“A surprise?”
“The last guy who tried to provoke me like that was such a coward in the end. He was no fun at all.”
Suddenly, Xiaobai’s hand stopped trembling. His complexion and voice returned to normal, too.
“Funny, I was thinking the same thing. You’d better hold out a little longer and get me excited, too.”
Xiaobai raised his head. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, and a faint green gleam even appeared in his eyes.
An overwhelming pressure descended from above and enveloped Xiaobai. A wild aura swept through the world around them.
◇
An open area in an underground space.
The two pressures collided, but neither could overcome the other. They were evenly matched.
“Hahahaha!”
“I never expected this. I never expected...”
“No wonder you could withstand my pressure. So you’ve actually reached this level, kid.”
“I’ve been cooped up here for so long, I’d even forgotten how strong I was.”
“Since that’s the case, kid, I won’t hold back. I’m going all out!”
The scruffy old man’s right hand suddenly twisted and transformed into a huge dragon claw. He raised it, then reached for Xiaobai.
A cold, eerie gleam shone from its five fingers. Power gathered in each one, and five black cracks tore through space.
“Clang!”
A white-glowing sword slashed across the dragon claw, scattering sparks.
“Heehee, your all-out attack is pretty weak.”
Xiaobai easily blocked the strike, then landed steadily after a backflip.
“You’re not much, old man.”
“Hmph.”
The scruffy old man snorted. The power lying dormant inside him suddenly stirred, and a mighty aura burst from his body. Dazzling golden light flooded his skin, its brilliant radiance enveloping him like armor.
He drew back his right hand, clenched it into a fist, and attacked Xiaobai again.
From Xiaobai’s point of view, the single fist split into more than a dozen afterimages. They overlapped as they came hurtling toward him.
Blazing rays danced around the fist shadows like golden snakes. Their immense force warped space.
But Xiaobai didn’t panic at all.
He stepped forward, and the ground trembled beneath him.
“Let’s go.”
In an instant, a white Sword Qi Wave appeared, carrying a terrifying aura. It seemed to split into more than a dozen afterimages, which shot straight into the center of the fist shadows.
“Boom!”
A world-shaking boom erupted in the underground space. A tremendous shockwave swept in every direction.
“Hahaha! This is fun. Again!”
As he spoke, the scruffy old man turned into a streak of golden light and charged at Xiaobai like a bolt of lightning.
“Come on, come on! Let’s keep going. Like I’m scared of you.”
One white particle after another emerged from Xiaobai’s body, covering him from head to toe like a suit of silver armor custom-made just for him.
Xiaobai then turned into a streak of white light and charged straight at the golden light.
On the ground, the golden and white lights shone like two blazing suns, their brilliance dazzling to the eye. A tremendous flow of energy surged out like a mountain flood.
In the blink of an eye, the two lights collided.
Neither had the upper hand.
Ten seconds later, they separated.
They returned to their starting points, gathered their strength, then charged at each other again.
They were still evenly matched.
They separated, then collided.
They separated again, then collided.
They parted once more and kept colliding.
The golden and white lights collided again and again, producing one shockwave after another.
The shockwaves were incredibly powerful, making the underground space shake nonstop.
Far away, they separated once more, gathered their strength, and began the next round.
“Boom!”
“Boom!”
This time, neither of them backed off.
The golden light grew brighter and brighter, but the white light refused to be outdone.
Even so, neither the golden nor the white light could overcome the other. The power building at the point where they met grew stronger and stronger, until it had formed a vortex of energy.
“Riiip!”
Suddenly, the space at the center of their collision could no longer hold. It tore apart.
“Bam!”
The vortex of energy couldn’t withstand the strain either, and exploded. The two figures flew out of it like shooting stars.
“Thud!”
“Thud!”
The golden figure and the white figure slammed into the underground space’s walls on opposite sides.
◇
“Ow, ow! I’m exhausted. It’s been ages since I’ve had such an intense workout.”
The scruffy old man emerged slowly from the huge hole on the left, leaning against the wall.
“Compared to that Little Black Dragon who was scared shitless, this kid’s got some real fight in him.”
......
“Hahahahaha!”
“Crash!”
The huge hole on the right burst apart at its opening, and a black-haired boy walked out unharmed.
“This is the first time—my first time having a fight this satisfying!”
“Compared to that pathetic black mist, this old man’s pretty good. I like him.”
......
At last, the two met and, with perfect understanding, shook hands to express their gratitude to each other.
“You’re strong, kid.” The scruffy old man nodded.
“Yeah, you’re not bad either, old man,” Xiaobai replied.
“Sigh, I haven’t left this place in over a hundred thousand years. Has the world really changed that much? You’re so young, yet you’ve already reached the God Rank. That’s truly...”
“Wait, wait...”
“...comforting???”
Seeing that the scruffy old man was about to keep talking, Xiaobai cut him off.
“Old man, stop talking. Let’s keep going.”
“Keep going? Keep going with what...?” The scruffy old man still hadn’t come back around from his reflections, and looked a little confused.
“Don’t play dumb, old man. You said yourself that you wanted me to hold out a little longer. Come on, I’m ready.”
The next moment, Xiaobai put some distance between himself and the scruffy old man, gripped his black sword excitedly, and took a fighting stance.
“No, no, young man, let’s not. I haven’t moved around in ages, and these old bones can’t take it. I can’t keep going like you young folks, full of energy.”
The scruffy old man blushed.
“That’s not right, old man. You can’t go back on your word.” Xiaobai looked displeased.
“No, no, kid. I went all out just now, and you must’ve gone all out too, right? It was exhausting, wasn’t it?”
“So now, why don’t we sit down, take a good rest, and have a chat? Wouldn’t that be nice?”
The old man explained.
“All out?”
“When did I ever say I went all out?”
Xiaobai pointed out the loophole in the old man’s words, looking confused.
“You...”
“What did you say?!”
The old man stared at him in disbelief.
“To fight me to a standstill like this... Back when my companions were still around, they had to go all out just to fight me. And you’re saying you haven’t even used your full strength? Are you messing with me?”
“Why the hell would I lie to you? I was just trying to loosen up, so I used at most twenty percent of my strength.”
Xiaobai retorted seriously.
“Besides, you seem pretty strong, so I’ve decided to get a little more serious. I’ll use forty percent of my strength against you.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a pressure even greater than the two earlier auras combined enveloped the entire underground space.
The sky shattered and the earth split, as if the apocalypse had arrived.
“You...”
The scruffy old man’s expression changed drastically. He was utterly horrified.
The aura of this pressure was so terrifying that it left everyone unable to breathe.
“Pop!”
Xiaobai gently curled his five fingers. Space crumpled like a sheet of skin and was caught in his hand as turbulent currents rolled.
Faced with Xiaobai’s new pressure, the old man immediately released his own.
But his pressure couldn’t resist it at all. It was crushed straight back into his body.
The old man instantly felt his pores tighten and his hair stand on end. A chill ran down his back, and he couldn’t move a muscle.
“Th-this... is impossible!”
The old man blurted out.
“What’s impossible?”
“Smack!”
Xiaobai walked over and swung his palm. The old man was smacked away like a fly.
“Boom!”
The scruffy old man flew like a cannonball into the wall, kicking up a thick cloud of dust.
“Old man, nothing’s impossible. You just haven’t seen enough.”
In the distance, the old man braced himself against the wall and struggled to support his trembling body, which looked ready to fall over with the slightest breeze. He was battered from head to toe, with no part of him unhurt. Bright red blood poured from his wounds, leaving him in a pitiful state.
“Oh dear, look at you. Don’t tell me you’re already done for?”
“That was only forty percent of my strength, and I barely tapped you.”
Someone’s voice drifted over from the distance.
“Hey, old man, don’t shake.”
“You’re not really terrified of my strength now, are you?”
“Come on, do me a favor. Act cocky like before, okay?”
A few lines that sounded familiar, but not quite the same, echoed throughout the underground space.
Someone teased him with a smile that, to the scruffy old man, looked downright demonic.
“Like, try taking a step? Give me a little surprise, kid.”
