Chapter 12: Rising Up

Chapter 12: Rising Greatness

"Huzhong, is your man reliable?"

Luo Zhen stared at the two men standing with swords drawn upon the boxing ring, a faint red light flickering deep within his pupils.

In his line of sight, Li Jun and Lang Ren's skin and bones were being analyzed layer by layer, and even the internal energy deep within their flesh was clearly visible.

Judging by its strength, both of them had been injected with eighth-rank internal cultivation, and their realms were practically identical.

"Rest assured, my Lord, Lang Ren is a pure killing machine. As long as his opponent's strength remains below the Sequence, they stand absolutely no chance against him."

Huzhong possessed ultimate confidence in Lang Ren's strength.

Though Liuchuan Tan and Yan Gui were likewise listed among the 'Ten Nobles,' they were merely characters ranking at the very bottom, and their close-quarters combat prowess was nothing remarkable.

On the contrary, Lang Ren, who bore no cybernetic prosthetics or implants upon his body, was the strongest member of the Jidao Society’s younger generation, having already set one foot into the Sequence.

"You are a man who knows the weight of things; I trust your choice."

Seeing Huzhong so full of certainty, Luo Zhen's mind settled completely, and his metallic cybernetic eye, which had activated its scanning function, turned toward Zhao Ding on the sedan chair.

The result was naturally a complete blank; that grand black cloak seemed entirely capable of shielding against external scans.

Luo Zhen's eyes shifted, falling upon Kuang Qingyun, and he suddenly froze.

"What the hell are you looking at!"

Luo Zhen blinked, his eyelids twitching rapidly as the chip behind his skull quickly refreshed the program loaded within his cybernetic eye.

After a moment, Luo Zhen confirmed that this was no malfunction of the metallic eye, but that these very words had truly manifested from inside Kuang Qingyun's body.

He, too, belonged to the Military Path Sequence!

"Huzhong, this Kuang Qingyun must die!"

The intense killing intent that Luo Zhen suddenly unleashed left Huzhong completely bewildered, but since Kuang Qingyun would surely be a target for purging after Zhao Ding's death anyway, going along with the current presented no issue at all.

"Very well, my Lord."

The Nine Dragons Boxing Ring was also known as the 'Blood Gold Platform,' where the stakes for a single match in days past ran as high as over a hundred thousand Great Ming treasure notes.

Yet compared to today's stakes, that could only be considered a drop in the ocean.

Under the watch of over a hundred pairs of eyes, Li Jun and Lang Ren moved almost simultaneously.

Lang Ren lunged forward, the hem of his trench coat rustling loudly, as a streak of cold light whipped out from his waist, slashing with a piercing howl that ripped through the air, bearing a dense mass of killing intent aimed straight for Li Jun’s face!

The Japanese ninth-rank swordsmanship, the Drawing Sword Slash!

Li Jun's reaction was just as swift; he raised his sword and kicked, sending the scabbard of the Qi-family blade flying forth like a bolt from a powerful crossbow, smashing into the flash of the blade and exploding into fragments of shattered wood.

Griping the hilt with both hands, the Qi-family blade—its length nearly half the height of a man—came crashing down with the furious momentum of Mount Tai flattening the earth.

The two blades collided, bursting into a sharp metallic drone.

Amidst the exploding sparks, the two pairs of eyes locked onto each other, overflowing with murderous intent!

"Kneel down for me!"

Li Jun roared violently, the muscles of his arms bulging with winding veins as his physique, tempered by the eighth-rank internal cultivation of the Azure Emperor Decree, exploded with terrifying, immense force, continuously pressing down upon Lang Ren.

Having experienced schemes, betrayal, and ambushes within a mere matter of dozens of hours, Li Jun was currently shrouded in an overwhelming aura of ferocity, bloodshot streaks wrapping around his pupils, with only a single thought remaining in his mind: to hack this Japanese pirate alive!

The tremendous pressure transmitted from the katana caused Lang Ren to furrow his brows, instantly realizing the massive advantage weapons like the Qi-family blade held in a contest of strength.

His rich experience in close-quarters combat allowed him to make the most correct choice in a split second, shifting his footwork.

The katana slid against the slender body of the Qi-family blade, scraping with a sound that set one's teeth on edge, unexpectedly deflecting the Qi-family blade by clinging to it and discharging its force.

Lang Ren sidestepped to Li Jun’s flank, arching his back from a lunge, and his katana struck as swiftly as a thunderbolt, slashing against the thinnest side of the Qi-family blade.

Clang!

The sound was like a striking bell, capable of piercing gold and cracking stone.

Li Jun felt a heavy weight in his wrist as the Qi-family blade plunged downward uncontrollably, hacking fiercely into the ground of the boxing ring, sending fragments of stone flying.

"Brainless fool!"

A cold sneer curled at the corner of Lang Ren's mouth as he raised his arm for a horizontal slash, the edge sweeping toward Li Jun’s throat.

In the eyes of the hundred-plus Muddy Water Robe Brothers spectating beneath the ring, Li Jun, whose central chest was now wide open, had absolutely no way left to defend himself, and they could not help but let out bursts of gasps and wails from their mouths.

A dark cloud cast over the face of Kuang Qingyun, who had a folding fan tucked behind his neck, and his body turned imperceptibly toward Luo Zhen, the faint, fine humming of preheating cybernetic prosthetics echoing from beneath his robes.

It was not hard to guess that the moment Li Jun perished upon the ring, this Second Brother Sage of the Robe Brothers Society would immediately pounce to slaughter Luo Zhen.

"Kill him!" Zhao Dou raised his arm and shrieked wildly, his expression frenzied to the absolute extreme.

Huzhong’s expression was solemn, his ten fingers spread wide as blue electrical arcs continuously leaped between them.

The members of the Jidao Society all gathered around his left and right, waiting in full battle array, completely prepared to handle the Robe Brothers Society turning their backs.

The slaughter upon the boxing ring had not yet settled, yet beneath the ring, the undercurrents were already shifting unpredictably.

Only the old man upon the sedan chair maintained his usual countenance, seemingly not worried in the slightest that Li Jun would suffer defeat.

"Can a mere little Japanese pirate truly kill my Fifth Red Flag Brother?"

Zhao Ding’s cracked lips moved slightly, his voice so faint that he was practically talking to himself.

Just the instant after the old man's words fell, a sudden mutation indeed erupted upon the stage!

"Die!"

Lang Ren exhaled with a fierce shout, the katana in his hand cutting out horizontally like lightning, the momentum of the blade incomparably fierce.

Yet even when the arm holding the blade was fully extended, Lang Ren still failed to feel that pleasure of slicing through flesh from the edge of his blade!

Li Jun's figure had, at the critical juncture, bizarrely swung backward by an inch, just barely evading this strike intended for decapitation!

"Movement technique?! The Bagua Swimming Body Steps?!"

As a patrol inspector of the Tianfu Garrison, Luo Zhen possessed an exceptionally sharp eye, recognizing the movement technique Li Jun used at a single glance, the corner of his mouth that had already begun to curl widening into a sudden tautness.

Kuang Qingyun, who had nearly pounced out, forcibly halted his mechanical Achilles tendons and artificial calf muscles whose power had already climbed to their maximum.

The concrete ground beneath his feet cracked apart, and a flush of deep red surged across his skin, which was so fair that practically no pores could be seen.

Standing across from him, Huzhong likewise bore an astonished expression, the electrical arcs leaping between his fingers falling into a momentary chaos as a wisp of white smoke from singed skin drifted up slowly.

All the surging dark currents came to a grinding halt because of this step from Li Jun, which could well be described as violent.

Within the minds of these three experts who had entered the Sequence, the exact same bewilderment that had plagued the deceased Sun Jiu simultaneously arose.

"This Li Jun has actually injected so many martial arts; is he not afraid of genetic collapse?"

In their understanding, there were two key points to ascending the Martial Path Sequence: one was to maintain the absolute integrity of flesh and blood, strictly refusing any cybernetic modification or implants.

The other was to maintain genetic stability, which required a martial artist not to inject too many martial arts; otherwise, a human's fragile genes before unlocking could easily collapse.

Even for Lang Ren, who was hailed as the foremost of the Jidao Society’s 'Ten Nobles,' he had only injected a single eighth-rank internal cultivation and a single eighth-rank swordsmanship.

This was already the absolute limit of his genetic carrying capacity.

Lang Ren had never imagined that Li Jun would actually inject a movement technique whose effects were unremarkable below the Sequence, successfully evading his certain-kill strike.

However, his astonishment did not last for long, because a vicious, fierce wind had already come pouncing down right over his head.

LiJun did not choose to swing the somewhat cumbersome Qi Family Saber; instead, pivoting on his left foot, he brought his right leg down like a battle-axe toward Lang Ren’s skull.

With no room left to dodge, Lang Ren could only desperately jerk his head aside, taking the full weight of Li Jun’s heavy leg on his shoulder.

*Thud!*

Unprepared for the impact, Lang Ren’s knees buckled violently; unable to withstand the tremendous force, he slammed into the ground with a dull crash.

At this moment, the fighting arena fell into a deathly silence. Atop the sedan chair, Zhao Ding wore an expression of heroic abandon and suddenly bellowed at the top of his lungs: "Rise up!"

The ancient, heavy roar reverberated. Over a hundred Hunshui Pao Brothers, abruptly snapped back to their senses, widened their eyes almost in unison, tearing their throats open to howl in fury.

"Rise up!"