Chapter 457 - Am I Qualified Enough With This? (1/2)
Initiative! If one even lost the initiative in a fight with a divine beast-level martial artist such as Qilin, then it would not be necessary to continue fighting.
The two times he had come up the mountain, the moment Qin Fen’s sole stepped on the eighty-first step, he was immediately greeted with a sudden Qilin’s fist from the stone house.
Since he was unable to cross the eighty-first step, it was better to make a move from the eightieth step! The granite steps that had not withered even after decades of wind and rain split into pieces from the center as if they were cut under the sudden thunder energy burst from the Thundersteps.
“So fast!” Song Jia’s pretty little eyes flickered with surprise as her heart pounded again and again. To her surprise, Qin Fen had grown so fast since she last saw him that all she could see was a trail of vague after-images with her strength.
A vast stream of energy rose from the stone house that had been repaired for the third time already. The wall between the two was crushed into dust as if it was struck by a high-speed meteor, forming a visible grayish trail as it flew along with the strong airflow set off by the Qilin’s fist.
Qilin’s Fist! It was Qilin’s Fist, once again; the third Qilin’s Fist without any real change! Qin Fen’s body shook at a moment’s notice as the Thundersteps exploded under his feet with a clap of thunder for the second time. Immediately, Qin Fen’s figure disappeared from Song Jia’s line of sight! A whistling sound suddenly drowned the deafening clap of thunder which was the sound caused by the friction between the air and Qin Fen’s speeding body.
This was Qin Fen’s true Thundersteps! The revised version of Thundersteps after the battle with the two dao masters may not have reached the level of Electric Steps but it had undergone a new sublimation. Last time, he had not used them to confuse Qilin. As such, the first use immediately drew a slight surprise from the dark stone house.
“Well!?”
A pair of eyes shone brightly with curiosity in the dark house immediately, as if two searchlights had appeared in the dark night.
Song Zhenting’s had to no choice but to admit that Qin Fen’s Thundersteps were the fastest in the world among the fifteen-star martial dao masters. Any fifteen-star martial artist would lose against him if he showed so much as a little bit of carelessness under this Thundersteps.
With that super speed, Qin Fen dodged Qilin’s Fist for the first time.
“This…!” At the foot of the mountain, Hashimoto heard the sky thunder as a streak of fist energy pierce through the sky, rushing straight into the clouds, leaving a trailing transparent tunnel in the air. The repelled air immediately filled this vacuum with force, causing a series of roars like a thousand claps of thunder in the clear sky.
The ground at the peak of Qilin Mountain blossomed in a flash, as if a heavy artillery battalion had aimed here and started firing. Qin Fen left irregular pits everywhere he stepped with Thundersteps.
As dust, rocks, and grass shrouded half of the entire peak of the Qilin Mountain, Qin Fen returned to the center of the peak with Thundersteps, put his palm on the right side of his waist and clutched tightly as he corked it vigorously! The subsequent wind due to this act was like a powerful ventilator, sucking the dust, rocks, and the mud floating in the air into his fist.
Immediately, Qin Fen’s figure appeared in Song Jia’s line of sight amid this hazy cloud of dust.
“Swallowing the World!?” Song Jia’s eyes flickered with a strange brilliance. She couldn’t believe the similarity between Qin Fen’s preparatory move and the Swallowing the World from Qilin’s Fist.
As the dust and rocks were sucked in completely, Qin Fen’s true energy burst out from every pore of his body. Owing to which, the martial attire he was wearing became tattered in the blink of an eye. Immediately after, his every bone and every strand of his muscle drew a huge circle and shook fiercely as if a huge dice cups with thousands of dice was shaken. The moment his feet finished shaking and simultaneously kicked the ground, his figure flew out.
The dodging momentum, creating momentum, gathering momentum, and now, attacking momentum! After the battle of Hallasan, Qin Fen had finally completed the circle. This move shook the entire Qilin Peak. The stone house shook non-stop.
Dragon Cannon, Thundersteps, Extreme Softness Giving Birth to Hardness… Qin Fen had merged three powerful skills into one. Just the shockwave from a single step caused Song Jia’s long hair to flutter in the air and her cheongsam to flap. She subconsciously raised her hand to block the oncoming wind.
At this moment, the ground under Qin Fen’s feet sunk twenty-meters deep, as if a meteor had crashed here. Even the distant grasses and trees were swept off the ground by the subsequent shockwave.
Immediately, a streak of thundering Qilin’s Fist energy swept the grass off the ground with the momentum of the Yangtze River and took the form of a green Qilin as it charged at Qin Fen.
A head-on confrontation!? Qin Fen’s heel and Achilles’ tendon tightened as his shoulder and back muscles bulged. In the blink of an eye, his entire strength was transferred to his feet as he sunk his waist even more fiercely, like a prawn in the water. In the next moment, all the supercharged energy broke out.
Suddenly, Qin Fen disappeared from his place. The ground where he stood looked as if something weighing thousand tons had crashed there.
In a flash, Qin Fen’s figure was like a bolt of lightning. Song Jia could not even feel his aura, as if his figure had disintegrated there and reintegrated in front of the stone house.
Thunder Dragon Cannon! Qin Fen planted his fist and sunk his waist as he turned his shoulders and arm respectively. Immediately, his fist smashed into the stone wall before him like a high-speed rotating shell.
BOOM!
A deafening crash echoed throughout the Qilin Mountain. Even Hashimoto at the foot of the mountain raised his head and looked at the peak with surprise. “Qin Fen’s energy is so majestic!?”
“Hehe…” Steward Hou sitting on the rattan chair, seemingly asleep but yet not asleep, opened his eyes and looked towards the Qilin Peak that was bursting with energy but without any dust and stones flying off the peak. “It seems that a fantastic show is about to start!?”
Atop the peak, Song Jia watched through the gaps of her fingers in surprise. Qin Fen’s punch that could smash and tear the Qilin Peak could not even break the wall of that small stone house.
Standing in front of the stone house, Qin Fen sank his waist and pressed his thigh, rotated his ankle and moved his shoulder as he smashed his left fist from his waist straight into the stone house blocking before him with the Investiture of Gods.
The punch that was strong enough to smash iron and steel into smithereens, smash a mountain’s peak into nothing, was unable to break this stone house! This stone house wasn’t built using some new alloy but rather, it was covered in Qilin’s protective true energy. The Thunder Dragon Cannon could only blast a huge splash of energy from the wall, unable to truly pierce through it.
BOOM! The peak trembled again. Immediately, a flash of surprise appeared on Song Zhenting’s face as he looked at the flying pieces of rocks. There was almost no gap between Qin Fen’s first and second punch. Owing to which, Qin Fen’s punch smashed the stone wall before Qilin’s protective energy could close up the energy blasted away by his first punch.
Finally, Qin Fen saw the rumored Qilin, Song Wendong amidst the cloud of dust!
The world-famous Song Wendong was sitting on the grass in the stone house. Song Jia had obviously inherited her beauty from this divine beast martial artist. His handsome face was simply perfect, there weren’t any flaws. His bright and shiny eyes under the straight-as-a-sword black eyebrows had surpassed even the shiniest pair of gems. His wide forehead was overflowing with wisdom. He was surrounded by a calm aura with a sense of incomprehensible mystery, as if no one could see through him.
Most of Qilin’s hair was still black but the hair around his temples had grown white. But it didn’t give a sense of old age. Instead, it added an aura of an expert which a divine beast martial artist like him should have. The peaceful air around him seemed to have an aura of him looking down on everything, which made it difficult for anyone to approach him.
His slender and well-trained body was simply perfect; it pushed the peerless style of an expert to the extreme.
He was five centimeters taller than Qin Fen. Looking at Qilin, Qin Fen could not help but admire him. Such a style isn’t lacking in comparison to Master’s!
“Qilin!? The backward Qin Fen is here to propose a marriage.”
The pieces of rocks flung into the air came crashing at this moment, smashing into the ground around Qin Fen. The dust lingering between the two formed an indescribable atmosphere.
At the sight of this scene and listening to Qin Fen’s steady and firm voice, Song Jia’s cheeks flushed red as she bit her lower lip in joy.
Qilin raised his eyelids slightly and looked at Qin Fen, his gaze calm and cold. Then, he slightly parted his lips and asked, “Why should I marry Song Jia to you, on what basis?”
Qin Fen stared intently at Qilin’s gaze intently and asked back calmly, “Isn’t this enough?”
“Is this enough?”
Qilin’s voice suddenly grew cold. His pupils under his sword-like eyebrows flickered with near-substantial killing intent.
At an age younger than twenty, he had become a fifteen-star martial dao master and killed two martial dao masters who had founded their own schools. His ability was even better than that of any of the previous divine beasts. He could almost be the youngest martial dao master in history.
Such strength at his age was enough in anyone’s opinion! But Qin Fen could clearly feel that there wasn’t any sense of a joke nor a test in Qilin’s words. All there was was an obvious intent to kill.
I can save my life if I chose to retreat at this moment. An absurd thought suddenly flashed in Qin Fen’s mind as he narrowed his big eyes and looked at Song Wendong. “Then, I want to ask for your advice in martial arts.”
“You will not be convinced if I suppress you with force.” Song Wendong, who had always been sitting till now, stood up slowly and walked out of the stone house, carrying his arms behind his back. “I don’t care whether you are convinced or not. But because you have smashed the stone house, I will tell you why it isn’t enough.”
Song Wendong’s big sleeves flapped as he raised his palm to his chest and spread his fingers, slowly covering the entire Qilin Peak.
When Qin Fen saw Song Wendong’s fingers opening, he felt as if all the flora and fauna on the Qilin Peak was under his control, as if he was the master of heaven and earth. Qilin had a complete grasp on his blood flow, his heartbeat, and the circulation of his true energy.
As Qilin’s five fingers spread, Song Wendong’s true energy exceeded the fifteen-star level. A palm pressure that could topple the mountains and overturn the seas pressed down on Qin Fen, blowing his black hair lightly, and pushing his spirit up a bit as well.
His martial dao had reached such a level! The two martial dao masters who had founded their own schools could not even compare to him. Only by seeing it with one’s own eyes and experiencing with one’s own body could one know what this palm pressure bore inside.
Be that as it may, there was an indifferent look on Song Wendong’s face. His calm voice was as clean as a baby’s. “Heaven and Earth in the Palm.”
Song Wendong took a step as the words exited his mouth. With his steady pace, his majestic aura of power mixed in with the pressure of Mt. Tai pressed towards the target.
Qin Fen’s shoulders quivered as his spine rose and fell like a dragon’s. Every joint in his palm popped as he brought his finger together. His arm muscles entangled with each other and hardened, giving the impression of a saber. His eyes were glued on Song Wendong’s Heaven and Earth in the Palm.
Heaven and Earth in the Palm, Heaven and Earth in the Palm! Song Wendong’s attack didn’t give rise to any howling of the wind. The strength of his tyrannical star-class gushed out from his palm in a free and unrestrained manner. The momentum of his palm kept on changing with his steps. And he didn’t hide it even a bit, as if he wanted to make Qin Fen feel oppressed by brandishing the martial intent through his palm as responses to every change flashed in Qin Fen’s mind endlessly. If the Yangtze River was behind Qin Fen, he would’ve been pushed into the river without any real contact.
When one’s martial arts reached this level, reaching the acme of perfection wasn’t enough to describe it. While Qilin’s palm technique was changing constantly in an obvious manner, Qilin’s footwork also didn’t stop changing. Qin Fen’s martial senses couldn’t predict where this fatal blow would really come from.
Valor, courage, and the heroic spirit could not simply fill the huge gap between both sides.
In the face of this huge gap, Qin Fen suddenly took a deep breath as his entire right arm turned as lustrous as jade with the flip of his hand. The distant Song Jia seemed to be able to see Qin Fen’s bones underneath his arm muscles.