The Favored Son of Heaven

Chapter 413: Soldier vs Soldier; General vs General; A Fight Between the Strongest!

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

Who was the most famous martial artist in the Sacred Martial Hall? It’s Wu Zun! He represented the glory of the entire Sacred Martial Hall, and at the same time acted as the best assurance of the Sacred Martial Hall in terms of martial prowess.

However, who was the most famous among the young martial artists of the Sacred Martial Hall? The Martial Madman it was! Ninety-nine out of a hundred martial artists would shout his name in response to that question.

Some time had passed since Qin Fen came to the Sacred Martial Hall. From his observations, the Martial Madman was frequently heard from many people in the Sacred Martial Hall. Furthermore, almost everyone that mentioned the Martial Madman displayed looks of awe and admiration on their faces.

Many might know the name of the Martial Madman, but few had really seen the appearance of the Martial Madman.

Standing in the middle among the people on the ring, the Martial Madman wore a light-grey martial artist suit. He had slender fingers and bright skin radiating with vitality. In terms of body figure, even in a place like the Sacred Martial Hall where most people were fit, the Martial Madman’s figure gave the feeling of a cut above the rest. Harmonically balanced, the Martial Madman presented the perfect figure.

Martial Madman also had a very good-looking appearance with symmetric facial features as well as skin that was bright, smooth, and tight; his light brown complexion radiating energetic energy to people around him.

Martial Madman squinted his eyes as his slightly thick lips partially opened, emanating lively energy filled with vitality and at the same time masking some of his wildness within. His red eyes resembling rubies, in turn, complemented his wildness by enhancing his wildness to higher levels.

The audience stared intently at the Martial Madman, Nash. This martial artist with golden hair and red eyes and a tall nose successfully fended off both extreme attacks with both of his hands in opposite directions without any injury.

The audience clearly understood the strength of Caesar and Yang Lie’s destructive power. They were almost invincible among the ten-star martial artists. Even if they fought an eleven-star martial artist, both of them might even create unexpected results.

Recently, every person on his team had received a lot of attention from the audience due to the strong growth of Qin Fen.

The moment Yang Lie and Caesar showed off their power, many martial artists that had never seen Nash the Martial Madman had assumed the power both Yang Lie and Caesar to be on the same level as Nash.

Both of them possessed amazing power, and they were going to band up and fight against one person? Even twelfth-star martial artists would choose to dodge the direct hit only to retaliate later.

However, Nash the Martial Madman took the blow as if it was nothing! The Martial Madman even clamored for other martial artists to gang up on him as he felt that it was a boring battle.

Compared to the audience, Caesar, who was in the center of the battle was showing an expression of shock that exceeded the rest. The New Nine Suns Divine Art had revealed Caesar’s accumulated hidden potential and allowed him to display it within a short time. Despite his powers skyrocketing as a result of his hard work, his attack was easily taken on by this legendary martial artist whom he had never met.

This sensation of shock would not be felt similarly by other martial artists in the audience seat.

In a split moment, the pupils of Mourad, Brooks, and Solomon were reduced to the size of a needle. They might not be fully clear about Yang Lie’s fighting capabilities due to the lack of dueling, but they knew very well about Caesar’s capabilities.

On a one-on-one fight with Caesar, the three of them couldn’t guarantee that they would emerge victorious, as their odds of winning were only fifty percent. As to who was able to achieve the final victory, the answer could only be known after an actual fight.

Yang Lie’s boxing techniques were not at all inferior to Caesar, nor would he be any worse than Caesar. Even then, such a powerful duo was seemingly useless in the face of Nash, the Martial Madman.

Yang Lie was even more surprised than Caesar and the others. He had been training under hellish conditions to improve his martial arts recently. Yang Lie thought he could finally grow stronger and be the third strongest member in Qin Fen’s team. However not only he did not expect to have equal strength as Caesar, Yang Lie also did not expect the legendary Martial Madman to be way stronger than he imagined.

Qin Fen nodded a little. This Martial Madman really did live up to his name.

Yang Lie and Caesar both possessed different forms of internal art, with one having the affinity of Yang, and the other having the affinity of Yin. As their internal art flows swiftly through their meridians, it was either flowing with flaming heat or chilling cold that induced goosebump.

Even for martial artists who were better than them by a few stars would also flinch if they were to receive a strike from either of them. Imagine what would happen if they were to receive both attacks at the same time?

The totally distinct Yin and Yang attacks from Yang Lie and Caesar emanated two completely different kinds of true energy, which boosted their attack power beyond one performed by two martial artists.

One plus one does not equate to two sometimes.

For example, the outbreak of power from both of the opposing true energies at the same time would instantly defeat their opponent the moment their opponent was slightly distracted.

“Not addictive, extremely not addictive!”

The Martial Madman blocked that catastrophic attack with only both of his hands, all the while looking at Morad and the gang near the ring. “What are you guys still looking at? Come up here and fight me together!”

A commotion was once again raised among the martial artists in the audience. The Martial Madman was actually being serious! This group of young martial artists onstage who had easily and successively defeated countless Sacred Martial Hall’s senior martial artists had really hit a real dead end today for the very first time.

“Together?”

The Little Dragon King, Yang Lie’s eyes raised slightly, showing his star-like pupils that were covered with clear streaks of blood, as well as emanating fear from his murderous gaze. His body was poised in a horse stance, as he slightly moved his body backward, forming an archery stance by shifting his center-of-gravity towards his leg. His tilted body showed off a powerful stance, as if it’s the Leaning Tower of Pisa, tilting firmly on the ring.

As he completed the archery stance, Yang Lie’s Dragon Cannon fiercely vibrated! Sending shockwaves through his shoulders, waist, calves, and to the earth through anti-seismic force!

In the blink of an eye, power traveled across his body like a connected wire, forming a huge rotation axis. Yang Lie used the “Dragon Cannon” to propel his leg that lost its balance. That leg swept towards the head of the Martial Madman like a dragon’s tail.

This was one of the classic tactics of the Dragon Fist – the Dragon Tail Sweep!

In the art of the spear, people called this the “Back-thrust” technique, which also resembled the Sweeping Slash technique from ancient battles.

Most might know how to perform the Dragon Tail Sweep, yet only a few were able to master it. It was said that the dragon flips over the moment one tilts their bodies. But if the dragon flips over in mid-air, the results must be catastrophic.

Yang Lie’s previous move consisted of Qin Fen’s version of Dragon Cannon, as well as Qin Fen’s spiritual implantation on his limb movements. Now, Yang Lie had completely discarded traces of Qin Fen in his martial dao, thereby becoming a True Dragon of Nine Skies!

Qin Fen’s path of martial dao was still the divine dao. Although it was considered a Dragon Fist just like Yang Lie’s, there were still major differences between them, or else there wouldn’t even be the title of Martial Emperor for his Dragon Fist.

With his path of martial dao restored and no longer a copy of Qin Fen in martial dao, Yang Lie raised his foot and activated his spine to wriggle along, mimicking the movements of a huge dragon as his series of bones began to explode like firecrackers in Spring Festival.

The Martial Madman did not expect a shift in Yang Lie’s path of martial dao would bring forth further essence from his Dragon Tail Sweep.

Yang Lie’s Dragon Tail Sweep swept toward Nash’s temples. The fierce aura from that move had caused a strong wind even before the leg landed the kick, continuously stimulating and twitching the temple muscles of the Martial Madman at the same time.

“Great move!”

The Martial Madman slipped his foot and slid in front of Yang Lie like a pond loach. He did not tank the hit but rather chose to slide forward, appearing beside Yang Lie with a sprint of his body.

It wasn’t that the Martial Madman did not intend to tank the hit, but rather he wanted to set an example to the young martial artists below the ring that wished to challenge him by dispelling the Dragon Tail Sweep with all his might.

Fighting… is a battle of strength and technique.

As soon as the body approached, Yang Lie froze all of a sudden! The Dragon Tail Sweep might be sturdy and strong, capable of attacking in long ranges. However, the drawback of the move was the inability to counter attacks in close quarters. It might be over for Yang Lie if his opponent managed to close the distance between them.

Without thinking carefully, Yang Lie channeled his power through his balancing leg, producing energy that propelled his body ahead. The only way to win was to draw away the distance between him and his opponent!

Yang Lie’s speed was extremely fast to the point where the composite material under his feet slightly dented under the recoil. The moment he jumped away, the floor bounced back to its original form like rubber.

Yang Lie might be fast, but the Martial Madman was faster. With only two legs he managed to sprint across the ground and keep up with Yang Lie. Martial artists that were slightly weaker in skill may even have had illusions of the Martial Madman becoming an eight-legged spider.

Caesar wanted to move forward and help as the Martial Madman closed the distance, but he gave up when he saw the Martial Madman’s legs that were constantly in mid-air, firmly chasing Yang Lie at high speed.

The high-speed retreat might be amazing, but the pursuer had retained his distance with the one retreating without the dodging movements exhibited from the retreating movement. Just from the special way it moved, the power gap between both martial artists was clearly shown.

Yang Lie, who was retreating, suddenly landed on his feet firmly on the ground, abruptly stopping his movements. The Martial Madman’s speeding body followed suit and nailed himself on the ground like a literal nail.

“You win.”

When Yang Lie said this, there was a lot of frustration in his tone. A huge gap in power between him and the Martial Madman remained despite the hellish training he went through.

“Don’t be depressed, you are doing very well.” The Martial Madman said in admiration with slight happiness radiating from his eyes that were shinier than rubies, “When I was your age, I wasn’t as strong as you are right now. You possess promising potential, yet most of it is untapped at the moment.”

Yang Lie’s close up observation of Nash the Martial Madman had led to the discovery that the young martial artist with a wild look was not older than a late teen.

From the instincts of a martial artist, Yang Lie could almost deduce that the Martial Madman in front of him was definitely not a young man in his late teens, but rather in the stage of early adulthood.

If there were a time gap of at least three to four years under the conditions of being martial dao prodigies at a young age, a huge power gap would exist between the martial artists.

Whizz…

Three figures jumped up the quiet ring.

Brooks, Morad, and Solomon set foot on the ring and immediately regrouped with the other two teammates, forming a horizontal line to face the new opponent.

The action of the Martial Madman had proven everything. Yang Lie wasn’t qualified enough to go on a one-on-one battle with him! The power gap between both of them was too great!d

The Martial Madman slightly closed his flashing red eyes as he eyed and nodded to the five young and energetic martial artists, “Not bad, not bad! What a shame, why aren’t you guys in the same batch as me?”

Qin Fen looked at the Martial Madman above the ring and felt loneliness in his words.

Invincible among peers! These words might sound exciting, but how could anyone understand the inexplicable loneliness in the hearts of those unparalleled with their peers?

Compared to the Martial Madman, Qin Fen felt that he had it easier. When he defeated Hades, the Young Netherworld King, at least a peer of similar caliber remained! Shangguan Chuanqi!

Although Shangguan Chuanqi wasn’t in his late teenage years, he was still considered as the same generation of martial artists as Qin Fen, unlike the Martial Madman, who had immense trouble in just finding a peer of equal caliber.

“Qin Fen.” the Martial Madman gently put his hands behind his back leisurely as if he was in a flower tour, with his slightly raised chin pointing towards Qin Fen, “First, allow me to use your friends to warm up.”

Warm up? Caesar and four others were standing in a pentagram position. Even if you were a lot older and trained in the Sacred Martial Hall for years, you are now facing the best martial artists of the new generation, you call this a warm up?

Just as the five martial artists raised their eyebrows, causing a rise in the aura of power to its peak as a result of rising inner emotions, Nash the Martial Madman suddenly made his move!

Nash’s movements did not have the destructive nature of Qin Fen. His legs sprinted quickly just like before, bringing forth the illusion of teleportation among the audience.

In a blink of an eye, there were images of Nash in four different spots within a distance of forty meters! The third image of Nash appeared near the four people!

Shadow Shifting Technique! Just as the Martial Madman made his move, it was clear that the technique was an extremely difficult martial dao technique of secret grade!

His body moved like a spider at high speed, instantly eliminating a distance of forty meters. Suddenly, both of his arms were spread to both sides, giving him eight hands in total while mid-air!

The audience looking at the stage froze at the same time, only to recover to the fact that the Martial Madman did not have eight arms, it was just that his speed was extremely fast! The fists, palms, fingers, and nails were utilized fully as he controlled his arms! Complemented with his unpredictable legs, the Martial Madman resembled a huge centipede straightening up as it hunts its prey.

Radiance Fist, Swirling Dragon Palm, Finger of Disaster, Coagulation Divine Claws! The Martial Madman produced a Thousand Buddha Palm which instantly integrated multiple secret arts into one, bringing forth a strong gale of wind that overshadowed Caesar’s team!

Thunderous fists, and howling palms, the slashes from the wind produced sounds resembling the slaughter of pigs and dogs! The ring was filled with roaring noises from the multiple abilities cast by the Martial Madman.

The five young people who were at their peak immediately found themselves caught in their first crisis since joining the Sacred Martial Hall.

As the Martial Madman made his move, the Little Dragon King, Yang Lie, who was lagging behind, had his aura of power returned to its peak suddenly and he lifted his eyes.

Boom!

Thunderous explosions were produced from Yang Lie’s footsteps on the ring, as his arms produced palm strikes at a fast pace, leaving others to wonder which one was his ultimate move.

The madman’s eyes were filled with amusement, and a punch suddenly struck from the mirage of the arm.

Just as the punch was struck, the seemingly simple and ordinary punch was hidden with the power of a red sun illuminating the dark earth from the sky, it revealed the original form of Yang Lie’s Tibetan Dragon Palm that hid its intentions of attack.

Radiance Fist! Just like its name, when its essence was brought out, it could be used to dispel the follow-up technique that was hidden in the dark.

As if faced with a demon-revealing mirror, the Tibetan Dragon Palm revealed its original form in the face of the Radiance Fist.

Boom!

The fist and palm collided with each other. A reddish layer suddenly appeared on Yang Lie’s arm as his joints repeatedly cracked, as if someone was eating fried beans.

The Tibetan Dragon Palm had its power greatly diminished just as it was revealed. In that brief moment, the palm was unable to channel its full energy. Facing the attacks by the Radiance Fist, Yang Lie went along with the huge impact and retreated with great speed, as his capillaries started hemorrhaging and his bones dislocated in the process. He had lost the fight!

The Martial Madman did not pursue him but rather shook his wrist, which sent a wave of power from his fist into Yang Lie’s palm. Yang Lie’s body was pushed back like an arrow, causing him to move back quickly and eventually falling off the ring.

In just a flash, Yang Lie fell off the ring and was utterly defeated.

Just as Yang Lie was defeated, Mourad thrusts his venomous spear from the side! This quick stab was undoubtedly the Three Pokes of the Vermillion Bird from his Vermillion Bird spearmanship.

In the air, three bundles of vermillion colored spears appeared blindingly, with the body of the spear producing sounds of whistling as it traveled through the air.

Mourad did not intend to land a killing blow with this thrust, but rather to force the Martial Madman away with the tip of the spear, only to crush him with the body of the spear that was capable of smashing steel plates into two halves.

Vermillion Bird Spreads its Wings from the Vermillion Bird Spear Technique was the killing blow!

“Great follow-up move! But too bad…”

It was needless to say that the spearmanship of a divine beast was not to be underestimated. The Martial Madman had evidently attained a state of mastery in martial dao, as each strand of his hair were able to feel the flow of air. One could even say that eyes were all over his body.

If the move succeeded, its victim would feel a sensation of pain never felt before even if they protected their bodies with the Art of Hardening! Complemented with the swirling steel tip of the spear, the splitting of the victim’s skin remained a probable possibility.

As the spear was thrust at the Martial Madman, his free left-hand became red as blood. Almost as if the blood will drip out of the skin anytime soon.

Divine Claws of Coagulation! The claws might seem as tender as a baby’s skin, but if one gets caught in its grasp, even a mobile armor like the Jungle Ranger could be torn apart, let alone a human body. That was how terrifying the claw was.

In addition to the rumored Claws of Annihilation, Indra claws, and several other claws, only a few could parallel the power of the Divine Claws of Coagulation in the world.

The martial artists in the audience cheered once again. This was undoubtedly the martial artist deemed by the Sacred Martial Hall to be most likely in becoming a divine beast martial artist! He was not taught with only a set of secret arts, as he had shown five sets of secret arts in a single move! This was absolutely a big show off of secret arts!

The shoulders of the Martial Madman slightly sunk with his waist and legs as his wrist drew a half-circle in the air, only to suddenly clench it afterward!

Kapow! Heya!

Just before the sounds of the collision of fingers clasping the spear finished, the Martial Madman’s wrist trembled as his fingers twisted the spear swiftly, causing the already spinning spear to spin faster!

Just like that, the Martial Madman exceeded a speed beyond Mourad’s limit. As the Martial Madman pulled back his shoulders, his waist rotated fiercely alongside his twitching arms that were channeling energy. In a split second, Mourad’s spear was snatched away by the Martial Madman, who displayed the spear on his right side!

Clang!

Brook’s saber produced a series of sparks from hitting the spear, as a glimmer of red light flashed from bottom to top like lightning towards Brook’s throat!

Without any moment to cool down, the spear had already created a piercing force capable of tearing through flesh! Brooks forcibly held the tip of the spear to stop it from striking him. At this moment he hoped that he didn’t perform any blunders, as Caesar might successfully perform his attack as long as Brooks attracted the Martial Madman’s attention away from Caesar.

Peng!

Just as Caesar rushed the Martial Madman with both of his palms, the air in front of him exploded all of a sudden, putting off his steps as a result! The Air Splitting Palm! The Martial Madman actually learned to strike his opponents from a range with his palm! Just like the palm of the White Tiger that heavily injured Qin Fen, there was no need for physical contact to inflict damage!

The power might be far weaker than White Tiger’s palm strike, but the palm strike performed by the Martial Madman was still deadly!

While Caesar was still shaken from the attack, the Martial Madman spun his spear and produced sparks again with Brook’s saber. A series of quick stabs from the spear soon followed, with the tip of the spear slamming into the palm of Brooks before the spear was suddenly lifted up by the Martial Madman!

Clang! The sounds of metal colliding rang once again, sending Brooks’ longsword into the air, yet no blood came out of Brooks’ hand despite being pierced by the long spear.

Such accuracy! During the battle, the Martial Madman was still able to precisely calculate the speed and angling of Brooks as the Martial Madman pushed the spear away without injuring him.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

With three muffled sounds, Caesar, Brooks, and Mourad flew into the air from the impact, spewing a few splatters of blood in the air before they fell heavily to the ground.

Within the time taken for a spark to fly off a flint, four of the five young martial arts experts were defeated.

The madman slammed the long spear into the ring and looked at Solomon as he asked, smiling, “Are you continuing?”

“No.”

Solomon simply shook his head and stomped both his toes to the ground, which propelled his body outside the ring.

None of the martial artists in the audience section remained unfazed from watching the match. No one expected such results. Five talented young men losing to the Martial Madman in a blink of an eye without any chance to retaliate.

Fifteen stars, the eternal-star rank! Even the Nirvana Marrow Transformation was complete! Qin Fen nodded lightly. The strength of this Martial Madman was just as Qin Fen expected when he first saw him. With such power at such a young age, it was not surprising at all for the Martial Madman to be crowned as most likely to become a divine beast warrior.

Caesar looked at the Martial Madman on the stage with the most shocked look than the rest of the audience. The martial artists that were able to produce the Cleaving Fist held at least the rank of fifteen-stars, what an unbelievable sight! The Martial Madman had actually completed the Nirvana Marrow Transformation that countless people could not complete in their lifetime, and at such a young age!

Papapa…

Asura gently applauded and teased the Martial Madman, “Little Madman, it seems that within a short time, you’ll be able to reach the peak of the eternal-star martial artists, the rank of a sixteenth-star martial artist?”

After achieving his victory the Martial Madman stood proudly on the ring. His expression took a slight change into a faint smile as he politely bowed to the Asura and said, “In the end, Miss Danyun is the better teacher.”

Getting promoted into the sixteenth-star? The martial artists in the audience seats once again sparked a commotion. This Martial Madman entered the Sacred Martial Hall at a young age of eighteen; with his age not exceeding twenty-three this year, he was ready to be promoted into a sixteenth-star martial artist! Terrifying, this was too terrifying! It was easier to hit bottlenecks in martial dao improvements the stronger one became. The Martial Madman once achieved a feat of getting promoted by eight stars within a year, only for his promotion progress to slow down once he hit ten-stars as the path of martial dao became more difficult. From the surface, the Martial Madman might have shown a slower pace of improvement in martial arts. However, his progress was considered extremely fast when compared to the rest of the martial artists.

The Martial Madman stood up straight, his bright ruby eyes glaring at Qin Fen, “Hey kid, I’ve finished warming up.”