157: Chapter 157 What else could this be but cheating?! (Two chapters combined)

Ye Xiao moved.

Activating [Lightning Flash Step] with all his might,

Tier 3 Silver Early Stage Source Energy surged into his legs,

turning his entire body into a bolt of silver-blue lightning

that dragged three afterimages across the Training Room!

His speed was incredibly fast.

So fast that Shen Qingci could only catch a blur of light.

"Hah!"

Ye Xiao gave a fierce shout, and his right fist, packed with all of his body's strength,

wrapped in violent thunder,

punched straight toward Su Ming's chest without any fancy tricks!

Before the fist even arrived, the wind from it tore through the air, letting out a sharp howl!

Countless tiny electric arcs leaped wildly around his fist,

painting his entire arm with the color of lightning!

This single punch was enough to pierce straight through the frontal armor of a main battle tank!

Shen Qingci subconsciously clenched her fists.

She was thinking about how she would respond if she were in his place.

However, Su Ming did not dodge or avoid it at all.

He didn't even make a move to raise his hand to block.

In the next instant, Ye Xiao appeared directly in front of Su Ming.

His right fist, wrapped in crackling lightning arcs,

carried absolute confidence

as it slammed solidly onto Su Ming's chest.

*Bang!*

The sound of the fist hitting flesh was dull and heavy.

In an instant, the lightning flared violently!

Countless electric snakes centered around the point of contact,

spreading wildly in all directions,

swallowing Su Ming whole!

A powerful shockwave expanded in a ring,

blowing Shen Qingci's long hair so hard it whipped about noisily.

She had to squint and raise her hand to shield her eyes.

In the center of the lightning, that figure—

remained completely motionless!

What a joke. His Physical Body density was already 4,000 times that of an ordinary person.

His hair was like high-density calcified crystal threads,

and truly, not even a single hair on his body nudged.

The lightning gradually dissipated.

Ye Xiao maintained his punching posture, frozen in place.

His fist was still pressed against Su Ming's chest,

with residual electric arcs still crackling on his knuckles.

But what he felt was not the satisfaction of hitting his target, but a sense of despair.

It didn't feel like he had punched a human body of flesh and blood.

It felt like he had slammed into a mountain of metal.

No, not a mountain.

A mountain would at least shed some loose gravel.

This thing didn't even leave a single white mark.

A wave of numbness spread from Ye Xiao's knuckles all the way up to his forearm.

It wasn't from the electricity.

It was pure physical recoil.

Yet, Su Ming didn't even look down.

He still wore that lazy expression,

looking over Ye Xiao's shoulder

at Shen Qingci behind him,

and winked.

"How is it? My pecs are pretty big, right?"

Shen Qingci: "Pervert!"

Her cheeks flushed red instantly.

"I don't believe it!"

Ye Xiao took several steps back abruptly.

He couldn't accept this.

His full-force strike, which he was so proud of,

couldn't even make this man take half a step back!

"Again!"

His left fist immediately followed, slamming into Su Ming's abdomen.

*Bang!*

No reaction.

His right knee drove upward, striking Su Ming's ribs.

*Thud!*

Still no reaction.

Ye Xiao completely let loose and stopped testing the waters.

Treating himself like a frantically firing lightning turret,

his fists carried electricity, and his feet were wrapped in thunder.

He struck with both hands and attacked from all angles.

A dozen punches.

Every single punch carried the full kinetic energy of a Tier 3 Early Stage,

the lightning illuminating the Training Room as bright as day,

and the pungent smell of ozone filled the air.

*Bang—!*

Only the roar of thunder and the dull thuds of fists hitting flesh remained in the Training Room.

Flashes of lightning and fist prints

rained down upon Su Ming.

Su Ming yawned.

He even raised a hand and casually scratched the back of his head.

This gesture was more devastating than any words.

At first, Shen Qingci was terrified.

But eventually, she became entirely numb.

She just watched as Ye Xiao went from an aggressive god of thunder

to completely exhausting his Source Energy,

gasping for air, and finally holding his knees

as he panted heavily.

Meanwhile, Su Ming stood in place,

his posture not having changed in the slightest.

Forget a white mark;

there wasn't even a red mark on his body.

Under the lights, his bronze skin

still gleamed with a healthy luster,

looking exactly as if he had just received a free electrotherapy SPA.

"Phew..."

Ye Xiao looked up,

staring at Su Ming's chest, which was as pristine as before,

and swallowed hard.

"Brother Ming... is your body... made of iron?"

Su Ming cracked his neck,

letting out a crisp pop.

"Pretty much. But the density is definitely a bit higher than iron."

The corners of Ye Xiao's mouth twitched violently.

"You... what kind of monster are you?"

Seeing him questioning his very existence,

Su Ming felt a little bad.

Mainly, bullying a kid was just too boring.

He kindly reminded him:

"Do you have any ultimate moves left? Hurry up and use them.

Let's wrap this up so I can go eat dinner."

Hearing this, Ye Xiao took a deep breath.

His eyes grew sharp once more.

He slowly stood up straight,

and an Aura even more violent and condensed than before

surged up from within his body.

"Alright!"

"This is the strongest move I can currently master!"

"Su Ming, if you can take this move and remain completely unharmed... I, Ye Xiao, will be utterly convinced!"

He abruptly backed up over a dozen steps,

creating a substantial distance between himself and Su Ming.

The lightning around him surged violently!

The silver-blue electric arcs were no longer small snake-like shapes,

but had turned into thick pillars of lightning

that gushed wildly from his body,

weaving into a power grid above his head.

"Third Sequence—[Nine Heavens Thunder Fist]!"

*Buzz—!*

The metal floor of the entire Training Room buzzed in resonance.

All the free lightning elements in the surrounding space

gathered frantically toward Ye Xiao's palm!

A fist-sized ball of lightning

slowly took shape in his palm.

Silver-blue electric light surged and compressed within it,

making a heart-palpitating crackling sound.

The size of the lightning ball expanded at a speed visible to the naked eye!

Basketball size...

Washbasin size...

Finally, it became a massive lightning ball over a meter in diameter, almost half a person tall!

Terrifying energy surged wildly inside it,

and countless thick electric arcs shot outward from the sphere's surface,

blasting scorched, blackened craters into the surrounding alloy walls!

Ye Xiao's face turned the color of pig liver,

his muscles tensed all over,

and bean-sized sweat beads trickled down his forehead.

This was already the limit of what he could condense at his current stage.

Any more, and the lightning ball would lose control and explode.

Su Ming looked at the half-person-tall lightning ball and raised an eyebrow.

Oh.

This is getting a bit interesting.

"[Nine Heavens Thunder Fist]—"

Ye Xiao struggled to control the lightning ball,

kicked off the ground with both legs,

and carrying that violent sphere of lightning energy,

blasted toward Su Ming!

"—Striking!"

*Boom!*

The moment the lightning ball hit Su Ming's chest, it exploded.

Dazzling silver-blue light engulfed Su Ming's entire figure,

and lightning snakes splattered in all directions,

scorching the surrounding metal floor black.

The shockwave even knocked Ye Xiao back several steps.

The crackling echoes reverberated in the Training Room for a full three seconds.

Shen Qingci paled in horror.

The power of this strike

had absolutely exceeded the scope of Tier 3,

infinitely approaching the full-force strike of a Tier 4 Gold!

At the same time,

a familiar notification sounded in Su Ming's mind.

[Ding! Kinetic Siphon triggered—External impact kinetic energy detected, converted into mass points +800!]

800 points.

Su Ming calculated in his head.

It was still quite a bit worse than Zhao Kuo's full-force strike after his beastification,

but to be able to hit this number with a Tier 3 Early Stage Realm...

this kid indeed had some skills.

What a pity.

He had run into a cheater.

The dust cleared.

Su Ming stood in place, his posture still exactly the same.

Not even a single strand of hair was messed up.

Looking at this scene, Ye Xiao's eyes went blank.

His strongest strike.

The ultimate move charged to its absolute limit.

When hitting Su Ming,

how was it any different from hitting thin air?

"You..."

Ye Xiao opened his mouth,

only to find himself at a loss for words.

Su Ming reached out and patted his chest, as if brushing off dust.

"Not bad, it's a bit itchy."

Ye Xiao: "..."

Itchy?!

The ultimate move I exhausted all my strength to unleash,

and you tell me—it's itchy?!

Nearby, Shen Qingci watched this scene,

her delicate brows furrowing slightly.

She was also Tier 3.

She knew all too well the sheer weight of Ye Xiao's strike.

Yet that guy acted as if nothing had happened.

As expected of the monster who could punch straight through a Tier 7 Scorpion King.

Ye Xiao took several deep breaths to stabilize his state of mind.

Fine, you're amazing.

I can't break your defense, I admit defeat.

Then let's test my defense instead.

He wanted to know

exactly how strong Su Ming's attack was.

"Su Ming!"

Ye Xiao backed up two steps,

spread his arms,

and the lightning around him flared violently once more.

But this time, instead of releasing it outward, he drew it inward.

Dense electric arcs exploded from his body's surface,

covering his entire body layer by layer,

forming a visible high-voltage electric armor.

Silver-blue light enveloped Ye Xiao's entire body,

and a continuous crackling sound filled the air.

"[Lightning Armor: Overlord Body]!"

He planted his feet firmly, lowered his stance,

and assumed a standard strike-resisting stance.

"Come! Hit me once!"

"I want to see just how big the gap is!"

Su Ming looked at him

and walked over slowly.

Seeing Su Ming approaching step by step,

Ye Xiao felt a sudden, inexplicable wave of panic.

Had he been a bit too overconfident?

But his pride as a Martial Artist forced him to straighten his back.

Su Ming walked up to him,

stopped, tilted his head,

and confirmed very seriously.

"Are you sure?"

"I am absolutely, positively, and certain—"

Before the final syllable could leave his mouth,

Su Ming raised his hand.

Very casually.

Like shooing a fly off a table.

Aiming at Ye Xiao's chest, he gently—

patted it.

"Smack!"

A single slap.

It was feather-light.

At least, it looked feather-light.

And then Ye Xiao flew.

He flew out sideways,

so fast that he didn't even leave an afterimage.

His lightning armor shattered in mid-air,

the silver-blue electric arcs splattering in all directions like shards of broken glass.

"Bang!!"

Ye Xiao's back slammed solidly against the transparent barrier at the edge of the Training Room.

That was a spatial protective barrier that Shen Hongyuan had specially installed after the previous robot rampage incident,

designed to prevent people in the Training Room from blasting through the third basement level.

A layer of ripples spread across the barrier's surface,

completely absorbing the impact force.

Then, like a bouncy ball, Ye Xiao

bounced back off the barrier.

*Thud.*

He fell flat on the ground.

Motionless.

Shen Qingci covered her mouth, her beautiful eyes filled with shock.

A single slap?

With just such a casual slap,

he had swatted away an S-class Genius who had activated his ultimate defense move?

If that slap had landed on her...

she didn't dare to think any further.

Su Ming looked down at Ye Xiao lying at his feet, feeling quite satisfied.

The control of his strength was pretty good.

With that slap just now, he hadn't even used ten percent of his strength.

Yet even so, a casual swing of over three hundred tons of True Mass

generated kinetic energy that was an astronomical figure.

Even if he held back ninety-nine percent of it,

the remaining force was absolutely not something a Tier 3 Early Stage Awakener could withstand.

The fact that Ye Xiao didn't fall apart on the spot

proved that his lightning armor was indeed quite good.

He just didn't know if his Dao Heart had shattered.

Su Ming walked over and crouched down.

"Are you still alive?"

Ye Xiao lay on the ground, his limbs trembling,

his entire body aching as if he had been run over by a truck.

He struggled to raise his head, the expression on his face a sight to behold.

There was shock, unwillingness, and bewilderment.

But most of all—acceptance.

He rolled over, facing the sky,

staring at the metal dome of the Training Room,

and let out a long sigh.

"Brother Ming."

"Yeah?"

"You're using hacks, aren't you?"

"Holy crap! You actually guessed it?!"

Su Ming's heart skipped a beat.

Nearby, Shen Qingci also perked up her ears,

her big, curious eyes blinking rapidly.

Seeing that Su Ming remained silent, Ye Xiao

grinned,

revealing a mouthful of bloody white teeth.

"What kind of hack?"

"The 'showing off makes me stronger' hack!"

"..."

Su Ming and Shen Qingci fell silent at the same time.

After a long while, Ye Xiao asked tentatively.

"So... are the hacks for sale?"

"Yes!" Su Ming answered exceptionally crisply.

Ye Xiao's eyes lit up.

"How much?"

"One big slap to the face!"

As soon as he finished speaking,

Su Ming raised his hand and delivered a slap.

*Smack!*

Ye Xiao's head whipped to the side, and half of his face instantly swelled up.

Holding his burning face,

his eyes were filled with grievance and...

...yearning?

"Brother! Slap me again!"

"I want two of those show-off hacks! I want to become even stronger than you!"

Su Ming: "?"

Shen Qingci: "..."

Su Ming looked at his bruised and swollen but utterly serious face, and fell silent.

This kid... is a real ruthless character!

...