Mao Yuhan’s two weapons could use lightning and wind.

Lightning was fast and had incredible piercing power. It could also be used to paralyze people, and truly skilled users of lightning techniques could bind enemies up. Wind was more of a cutting element, but it could also create incredible gusts of wind, tornadoes, and even affect the weather depending on the technique.

Wu Jian did not think Mao Yuhan was that skilled, nor did he think the man had that many techniques. He relied on those two axes of his to do all the heavy lifting for him.

So long as I can separate him from his axes, I have a chance to win!

Wu Jian dashed forward. Mao Yuhan readied the axe in his left hand. Before the man could launch his own attack, however, Wu Jian threw a punch.

“Gah?!”

Mao Yuhan stumbled forward as something slammed into the back of his head. The force behind the blow was akin to being hit with a hammer, such was the strength behind Wu Jian’s punches. Not that Mao Yuhan knew what happened. Barely a second after his initial attack, Wu Jian grabbed the man by the ears, leapt up, and slammed a knee into Mao Yuhan’s face.

Or he would have.

Except Mao Yuhan blocked it with his axe.

“Did you think it would be that easy to hit me?!”

Mao Yuhan skidded across the ground as Wu Jian drove his knee into the axe. His teeth were grit as he struggled against Wu Jian’s overwhelming strength. This man might have been bigger and possessed a higher cultivation, but that didn’t mean he was stronger.

He eventually stopped. Tracks in the ground marked how far Mao Yuhan had been forced back. Wu Jian tried to draw upon even more power, but it was no use.

With a roar, Mao Yuhan channeled chi through his axe. Wu Jian’s eyes widened when he realized it was the one that generated lightning. He leapt off the axe, but he wasn’t fast enough to avoid being zapped, and the sensation of lightning surging through his body caused his muscles to seize up.

“Now you die!”

Mao Yuhan screamed a fierce battle cry as he raised the other axe and swung it down. Wind shrieked as the air was cut. A tornado of cutting blades surrounded the gleaming surface of the axe.

Wu Jian pushed chi through his paralyzed body, overcame the paralysis, and just barely rolled aside in time to avoid the man’s downward swing. What happened next blew his mind.

A howling sound not unlike the cries of an enraged animal echoed around the forest as the cutting blades around the axe tore apart the ground. A massive crack formed in the earth. As though something invisible was splitting apart the ground. Several trees that stood in its path were felled. They crashed to the forest floor, their trunks entirely uprooted.

Huǒ Shuchang whistled. “That’s an impressive weapon. Too bad it’s wasted in the hands of someone like Mao Yuhan.”

Mao Yuhan glared at Huǒ Shuchang, who merely gave a mocking smile back, but then his attention turned to Wu Jian, still standing and barely injured. A single cut ran down his left arm where one of the wind blades cut into his flesh.

“Tch. You’ve gotten much stronger. I never imagined you’d be able to reach such strength in so little time. But I hope you don’t think you’re strong enough to defeat me. You might be a heaven sent genius, but you’re still too green.”

Wu Jian didn’t bother wiping the blood that trailed down his arm. He glared back at Mao Yuhan.

“My cultivation base might not be as high as yours, but that doesn’t mean a thing. You’re a weak coward who can only bully those weaker than yourself. I’ll never lose to someone like you.”

“Hmph! You talk a big game! Let’s see if you can back it up!”

Mao Yuhan swung his wind-generating axe in a wide arc. A powerful blade shot from its edge.

Wu Jian narrowed his eyes as the blade came at him faster than a human could blink. He leapt over the blade, twisting his body so he wouldn’t travel too high off the ground, which would have presented Mao Yuhan the perfect avenue to attack.

“Do you think you’re smart?! That won’t work on me!”

Wu Jian hadn’t even landed on the ground before Mao Yuhan summoned more lightning. Shaped like a hammer, the massive arc of blue energy slammed into him with the ferocity of a storm. All he could do was cross his arms and try not to yell as the attack sent him sailing back.

He slammed into several hard objects that shattered under impact. Each object battered his body more. The pain was so much that his vision went dark for a second.

It only came back when something too dense for his body to shatter stopped his momentum. Blood trickled down the back of his head. It looked like he had cracked it open. He could barely feel it, however. Most of his body was in pain, and it felt like his internal organs had been rearranged.

“Jian Wu?!” Xing Zhenya tried run over to him, Huǒ Shuchang grabbed her hand. She turned just her head to glare at him. “What are you doing?! Let me go!”

“I can’t do that, and you need to calm down,” Huǒ Shuchang shook his head. “If you try to step in between that fight, you’re only going to get in Jian Wu’s way.” Xing Zhenya bit her lower lip. Huǒ Shuchang slackened his grip on her wrist. “Besides, that bastard is fine. Oi! You okay over there?!”

Wu Jian blinked several times, then raised his right hand, and extended a single finger.

His middle finger.

“See that? He’s just fine!” Huǒ Shuchang laughed.

Xing Zhenya bit her lip but backed down.

Mao Yuhan was not standing idle while the pair spoke. He raised his two axes high above his head. Wind and lightning gathered around his weapons, merging together. The loud crackle of thunder defeated the people watching the battle, forcing them to cover their ears, lest their eardrums burst apart from the sound. It mixed with the howling winds.

Not to high above Mao Yuhan’s weapons, a sphere had formed. It was a massive crackling orb of lightning and wind. The howling intensified as the air around them surged toward the sphere like it was sucking up everything in its path.

“This is my most powerful technique! You should feel honored that I’m using it on a bastard like you!” Mao Yuhan shouted. “I’m gonna turn you to ashes!!”

Mao Yuhan sent the sphere hurtling toward Wu Jian, who thought he saw his life flashing before his eyes.

So this is the power of someone who’s a half-step into the Asura Realm? It really is fierce. I don’t think I have anything that can compare to it. What… should I do? I can’t give up here.

Wu Jian recalled all the times he had shared with Wu Meiying, Hou Jingshu, Zhou Lihua, and the members of the Wu Clan. Then he recalled what happened on that fateful night. Wu Meiying’s words were etched into his mind.

He needed to become stronger.

He couldn’t let things end here.

But what can I do? I don’t have anything to fight against this, do I?

Time felt almost like it had slowed to a snail’s crawl as Wu Jian struggled to think about what he could do to get out of this situation. Of course, he could rely on others, but he refused. If he couldn’t overcome this himself, how would he ever become strong enough to meet Wu Meiying again? He would never be able to get his revenge on the people who killed his family if he constantly relied on others.

Could I use space somehow…?

Thus far, the only thing Wu Jian had managed to do was fold space around one part of his body and connect it to another point in space, but surely that wasn’t all it could do?

The sphere was getting closer. Wu Jian pulled himself from the rock he had smashed into. Sending chi into his hand, Wu Jian imagined the space around it growing sharper. He needed it to be sharp enough to slice through anything, sharp enough to cut through space itself.

“I won’t…”

Wu Jian gritted his teeth as the chi around his hand turned black and sharpened into a blade.

“I won’t lose here!!!”

Swinging his arm in an upward slash, Wu Jian cut straight through the lightning sphere, which dispersed as though all of its power had vanished.

“Haaaah… haaaaah… haaaah…”

What followed was a silence so profound only Wu Jian’s heavy breathing could be heard. He blinked several times as the others looked at him with wide eyes. His vision was blurry. He stumbled a bit. Dammit. His technique might have cut through Mao Yuhan’s attack, but it had also used almost all the chi he had.

I have the seize the initiative!

Mao Yuhan was too busy staring in shock to make his own move, so Wu Jian burst off the ground with all the strength in his legs. He reached his enemy within just a few short seconds.

Mao Yuhan had snapped out of his daze by that point. He raised an axe and swung it down, but there was very little chi within his strike. He had most likely used the majority of his chi in that last attack as well.

Wu Jian sidestepped, slid his foot forward, then struck a blow that shattered the man’s forearm.

“FUCK!”

The loud sound of bones breaking was only secondary to the scream of surprise and pain. With his forearm shattered, Mao Yuhan was unable to maintain a grip on his axe and dropped it.

Wu Jian did not let up. His next attack was a kick to the kneecap, though it was sadly blocked when Mao Yuhan raised his leg and took the blow on his armored shin. The attack was still enough to make him stumble.

“This is for all the people you’ve hurt!”

Wu Jian grabbed the shattered forearm and pulled Mao Yuhan forward. His punch was so explosive that the crunch of a nose breaking was secondary only to the splattering of blood.

Mao Yuhan’s head snapped back from the attack, but he was unable to stumble back because Wu Jian still had a firm grip on his forearm.

“Fucker!”

Screaming, Mao Yuhan swung his other axe at Wu Jian, who was forced to let go and back up. A powerful gust of wind further pushed Wu Jian back, but he crossed his arms and dug in his heels. The wind faded like a firework at the end of its life.

“This is for Xing Zhenya and her family!”

Wu Jian burst forward. He was inside of Mao Yuhan’s guard before the man knew what was happening. Blood and bile spewed from his mouth as Wu Jian slammed a fist into his stomach. Wu Jian added a twisting motion to his punch, grinding his knuckles into Mao Yuhan’s abdominals. There was a fist-shaped indent when Wu Jian removed his hand.

Wu Jian almost thought that would be the end of it, that Mao Yuhan was finished, and so he backed off.

That was his mistake.

“Nggg!”

Wu Jian barely bit back a scream Mao Yuhan swung his axe again, cutting through his chest like a hot knife through butter. He pressed a hand to his bloody chest. The wound hadn’t reached the bone, but it wasn’t shallow either. He would bleed out if he spent too much time fighting.

“You’re naive, brat! You should never stop attacking until your opponent is little more than a corpse!” Mao Yuhan said as he raised the axe and swung it down.

“I’ll be mindful of that in the future,” Wu Jian said.

He dodged to the side, but Mao Yuhan seemed to have expected that. He met Wu Jian with a headbutt that caused the younger man to see stars.

Wu Jian was not one to just take an attack, however, and he finally succeeded in breaking his enemy’s kneecap. He slammed his foot into the knee so hard that it bent the wrong way. Mao Yuhan screamed as he went down, and Wu Jian punched him in the mouth so hard that several teeth broke off.

Wu Jian wasn’t done.

He looked down at the man who had made the lives of so many people miserable. Mao Yuhan was bleeding from a broken nose, missing several teeth, one leg was bent in the wrong direction, and his forearm had now turned black from internal bleed. He no longer looked intimidating.

“Hack… cough… cough… please… spare me… I… I don’t want to die.”

“I’m sure all the people you killed also didn’t want to die, but you never thought about their wants, did you?”

“Jian… Wuuuuu!!!”

Anger surged in Mao Yuhan’s eyes as he tried to get up and attack, but Wu Jian slammed a foot into his chest and pinned the man to the ground. He picked up the axe that had been dropped. He couldn’t use its powers since he hadn’t refined it, but he didn’t need to use its power for what he wanted to do.

“This last attack is for me. Mao Yuhan, all you’re going to be remembered as is a stepping stone on my path to attain strength. Goodbye.”

“JIAN WUUUU--”

Mao Yuhan’s enraged roar was cut off when Wu Jian swung the axe down. Blood sprayed everywhere as the axe penetrated the man’s face, splitting it in half. The liquid sprayed all over Wu Jian’s clothes and even his face, but he ignored it as he stepped off the twitching corpse.

He turned toward the onlookers who had been watching. Xing Zhenya looked sick. Her face was green like she was about to vomit, but she wasn’t looking away from him. Gratitude was reflected within her eyes. Huǒ Shuchang didn’t look any different than normal. He was obviously more incurred to violence than Xing Zhenya.

Wu Jian was about to talk forward when all the strength left him and he stumbled. Something solid and large emerged from his shadow before he could hit the ground. The soft fur of Yōuměi’s back was reassuring. He leaned into the large panther and continued walking to the others.

The battle was over. Finally.