Free Web NovelChapter 21: Kill The Damn Beast (2)
**Chapter Twenty One**
Back on Earth, Rayden had learned Tai Chi alongside several other martial arts during his school years. He had been selected and sponsored after his talent for martial arts was discovered.
That was also around the time he beat the living hell out of the school bullies. Several ribs were broken. A few jaws were shattered. Arms and legs were fractured.
Those students had spent weeks in the infirmary, traumatized by the silent and creepy Rayden who rarely spoke. Following that incident, he had been sponsored to receive professional martial arts training, including Taekwondo and Tai Chi.
The Taekwondo classes never really caught his attention. Tai Chi did. For a while, he had been genuinely excited.
But after learning nearly every move his instructor possessed in less than a month, Rayden grew bored once again and eventually withdrew.
Still, he had mastered numerous Tai Chi techniques and fighting styles. And if he had been proficient back then, he was far beyond proficient now.
After all, back then he hadn’t possessed a Divine-Grade Spirit Root. Nor had he possessed an Invincible Physique. Nor had he lived in a cultivation world that previously existed only in fiction.
But now he had all of those things. And he was about to prove the System wrong. He was going to win. Rayden’s dark eyes narrowed into slits. Then... BOOM! He shot forward. frёewebnoѵēl.com
The saber panther launched forward as well. The moment they were about to collide, the saber panther swung one of its massive saber-like claws once more.
But this time Li Yu’s expression didn’t change. Nor did he dodge. Instead, his body twisted and came to a sudden stop. One hand rose in a rounded motion. His frame turned slightly.
His stance became rooted and balanced. This was one of Tai Chi’s techniques. Peng. Ward Off.
A technique designed to redirect and neutralize an opponent’s force before expanding against it. The saber panther suddenly felt its attack being redirected. It was strange.
Rather than tearing the human apart, its claw slid away from Li Yu’s arm as though pushed aside by an invisible current.
BANG! The collision produced a brutal explosion of force that sent tremors through the ground.
Li Yu’s second hand shot forward instantly. Without holding back, he delivered a powerful punch directly into the beast’s neck. The saber panther staggered backward several steps. Its remaining crimson eye widened with genuine shock.
For the first time, it looked at Li Yu differently. But Li Yu gave it no time to recover. He charged forward again. The two clashed repeatedly. Strike. Defend. Evade. Counter. Every movement flowed into the next with brutal efficiency. Li Yu pushed his Tai Chi mastery to its absolute limits.
He wasn’t merely surviving anymore. He was winning. No matter how small an advantage he gained, he immediately pressed it. He utilized Lu... Rollback. Several openings instantly appeared within the beast’s defenses. Li Yu exploited every one of them without hesitation.
Then came Ji... Press. An—Push. Single Whip. And numerous other Tai Chi techniques. Yet that wasn’t all. The truly frightening part was that Li Yu had fused his Tai Chi mastery with the savage combat style he had developed himself.
A brutal and wild style born entirely through life-and-death combat. When those two systems merged together, Li Yu became incredibly dangerous. Terrifyingly so.
With perfect application of Tai Chi and his beast-like combat instincts, he wasted almost no movement.
Every action served a purpose. Every strike carried intent. Every defense became an attack. He continuously redirected the saber panther’s overwhelming strength back at itself. Then he exploded from relaxed motions into devastating attacks.
Like flowing water one moment. Like a thunderbolt the next. After several more minutes of exchanging blows, the two finally separated. The saber panther looked worse than before. However, Li Yu wasn’t looking particularly healthy either.
A massive gash stretched across his chest. Blood flowed continuously from the wound. And that wasn’t the only injury. Another deep slash ran across his cheek. Yet Li Yu’s expression remained completely emotionless.
Only a single thought occupied his mind. Kill this damn beast. Everything else was irrelevant.
That singular obsession sharpened his focus. He perfected every movement. Every step. Every breath. Every strike. He moved faster. Hit harder. And sought every opportunity to inflict greater damage.
Although he had injured the beast significantly, it was still far from finished. As if emphasizing that very fact... ROOOAAARRRR!!! The saber panther released a deafening roar. Truthfully, it hadn’t intended to fight seriously.
This human wasn’t particularly powerful, so it had assumed it could finish him off with minimal effort. But the earlier exchanges had proven otherwise. If it wanted victory, it would need to become serious. It needed to kill this human quickly.
Only then could it focus entirely on purging the king cobra’s venom ravaging its body. Li Yu frowned. His danger sense exploded into action.
He stared directly into the beast’s remaining crimson eye. For some reason, it appeared even redder than before. If that was even possible.
"Host, the saber panther is getting serious now." The System’s voice echoed inside his mind. Li Yu’s face twitched violently. "You mean to tell me this damn thing is only getting serious now?"
The battle had already been incredibly difficult. If this was the beast holding back, then how much worse would it become once it truly unleashed its strength?
"Correction, Host. It will not become worse." The System paused. "It will become worst." "Thanks for the confidence, System," Li Yu replied sarcastically. "You’re welcome, Host." Li Yu’s face twitched again. He really hated this annoying System.
"Host, I suggest you give it everything you have. Try your best to stay alive. The venom within the saber panther is spreading further and weakening it continuously. If this continues, you may not even need to raise a hand to finish the beast."
"Advice heard." Li Yu answered quietly. But he wasn’t prepared to listen completely. Yes, he would focus on surviving. But he would be the one to deliver the killing blow. He would be the one to make the saber panther suffer.
Not some venom. The two stared at each other. One man. One beast. For a single intense and seemingly endless moment. Then... CRACK! The ground beneath their feet shattered. The very next instant, both launched forward simultaneously at insane speed.
BOOOOM!!! A deafening explosion echoed across the mountain cliff as the battle resumed. Fist met fur. Claw met saber claw. Fang met fang. Wit met force. The two moved so quickly they would appear as nothing but blurs to ordinary eyes.
Li Yu unleashed a barrage of punches and claw strikes toward every wound on the beast’s body. Every attack carried his full primal strength. And because those attacks targeted existing injuries, they inflicted far more damage than they normally should have.
The saber panther responded in kind. Its claws continuously tore into Li Yu. His body became covered in bloody slashes. Blood painted his figure from head to toe. Yet despite the pain... He didn’t stop. He didn’t retreat. In fact, his face showed no sign of suffering. Instead, he remained focused.
Yes, he could feel the agony tearing through his body. Yes, he could feel the stinging pain and burning nerves every time the saber-like claws sliced through his flesh like hot knives through butter. But he suppressed it all.
The pain. The screams. The exhaustion. The suffering. He pushed everything aside. Only one thought remained inside his battered and exhausted mind. Kill. Kill. Kill that damn bastard. And that was exactly what he intended to do. fгeewebnovёl.com
Li Yu threw a powerful punch. It connected directly with the beast’s throat. Black blood exploded outward. At the same moment, the saber panther’s claw swept across his shoulder.
A large chunk of flesh was carved away instantly. Blood gushed out in torrents. Yet neither side stopped. Neither side retreated.
They fought like lunatics trapped in a maddening frenzy. As though they were settling a blood feud that had lasted a lifetime.
Inside Li Yu’s mind, notifications continuously rang. Ding! Critical injury has been received. Ding! Critical injury has been received. Ding! Critical injury has been received. Again. And again. And again.
Any ordinary cultivator at Li Yu’s realm... or even someone in the Qi Gathering Realm... would have collapsed long ago under such injuries. Their bodies would have stopped functioning entirely. But Li Yu was different.
Far different. His body had become more primal. More savage. More beast than human. Even so, he knew he couldn’t continue like this forever. No matter how extraordinary his physique was, it still had limits.
And honestly? He was waiting for Berserker to activate. Wasnt this exactly the kind of life-threatening situation that should trigger an S-Rank skill? Yet nothing happened. No activation. No notification. Nothing.
"Hey, System." Li Yu narrowly avoided another claw strike before speaking through gritted teeth. "Tell me this physique isn’t screwing with me right now."
Another slash ripped into his side. Blood sprayed into the air. "Because trust me..." His expression darkened. "I’m in absolutely no position to deal with any bullshit right now."
