Chapter 155: This Young Master's Heartstopper

Chapter 155: This Young Master's Heartstopper

Getting punched in the face was a truly universal experience, whether one was a mortal or a cultivator. The brief moment of clarity before ones thoughts were rocked in every direction was the same. The weightlessness as ones body gave out was the same. The way the eyes took in everything and nothing at all was the same. Clipping the unbreakable stairs of the pyramid and cracking open the skull was the sa no actually that wasnt very normal.

A snarled qi-filled roar from the Yellow Dragon shocked Chen Haorans nerves and painfully dragged him back to reality, and he woke up two whole tiers of the pyramid higher than where hed been standing before. His head was a riot of sensations, at once cold from the blood escaping through the gash in his head and warm where it trickled down his face. From his jaw to his crown, there was throbbing pain that matched the beating of his heart, and yet his head felt numb overall like it had been replaced with one filled with cotton, and he was only just now realizing it. His vision swam, so he turned it inward instead, only to find the inside no clearer than the outside, his qi a golden mess of swirls and folds and slipping like sand through his grasp.

The Yellow Dragon slithered into his head, coiling like a snake prepared to strike and hissing much the same. The rioting qi was quickly put to order, and Chen Haoran could finally collect his thoughts enough to form a single coherent thought.

What the fuck?

Huaa tha fuu?

His attempt to string a single coherent sentence was less successful. Among the many benefits of being a cultivator was accurate self-diagnosis, and from what Chen Haoran could see, Pan Gong had punched him hard enough to break his jaw, knock out enough teeth to change his diet to baby food, fling him to the ground with enough force to fracture his skull, and somehow give his qi a concussion on top of that. All in a single punch.

Chen Haoran was only spared from a second one because Pan Gong found it more prudent to begin assaulting the archers. For all that no one seemed confident in the rebels, Chen Haoran could find no fault in their conduct. The archers closest to Pan Gong immediately dropped their bows and picked up spears while those further away focused their fire on him. Men bravely darted in, their Rattan Vine Armor unfolding and wrapping vines around Pan Gongs limbs to yank them away and leave his chest exposed to their spears. The archers were impeccable in their accuracy, arrows falling on Pan Gongs legs, heads, and shoulders. Their resolve was as commendable as their actions were pointless.

The spears broke, the arrows bounced off, vines groaned and tore apart as Pan Gong walked straight through them. The rebels who rushed him were alive one moment and exploded into floods of Liquid Qi the next. The vine armors expanded into grasping masses, but Pan Gong took them in hand and whipped them away like chaff.

Chen Haoran gripped his broken jaw and wrenched it back into place, running his tongue over newly grown teeth. A pulse of qi scoured the blood from his face, and he gently tested the new skin that grew over the wound to make sure the bone had filled in correctly. He blinked, and the Yellow Dragon connected their vision. Something had changed in the moment Pan Gong punched him, and through the Dragons eyes, Chen Haoran finally saw what.

A Liquid Meridian was a walking dam waiting to burst, their qi a reservoir that loomed larger than the cultivator containing it. Such as it was with Chen Haoran and every Liquid Meridian hed experienced. Such as it was with Pan Gong. Was. When Chen Haoran turned his qi vision on him, Pan Gong glowed like a statue of solid gold. Gone were the rivers coursing in his meridians, and the rumbling pool collected in his core, the motion, the currents. What remained was solid and unnaturally still. His ocean of liquid qi seemingly drained away into his body as if it were a mold and cast his features into sharp relief that Chen Haoran could accurately make them out even through the Yellow Dragons eyes. His state was unlike any Liquid Meridian Realm Chen Haoran had ever seen. In fact, he shared more in common with the Crystal Transformation Realms outside.

Chen Haoran blinked and his vision returned to normal.

Can you still control his qi? He silently asked the Yellow Dragon. He received a low, unwilling growl in reply. Thats a no, then.

As if sensing his gaze, Pan Gong suddenly turned to look at Chen Haoran with a blank face.

Right. Armor time.

He reached a hand into his storage bag and summoned the True Reflection Mysterious Mirror Armor from his inventory space. Like all the armor hed worn before, it came out in floating pieces. Each one caught the faint light of the secret realm and shone like stars as they swirled around and fitted themselves to his body. Pan Gong crouched low and lunged, crossing the two tiers separating them in an instant as the armor was still assembling. The Yellow Dragon loosed a furious roar and soared out of Chen Haorans head to catch Pan Gong in jaws of liquid qi. Pan Gongs momentum did not falter. He backhanded the Yellow Dragon and burst it along the pyramids steps. The helmet had just closed around Chen Haorans wide eyes when Pan Gong leaped and grabbed the chest plate before it could connect.

The chest plate strained in Pan Gongs grip, the attraction pulling it to the armor fighting with his sheer strength. Chen Haorans palms bloomed with green light and struck out at the same moment Pan Gong fully wrenched away the chest plate. Fifty near-simultaneous strikes hit Pan Gongs ribs, wrist, elbow, and throat. Pan Gong ignored it all to rear back his arm and slam the armor piece onto Chen Haorans head. The helmet safely absorbed most of the force, but he was still thrown to the ground. It was sheer instinct that saved him from a punishing leg stomp that hit the stairs with enough force to feel the shockwave through the stones. It was followed by a lightning-fast kick to his sternum that cracked the bone and sent Chen Haoran skidding up to the next terrace.

He leapt to his feet and fed his qi into the True Reflection Mysterious Mirror Armor to familiarize himself with it. It was the first time he was using Heaven-Rank equipment and he didnt have time to appreciate it slowly. The armors latent qi stirred to life and responded to the influx, and through the mixing energies, new thoughts bloomed within Chen Haorans mind. They werent quite stored memories or a user manual downloaded into his brain. It was more like an instinctual understanding of how to use the armor. Through the induction of his sense, Chen Haoran could feel that the Heaven-Rank armor not only improved on the concept of the original Earth-Rank version but could also absorb force and store it to unleash later. A very helpful feature hed dearly like to make use of if not for the fact he needed a complete set of armor to use it fully, and Pan Gong was holding the last piece.

Before he could fully explore it, however, Pan Gong threw away the chest plate. Chen Haoran tracked where it was falling before he realized his mistake and hastily brought up his arms to block a heavy punch to his chest. Pan Gongs fist bounced off his gauntlets, and he deftly avoided Chen Haorans counter with a grace unnatural for his size.

Blossom Picking Palm

Chen Haorans vision was suddenly covered by Pan Gongs large hand grabbing his visor. Pan Gong yanked him off his feet and slammed him into the ground. Chen Haorans backpiece absorbed the force, and he triggered the amplification to rebound instantly to his feet and right into Pan Gongs guard.

Chen Haoran bellowed in anger and flooded qi into his arms until his muscles screamed and his bones cracked. His palms were incandescent with green light. In one second, he struck 25 times. In two seconds, 50. In four seconds, 100. Pan Gongs body was too strong, so he targeted the softer parts instead: eyes, nose, temples, chin, throat, liver. He fed more and more qi to his palms, running the Blossom Picking Palm to its fullest strength.

Pan Gong was not to be outdone. He matched Chen Haoran blow for blow, accurately deflecting each palm and, even more terrifyingly, doing it without any visible Technique. That was okay, though. Even if Chen Haoran didnt land a single hit, so long as Pan Gong kept hitting his armored hands, an opportunity would come. Without the chest piece to complete the armor, the amount of power it could store and amplify was limited, but it could still do it. After the 125th palm strike, his right hand was slapped away and the Technique faded. The green light in his left hand, however shined even brighter. Chen Haoran let loose a wordless howl and channeled his qi and all the stored forced through the armor and into his left palm. His muscles tore, every bone in his hand broke, and Chen Haoran slammed his palm into Pan Gongs cheek.

Pan Gongs head snapped back with a loud crack. Chen Haoran didnt let up. He stepped close to Pan Gong and threw haymaker after haymaker into his exposed center. Each punch sounded like a heavy drum being struck, and Chen Haoran would beat it for all it was worth, no matter how his arms and fists screamed at him.

A heavy hand fell onto his shoulder.

Chen Haorans fist stopped against Pan Gongs stomach. Despite throwing everything he had into hitting him Pan Gong hadnt stepped back once.

Chen Haoran looked up.

Pan Gong looked down at him, unflustered. That was a good hit.

He didnt see the liver punch, but he certainly felt it pop his liver. Chen Haoran screamed in pain for the first time in this fight. Bent over from the pain, Pan Gong clenched his head and proceeded to knee him in the chest. The first one broke his rib cage. The second one pushed it back. The third one had Chen Haoran vomiting blood that dribbled through the neck of his helmet. Pan Gong released Chen Haoran, and he stumbled backward. Pan Gong followed him with a flurry of punches to the chest that sent Chen Haoran to the ground. Chen Haoran raised his arms ineffectually, but Pan Gong swatted them away and continued his relentless hail of blows, growing faster with every punch. His bones were shattered into pieces, his organs punctured and pulped, his chest cavity caved into itself.

What had happened? Why was he here getting beaten to death? Where did he go wrong? Was it when he got greedy and was convinced to come to this Trial? Was it getting involved with Bao Si and the Black Bone Tribe and running headfirst into a fomenting rebellion? Was it when he decided to accept Jiang Lei forcing himself into his space? Perhaps it was coming to Zumulu with Xie Jin in the first place. Would staying in the Central Province really have been so bad compared to what he had to deal with since coming here? Or maybe hed sealed his fate when he decided to leave Lan Fen. What worth was his pride when his life was on the line?

He weakly raised a hand. Pan Gong ignored it. Chen Haoran could no longer muster the strength to force him off. Assuming he was capable of such a thing, to begin with. That suited Chen Haoran just fine. He wasnt planning to hit him.

The Sacred Elephant Tusk wasnt much to write home about size-wise, clocking in at just over two feet. Still, it was a Ninth-Layer Liquid Meridian material, improved a hundred times over. It glowed with a faint, almost holy radiance, and it easily punctured Pan Gongs skin and pierced through his heart.

Pan Gongs fists halted, and he looked down at his chest in surprise. He coughed, and a thin line of blood dribbled from his mouth.

Second Rule of the Palace School, he quietly recited. Underestimating the enemy is a cost you pay with your life or your pride. He sighed. Today, I pay with my pride.

Then, to Chen Haorans horror, Pan Gong proceeded to grab the tusk and pull it out from his chest. No blood or liquid qi spilled from the wound left behind.

For a lesser cultivator, that would have been a fatal wound, Pan Gong said, flipping over the tusk and pointing it to Chen Haorans chest. You fought well.

Pan Gong brought down the tusk and stabbed Chen Haorans heart.