Chapter 193: Vengeance Sought, Enemy Turned to Ash
"This punch is for my master!"
"Boom!" Though his words were unforgiving, in his heart he still regarded the opponent as a formidable rival, and from the outset, he used ninety percent of his strength. Behind him appeared the phantom image of Hua Taishan's true legacy, a White Tiger, directly producing a sonic boom effect.
"You seek death!" Li Luo roared.
His fist, like a battering ram, smashed towards Bai Mo's chest, but he neither dodged nor flinched, standing quietly in place, awaiting the punch's arrival.
Seeing this, even the surrounding martial artists furrowed their brows.
However, the anticipated violent collision sound did not occur. Instead, Li Luo's punch landed on empty air, and his entire body, propelled by immense inertia, stumbled forward.
Then, Bai Mo subtly shifted his body, letting the opponent fall headlong in front of him.
Illusion? A trick of the eye? The onlookers momentarily failed to react. They too had witnessed the entire process; if that had been a solid entity, it would undoubtedly have been struck, yet the fact was, it had completely missed.
"Astonishment also shone in the eyes of others, so what they saw must have been the same as what I saw. None of those present were weak; it would be practically impossible, and indeed unnecessary, to cast an illusion on all of them. The possibility of an illusion is largely ruled out."
"Why is this happening?! What exactly is his ability?! Are we martial artists truly inferior to those ability users who rely entirely on mutations?" Unable to comprehend, he grew somewhat agitated.
Whether it was hooks, kicks, sweeps, or charges... he tried all sorts of moves multiple times, but the opponent seemed to exist in another world; every single attack, without exception, missed its mark.
If he hadn't activated the 'Mind's Eye' he gained upon opening his Sixth Acupoint to observe and confirm that the opponent was indeed a solid entity right before him, Li Luo would have started to doubt whether he was fighting a fake enemy.
One of the abilities of Bai Mo's Spirit Picture, 'A Thousand Miles in a Foot', allowed him to distort the space within one centimeter of his body, stretching it into an indeterminate distance of several meters. It was incredibly useful for dealing with close-combat martial artists who didn't understand it, making them continuously miss.
"I'm not playing anymore, I have things to do." He instantly appeared to Li Luo's left, gently bending his finger beside Li Luo's left temple, preparing to flick it playfully.
"Show mercy!" Hua Taishan suddenly felt a premonition, but it was too late to stop him, so he could only warn Bai Mo through mental fluctuations.
"Bang!" With Bai Mo intentionally holding back, Li Luo's head naturally didn't explode like a watermelon; he merely fell heavily to the ground.
Seeing this, Hua Taishan finally relaxed. Earlier, when he had visited Bai Mo's experimental ground to study force techniques, an entire thick brick wall had been pierced through with a flick of Bai Mo's finger, in a completely unscientific manner.
But even so, Li Luo was deeply shaken. His initial complacency was shattered with that single blow, and his eyes lost their focus.
Hua Taishan merely watched silently from the side, with no intention of comforting him, waiting for his disciple to process this failure on his own, for it to become nourishment for him to go even further.
"We martial artists, we couldn't beat hot weapons before, and now we still can't compare to ability users who rely on mutations?" Half a minute later, Li Luo slowly picked himself up from the ground and asked Bai Mo, who was preparing to leave.
"What do you think 'martial' is?" He stopped, turning back to counter-question.
"If you insist on distinguishing it from the concepts of hot weapons and ability users, then is 'martial' the act of launching pure physical attacks at close range using one's body?" Bai Mo didn't give him time to answer, continuing, "Then, does power capable of wiping out an entire city with a single palm, on the scale of tens of billions of tons, count as 'martial'?"
"How could a martial artist possibly possess such power?!" Li Luo immediately retorted, and those present also chimed in, stating it was impossible.
"Do you think that 'Man of Light' could do it?"
A silence fell over the crowd as they gradually recalled that towering existence from over a year ago.
"But that wasn't even human!" Li Luo still insisted.
"What truly defines a human? In terms of internal body structure, not to mention anything distant, the anatomy textbooks from five years ago – the human body diagrams within them – are already at least thirty percent different from all of yours."
"Our appearance hasn't changed..." This time, he was somewhat deflated, clearly knowing he was just being stubborn.
"So, here's the problem: if appearance is the basis for judgment, then what difference is there between us and the various demons that transform into human form in mythical and supernatural novels like 'Legend of the White Snake' or 'Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio'?"
"Moreover, all of you possess the ability to precisely manipulate muscle and skin; modifying your appearance is no longer a difficult task."
"Power capable of flattening the Earth with a single palm is 'martial'; power capable of shattering an atomic nucleus with a single punch is also 'martial'. What is weak is not 'martial', but..." The latter half of his sentence grew fainter and fainter, as Bai Mo had evidently departed at some unknown point.
"Zheyi, how has your cultivation been recently?" In Wu Xi City, Huaxia Federation, Xiao Yan, who was also training, asked.
At the time, when Chen Bo received news of his sudden promotion to a national leadership position, he took the opportunity to bring his direct subordinates from the Independent Army back to the Federation, reorganizing them into his new core team.
The brothers who had faced life and death in the special forces—Xiao Yan, his sister Xiao Xun, and nominal Independent Army leader Li Zheyī, among others—along with a group of ethnic Chinese who had joined the Independent Army, all returned to the Huaxia Federation.
"Not bad, I've finally broken through to the Life Field Stage, but I'm still a bit behind you, Brother Yan." Li Zheyī smiled faintly.
"Zheyi, don't give me that 'looking back and smiling' look. Even though you're a man, I'm still afraid I won't be able to control myself." Xiao Yan quickly waved his hand, having already caught a glimpse of Xiao Xun's almost fiery gaze from afar.
Over a year had passed, and the initially somewhat delicate young boy had gradually matured. Despite now wearing a men's shirt and jacket, he still couldn't conceal a certain androgynous beauty.
"If it weren't for your Adam's apple, and your voice sounding like a normal man's, I would've long since chased you away, you fox spirit trying to seduce our little Yan." Xiao Xun walked over, staring at Li Zheyī with an expression of feigned "kindness," then hugged Xiao Yan like a protective mother hen.
"Sister Xun, you've been investigating for over half a year, how is your Xiao family doing now?" Zheyi didn't delve deeper into the previous topic.
While in the United States, the siblings already knew that the entirety of Tianhai had been utterly destroyed; whether it was those they loved or those they hated, they had likely all turned to dust.
Their planned decade-long revenge, just a few months later, saw their enemies obliterated by a passing nuclear bomb. The siblings momentarily lost their purpose in life.
It was during this period of despondency that they coincidentally met Li Zheyī, who was also a wanderer adrift, having unfortunately become the puppet leader of the Independent Army. The three quickly grew close.
"It's gone. I later personally inspected the ruins of Tianhai; the area around the Xiao family mansion was precisely at the center of the nuclear blast. Whether it was the house or the previous laboratory, everything was gone."
After over half a year of investigation by the siblings, it was confirmed that, apart from some completely uncontacted distant relatives, the entire Xiao family—both the hated main branch and the beloved collateral branches—had all perished. All their hatred dissipated like smoke.
Later, the two silently placed a bouquet of fresh flowers in the public memorial area for the victims, considering it a farewell to everything of the past.
"The child wishes to care for their parents, but they are gone; vengeance is sought, but the enemy is already dust." This line was left on the flowers.
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