Chapter Sixteen: Shattered

The moon hung high, the mountain wind roaring fiercely. The vault of heaven seemed to shatter as Fist Unmatched was once more blasted into the sky, his body failing to fall back down.

Jiang Ming dropped to the earth, carving a deep pit where he landed. The surrounding rocks all fractured and split.

“How powerful!” He shook out his arm and gazed upward, eyes deep and contemplative.

Beside him, Lu Yuan sucked in a sharp breath. He well knew how terrifying Fist Unmatched could be. Under normal circumstances, he could just about cope with him, but with the secret art just unleashed—if it were him instead, he’d have been utterly unable to withstand it.

Yet this young brother before him was entirely unscathed.

“Where did this monster come from?” Lu Yuan suppressed the turmoil in his heart and burst out laughing. “Ha! Unmatched, you still want to come down? Keep dreaming!”

“Brother Jiang!” Fist Unmatched’s blood and energy churned, his face pale. After repeated blows and the exertion of the secret art, he was greatly depleted; anxiety gnawed at him, and for a moment he nearly lost his breath.

He ignored Lu Yuan and spoke to Jiang Ming instead. “What will it take for you to stop?”

“There’s no enmity between you and me. I’ve no desire to meddle in the struggle between good and evil, only to cultivate quietly, to admire the land’s beauty, to savor fine wine and fair maidens. Yet you insisted on attacking me.” Jiang Ming’s eyes glinted as he sent another punch skyward, his voice following it. “If you want me to stop, it’s simple—I want to know the cultivation method of the Dragon Elephant Invincible Body Art.”

“Brother Jiang!” Lu Yuan interjected anxiously, but Jiang Ming waved him off.

Lu Yuan opened his mouth, then could only smile wryly in defeat.

“The Dragon Elephant Invincible Body Art is one of the Supreme Arts of my Divine Fist Sect.”

“You’ve already colluded with the Demon Cult—why still care for your sect? Don’t forget, right now you’re meat on the chopping block. There are far too many ways to kill you.”

“I—” Fist Unmatched wanted to curse, but forced himself to calm down.

After their previous exchange, he understood well enough: this man was at least his equal, perhaps even stronger. With Lu Yuan as well, even if he landed to fight, he’d likely be killed.

“I require a guarantee—swear an oath!” Fist Unmatched demanded.

“I have throwing knives.” Jiang Ming paid him no heed, striking out with his left hand, and in his right, a throwing knife appeared. “I could send it from below, through the intestines and out the mouth.”

“Brother Jiang, that’s too disgusting!” Lu Yuan immediately understood, his legs tensing and his face paling. “Body cultivators have few weaknesses, but the anus is one of them. With him up there and us down here, we can deal with him easily. Brother Jiang, this is brilliant. In future, when fighting body cultivators, just force them into the air and then—one knife, straight to the soul!”

“Ruthless!” Fist Unmatched shivered inwardly. “Listen up, I’ll say it only once. Whether you remember is up to you!”

After a brief pause, he quickly recited the contents of the Dragon Elephant Invincible Body Art.

The art had only six levels.

First level equated to third-rate, second to second-rate, third to first-rate, fourth corresponded to innate, fifth to grandmaster, sixth to great grandmaster.

Jiang Ming listened closely, yet a strange feeling crossed his mind.

This Fist Unmatched had mixed nine truths with one lie, altering a key part.

He didn’t mind much. Given time, even without the final two layers, he was confident he could deduce them. Now that he had the primer, with some careful thought, he could restore the true form of the last two levels.

“The sixth level is incomplete—there’s a significant flaw!” As Jiang Ming pondered, he both admired the seniors who created the technique and sensed its lack of lasting power. Whether the issue lay with the creator or something else, he could not yet say.

“Only six layers?” he asked again.

Lu Yuan cut in, “That I know—there are only six levels. Maybe the sixth is too inscrutable; as far as I know, no one in the Divine Fist Sect has ever mastered it.”

“The sixth level is too profound to comprehend,” said Fist Unmatched. “Even mastering the first five makes one unrivaled among grandmasters, able to contend with great grandmasters.”

“If it’s so mighty, what happened to you?” Lu Yuan mocked.

“If I’d truly reached the peak of the fifth level, you could never have trapped me!” Fist Unmatched’s expression was ugly.

Anyone in his situation would be in agony. Every time he landed, he was struck and sent back up, like a spring.

Even Old Hu, lurking nearby, couldn’t help but laugh, though his awe at his own chief’s strength was tinged with terror.

So powerful—beyond all reason.

With such power, why remain a mere mountain bandit?

He couldn’t understand, nor did he wish to.

“Fist Unmatched, now tell me how to cultivate the Divine Fist Sutra,” Jiang Ming said, flipping the throwing knife in his hand.

“Impossible! Absolutely not!” Fist Unmatched exploded with rage. “I’d rather die than betray it!”

“Then come down,” said Jiang Ming, sensing his resolve. He moved aside.

“Brother Jiang!” Lu Yuan was alarmed, but seeing Jiang Ming so focused and ready, he frowned and did not intervene.

Now, Fist Unmatched finally descended.

Whoosh—

Jiang Ming darted forward, a throwing knife tearing through the air and arriving before his foe in the blink of an eye.

“I was ready for you!” Fist Unmatched grinned, his face twisted with ferocity. He raised his arm, extending two fingers to catch the knife.

For him, this was child’s play. The knife was fast; his hand, faster.

But at that instant, his pupils contracted sharply—he had missed.

“How is this possible?” Fist Unmatched saw something that left him stunned. The knife suddenly accelerated as it neared.

The next moment, it shot into his left eye, sinking deep. He shrieked in pain, the true energy on the blade tearing through his mind as if to shatter it.

The agony was unbearable; his vision swam.

Were it not for his powerful body and immense vitality, he would have died on the spot.

“Die!”

Jiang Ming’s attack landed. His fist, brimming with overwhelming true energy, unleashed the Dragon-Suppressing Fist upon Fist Unmatched’s chest—eighteen blows in a mere instant.

Clothes exploded, bones shattered with resounding cracks.

Even a body so mighty and nigh invulnerable was nearly blasted apart.

His chest caved in, blood and fragments of shattered organs spraying from his mouth.

His violently beating heart fell silent, crushed to pulp.

Fist Unmatched flew backward, smashing a crater into the rocks, blood streaming from his seven orifices. He struggled to lift his head, glaring at Jiang Ming with boundless hatred. “You, you…”

Before he could finish, his body went limp. Life left him.

“He really was hard to kill,” Jiang Ming exhaled a long breath.

His body was simply too strong.

Jiang Ming realized his own flaw—he lacked a true finishing move. Killing above his level was difficult.

If not for using his spiritual power to accelerate the knife and catch Fist Unmatched off guard, it would have been much harder to slay him.

“You killed him just like that?” Lu Yuan was incredulous.

First Tan Feng, now Fist Unmatched.

This young brother stood there without the slightest flush or heavy breath, utterly unharmed.

Even Lu Yuan, who had seen much of the world, felt dazed.

“What else?” Jiang Ming smiled. “He was just a brute.”

“A brute?” Lu Yuan grinned.

In an army, Fist Unmatched could have slaughtered ten thousand.

Old Hu hurried over, face alight with joy. “Chief, you’re incredible! You’re not hurt, are you?”

“Chief?” Lu Yuan was stunned. “Don’t tell me—you’re the chief of this stronghold?”

He pointed at the ground beneath their feet.

Jiang Ming nodded.

“How can that be?” Lu Yuan stomped his foot. “Heroes are not judged by their origins, but damn it, this is too surreal!”

“Whether it’s surreal or not doesn’t matter. Since you’re in my territory, let me show proper hospitality. Brother Lu, please!” Jiang Ming gestured forward, then turned to Old Hu, “Take care of these bodies—don’t let anyone find them.”

With that, he strode ahead.

Lu Yuan hurried to catch up. “Brother Jiang, wait! What’s really going on? I can’t believe you’re just a mountain chief.”

“We’ll talk in a moment,” Jiang Ming replied with a smile. “But first, Brother Lu, tell me: who is the strongest in this world, and how many great grandmasters are there?”