46: Chapter 46 Half-Step Dragon Elephant Realm?

On the river's surface, broken wood, floating corpses, and bloody water rose and fell with the waves.

Two instances of Dragons Roar and Tigers Howl had cleared three ships.

The dense crowd on the shore was now as deathly silent as a graveyard.

Everyone had their mouths wide open but could not make a single sound; only their eyes flickered with horror as they stared fixedly at the only two people facing off on the broken flagship in the middle of the river.

Rain washed the bloodstains on the deck, yet it could not disperse the thick scent of blood and death that refused to fade.

In this suffocating silence—

"Ha... haha... Hahahaha!"

A burst of laughter, starting low, then becoming hearty, and finally turning into a wild, unrestrained roar, suddenly exploded from the bow!

It was Bai Tianxiao!

He clapped his hands and laughed, his voice as loud as a bell, actually causing the surrounding curtain of rain to sway!

In that laughter, there was no grief for the loss of his son or his gang, nor any regret for the total loss of his elites; instead, it carried a nearly frenzied appreciation and... excitement!

"Good! Good! Good!"

He said 'good' three times in a row, his blood-red eyes burning like flames as he stared at Jiang Hanzhou, as if admiring a peerless treasure.

"Jiang Hanzhou... What a fine Jiang Hanzhou! I, the Gang Leader, have traversed the Three Rivers Estuary for twenty years and have seen so-called geniuses and talents as numerous as carp crossing a river, but someone like you... barely twenty years old, yet possessing such cultivation, such killing power, and such Heart-Nature..."

He paused, his mouth curling open to reveal a set of forest-white teeth.

"You are the first!"

Hearing this, the people on the shore were all stunned.

This... could Bai Tianxiao be driven mad by anger? His son is dead, his subordinates are all gone, yet he is actually praising his enemy?

However, in the next moment, Bai Tianxiao's laughter stopped abruptly.

The exaggerated smile on his face slowly withdrew, turning into a nearly indifferent calm, but the light in his eyes became even more blazing and terrifying.

He slowly shook his head, his tone actually carrying a hint of pity:

"A pity... truly a pity. With such talent and such Heart-Nature, if you were given another ten years... no, even five years, in this Three Rivers Estuary, or even the entire Linjiang Prefecture, I'm afraid no one could restrain you."

"But..."

His tone suddenly shifted, and his voice rose sharply like metal grinding against iron, carrying a bone-chilling coldness and a sky-toppling killing intent:

"You should never, ever... have provoked me, Bai Tianxiao! And even more so... you should not have killed my people and destroyed my ships right in front of me!"

Before his voice had even faded—

"Chila—!!!"

The mysterious black martial arts robe on his upper body was actually shattered by the terrifying Qi erupting from around him!

It turned into countless fragments like black butterflies, shooting out in all directions!

His bare upper body was completely exposed to the rain.

It wasn't the well-defined muscles of an ordinary Martial Artist, but a more restrained and terrifying form.

His skin took on a dark, iron-like bronze color, covered with countless fine patterns like the scales of a flood dragon, which were now slightly rising and falling with the surge of his blood, shimmering with a faint metallic luster.

The most terrifying part was his chest and back.

At the position of his heart, beneath the skin, a fist-sized mass of dark red light pulsed slowly like a living thing; with every pulse, it caused the surrounding air to emit a low hum.

And along his spine, a sinister evil flood dragon phantom actually seemed as if it wanted to break free from beneath the flesh, coiling and moving about, emitting a heart-palpitating, malevolent pressure!

His entire Aura completely changed at this moment!

It was no longer just the vigor of the Peak Viscera Burning Realm, but had added a kind of... majesty and oppression that seemed to transcend the level of ordinary life!

Like a sleeping Vicious Beast slowly opening its eyes.

"Half-step... Dragon Elephant Realm?!"

On the shore, under the shed of the Canglang Water Dock, Dock Master cried out in shock, his face instantly turning pale, and the hand holding the shed pillar actually trembled slightly!

Beside him, Hong Zhen's legs went soft; if not for the quick-witted guards behind him catching him, he would have almost collapsed to the ground.

"Dragon Elephant Realm?! Gang Leader Bai is actually a half-step Dragon Elephant?!"

"My god... rumors say that in the Dragon Elephant Realm, one's blood undergoes a qualitative change and can condense phantoms, possessing the power to pull up mountains and cross seas... A half-step Dragon Elephant, though not completely transformed, has already touched the threshold of the extraordinary!"

"No wonder... no wonder the White Dragon Gang could run rampant for twenty years! Bai Tianxiao actually hid himself so deeply!"

"That Li... Jiang Hanzhou is finished! No matter how strong the Burning Viscera Realm is, how can it contend with a half-step Dragon Elephant? This is a fundamental gap!"

Exclamations, horror, and the sound of people sucking in cold air spread along the shore like a plague.

All the leaders of small and medium forces, all the Jianghu travelers, and all the commoners watching the spectacle now looked at Bai Tianxiao with eyes full of boundless reverence and fear!

Half-step Dragon Elephant!

In this Three Rivers Estuary, this was a living legend, a symbol of absolute martial power!

The slight shock and expectation born earlier from Jiang Hanzhou's invincible bravery were now crushed to pieces by this even more terrifying reality.

The gazes of countless people toward Jiang Hanzhou were now as if they were looking at a dead man.

The gap was too large.

However—

Facing this sky-toppling Aura, facing the countless gazes on the shore—some pitying, some gloating.

Jiang Hanzhou suddenly... laughed.

It was not a cold laugh, nor a sneer.

But a kind of... smile that escaped as if he had heard something extremely ridiculous, carrying a bit of helplessness and absurdity, yet also being incredibly calm.

He even shook his head slightly, like an elder looking at a child boasting about a new toy.

"Half-step Dragon Elephant Realm?"

He repeated the term that filled countless people on the shore with reverence and fear, his tone so flat it was almost bored.

Then, he looked up at Bai Tianxiao, whose Aura was continuously climbing like a demon god descending to the world, and spoke leisurely:

"Sounds quite intimidating."

"However..."

He paused, the smile on his lips slowly spreading, but there was no hint of mirth in his eyes, only a bottomless, profound chill.

"Isn't it still not the Dragon Elephant Realm?"

His voice was not high, yet it clearly penetrated the rain and reached everyone's ears.

Like a clap of thunder!

An uproar broke out on the shore again!

"He... what did he say?!"

"Crazy! He must be crazy!"

"Even a half-step Dragon Elephant is something he dares to insult?!"

The indifference on Bai Tianxiao's face instantly froze, the malevolent light in his eyes surged, and both the dark red heart-pulsing light and the black evil flood dragon phantom shook violently at the same time, letting out a dull roar!

"Ignorant junior! Do you know that the half-step Dragon Elephant and the Burning Viscera Realm are as different as clouds and mud! I have already preliminarily condensed the 'Evil Flood Dragon Blood Essence,' and the quality of my blood far exceeds yours! I can even draw upon a sliver of the world's pressure to suppress all directions! Killing you is like slaughtering a pig or a dog!"

Jiang Hanzhou acted as if he hadn't heard his roar.

He suddenly did something that left everyone dumbfounded—

He reached back and thrust the tiger soul saber, still in its scabbard, into a crack in the deck beside him.

The dark golden blade hummed slightly, as if unwilling, but finally fell silent.

Then, he raised his hands, interlaced his fingers, and stretched forward, twisting his neck from side to side, emitting a series of crisp and cringing bone-cracking sounds.

His movements were casual and lazy, as if he were truly... warming up.

Having finished this, he looked back at Bai Tianxiao, whose face was already as dark as the night before a storm, and sighed softly.

"After talking for so long, it's still just the Burning Viscera Realm."

"You haven't even entered the door, you have no secret techniques or Divine Abilities, yet you dare to..."

He tilted his head slightly, his tone suddenly turning cold, each word like an icicle smashing onto the silent river surface:

"...spout such grand words?"

"Very well."

He slowly took a basic boxing stance, feet firmly planted on the deck, and under his skin that was as warm as jade, pale gold blood flowed quietly, with the faint sound of Dragons Roar and Tigers Howl echoing within his bones.

He looked up, his calm gaze locking onto Bai Tianxiao.

"The warm-up is over."

"Now..."

His mouth curled open, revealing white teeth shimmering with a cold light in the rain.

"Let me—"

"Beat you to death."

The moment the words fell—

"Boom—!!!"

The two figures vanished from their spots simultaneously!

The next moment, in the center of the flagship, upon the broken deck, two forces terrifying to the extreme collided head-on without any fancy tricks!