Chapter 104: Chapter 103: King Niu: Spare My Life

"Moo-ha-ha! Kid, your friends abandoned you and ran."

King Niu’s neck, as thick as a tree stump, cracked twice as it twisted, a mocking glint in its eyes.

Jiang Qiu snorted, casually giving his spear a flourish. He met its gaze head-on. "And? During the Dongqi Lake operation, didn’t you abandon your own kind?"

"Tsk. I got where I am today through the opportunities given to me by the Spider Mother and my own hard work. I have no ’kin’ to speak of," King Niu sneered. Behind it, an Ox Demon phantom over ten meters tall loomed, looking down like an elephant at an ant. "Besides, the will to live and the fear of death are instinct. Back then, plenty of Great Demons who had broken through the Transformation Stage fled. Why should I have died for Lord Zhu Li?"

You, on the other hand, are about to die by my hand!

The moment the words left its mouth, King Niu took a step forward. The concrete slabs in a five-meter radius where it stood shattered into a crater. It drew back its hardened right fist, the massive phantom behind it mirroring the motion.

The instant it went airborne, the purple mist recoiled. The wind currents slammed against its arms and torso, only to shred and fly backward. Its massive right hoof, clenched like a fist, gathered wisps of Heaven and Earth Spirit Charm. The corners of its mouth stretched into a vicious sneer. "I, King Niu, climbed to the pinnacle of Demon Beasts with my physical might! You little bastard, let’s see you take this again if you dare!"

Jiang Qiu’s low stance was as steady as a mountain. The hair on his forehead was swept back, and the last few tatters of his black shirt were ripped from his upper body by the immense wind pressure.

His Qi Blood burned ferociously. The contours of his biceps, triceps, and latissimus dorsi rippled, faintly gleaming with a metallic sheen. They were like steel, forged to a searing red.

The reflection of the incoming fist grew larger and larger in his pupils as King Niu’s arrogant face bore down on him.

In that instant, Jiang Qiu took a deep breath, his gaze sharpening with focus.

’Without access to the Heaven and Earth Spirit Charm, I can’t unleash the full power of Furious Dragon Ascending to Heaven. Against King Niu in his peak state, it would only be enough to peel his skin and carve his flesh—not a fatal blow.’

’Only by combining extreme explosive power with high-intensity armor penetration can I slay King Niu.’

’And Shadow Stepping is my explosive power, while Soaring Dragon Piercing is my armor penetration.’

Jiang Qiu twisted his hands. The flat, horizontal faces of the Double Arc Blade snapped into a vertical, cutting edge. Behind him, the massive phantom of a Flood Dragon flickered in and out of existence.

[Martial Arts Integration Practice Initiated]

"I will kill you and prove my path!"

With a thunderous roar, Jiang Qiu’s body sank three inches, the immense pressure from his legs causing the concrete slabs in a ten-meter radius to buckle and rise.

ROAR—

The Flood Dragon phantom materialized, soaring through the air to bite at the Ox Demon phantom. The dragon’s roar was deafening as two chilling torrents of power collided in midair, the resulting shockwave sending shattered stones flying.

Zhang Heng, who had just struggled to his knees, stared with wide eyes. Fragments of his Armor clattered as they were blown off his body. His helmet fell, his hair was blasted backward, and a trickle of blood he had been holding back escaped the corner of his open mouth. "How does he dare to take the initiative?!"

’There are countless prodigies in this world, but how many can match a Top Tier Demon Beast before even reaching the Jade Sinew Realm?’

’I’m an Optimizer from Sanliang City’s own prodigy program, a candidate for the Ten Prodigies! I’m at the skull-refinement stage of the Steel Bone Realm, yet when I stumbled in here, King Niu sent me flying in the blink of an eye!’

’That terrifying physique, that oppressive aura... even the legendary Lin Wei, who is said to have a supreme Martial Arts Talent, might not be able to match it in a contest of pure strength!’

’How does this obscure kid, Jiang Qiu, have the courage to push against such a tide...’

A thousand thoughts raced through his mind as he watched the phantom Flood Dragon streak across the sky, piercing toward King Niu’s body.

BOOM—

A sudden gale erupted. King Niu’s world-crashing fist slammed against the tip of Jiang Qiu’s spear. Behind it, the phantom Flood Dragon locked its jaws onto the Ox Demon phantom’s right arm.

Its meteor-like charge came to a dead stop in midair, like a diving falcon slamming into a glass wall.

In a single instant.

’An ant sending an elephant flying backward into the sky?!’

"MOOO—"

King Niu’s eyes nearly split from their sockets. Its right hoof was pierced, a sharp, agonizing pain as if it had punched a steel spike. The immense Strength erupting from the spear’s tip was dragging its entire body backward into the sky!

CRACK—

The bones in its fist shattered.

CRACK—

The bones in its forearm shattered.

CRACK—

The bones in its upper arm shattered!

A series of crisp cracks, like a cleaver splitting bamboo, traveled up from the Double Arc Blade Spear Head and through King Niu’s right arm. The Strength behind the blow vibrated its flesh into a paste and shredded its muscles and bones into pulp.

Its entire right arm was obliterated. As the spear head’s cold edge flashed past the root of its arm, Jiang Qiu’s frigid gaze swept over it, like Death himself passing by.

The Ox Demon phantom dispersed. Having lost its anchor, King Niu was sent tumbling by the Spear Stance, crashing to the ground with a THUD that sent dust billowing into the air.

BOOM!

The momentum carried Jiang Qiu thirty or forty meters into the sky. He traced a powerful, arching parabola before landing with a flourish of his spear, his knees bending slightly as his feet sank an inch into the concrete.

He took a deep breath, his dark-green, slitted pupils locking onto King Niu as it struggled to rise with its left arm, like a Python watching a rabbit.

The tip of his spear scraped against the cracked concrete, making a dull, grating sound with every step—a sound that hammered on the hearts of the watching students.

Zhang Heng was dumbstruck, his jaw trembling. "They say a new prodigy from Gao Yuan City crippled a Top Tier Demon Beast’s arm with a single spear strike... C-could... could that be him?"

At the back of the remaining group of students from Eighth Middle School, the eyes of Qian Cheng, Sun Yongsheng, Liu Zili, and the others lit up.

Li Juefeng and Xie Kuang clenched their fists, screaming inwardly, ’I knew it! His Spear Skill is Unrivaled!’

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Every student’s gaze followed Jiang Qiu’s steps like moths to a flame. The figure of the bare-chested young man looked like a hero, a lone dragon slayer.

"Monster... a monster..."

King Niu hung its one remaining arm limply. Pea-sized beads of cold sweat trickled down to the corners of its twitching mouth, the salty taste seeping past its clenched teeth.

Its eyes, as wide as Copper Bells, were blood-red. Its body trembled, a single thought echoing through the desolate landscape of its mind—

’If I take another hit from that spear, I’m going to die!’

"I can’t die... I can’t die... I haven’t reached Transformation yet! I still haven’t achieved my Transformation..." King Niu gasped greedily for air, its chest heaving as it retreated two steps. Its thick brows knitted together. THUMP. Its frantic heartbeat suddenly pounded loud enough for all to hear. "I will not die!"

Jiang Qiu stopped, gripping the spear’s shaft tightly. In his vision, the world turned gray and white, with one exception: the flames of life force on King Niu’s body, which were now flaring violently, as if doused in gasoline.

The beast was like an uncorked geyser, its surging Qi Blood gushing forth and gathering within its maimed body.

’It can still muster another burst of power?’

VMMMM—

His pupils constricted as his eyes met King Niu’s savage gaze—a gaze where anger, killing intent, hatred, and defiance all coalesced into a single, sharp point.

At that moment, its aura reached its zenith. Its knees bent, cracking the concrete beneath its hooves. It looked like an enraged toad, ready to leap at any second...

BANG!

The figure shot upward like a rocket. Jiang Qiu’s brow tightened. He flicked the tip of his spear, about to launch a full-on assault with Shadow Stepping and Soaring Dragon Thrust.

But then he saw King Niu perform a backflip straight into the purple mist. It flew two hundred meters before landing silently, then broke into a desperate sprint, looking like a stumbling torch in his gray-and-white vision.

The entire area fell silent. Everyone, who had been holding their breath, collectively choked.

"King Niu!"

A rush of hot-blooded fury surged through Jiang Qiu’s mind. With a SHING, the spear in his hands was replaced by a bow. In an instant, he had drawn the string to a full moon, his Qi Blood flaring as the Azure Dragon manifested.

"Just fucking die!"

With his furious roar, the gleaming Conical Arrow shot out. Azure Dragon Chasing Shadow, unleashed at full power!