Apex War God - Chapter 55
Faint blue veins appeared in Wang Bajin’s arms as he poured Profound Energy into them in an all-out effort to tear Yang Wu in half.
Just when he thought he could kill the young man, the young man’s legs, which he was holding, became akin to an old pine tree deeply rooted in the soil—so steady and strong that he could not tear them apart.
Dragon Turtle Water Suppression Stance!
This stance could be considered an ultimate stance for holding one’s ground. Yang Wu’s feet were nailed to the land as he absorbed water-attributed Profound Energy. The power within his legs was extremely overbearing; even Wang Bajin, with his thirteen cauldrons of strength, could not shake them free.
Yang Wu crouched down, and a force rushed up from the soles of his feet. His body, which was bent like a bow, sprung up and seemed to draw two water dragons out of the ground.
Dragon Turtle Absorption!
This was an evolution of the Dragon Turtle Water Suppression Stance Yang Wu developed in his mind.
The instant Yang Wu leaped, he dragged Wang Bajin into the air, as the old man had yet to let go. Yang Wu crisscrossed his feet, twisting the water dragons into a deadly chain strangling Wang Bajin.
Yang Wu yelled, “Kill!” The young man’s feet were like a pair of sharp scissors and, together with the water chain, strangled Wang Bajin till he was suffocating and bleeding. The old man resisted stubbornly, clutching the chain with all his strength to protect his throat. He hadn’t felt death looming in a long time.
“M-Mercy!” Wang Bajin gasped with difficulty, begging for leniency.
Wang Bajin was afraid of death. Otherwise, he would not have remained in the mountain prison and foregone the chance to join the Death Legion to kill the Barbarians and rid himself of his prisoner status.
He was waiting to break through to the General Realm before joining the army, as he would be more confident of surviving in this way.
But right now, he was about to die, and that made him very sore.
Yang Wu was no murderous madman. The moment Wang Bajin begged for mercy, Yang Wu loosened his grip and released him.
Once Wang Bajin was free of the chain, a gleam flashed in his eyes, and his curved back slammed into Yang Wu.
Back Crushing Mountain!
This was a General Class combat technique that Wang Bajin practiced, which was especially suitable with his slouch. Its impact could break a boulder; this technique was the most powerful in his arsenal.
Yang Wu hadn’t expected Wang Bajin to be so despicable as to flip his position the moment he released Wang Bajin. As he was already in close contact with the latter, he took the full brunt of the sudden attack and flew over four meters away before coming to a stop.
“Despicable!” Xu Jiaohua and Fatty Dong both exclaimed in anger simultaneously.
They had witnessed Yang Wu’s overwhelming victory over Zhou Xuelong and Wang Bajin and were already anticipating him becoming the new block 2’s boss. Hence, Yang Wu’s soft-heartedness at this critical moment came as a big disappointment.
“Haha, how inexperienced! How can one still be soft-hearted in a place like this? I’ll leave you with an intact corpse later!” Wang Bajin laughed hysterically. Raising his crowbar, he ran toward the young man, determined to finish off the latter once and for all.
“Kill him! Ouch!” shouted Zhou Xuelong, who had gotten up already. However, he ended up tearing his wound open, which forced out an involuntary scream and made him tear up in pain.
Just as Wang Bajin’s crowbar was about to hit Yang Wu, the latter flipped over, already a step ahead, bounced up from the ground, and met the crowbar with a palm strike containing spiraling force.
Spiraling Waves Rending Palm Strike!
The energy from the young man’s palm surged, concealing the spiraling force.
The palm and the crowbar crossed paths, the Profound Energies of the two sides clashing. Wang Bajin released the crowbar as the web between his thumb and index finger tore and bled.
The terrified Wang Bajin backed off hastily without a second thought, wanting to concede defeat. Alas, as soon as he opened his mouth, the rebounding crowbar shot into his oral cavity like an arrow and pierced through his skull directly. He died before he could even scream!
This scene stunned Zhou Xuelong and the other prisoners into utter silence, frightened beyond words. The method was too cruel and fierce; none of them could have prevented it.
Yang Wu looked at the corpse on the ground without any pity on his face. He had given Wang Bajin an opportunity, but the latter had not cherished it.
Dismissing the dead man on the ground, he turned to Zhou Xuelong. The latter, a murderous man who feasted on human flesh, bent his knees and knelt down immediately, saying, “I give up, I give up!”
At the moment, he couldn’t care less about the pain in his mouth. Preserving his life was more important.
He would have fought to the death if he were roughly equal to Yang Wu or even slightly weaker. However, the gap between them was too vast; how could he fight when they were on different levels of power?
“Admitting defeat is good. Remember to send over twenty tons of Scarlet Steel Rock to me!” Yang Wu commented with a faint smile.
“Don’t worry. I’ll have them all delivered today!” Zhou Xuelong promised with a kowtow.
“That’s good. Behave and don’t give me any trouble. Otherwise, I’ll make you regret it!” After Yang Wu warned the man, he looked toward block 1. After some hesitation, he decided to return to his place first.
He wanted to fight his way into block 1 immediately. But on second thought, he decided not to rush into action. The impact of Wang Bajin’s attack had seriously injured him, so he had to take time to recover. If he were to barge into block 1 for a challenge, the inmates there might just swarm and slaughter him easily.
He had now experienced fighting off hundreds of enemies alone. However, the inmates inside block 1 were stronger and more vicious, and he wasn’t so arrogant as to completely dismiss them.
It was better to proceed step by step.
The prisoners gathered all around to watch hadn’t expected the one-on-two challenge to end so swiftly. Furthermore, it was a rout—to their disappointment. At the same time, they were in fearful awe of the young man. They had never imagined that a man at such a tender age could easily defeat a Consummate Grade Warrior. If he continued to grow, wouldn’t that mean a General would not be able to stop him?
It was a pity that the young man was just a prisoner. Even if he could leave the mountain prison, he might not survive after joining the Death Legion.
Just as Yang Wu was about to depart, a prisoner stepped forward and knelt. “Salutations to Boss Yang Wu.”
This startled the rest of the prisoners back to their senses. Since the young man had defeated two bosses in a row, he was now their boss. All the prisoners knelt and proclaimed, “Salutations to Boss Yang Wu!”
The prison guards heard the proclamation at a distance, but most turned a deaf ear to it as ordered.
Yang Wu didn’t want to be a boss, though, so he said to them, “I’m not your boss, but from now on, you can join my Wuhou Gang. You’ll find out who your new boss is soon enough.”
His background was sensitive, so even after he was reduced to a prisoner, he didn’t want to be entangled with these people. For him, a true bond with Skinny Monkey, Xiaoman, and Xun Rui was sufficient.
The young man returned to his summit in search of Xun Rui.
The old man was hugging his gourd, fast asleep on the floor, sunk in sweet dreams.
Yang Wu did not disturb him and just sat in a meditative pose outside the stone hut to recuperate from his injuries.
Meanwhile, Xu Jiaohua, Fatty Dong, and the rest supervised the prisoners’ delivery of Scarlet Steel Rock.
The young man had already gathered fifty tons of Scarlet Steel Rock, so he could hand them over, walk out of the prison, and join the Death Legion anytime to accrue contributions to negate his crimes.
Many powerful prisoners longed for such a day. Unfortunately, they did not have the young man’s ridiculous combat prowess and thus could only endure the hardship and serve out their jail term.
Yang Wu didn’t meditate for long before his wounds were almost healed. Xun Rui had yet to wake up when Sooty returned with a rag in its mouth. The young man took the rag and found some words written in charcoal on it: “Everything is well. Young Master need not worry!”
The written characters were delicate and neat, so he reckoned the message came from Xiaoman.
Smiling, he muttered to himself, “It is good that they are safe and sound. I ought to find an opportunity to speak to Big Sister Lanxin about giving them some conveniences.”
“Hey, your little dog is here to steal the wine in my gourd again. How annoying!” Xun Rui’s exclamation came from the hut. Obviously, Sooty had ambushed him again.
The little black dog failed to steal the wine from the gourd; however, Xun Rui’s bum suffered a number of bites.
“Sooty, stop fooling around,” Yang Wu ordered from outside the hut.
The puppy was very obedient and promptly rushed outside. It skillfully leaped onto Yang Wu’s shoulder and lay down, looking well-behaved and docile.
The young man bowed respectfully toward Xun Rui, who was still inside the hut. “Old Master Xun, please offer me some pointers, and I’ll forever be grateful to you!”
The unkempt old man had twice instructed him on his combat techniques; hence, Yang Wu was very certain Xun Rui was a grandmaster in hiding. Perhaps the old man might even be a genius like what his brother had told him. If so, Yang Wu had to display courtesy and humility to get pointers from this old man for his future development.
Xun Rui rolled his eyes momentarily, straightened his slouched posture, and replied with much pomposity, “Young lad, you have some foresight, indeed, to realize that this old man here is a hidden expert. Pretty good! Pretty good!”
Yang Wu maintained his bow in all seriousness. “I seek your kind advice.”
Xun Rui asked, “What combat technique do you need advice on? Demonstrate it to me. I may provide some advice if I’m in a good mood.”
“I would like you to point the way forward!” Yang Wu replied.
“Tsk tsk, how greedy!” Xun Rui clicked his tongue. After pausing for a while, he added, “I’ll listen to your story on account of those three things you have done for me.”
Raising his head, Yang Wu said, “I, Yang Wu, son of Yang Zhennan, am a viscount. After I refused an offer to marry into the imperial family, I was framed by unscrupulous people and imprisoned….”
The young man related his life affairs to the old man without holding anything back. He had shared these stories with only Wan Lanxin; Xun Rui was the second to hear them.
As Xun Rui listened, the wretched smile on his face remained unchanged; however, his wise eyes sparkled from time to time, seemingly in unfathomable contemplation or speculation.
“This is my story in general. I sincerely ask for your advice on how to go forward and cannot thank you enough!” After saying that, Yang Wu bowed deeply to Xun Rui again.
“You aren’t much different from me when I first came here!” the old man commented with a sigh. Then, he continued, “Now that you have collected fifty tons of Scarlet Steel Rock, you can join the Death Legion and accrue contributions by killing Barbarians. It won’t be difficult for you to clear your crime. However, if you want revenge and the recovery of the Yang Clan’s glory, it will be more than just difficult, unless…”
“Unless what?” Yang Wu asked eagerly.
“Unless you—Yang Wu—can gain absolute authority over the world!”
“How do I do that?”
“Shake the status quo with the Barbarian tribes, shock the imperial court and the ordinary people, gain political power, and change the world!”
——
Translated by: Half-Cat Edited by: Vampirecat Checked by: DragonInWhite
