Chapter 282 - 279: The Fist That Surpassed Time

Chapter 282: Chapter 279: The Fist That Surpassed Time

On the chessboard of life and death, Ji Donglai’s figure calmly took a seat.

In the distance, the antimatter was about to erupt in a brilliant display of fireworks.

But before the explosion, Xiang Hongtu’s pupils had already shrunk to the size of a pinprick.

The instant his body sensed the crisis, he simultaneously expanded his Heart Image into a domain, blanketing the surrounding world.

The next moment, the world covered by his domain vanished completely from Xiang Hongtu’s sight!

...

「Three days earlier, on the seventh floor of the Great Zhou Celestial Secret Pavilion.」

The Omniscient sat across from Fang Can and the others, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"If you’re asking me which of the existing Fourth Turn Martial Artists among the nations has the strongest inheritance... that’s a truly difficult choice."

"Because for every single inheritance, a way to counter it can be found. Of course, those Fourth Turn practitioners are well aware of their own inheritances’ flaws and do their best to compensate for them."

"For instance, Martial Artists from the [Nation of Embers] have such fragile bodies before they transform that they carry over a dozen life-saving Sacrificial Artifacts with them."

"Whether it’s the pinnacle of defense among the Fourth Turn, [Pristine Saintly Substance], or the pinnacle of speed, [Charming Blue Film], their users are all trying their utmost to cover their weaknesses."

"But if I had to pick the single strongest Fourth Turn Martial Artist... I think it would have to be Xiang Hongtu."

"Within his Heart Image domain, his speed is faster than teleportation, faster even than light!"

"For anyone below the Sixth Turn, the only way to dodge his attacks is to ensure there is never even a possibility of being hit."

"Add to that the two lives from his [Yin-Yang Sacred Embryo], plus the power, speed, and defense of a peak Fourth Turn Realm, and he’s likely the most difficult Fourth Turn to deal with."

"What’s that? You ask what his inheritance is called?"

At that, the Omniscient’s expression turned serious. "Xiang Hongtu’s inheritance is called—[Abyssal Counter-Current]."

...

「Year 47 of the Yonghao reign in the Great Chu Empire, the Imperial Palace!」

An eighteen-year-old Xiang Hongtu knelt bare-chested before his father the Emperor, his back a mess of whip marks, blood gushing from the wounds.

Outside the hall, ceremonial cannons boomed and the entire city celebrated, but inside, the air was bone-chillingly cold.

This was supposed to be the celebration for Xiang Hongtu winning the championship of the international grand tournament, breaking through to the First Turn Realm, and being named Crown Prince, all on the same day.

But while the gongs and drums outside thundered with the joyous news of the Prince’s victory, the atmosphere inside was exceptionally frigid.

The reigning Chu Emperor, clad in a black dragon robe, grabbed the young Xiang by the neck and hauled him up, his eyes filled with an irrepressible rage.

"You wretched son!" The old Chu Emperor threw the blood-stained whip to the ground and followed it with a sharp slap across his face.

"With such talent, you ignored the royal family’s secret inheritance, [Thick Accumulation, Thin Release], and insisted on creating this useless [Time Delay] inheritance! What were you thinking?"

The so-called [Time Delay] that Xiang Hongtu had created allowed him to store the damage from his attacks within an opponent’s body.

Damage dealt now could be made to erupt one day later via [Time Delay], but with no amplifying effect upon detonation.

From any perspective, this inheritance was pure trash, completely and utterly useless.

Faced with his father’s scolding, his family’s confusion, and his peers’ mockery, Xiang Hongtu offered no defense.

Instead, he silently licked his wounds in a dark corner, pouring his entire being into the Martial Dao.

For defying his father’s will, the fallen genius was exiled that very day to the shores of the Endless Coast.

Without an imperial edict, he was forbidden from ever setting foot in the capital again for the rest of his life.

Xiang Hongtu did not resist this. He silently set out on the road to the coast.

What no one knew was that he had also set a prerequisite for this inheritance.

The detonation time of [Time Delay] was dependent on one’s physical constitution and mental strength.

The stronger his body and mind became, the shorter the delay before the damage would erupt.

In essence, it was actually a time-element inheritance.

Perhaps now, with his First Turn physique, the damage could only erupt after a full day.

’But people are meant to keep improving!’

’As long as I keep moving forward, accumulating bit by bit, and surpassing the me of yesterday, every single day...’

’Then in the future, at the Second Turn, Third Turn, or even Fourth Turn, I’ll definitely be able to throw a punch fiercer and faster than light itself.’

He believed in his inheritance and his talent.

’This is just a small disadvantage in the early stages. All I lack right now is sufficient accumulation.’

The Martial Dao is an art of sacrifice.

Only by paying a sufficient price can one achieve commensurate results.

You can’t fall lower than a beggar, and as long as you’re not dead, you will eventually rise to the top.

And so, Xiang Hongtu wagered the first half of his life on the slim chance of that one glorious blossoming.

’Those common fools only focus on immediate gains because they lack the confidence to strive for the absolute peak.’

But he firmly believed that as long as he kept walking this path, he would one day reach the Fourth Turn, the Fifth Turn, and eventually ascend to the very top.

From then on, after his exile, on the deserted coastline, Xiang Hongtu began to temper himself for decades as if it were a single day, living the life of an ascetic monk.

The desolate solitude polished his spirit until it was like a boundless, inexhaustible sea of suffering.

And the scars gave him a body as indestructible as diamond!

When Xiang Hongtu was 25, his inheritance evolved from [First Turn: Time Delay] to [Second Turn: Time Extension]!

The enhanced inheritance, combined with his ascetic spirit and will, shortened the damage delay from one day to three minutes!

And when Xiang Hongtu was 55, his inheritance evolved from [Second Turn: Time Extension] to [Third Turn: Time Instant]!

At that point, the time it took for his damage to erupt was reduced from three minutes to zero seconds.

This also meant that, after thirty-seven years of hardship, he had finally reached the same starting line that other Martial Artists had stood on from the very beginning.

Now, at last, he could begin the race.

And after becoming a Third Turn, he was surprised to discover that while using the [Time Instant] inheritance, the speed of his punches grew faster and faster.

It had transformed from an ability that delayed an attack’s effect to one that shortened an attack’s duration.

At 55, having just entered the Third Turn, he could throw a punch at ten times the speed of sound.

Ten years later, while maintaining the same damage output, a single punch reached 1,000 times the speed of sound.

Twenty years into his Third Turn, the instant he threw a punch, it reached 5,000 times the speed of sound.

Thirty years into his Third Turn, the speed of Xiang Hongtu’s punches had far surpassed the speed of light.

He could compress a single punch into 0.0000000000...0001 seconds!

Finally, when Xiang Hongtu was 90, having reached the peak of the Third Turn with no further room for progress, the speed of his punches could no longer be measured by time.

It had evolved from zero-second damage delay to zero-second punch duration.

Just as the name [Time Instant] implied, his fists were so fast it was as if they could teleport through time! He had already far surpassed his original goal.

’But... it’s still not fast enough! This is nowhere near the limit!’

A greedy anticipation flickered in Xiang Hongtu’s resolute eyes.

’I can be faster!’

’I’m only at the peak of the Third Turn and I can already throw punches that leap through time.’

’What heights will I reach at the Fourth, Fifth, or even Sixth Turn?’

This is the way of a Martial Artist: to become fanatically obsessed with a single aspect!

To become stronger, Xiang Hongtu was willing to abandon all worldly desires, forever reaching higher, forever climbing.

Fueled by a greed that refused to accept his current state, Xiang Hongtu gave up the idea of immediately returning to the capital to prove himself and become his emperor father’s "good little boy" again.

His goal now was to seize his father’s title as the number one Batulu of Great Chu!

One year, two years, five, ten...

Winter passed and spring came, and another sixty years went by.

The entire world seemed to have completely forgotten his existence.

Only frustration and solitude remained his constant companions.

In those sixty years, his spirit and body saw no further improvement, and the speed of his punches did not change.

It seemed his peak had been permanently fixed on that night sixty years ago when he had thrown a punch that leaped through time.

But even without any improvement, he still tirelessly threw punches for over twenty-two hours a day above the Endless Sea, facing the endless coastline!

Finally!

One afternoon, when he was 150 years old, after who knows how many hundreds of millions of punches, as he threw a punch yet again, he clearly sensed something different about it.

The instant he threw the punch, his vision of the world went completely dark for about 0.1 seconds!

In that 0.1-second interval, he lost his sight, hearing, and touch; all that remained was the instinctive motion of his fist.

When he came to his senses again, the dark world was gone.

He looked down at the hands that had thrown the punch, a flash of disbelief in his eyes!

’Was that an illusion? Why does it feel like... that punch reversed time?’

With that, his Realm had officially entered the supreme ranks of the Fourth Turn!

At the same time, an unprecedented Fourth Turn inheritance was born!

Xiang Hongtu named it—[Abyssal Counter-Current]!

On that same day, Xiang Hongtu returned to the capital. The emperor died. He ascended the throne as the new Chu Emperor!

His reign title: [Ming Guang]!

...

「Back to the present.」 Faced with the threat of the antimatter warhead behind him, he could feel it—the antimatter had already detonated, a surging torrent of energy bursting forth.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Xiang Hongtu expanded his domain outward and activated [Abyssal Counter-Current]!

WHOOM—

As the [Abyssal Counter-Current] inheritance unfolded, the once vibrant, colorful world instantly turned to pitch blackness before him.

In that moment, within Xiang Hongtu’s perception, there was neither sound nor color.

It was as if his entire being had been exiled to a pure void.

But he knew this was merely the effect of the Abyssal Counter-Current. Light and sound were flowing in reverse, no longer interacting with his body.

Everything in the world, except for him, was flowing backward in time.

The lethal flames of the detonated antimatter bomb began to converge. The shattered containment shell started to mend itself. Everything that had just happened in this part of the world was rewinding beyond his perception!

Through years of arduous training since entering the Fourth Turn, the duration he could reverse time had extended from the initially imperceptible 0.1 seconds to 0.3 seconds.

Once those 0.3 seconds were over, he would return from the reversed past to the present.

However, his actions within that reversed time would not vanish. Instead, they would carry over to the present and manifest all at once.

To put it simply, his fist could travel back in time to strike an enemy from 0.3 seconds in the past. But because the past itself cannot be changed, the resulting injury would carry over and erupt in the present.

This was the effect of [Abyssal Counter-Current], which was, in essence, a vastly upgraded version of his original [Time Delay].

The past cannot be changed. Within this reversed time, the dead cannot be resurrected; everything must be left for the present to resolve.

Sensing the unfeeling, unknowing world around him, Xiang Hongtu let out a cold smirk.

’Only 0.05 seconds have passed since I activated Abyssal Counter-Current.’