Martial King's Retired Life

To assume the inability to comprehend mankind’s language was equivalent to a lack of intelligence was folly. Pangu took the floor from Ming Feizhen with its first blast, then kept Ming Feizhen occupied using lightning bolts to force him airborne. Once its prey was defencelessly suspended in the air, Pangu fired a more lethal blast to finish the job. Even though it had its prey cornered, Pangu continued to maintain a high-alert status.

Pangu couldn’t explain the lack of confidence in its lethal blast until it heard, “Autumn King Thread – Moonlight.”

Pangu felt something hammer its head from above right following a flash of white light, and the impact was too much to resist, resulting in a collision with the solid ground. Ming Feizhen used the same logic as Pangu’s second blast – a concentrated heavy blow.

Ming Feizhen had no surface to propel himself off and no free hand in mid-air when Pangu blasted, so he attached himself to the wall with his thread to swing out of the blast trajectory in the nick of time.

After a short respite for both of them, Pangu wrathfully cast Enlightenment again. As the grey energy boosted its attack and defence, it could be interpreted as a sign that Pangu was going to mount an offence.

“Ancient King Thread – Thirty-Six Brilliant Gods!” Ming Feizhen seized the initiative in the exchange, ramming Pangu’s back with thirty-six celestial spider silk threads at once – enhanced with Yijin Jing.

Suffering pain for the first time in ages, Pangu roared at the top of its lungs. Thanks to its strength, Pangu’s roar could reduce enemies to mush or prohibit attacks from advancing on it.

Whilst fending off the wind blades with Water King Thread, Ming Feizhen came to the realisation that Pangu couldn’t fire blasts whenever it wanted. Given Pangu took the most damage just now, Pangu should’ve retaliated with a blast to assert its dominance, yet it utilised a more passive strategy. In other words, Pangu didn’t have infinite energy; natural elements, such as wind, fire and lightning couldn’t be wielded constantly.

With that knowledge in mind, Ming Feizhen made a beeline to the centre of the wind barricade. As soon as Pangu spotted him above it, it raised its head to bite; however, Ming Feizhen hurled Forgiveness from his right hand whilst tugging Pangu’s head wreathed in celestial spider silk aside.

“Ancient King Thread – Kunlun.”

Ming Feizhen performed criss-crossing motions with the threads in his hands. Despite his unimpressive speed, he was able to whittle away the grey shield at Pangu’s obliques and knock him back dozens of metres away. This marked Pangu’s first injury of the match.

Ming Feizhen yanked Forgiveness back to his hand, exhaled and then spun into a violent slash, clashing with the head that had returned.

The underground palace began to shake as the two tried to gain the upper hand in the deadlock. The pillars began to crack under the increasing pressure. Pangu soon gained the inevitable advantage, sending Ming Feizhen sailing across the palace, because Ming Feizhen had no surface to generate more force whilst airborne.

The flames made quick work of Ming Feizhen’s clothing, but his mind was elsewhere: he was exposed to an attack. Unsurprisingly, Pangu launched a third scorching blast at him. Upon seeing the scorched earth and absence of a corpse amongst the white tendrils spreading, Pangu roared at the sky, declaring its victory.

Autumn King Thread – Cast-Off Cicada Shell.

Having distracted Pangu with his thread performance, Ming Feizhen hoisted Pangu off the ground with both hands, then whipped down with all his body, slamming Pangu into the ground. Following up, he uncorked a combo of attacks at the exposed oblique of Pangu.

Pangu, paying no heed to its bleeding wound or the string of blows, coiled up to confine Ming Feizhen inside before belting down lightning bolts. Although he had to evade, Ming Feizhen didn’t let up on his assault, sometimes even tanking a bolt to tag Pangu. Owing to Ming Feizhen’s greed to drop bombs, Pangu saw an opportunity to counter.

Pangu turned its head to gnaw Ming Feizhen from a blind angle, only for the latter to yell, “Kneel!” Capitalising on Pangu’s short pause, Ming Feizhen front tucked up high to bounce Pangu’s head off the ground with Forgiveness. The force with which Pangu’s head collided into the ground extinguished some of the nearby flames, finally giving Ming Feizhen some footing.

Ming Feizhen used what precious time he had to recalibrate his true qi flow. “… Not even Nine Mountains and Nine Oceans is enough to hurt you?” He spat out the green foxtail he still had dangling from his mouth. “You bloody monster.”

Like a magic touch, Pangu gave its wounds a lick, instantly healing them – albeit unable to regrow the scales around its abdomen right away.

God damn, man. All that was for nothing? Can I really do this?

While Ming Feizhen was still trying to regain his breath, Pangu had coiled up again. Ming Feizhen watched on as Pangu’s back began to wriggle. Once its eyes gleamed, a pair of solid wings sprouted from its back.

“… You gotta be kidding me!”

With its newfound speed, Pangu bridged the gap and snagged Ming Feizhen in its mouth.