The Samsara Jade

Chapter 37

Li Chen simply stepped forward into the attack. He pulled his right arm back. He did not use the Void Shattering Fist technique. He did not use the power of the earth. He just threw a normal, simple punch. 

BOOM! 

Li Chen’s grey, metallic fist met Gao’s giant stone fist right in the middle of the air. 

The sound of the impact was terrifying. It sounded like a bomb exploding. A massive shockwave of air blasted outward in a perfect circle, blowing dust and small rocks off the stage. 

The crowd's cheers instantly died. 

CRACK. CRASH! 

Gao’s magical yellow earth armor completely shattered into a million tiny pieces. The solid rock covering his arm turned into fine, yellow sand. 

But it did not stop there. The incredible, unstoppable force of Li Chen’s punch traveled straight through Gao’s arm. 

"Ahhhhh!" Gao’s confident roar turned into a high-pitched scream of pure terror and agony. 

The massive, seven-foot-tall boy was lifted completely off the ground. He flew backward through the air like a weightless ragdoll. He flew across the entire stage, passed over the edge, and crashed heavily into the stone steps thirty feet away. 

Gao rolled down the steps, completely unconscious. His right arm was swollen and twisted. 

The entire arena was dead silent. Thousands of people stared at the stage with their mouths hanging open. 

Li Chen stood exactly where he had been. He slowly lowered his right fist. He had not taken a single step backward. He had not even taken off his heavy black coat. There was not a single scratch on his grey knuckles. 

He had defeated a 4th Level upper-tier disciple with exactly one punch. 

The referee's hands were shaking as he raised his flag. "W-winner... Li Chen!" 

Li Chen turned around and walked calmly down the stairs, heading back to his empty spot in the crowd. As he walked, the disciples backed away even further. They looked at him as if he were a ghost. 

High up in the VIP balcony, Elder Zhao narrowed his eyes. He was a withered, cruel old man wearing expensive gold robes. He held a cup of tea tightly in his wrinkled hands. Sitting next to him was his grandson, Zhao Feng. 

"Fascinating," Elder Zhao whispered, his voice like dry leaves rubbing together. "He has no spiritual Qi at all. The boy is completely empty of magic. But his physical body is incredibly dense. He definitely ate a high-level body-tempering treasure in the wild."

"It does not matter, Grandfather," Zhao Feng said, smiling his dark, arrogant smile. "Brute strength is for animals. When he faces a true cultivator who uses speed or elemental magic, his hard skin will not save him. Let him fight. Let him tire himself out. When he meets me in the finals, I will roast the pig in his own fat."

"Be careful, Feng," Elder Zhao warned softly. "A cornered animal can still bite."

"I am the dragon, Grandfather," Zhao Feng replied, looking down at Li Chen with pure hatred. "And he is just a worm who found a shiny rock."

…

The early rounds of the tournament flew by rapidly. 

The sun climbed to the very top of the sky, burning hot and bright. The arena was a mess of broken stone, burnt wood, and dried blood. Many disciples were carried away on stretchers by the sect healers. 

But everyone was only waiting to watch one person. 

Li Chen stepped onto the stage for his second match. 

His opponent was a famous fighter named Swift-Blade Liu. Liu was at the 3rd Level of Qi Condensation. He was small, skinny, and incredibly fast. He used a long, thin, flexible silver sword. 

"You got lucky against the big idiot!" Liu shouted, drawing his silver sword. The blade glowed with a bright green light. It was wind magic, designed to make the sword move faster than the eye could see. "You cannot hit what you cannot catch! I will cut you a hundred times before you even blink!"

"Begin!" the referee yelled. 

Liu exploded into motion. He was just a green blur. He ran in a wide circle around Li Chen, creating a strong wind on the stage. He wanted to confuse Li Chen. 

Li Chen stood perfectly still in the center of the stage. He kept his hands in his pockets. He looked completely bored. 

"Take this! Thousand Leaf Cut!" Liu screamed. 

Liu darted in from Li Chen's blind spot. He thrust his glowing green sword directly at Li Chen’s ribs. 

CLANG! 

The sharp silver sword hit the side of Li Chen’s ribs, right through the black leather coat. But the blade stopped dead. It did not pierce the grey, iron-hard skin underneath. 

Because Liu was moving so fast, the force of his own speed worked against him. When the sword failed to cut Li Chen, the thin silver blade bent completely in half. 

SNAP. The high-quality sword broke into two pieces. 

Liu stopped running. He stood right next to Li Chen, holding a broken handle. His eyes went wide with absolute panic. "W-what?" 

Li Chen slowly turned his head and looked down at the terrified boy. 

"Too slow," Li Chen whispered. 

Li Chen pulled his right hand out of his pocket and delivered a short, brutal punch directly to Liu's stomach. 

BAM. 

Liu’s eyes rolled into the back of his head. He vomited his morning breakfast into the air. The punch lifted his feet off the ground, and he flew backward, sliding off the edge of the stage into the dirt. 

"Winner, Li Chen!" the referee cried out, his voice cracking with disbelief. 

One punch. Again. 

The crowd went completely crazy. The whispers turned into loud shouting. 

"Did you see that?! The sword just broke!"

"He didn't even move! He just let him hit him!"

"They are calling him the One-Punch Demon! His body is totally unbreakable!"

An hour later, Li Chen was called up for his third match. 

This time, his opponent was a beautiful young woman named Senior Sister Lin. She was at the 4th Level of Qi Condensation. She did not use swords. She used two long, magical whips made of pure, burning red fire.