Chapter 554: One Strike
"Yes, you indeed don't need to use a weapon, because whether you use one or not, the result is exactly the same!" Jiufang Yu said with a twitching mouth.
"You're sure you want to stand there without moving and let me attack thirty times first?" Yun Che twisted his wrist, flashing a provocative gaze.
"Less nonsense!" Jiufang Yu had already grown impatient. "A piece of trash like you, let alone thirty moves, even if I stood still for three hundred moves, you wouldn't be able to harm a single hair on my head!"
"Is that so?" Yun Che looked astonished, flexing his wrist even more vigorously. "Then I'll have to give it a try."
Jiufang Yu's words were not ignorant arrogance. Between the Heavenly Xuan Realm and the King Xuan Realm lay a chasm, and the difference between the King Xuan Realm and the Overlord Xuan Realm could be called a heavenly moat. Compared to the Overlord Xuan Realm, the Heavenly Xuan Realm was fundamentally the difference between earth and heaven. An Overlord Emperor could casually release some Profound Force to defend himself, and even a Heavenly Xuan Realm profound practitioner attacking with full force wouldn't be able to harm a single hair.
The Heavenly Xuan Realm and the Overlord Xuan Realm couldn't even be called a difference in level... they were essentially two different worlds!
Thus, although everyone felt Jiufang Yu was somewhat arrogant and condescending, except for those who knew Yun Che's combat power, no one thought Jiufang Yu was overestimating himself.
Yun Che stepped forward, unhurriedly walking to Jiufang Yu and stopping three paces in front of him. He slowly raised his right arm, shook his fist demonstratively at Jiufang Yu, and confirmed once more, "When I hit you, you're sure you won't block?"
"Hmph!" Jiufang Yu sneered coldly. "Are you deaf? I said, let alone blocking, if I even move, you win. This is my merciful gift to a piece of trash like you. If you keep dawdling, I'll blast you off this platform right now!"
"Fine!" Yun Che nodded, raising his fist. "In that case, I'm going to strike. You'd better receive it properly~~!"
As the last word fell, Yun Che took a quick step forward and punched, striking toward Jiufang Yu's chest area.
This punch from Yun Che wasn't fast, and the aura of Profound Force released from his fist was indeed that of a peak Heavenly Xuan Realm without a doubt. But the Profound Force field wasn't intense. Anyone could tell that Yun Che hadn't even used his full strength with this punch.
Many in the great hall showed disdain... not using a weapon, and not using full power, this seemingly soft punch—let alone Jiufang Yu, even I could easily take it.
A truly clueless fool... watching Yun Che's fist approach bit by bit, Jiufang Yu sneered inwardly. He indeed wouldn't move, but that didn't mean he wouldn't retaliate. In his view, for scum like Yun Che, just using a slight counter-shock of Profound Force would easily cripple his hand.
Seeing the look in Jiufang Yu's eyes, Yun Che could guess what he was thinking. He sneered inwardly and suddenly accelerated his swinging right fist, landing a seemingly light but heavy blow on Jiufang Yu's chest with a "bang"—a sound neither light nor heavy, yet oddly muffled.
As everyone expected, under Yun Che's punch, Jiufang Yu didn't step back, and his body didn't even sway.
Loud laughter erupted in the great hall, but it didn't last long before gradually dying down. Because they suddenly noticed that something seemed... off.
Under the heavy blow of Yun Che's fist, Jiufang Yu indeed hadn't retreated, his body hadn't even swayed... and even his expression was frozen stiff. Until Yun Che unhurriedly withdrew his fist from his chest, his expression still hadn't changed at all. From his mouth came not a single expected sound of mockery or ridicule.
Yun Che stepped back, looking at Jiufang Yu with a grin.
"What... what happened?"
"Uh... uh..." Finally, a hoarse sound escaped Jiufang Yu's mouth. His eyes were wide open, bulging grotesquely as if about to pop out of their sockets. Then, his body slowly lowered like a pile of mud, dropping to his knees until he lay flat on the ground. Both hands clutched his chest in pain, his body curled up like a shrimp, trembling all over. Cold sweat poured down his forehead like a rainstorm... Then, large amounts of blood mixed with white foam flowed rapidly from his mouth, followed by streams of blood from his nostrils, eyes, and ears.
"What... what?" Everyone in the great hall was dumbfounded, almost staring stupidly. The several family heads, commandery princes, and elders shot to their feet, their faces filled with shock.
"Yu'er!!"
Jiufang Kui was dazed for a moment, then suddenly shocked. He flew out from his seat, landed beside Jiufang Yu, and pulled him up from the ground. After his profound energy quickly circulated through Jiufang Yu's body once, his face changed dramatically again. His eyes glared fiercely at Yun Che: "You..."
Under his detection... Jiufang Yu's internal organs had completely shifted out of place, more than a dozen ribs were severely deformed—though not broken, it was even more terrifying than a fracture, as if they had been forcibly bent! Apart from his vital spots, his entire chest cavity had almost turned into a paste, and who knew how many of his meridians had snapped.
His injuries could only be described with four words: "extremely severe"—far worse than Jiufang Kui had imagined.
"He's been on the ground for ten breaths now, Family Head Jiufang. You... have lost!" Facing Jiufang Kui's murderous gaze, Yun Che showed no fear and said calmly.
That strike from Yun Che just now hadn't used full strength, but it carried a force of well over a hundred thousand jin. If Jiufang Yu had defended with all his might, he might have been able to withstand it. But facing a mere Heavenly Xuan Realm Yun Che, he had disdained to use even a fraction of his power. When Yun Che's punch made contact with his body, the terrifyingly destructive force transformed into countless torrents of power, easily breaking through his protective Profound Force and surging into every corner of his body, demolishing more than half his life.
"What... what happened? What's going on?" Xiao Yun, like the vast majority, was completely stunned.
"To actually... cripple Jiufang Yu in one strike!" Yun Qinghong murmured softly. He exchanged a glance with Mu Yurou, and both saw the deep shock in each other's eyes.
Everyone in the hall was stupefied. The various family heads were horrified, and even the face of Huai Wang was frozen for a long time. He naturally knew that three months ago, Yun Che had killed a first-level Overlord Emperor with a single move. When Jiufang Yu showed arrogance, he had sensed that Jiufang Yu would suffer a great loss. But he hadn't warned Jiufang Yu, wanting to see if this Yun Che, who was clearly only at the Heavenly Xuan Realm, truly possessed the strength that the reports claimed.
And the result shocked even him, a man of profound cunning and deep schemes.
One strike—just one strike—had left Jiufang Yu, a fourth-level Overlord Xuan Realm profound practitioner, heavily wounded, collapsed on the ground, with blood flowing from his seven orifices!
Huai Wang's gaze toward Yun Che instantly changed. Everyone's gaze toward Yun Che transformed completely. Even now, most people still couldn't believe what they had witnessed.
"You little bastard, Yun Che..." The severity of Jiufang Yu's injuries had left his consciousness completely scattered. Jiufang Kuai's body boiled with anger as he glared viciously at Yun Che: "How dare you strike my son so cruelly!!"
"And so? What do you intend to do, Family Head Jiufang?"
As the head of the Jiufang clan, Jiufang Kui's anger and Profound Force pressure were far from ordinary. But to Yun Che, they were nothing. He had faced such scenes maybe ten thousand times, or at least eight thousand. He drawled, "It was your son who insisted on standing there motionless and letting me attack thirty times. I never made any such request. Afraid your son couldn't take it, I kindly didn't use my full strength. Who would have thought his body was so fragile—one light punch and he crumpled. Instead of thanking me for holding back, Family Head Jiufang, are you going to blame me?"
Having already experienced Yun Che's sharp tongue during his earlier confrontation with Huai Wang—where Yun Che had faced the Wang without changing expression and countered tit for tat—Jiufang Kui knew that holding his own against this boy was no easy matter.
Jiufang Yu's injuries were extremely severe. If not handled properly, there was even a risk of lifelong disability. Now, being rebuked by the one who had gravely wounded his son, Jiufang Kui's face muscles twitched with fury as he growled, "This was supposed to be a friendly sparring match, yet you struck so viciously... If anything happens to my son, I'll take your life!"
"I struck viciously?" Yun Che narrowed his eyes and sneered coldly. "When Jiufang Yu maliciously poisoned Su Zhibao just now, what did Family Head Jiufang say? Hah... If your own strength is lacking, who can you blame? On the battlefield, do you expect your mortal enemy to be gentle with you!?"
"You!!" Jiufang Kui's face turned the color of pig liver.
"Jiufang Kui, your son has already lost. Take him away instead of glowering at a junior and throwing your weight around!" Su Xiangnan's mocking voice chimed in. "Your son was weak but arrogant, and he lost so disgracefully—it's entirely his own fault. As his father, you should discipline him strictly and feel ashamed. Instead, you want to verbally attack and retaliate against a younger generation? Hah, is the Jiufang Clan a bunch of pathetic weaklings who can't even take a loss?"
Su Xiangnan still remembered the face Jiufang Kui had shown when Su Zhibao was poisoned by Jiufang Yu. He hadn't expected retribution to come so quickly. On one hand, he spoke up to defend Yun Che—of course, more importantly, to seize this opportunity to kick a man when he was down. These words, shouted out, filled him with immense satisfaction, venting all the resentment and anger that had been pent up in his chest ever since Su Zhibao had been grievously poisoned.