A Card In Hand

Chapter 91: You’re Already Dead

Thud!

The entire bloodline trial ground shook violently.

As the dust settled, a massive pit appeared in front of Tie Zheng and Fuxi, with the Black Giant sprawled upside down in it, unable to move.

Li Ao continued to advance.

Stimulated, Tie Zheng’s blood boiled, and he let out a long howl to the sky.

Perhaps he would never be the one the Ironclad Family had been waiting for, like Li Ao, but he could strive and chase along the path Li Ao had taken. With Li Ao as a target ahead, what was there to hesitate about?

Burn, my bloodline!

My iron bones will never yield!

Energized, Tie Zheng moved forward.

As he took a step, a figure gradually materialized from a blur in front of him.

The patriarch of the Ironclad Family, Long Tai, approached: “Tie Zheng, have you finally come to a realization? Good, I can now teach you the true secrets of our bloodline!”

“You’re fake!”

Tie Zheng realized the enemy in front of him looked exactly like his father, with no flaws in appearance or demeanor.

“Being cautious is good, but to doubt even your own father?”

Long Tai laughed heartily.

“Bastard!”

Tie Zheng clenched his teeth, “Change back now! My father’s image is not for you to misuse.”

“Hahaha, yes, I did it on purpose. Do you respect your father? How about you punch this face hard, shatter it, and send the teeth flying? Come on, I’m right in front of you, hit me! Hit me!”

The fake Long Tai provocatively pushed his face towards Tie Zheng, urging him to strike.

Tie Zheng was furious, yet his fist wouldn’t swing.

He knew this was the enemy.

But it bore the respected image of his father.

This slight hesitation was all the fake Long Tai needed to strike.

With a fist like a hammer.

Tie Zheng was sent flying with one punch from the enemy, thrown back dozens of meters and crashing down into the bloodline trial ground.

Fuxi finally understood that this damned bloodline trial ground was lethal, with monsters that could morph into the most respected person in a contender’s mind, exploiting any moment of hesitation.

“Have you figured it out yet? Then turn around and see me,” a familiar voice came from behind Fuxi.

“You think you can paralyze me by taking the shape of my father?”

Fuxi turned and saw, to his disdain, that his father, Whip Chun, had somehow appeared behind him, “As an enemy, you should understand something—not everyone is as naive as Tie Zheng! It’s useless for you to turn into my father. Even if you morphed into me, I wouldn’t have any psychological barriers. If you think you can ambush me like this, you’re gravely mistaken!”

“Chubby, you’re quite interesting, I suddenly like you!”

The enemy slowly transformed into an exact replica of Fuxi, “You probably don’t know yet, right? If I kill you, I can take your place and leave this place, and then all your belongings will be mine, hahaha!”

“Over my dead body!” Fuxi immediately summoned his war beast, the Ironhide Rhinoceros.

A flash of light sparked.

The summoned iron-skinned rhinoceros hadn’t even had a chance to attack its enemy before it fell through a funnel-shaped spatial cavern that suddenly appeared beneath its feet.

Fuxi, unconvinced, summoned a fanged wild boar, but to no avail.

As soon as it appeared, it was also expelled from the bloodline testing ground.

It was completely unable to stay in this space.

“Ha ha ha ha, you chubby kid, you’re really interesting. If this testing ground allowed the use of war beasts, I wouldn’t have died… Oh, do you want to know how I died? I was just like you, summoning war beasts here, and then I ended up killing myself! Let me secretly tell you a secret!” The counterfeit Fuxi wore a mischievous grin, then lowered his voice mysteriously: “Not only can you not summon war beasts here, but doing so will also cause the enemy to copy them… I was literally tricked to death like this back in the day!”

The counterfeit Fuxi reached into his stomach.

He eerily dug out a chunk of flesh and casually threw it onto the bloodline testing ground.

That lump of flesh rapidly turned black and then insanely expanded, eventually forming a black iron-skinned rhinoceros.

The black iron-skinned rhinoceros’s eyes were blood red.

It stared intently at Fuxi.

Fuxi was sweating profusely.

Dealing with an ever-changing enemy was already troublesome enough, let alone not being able to summon war beasts.

The worst part was, summoning war beasts was useless and instead turned into a copy for the enemy. What was the ancestor who designed this trial thinking?

Can’t we just run if we can’t fight?

Fuxi turned to flee.

He forgot that a black, monstrous hand was still clutching his right ankle, and with a snap, he fell to the ground of the testing arena.

“Don’t rush, chubby kid, I particularly like you. I’ll slowly play with you to the end. After all, we have plenty of time, ah ha ha ha…” The counterfeit Fuxi laughed uproariously as he looked up at the sky.

“Tie Zheng, please don’t summon any war beasts, the enemy will copy them!” Fuxi, guessing that he was likely doomed, momentarily ignored his foe and shouted loudly towards Tie Zheng, who was still down and not getting up.

“You think you’re so noble, tsk tsk tsk, but all this is meaningless!” The counterfeit Fuxi shook his head with a sneering smile.

He slowly walked up.

Raised his leg.

And heavily stomped down towards Fuxi’s tense and twisted chubby face…

Li Ao walked straight ahead, step by step, showing no intention of turning back to help his companion.

Ahead of him.

A shadow with an indistinct face emerged: “Young man, I’m a bit curious, why can’t I morph into the image of your father? Haven’t you seen your father since you were born?”

“Why do you have to turn into his likeness?”

Li Ao was somewhat puzzled.

“It could be someone else, but turning into a father, making a son fight his father, has a more sinister appeal!”

The indistinct-faced shadow saw that Li Ao did not stop his steps, and it retreated at the same pace, asking curiously, “I can sense the surging bloodline power within you. At your age, it’s impossible to reach this level. Can you tell me how you achieved it?”

“Are you dead?” Li Ao countered.

“Dead.” The shadow was certain.

“Are you sure you’re completely dead?” Li Ao asked again.

“I’m one hundred percent dead. My body has turned into the dust of this bloodline testing ground due to age, what do you think?”

The shadow spread its hands.

“Alright, but I can only discuss this secret with the living. You’re already dead, and I don’t want to discuss lineage issues with a dead person,” Li Ao expressed his preference for dealing with the living.

“Don’t underestimate the dead. Although I’m dead, my insights into bloodlines might even surpass yours,” the Shadow disagreed with Li Ao’s statement.

“No matter how high your insights are, it’s useless now that you are dead,” Li Ao said with a smile.

“That’s reasonable,” the Shadow lightly clapped its hands.

“You’re an interesting little guy, with decent talent and potential, only slightly inferior to me when I was your age. I’ve taken a bit of a liking to you… So, I’ll just kill you and take your place to cause a big ruckus outside. As a bonus, since you’re quite interesting, I’ll allow you to say some last words, like a wish or something. I can fulfill it for you!”

“My biggest wish right now is for you to immediately kneel down, cry, and beg me to smash your face,” Li Ao certainly had a wish, though it was difficult to realize.

“Our pleasant conversation seems to be ending.”

The Shadow was not angry at all, it gestured to Li Ao with a beckoning finger: “You’re not yet worthy to fight me. Defeat all the enemies along the way and find me in the inner layer! When you can stand before me, I’ll tell you a truth, of course, while I’m rubbing your face against the ground!”

The Shadow disappeared.

As if it had never appeared.

Suddenly, around Li Ao, numerous black giants appeared.

They varied in shape; some were clad in heavy armor, some wielded weapons, and some even commanded black war beasts…

Li Ao roared.

A ten-meter tall energy iron giant rose with a rumble.

The iron giant mirrored Li Ao’s battle stance.

As Li Ao leaped high, the iron giant also soared into the sky; when Li Ao slammed down towards the face of a black giant, the iron giant similarly thundered down with a force of ten thousand jins.

Rumbling…

Terrifying shockwaves instantly swept across the entire trial ground.

The fake Fuxi, who was grinding Fuxi’s face underfoot, was blown away by the shockwave ten meters away, fear filling its eyes: “What a freak, to have awakened to such a degree at such a young age, such talent truly drives one to despair, thankfully that old thing personally took action…”

The black giant hit by Li Ao and the iron giant completely shattered.

Turning into a thick smoke.

Disappearing.

However, the other black giants paid no heed, they rushed at Li Ao even more ferociously, countless giant fists raining down like raindrops.

The iron giant clasped its arms in front of its chest to block all attacks.

Li Ao’s fists glowed brightly.

The light was like a blaze.

Numerous steel lions rapidly took shape behind him.

Above in the sky, the image of a mighty celestial lion appeared, it roared mightily, shaking heaven and earth.

The Li Ao on the ground resonated with it, his body’s light instantly increased tenfold, and with the furious lion’s roar, Li Ao threw punches forward… exactly one hundred steel lions, roaring and charging relentlessly towards the black giants.

Boom, boom, boom~!

After the group attack of the lion roaring fist.

The bodies of the black giants on the battlefield shattered, some even lay broken on the ground.

The smoke cleared.

The shattered bodies of the black giants, once they stabilized from the impact, immediately roared and advanced towards Li Ao again, showing no fear at all, even the ones already down and broken on the ground crawled forward, continuing to fight…

Li Ao leaped backward.

He spun in mid-air, his right leg kicking forward.

Whoosh~!

A ten-meter-diameter kick blade wave emitted a terrifying screech, tearing through the sky and slashing at the charging black giants.

Extremely condensed and high-speed vibrating, it unstoppable cut through the black giants, where it passed, the black giants were dismembered, limbs scattering across the ground.

At that moment, an invisible silver shadow suddenly appeared.

It was faster than lightning.

Just as Li Ao unleashed the kick blade wave – Dazzling Moon, it struck like a meteor, blasting the spinning Li Ao hundreds of meters away…