Chapter 85: Unbreakable

[Flame Heaven Step: Fire Walk]—this footwork, as if traversing burning coals, demanded the soles to lift and land in a ceaseless, rapid rhythm. Yet, amid such chaos, reminiscent of dancing across fiery embers, there was a hidden order that adhered strictly to martial principles.

A sharp swish sliced through the air. Bai Tangjing, slipping into the blind spot of Wang Ma’s vision, gathered the force spiraled through dozens of joints into his palm, tracing a bizarre arc as he struck toward Wang Ma’s chest.

But owing to that elusive footwork, flickering like the dance of flames, just as Bai Tangjing’s palm was about to connect and transmit the spiraling force—

Wang Ma, by sheer force of control, twisted his body aside and let the attack graze past. All that remained was a bloodied mark at the edge of his flesh, where the spiraled force had only just brushed him.

Even with his basic abilities deliberately suppressed, Bai Tangjing’s physical prowess far surpassed Wang Ma’s current state. And the [Fox Shadow Style: Rakshasa Palm] inherited from Kiryu Sasana possessed a destructive power that was nothing short of overwhelming. Thus, though Wang Ma’s footwork had avoided a direct hit, the mere brush of those fingertips ripped open a wound nearly a finger’s width.

Wang Ma bore the agony of torn flesh without so much as a furrowed brow. Instead, he seized the opportunity to step forward, breaking into the inner circle of the youth’s reach!

[Flame Heaven Step: Blazing Fire]!

“Even if you’re strong enough to wrestle Julius or Taketsuki, the instability of your center of gravity after a missed punch has nothing to do with brute strength. As long as your body structure is still human, you can’t escape its effect!”

Raising his elbow, the surging blood in his veins forced his muscles to swell and harden in an instant.

[Diamond Form: Invulnerability]!

Combining the dashing momentum of Flame Heaven with the hardened, blood-swollen muscles of the Diamond Form—

—[Flame Heaven: Diamond Form – Iron Shatter in an Instant]!

With his elbow raised and charging forward, Wang Ma’s form resembled a speeding truck even more than Jerry Tyson’s assaults.

But just as this “truck” was about to crash into Bai Tangjing’s throat—

Wang Ma suddenly sensed a disturbance in the air beside him. The pressure difference in the shifting air currents made his eardrums throb with discomfort.

There was no time to think. His elbow, still hardened by [Invulnerability], instinctively swung to shield the side of his head.

Thud!

A muffled impact sounded as Wang Ma’s defending arm, despite being prepared, was forced against his own cheek. Even at his height of 1.8 meters, the collision of a whip kick and a hardened elbow at head level sent up clouds of dust!

Within that swirling dust, Wang Ma’s pupils contracted in shock as he saw the real nature of the attack.

“No matter how many times I see it, it never ceases to amaze me! How in the world does someone throw a whip kick from that posture?!”

In the audience, Wu Huili muttered through clenched teeth. Beside him sat the former master of the Leixin School, dumbstruck, and the Inaba Style’s assassination master, crawling head-down, feet-up in disbelief.

“The center of gravity is fine, but in that posture, the leg muscles should be locked by the abdominal muscles. Even if you forced out a whip kick, it should be weak and limp... Has his muscle structure mutated? Yet you can’t tell from his appearance!”

The Inaba master, whose knowledge of the human body was unrivaled, was nearly tearing out his long, iron-strong hair in frustration.

The former Leixin master, looking ever more composed, caught the crucial detail in his old friend’s words. He tilted his head toward the Wu family chief.

“Huili, did you say ‘no matter how many times’?”

But before the pallid old Wu could answer, a burst of girlish cheers erupted from another part of the stands.

“Yay! That’s the one! Jing is the best!”

Turning back, the white-haired Yulei Miao arched his brow at his old friend’s nearly apoplectic expression but said nothing more.

On the field, Bai Tangjing wasted no time exploiting Wang Ma’s surprise. Having pinned Wang Ma’s hardened elbow to his cheek with a whip kick, the youth hooked his instep behind his opponent’s neck and yanked forward!

“Huh?!”

Momentarily stunned by the anatomically impossible whip kick, Wang Ma lost his balance and the time to resist the pull. His body, battered one arm’s length away, was abruptly hauled right up to the youth’s side.

Next came an upward-driving elbow strike, slicing through the air with vicious speed toward his jaw!

The jaw—seat of the trigeminal nerve, vital for bodily balance. Even among fighters who surpass the limits of ordinary men, a solid blow to the jaw triggers an unyielding biological command: unconsciousness.

At that moment, Wang Ma’s hand, still at his waist from the earlier [Iron Shatter], was poised in preparation, at least thirty centimeters from his head and jaw. His other hand was pinned to the side of his head by the youth’s leg—utterly trapped. Both feet, still reeling from the pull, were unsteady.

For a creature of four limbs like a man, it seemed there was no way but to take the blow head-on.

Yet, Tokita Ohma, a first-rate fighter among fighters, and a finalist in the Kengan Deathmatch semifinals, was no ordinary man.

[Flowing Form: Willow]!

In that hair’s breadth before the elbow would have smashed into his jaw, Wang Ma dropped his jaw, pressing it down against the rising elbow!

“Ugh!”

Though not at the optimum point for power, the elbow still forced blood from Wang Ma’s lips and teeth. His sturdy teeth even made a crunching sound.

But even as untold teeth shattered, Wang Ma used those slender neck muscles to activate the secret technique of the Niko Style, redirecting the force of his opponent’s attack!

With a slicing sound,

As they say, “an elbow is like a blade.” Even with Wang Ma’s intervention, even with [Willow] twisting its path skyward, the concentrated force of Bai Tangjing’s elbow, glancing past Wang Ma’s head, sheared off a lock of his seaweed-like hair.

But that was all—only a few strands lost.

And the youth, in missing with his elbow, had left his entire flank wide open!

The fist that Wang Ma had readied at his waist was no longer needed to block. Now it could strike.

[Diamond Form: Invulnerability]!

His blood-hardened fist drove straight for the youth’s lower side.

A fist, hardened by secret technique, against a soft abdomen—like hammering tofu with iron.

This punch would land on the youth’s liver; the force would sear through his body, inflicting a pain upon his delicate organs akin to being carved and shredded by blades.

It was agony beyond the endurance of any man of iron—a pain surpassing all human limits.

“Bai Tangjing, in this battle of technique, victory goes to me and the Niko Style,” Wang Ma was certain.

Yet, the instinct honed through countless battles made him seek out his opponent’s gaze.

He met the youth’s eyes.

“He’s... excited?”

From their earlier exchanges, Wang Ma had come to understand Bai Tangjing’s character: prideful, decisive, composed, unyielding...

Would someone like that be excited in the face of imminent defeat?

No.

He would only be excited at the height of battle!

Clang!

The fist, empowered by [Invulnerability], crashed into the soft abdomen with a sound like clashing steel, sending out a shockwave!

As Wang Ma stared in disbelief, Bai Tangjing sighed.

“Though it’s my first time using it, and it’s a bit forced,” the youth grinned, “but this technique is really meant for defense, isn’t it, Uncle Wang Ma?”

[Diamond Form: Invulnerability]!