Chapter 353 - Palm of Thousand Venoms

Lu Tianzi remained calm even when faced with the ridicule of the crowds.

On the contrary, a smirk slowly began to spread across his face, much to everyone's surprise.

"Are you deaf or do you just have zero comprehension ability? We are asking you to get out of the way! What are you still standing there and smirking for?!" the short plump man questioned.

"I'm just amused at how you try to bolster your courage by insulting your opponent," Lu Tianzi shrugged. "Are you really that afraid of facing me instead?"

"Are you an idiot?" the short man snorted in disdain. "Do you really want to die here?"

At the same time, he shot an uncertain glance towards his leader.

The order he received had been to teach Ruan Ling a lesson. Now that the situation had changed, he was waiting to see if his leader would have new instructions for him.

A mere Second Cycle Origin Core realm martial artist dared to challenge him?

If his leader was agreeable to it, he certainly would not mind teaching this arrogant brat a lesson!

The bearded leader frowned.

Normally, he would have just let his junior take care of this random Second Cycle Origin Core realm. But when he saw the relaxed expression on Young Master Xuan Hao's face, he could not help but wonder if there was something he missed.

Then again, it could also be a ruse to unsettle him.

"In any case, we agreed on the girl receiving my junior's strikes," the bearded man said. "Or is she choosing to hide now?"

"No, that's not quite right," Young Master Xuan Hao immediately disagreed. "Just like how you did not mention which of your juniors will be participating, I did not mention which of my friends will be receiving the strikes. Or is it that your juniors only dare to act against females?"

"Tch! How persistent!" the bearded man clicked his tongue in irritation. "Fine, since you want to be a white knight, then go ahead and suffer for it. Do it!"

"Understood," the short plump man cracked his knuckles menacingly as he glared at Lu Tianzi. "Don't worry, I will try to hold back, so you would not lose your life here. However, I can't guarantee that you won't end up crippled!"

"Thank you for your kind consideration then," Lu Tianzi shrugged nonchalantly.

"Sorry about this..." Ruan Ling apologised.

Even though they had known each other for a couple of months, she could not help but feel bad for dragging him into her problems.

"Don't worry about it," Lu Tianzi shook his head. "You helped to connect me with Old Juan, so this is the least I could do. In any case, this kind of opponent is nothing to be afraid of."

Pu-!

The short plump man spat on the ground. "Big words for a small boy. Let's just see if you can keep that up after receiving my strikes!"

The short plump man kicked out without hesitation.

Origin Force formed into the shape of a crescent, extending out from the arc of his kick.

To the n.a.k.e.d eye, this energy crescent looked no different from a material blade that had been forged from the hands of the most experienced smiths. As it cut through the air, every blade of grass in its path below scattered into hundreds of fragments, affected by the aura of sharpness that the energy crescent was constantly emitting.

This sharpness... Law of Metal?

Everyone fell into deep contemplation when they saw through the world law that had been imbued into the attack.

In contrast, Lu Tianzi relaxed immediately upon seeing the attack take form.

Of the five elemental world laws, the Law of Metal was the most difficult to defend against.

That was because it was capable of amplifying the piercing ability of all attacks, rendering any defence of a similar level completely meaningless.

However, even that was not going to be enough when the gap between two martial artists reached an insurmountable point.

Back then, Lu Tianzi was already able to fight evenly against the Fifth Cycle Origin Core realm Chengban without using his trump cards.

Not only was this short plump man before him nowhere near as strong as Chengban, which was understandable since Chengban was a core disciple of the Divine Storm Sect, Lu Tianzi had also broken through to the Origin Core realm in the Spiritual Essence system since then.

His two origin cores now resonated with each other, each amplifying the other's strength.

This meant that even without tapping into his Spiritual Essence true origin core, his combat power had still received a huge boost and was no longer comparable to before.

If he had to fight Chengban again, Lu Tianzi was confident that he could easily crush the other party!

Because of that, the short plump man's attack now seemed ever so insignificant to the current Lu Tianzi.

Palm of Thousand Venoms.

Origin Force quickly condensed into a layer of black mist that shrouded Lu Tianzi's hand. With a single palm thrust, a black palm imprint shot out towards his opponent.

However, the black palm imprint emitted no aura whatsoever, completely unlike the raging energy crescent from the short plump man.

Everyone looked on with schadenfreude as the gap rapidly closed between Lu Tianzi's black palm imprint and the short plump man's energy crescent, all of them waiting to see how Lu Tianzi would be taught a lesson by the short plump man.

It did not even matter what techniques were being executed.

How could a Second Cycle Origin Core realm martial artist ever hope to contend against a Fifth Cycle Origin Core realm opponent?

Among those present, only Nanlan Qianxue, Young Master Xuan Hao, and Ruan Ling thought differently.

Just as the two projectiles were about to connect, Lu Tianzi's eyes suddenly began to shine with a silvery light.

In front of everyone's eyes, the energy crescent from the short plump man completely vanished without a trace!

"What?!" the short plump man widened his eyes in shock. "A spatial technique?!"

Now that his energy crescent had vanished, the black palm imprint continued unhindered, rushing straight towards him.

But the short plump man only remained stunned for a brief moment.

He quickly regained his senses, driving his origin core to the limit as an illusory crescent moon shimmered into existence behind him.

This illusory crescent moon seemed to be made completely of metal, with the bright sun rays reflecting off of its shiny surface like it was a mirror.

Origin Force shrouded the short plump man's leg as he kicked out once again, this time clashing directly against the black palm imprint instead of sending out a projectile of his own.

Bang-!

Under the influence of the Law of Metal, the momentum of the kick pierced straight into the core of Lu Tianzi's black palm imprint, shattering it into countless black particles that dissipated in an instant.

Yet even though he succeeded in defending himself, the short plump man's expression darkened significantly.

"That's two moves. You have one last move to make."

It was only after everyone heard Lu Tianzi's words that the others recovered from their shock.

That's right, the short plump man was supposed to be the one attacking!

How did Lu Tianzi's defensive move end up threatening the short plump man instead?

No, that was not the point.

Ruan Ling could already be considered rather impressive for being able to exchange moves with someone who was one boundary ahead of her, but this mere Second Cycle Origin Core realm martial artist was actually able to threaten someone at the Fifth Cycle Origin Core realm!

Many of them immediately tried to guess Lu Tianzi's true identity.

In their minds, there was simply no way that someone with such martial talent could have yet to make a name for himself.

But the fact remained that none of them were able to recall anyone who fit Lu Tianzi's image, making them scratch their heads in frustration.

Then again, this was not impossible either.

While most genius martial artists would already be reknowned across the central regions of the continent by the time they broke through to the Origin Core realm, there would occasionally be one or two that go undiscovered, eventually shocking the world with their massive talent.

The War Intent Cliff was a famous cultivation area that attracted people from all over, so it was only natural that someone like that would show up here from time to time.

The majority of the crowd enjoyed the dramatic twist, but there were also some people present who would have preferred that things played out in a more predictable way.

This guy is trouble...

The bearded leader furrowed his brows, at the same time discreetly sending out a message through his communication ring.

"You c.o.c.ky brat!" the short plump man cursed.

He could see that everyone was looking at his opponent with admiration, and he felt both rage and humiliation welling up within him.

After all, he had fully expected to crush his opponent in a single move.

Instead, not only did he fail to do so, his opponent ended up using him as a tool to rise to fame!

"I admit that you got lucky there, but don't expect things to go your way every time!" the short plump man said coldly.

"One last move," Lu Tianzi reminded, not caring one bit about his threat.

"You are asking for it!" the short plump man sneered before starting to walk towards Lu Tianzi.

The aura coming from the short plump man rose with each step that he took, and the illusory metal crescent moon behind him became more and more opaque.

It was obvious that the short plump man had been enraged past his limit, and he was now intending to pull out all the stops.

But all of a sudden, the short plump man froze in his steps. His expression faltered, and his body trembled uncontrollably.

Pu-!

The short plump man bent over and spat out a mouthful of black blood, his aura rapidly falling from its peak.

"You poisoned me?" the short plump man spoke through gritted teeth as he glared at Lu Tianzi with resentment. "When?"

"Everything I did, I did in your face. If anything, you can only blame yourself for lacking the ability to defend yourself properly," Lu Tianzi shrugged.

He might be acting nonchalant, but Lu Tianzi was honestly astonished by how quickly the Palm of Thousand Venoms had shown its effect.

In any other situation, Lu Tianzi would not have gone as far as to use the Palm of Thousand Venoms.

The use of poison was a tricky matter.

While its ability to deal immediate damage was relatively weaker, the use of poison was still largely regarded as one of the most terrifying forms of attack because of its potentially long lasting effects.

Poison attacks of a high enough level could remain undetected while festering within the body, eventually affecting a martial artist's future potential or even directly taking the life of the martial artist!

Since Lu Tianzi was unaware of the other party's background, recklessly using poison in his attack could have easily ended up drawing the ire of a powerful influence.

However, he was currently under the shadow of the huge shield that was Young Master Xuan Hao.

From what he had seen of Young Master Xuan Hao so far, Lu Tianzi was certain that the latter would certainly step forward if things ever got blown out of proportion.

And what were the chances of the other party having a status more lofty than a heir candidate of one of the four ancient sects?

Since he had Young Master Xuan Hao on his side, Lu Tianzi decided that he might as well take this chance to punish the shamelessness with which the other party had acted with just now.

At the same time, it was also the perfect opportunity to test out his Palm of Thousand Venoms in actual combat!

"So what now? I am still waiting for your last strike," Lu Tianzi said to the short plump man before turning towards the bearded leader. "Or are you going to send yet another one of your juniors up this time?"

Faced with Lu Tianzi's overt taunt, the bearded man clenched his fists in rage.

"F.u.c.k.i.n.g brat...!"