I could see Gui Xiong's shimmering qi coalesce into the image of a gigantic grizzly bear. Synchronizing with its owner, the bear almost seemed to slam into me at the same time as his fist.
My opponent's speed and ferocity almost took me by surprise. Even though I read his movements and was aware of his attack, I still couldn't move away in time. No, it was precisely because of my Heavenly Flow and Earthly Paths that I knew I wouldn't be able to dodge Gui Xiong's charge.
I could only mitigate it. Throwing up both hands, I deflected Gui Xiong's fist to the side and tried to kick his leg to send him toppling over. Even though his momentum was massive, Gui Xiong was still somehow able to come to a halt and swing about to counter my deflection.
"Ugh…!"
I tried to dodge his punch, but couldn't completely escape. I was just barely able to block it, but even a single graze sent me tumbling a few steps. I desperately dug my feet in, but the tremendous force continued to propel me backward and I had to backpedal to prevent myself from falling over.
Only after about a dozen steps was I finally able to halt my momentum.
However, Gui Xiong wasn't patient enough to wait for me. The bear shrouding his figure, the enormous giant struck me like a freight train. Even though I swerved to the side to avoid taking on the full brunt of his blow, his elbow grazed me.
That simple movement was enough to hurl me across the room.
The breath knocked out of me, I flailed about in the air before doing a cartwheel and landing on a crouch. I raised my head, only to be forced to dodge a heavy kick that threw me upward.
With a grunt, Gui Xiong punched me. I slapped his arm to the side, but rather than just simply deflecting his punch because his fist was too unstoppable and powerful for me to budge, I used his arm as platform to toss myself to the side.
Landing on the ground a few feet away, I spun about to bleed off the excess momentum and kinetic energy before correcting my stance.
"Ho…not bad."
Gui Xiong didn't close in. This time, he maintained his distance, but he wasn't done with his offensive.
With a heavy stomp, he shattered the ground and threw up debris. With a swing of his hands, he smacked huge pieces of rubble toward me, the broken concrete speeding toward me like deadly bullets. Streaking too quickly for me to dodge – and also because there were too many of them – the barrage of debris all but covered my view.
Remaining calm, I instead relied on my technique to sweep the debris into my own flow. My hands and legs flicked out, catching the debris before they could land me – not directly, because if I tried to stop them, I would be perforated. Rather, my hands and feet came from different angles, deflecting the shattered projectiles and then sweeping them about. Using the projectiles I had caught, I used them to block or deflect other debris. Almost like a windmill, I whirled and spun about, catching, deflecting and gathering the debris.
"Ho…��
Gui Xiong, watched impressed, even as he fired off more debris toward me. Not just satisfied with the broken floor, he had taken to kick up the tables, chairs and other furniture in the room and punching them toward me. The poor furniture were obliterated and transformed into shrapnel that proved as deadly as those launched from a fragmentation grenade.
Even so, I remained calm, sweeping the shrapnel along with the bigger pieces of debris and gathering them into what resembled a whirlwind. Behind me, the dazzling symbol of yin and yang flickered, a hazy blend of black and white.
Then, in a single stroke, I sent all the debris I had collected back at Gui Xiong.
"…!"
The massive guy crossed his arms and hardened his qi. The great bear that shadowed him bellowed soundlessly and appeared to engulf him in a defensive aura even as the lethal projectiles struck. Tiny drops of blood trickled from miniscule cuts on Gui Xiong's beefy arms, but other than that, he didn't sustain much damage.
"Not bad! Not bad at all! I didn't think you could pull off such a trick!" Gui Xiong chortled and lowered his bleeding arms. "If it weren't for my Ghost Bear Body Tempering Method, I might have died from that blow!"
Evidently, my opponent was a body tempering cultivator. I took a deep breath and lowered my arms, slowly coming to a peaceful stance while the yin-yang symbol continued to gently glow behind me.
"Tai Ji Fist, huh? No…a variant?"
I remained silent and simply beckoned him with one hand. There was no reason for me to expose my skills and tell him anything. Only fools bragged and showed off to their opponents.
"I knew you wouldn't disappoint me!"
With a gleeful bellow, Gui Xiong kicked off the ground and launched himself at me. I swung to the side, parrying his fist indirectly and deflecting his punch. Despite my success, the impact behind his blow lifted me off my feet and sent me stumbling a few steps back.
I ducked under his next punch, but he followed up with a kick that almost broke my leg if I had tried to block it. Sensing the movement, I dodged it by the barest of margins, but the graze was enough to send me spinning.
Rolling away, I watched as Gui Xiong's massive foot smashed a crater into the ground where my body had been. Tucking my knees into my chest, I launched myself back to a standing position, and in the same move spun away to divert Gui Xiong's follow-up punch to the side.
"Kuh!"
Despite my best efforts, my arms were going numb from the constant parrying and deflecting. Gui Xiong's strikes radiated a tremendous amount of solid qi that was hard as rock. It almost felt as if I was trying to duel with a damned truck.
"You are very skilled for one your age!" Gui Xiong said with a grin. "You may lack the experience, speed and ruthlessness of Bro She Wang, but you've surpassed my expectations by far!"
"She Wang?" I repeated as I evaded another strike from him. Despite avoiding his punch totally, I could feel the wind of his blow batter me. I then held up both hands to divert his next punch to the side, and jumped on top of his leg when he attempted to kick me.
"The boss of Black Serpent Gang." Gui Xiong peered at me curiously. "Seems like you really have no relations to them."
"Why would I have any relations to them?"
"True. Those brats at your high school are low-ranking errand boys for the Black Serpent Gang at most. Without knowing your true identity, there's no way She Wang would lower himself to deal with a high school student personally."
He then delivered several jabs that kept me on my toes, waltzing and weaving away. I did my best to counter, knocking his fists aside and then trying to use the centrifugal force of my spinning to deliver a double-handed palm strike.
My attack struck Gui Xiong's chest…only for me to be repelled by the bear-like qi that shrouded him. As I stumbled back, I could feel the predatory glare of the qi-constructed bear that was rearing up above its owner.
Even though they were merely illusions…intangible qi that wouldn't attack physically…they were still intimidating nonetheless. Well, that wasn't very accurate. The rock-solid hardness of the qi-made bear was real, serving as both defense and a boost to Gui Xiong's punches.
Smirking at my failed counterattack, Gui Xiong lumbered forward to bombard me with more swipes and punches.
Taking a deep breath, I refused to back down. Instead, I whirled about, using flexibility to counter rigidity, soft to counter hard.
"Huff…huff…"
Perspiration poured down my face. I was stretched to my limits, doing my best to read, calculate and predict the multiple attacks that Gui Xiong was throwing at me simultaneously, while trying to sneak a counter here and there. Even though I had yet to do any damage to him, I hadn't suffered any real injury yet.
I was holding my much stronger and larger opponent at a stalemate. As long as I could keep this up, I might just have a chance…!
"Hmm…not bad. Not bad at all."
Gui Xiong then intensified his strike. To my shock, he delivered a single punch that was more powerful than before. Even though I did my best to swerve to the side and deflect it, the steely qi that was wrapped around his fist detonated near my midriff and blasted me several meters backward.
The yin-yang symbol that was behind me shattered into several thousand pieces and I was sent hurtling backward, blood spurting from my mouth.
"In the end, you still can't even withstand a single hit."
Opposite me, Gui Xiong straightened up and held up his fist. Synchronized with its master, the qi-constructed bear also raised a paw and growled triumphantly.
"Ugh…"
Sliding across the ground helplessly, I managed to flip myself up and roll to my feet. Adjusting my glasses, I then wiped the blood from my mouth and glared defiantly at him. Rising to my feet unsteadily, I corrected my stance and tried to reform the yin-yang symbol once again.
"Oh? Impressive. I didn't think you would be able to stand after that hit, never mind continue fighting. It appears I have underestimated you."
He then lunged at me again, the great bear bellowing soundlessly behind him.
Closing my eyes briefly, I relied on my sixth sense to read the flow of qi that was swirling around him like a raging tempest. Perhaps I had been relying too much on my vision…
However, I had underestimated the enormity of Gui Xiong's qi. It was like a storm, an elemental force of nature. There were too many currents to read, and it was too wild for me to perceive anything. It was like staring straight at a tornado and realizing that it was futile to outrun or defend against it.
Even if that was the case, I had no intention of backing down. Opening my eyes, I attempted to block Gui Xiong's first strike. The blow caused me to shudder and I staggered backward. My arms were trembling violently from trying to deflect it, but I had no choice but to raise them again. The next swipe actually knocked me off my feet and sent me crashing to the ground.
I quickly rolled away and scrambled to my feet before Gui Xiong could stomp on me, but was forced to block his backhanded swing. With no time to evade, I had to parry his strike with both of my arms. Once again, my yin-yang symbol broke to uncountable shards as the great bear struck it almost scornfully. My bones felt as if they were going to shatter and the impact smashed through my entire body even as I sailed several meters away and hit the wall with a sickening crunch. Dust and debris rained down upon me as I slumped onto the floor.
"Ugh…"
I coughed out blood and tried to get to my feet, only for my trembling arms to weakly give out under me. Sprawled on the ground, I raised my head and watched helplessly as Gui Xiong approached.
He shook his head, almost as if he was disappointed.
"You fought well, young man, but it's over. To be honest, I'm very impressed. For a Black realm cultivator like you to fight an Earth realm cultivator like me to this extent, it's quite remarkable, actually."
More blood dribbled down my lips as I glared at him. "I suppose this is where you make that cliché line of you needing to kill me now so as to eliminate threats in future or some bullshit like that."
Gui Xiong snorted. "You've been reading too much trashy cultivation manhua. Nobody says or even thinks like that in real life. At least not so blatantly. Tying up loose ends, yes, but killing someone because you're afraid he'll get a higher cultivation level than you in the future? What the hell? Do they think this is some kind of game or something?"
He then bent down and seized me by my head, slowly crushing my consciousness to oblivion.
"No. I'm killing you now because you had the audacity to use my Ghost Bear Clan."
Lifting me up with a single hand, he slammed me against the wall with so much force that I blacked out.