The Samsara Jade

Chapter 23

Li Chen stepped out from behind the crushed rock. The deadly purple fog swirled around his metallic, grey skin. His black eyes locked onto the young man sitting by the campfire. 

It was the face of the killer. The man who had slaughtered his father ten years ago. 

"You are breathing too loudly, little rat," the young man said again, smiling a cold, cruel smile. He picked up the blood-red sword. "Come here and die."

Li Chen did not say a word. A massive, burning fire of pure hatred exploded inside his heart. He did not care about the man's cultivation level. He did not care about the strange campfire in the middle of the poisonous chasm. He only wanted revenge. 

"I will kill you!" Li Chen roared. 

He pushed his heavy, dark Qi into his legs. The mud beneath his feet blasted outward. Li Chen shot forward like a fired arrow, crossing the fifty yards in a single second. He pulled his iron-hard right fist back, aiming directly for the smiling face of the killer. 

The young man did not move. He just kept smiling. 

BANG! 

Li Chen’s fist slammed into the man’s face with all the power of the Third Level of Qi Condensation. 

But there was no sound of breaking bone. There was no blood. 

Instead, a wet, sticky SQUELCH echoed in the cave. 

Li Chen’s eyes went wide with shock. His fist had gone completely through the man's head. But it did not feel like flesh. It felt like punching a pile of thick, wet mud. 

Suddenly, the young man’s body began to melt. The white Inner Sect robes, the face, the hands—they all turned into a grey, sticky slime. The "blood-red sword" twisted and changed, turning into a massive, sharp, hairy insect leg. 

"What?!" Li Chen gasped, trying to pull his arm back. But his arm was stuck tight in the sticky grey slime. 

The "campfire" on the ground suddenly flickered and floated up into the air. It was not a fire at all. It was a glowing yellow ball of light attached to a long, thick antenna. 

Behind the melting slime puppet, the dark rock wall of the cave suddenly moved. 

Two giant, glowing yellow eyes opened in the darkness. 

It was a beast. A massive, terrifying monster that had blended perfectly with the stone wall. It was a Rank-2 Mirage Angler-Beast. It looked like a giant stone crab mixed with a spider. It used a glowing lure and mind-reading slime to show its prey exactly what they wanted or feared the most. It had read Li Chen's deepest nightmare and used it to trap him. 

"SKREEEEE!" The giant beast shrieked, a sound like grinding metal. 

It raised two massive, sharp pincers, ready to cut Li Chen perfectly in half. 

"You tricked me!" Li Chen shouted. He planted his feet firmly into the ground. He did not panic. He pulled his stuck arm with all his raw, Void-Iron strength. 

With a loud tearing sound, Li Chen ripped his arm out of the sticky slime. He jumped backward just as the giant pincers slammed together, missing his waist by an inch. 

Clang! The pincers hit each other, making a loud metallic sound. 

The giant beast stepped out of the shadows. It was huge, the size of a small house. Its shell was made of thick, hard grey stone. 

Li Chen breathed heavily. His heart was beating fast, but he quickly calmed down. "You are just an ugly bug," he said coldly. 

He lunged forward again. The beast swung its massive right pincer at Li Chen’s head. Li Chen ducked underneath it. He stepped close to the beast's giant leg and punched the stone shell. 

Boom! 

The punch was incredibly heavy, but the Rank-2 beast’s shell was too thick. Li Chen’s fist only left a small crack. 

The beast quickly kicked Li Chen with a sharp middle leg. The kick hit Li Chen in the chest, sending him flying backward into the mud. 

"Ugh!" Li Chen grunted, sliding in the dirt. He stood up quickly. The Void-Iron Physique protected his internal organs, but the impact still hurt. 

He realized his problem. He had power, but he did not know how to use it. He was just swinging his fists like a wild animal. 

"You fight like a drunken pig!" 

The tired, ancient voice of Old Kui suddenly rang out inside Li Chen's mind. The dragon-turtle had woken up again, disturbed by the loud battle. 

"Old Kui!" Li Chen thought. "Its shell is too hard!"

"Its shell is not the problem. You are the problem, boy," Old Kui mocked. "You have the heavy, god-like Qi of the Chaos Root, and the perfect Void-Iron body, but you throw punches like a weak farmer! You only use the strength of your arm."

The giant beast charged at Li Chen again, its pincers snapping wildly. 

"Dodge to the left!" Old Kui commanded. 

Li Chen obeyed instantly. He pushed off his right foot and slid smoothly to the left. The giant beast crashed into the mud where he just stood. 

"Listen closely," Old Kui said. His voice was strict. "I will teach you the most basic physical art of the ancient gods. It is called the Void Shattering Fist. It does not use fancy magic. It uses pure, brutal force. The power does not come from your arm. It comes from the earth!"

The giant beast turned around and screeched, rushing at Li Chen once more. 

"Plant your back foot!" Old Kui ordered. 

Li Chen stepped his right foot back, digging his heel deeply into the hard rock under the mud. 

"Draw the dark Qi from your dantian. Push it down into your legs, twist your hips, and send the power up your spine into your shoulder!"

Li Chen closed his eyes for a split second. He felt the heavy pool of dark Qi in his stomach. He pushed it down. He felt the connection to the solid ground. 

As the giant beast swung its massive pincer, Li Chen opened his eyes. They burned with a pitch-black light. 

He twisted his hips violently. The motion sent a massive wave of power traveling up his back. He pushed his arm forward, throwing the Void Shattering Fist. 

His fist moved so fast it created a sharp whistling sound in the air. 

BANG! 

Li Chen’s fist connected with the exact center of the giant beast’s thick, stone-like face. 

The difference was absolute. This punch contained three times the force of his normal strike. 

CRACK! 

The hard shell of the Rank-2 beast shattered like fragile glass. Li Chen’s arm buried itself deep into the monster’s head. Thick, glowing green blood exploded outward.