Chapter 159: A Stunner with a Single Punch

When Zhang Tianbo felt moved and decided to appoint Xu Xuan as the leader of the expedition, Zhang Kuang suddenly stepped forward. Clearly unconvinced, he intended to contest for the position of leader.

"What do you mean?" Zhang Tianbo asked with a faint, ambiguous smile. He did not object to the youthful spirit of rivalry and contention among the younger generation.

"In terms of seniority, I have participated in wars, and my experience is far richer than that of Guest Officer Xu. In terms of cultivation, I have reached the second level of Spirit Refining, which also puts me a step ahead of him. Yet, Grand Uncle has chosen to grant him the leadership role; I fear this will not easily win public submission." A intense fighting spirit flickered in Zhang Kuang's eyes as he stared directly at Xu Xuan. "How about this: let Xu Xuan and me have a spar to see who is more qualified for the position of leader. That would be fair and just."

"That makes sense."

Several elder members of the family also nodded in agreement.

Zhang Tianbo inclined his head, cast his gaze toward Xu Xuan, and asked with a smile, "What does Guest Officer Xu think of this?"

"I care little for the position of leader. My reason for going to the battlefield is to slay enemies, exact vengeance, and temper my cultivation," Xu Xuan replied with a calm expression.

The crowd could not help but look astonished, realizing that Xu Xuan genuinely did not care about the leadership position at all. A look of annoyance flashed across Zhang Yuhan's face. She had fought hard for this position on Xu Xuan's behalf, yet the other party did not care about it in the slightest. One had to realize that serving as the leader of forty or fifty elite family youths was also a lucrative post. Holding actual power, one could reap greater benefits during the war.

"Xu Xuan, you don't need to be modest. I know you definitely have the strength to fight me. Today, I challenge you not just for the sake of the leadership position, but because I truly want to fight you fair and square, and incidentally test your strength. During the time you were in closed-door seclusion, the elders in the family held immensely high expectations for you."

Zhang Kuang's eyes burned brightly as he gazed straight at Xu Xuan. A fierce and imposing aura emanated from his body, causing the fabric of his magical robe to ripple without any wind.

"Very well, then."

Xu Xuan had no choice but to agree, since the other party was clearly intent on challenging him.

Zhang Tianbo and the other family elders all wore looks of interest and anticipation, preparing to observe the duel between these two rising stars of the younger generation.

Before long, the group relocated to the martial arts arena.

Xu Xuan and Zhang Kuang stood ten zhang apart, facing each other from a distance, while the family elders and youths outside the arena waited with eager anticipation.

"I didn't expect that right after coming out of seclusion, I would encounter an opponent at the second level of Spirit Refining."

Xu Xuan sighed inwardly, though his face remained completely undisturbed.

Zhang Kuang took a deep breath, his internal dharma power churning as if boiling, while faint arcs of lightning and thunder patterns hovered around his body. Before he even made a move, he exuded a tyrannical and startling aura, and at the same time, his divine sense from the Spirit Refining stage pressed down heavily.

Faced with such oppressive momentum, a cultivator at the Qi Refining stage would probably have been suppressed to the point of not even being able to conceive the thought of fighting back.

Yet Xu Xuan merely stood in place in a casual and relaxed manner, neither hot nor cold.

With a solemn expression, Zhang Kuang felt a searing, heart-burning pressure emanating from the other party under the collision of their divine senses and auras, as if he were facing not a man, but a massive volcano.

Swish!

Zhang Kuang launched a fierce attack, his figure flashing across the martial arts arena like a streak of purple residual light, leaving the empty space crackling with restless arcs of lightning.

In the blink of an eye, a web of flashing purple thunder patterns burst from Zhang Kuang's palm, cutting through the air over a zhang away to strike toward Xu Xuan like a lightning-fast python.

His very first strike was decisive and overbearing, clean and crisp in execution, instantly unleashing a terrifying celestial spell attack.

The family youths watching from the sidelines could not help but reveal looks of envy and awe. The attacks of a Spirit Refining immortal master could annihilate Qi Refining immortals with a mere wave of the hand.

The might of Zhang Kuang's strike even caused the family elders to look moved and full of praise. Even an iron sculpture would likely be blasted into powder under this sudden strike.

Hiss, hiss—

Before those wisps of lightning patterns could even touch his body, Xu Xuan felt a faint tingling sensation, and his inner vitality and blood seemed to be faintly suppressed.

With just a slight circulation of his primordial force, a layer of translucent fiery light naturally manifested on his body. Viewed from afar, he looked as though he had been possessed by a semi-transparent fire spirit.

The expressions of everyone present shifted instantly. The surrounding temperature soared in an instant, and they felt restless, their throats dry and parched, their hearts pounding with an inexplicable sense of dread.

It would have been fine if Xu Xuan had not moved, but the moment he gathered his power, the aura emanating from his powerful physique was enough to make ordinary living beings tremble with fear.

Zhang Kuang felt as though his body had plunged into a sea of fire, his mind and body being scorched, and beads of sweat seeped from his forehead.

However, having taken the initiative to attack, his lightning celestial spell had already closed in on Xu Xuan, still maintaining the upper hand.

At that very moment, Xu Xuan struck!

A fierce glint flashed in his eyes as he brought his single palm down in a deliberate, unhurried chopping motion. In an instant, a roaring, trembling wave of fiery light—with the momentum of a torrential waterfall—shattered everything blocking its path into powder.

The movement was unpretentious and natural, exactly like the everyday motion of splitting firewood.

Boom!

The astonishing fiery force and blazing light collided, producing a series of deafening explosions. With the force of a collapsing ancient tree, it swallowed and tore apart the surging purple lightning before it, and an even more violent wave of heat, sharp as a blade, slashed directly toward Zhang Kuang.

Victory and defeat were decided the instant they crossed blows.

Thud, thud, thud—

Zhang Kuang retreated step after step with a horrified expression. Amidst a muffled groan, a violent energy surged into his body, making him feel as though he were standing inside a furnace. He broke out in a sweat from the searing heat, and his body trembled slightly.

Had it only been a rigid and fierce force, it would have at most caused him to suffer setbacks and injuries, but within that wave of fiery power lay an insidious flame toxin that eroded flesh and blood. It instantly set his entire body ablaze with a dry, scorching heat and unbearable agony.

The family youths watching from the sidelines felt unsettled, the residual heat still lingering on their bodies and their sweat not yet dry.

Zhang Tianbo and the other elders also showed looks of shock and doubt in their eyes, never expecting that such a vast disparity would show the moment they exchanged blows.

What they did not know, however, was that the blow Zhang Kuang suffered was far greater than it appeared on the surface; that tyrannical, fierce force and the bizarre, terrifying flame toxin had already injured his vital physique.

Fortunately, Xu Xuan did not immediately pursue the attack.

He stood quietly in place, and an overwhelming momentum suddenly rose from his body—a formidably unpretentious spiritual pressure that spread in all directions.

Zhang Kuang stood rigidly in place, his mind trembling. The other party's momentum and spiritual suppression were primal and ancient, spreading like a roaring subterranean fire and restricting him at every turn.

With his divine sense pressure at the second level of Spirit Refining, he found it difficult even to resist, giving rise to a sense of utter helplessness.

The "divine perception" emanating from Xu Xuan was a form of spiritual sensory power sublimated from the flesh, blood, breath, and spirit of a body cultivator, making it far more unpretentious and powerful than the divine sense of peers at the same level.

Derived from a body cultivator's formidable physique, this divine perception used the body itself to perceive the outside world, operating as instinctively as breathing.

While the bodies of ordinary living beings possessed the five senses of hearing, sight, smell, touch, and taste, the power of "divine perception" integrated these innate bodily senses and projected them outward, making them a thousand times stronger than those of ordinary beings.

Without needing to force it, Xu Xuan projected his divine perception from his body, effortlessly controlling every subtle movement within a radius of a hundred zhang. This made him far more powerful than immortal masters of the same level in the Spirit Refining stage.

After a single exchange of blows, Zhang Kuang was completely suppressed, both in terms of physical power and on the spiritual plane.

The senior elders of the Zhang family were not a little surprised; the moment Xu Xuan came out of seclusion, he was able to overpower a cultivator at the second level of Spirit Refining. Moreover, judging by the situation, he had not yet used his full strength.

As the two stood facing each other for several breaths, beads of sweat the size of soybeans oozed from Zhang Kuang's forehead, and his breathing had already grown rapid.

If this trend continued, perhaps without even exchanging further blows, Zhang Kuang would be defeated psychologically.

Whoosh!

In the very next instant, Xu Xuan's figure flickered like a man made of fire, pushing forward waves of heat and closing in on Zhang Kuang in the blink of an eye.

Zhang Kuang gritted his teeth, his dharma power surging wildly as his hands whipped up a flurry of electric serpents. For a moment, the sounds of wind and thunder howled and magical light shot in all directions as he covered Xu Xuan head-on, opting to attack rather than defend.

Clang! Boom!

That fist, hard as red copper and fine iron, carried a startling, explosive roar with an unstoppable, immense force that shattered Zhang Kuang's celestial spell and protective barrier.

"Oh no!"

The Zhang family elders watching from the sidelines cried out in alarm, never expecting Xu Xuan's attack to be so ferocious; a single punch like that could practically be fatal.

At this moment, it was already too late for them to attempt a rescue.

The explosive force of that punch was simply too great!

Boom! Swoosh—

Zhang Kuang was directly blasted flying by the punch.

Within their field of vision, Zhang Kuang's body shrunk from large to small as he was actually sent flying more than a hundred meters, ultimately landing like a small pebble atop the roof of a nearby five-story spirit pavilion.

"Blech!"

While still suspended in mid-air, Zhang Kuang had already spat out a mouthful of blood.

When Xu Xuan shattered his opponent's spell and protective barrier with that punch, he had also been startled and hurriedly pulled back some of his strength, converting the force into an upward thrust—which was precisely what had caused Zhang Kuang to turn into a human projectile.

After reaching the Spirit Refining stage, how formidable was Xu Xuan's physical strength? A casual punch could easily deliver tens of thousands of catties of force, not to mention the assistance of his fierce fiery power.

Gazing at Zhang Kuang, who had been sent flying over a hundred meters through the air, the spectators were dumbstruck. Many people's eyes followed Zhang Kuang's trajectory, their necks nearly wrenched in the process.

It wasn't until Zhang Kuang flew over a hundred meters and landed on top of the spirit pavilion that the crowd finally snapped back to their senses.

For a time, everyone was shocked and horrified. The gazes they cast at Xu Xuan were not only filled with terror, but also carried the look one might reserve for a freak of nature.

Xu Xuan gave an embarrassed smile. That punch had originally been delivered with full force, but at the very last moment he had reined in a portion of it and transformed the kinetic force into an upward push.

"Tsk tsk, a fire-type physique is truly enviable. Combined with your formidable strength, this explosive power is simply invincible. And that was with just a single punch; if you were to unleash a dozen punches in succession, who could possibly withstand it?"

The praise of the remnant soul from his past life echoed in his mind.

With Xu Xuan mastering primordial force with a fire attribute, his explosive power was already terrifying to begin with, not to mention the physical strength of a body cultivator who looked down upon all other forms of cultivation.

A moment later, the crowd gradually snapped out of their shock. Some of the family elders flew up to the roof of the spirit pavilion to check on Zhang Kuang's condition.

The result made everyone breathe a sigh of relief. Zhang Kuang had suffered some internal and external injuries, but none of them were very severe. However, he himself had been thoroughly terrified; when he came down and caught sight of Xu Xuan, he could not help but shiver.

"Fortunately, Guest Officer Xu held back at the critical moment and neutralized the impact, otherwise even if this child didn't die, he would have been bedridden for several months," an elder at the fifth level of Spirit Refining said with lingering fear.

Zhang Tianbo, meanwhile, muttered to himself, "To be able to retract and neutralize his power at the very moment of impact—unless his control over his strength has reached the absolute peak, it means he was still holding something back. Which of the two is it with this Xu Xuan?"