Chapter 47: Pure Explosive Power
How could one enrage an Archdevil? The answer was simple: ruin its plans.
Unlike lesser devils, which were cunning and bullied the weak while fearing the strong, Archdevils were battle-hungry and cruel, possessing relentless drive. Once an Archdevil made a decision, it would charge forward to the bitter end. Even if what awaited it was death, it would charge the battlefield rather than give up.
After being summoned by Zhou Tai No. 9, Deimos had already formed a plan. First, it would slaughter every living creature in sight. Then, it would slowly tear the very man who had summoned it apart, piece by piece, just to see whether Zhou Tai truly did not fear death. However, Jin Dajun had ruined that plan. Zhou Tai No. 9 had met a premature end.
Fury blazed within Deimos's eyes as it growled at Jin Dajun. "You insignificant ant... you're courting death!"
To the Archdevils, even insults had ranks. Calling someone an insect was the lowest form of contempt. An ant ranked slightly higher than that. Clearly, Deimos could tell that Jin Dajun was no ordinary opponent.
Jin Dajun nudged Zhou Tai No. 9's severed head with his foot and grinned. "Don't tell me he's your son? My apologies. I accidentally stepped on your son and killed him."
Deimos's rage instantly boiled over, and it lashed out at Jin Dajun with its massive tail. But Jin Dajun had anticipated the attack. Without hesitation, he drove forward with his Iron Mountain Lean, colliding head-on with Deimos's sweeping tail.[1]
The ground shook violently. Jin Dajun sank into the earth a little, and a dense web of cracks spread out beneath his feet. However, even though he was far smaller than Deimos's massive tail, the collision had ended with him knocking the tail away.
The left side of Jin Dajun's body, which had come into contact with Deimos's tail, suddenly ignited with green flames. Had Gong Qian witnessed this scene, she would have immediately understood how she had been poisoned. Every scale on Deimos's tail carried a potent poison. They could poison someone on mere contact.
Deimos was not surprised by the outcome of the collision. After all, it had not put any real force into the attack. Its true intention had been to kill Jin Dajun with the poison coating its tail.
However, when it saw that the poison did not affect Jin Dajun, its golden vertical pupils narrowed. In the next instant, it directly appeared in front of Jin Dajun. A hook punch shot forward like a battering ram aimed at a city gate. Jin Dajun's reactions were equally swift. Before the punch could connect, he had already retreated.
What followed was a relentless advance and retreat. Deimos attacked with its fists, hammering downward again and again. Yet each time, Jin Dajun narrowly evaded the blow. Every punch crashed into the ground instead.
A continuous barrage of explosions echoed across the battlefield, accompanied by tremors that spread in all directions. Yu Xian, who also heard it, immediately directed his bubble upward into the sky. From above, he caught sight of Jin Dajun battling Deimos.
A flash of realization hit Yu Xian. "So the reinforcement Director Yu Lie mentioned was Captain Jin's father, Uncle Jin."
Jin Dajun was not simply dodging. While evading Deimos's attacks, he was constantly launching counterattacks of his own. Unlike Jin Sheng's broad, overwhelming, and momentum-driven fighting style, Jin Dajun fought with steady precision, his movements restrained, refined, and executed with lethal efficiency.
The distance between Jin Dajun and Deimos was less than three meters, and with its enormous frame, the Archdevil could cover far more than that with a single punch. Yet, through a seamless dance of footwork, Jin Dajun ensured that Deimos failed to touch even a single strand of his hair. He even managed to consecutively hit the Archdevil's wrist multiple times in the same spot.
As the pain in its wrist intensified, Deimos finally changed tactics. Opening its mouth, it instantly fired a crimson energy blast into the ground. At the same time, the cobra head at the tip of its tail opened its jaws and launched a green energy blast high into the sky.
It shouted, "Devil Cage!"
The green energy blast exploded overhead, transforming into countless green strands that rained downward. Simultaneously, the earth ruptured as pillars of crimson light erupted from the ground. In the blink of an eye, a massive cage formed from green lines and red pillars, sealing off the surrounding area.
Jin Dajun decisively pulled back. He cast a quick look around, but found no blind spots or openings in the cage. Deimos was clearly preparing to deploy a new tactic, and this cage was meant to lock him in place.
The Archdevil stared at him. "Corrosive Venom Marsh!"
The cobra head at the end of Deimos's tail lowered itself and opened its jaws, spewing massive amounts of green venom onto the ground. Within moments, the entire battlefield transformed into a toxic swamp. The green mire continuously bubbled and churned, releasing poisonous fumes into the air. Green flames immediately erupted across Jin Dajun's body. In the blink of an eye, he appeared to be engulfed in green fire from head to toe.
The venom was terrifyingly potent. Simply standing on the contaminated ground was enough to poison someone.
Deimos sneered as it looked down at Jin Dajun, a cruel smile spreading across its face. "Ant. The entire area is now saturated with my corrosive venom. As long as you remain inside this cage, the venom will continue to seep into your body. Slowly dissolve in despair."
In its mind, Jin Dajun's miserable fate was already sealed.
Yu Xian muttered, "This is bad. What if Uncle Jin dies out there..."
He could not help but worry. Having witnessed Gong Qian's condition after she was poisoned, he knew exactly how terrifying Deimos's venom could be.
But there was nothing he could do. He could only watch helplessly from a distance. Forget helping, he wasn't even qualified to enter the cage. And even if he somehow managed to get inside, it would only amount to throwing his life away.
Yet just as his anxiety peaked, Jin Dajun began to swell within the green flames. From his original height of a little over 1.8 meters, he rapidly expanded until he stood nearly five meters tall.
With bulging veins protruding across his body and a savage smile on his face, he glared at Deimos. "That's got some kick! It actually stings a bit!"
Deimos let out a furious roar and threw a punch at Jin Dajun. Jin Dajun answered with a punch of his own. When the big fist and the small fist collided, neither side gave ground. For the first time since the battle began, the two appeared evenly matched.
Jin Dajun grinned. "You're the first opponent who's forced me into my Wrathful Vajra form this quickly. Since that's the case, you'd better enjoy my fists!"
He took the initiative and charged forward. His fighting style changed. Previously, every move he made had been measured and controlled. Now, his attacks became broad and explosive. Every punch carried pure, overwhelming violence.
Deimos growled and immediately struck back without the slightest intention of backing down. They launched themselves at each other with reckless ferocity. Neither bothered with techniques. Neither cared for tactics.
Inside the cage, fist after fist landed with crushing force. The battlefield itself seemed to turn upside down beneath their assault. The scene was so overwhelming that Yu Xian unconsciously swallowed. To him, it looked less like a battle between intelligent beings and more like two primordial beasts locked in a savage struggle for survival.
Too powerful. Is this the world of true powerhouses?
After consuming the Blood of Pangu, Yu Xian had leaped from the lower Ant rank all the way to the upper Sparrow rank. Before today, he had considered himself rather strong. But everything he witnessed just now had filled him with an overwhelming sense of urgency. He was still far too weak.
Yet the longer he watched, the harder it became to stay invested in the fight; it was because Jin Dajun and Deimos kept fighting in the same way. They traded blows and grappled with one another, rolled across the venomous swamp, and slammed each other into the ground. Every impact sent the venom into the air. There was no technique, strategy, or finesse involved, only the most primitive form of violence.
Time slowly passed. The sun gradually disappeared beyond the horizon, and the moon quietly rose into the night sky. Yu Xian eventually descended to the ground. The moment he landed, Zhang Shou and Gong Qian asked him about the situation on the battlefield. When Yu Xian explained everything to them, they fell silent.
After a long pause, Gong Qian clenched her fists. "So, you're saying that even if I'm completely cured of the poison right now, I still wouldn't be able to help?"
She could not withstand Deimos's venom. At this point, the entire battlefield had become saturated with venom. She probably wouldn't die if she entered the cage, but rather than being of help, she would only become a burden to Jin Dajun.
1. 铁山靠 (Tiě Shān Kào) is a signature technique of 八极拳 (Bājíquán), a traditional Chinese martial art famous for its explosive close-range power. The practitioner drives their shoulder, torso, or entire body into an opponent with overwhelming force, resembling a mountain crashing forward. In martial arts fiction, it is often portrayed as a devastating body-check capable of shattering defenses and sending enemies flying. ☜