Among the congested vehicles was a dark green convertible. Seated inside were the very same wealthy brother and sister whom Chen Chuan and Sun Rao had previously turned back.

The bodyguard responsible for their safety was sitting in the back seat, yet he regarded the situation before them with indifference, as if it had nothing to do with him.

"Damn it, what the hell is going on?"

The young man cursed a few times. He then discovered that his Realm Token had suddenly stopped working, which made him even more agitated, and he started honking the horn incessantly.

Just then, he saw a tall figure in the distance leap into the air. With a BANG, it landed on top of a car, instantly crushing its roof. Then it jumped again, landing on another car further ahead, which suffered the same fate. Faint screams could be heard from inside.

It looked like the person was heading their way. Far from being afraid, the young man grew excited. He turned his head, pointed ahead, and said, "That guy. Go take care of him."

The bodyguard, who had been wearing a blank expression, saw the figure and his expression changed drastically. He snapped at the two of them in a low voice, "Go!"

"Go? Why should we go?"

The young man was very displeased with him. His eyes darted around, and he suddenly pulled out a gun meant for self-defense. With a slick movement, he raised it, aimed at the figure ahead, and pulled the trigger. A BANG echoed as the gun fired. He said smugly, "This is for self-defense..."

The bodyguard’s expression changed completely. He knew who the approaching figure was. His attention was fully focused ahead, and he didn’t dare move a muscle, afraid of provoking a reaction. But because of this, he failed to stop the young man from firing the gun in time.

But now, it was too late.

The young man’s marksmanship was apparently quite good; the bullet struck the figure with pinpoint accuracy. However, it didn’t seem to have much effect, merely embedding itself in the surface of his flesh. Instead, it drew the man’s attention, and he looked directly over at them.

Cold sweat beaded on the bodyguard’s forehead. He had no time for anything else. He grabbed the two by their collars and leaped straight out of the car.

He had just gotten clear when a figure dropped from the sky, landing with a BANG in front of the car. The figure reached out, grabbed the car’s bumper, and with a screech of twisting metal, crushed it under his five fingers. With a casual flick of his wrist, he swatted the car toward the three of them.

Seeing the car rapidly growing larger before his eyes, the bodyguard knew he couldn’t dodge. He had no choice but to let go of the two siblings and push his hands forward in an attempt to block it.

However, as he blocked it, he felt a supple Power coursing through the seemingly high-impact car chassis. Once his hands were braced against it, he couldn’t deflect it at all. He was forced to absorb the entire force into his body and involuntarily froze on the spot.

The brother and sister, having been yanked from the car, were still sitting on the ground. When they saw the car flying at them, they screamed in terror, hastily raising their hands and turning their heads away. But after a moment, hearing no impact, they opened their eyes again to see the bodyguard standing in front of them, holding the car at bay.

Spurred by the thrill of the situation, the young man started cursing, "You useless piece of trash! Why aren’t you moving? Go kill him!"

But after shouting a few times, he realized the bodyguard remained motionless. Although he was still standing there, his internal organs had been completely pulverized by the Power, and he was already dead.

Just as the excited young man was about to say something else, the deformed bullet shot through his forehead. His head snapped back, his mouth fell open, and he collapsed, stiff as a board.

The girl behind him stared blankly. It took her a long moment to realize what had happened. She let out a shriek and scrambled to her feet to run, but after just a few steps, she suddenly felt her body go weak. She looked down to find a hole clean through her abdomen. She clutched at it, staggered two more steps, and then pitched forward onto the ground.

By now, the passengers and drivers in the other cars sensed that something was wrong. Some even recognized who he was. Panicked, they scrambled out of their vehicles and fled, screaming. The street descended into chaos, littered with lost shoes and people who occasionally tripped and fell.

Wei Wusheng paid no attention to these people. His gaze fell further down the road where a figure holding a blade was approaching. He started walking, moving toward that figure.

Chen Chuan fixed his gaze on the tall figure ahead, his dark eyes as calm as still water. People fled past him in a panic, but they didn’t affect the rhythm of his steps.

The cars stopped in the middle of the road blocked the sunlight from one side. But with every car he passed, a beam of light fell upon him through the gap. He walked step by step out of that interplay of light and shadow.

The two men approached from opposite directions, both now moving toward their respective targets.

When they were about twenty meters apart, both of them stopped simultaneously. Wei Wusheng said in a deep voice, "We didn’t finish last time. Today, we can continue."

Chen Chuan looked at him and said, "I hope you won’t be leaving early like last time."

Wei Wusheng unhooked the hammer from his waist, his five fingers gripping the handle tightly. He said, "No one will interrupt us this time. I won’t leave until it’s over."

Chen Chuan raised his blade, holding it level before his eyes. With a light flick of his right hand, the Sword Scabbard fell to the side of the road, revealing the gleaming edge. A blood-red line on the spine of the blade was intensely crimson, and from his perspective, it seemed to slice right across Wei Wusheng’s neck.

He said, "That would be for the best."

The place where they stood was already close to the tournament arena. Although the Domain’s signal from the venue was very weak here, some of it could still be received. As a result, many people were now standing on the surrounding buildings and rooftops.

Most of them had been drawn by the sudden incident on the street. Someone immediately recognized Wei Wusheng; after all, he had been in the news frequently of late.

’Who’s that person confronting him?’

’Judging by that uniform, is he from the Processing Bureau?’

The crowd grew excited, and many tried to use their Realm Tokens to send out news. However, the Domain’s signal was abruptly blocked, rendering the Realm Tokens useless and instantly sparking a wave of curses.

Further back, the Wuyi Students now learned from the fleeing crowd that the man was Wei Wusheng, and a sense of dread washed over them.

’Why would Wei Wusheng be here?’

This place wasn’t too far from the tournament grounds. The venue had a massive concentration of Central City’s security forces. But on second thought, perhaps that was precisely why Wei Wusheng dared to appear here. The security deployed there couldn’t be easily pulled away, and now the Domain was blocked...

An accompanying teacher, Teacher Bai, looked toward the street entrance with a grave expression. He saw Chen Chuan step forward and confront Wei Wusheng.

’A student couldn’t possibly be a match for Wei Wusheng. But this student was wearing a Processing Bureau uniform and had proactively gone to meet him. Could this be a setup by the Processing Bureau?’

’If that’s the case, then perhaps there are others nearby...’

Just as he was scanning the surroundings for more Processing Bureau personnel, he suddenly saw Chen Chuan stomp his foot and charge forward. The students behind only saw him lean forward before his figure abruptly vanished, reappearing in the next moment right in front of Wei Wusheng.

Teacher Bai was involuntarily startled. ’This is... the Third Limit?!’

Chen Chuan was airborne, gripping his blade with both hands, and he brought it down on Wei Wusheng’s head!

He was currently maintaining a low-state physical expression, but standards varied from person to person. Circulation’s Strength focused on the complete coverage of the Mutated Organization. So even though he was still one step away from that threshold, for anyone else, his level would be considered a genuine Third Limit.

As the blade fell, a large, silver crescent arc appeared in the air. The surrounding light, including the sunlight, seemed to dim abruptly, creating the momentary illusion that it had been cleaved apart by the strike.

Wei Wusheng’s expression tightened. He often sustained injuries when fighting opponents, but this wasn’t due to a lack of skill. Rather, it was a result of his combat style: trading injury for injury, life for life.

But such trades had to be worthwhile, not just reckless clashes in meaningless situations.

This strike had been charged with power before it was released. The force and speed it contained upon arrival were beyond the ordinary. If he dodged, he would inevitably be caught in the ensuing Sword Stance and forced onto the defensive.

Therefore, he absolutely could not let his opponent unleash his full potential; he had to suppress this opening move.

As his eyes focused on the gleam of the blade, his battle-hardened body had already reacted faster than his mind, making the most logical move. He gripped his hammer with both hands and raised it to block!

The next instant, blade and hammer clashed!

In that moment, time seemed to stand still. Chen Chuan, having brought his blade down with both hands, seemed to hang frozen in mid-air, the focused Power continuing to press downward.

Wei Wusheng maintained his posture, hands gripping the hammer, but the pavement beneath his feet began to CRACK and splinter.

After what felt like one or two breaths, Chen Chuan, while his momentum still lingered, was the first to change his move. The moment his feet touched the ground, he pushed off and shot forward to the right, dragging his blade diagonally, using sheer speed and strength to drive a cut toward his opponent.

He felt the dragging slash get parried by the hammer. In a single exchange, he had already appeared more than ten meters behind Wei Wusheng.

However, his immense speed and power not only expanded his combat range but also allowed him to perform more exaggerated movements. When fighting without restraint, such a distance was practically nothing to either him or Wei Wusheng.

He brandished the Long Blade with one hand, stamped on the ground, spun around, and charged in to attack once more.

His clothes clung tightly to his body, and his hair streamed backward as if pulling him from behind.

Amidst the clang of blade on hammer, the two crossed paths once again. But this was only the beginning. As he built up momentum, his speed increased with each successive attack.

Facing such an onslaught, Wei Wusheng could no longer remain stationary and began to move as well.

And so, in the eyes of the onlookers and the students further back, the figures of the two men blurred almost simultaneously, zipping and flitting about the area. Only Teacher Bai, at the rear, could clearly see the state of their battle.

Sounds of air being sliced apart filled the atmosphere. Debris suddenly flew up from the ground, which was being carved with long, narrow gashes. A sudden SCREECH was heard as a metal lamppost tilted over and crashed heavily to the ground.

A moment later, with a BOOM, an empty bus was sent drifting sideways. A huge gap was torn through its middle, as if pierced by a cannonball. In the very next instant, an empty sedan opposite it was suddenly split in two out of thin air. Everything in their path was pulverized and torn to shreds.

As the radius of destruction continued to expand, it began to creep toward the bus carrying the students.

...

...