Chapter 57: The Power of Acupoints (Part 1)

When he was still a few steps away from Wushu, the golden-haired demonic bear raised one of its paws, looking ready to slap Wushu to death.

Wushu knew very well that a five-hundred-year-old golden-haired demonic bear possessed a physical strength equivalent to a human powerhouse at the peak of the True Body Realm in body refinement. While the demonic bear could withstand the full force of his Earth Fire Art channeled into a single hammer strike, Wushu, whose body refinement was only at the Wild Bull Body Realm, could hardly endure a casual swipe from the beast.

"First Form of the Great Hammer Art: Miracles Stem from Immense Might!"

Continuing to channel the Earth Fire Art within his body, Wushu gripped the hammer handle with both hands and smashed it once again toward the demonic bear's paw. Anticipating this second exchange, the golden-haired demonic bear had made its own calculations. Just as its paw was about to meet the hammerhead, the beast secretly pulled back its strength.

With a loud crash, the golden-haired demonic bear stumbled back a few steps. Although Wushu's heavy hammer still made the beast's paw vibrate intensely, it was nothing more than a vibration. The sensation from the previous clash—where the bear's foot had gone numb accompanied by a faint, piercing pain—was completely gone.

Straightening its posture once again and looking at Wushu, the golden-haired demonic bear wore a mocking expression in its eyes. In the beast's view, the outcome of today's match against the human was no longer in suspense; the conclusion was set, and the human brat was destined to lose. With every subsequent attack Wushu launched, the golden-haired demonic bear would take one step closer to victory.

The sudden composure displayed by the golden-haired demonic bear, contrasted with Wushu's failure to deal any real damage with his second strike, made it clear to any discerning observer that unless Wushu could produce a more powerful offensive method, he was doomed to defeat today.

After executing his second strike, Wushu naturally recognized his own problem. First of all, while he could indeed deliver a powerful blow to the golden-haired demonic bear by relying on the Earth Fire Art, his flaw was also glaringly obvious: he lacked any movement technique to match his speed. In front of the bulky golden-haired demonic bear, the threat posed by each of Wushu's hammer strikes was greatly diminished.

Calculating inwardly, Wushu thought to himself, "The small hammer is overly heavy. Aided by the power of the Earth Fire Art, I can use the 'Miracles Stem from Immense Might' technique at most nine times. With seven chances remaining, I must take the initiative to attack and strive to find the golden-haired demonic bear's weakness within these seven strikes."

There was no time to lose. Having made up his mind, Wushu hesitated no longer. Gripping the heavy hammer, he closed in on the golden-haired demonic bear. Under the beast's meaningful gaze, Wushu shouted loudly, "First Form of the Great Hammer Art: Miracles Stem from Immense Might!"

Hearing that Wushu intended to use "Miracles Stem from Immense Might" once again, if the golden-haired demonic bear had been capable of human speech, it would have nearly shouted at the top of its lungs, "Human brat, can't you use a stronger move? Do you only know this single trick?"

Seeing Wushu attack with such fierce momentum, the golden-haired demonic bear did not dare to be careless. It moved its massive body quickly toward Wushu. When it saw Wushu swing his heavy hammer, the demonic bear let out an angry roar, thrusting out one paw to meet the hammer while using its other paw to swipe directly at Wushu's body.

Boom, boom, boom...

Seeing the golden-haired demonic bear attempt to trade blows with Wushu in a mutual exchange of injuries, the humans in the spectator stands broke out in a cold sweat. Yet just as the demonic bear's twin paws lashed out, Wushu's heavy hammer unleashed a consecutive flurry of seven strikes in an instant.

For the first six strikes, Wushu delivered three hammer blows to each of the demonic bear's paws. As the beast absorbed these six blows and its massive body began to retreat, Wushu unleashed his full strength once more, landing his seventh blow squarely on the demonic bear's abdomen.

Enduring all seven hammer attacks from Wushu at once, the golden-haired demonic bear's heavy torso involuntarily spun and flew backward across the combat arena.

Everyone in the spectator seats had expected Wushu to be at an absolute disadvantage in this renewed exchange; instead, under Wushu's fierce counterattack, the golden-haired demonic bear was once again sent flying by a single hammer strike.

The human spectators instantly erupted into cheers. "Well fought!" "Brilliant!" "Press the advantage and crush this golden-haired demonic bear to death!"...

After nine strikes, the fire energy condensed by the Earth Fire Art within Wushu's body was completely exhausted. Standing in place and looking at the golden-haired demonic bear, which had crashed to the ground once more, Wushu muttered, "As expected of a thick hide and solid flesh. Such a powerful strike only managed to inflict some superficial wounds."

At this moment, lying flat on the arena floor, the golden-haired demonic bear's paws had suffered torn skin from taking the brunt of Wushu's hammer blows, with dark blood oozing from the lacerations.

The golden-haired demonic bear clenched its paws forcefully as it lay on the arena, using the corner of its eye to glance at Wushu. Seeing that Wushu remained standing in his previous position and made no move to pursue, the beast confirmed that its judgment was correct. Even though it had not anticipated the human brat launching such a desperate counterattack, after hurling those seven consecutive blows, the earth energy left inside Wushu's body must have been virtually depleted.

Since the remainder of the performance was destined to be its solo show, the golden-haired demonic bear had already devised thousands of ways to torture Wushu to death piece by piece in full view of the human spectators.

Standing up once again, the golden-haired demonic bear glared down at Wushu with bloodshot eyes, boastfully pounding its chest a few times with its paws as if telling Wushu to pull out whatever other tricks he had left.

Faced with the demonic bear's repeated provocations, Wushu had no intention of pretending to be weak.

Channeling the Heavenly Thunder Art to its absolute limit, the thunder serpent within his dantian rapidly surged through his entire body, instantly filling him with a formidable bolt of thunder energy. Gripping the hammer handle firmly once more, Wushu calmly said, "Golden-haired demonic bear, are you ready? I'm about to attack again."

When the golden-haired demonic bear saw faint arcs of electricity crawling along Wushu's arms toward the heavy hammer in his grasp, profound confusion arose within the beast. This brat before it had clearly exhausted all the earth energy in his body; how could he suddenly appear brimming with vitality once again?

One had to admit that compared to the Earth Fire Art, Wushu preferred the Heavenly Thunder Art even more. When the Heavenly Thunder Art circulated within his body, not only did it make him feel full of strength, but it also granted him a thrilling sense of supreme speed should he choose to move. Even while wielding a heavy hammer, he experienced an exhilarating sensation where speed reigned supreme.

Lifting the heavy hammer directly and without a word, Wushu took a few large strides right up to the golden-haired demonic bear. Under the beast's disbelief-filled gaze, Wushu shouted with immense force, "First Form of the Great Hammer Art: Miracles Stem from Immense Might!"

Boom, boom, boom...

Aided by the Heavenly Thunder Art, his speed was vastly enhanced. Wushu had no intention of underestimating his opponent this time, capitalizing instantly on the moment of shock frozen on the demonic bear's face. He smashed a hammer directly onto the beast's chin, and as the demonic bear's heavy body lifted off the ground, Wushu swiftly followed up, relentlessly raining down eight consecutive hammer blows onto its body.

With its entire body entirely beyond its control, the golden-haired demonic bear endured bone-piercing pain with every flesh-striking blow, accompanied by the ravaging power of lightning. For a moment, the beast's roar of grief, rage, and fury was deafening.

Landing back on the ground, Wushu rested his heavy hammer beside him and calmly watched as the golden-haired demonic bear crashed heavily back onto the arena floor. He thought to himself, "Was I a bit too harsh with this strike? I was actually hoping to use this dumb bear to test the power of my acupoints."

Bang! A thunderous crash echoed out.

The spectator stands fell into dead silence. Both the human combat pavilion and the demon combat pavilion were utterly astonished by Wushu's sudden display. Even though Wushu's previous attack carried the element of catching his opponent off guard, his ability to surpass his rival in pure speed was entirely a testament to his own strength. Furthermore, the power Wushu had just unleashed had already reached the True Body Realm.

However, what surprised everyone even more was that despite suffering such a ferocious onslaught from Wushu, not a single wound on the golden-haired demonic bear's body was fatal. Sprawled across the ground, the demonic bear slowly stood up, while a wave of blood-red killing intent continuously bled from its body.

Upon seeing the blood-red killing intent overflowing from the golden-haired demonic bear, Zhao Renheng in the human pavilion abruptly stood up from his seat. Unable to calm his mind, Zhao Renheng thought aloud, "A five-hundred-year-old golden-haired demonic bear can actually enter a berserk state? The strength of a berserk golden-haired demonic bear is far beyond what beasts of the same tier can compare to. In a short span of time, this demonic bear can now fight on par with a human powerhouse whose body refinement has reached the Lion-Tiger Realm. The demons are truly cunning; this match is unfair to Wushu."

The revelation that a berserk golden-haired demonic bear could fight equally against a human powerhouse at the Lion-Tiger Realm shocked the young geniuses and direct descendants of the Eight Great Clans. Knowing something theoretically was one thing, but hearing it spoken aloud by a powerhouse far superior to oneself evoked a completely different feeling.

Zhao Fenxing, seated in the third-floor VIP room, witnessed the scene as well. The old man beside her bowed and said, "Young Miss, I'm afraid the young master has fallen into a trap set by the demons."

Though Zhao Fenxing's heart was turbulent due to the demonic bear's berserk transformation, she maintained her composure and said, "Elder Ai, let us watch and wait for developments first."

As for the golden-haired demonic bear entering its berserk state, the members of the demon pavilion harbored mixed feelings. Through the battle thus far, it was not difficult for the demons to see that Wushu's body refinement was at the Wild Bull Body Realm, while his earth energy had reached the peak of the True Yuan Realm. With merely this level of strength, Wushu had managed to force a five-hundred-year-old golden-haired demonic bear into a berserk state. Yet Wushu's formation mastery—the very aspect that had consistently given everyone headaches—had not even been used once.

Unlike the silence of the others, upon seeing the golden-haired demonic bear go berserk, Fuxin sneered mockingly, "Brat, the main event is only just beginning. Let's see how you die today!"

The humans in the spectator seats could also tell that the golden-haired demonic bear was about to launch a frantic counterattack. Just as the human spectators began to worry anew whether Wushu, having already displayed his full strength, could pull off another miracle,

Right before everyone's eyes, Wushu raised his right hand and forcefully ripped open his upper robes. Tying the torn garment around his waist, Wushu said in a deep, steady voice, "Wearing a long robe only slows down my drawing speed."