Chapter 106: Legend
“Why would the Master of the Pavilion come here?”
“Am I hallucinating from blood loss?”
“Was that green lightning just now caused by the Master of the Pavilion?”
Luo Wu Shang and the others looked at the familiar figure outside the wall, each of them unable to believe their own eyes.
Now that thirty minutes had passed, they had already concluded the task had failed; whoever could escape, would. They never imagined that Hall Master Lin Qi would appear, let alone open a path to the outside. It was like a god descending. They would not have dared to dream of this.
“Who are you, to dare meddle in the affairs of our Great Ape Gang?”
Grenta’s blood-red eyes locked firmly on Lin Qi. He used the human language, his voice icy cold, filled with strong killing intent.
Although Lin Qi’s display just now had astonishing destructive power, in front of an army of over a thousand, it was still nothing. At most, it would only mean a few more dead.
The more than a thousand Great Ape Gang members present also stepped forward. The archers in the rear all aimed at Lin Qi. It was as if, with just one word from Grenta, they would shoot Lin Qi into a pincushion, as if that lightning bolt had never appeared. Their fighting spirit burned high.
This scene made Luo Wu Shang and the others, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, tense up again as if facing a mortal enemy.
If they had faced over a thousand enemies before today, they would have scoffed, but this battle had taught them what war truly was.
Even if their individual strength was great and they could kill a quasi-martial artist one-on-one, under the encirclement of over a thousand, they could still be worn down to death with ease.
“What are you all standing there for? Run! Do you want me to carry you?” Lin Qi paid no attention to the murderous Grenta and glanced at Luo Wu Shang and the others, who were still in a daze.
For this player assault, he had originally not intended to make a move, only wanting the players to wear down the Great Ape Gang. But for this operation, Luo Wu Shang and the others had borrowed ten B2-level standard weapons from him.
Those ten B2-level standard weapons had cost him a lot of money. Although he still had more than two tons of ancient bronze ore, making B2-level weapons took quite some time. Abandoning them all would be a real pity.
Fortunately, Luo Wu Shang and the others had lived up to expectations, forcing their way to the wall, which made him feel it was worth stepping in to save them.
In the valley, once outside the headquarters of the Great Ape Gang, there were bushes everywhere. As long as they got into the thickets, the archers would not be much of a threat. What followed would simply be a contest of speed and agility.
He knew the players’ level all too well. Every one of them had reached the Leopard Shadow Steps Second Level, the Hunting Shadow realm, and were advanced apprentices. Each had a speed of thirty meters per second. Now, in the Great Ape Gang, there were probably fewer than ten experts who could catch up to them; most of the top fighters were out doing transport runs.
With fewer than ten Great Ape Gang experts, he was confident he could handle it.
After two days of extraction from the players, he had now become a true limit quasi-martial artist. Startling Spirit Breathing Technique First Level （ proficiency 90% ）, strength 9 kilograms, speed 9 meters per second, with an initial purification of his internal organs. His brain’s neural reaction speed had improved significantly. He was just one step away from becoming a martial artist.
With the additional 10% strength boost from Crushing Stone Fist First Level Perfection and the 5% speed boost from Leopard Shadow Steps First Level Perfection, he surpassed newly advanced martial artists: those at 1000 kilograms of strength and 30 meters per second in speed were actually inferior to him in both power and speed, only having a bit more reinforcement to their internal organs and improved cellular toughness.
Right now, he could be called a pseudo-martial artist. Coupled with the enhancement of his spirit from the Stellar Explosion Meditation Technique, his body and brain reaction speed were nearly twice that of when he first became a quasi-martial artist, far beyond the 30-40% neural reaction boost given by A6-level battle armor.
With a B2-level long sword and the advanced martial artist-level sword skill Thunder Flash, he dared to fight even a true martial artist, let alone a few apes who were not martial artists at all.
Inside the wall of the Great Ape Gang’s headquarters, Luo Wu Shang and the others only snapped out of it after Lin Qi spoke. Almost instantly, they rushed out of the wall. Even Zhang Qing Wei, whose hands were badly injured, staggered outside dragging an A6-level battle saber.
This scene left the Great Ape Gang members, who had been waiting for Lin Qi’s reply, utterly dumbfounded.
They had never expected Lin Qi to play against all expectations, showing none of the demeanor of a lofty powerhouse.
“Chase them!”
“They’re all badly hurt. They can’t get far!”
Grenta watched Lin Qi and the others already more than thirty meters away and could not help but let out a thunderous roar.
In an instant, the thousand-strong army of the Great Ape Gang surged out of the headquarters. Over thirty members drove off-road vehicles, each vehicle carrying more than ten of the gang’s experts, following the elders of the Great Ape Gang in pursuit of Lin Qi and the others who had already rushed into the bushes.
As Grenta and six Great Ape Gang elders had just charged less than a hundred meters into the thickets, a figure rushed up to meet them. A sword slashed straight at Grenta at the very front. The speed was so great that even the explosive crack of the air lagged behind; the long sword was already before Grenta’s eyes.
“Overestimating yourself!”
Full of disdain, Grenta swung his axe to meet it head on. With the help of the A6-level battle armor, his strength increased by one hundred kilograms. As a quasi-martial artist, he reached 1045 kilograms. No one below martial artist level could surpass him.
This was the main reason why the six quasi-martial artist elders present obeyed his command.
Boom!
Sword and axe collided, sparks flying. Grenta was forced back half a step on the spot. He looked at Lin Qi, who wielded the sword, in utter disbelief.
Before Grenta could recover from his shock, Lin Qi’s sword came down again, and Grenta could only instinctively meet it.
One strike… two strikes… three strikes…
With every swing of Lin Qi’s sword, Grenta was pushed back a step. In just one second, more than ten consecutive, technique-less blows forced Grenta back over ten steps, nearly slamming him into the tree behind him.
“How is this possible!”
“Grenta actually lost out in strength?”
The six quasi-martial artist elders who had just arrived stared, dumbstruck, at Grenta, who had been forced back to the tree.
They knew better than anyone how powerful Grenta was with the boost from the A6-level battle armor. Even with one arm crippled, his strength was still beyond that of any quasi-martial artist. Even a limit quasi-martial artist would fall behind in a direct clash of brute force against the current Grenta, as long as he did not use martial skills.
But now, Grenta had lost to Lin Qi in pure strength. How could they not be shocked?
As for Luo Wu Shang and the others hiding in the distance, they were stunned.
“How can the Hall Master’s strength be this overwhelming? He is suppressing that Grenta perfectly by himself. Has the Hall Master already advanced to martial artist?” Yi Ye Fu Yun stared at the suppressed Grenta, his eyes about to pop out.
Previously, even Luo Wu Shang and Zhao Hu together could not suppress Grenta. Now Lin Qi was pressing Grenta down using raw strength alone, completely unlike what a quasi-martial artist should be capable of.
“With the strength the Hall Master is showing, even if he is not yet a martial artist, he must be very close.” Luo Wu Shang’s eyes were locked on Lin Qi as she made an accurate judgment.
“As expected of the Master of the Pavilion. His strength really is formidable.” Fang Zhen watched as Grenta was forced to call for help and sighed. “He alone overpowers a quasi-martial artist in A6-level battle armor. I wonder when we’ll be as strong as the Master of the Pavilion.”
Li Ranxing, Zhao Hu, and the others all nodded in agreement. To them, this was what a real man was: using his body to stand up to battle armor. Just thinking about it felt exhilarating.
“That might actually be possible,” Xiao Yuan Ye Feng Kuang suddenly interjected. “High Martial Arts Descend aims for realism. NPCs likely do not have the privilege of breaking conventional level limits. The bosses we fought are typical examples. None of those bosses broke the usual level constraints. The Hall Master should be the same.”
“Then how is the Hall Master this strong?” Yi Ye Fu Yun asked curiously.
“I’m guessing it’s the martial skills we are learning,” Xiao Yuan Ye Feng Kuang explained. “I once happened to see the Hall Master’s test in front of Instructor One. You probably don’t know this, but both his Crushing Stone Fist and Leopard Shadow Steps have reached First Level Perfection.”
“First Level Perfection? Martial skill proficiency has that? Isn’t it just 100% proficiency?” Fang Zhen could not help asking.
He currently had Crushing Stone Fist First Level at 100% proficiency and had already started cultivating the Second Level, Stone Crushing Realm. He had never heard of any perfection stage beyond 100% proficiency.
“I saw it that time too. There really was this perfection proficiency,” Ye Qinglu nodded. “I imagine reaching perfection with a martial skill is extremely difficult, which is why no one knows there is another stage after 100% proficiency. This also explains why the Hall Master’s strength is so high. Training martial skills to the pinnacle likely gives a certain enhancement to the body.”
“Damn, if that’s the case, isn’t it a huge loss not to push martial skills further?” Yi Ye Fu Yun thought of how he had given up on continuing with Crushing Stone Fist Second Level and instead switched to Lightning Palm. It felt like losing a fortune.
But while Yi Ye Fu Yun and the others were chatting, the nearly exhausted Grenta finally received support from the six quasi-martial artist elders.
The six quasi-martial artist elders of the Great Ape Gang each wielded only A6-level weapons, but all of them had mastered a martial artist-level martial skill. When the six attacked together, each unleashed over three thousand kilograms of strength. Even a freshly advanced martial artist would have to avoid the edge and pick them off one by one.
Yet Lin Qi did not retreat in the slightest. Electric arcs wrapped around the pale green long sword in his hand as he slashed horizontally through the air.
Advanced martial artist-level martial skill, Thunder Flash!
A streak of green lightning spread forward from Lin Qi as the center, as if a laser beam had swept across. The nearly 4400 kilograms of force carved through, killing one of the six quasi-martial artist elders and gravely injuring the other five on the spot. All their A6-level weapons snapped in half.
Before Grenta could even recover from his shock at this sight, Lin Qi followed with a vertical slash.
Advanced martial artist-level martial skill, Thunder Flash!
A flash of thunder appeared. Grenta, less than ten meters away on the other side, broke out in goosebumps across his back. Almost by instinct, he unleashed the martial artist-level martial skill Tear the Sky, erupting with nearly four thousand kilograms of strength. Relying on the powerful internal force coating his weapon, he deflected the trajectory of the thunder sword qi’s attack, but the arm holding the hand axe was completely numbed and could not move at all.
Lin Qi, seemingly tireless, used Hunting Shadow to appear in front of Grenta in an instant, and slapped his other hand toward Grenta’s head.
Lightning Palm!
As that palm came down, Grenta was plunged into utter despair. One arm was ruined, the other numb; he had no strength left to block. Lin Qi’s reaction speed was too fast. Even desperately backpedaling to evade, he could only watch helplessly as Lin Qi’s gentle palm landed on his forehead.
Bang!
The helmet of Grenta’s A6-level battle armor dented slightly, and Grenta himself was dead beyond any doubt.
From the moment Lin Qi’s sword shattered the six quasi-martial artist elders’ formation, to the two moves that killed Grenta, less than one second had passed from start to finish.
Almost at the same instant the five injured quasi-martial artist elders hit the ground, Grenta also collapsed at Lin Qi’s feet.
“That speed! That continuous burst!”
“A martial artist!”
“He’s a martial artist!”
The five surviving quasi-martial artist elders of the Great Ape Gang looked at the fallen Grenta and at Lin Qi standing there. All the fighting spirit had vanished from their eyes, replaced entirely by terror.
“Run!”
At this moment, the only thought in the hearts of the five elders of the Great Ape Gang was to escape.
A martial artist!
This was no longer an existence they could handle. Continuing to fight would only add to the casualties. Even with a thousand-man army, it would be hard to trap a martial artist in the wild. A martial artist’s reaction speed was inhuman. They might not outlast thousands, but whether they fought or fled was entirely up to them.
So the five elders of the Great Ape Gang did not hesitate. They turned with their men and fled without daring to linger.
As for Luo Wu Shang and the others watching from afar, they were utterly dumbfounded.
“This is way too strong!” Yi Ye Fu Yun stared at Lin Qi, the Hall Master, his mouth hanging open.
He had expected Lin Qi to win—after all, he was the signature NPC of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall—but he had never imagined such overwhelming power. Even if his brain could keep up with that reaction speed, his body certainly could not.
Lin Qi did not pursue the five elders of the Great Ape Gang as they retreated. After two consecutive uses of Thunder Flash followed by Lightning Palm, his whole body screamed with pain. He could not use martial skills again for a while.
His cells had not yet, like a martial artist’s, undergone a second stimulation from an energy crystal. His brain’s reactions could still drive his blood qi, but his cellular toughness had not greatly increased and simply could not support such an intense burst of blood qi in so short a time.
“All right, let’s head back to Crimson Moon Mountain.”
Lin Qi stripped the A6-level battle armor from Grenta’s body, picked up the fallen B2-level hand axe, and led the group back to Crimson Moon Mountain, fully satisfied.
