong are strong, and the weak are weak. Can’t you Donghua People even admit that?"
Derek said flatly.
"I hope you can still talk so big when you’re lying on the ground later."
Han Qichen said calmly, then waved his hand, signaling the Wandering Dragon Bagua Palm disciples and the surrounding crowd to back away and give them some space.
On the bustling Bund Pedestrian Street, a clearing of about thirty meters in diameter opened up. The surrounding crowd was as vast as a sea of people, all murmuring amongst themselves.
A bustling city, its streets now a dueling ground.
It was something no one had ever seen before, like a scene straight out of a video game or an anime.
Moreover, the opponent was an insolent foreigner, which in itself was enough to stir public outrage.
"Go for it! Smash that foreigner’s damn mouth!"
"Fuck, what era does he think this is? Does he still think we Donghua People are easy to bully?!"
"Kill him! Kill him! Show him the power of our Donghua Martial Arts Dao!"
"..."
The crowd was in an uproar. Police officers on the street had already arrived and reported to their superiors, but the feedback was to maintain order on site and prevent bystanders from getting hurt.
Matters of the Martial Arts Realm should be left to the Martial Arts Realm to resolve.
This, too, was a part of their training.
"A guest should be treated with courtesy. I’ll let you make the first move."
Han Qichen said flatly.
ROAR!!
It was as if a great dragon churned within him. As his qi and blood circulated, his body swelled, his skin and muscles rippling and undulating like currents and waves.
Wandering Dragon Force!
This was an extremely clever method of utilizing one’s muscles and skin, like a wandering dragon parting the waves. All attacks, even influences of Heart Intent, could be deflected by it.
One of the Mystical Techniques of Wandering Dragon Bagua Palm lay in this method of tempering and controlling the flesh.
"Wandering Dragon Force. A method for strengthening the body’s muscles and skin. A pity it’s too archaic; it can no longer keep up with the times. Do you truly understand how to use every inch of your muscles, how to cultivate them to unleash their greatest potential and truly reach your limits?"
"As it happens, my Titan Stream specializes in precisely these techniques. We have collected Cultivation Dharma Gates from all over the world and devised the perfect system. And among those Dharma Gates is the very one you practice."
"Let me show you what a technique truly belonging to the new era looks like."
Derek lifted his chin slightly, looking down on him with a smirk playing on his lips.
The next moment.
RUMBLE!! RUMBLE!!
His muscles suddenly swelled as if being inflated with air, and he grew even taller. His loose-fitting athletic hoodie was stretched so taut it looked like it would burst at any moment.
Derek’s height didn’t increase by much, but his body’s width expanded to an exaggerated degree.
It was as if he had transformed from a man into a colossal beast of muscle.
The Human Body School was a life sciences organization founded by the Starry Sky Country. They collected relevant Martial Arts Dao and Cultivation scriptures from around the world, then used scientific methods and advanced instruments to analyze the different ways each aspect influenced the human body’s various attributes. From there, they selected the very best elements and integrated them into a complete human development system—one that included exercise machines, auxiliary devices, modern medicine, and much more.
This technology focused on methods of Cultivation and training, not the kind of forced, growth-accelerating biological modification researched by the Pioneer Group. As such, it was also capable of producing those who had achieved the Saint Realm.
In fact, the vast majority of the Starry Sky Country’s new generation of Saint Realm achievers had been influenced by the Human Body School.
The Human Body School called the results of this research the "New Martial Arts Dao."
Because these systems had different cultivation focuses, the Human Body School was further divided into different specific schools, each with its own research direction.
The Titan Stream was one of them, researching methods to cultivate the human body’s muscles and bones to their absolute limit, step by step.
The Titans, a race of giant gods from ancient Western Myth, were the school’s inspiration. Its goal was to complete the evolution from human to a true "Titan," cultivating a new breed of human akin to Deities.
And Derek was currently the number one person below Ascension in the Starry Sky Country’s Titan Stream.
Derek’s almost inhuman transformation immediately caused an uproar among the spectators.
Is that a man or some kind of biomechanical monster?!
"Since you Donghua People value modesty so much, I won’t be polite! I hope you can still stand after taking one hit from me!"
BANG!!
Derek stomped forward violently. Cracks spiderwebbed across the solid pavement of the pedestrian street. His clothes instantly created a scalp-numbing sonic boom as they tore through the air, and his entire body shot forward like a cannonball.
Fierce, swift, and unstoppable.
Han Qichen’s pupils contracted instantly. In his eyes, Derek’s figure was rapidly expanding, as if transforming into a colossal god that towered between heaven and earth, utterly insurmountable.
The Titan’s advent.
The ground trembled. The enormous figure bore down on him, leaving him nowhere to run.
It was like the relentless tide of a new era, rolling in to drown him.
Not only was this man’s Physical Ability inhumanly strong, but his Fist Intent was also terrifyingly powerful.
He firmly believed that his path was the true path of evolution.
For a moment, Han Qichen’s resolve couldn’t help but waver.
’Is my Fist Technique truly obsolete?’
’Otherwise, how could a foreign Martial Artist train his body and Fist Intent to such a degree?’
He felt as if he had returned to Donghua’s humiliating past from a century ago, when scholars, after witnessing the West’s mighty warships, powerful cannons, and towering skyscrapers, began to question their own country’s culture, even wanting to reject it entirely.
BOOM!!
A palm descended from the heavens, blotting out the sky and suppressing all in its path.
ROAR!!
Under that immense pressure, Han Qichen let out a great roar.
He stomped his feet violently, his stance following the Nine Palace Bagua as he planted himself in the positions of "Qian" and "Kun." His Fist Intent flared.
The muscles all over his body surged wildly like waves, all his strength converging at the edge of his palm. The blast of air from his strike sounded like the roar of a great dragon.
Wandering Dragon Bagua Palm—Qiankun Ascending Dragon!!
However, in that brief instant, he had already been stunned by the Physical Ability and Heart Intent his opponent had displayed.
His dragon form had lost its domineering air of absolute mastery.
BOOM!!
Their palms collided with a sound like a detonator exploding.
CRACK!!
The ground beneath Han Qichen’s feet fractured into a dense, spiderweb-like pattern of cracks.
After throwing the palm strike, Derek turned and walked away without a backward glance.
Han Qichen remained frozen in his upward-striking posture, the whites of his eyes showing as his body tipped backward.
The watching crowd fell completely silent.
They watched as Derek’s swollen body contracted back to normal. He shoved his hands back into his pants pockets and walked out of the circle.
The surrounding crowd didn’t dare to block him, parting to open up a path.
It was only then that the crowd noticed another towering figure standing at the edge of the throng.
This person wore a large, black, hooded sweatshirt. With the hood up, one could only vaguely make out a face with distinct South American features in the shadows.
He just stood there, his body seemingly connecting heaven and earth. For a moment, the crowd felt as if the daylight itself had dimmed.
It was as if the sun had been blocked by a giant mountain.
It was hard to describe how a single person could possess such a vast and terrifying aura.
"Mister Yuri."
To the crowd’s astonishment, Derek—the man who had just knocked out Han Qichen, the number one of Jin Province, with a single palm—walked up to this man in black, bowed slightly, and spoke with a respectful tone, like a student addressing his teacher.
"Not bad."
The tall man nodded slightly, then turned and slowly walked toward the exit of the pedestrian street.
Derek immediately followed. Gazing at the man’s broad back, a reverent light flashed in his eyes, and any trace of smugness he felt from defeating Han Qichen vanished completely.
Yuri, the man known as the "Earth Giant God," was the most accomplished master to have emerged from the Human Body School’s Titan Stream since its founding.
’Compared to him, what was there to be proud of in my own meager accomplishment?’