Martial Ascent to Divinity-Chapter 613 - 593: Manifestation

The morning sunlight shone upon the forest, as a joint army of over a hundred thousand giant insects and demons slowly devoured the woods like a gigantic saw, felling row upon row of trees.

Among the army stood a demonic Grandmaster clad in blood-red metal armor.

His head was pyramid-shaped upside-down, with a face on each side; the figure was tall, surrounded by numerous demons.

The Four-sided Duke, a high-ranking commander of the demon race.

The appearance of the Four-sided Duke signals the arrival of a large-scale battle or even war.

If it were an ordinary demon commander, Zhou Leng might hesitate for a moment, but upon seeing the Four-sided Duke, he turned away without a second thought and ran.

As he ran, he marked the locations of the ancient tree fossils sensed on his map.

"Catch him! Great Innate, move out!"

The Four-sided Duke, seasoned in battles, instantly recognized this human was at least at the Great Innate level.

A full twenty Great Innate demons and giant insects chased after him.

After running for over ten kilometers, Zhou Leng glanced back, Great Innate?

He turned around and threw a punch.

The first move, Punch through Green Mountains.

He punched straight out, seemingly ordinary.

No True Qi, no starry sky true energy.

Simply employing the Mountain River Guardian Technique, infused with Martial Arts Will.

East Wind Fist emphasizes momentum, combined with Mountain River Guardian Technique, the punching power suddenly became substantial.

The giant insect knight at the forefront suddenly froze, using all his knowledge to halt.

For he saw, after Zhou Leng threw the punch, although there was clearly no True Qi in his body, the air around his right arm rippled, coalescing into the image of continuous green mountains.

The punch emerged creating a projection.

"Grandmaster..."

In the next instant, Zhou Leng arrived before the giant insect knight, with his right punch, right arm, along with the air and mountains crashing onto the giant insect knight’s body.

The incessant punch force exploded within the giant insect knight’s body.

From the head to the waist, it slowly cracked open, followed by a tremble of the body, and countless insect shells and flesh blasted open in the sky.

Recalling the previous punch, Zhou Leng thought the punch’s momentum was good, but given it’s the first move, its power was somewhat lacking.

The second move blends the four directions, a defensive move, so he opted for the third move.

He struck the ground, rushing to a giant mantis.

A punch went forth, water sounds rushing, the surrounding air converging into a peculiar scene.

Above a massive lake, drizzle stretched, a small boat sailed, depicting the picturesque scenery of Jiangnan.

Beneath the small boat, a gigantic shadow slowly swam.

In the next instant, the shadow emerged from the lake together with the right arm, exploding the water surface like an ancient dragon, reigning supreme over the world.

Roar...

The dragon’s roar shook, the punching power not yet arrived, but the punch momentum already activated.

The giant mantis, strong as it may be, experienced a brief lapse under the punch’s roar.

By the time it came to its senses, the world seemed to spin.

Its head rolled to the ground, residual sight catching the mighty five-meter tall giant insect body, as if crudely sawed and split in two.

The wound jagged and uneven.

East Wind Fist’s third move, Divide Sea Dragon Shadow.

The remaining Great Innate demons were frightened.

Although innate attacks could punch at super-sonic speed, breaking the air and producing explosive sound, it was simply pure explosion.

This punch encompassed true punch momentum, and that sound, like a dragon’s furious roar.

Only a Grandmaster could produce it.

Zhou Leng frowned.

Punch through Green Mountains, he had cultivated the most, already mastered.

But the third move, Divide Sea Dragon Shadow, something still felt lacking.

Now seeing the giant mantis’s corpse, with crisscrossed wounds, not clean-cut, he understood.

The power was ample, but lacking the decisive feel of "I rule the world, I cleave and create heavens."

In Saint Zhao’s hands, aside from the final move, East Wind Fist had no names and was categorized merely by which move they were.

Later generations added names to facilitate learning.

Some move names Saint Zhao was not pleased with but didn’t bother to argue.

Only the final move of East Wind Fist was named by himself, though it was unusually long and peculiar, he was very satisfied and declared that none should change it, anyone who did would not be allowed to cultivate East Wind Fist.

However, the later punch momentum of East Wind Fist was too powerful, only useable by Peak Martial Saints, hence few paid attention to the strongest and most terrifying final move.

"After this battle ends, I’ll watch the instructional video, study and understand the third move, if it still doesn’t work, I’ll consult with Void God teacher using the World Instrument. Anyway, there are still several unused training Martial Shadow Walls left."

Zhou Leng was no longer an ordinary Martial Artist but a Grandmaster, and his martial arts must be honed to perfection, leaving no margin for error.

What is right is right, what is wrong is wrong, there’s no room for "about right," not even "slightly wrong."

Any negligence or ambiguity could lead to death.

The entire thought flashed by in an instant, subsequently, he charged towards the next Great Innate.

Solely using the third move, Divide Sea Dragon Shadow.

Divide Sea Dragon Shadow, although slightly inferior to later techniques such as Dragon and Tiger Intertwine, I Bestow Heaven’s Mandate, yet still contained unimaginable grandeur.

Punch after punch after punch...

In Zhou Leng’s eyes, the Great Innate seemed like wooden stumps, mere tools to verify fist techniques.

Raising his hand once more, Zhou Leng withdrew his hand, scanning his surroundings.

The wooden stumps were used up.

Zhou Leng halted, recalling the earlier demon army.

Approximately three demonic Grandmasters, two newly advanced Grandmasters, one lower-rank Grandmaster.

No presence of middle-rank Grandmaster.

Even though Demon Purgatory has eighteen worlds, an army led by a lower-rank Grandmaster still counts as a formidable force.

If a middle-rank or upper-rank Grandmaster were to appear, it would be a major military operation, deploying millions of demons.

Clearly just having established a feel for the moves, and potentially further comprehending "Divide Sea Dragon Shadow," yet now there’s no opponent.

Zhou Leng contemplated, martial arts come first.

Then, he charged straight into the Demon army.

As he got closer, Zhou Leng gestured at the Demon army and then uttered a demonic curse he had learned long ago.

"You bunch of tentacle beast’s brats."

The Demons roared in fury.

Hundreds of Innate Demons, without receiving orders, charged towards Zhou Leng.

The Four-sided Duke frowned, this masked human had no True Qi aura, yet he managed to take down twenty Great Innates, somewhat peculiar.

"Fortress Yuan, follow behind the Innates."

"As you command!"

An Executioner Evil Statue strode forward, and the Demons made way for it.

Zhou Leng used his old tactic, first running, then killing.

Innates, took 93 punches.

"Not bad, just a bit strange," the Executioner Evil Statue commented, striding forward.

The Executioner Evil Statue stood ten meters tall, its body covered with the skin of various Demons, layered and looking ragged, yet exuding a distinct imposing aura.

Its head was a guillotine, the skull not in a normal shape, but instead a wide, suspended blade on the guillotine.

The sides between the head and neck were supported by sturdy bones.

The neck’s severed area resembled the lips of a chrysanthemum, wriggling as it spoke.

In its left hand, it held a shield adorned with various monster skulls, covered with dried, pitch-black blood scabs.

In its right hand, it wielded a crimson machete, its back encircled by monster ribcages, resembling a blade ring.

Every time the Executioner Evil Statue killed a high-ranking foe, it would slice the enemy in half with its guillotine head, embedding their skulls onto the shield and turning their ribcages into blade rings.

"Your skull will be the first on my shield after I ascend to the nobility, you should feel honored," the neck of the Executioner Evil Statue wriggled as it spoke.

Zhou Leng saw that his opponent was a newly promoted Grandmaster, on par with his own strength, and stamped the ground, tearing it apart as his speed reached 500 meters per second amidst the erupting dust.

In the blink of an eye, he was in front of the Executioner Evil Statue.

"Not bad..." The Executioner Evil Statue was shocked at the enemy’s superior speed, its ferocity flaring, using its shield to block while slashing with its blade.

Zhou Leng performed the Sky Dragon Flash, dodging around the bone-ringed blade, encountering the strike of the hundred-skull shield.

Zhou Leng, with the intent to hone himself, unleashed a Sea-splitting Dragon Shadow punch.

Facing a stronger opponent, Zhou Leng’s Martial Arts Will focused even more, and his punches grew heavier.

Boom!

The gigantic shield over five meters tall and the ten-meter executioner trembled together, its right leg stepped back, its right foot deeply embedded in the ground, stopping its offensive.

Before the Executioner Evil Statue could strike again, Zhou Leng unleashed his second punch.

Again, it was the Sea-splitting Dragon Shadow, slamming into the shield.

Despite the absence of True Qi and purely relying on Martial Arts Will and physical strength, the blow forced the Executioner Evil Statue another half step back.

The huge machete it had just lifted was forced to withdraw early due to the retreat.

"Your strength..."

The Executioner Evil Statue’s guillotine head trembled lightly in the air.

Unconcerned, Zhou Leng struck punch after punch, all using the same Sea-splitting Dragon Shadow move.

In demonic circles, the Executioner Evil Statue was renowned for its ferocity, akin to a battlefield guillotine, even superior to the Flesh and Blood War Chariot, second only to a few Grandmasters like the Skull Fortress.

Its surname "Fortress" was earned because this line of Executioner Evil Statue was akin to a demonic fortress.

This surname was forcibly taken by his demigod ancestor from a group within the Skull Fortress.

But now, this fortress was being forced to retreat by a mere human, inch by inch, under relentless blows.

Despite its immense strength, its cumbersome nature meant it was disrupted before completing each forceful move.

Shields couldn’t push out; the sword slashed halfway.

At first, the Executioner Evil Statue was merely enraged, but after retreating thirteen steps, its entire body chilled.

This human’s combat skills far surpassed those of a newly minted Grandmaster.

Possibly reaching the level of an Upper-Rank Grandmaster.

Combat skills are harder to cultivate than strength and lineage, as both can be altered by external forces, while combat skills rely on experience—either you have them, or you don’t.

These require countless real-world battles to accumulate.

"You must be famous among humans, which Grandmaster are you? Chen Shouhu? Wang Boxiong?"

"Hmm?"

Zhou Leng’s lips curled up and then returned to normal, "Underestimating me."

The Executioner Evil Statue was further astonished, shouting, "Though you do not use True Qi, isn’t it unjust for you to oppress me with your high realm?"

"Killing Demons is the most righteous act."

Zhou Leng said, continuing to unleash Sea-splitting Dragon Shadow and its various variations.

The Executioner Evil Statue was far more helpful than those wooden stakes before, it was an advanced wooden stake.

The Executioner Evil Statue roared in rage, exerting the power of the hundred-skull shield, then paused, looking at it.

One skull after another, either rotted or fallen, sat bare and covered in fist pits.

Each fist pit had deep finger indentations, with cracks spreading around.

Crack...

Trying not to exert its power was better; upon exerting, it exploded.

"Damn it..."

The Executioner Evil Statue was perplexed.

How could a human without True Qi beat it like this?

"I’ll kill you!"

The Demon’s brute strength surged, grasping the bone-ringed machete with both hands, slashing fiercely at Zhou Leng.

Boom boom boom boom...

Each slash reached several times the speed of sound, weaving a dense, blood-red demonic aura before his body in an instant.

Surging magic power flowed.

Black shadowy demonic blades emerged from the blade’s edge.

One slash fell, dozens of sword shadows chopped through.

In a second, over a dozen slashes were swung.

Hundreds of light-shadow demonic blades tore through the air, with a piercing whistling sound, pressing down from above. Hundred skulls