. At this instant, Teng Zijing felt the poison taking over his body. Since his body had gone limp, he was unable to avoid the giant fist. There was a crackling sound, followed by Teng Zijing’s scream. His left leg was broken by the punch. Lying on the ground, blood came gus.h.i.+ng out of his pant leg.

Fan Xian knew things weren’t good when Teng Zijing’s blade was caught. Grunting, his footwork turned stiff, and the two swords danced past his torso even closer than before. The blade tips pierced his s.h.i.+rt, drawing two b.l.o.o.d.y lines across his body.

Taking advantage of this moment, Fan Xian gripped his hands together and released two puffs of pink smoke directly into the faces of the two female a.s.sa.s.sins.

The a.s.sa.s.sins reacted with supernatural speed; they closed their mouths and held their breath, ready to jump back. But Fan Xian would not let this hard-gained chance slip away. With a tremendous shout, he released the overpowering zhenqi in his body. For the moment, it was as though his arms lengthened, enough to reach the two a.s.sa.s.sins’ throats.

With two cracks, the female a.s.sa.s.sins had their windpipes crushed. Frothing blood at their mouths, they collapsed to the ground.

Meanwhile, that monstrous brute had raised his hands, ready to slam them down onto Teng Zijing’s skull.

Fan Xian was exceptionally calm. This calm came from the experience of having lived a previous life, and also from Fei Jie and Wu Zhu’s tutelage. Right now, he wasn’t at all thinking about why Uncle Wu Zhu hadn’t done anything. He knew this was his most dangerous trial after coming to the capital; if he couldn’t make it past this, it would only prove that he didn’t deserve his second life in this world.

Despite being over ten meters away, Fan Xian covered that distance in a flash. With his left hand, he already put a pill into his mouth. With his right, he propped up the palm of that mad brute in front of the almost dead Teng Zijing!

There was a m.u.f.fled sound of explosion as shockwaves made the surrounding trees shake. Leaves fell.

Fan Xian felt intense pain travel down from his right hand to his bones; he had never faced such formidable strength. Only moments had pa.s.sed and he was already at his limit.

Blood trickled down the corner of his lips, but he only grunted and didn’t lose his composure. His left hand had already found the key to dealing a killing blow.

Then something very strange happened.

A gust of wind came blowing in, gentling swirling around Fan Xian’s body. As if carrying a strange power, it blew against Fan Xian’s body. While only a weak breeze, it was quite annoying, enough to disrupt Fan Xian’s next course of action.

The brute laughed, seeing the look in Fan Xian’s eyes. He was like a wild beast filled with raw power; even his eyes were ghastly bloodshot.

Fan Xian gazed past the brute’s ma.s.sive frame. At the mouth of the alleyway was the blurry figure of a person. That person was wearing a conical hat of bamboo.

"Let me crush your head." The brute apparently discovered that Fan Xian had run out of options and started to laugh maniacally. He then put more strength into his hand.

"Hmph." Fan Xian only exclaimed coldly. He knew this was the greatest dilemma he had faced since his rebirth. His right arm started to tremble, but deep inside his heart he was screaming "Screw you!"

In this life-or-death moment, the zhenqi that had flowed through his entire body like a calm ocean suddenly began to stir as if provoked, a ma.s.sive amount of zhenqi gus.h.i.+ng from the xueshan in his back, a small circulation going along his body and infusing with his right arm.

Suddenly, if just for an instant, Fan Xian felt the illusion that his right arm was made of iron.

The collision between powerful zhenqi forced apart two hands—which differed greatly in size—by about an inch before they crashed back together.

Countless currents of broken zhenqi arose around the two, turning the leaves in the air to dust.

"Die!" Fan Xian roared, withdrawing his arm with terrifying control before throwing a straight punch right into the brute’s torso. A strange expression formed on the brutes face as he opened his mouth, bathing Fan Xian’s face in blood. His chest and abdomen had been completely caved in!

But this brute turned out to be surprisingly resilient. Despite receiving such a heavy blow, he stood unmoved, cras.h.i.+ng his hand mercilessly down onto Fan Xian’s right shoulder and turning it into a b.l.o.o.d.y mess.

Today, Fan Xian’s true viciousness finally exploded. Responding to his severe injury with only a cry, he used the momentum of the blow and charged into the brute. Using his left hand, he took out his thin dagger and rammed it mercilessly into the brute’s throat.

He then pulled down with all his strength.

With his torso already caved in, the brute was gutted alive. His organs came flowing out in a torrent of blood and fluids.

Unable to believe what his own eyes showed him, the brute looked at Fan Xian one last time before cras.h.i.+ng down backwards like a felled tree.

It appeared as though the whole world had gone silent.

Panting hard, Fan Xian remained standing with great difficulty, staring at that shadow in the bamboo hat.