The Samsara Jade

Chapter 46

Because Li Chen had infused the devouring dark Qi directly into the open air, the tiny black void on his knuckles kept eating. It could not stop. Having consumed the magical shield, the dark Qi violently consumed the closest available energy. It consumed the oxygen. 

In a fraction of a second, the dark Qi on Li Chen's fist sucked all the air out of the space immediately surrounding Meng. 

It created a perfect, localized vacuum. 

A space with absolutely zero air formed in a five-foot circle around Meng. 

Meng’s confident smile instantly vanished. 

Li Chen’s fist stopped moving. He did not even touch Meng's actual body. He just held his fist in the air, a few inches away from Meng’s face. 

Inside the vacuum, Meng suddenly felt an unbearable, terrifying pressure difference. 

The air inside Meng's own lungs was violently, forcibly sucked up through his throat and ripped out of his mouth to fill the empty void created by the dark Qi. 

"G-ghhk..." Meng choked. 

He grabbed his own throat with both of his massive hands. His eyes went wide with absolute panic. He opened his mouth as wide as he could, desperately trying to gasp for air, but there was nothing there. It was completely empty. 

The sudden, violent loss of oxygen and the extreme vacuum pressure wreaked havoc on Meng's body. 

The small blood vessels in Meng’s eyes burst, turning his eyes completely red. His face turned a deep, sickly shade of blue. He stumbled backward, waving his arms wildly, completely unable to breathe. 

Because his brain was instantly starved of oxygen, the giant, powerful 5th Level cultivator lasted less than three seconds. 

Meng’s eyes rolled back into his head. His massive body went completely limp. 

Meng collapsed onto the grey dust of his broken shield, completely unconscious. 

The arena fell into a silence so deep and heavy that it felt like a graveyard. 

No one cheered. No one whispered. The thousands of disciples, the Inner Sect Elders, the Sect Leader—they all stared at the stage in total, paralyzing shock. 

They did not understand what had just happened. 

They saw Li Chen punch the shield. They saw the shield turn to dust. And then they saw Meng, the Immovable Mountain, grab his own throat, turn blue, and pass out without Li Chen ever actually touching him. 

"Did... did he use poison?" a disciple finally whispered, his voice trembling in the quiet arena. 

"No... there was no smoke," an older disciple replied, shaking his head slowly. "It was like... he stole the air from Meng's lungs. He hit him with nothing."

Li Chen lowered his fist. The faint black light on his knuckles faded away, returning into his skin. 

He stood over Meng's giant, unconscious body. He looked down at the boy who thought he was an immovable mountain. 

"Nothing is impenetrable," Li Chen said softly. 

He looked up toward the side of the stage, where the old referee was hiding behind a wooden pole. 

Li Chen’s pitch-black eyes stared through the referee's soul. 

"Announce it," Li Chen commanded. 

The referee scrambled out from behind the pole. He was shaking so violently he almost dropped his flag. He looked at Meng's blue face, and then he looked at Li Chen's completely calm, grey-skinned face. 

"M-Meng is unable to continue!" the referee screamed, his voice cracking loudly. "The winner... and advancing to the Grand Finale... is Li Chen!"

A few people in the crowd clapped, but it was weak and nervous. The fear was too great. The boy they had called trash, the Broken Root they had laughed at, had just defeated the top-3 disciple without breaking a sweat, without spilling a drop of blood, and without anyone understanding how he did it. 

Li Chen turned away from the unconscious Meng. 

The sun was beginning to set in the west. The sky turned a deep, bloody red. Long, dark shadows stretched across the stone arena. 

Li Chen walked to the center of the stage. He looked directly toward the healing tents at the edge of the courtyard. 

Inside the tent, Zhao Feng was sitting on a wooden bed. He had swallowed three extremely expensive healing pills. His internal injuries were mostly healed. 

But Zhao Feng’s heart was beating wildly. He had watched the match through the open flap of the tent. 

Zhao Feng was a genius cultivator. He understood what he had just seen. 

Li Chen did not just have hard skin. Li Chen had a power that defied all the laws of magic. He had shattered a legendary shield and suffocated a man in three seconds. 

For the first time in his entire life, Zhao Feng felt the cold, creeping icy fingers of true fear grip his heart. Pure physical strength would not work against Li Chen. The 6th Level Blood Demon fire had not worked. 

Zhao Feng looked down at his hands. They were shaking. 

"Grandfather," Zhao Feng whispered, his voice trembling. He looked up at Elder Zhao, who was standing beside him with a grim, dark expression. "The fire did not burn him. The shield did not stop him. If I fight him in the Blood Barrier... he is going to kill me."

Elder Zhao’s old face twisted with hatred. He reached deep inside his golden robes. 

"I will not let a dirty, grey-skinned freak kill the future of the Zhao family," Elder Zhao hissed quietly. 

The elder pulled out a small, heavy object wrapped in black cloth. He slowly unwrapped it. 

It was a small, jagged dagger. But it was not made of steel or stone. It was carved entirely out of dark, human bone. It pulsed with a sickening, evil, black aura. It was a forbidden demonic artifact, older than the sect itself. 

Elder Zhao placed the bone dagger into Zhao Feng's shaking hands. 

"If magic and fire cannot burn his flesh," Elder Zhao whispered, his eyes glowing with dark intent, "then you will use this. It is the Soul-Piercing Fang. You only need to scratch him once. It does not cut the skin. It phases through the body and devours the soul directly."

Zhao Feng gripped the bone dagger tightly. The evil aura from the weapon sent a rush of cold, desperate power through his veins. 

He looked out of the tent, staring at Li Chen, who was waiting calmly in the center of the bloody red sunlight on the stage. 

"You may have an iron body, Li Chen," Zhao Feng sneered, standing up and preparing for the final match. "But even iron cannot protect a soul from being eaten alive."