Chapter 443 - Qi That Suppresses Everything

Aaron was taken aback at first, then let out a light laugh. “

Hahaha

, good! Six years ago, when I first became a Shadow Hunter, I was just as bold. No, you’re even bolder than I was back then! You’re not only challenging me... You want to challenge even stronger Shadow Hunters?”

Aaron did not take offense. Instead, he truly admired Cassius’s courage and pride. In fact, he was not that old, having attained the rank of a Shadow Hunter at the age of twenty-three. Six years had passed, making him only twenty-nine. The younger generation obviously understood one another better, and Aaron, gazing at Cassius, seemed to see his younger self, who had returned from the sacred spring with vastly increased strength.

The Number Three Shadow Hunter, Jin, was a burly man with white hair. He examined Cassius without revealing any emotion. Shadow Hunters and ordinary hunters were worlds apart. Once one became a Shadow Hunter, it marked an ascension into the Hunters’ Association’s very limited high-level ranks. Arrogance and self-confidence were almost inevitable, especially considering the boost brought about by the sacred spring water, which Jin himself had experienced during that same stage.

In his view, it was a good thing for a newly minted Shadow Hunter to challenge veteran Shadow Hunters. It would allow the newcomer to quickly recognize his own level of strength and rein in his arrogance. After all, anyone who became a Shadow Hunter was the unrivaled genius of their era in the Hunters’ Association. So when a top talent with over ten years of experience as a Shadow Hunter clashed with a newly anointed top talent, the outcome was self-evident...

Jin turned and glanced at Number One and Two. Both showed no change in expression. Evidently, neither believed Cassius could fight his way up to them. The Number Four Shadow Hunter, Aaron, alone would be enough to halt him, not to mention Jin, who had spent more than ten years as a Shadow Hunter. The five total Shadow Hunters could be roughly divided into three tiers: Number One and Two, who were the strongest and richest in experience; Three and Four, who had substantial fighting expertise and formidable strength; and finally, Number Five who had just taken the vacant slot and was the least established of them.

“White Aster, are you certain you want to challenge Aaron?” At that moment, Radiant Hunter Deleshart, who had remained silent so far, suddenly spoke. He wore a brand-new, well-fitted suit. Still, a faint medicinal smell and a white bandage wrapped around his wrist suggested a recent injury.

“Yes.” Cassius responded succinctly.

After receiving confirmation, Deleshart turned his gaze toward Aaron. Aaron nodded, signifying his acceptance of the challenge.

Immediately, the crowd moved apart, including the injured Lion King Soss and the unconscious Solomon. Both were carried to the other side of the canyon.

Only the Number Four Shadow Hunter, Aaron, and Cassius remained where they stood.

They stood about ten meters apart, eyes fixed on each other. Cassius’s blue eyes seemed thoroughly calm, with no trace of excitement. This left Aaron puzzled, for he had believed Cassius to be impulsive in the way of the young, but now it appeared otherwise...

His opponent was so composed that it unsettled Aaron’s heart.

“You...” He was about to speak when Cassius interrupted him.

“Use your strongest technique. Your right arm’s musculature is obviously much sturdier than your left, and you have more calluses on your right palm as well. Your stance places your right leg forward for a sudden burst of power, so draw your weapon. You’re not adept at close-quarter combat moves, you specialize in a blade. Likely a type of rapier...”

Aaron raised an eyebrow in mild surprise, but quickly adapted, narrowing his eyes. “As you wish.”

Swoosh!

Aaron lightly brushed his right hand against his thigh and drew a gleaming silver rapier. Its half-curved guard bore carvings of three flower pistils, each one extending outward into three teardrop-shaped protrusions. The weapon was slender and razor-sharp, seemingly the masterpiece of some renowned craftsman.

Tap.

He stepped straight back, and balanced on the balls of his feet. Putting his weight on his right leg, he bent to drop his center of gravity. Aaron leaned forward, extending his left arm behind him while raising his right arm, aiming the sharp-blossomed rapier at Cassius.

Cassius remained poised as before as Aaron assumed his attacking stance. His posture strongly resembled that of the noble swordsman expert Cassius had encountered at the test site. It seemed like they shared the same master. So the royal family was still supporting a rapier master?

A thought flashed through Cassius’s mind. If they produced two Shadow Hunter–level experts, this rapier master was likely formidable...

A breeze drifted through the canyon, producing a prolonged howl.

“Watch out. This Silver Pistil Sword is very sharp. You’ll get hurt...” Aaron gave the hilt a gentle shake and it seemed to pierce the air itself. A flash of silver streaked forward, leaving a dark afterimage as it sliced through the howling breeze.

In less than the blink of an eye, he had crossed the ten-meter gap and appeared before Cassius. The rapier’s tip stood a mere ten centimeters from Cassius’s forehead.

Buzz...

The space around them suddenly froze, as though everything had been sealed inside an enormous mass of amber, cutting off all sound. The howling wind, the gravel’s rasp, the sway of dried grass, even the rapier’s metallic hum—everything was forcibly driven away by something that solidified the very vibration of the air in an instant.

At that moment, time appeared to pause for a second. A pair of birds over the canyon were frozen in the air, and the onlookers seemed locked in place, enveloped by some massive vacuum.

Rumble!!!

Cassius did not move at all as he continued to calmly examine the rapier hovering ten centimeters away. Behind him, surging scarlet Qi erupted like a flood escaping a bursting dam. It morphed into countless red filaments that filled the air, claiming swathes of empty space.

These semi-translucent strands of Qi no longer resembled mere mist; they were more like an extremely viscous fluid.

Aaron, who had shot forth like a cannonball, now hung suspended in midair as Qi closed its grip on him. His muscular physique had frozen in a swift lunge, more animated than any classical sculpture. Although his rapier was clearly about to touch Cassius’s brow, it could not breach that final ten centimeters, as though an impassable gulf separated them.

Aaron’s eyes were wide and his eyelids quivered uncontrollably. He was utterly unable to move and entirely at his foe’s mercy. How powerless, how frightening must that have felt?

Move, move! Why can’t I move?! Aah!!!

Aaron howled inwardly, but his body felt as if it had been encased in a massive block of hardened concrete. No matter how fiercely he struggled or how much strength he summoned, he could not break that shackle to regain his freedom.

Cassius watched in silence as faint spiderwebs of crimson stretched from the corners of his eyes. He had learned this method of using Qi to restrain his opponents from the underworld. There was a similar fist imprint in the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist trial grounds, and the undead in Howling Canyon also employed Qi in that same way. Cassius had studied them and practiced on his own. He’d extracted the fundamentals from multiple sources, then merged them with his own Qi.

He had unleashed it at full force, subduing everything like a mountain. Any opponent below the level of a veteran combat artist would be momentarily paralyzed, making three heartbeats feel like one. If they were weaker than a combat artist, they would be crushed to death by this Qi alone, reduced to a pulp after being battered by something like a cascading waterfall of cement.

Today marked his first full demonstration of this technique in the real world. He had used only a simplified version back at the test site.

Amid total silence, Cassius continued to examine Aaron. The rapier’s tip lined up with Aaron’s eyes, three sparkling points on the same plane. Cassius spoke quietly, almost murmuring to himself. “A sharp blade, and a sharp gaze... showing more edge than many forms of Covert Martial Arts...”

He offered Aaron a measure of respect as he slowly extended his right hand. He brought his index and middle fingers together to form a gun and gently sliced through the air. A flicker of crimson flared at his fingertips, like a spark of terrifying friction at high speed. Flames whirled around, tearing the air as they landed squarely on the rapier’s tip!

Ding!

A metallic clang shattered the silence.

Ding, ding, ding, ding...

The alloy tip was crushed by the Scarlet Fang Gun. It had been my mere flesh-and-blood fingertips, yet the sharp metal rapier failed all the same.

Cassius continued to push forward, applying a spiral force like a drill. Inch by inch, he broke the rapier’s blade into multiple pieces, sending them flying into the air. But even as they shattered, the fragments were caught by the web of Qi around them. He didn’t stop until the Scarlet Fang Gun had pulverized the entire length of the blade!

Then, the Qi abruptly dissipated.

Bzz!

All manner of sounds suddenly rushed back in a single moment. Hearing, smell, sight—every sense returned, as if someone had leaped from murky depths into clear air.

Bang!

A figure was hurled backward, spinning chaotically. Each jagged piece of the rapier, charged with pent-up momentum, flew off like bullets, embedding themselves everywhere. Some shards even shot toward the watching crowd.

Bang, bang, bang...

The Number Three Shadow Hunter, Jin, stepped in and blocked the fragments. He whirled around to look at his fellow companions and spotted shock and awe in their eyes, along with a hint of apprehension.

Except for Radiant Hunter Deleshart, all of them had been affected by that surge of Qi. Despite the considerable distance, they could still feel that oppressive power of Cassius’s Qi, and it was frightening indeed.

Claire and Soss had felt as helpless as drowning victims in the deep sea moments earlier. Torrential pressure had slammed down on them from every direction, threatening to crush them on the spot. If that force had been even a little stronger, it could have burst Claire and Soss like water balloons. They would have ended up flattened into a bloody smear on the ground.

“So that means White Aster wasn’t even fighting seriously during our battle just now!

The thought flashed across Lion King Soss’s mind, draining his face of color. All his confidence and pride were finally shattered.

Even the Number Four Shadow Hunter, Aaron, had been bested by Cassius, and Soss could no longer cling to his meager remnants of pride.

“Aaron lost... Such a domineering display...” The Number Two Shadow Hunter looked at the figure standing like a steel tower in the distance and spoke in a low tone.

“He’s going to challenge you next, Jin.” The Number One Shadow Hunter turned to the white-haired giant. “I’m afraid you won’t be a match for him...”

“I think even...” He paused, shifting his glance to Number Two nearby, but in the end said nothing more.

“So this is one of the empire’s top-tier masters from the Covert Martial Arts community? I wonder which mysterious sect he hails from.” Radiant Hunter Deleshart obviously knew something about the Covert Martial Arts community, and his eyes gleamed faintly. He suddenly spoke to Claire, who was tending Solomon. “Take Solomon away. I just saw him come to, but he happened to run into that wave of energy that suppressed half the canyon and was instantly knocked out again...”

Claire froze briefly, then glanced down at Solomon lying unconscious on a rock. This fellow really was spectacularly unlucky...

At the center of the battlefield, Aaron staggered to his feet, cradling the remains of his rapier, now just a hilt, in distress. His palm tingled and stung. He took three deep breaths to calm the wild pounding of his heart. That moment in which everything froze had left him reeling. That pressure was greater than anything he had felt even when he was sparring with the president.

“You win...” He faced Cassius, some seven or eight meters away, and spoke with a complex expression.

Aaron had genuinely never imagined he would lose to someone who had been a Shadow Hunter for barely a minute. This newcomer had not even visited the sacred spring, yet still overcame him in an indescribably tyrannical, crushing victory.

He sensed that the other man, having already beaten him, was still not satisfied and wanted to challenge the higher-ranked Shadow Hunters. Taking a long, cold breath, Aaron watched their companions gradually approach.

In the end, his gaze fell upon the Number Three Shadow Hunter, Jin. Unexpectedly, the seemingly frail, slender middle-aged man next to Jin stepped forward first.

He was Phantom Louis, the Number Two Shadow Hunter, who had attained that rank twenty-five years ago. He was the most senior and also the most ruthless in combat among all the Shadow Hunters present.

He stared at Cassius and was the first to issue a challenge. “How about you and I have a fight?”