But this was already the limit; freeing himself from the restraints had diminished the power of this earth-shattering punch to the extreme. Su Changkong tilted his head slightly, and the punch, which seemed extremely slow in Su Changkongās eyes, missed its mark.
At the same time as evading the punch, Su Changkongās fist moved from below upward, distorting and trembling the air near its path, and ferociously struck Xie Kuiās lower jaw.
"Bang!"
Xie Kuiās feet left the ground, his two-meter-five-tall body flew upwards over ten zhang high, dizzy and disoriented. Despite his spiritual energy crystal body, which reduced and absorbed the punchās power like armor and his proficiency in Horizontal Training Hard Skill, Xie Kui was still left reeling, blood spurting from his ears, nose, and mouth.
His body then fell heavily back to the earth, creating a depression and sending dust spiraling in every direction.
"This... this... is complete one-sided domination!"
Lian Tianlu gasped in shock, staring at the scene before him.
Xie Kui had the power of an entire Spirit Vein at his command, each movement earth-shattering, capable of easily demolishing hills and lands. However, when facing Su Changkong, he was completely outmatched, with almost no ability to fight back!
"This is a disparity in the realm of skills... In fact, each of Xie Kuiās attacks was immensely powerful, but itās meaningless if they donāt hit the target. Compared to Dao Wufeng, Xie Kui is like a brute with sheer strength... This is a Martial Arts Grandmaster at the pseudo-Divine Skill level!"
And Duanmu Tao was similarly stunned.
It wasnāt that Xie Kui was weak now; in fact, he was strong enough to effortlessly crush ordinary Five-Qi Grandmasters. It was that Su Changkong was too powerful!
The two menās martial arts skills were not on the same level, with Su Changkong able to apply his strength perfectly, while Xie Kuiās application was rough. Against other Five-Qi Grandmasters, that might suffice, but against a master like Su Changkong, he was restricted at every turn, with strength he could not utilize.
"No... no good... The natural spiritual energy in my body is chaotically tearing my body apart..."
As he continued to strike out, yet also continued to be hit by Su Changkongās heavy punches, Xie Kuiās spirit was sinking.
Though he had a thick aura of spiritual energy and the Puppet Star Battle Body to mitigate damage, the punches imbued with the White Tiger Roaring Kill Fistās energy were making the already chaotic natural spiritual energy within him even more tumultuous, causing him excruciating pain in his meridians, bones, and internal organs, as if they were being twisted into a knot!
"Aaaah! Pojun Fist!"
Xie Kui, getting up from the ground with a twisted, bloodied face, viciously swung his fists in a frenzy. But under Su Changkongās Demon Ape Capturing Space, despite the impressive momentum, the punch was somewhat slow. Su Changkong stepped forward, easily dodged with the Deer-playing Body Techniques, and appeared behind Xie Kui.
"White Tiger Roars and Kills!"
Su Changkong once again condensed the energy of the White Tiger Roars and Kills and aimed a punch at Xie Kuiās spine.
In Su Changkongās Five Animal Frolics, the Tiger Play focused on killing. The White Tiger Roars and Kills was the most powerful single-target attack, able to create a disintegrating effect through the vibrational force of sound waves, rending even the strongest defenses apart within a few hits!
"Crack!"
Accompanied by the sound of explosion, Xie Kuiās chaotic protective spiritual energy around his spine completely ruptured, and his very vertebrae shattered, the sound reaching everyoneās ears. Xie Kuiās movements froze completely.
"No! No!"
Xie Kuiās face was distorted with ferocity and anguish. As the current Sect Master of the Puppet Star Sect, he had ambitious plans to seize opportunities and fate in the upcoming chaos and soar to the heavens. To secure support from the alliance of the Evil Sects and Demon Gate, he needed to kill the illustrious Duanmu Tao to establish his reputation.
If he had succeeded, he would have obtained at least a shard of a āDivine Seedā from his backers.
Yet, he didnāt fall to Duanmu Tao, but to a āPseudo-Divine Skillā Grandmaster that had appeared out of nowhere, filling him with frustration and fury.
"Hmm?" Sensing the chaotic spiritual energy within Xie Kui, Su Changkong immediately stepped back.
"Aaaaaah!"
With his spine shattered and the Spirit Sealing Talisman he had ingested losing its effect, the contained spiritual energy gushed out uncontrollably. Xie Kui let out a shrill, resentful scream as his body could no longer contain the vast amount of spiritual energy from an entire Spirit Vein.
His body swelled rapidly and burst like an overinflated balloon, a massive outburst of natural spiritual energy creating a storm, sweeping outwards and kicking up dust to the heavens!
Xie Kuiās use of the Spirit Talismanās energy had always pushed his body to the limit. After suffering critical damage from Su Changkong, he could no longer contain the overwhelming natural spiritual energy, leading his body to burst open and his instantaneous and particularly tragic death, without a whole corpse left behind.
"He won? Dao Wufeng... truly killed Xie Kui within a handful of exchanges!"
Lian Tianlu and the others were inwardly astounded. Su Changkongās claim of killing Xie Kui within ten moves was not an empty boast but a demonstration of his true confidence and strength.
"This is a Pseudo-Divine Skill Grandmaster... too powerful. Unless someone also cultivates martial arts to the level of pseudo-Divine Skills, it would be very difficult for anyone to contend!"
While Duanmu Tao marveled, he also felt deep apprehension.
"The Sect Master... is dead?"
"Letās go! Letās go!"
The most horrified were the remaining three black-robed figures. Seeing Xie Kui, who was capable of sweeping through Innate Martial Artists, die on the spot, they realized the gravity of the situation and hurriedly attempted to escape.
"You... you canāt escape!"
Su Changkong paid no attention to the other two, his gaze fixed on a figure several li awayāthat of the black-robed old man.
The group associated with Xie Kui totaled four, and this black-robed elder was the culprit who controlled those Innate Martial Artists, turning them into human bombs.