Chapter 191 - 172: The Battle of the World’s Strongest!

Chapter 191: Chapter 172: The Battle of the World’s Strongest!

BOOM!!

Relying on his formidable Physique, Chen Sha stirred up a vast phenomenon. With a single punch, he smashed through the air currents, causing the air within a radius of over a hundred feet to burst like a massive balloon.

Then, his fist punched into the two-foot space right in front of Yuan Ruhua.

However, the moment his fist penetrated this space—two feet and five inches away—a tremendous sense of threat violently surfaced in his mind.

This intense threat and crisis was something Chen Sha had never experienced since his debut. Its overwhelming peril was beyond anything brought to him by all the Legendary Level figures within the Cosmic Light Fragments or any opponents he had fought along his journey.

Chen Sha’s gaze flashed like lightning.

"Half-Step Distance?"

Facing this punch, Yuan Ruhua remained completely unbothered. In a fraction of a millisecond before the fist could reach him, his expression didn’t shift in the slightest. He didn’t even bat an eyelid or glance at Chen Sha’s strike.

With just a slight tilt of his body, he dodged it effortlessly. In the exact moment he evaded the attack, his eyes shifted to his left.

That was where Chen Sha’s second strike followed immediately after the first, his hand shaped into a Lotus.

BANG!

White Lotuses formed of air currents bloomed one after another in the void, flashing and vanishing just as quickly. Chen Sha pinched them into the Ninth-Grade Lotus Seal and blasted it directly toward Yuan Ruhua’s heart.

But Yuan Ruhua simply flashed his eyes and shifted his body slightly. He avoided the move with absolute ease.

Chen Sha finally gained a vague understanding of what the concept of Yuan Ruhua’s "half-step in front of the body" truly meant.

"Sensing danger and evading it."

So that was it. Any attack that entered this zone was completely ineffective against him. It could never actually land on his body. It was just like the martial principle: "The cicada senses the autumn wind before it even blows."

Both of his punches were powerful Fist Seals, but since they couldn’t hit their target, they were utterly useless.

After the two punches...

"It is more than that. See for yourself." Yuan Ruhua suddenly looked up, responding to the words "sensing danger and evading it." He smiled faintly at Chen Sha.

This single smile instantly gave Chen Sha a premonition that Yuan Ruhua was about to launch an offensive.

WHOOSH!

An invisible Martial Dao Will leisurely emerged from the vast sky. Right in front of Chen Sha, Yuan Ruhua’s palm appeared, all five fingers spread wide!

Suddenly, Chen Sha felt as if the five great mountains had moved onto Yuan Ruhua’s fingers, making his palm incredibly heavy. The sound of blood flowing within it was deafening, like a roaring waterfall cascading down a grand peak.

This palm strike pressed downward. The five fingers were like five great mountains, carrying infinite weight, while the boiling vitality in his hand surged like ocean waves.

It was as if Yuan Ruhua had hurled five massive mountains into the sea. The boundless air currents boiled beneath this palm strike like a raging tsunami.

The sheer force of this palm caused Chen Sha’s facial skin to ripple, and the ground beneath his feet began to tremble uncontrollably.

"This power... In terms of sheer strength alone, he is the most powerful enemy I have ever encountered. It’s truly terrifying! He truly lives up to the title of the invincible under heaven!" Chen Sha thought.

Any ordinary Great Innate would have been swept away by the terrifying Qi Power rolling back from this strike, unable to even stand. At a mere two-foot distance, the danger was at its absolute peak, carrying the supreme power of the current age.

Only Chen Sha could remain standing here.

"But I am going to clash head-on with you anyway!" Chen Sha thought fearlessly. His confident mind raced. It didn’t matter that his first two punches had missed; he simply met Yuan Ruhua’s palm and threw another punch head-on.

His fist pressed forward, plunging firmly into the palm that felt like five giant mountains.

The two forces collided. The first substantial clash between the number one and number two experts in the world finally occurred at this moment.

Earth-shattering power erupted.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

The terrifying force expanded in all directions from their position, shattering the sky full of air currents. The world seemed to instantly dim. Clods of dirt and gravel on the ground violently bounced dozens of feet into the air.

The shockwave of their collision spread to the ocean surface at an indescribable speed.

SPLASH!!

Above the sea, endless waves were suddenly provoked, rolling and crashing into a massive tidal wave. The ocean churned, each wave rising higher than the last, roaring straight toward Putuo City.

Several miles away, the people standing on the walls of Putuo City could faintly feel the stone trembling beneath their feet. It felt as if a massive earthquake, with the maritime pavilion as its epicenter, was sweeping toward them.

The expressions of tens of thousands of people changed dramatically at this moment.

"This..."

Standing on the city tower and gazing into the distance, they saw that the once calm sea level had transformed into a terrifying ocean straight out of a stormy tempest, with violent waves churning.

"We can’t see clearly anymore!" someone cried out in shock. "Their imposing auras and power are too strong! The impact on the sea has caused the waves to roll endlessly, completely blocking our line of sight!"

The Tide Listening Pavilion and the small island at the edge of the sea, which had previously been clearly visible, instantly became a blurred silhouette. Veiled by the surging waves, they flickered in and out of view under the riotous clash of Cultivation.

At this moment, several figures flew straight out of Putuo City. Astonishingly, they all possessed the Cultivation of Great Innates. They were various top-tier experts who had traveled from the Divine Land, representing both the Black and White Paths.

Upon closer inspection, this group included Xu Bingshu, the Grand General of the Yuan Country, a Sect Leader from the Demon Sect, and several ordinary Great Innates who had not made it onto the top ten expert rankings.

Relying on their surging Qi Power, they supported themselves in a brief mid-air flight, approaching the sea to get a higher vantage point. They wanted to clearly witness the battle unfolding on the island several miles away.

At this moment, only these Great Innates could rely on their eyesight and Power to vaguely discern the scene over there.

The ancient pavilions on the small island had long been reduced to ruins by the intense shockwave just now. The entire island looked as if it had suffered an earthquake, left completely cratered and uneven. Plumes of seawater and mist shot into the sky all around it.

BOOM! BOOM! RUMBLE!!

The Great Innates could only see the two figures on the island locked in close combat. Separated by a mere two or three feet, their fists, elbows, palms, and legs continuously clashed.

It was like two gods locked in a life-and-death struggle...

Only then did they realize with horror that these earth-shattering fluctuations and momentum were actually born from the myriad collisions occurring within a two-foot space between the two fighters. From such a minuscule distance and space, an explosive impact capable of shaking a radius of several miles was unleashed!

Was this Yuan Ruhua’s Half-Step Domain?! And Chen Sha’s Perfect Great Yellow Court?!

Some of them wanted to get closer, but after advancing only a mile or two, a terrifying astral wind, sharp as a knife, radiated outward from the center of the battle. Its imposing aura was so intense that it caused one Great Innate to stagger in terror, nearly sending him tumbling into the ocean.

"A battle involving the number one person in the world is actually this terrifying!"

Instantly, half of these Great Innates felt a dizzying awe, filled with the profound realization of just how honorable it was to merely witness this fight. But what caught their attention even more was a shocking truth:

"Chen Sha can actually fight Yuan Ruhua within his Half-Step Distance! The two of them are evenly matched!"

Back on the small island, shattered rocks flew everywhere. Boulders the size of water buckets were blasted outward like raindrops in all directions by the fluctuating Qi Power erupting from their clashes!

BANG! BANG! BANG!

In the span of just three to five breaths, Chen Sha seized the opportunity and exchanged over a hundred moves with Yuan Ruhua at lightning speed.

Yuan Ruhua’s expression remained unchanged as he sensed the direction of Chen Sha’s incoming attacks. He naturally bent his elbow, clamped his armpit, and flipped his fist!

BANG!

Fist collided with fist.

Chen Sha and Yuan Ruhua’s hair whipped wildly in the wind. Both of their eyes snapped wide open at the same time, each seeing their own clear reflection in the other’s pupils. Trails of blood trickled down from both of their mouths.

THUD!

Under this collision, their gazes clashed like sparks of electricity, and their bodies were each forced back seven steps.

Chen Sha seized this opening. Suddenly, he reached a hand toward the sky.

CRACK!

A bolt of Celestial Thunder struck down directly at Yuan Ruhua. But right before it could land on Yuan Ruhua’s head, he flashed his feet and easily dodged it. Not even the falling speed of Celestial Thunder could hit him.

Immediately after, Chen Sha unleashed the killing intent of winter, forming layers of frost as snowflakes fell to the ground.

Yet, Yuan Ruhua stood seven steps away, his form like a ghost god. Within his two-foot radius, no power could invade.

STEP! STEP!

He took continuous steps, closing in on Chen Sha once again, and spoke amidst the battle: "Sect Leader Chen, if you simply wish to rely on your Physique and Qi Power to trade fist for fist and injury for injury, then you will never take the title of number one in the world."

These words, accompanied by Yuan Ruhua’s rapid approach, struck right at Chen Sha’s mind.

Chen Sha did not deny it. He truly hadn’t expected that Yuan Ruhua’s Physique and Life Force wouldn’t pale in the slightest against his own three hundred years of Power and Great Success in the Great Yellow Court. He had no idea what Martial Arts the other party had practiced to reach such a profound level today.

But, what Yuan Ruhua similarly hadn’t expected was that Chen Sha actually possessed the ability to fight him to a draw within his Half-Step Distance.

The two of them clashed again. Yuan Ruhua struck out like a Ghost God and pressed his questioning: "Do you have any other Martial Arts to show me?"

Chen Sha paid absolutely no heed to Yuan Ruhua’s arrogant words. To be precise, his mind, stamina, and spirit had already broken through to a Peak during this battle, reaching a miraculous Realm.

His mind and spirit expanded outward just like that, seemingly stretching into the endless void, all the way to the edges of heaven and earth. He raised a fist high into the sky, thrust it forward, and brought it smashing down!

Instantly, a shattering sensation of life seeking rebirth in the face of death emerged within the void of heaven and earth. It gave Yuan Ruhua the illusion that Chen Sha was going to shatter the world and ascend with this very punch.

"This punch!"

Yuan Ruhua’s pupils contracted into microscopic black dots beneath Chen Sha’s descending fist. "It’s from when Long Zaitian executed the Broken Void that day... You actually turned it into a Fist Technique. Good! Very good, Sect Leader Chen!"

In that moment, a ripple appeared in the state of mind he had flawlessly maintained throughout their hundred-move exchange. It was an indescribable emotion. There was surprise, solemnity, joy, and even a faint trace of dread.

As this punch smashed into his Half-Step Domain once again, Yuan Ruhua knew perfectly well that he could dodge it. However, a blazing light flickered in his eyes: "How could I not meet such a brilliant punch!"

Facing this strike, Yuan Ruhua’s pupils focused intently. His entire Martial Dao Will soared, causing his robes to flutter wildly. A pure, radiant brilliance surfaced on the face of the number one person in the world.

It was an expression of absolute faith and obsession with the Martial Dao.

In a flash beneath the incoming punch, he brought his left hand to his right. He channeled all his Cultivation and Qi Power into his left hand, which then compressed it into his right. Subsequently, his right hand shot out like a Celestial Halberd, faintly ripping the void apart within a one-foot radius.

Yet, it gave the illusion that this attack carried no killing intent.

Martial Dao, stopping weapons!

The character for "Martial" (武) spoke of hot-blooded men meeting adversaries and encountering injustice, taking the opponent’s life in the shortest time and from the closest distance. But if you broke the character apart, it was composed of "止" (to stop) and "戈" (halberd/weapons).

Using power to stop the clashing of weapons within a half-step—that was the true essence of Martial!

The meaning behind stopping weapons contained the idea of using one’s strength to bring Peace Under Heaven, where no battles remained. But in reality, to stop weapons, one had to completely strip the other side of their power to wage war.

What Yuan Ruhua believed in was using his own martial prowess within a half-step to force everyone in the world to lose their combat ability and obediently fall to the ground!

A "Broken Void" Fist Technique.

A "Peace Under Heaven" Will.

Everything seemed to freeze in this instant. It felt as if thousands of years had passed, yet also as if it had only been a fleeting moment.

They collided!

RUMBLE!

The earth of the entire small island convulsed. Countless chasms rapidly tore open beneath their feet, spreading outward like massive rifts.

Amidst the howling sound of boundlessly receding air currents, the two separated.

Someone coughed up blood.

Someone’s bones fractured!