Apotheosis Begins with Tai Chi

WHOOSH—

The Transforming Force Barrier remained unbroken. Chen Cheng was thrown back by the massive recoil, shooting upward like an arrow piercing the clouds and bursting out of the water.

His arms ached, but a faint smile touched his lips.

This bit of pain was far from enough to cause Chen Cheng any real damage.

In fact, based on the pain he felt, Chen Cheng could tell that Ruan Jinzhong’s full-power Transforming Force was far weaker than even half of Zhuang Zhen’s.

After their spar that day, Zhuang Zhen had told him that he could completely dominate the mediocre, bottom-tier users of Transforming Force.

It seemed she had been right.

Chen Cheng was only in pain. After a quick breath, he could continue to suppress Ruan Jinzhong.

Meanwhile,

Ruan Jinzhong was completely embedded in the shattered reef.

Although the Transforming Force Barrier protected him from injury, his expression was completely twisted. He couldn’t smile anymore.

A moment ago, he had thought Chen Cheng a fool. Now, he was jolted awake as if from a dream. ’How could a young man with such extraordinary cunning, scheming, and power have miscalculated my ability to suppress the poison?’

If Chen Cheng hadn’t miscalculated that, and still dared to clash with his Transforming Force Barrier head-on, it could only mean one thing: Chen Cheng’s strength was far more terrifying than he, Ruan Jinzhong, had ever imagined.

Overpowering someone a level above—this was the checkmate in Chen Cheng’s grand strategy.

Ruan Jinzhong was a cunning old fox himself. As the thought occurred to him, a little deduction was all it took to completely understand Chen Cheng’s plan.

Even though Chen Cheng couldn’t shatter his Transforming Force Barrier, he didn’t need to.

He only needed to pin Ruan Jinzhong down, and that would be enough for Chen Cheng to secure victory.

The reason was simple, and it came down to one word.

Stamina.

Maintaining the Transforming Force Barrier consumed a massive amount of his stamina, and against someone with Chen Cheng’s speed, he would never dare to lower it.

Maintaining his Inner Breath and the technique to resist the water pressure constantly drained his stamina.

Using his Transforming Force to suppress the poison in his body was also endlessly consuming his stamina.

And if he wanted to escape to a safe area, that would require stamina as well.

As for that one word, stamina, Chen Cheng had already calculated his to the very last drop.

SHHIIII—!

Ruan Jinzhong had just figured things out—it took but a moment’s thought—when the sharp whistle of something like an arrow piercing water closed in once more.

Chen Cheng had returned.

Wrists brought together, he unleashed the same Hidden Dragon Seal, but this time it exploded with even greater speed and mightier power.

How could Ruan Jinzhong not see it now? The first strike was just Chen Cheng testing the strength of his Transforming Force. This one was Chen Cheng’s true suppressive attack.

RUMBLE—!!

Before Ruan Jinzhong could even get up, this even more ferocious and domineering Hidden Dragon Seal had ruthlessly slammed into his Transforming Force Barrier.

He had to focus his Transforming Force Barrier not only in front of him but also to fully protect his back.

With a deafening crash,

the small mountain of a reef he was pinned against was brutally crushed, sinking three feet lower.

Chunks of rock scattered and flew apart as the surroundings trembled.

And Ruan Jinzhong himself was driven even deeper into the stone, struggling to get out.

But Chen Cheng had no intention of giving him that chance.

The instant the blow landed,

Chen Cheng tapped his toes on the flying debris and shot upward, carving a white, ribbon-like arc through the water. Like the sweeping tail of a dragon, he circled several dozen feet away.

Before the water could even settle, he kicked off a massive boulder on the seabed. Like an Iron Arrow shot from a fully drawn bow, he broke through the currents, appearing above Ruan Jinzhong’s head in an instant.

BOOM—!!

Another seal. Silt and sand churned as the surroundings shook violently. The reef beneath Ruan Jinzhong shattered and sank again. Not only had he failed to climb out, but he was also sinking deeper and deeper.

Chen Cheng once again used the momentum to retreat, his body like a Wandering Dragon, carving an even larger, fiercer, and almost beautiful arc.

The water parted and closed around him as if making way for him.

SHHIIII—BOOM!

SHHIIII—BOOM!

SHHIIII—BOOM!

This repeated several more times. Chen Cheng shot back and forth like lightning, his body a White Dragon cutting through the murky waves—as fast as a flash, as fierce as a thunderclap.

The reef beneath Ruan Jinzhong had long been pulverized into nothing. The impact had blasted away the silt and sand, revealing the hard, black rock bed below.

Chen Cheng turned for the final time. Bringing his arms together for the seal, his entire body became like a bolt of lightning descending from the heavens, plunging straight into the depths.

BOOM!!!

With a colossal explosion, a curtain wall of silt blasted several meters high, and the seabed trembled unceasingly.

A deep trench was brutally torn into that hard, black rock bed.

Ruan Jinzhong was completely embedded in the depths of that trench.

He didn’t struggle. He didn’t beg for mercy. He didn’t even let out a grunt...

Only a long stream of bubbles rose from the trench.

That was his last breath, the one he had been using to maintain his Inner Breath. It was also the last of his life force.

「A short while later.」

His body floated up. Chen Cheng dragged it over and hung it on the same fishing net as the bodies of Wang Han and Qi Yan.

Just to be safe, Chen Cheng made a point of completely snapping the necks of Ruan Jinzhong and Qi Yan before quietly turning and disappearing silently into a patch of dark green seaweed.

「Some time later.」

The current suddenly changed.

It wasn’t the ebb and flow of the tide, nor the push of an undercurrent, but a deeper, more profound pressure, as if some colossal creature were approaching.

The seaweed flattened, patch by patch. A few large fish that had been pecking at the corpses darted away in alarm.

A behemoth slowly swam out.

It was over ten feet long, its body covered in iron-gray bone armor. The overlapping plates had edges as sharp as knives, but the one covering its head was rounded and blunt like a hammer.

Its skull was flat and wide with a protruding snout. Two rows of sharp teeth were densely interlocked, the tips visible between its lips even when its mouth was closed.