Chapter 54 – Qiang Ming vs Them Part 1

Qiang Ming ran like a thunderclap.

The purple-haired hammer wielder tore across the simulation field like a beast broken loose from its chain, his claw-scarred face twisted in fury, his violet eyes gleaming with madness and pride. The pressure around him was suffocating—so thick that it made even breathing feel like inhaling liquid steel.

A dread unlike anything before crept down the spines of those who watched him charge.

Xie Xie's usually cocky expression fell into something far more solemn. Gu Yue's arms tensed with instinctual readiness. Xu Xiaoyan's light-heartedness vanished, her eyes sharpening with sudden resolve. Even Wu Siduo's sharp breath betrayed how seriously she was now taking this.

Tang Wulin felt the weight of that storm closing in.

He's not going for a duel anymore, Wulin thought. He's coming for war.

"Let me handle him!" Tang Wulin snapped, his voice brimming with intensity.

Before anyone could object, he shot forward like a golden bolt of lightning, his Golden Dragon Body surging to life with a flash of radiant scales. His golden soul ring thrummed like a war drum at his feet.

They collided in the center of the battlefield—gold versus purple, dragon versus abyss.

The clash of their weapons and bodies rang out like a thunderclap, the sheer force rippling the field with visible shockwaves. Tang Wulin caught the incoming Blackstone Abyss Hammer with his massive golden claw, locking the weapon in a vice grip. His eyes narrowed.

But what he didn't expect came a moment later.

A pulse of dark, violent energy radiated from Qiang Ming's body as his third spirit ring lit up, bathing the field in purple and black.

From his back erupted two skeletal hands, wreathed in that same dense, foul fog—the power of his Lich's Hands, fully invoked. They grasped at the air—and conjured a second, larger version of the Blackstone Abyss Hammer. One hand gripped it tight while the other braced.

Qiang Ming roared, and brought the hammer down with a savage SoulQuake Blow, striking Wulin dead in the chest.

There was no time to react.

The golden scales on Wulin's body shimmered and buckled under the pressure, the armor-ignoring power of the blow bypassing even his natural defenses. Blood exploded from his mouth as his body was launched backward like a broken kite.

"WULIN!" Gu Yue screamed.

Qiang Ming didn't stop to revel in the blow. He didn't need to.

Wulin crashed toward his group, the force of the strike so tremendous that it would have slammed him into the hard earth if not for Xie Xie and Gu Yue catching him mid-flight. The pair stumbled but managed to steady him.

He groaned, clutching his chest, coughing up another spurt of blood. His arms trembled with strain.

Gu Yue's expression shifted from shock to fury.

"You bastard…"

She didn't need to say more.

Xie Xie stepped forward beside her, drawing his twin light blades, and without needing to exchange words, Xu Xiaoyan joined as well, the crystal light of her constellation staff already beginning to glow with magical symbols.

The three of them formed a united front.

Qiang Ming didn't even give them time to prepare. He was already sprinting again, his fury boiling, the Lich's Hands raised to shield him.

A barrage of elemental fury descended upon him.

Ice shards from Xu Xiaoyan. A simultaneous storm of air, fire, and frost from Gu Yue, twisting in harmony like a trident of natural destruction.

Qiang Ming crossed his arms and allowed the Lich's Hands to take the brunt of the attacks. The black fog coating the skeletal limbs hissed and screamed under the elemental assault, sizzling under fire, cracking under frost—but it held.

Smoke drifted from his silhouette.

But he kept running.

Then came Xie Xie.

The speed-type assault specialist was a blur. He twisted behind Qiang Ming, two blades aimed for critical points on his back. They slashed down—

—and found flesh.

Twin lines of red opened on Qiang Ming's forearms where his defense had slipped, shallow but deep enough to sting. The boy hissed in pain and spun, his eyes briefly locking onto Xie Xie.

Big mistake.

With a blur of motion, one of the Lich's Hands shot forward, grabbing Xie Xie by the arm mid-attack. The grip was like iron.

"GAAHH—"

The next moment, the other skeletal hand smashed down on his midsection, cracking ribs. And then came the hammer—not swung, but thrown, a direct head-on blast like a cannon shot.

Xie Xie barely had time to scream before he burst into golden light, eliminated.

The battlefield fell silent for a half-second.

Then Qiang Ming lifted his head and turned toward the others.

Gu Yue's face was pale.

Xu Xiaoyan took a shaky step backward.

Tang Wulin, propped up on one knee, grit his teeth and prepared to stand again.

The fight wasn't over.

Not by a long shot.