Apotheosis Begins with Tai Chi

Chen Cheng didn’t move. He simply coalesced his Transforming Force Barrier an inch in front of his face.

The next instant.

Two streams of Transforming Force suddenly collided.

There was no deafening boom, only the surging shockwaves that erupted as the air itself was crushed.

The shockwaves were visible to the naked eye, spreading outward in an arc and carrying with them tiny vortexes that spun wildly in the small space between the two.

The entire bluestone platform trembled, and the fine dust on its surface was jolted half a foot into the air.

Under the horrified gazes of the crowd, Kuang Yifeng’s fist was brought to a dead stop.

He didn’t pull back his hand, continuing to channel the Blood Qi throughout his body and pour an unending stream of Transforming Force into his right fist, attempting to shatter Chen Cheng’s Transforming Force Barrier with sheer brute force.

Chen Cheng remained utterly motionless, likewise channeling his Blood Qi to reinforce the Transforming Force Barrier before him.

One breath.

Two breaths.

Three breaths...

No matter how Kuang Yifeng’s fist tried to press forward or chisel inward, it remained locked in a stalemate just an inch from Chen Cheng’s face, completely unable to break through the Transforming Force Barrier.

For a moment, the two were locked in a pure contest of strength.

Between the fist and the barrier, their Transforming Forces gnawed, crushed, and ground against each other, emitting a series of grating sounds that set one’s teeth on edge. It was like two mountains wrestling in the dark, neither able to overcome the other.

Sweat slid from the corner of Kuang Yifeng’s brow, only to be instantly vaporized by the surging energy before it could even fall to the platform.

Chen Cheng’s clothes whipped about noisily in the gale, but his body remained perfectly still. There was no sweat on his brow, nor the slightest sign of fatigue on his face.

”Not bad... Your Transforming Force is far more substantial than I imagined, kid. And your stamina is decent enough.”

A cold sneer tugged at the corner of Kuang Yifeng’s lips, his voice dripping with condescending arrogance:

”It’s a pity. I’m only using eighty percent of my strength right now. And I haven’t even used the Secret Hidden Dragon Fist.”

”To be honest, I could have killed you with a single punch. But I want you to understand why you’re about to die.”

The cold sneer vanished. Kuang Yifeng’s eyes filled with unconcealed jealousy and disgust as his voice dropped to a low, thin whisper that only Chen Cheng could hear:

”Don’t blame me. If you have to blame someone, blame that bitch, Zhuang Zhen!”

”Three years ago, she rejected me. After being crippled by Zhan Mubai, she still rejected me. When her Cultivation was regressing and her Martial Arts path was nearly cut off for good, she *still* had the audacity to reject me!”

”I could tolerate all of that. I even stopped pestering her... But what does she do? She gets tangled up with a worthless insect from the slums like you?”

”This isn’t just a slap in the face. She’s taking my honor, my dignity, my self-respect—everything—and grinding it into the mud!”

”How could I, Kuang Yifeng, possibly endure such a humiliating dis—”

”Huh!?”

Kuang Yifeng was at the height of his tirade when his eyes suddenly shot wide, his pupils contracting to pinpricks.

Soundlessly, formlessly.

He clearly felt the Transforming Force Barrier in front of Chen Cheng suddenly erupt with an Instant Burst, multiplying its original strength.

The force of the Instant Burst was horrifying.

In a single instant.

Kuang Yifeng’s Transforming Force Barrier was utterly shattered.

At almost the same instant.

Chen Cheng’s fingers snapped shut, his knuckles letting out a series of explosive cracks. He brought his wrists together, pulling his arms back to his sides as he gathered his power.

He instantly activated all his Traits for enhancing destructive and killing power.

His arms suddenly snapped forward, and a wave of pure, maximally compressed violence surged into his hands.

The Hidden Dragon Seal shot upward, faster than Kuang Yifeng could react, and smashed squarely into his chin.

BOOM!!!

A thunderous boom shook the entire arena.

Kuang Yifeng’s head snapped violently backward, his neck bending into a grotesque arc.

As his head snapped back, his chin shattered first. Then came his jaw, his sinuses, his eye sockets, and finally his cranium—each disintegrating in a horrifying, upward progression.

His body remained standing, still in its punching stance, but above the neck, only half a head was left.

The front half was gone, as if it had been cleanly sliced off with a spade.

Only the back half remained on his neck.

His hair, matted to the back of what remained of his skull, was soaked in a red and white slurry.

For an instant, the entire venue fell deathly silent.

Even on the other four platforms, the combatants who were trading blows seemed to freeze for a moment.

”Sir?”

Chen Cheng walked to the edge of the platform and prompted calmly:

”It’s over.”

”Ah? Oh...”

The examiner snapped out of it as if waking from a nightmare, his voice still trembling.

”Red Group, third match... Che-Chen Cheng is the victor!”

An uproar erupted—

The next instant, the crowd erupted as if suddenly jolted back to life.

Down below, some let out stifled gasps, others screamed and looked away, while some stared, transfixed, at the corpse still standing on the platform, the airborne mist of blood reflecting in their wide eyes.

”Lady Li, are you alright?”

Zhuang Hui Xian and Shen Mi both turned, about to comfort the completely stunned Lady Li.

However, Lady Li just shook her head, indicating that she was fine.

She had never seen such a gruesome scene. In the past, she would have surely fainted from the shock.

But strangely, the moment she tore her eyes from the corpse and looked back at her son, an indescribable sense of reassurance washed over her, as if an invisible force was holding her up.

It wasn’t that she felt no horror or fear, but buoyed by this feeling, they seemed to become insignificant.

「In the training grounds.」

Zhuang Zhen was frozen to the spot.

She had seen Kuang Yifeng speaking to Chen Cheng moments before, but she hadn’t been able to hear what he said.

But for some reason, the instant Chen Cheng annihilated Kuang Yifeng, an overwhelming feeling surged through her...

Pure satisfaction!

”The Great Hidden Dragon Seal!?”

Fatty Fang shot to his feet, exclaiming:

”Cheng... When did he learn the Secret Hidden Dragon Fist!?”

”No... That wasn’t the Secret Hidden Dragon Fist!”

Cao Miao’s brow was knitted tightly, his eyes filled not only with shock, but with sheer amazement.

”With that last move, Chen Cheng used a unique combination of Force Manipulation, power exertion, and Instant Burst... on top of countless other subtle, profound details, to forcibly replicate the effects of the Great Hidden Dragon Seal with a common Hidden Dragon Seal!”

Cao Miao took a deep breath and exclaimed in heartfelt admiration:

”It’s not the secret technique, but it’s even better than the secret technique!”

”Damn...”

Fatty Fang sucked in a sharp breath, his Adam’s apple bobbing nervously.

”If Cheng ever properly learns the secret technique, I can’t even imagine how terrifying he’ll become... If the Hall Master sees this... he’ll probably die of regret!”

Cao Miao said nothing more, only nodding gravely.

While it was true that Hall Master Wan Qianshan had reservations about the relationship between Chen Cheng and Ye Yang, that was ultimately just a potential problem.

What Chen Cheng had just demonstrated, however, was tangible, extraordinary power.

If Wan Qianshan found out, how could he possibly not be filled with regret?

”Senior Brother Qin...”

The two Secret Disciples from the Cloud Platform Upper Courtyard approached Qin Zhao’s side.

Their gazes swept over Kuang Yifeng’s corpse as it was being carried away, then fell upon Chen Cheng in the distance. They looked as if they wanted to say something, but held their tongues.

Qin Zhao remained expressionless.

But within his eyes, which had disdained the entire assembly from the start, as still and deep as an ancient well, a slight ripple finally stirred.

A flicker of cold killing intent, there and gone in an instant.

’He’s not a Secret Disciple, yet he killed a Secret Disciple. A boy like this... must not be allowed to live.’