Pushing the Limits

The giant man roared, swinging his axe downward in a vertical arc with lethal intent, tearing a fissure in the stone floor as it hurtled toward Yasuo's skull.

Yasuo smirked seeing this scene,' Predictable as ever.'

Shadowstep!

At the least heartbeat, Yasuo's body dissolved into a shadow wisp of smoke that curled away from the strike. The next moment, the axe slammed into the ground, shattering several stone floors.

Subsequently, Yasuo reappeared three paces to the left, his eyes glinting with dark amusement. He was enjoying himself since he hadn't done such a thing in 17 years!

"Stop dancing, ant!" The giant of a man snapped.

As he spoke, Yasuo's hand flashed to his sleeve, retrieving four Worry-Free Grass leaves. In a split second, he crushed them in his palm and shoved them into his mouth, furiously chewing.

Dense spiritual energy flooded his meridians, burning like wildfire in his veins.

This was one year's worth of cultivation instantly used by a qi condensation, yet Yasuo found this risk worth taking since the reward was urgently needed.

Things were too boring and he needed resources!

'I can feel it. The environment here is unlike Earth, and I can use the techniques from my past world,' Yasuo thought, his heart filled with excitement.

The deaf man laughed seeing this scene," You think herbs will save you from me? You are merely a Qi Condensation ant!"

Yasuo's veins bulged black beneath his skin, his breath ragged, but his lips curled into a smile.

As the man raised his axe and was about to take this seriously and use some strength to kill the ant prancing around him, Yasuo exhaled a jet of corrupted black mist that erupted from his mouth. The black smoke coiled around the enemy's gigantic axe.

Soulrend Breath!

Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!

Only sounds of hissing could be heard as the black mist ate through the metal.

"You think you can do anything to me with that measly energy...?" The man mocked, unfazed by Yasuo's futile attempts to use the herbs' spiritual energy for some power, unaware that his axe was rapidly dissolving.

However, right before the giant of a man could even lift his axe, it shattered! Not stopping there, the mist crawled up the man's arm, rotting his flesh and devouring his qi non-stop.

Arghhh!

The man screamed as he used every fiber of qi inside of his dantian to stop the devouring, but all his attempts were futile as his flesh dissolved, displaying his meridians in front of everyone.

His cultivation base collapsed like ash right after, as if it never existed. The bird on top of his shoulders turned to dust, unable to understand what had just happened to its master.

"You think your cultivation base is all that matters? Have you ever heard of the example of the lion? He uses his full power even while hunting a rabbit!" Yasuo coldly said as the man's body slowly shriveled into a withered husk; although deaf, it didn't matter since his words were meant to frighten the people behind him even more.

'If this man weren't dumb, I would have surely died on the first attack.' He inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

His spell Soulrend Breath is an attack he perfected during his lifetime as the dark mage to catch people off guard in dire situations, it could use spiritual energy no matter the quantity and turn into a corrupted, unstable force that bypassed all defenses.

It will operate dark magic roots and rot the enemy's spiritual foundation rather than directly clashing with their raw power. It basically uses the enemy's arrogance ignoring a futile attempt to save their lives to cripple them internally.

Making sure that his clothes didn't catch any dust while trying to hide his trembling hands, he looked back.

"Is this a joke? He literally used the first realm of cultivation to defeat the executioner of the Heaven's Gate family?" Luke whispered, rubbing his eyes several times, thinking he must be dreaming.

"That wasn't a mere martial art like the one our pets provide us or your path; this is a martial art I have never seen before. Also, to use martial arts with this level of lethality at the first stage, is he even human?" Fang uttered with disbelief, still staring at the withered husk that once was the prized executioner of the Heaven's Gate family.

Their fear was evident, and even the four guardians standing beside them felt their bodies shake, their breaths quicken, and their mouths wide open, unable to close.

This was too unbelievable, and if they hadn't witnessed it with their own eyes, they would never dare to think such a thing was possible.

Despite the executioner's carelessness after noticing the young man's first realm cultivation, he was still five realms above him! Yet the young man's attack still effortfully killed him!

Yasuo casually said, seeing their reactions and using his absolute authority again to overhear their whisperings," You are still too young to understand such a martial art. Still, I have placed some of my own in the library of forbidden arts I just created. You can check on them if you want."

He then pointed at the black chamber at the edge of the holy land,' With this, I also make them even more eager to come and go countless times to the library.' 

"I'll be back in a minute. I have an urgent matter to attend to. You can wait there till I come back. Feel free to discuss what you're going to do. The library fee is also one million per day, but the only difference is that you are not allowed to bring any books out of it and don't take notes."

Right after barely uttering these instructions with calmness, he vanished, reappearing the next moment in the hotel on top of his bed, coughing black blood into his sleeve.

Yasuo grinned through pain and gritted teeth," A small price to pay. Now, it's time to claim my reward."

He gazed at the system prompt glowing in his vision: SSS Quest Complete. Reward: Two-way trip to a random world unlocked / 10.000 points distributed.

Right after, a miniature red door identical to the ones he was gifted before appeared in his hand.

"System, how long can I stay on the other world, and what is the time difference between Earth and that world?" Yasuo inquired, this was important since he needed to know when should he use the red door.