Chapter 21: Battle of Kings

After regaining her full strength, Feng Yan ascended to the seventh floor. There, she encountered explosive puppets, led by the King of Explosive Puppets. The battle began as the puppets attacked Feng Yan. However,

she didn't give them a chance to get close, knowing their advantage lay in their ability to explode parts of their bodies. It was extremely dangerous to let them approach.

Feng Yan used the "Deadly Serpent Dance"

technique, integrating it with her mechanical power. She combined the mechanical power with her unique movement technique, making it faster and less energy-consuming. The result was astonishing. She began exploiting her advantage to destroy the explosive puppets before they could self-detonate, managing to eliminate two in the blink of an eye. Unfortunately, the King of

Explosive Puppets quickly found a solution.

Suddenly, one of the explosive puppets detonated rapidly. Due to its proximity, Feng Yan was thrown back, rolling on the ground several times. Once she regained her strength, she found the King of Explosive Puppets above her, wearing an evil smile and throwing a punch meant to blow her up for

good.

Feng Yan dodged the attack using her skills and mechanical power but couldn't escape the blast radius created by the King of Explosive Puppets. His power lay in his ability to explode anything his hands touched, a truly terrifying ability. The King of Explosive Puppets didn't stop his assault, chasing Feng Yan by exploding the ground beneath him for a massive boost.

Feng Yan found herself in a tough spot, unable to approach the King. She needed to attack from a distance, but the King didn't give her any opportunity. He attacked relentlessly for two minutes. Though the time

seemed short, for Feng Yan, fighting with all she had, every second felt like a grueling day. The continuous explosions shredded her robe almost completely.

Feng Yan's movements slowed, and more wounds appeared on her body. Seeing this, the King knew he just needed to apply a bit more pressure. But then, everything changed. Feng Yan's eyes turned red suddenly, and for the first time, she launched a fierce counterattack.

Bull Serpent Art > Bull's Rage: Thunderous Bull Charge!

Taking advantage of a momentary weakness after one of the King's explosions, Feng Yan gathered all her energy into her leg, focusing all her spiritual and mechanical power there. This increased the electrical charge in her leg, creating a powerful electric force. She then unleashed all this power in a thunderous kick aimed to end the King's life.

The King tried to block the attack, but it was in vain. His immense explosive power had a tiny weakness: he needed to gather energy for a quarter of a second before detonating. Feng Yan's kick hit his chest, and a red bolt shot out from his back. The ground beneath them shattered, and the King was thrown backward at high speed, crashing into the ground multiple times, his body almost breaking apart. Finally, he collided with a wall, producing a loud explosion. Feng Yan knew it was over; the King was dead, and she only needed to finish off the remaining explosive puppets.

…

Explosion!

"This should be the last one! The King of Explosive Puppets was incredibly tough; he didn't give me a second to breathe!"

Feng Yan collapsed on her back after destroying all the explosive puppets, gasping for breath but also feeling very satisfied. Despite the short battle, it was a deadly one. She felt immense pressure but also created a new technique [Thunderous Bull Charge]. Without the King's pressure, she wouldn't have invented it. While resting, she spoke to the First Claw:

"That was a great fight, Feng Yan, but I must tell you, the remaining Kings are even stronger!"

"Don't worry. If they get stronger, I'll get even

stronger so they won't be able to defeat me!"

Immediately after, Feng Yan opened her control panel and summoned the essence of the King of Explosive Puppets to gain explosive power from him. After five hours, she fully recovered, even repairing her torn robe with the help of the First Claw. Then, with courage, she ascended to the eighth

floor. Upon reaching the eighth floor, she heard an inhuman voice echoing in her ears:

"Combat Tower Test Begins – Round 120 – Eighth Floor – Death Puppets!"

Eleven doors opened, and death puppets emerged, covered in purple with black cloaks that hid their faces. The King of Death Puppets was entirely shrouded in black mist, his features completely obscured. All Feng Yan heard was a single word from him:

"Kill!"

All the puppets charged at once with a single goal: to kill Feng Yan. She couldn't match the death puppets' strength, as their specialty

was assassination and powerful attacks. Quickly, she used one of her modified

techniques:

Bull Serpent Art > Explosive Bull Rush!

Feng Yan merged the explosive power of the King of Explosive Puppets with her bull techniques, representing destructive and explosive power. She shot forward like an arrow, piercing through the first puppet like wind. As expected, the puppet exploded, releasing a black mist. Feng Yan realized it was Death Mist!

She landed, planning her next move, but sensed imminent danger from behind. She launched herself upward using explosive power, detonating the ground beneath her for a powerful boost. Just fractions of a second later, a black shuriken appeared where she had been standing.

"You managed to escape that, interesting! But you won't escape the next one." (King)

"You scoundrel, I'll make you regret that!" (Feng Yan)

Bull Serpent Art > Bull Shock > Fifty Shocks:

Explosive Fury Festival!

Death Power > Lost Arrows!

Feng Yan merged the explosive power with her bull shocks, creating highly destructive force. She launched a series of fiery punches. The King of Death Puppets responded by controlling the Death Mist to form a barrage of arrows that collided with Feng Yan's explosive punches, creating a massive explosion and forming a black mist cloud.

Feng Yan quickly retreated to avoid the Death Mist but found herself surrounded by death puppets fighting fiercely to end her life. Using

the Explosive Bull Rush technique, she broke through their formation, exploding another puppet, releasing more Death Mist that began chasing her. Frustrated, Feng Yan muttered:

"This is not good!"

"You haven't seen anything yet!"

Suddenly, the Death Mist of the King surrounded her from the front and another cloud from behind. Within seconds, Feng Yan was engulfed in the King's Death Mist. She fell into an endless darkness, realizing her vision was stolen by the mist's power.

The Death Mist had a bizarre ability to steal senses from its target. Feng Yan knew if she stayed any longer, she would lose her hearing, then touch, then smell, and ultimately fall into an abyss of oblivion. But she wouldn't let that happen. She decided to combine explosive power with one of

her strongest techniques:

Bull Serpent Art > Explosive Bull's Blood!

Rapidly, Feng Yan's body heated up, and her blood boiled like molten lava, her skin glowing dark red with steam escaping from her pores. She quickly used her strongest detection technique, merging it with mechanical power:

Bull Serpent Art > Serpent Spirit!

She slammed the ground hard, creating a powerful wave that returned to form a complete map of her surroundings, including the locations of everyone around. Feng Yan laughed, having pinpointed the King and the remaining death puppets. She decided to end the fight quickly using her strongest

technique yet:

Bull Serpent Art > Bull Shock: Two Hundred Shocks in One: Explosive Meteor!

Before the King could react, Feng Yan leapt high at incredible speed, reaching the ceiling in the blink of an eye, then began charging her technique by punching the air, each punch gathering immense spiritual and explosive power. A terrifying amount of energy formed a gravitational point that pulled everything in, including the Death Mist. Finally, a massive fireball resembling a sun formed. The King of Death Puppets

looked on in horror:

"Impossible! How did this happen!!!"

"Believe it or not, this is your end! Have a nice trip to the afterlife!"

"I won't be defeated this easily!"

Death Power > Abyss of Death!

The Death Mist formed around his arms, creating a vortex resembling a bottomless pit. Feng Yan looked at the dark abyss, then smiled with excitement and launched the massive fireball. It descended into the dark

abyss, burning everything in its path.

Boom!

The fiery meteor collided with the dark abyss, creating a huge explosion that shook the walls of the floor. After a few seconds, Feng Yan landed, unable to see anything due to the white mist from the explosion. As the

mist cleared, the result of the battle was revealed.

Feng Yan saw the fate of her opponent:

"King of Death Puppets, you truly deserve

respect!"

For the second time, Feng Yan felt respect for someone in the Eternal Tower. The King of Death Puppets stood before her, nearly destroyed by the explosion, refusing to fall. He stood tall despite his body disintegrating, and before losing consciousness, he looked at Feng Yan and said his final words:

"My only wish is to crush the dreams of the one who crushed the dreams of millions!"

"Don't worry, no more dreams will be shattered from now on!"

"Thank you."