Chapter Seventy-One: A Single Blow Spans Ten Thousand Miles

The first to sense that something was wrong was Flower-Moon. Though the sinews in both his hands had been ruined and he could no longer form hand seals, his cultivation remained intact. When he discovered that the source of the unease that had suddenly gripped him was actually the man carrying a huge iron case, he was so stunned he could not speak, standing there in a daze as he watched the man step by step approach the outsiders.

He wanted to cry out, but no sound would come. He could not understand why, since this man was here atop Mist Mountain, figures as formidable as Tianxing and his master had failed to notice him. Could it be that he was truly far, far stronger than even his master?

Step by step, he trod upon the snow, leaving footprints behind. The packed snow gave off the same crisp crunching sounds, and snowflakes settled upon his scarred, powerful body before sliding away silently.

Yu Zhou was bent over digging out beast cores, utterly oblivious to someone approaching from behind, and even Du Niang had given no warning.

The scene in the field was profoundly strange. The man with the iron case walked up to one outsider after another and lingered there for a long while, yet not a single person noticed him, or rather, sensed his presence.

Flower-Moon had noticed him, but it was as though some freezing spell had been cast upon him; he could not move an inch, all because the man had glanced at him.

A gust of cold wind swept a few goose-feather snowflakes into Yu Zhou’s face, where they burst apart. Yu Zhou held up the freshly dug beast core and examined it for a while. It was entirely green, as large as a fist, and the green energy within was exceedingly dense. This should be the core of a superior beast commander.

Thinking that his luck was truly excellent, that he had casually snatched one target and dug up a superior beast commander’s core, he quickly put the core into his waist token and turned to look for another target. In the distance, the corpse of a very savage-looking leopard-headed beast caught his eye. Since there were many mouths and little meat, and since Yu Zhou had watched the old man dig out beast cores before, he had been able to strike at once. By now the other outsiders were still digging blindly, so Yu Zhou had time to go for a second core.

He ran excitedly toward the leopard-man corpse, and just as he was about to collide with the man carrying the iron case, he veered around him.

The man carrying the iron case had just lifted a foot toward Abuli when he stopped. Slowly turning his head, he looked at Yu Zhou, who had already crouched down to dig for a second beast core. A trace of puzzlement appeared in his eyes. He then looked back at Abuli, and all at once a surge of divine sense issued from him and swept toward Yu Zhou.

When Yu Zhou rushed toward the second beast corpse, he saw the man with the iron case, but at that moment all he had eyes for was the beast core. So when he was about to crash into him, he simply twisted aside, not realizing at all that this man was not one of the outsiders.

Suddenly, a short shriek from Du Niang rang in his ears, stabbing at Yu Zhou’s head with pain. Yu Zhou immediately cursed, “What is wrong with you crazy woman this time?”

But Du Niang gave no answer.

After digging a few more times, Yu Zhou finally felt that something was wrong. He felt as though a pair of eyes were watching him, seeing through him inside and out. It was a deeply unpleasant sensation, as if he had been stripped naked and subjected to a careful inspection, and Yu Zhou was thoroughly displeased.

Yet the thought of displeasure had barely arisen before it vanished without explanation, replaced by an endless pressure that surged toward him like dark ocean waves.

The instant he was struck by that towering wave, Yu Zhou staggered and almost fell to the ground, but relying on the channels he had already opened and his strong, powerful legs, he barely managed to stay upright.

Among humans, among outsiders, Yu Zhou was an anomaly. Most humans, no matter how high their cultivation, would appear frail and vulnerable before attacks of overwhelming power.

Yu Zhou was not made of steel and iron, but in some sense he was even more tenacious than steel and iron, because his recovery ability was astonishing.

To possess such an extraordinary recovery ability, one had to endure pain countless times beyond what ordinary people could bear. The regeneration of bones, the reconstitution of flesh, the forceful opening of meridians, the electric treatments, all strengthened not only Yu Zhou’s body but, more crucially, tempered his will to a very high realm indeed.

Yu Zhou was physically formidable, but in truth his spirit was even stronger, which was why he had not been instantly crushed when that tidal wave of divine sense struck.

Because Yu Zhou had not been crushed, the man with the iron case instead grew curious.

At first he had only felt that Yu Zhou seemed somewhat different. But now that Yu Zhou was actually able to withstand his divine sense, he became even more curious about him. His divine sense swept through Yu Zhou’s body, and in an instant it had examined him completely.

The man with the iron case frowned and muttered to himself, “After so many years of decline, I never expected such a constitution to appear among humans.”

By now Yu Zhou had turned around. He stared fixedly at the tall man with the iron case, his gaze passing over the striking scars covering the man’s body before moving to his face. There was something strangely familiar about it.

Then he looked at the huge iron case on the man’s back, and Yu Zhou became even more confused. Who was this person? He called out to Du Niang in his mind, but received no reply.

Recalling the strangeness he had just felt and that immense pressure, Yu Zhou was suddenly alarmed. Could it be an assassin sent by the gods?

The man with the iron case was still pondering. In fact, over the years he had rarely done much thinking, because he had always spoken with his fists. Yet this time, because he had discovered Yu Zhou’s unusual constitution, he had begun to think.

“This is a constitution just like the one I once had.” Since he realized that Yu Zhou possessed the same constitution he himself had originally borne, a trace of admiration crept unbidden into his gaze. Nevertheless, he still decided to strike Yu Zhou.

Because more than anyone else, he knew that one who possessed such a constitution might become a powerhouse like him, and powerhouses like him ought never to exist in the first place.

Looking at the young man who met his eyes without flinching, he slowly clenched his fist and drew it back to his waist.

Yu Zhou watched the movement and was suddenly jolted awake. The other man was about to beat him senseless. He wanted to react, but strangely enough his body would not move at all. He could only watch helplessly as the movement unfolded slowly before him. Then he suddenly remembered that Du Niang had once said that a true god-level powerhouse could create a domain. By that reasoning, he must already be within this man’s domain. This man was god-level.

So this was the end, Yu Zhou thought with a sigh. In the next instant he became furious, screaming wordlessly: Why kill me? With so many people here, why kill me first?

As though he had heard Yu Zhou’s cry, the man with the iron case gave the already-extended right fist a slight pause. Then he said to Yu Zhou, “There is no reason for killing you. If a reason must be given, then it is this: because I want to kill you.”

That right fist, forged like iron, only paused for the briefest instant before it blasted out at impossible speed, so fast that the fist itself could not be seen.

The air atop Mist Mountain tightened. In that moment, the snow filling the sky also seemed to cease its fall. Flower-Moon remained frozen in place, and the other outsiders still held the poses of digging for beast cores. The whole world seemed to have suddenly come to a stop, and the only thing still moving was the fist of the man with the iron case.

The fist released a streak of light. Because the entire world seemed frozen, Yu Zhou could clearly see that light speeding toward his chest.

After leaving the fist, the light grew thicker and thicker, until it became roughly the size of a bowl, transforming into a burning meteor that smashed into Yu Zhou.

The meteor exploded against his chest, and the immense force sent Yu Zhou flying. His chest was also torn open by a huge hole, a transparent, hollow cavity.

At that very moment, a white radiance suddenly burst forth from within Yu Zhou’s body and filled the wound in his chest. The horrific injury instantly healed.

The entire process was completed in an extremely short span of time. Yu Zhou had not even had time to feel the pain of having his chest pierced before he was already restored. He was still staring at the man with the iron case, and in his field of vision the man grew farther and farther away. Then he gradually saw the snowy ground, all the outsiders, and the entire summit of the snow mountain. Yu Zhou had been blasted off the mountain.

Just after Yu Zhou’s wound healed, before the white light had yet vanished, the fragments produced by the meteor that had exploded in his chest continued to burst apart, and the smaller fragments created by those explosions kept on exploding again and again.

All over Yu Zhou’s body, wounds were blasted open, bloody holes and transparent cavities torn through him, and yet that white light always restored the damage at the very first instant.

Under what seemed an endless series of explosions, Yu Zhou gradually lost consciousness. But his body, constantly destroyed and repaired, was driven higher and higher, faster and faster by the force of the blasts, soaring into the sky like a meteor.

The man with the iron case still maintained his punching stance. Looking in the direction where Yu Zhou had been sent flying, he said, “It seems Minos and the others have also discovered your constitution. Very well. Since one punch did not kill you, let me see just how strong you can become!”

He slowly withdrew his right fist, then suddenly his mouth twitched. Looking at his own fist, he sighed and said, “Too long since I last fought. I actually forgot to announce the move.”

“This move is called — Pegasus Meteor Fist!”

The man with the iron case turned around. The setting sun shone upon the iron case on his back, and a winged horse was dyed blood-red by the fading light.

Deep in the southern wastelands, in a secluded mountain, the Medicine King opened his eyes and looked toward Mist Mountain. His lips, thin as dried leaves, parted slightly. “So, it still cannot hold you.”

Walking along a broad avenue in a great city of the Central Plains, Liu Wujian suddenly stopped. The black veil hanging from his bamboo hat stirred in the wind, and a pair of sword-like eyes fixed tightly on the direction of Mist Mountain, their depths filled with sharp intensity.

Having already reached the front lines of the battle between humanity and the demon race, Ling Youzi stared in shock toward Mist Mountain beneath the setting sun and murmured, “How can it be so powerful?”

In the demon race’s heartland, at the edge of a black bamboo grove, an old man holding a staff that looked like a giant question mark glanced toward Mist Mountain and muttered, “So it has finally come.”

Within the demon army, atop a ghostly sedan completely shrouded in black mist, two black crows suddenly flew out, transforming into two streaks of dark light as they sped toward Mist Mountain.

Tianxing’s hand, holding a wine cup, froze in midair. His obese body suddenly trembled, and he twisted his neck to look toward Mist Mountain.

When the setting sun fully sank and darkness descended upon the world, the wind and snow atop Mist Mountain still raged on.

The man with the iron case, namely Pegasus, had already gone far away. Before departing, he had gone to Abuli and said, “Hades, you are still too weak. I’ll give you five years to grow stronger.”

Then Pegasus descended the mountain with his iron case on his back. His destination was the deep southern wastelands.