The golden shockwave tore through the chain-link mesh, rippling outward like the strike of an ancient temple bell.
Up in the front-row VIP box, Zhao Kai was already on his feet. He held a crystal wine glass high in the air, grinning with manic joy. Across his lap lay betting slips totaling thirty million yuan, pooled together from four underground loan bosses.
“Drink with me, gentlemen!” Zhao Kai shouted over the roar of the crowd. “Thirty million on Lei Hu tearing Tie Niu’s head off in round one! The butcher never misses a throat strike!”
The gamblers beside him raised their glasses, yelling in greedy excitement.
Inside the cage, Lei Hu’s pitch-black palm was pressed against Tie Niu’s left carotid artery.
Lei Hu’s grin was wide, feral, and hungry. He expected the wet crunch of crushed cartilage. He expected the arterial spray of hot blood. He poured twenty years of vile Iron-Sand Poison Qi into the contact point, intending to melt Tie Niu’s flesh into black mush.
Nothing gave way.
Tie Niu’s neck did not bend. It did not tear. It did not bleed.
Underneath the skin of Tie Niu’s throat, thick golden veins pulsed with incandescent light. The Millennium Tiger-Bone Tempering Paste had penetrated deep into his bone marrow, fusing with his martial core. A layer of ancient bronze qi, as hard as meteorite iron, coated every tendon.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! SNAP!
A rapid series of sickening crunches echoed through the microphone on the ring post.
Lei Hu’s four fingers bent backward at impossible ninety-degree angles. The splintered white ends of his metacarpal bones tore clean through the blackened skin of his palm, spraying dark, toxic blood across the canvas.
His wrist joint collapsed like dry bamboo under a hydraulic press.
“AHHHHHHH!”
Lei Hu’s triumphant roar turned into a shrill, ear-splitting scream of agony. He stumbled backward three steps, clutching his mangled right wrist with his left hand. Tears of pure pain streamed down his scarred face.
“My hand! My hand is gone!” Lei Hu shrieked. “What kind of metal are you made of?!”
Tie Niu stood in the center of the ring, his head tilted slightly. He rubbed the side of his neck with one callused thumb. There was not even a scratch. Only a faint bronze glow lingered on his skin before sinking back beneath the surface.
[Ding! Target Tie Niu completes internal fusion with Millennium Spirit Marrow!]
[Martial Evolution Complete: Rank 2 High External Martial Artist (Perfected Bronze-Bell Iron Body)!]
[Physical Defense Rating: Impervious to standard internal qi strikes, bladed weapons, and heavy kinetic trauma!]
Tie Niu looked at Lei Hu with a calm, honest expression.
“You yelled so loud,” Tie Niu said plainly. “I thought you were strong. But your hand is soft like wet tofu.”
Up in the VIP box, Zhao Kai froze.
His crystal wine glass slipped from his fingers. It struck the edge of the mahogany rail and shattered into glittering fragments, splashing expensive vintage wine across his betting slips.
“My... my thirty million...” Zhao Kai stammered, his eyes bulging. “No. No! Lei Hu, get up! Break his ribs! Use your left hand!”
Zhao Kun jumped out of his armchair, his face purple with rage.
“Lei Hu, you useless garbage!” Zhao Kun roared over the rail. “I paid you five million yuan! Kill him or you will never work in this province again!”
Lei Hu’s mind snapped under the combination of blinding pain and humiliation. For twenty years, he had been the most feared killer in Jiangcheng. If he ran now, he was dead anyway.
“I will take you down with me!” Lei Hu howled.
He gathered every scrap of black poison qi left in his dantian. His left palm swelled into a grotesque, purple-black club, steaming with foul sulfur fumes. He lowered his head and charged at Tie Niu like a wounded boar, aiming a suicidal thrust directly at Tie Niu’s heart!
Tie Niu did not retreat an inch.
He set his feet into the concrete floor, bending his knees into a firm, natural horse stance.
“Chairman Lin told me earlier,” Tie Niu said, his voice carrying clearly to every corner of the silent arena. “He said dinner is waiting at Grandma Chen’s noodle shop. I promised not to waste time.”
Tie Niu pulled his right fist back to his hip.
His bronze back muscles coiled like thick steel cables. His knuckles glowed with the dull, heavy sheen of cast bronze.
When he drove his fist forward, he did not use any flashy martial forms. It was just a clean, honest, heavy straight punch.
BOOM!
The air in front of Tie Niu’s fist collapsed with a sharp sonic crack.
Tie Niu’s knuckles landed dead center on Lei Hu’s chest.
For half a second, time seemed to stop. Lei Hu’s heavy bull-hide vest vanished, shredded into tiny black ribbons that scattered in the air like confetti. The ribs beneath his chest caved inward in a sharp concave curve.
Then, kinetic energy exploded.
The two-hundred-and-forty-pound killer was launched backward like an artillery shell fired from a cannon.
CRASH!
Lei Hu’s flying body tore clean through the heavy chain-link cage, snapping four-inch steel support posts like dry toothpicks. He flew thirty feet across the open arena floor, soaring directly into the prime VIP box!
SMASH!
Lei Hu smashed dead center through Zhao Kun’s polished mahogany tea table.
The six-foot wooden table shattered into thousands of jagged splinters. Porcelain teacups, silver kettles, and boiling water exploded in all directions.
Lei Hu slammed into the reinforced concrete back wall of the VIP box, leaving a spiderweb of deep cracks in the stone. He slid down to the floor, coughing up two mouthfuls of dark blood, before his eyes rolled back in his head.
He lay motionless in a heap of broken wood and spilled tea leaves, completely unconscious.
The entire underground colosseum fell into dead silence.
Two hundred wealthy gamblers sat frozen in their leather booths. Cigar ashes dropped onto their silk shirts without anyone noticing. The loan sharks who had taken Zhao Kai’s thirty-million-yuan side-bets stared at the demolished VIP box with open mouths.
Tie Niu stood in the center of the demolished cage. He brushed a speck of dust off his knuckles, turned around, and walked through the gaping hole in the chain-link fence.
He stopped in front of Lin Mo, standing tall and bowing his head respectfully.
“Chairman Lin,” Tie Niu said. “The warm-up is finished.”
Lin Mo looked at Tie Niu, then looked up at the wrecked VIP box.
One punch to settle thirty years of underground terror, Lin Mo thought, deeply satisfied. Tie Niu’s punch was worth every single cent of that fifty-million-yuan paste. And the best part is, Zhao Kun’s expensive table is completely ruined.
Beside Lin Mo, Su Wan adjusted her glasses, her lips curving into a small, cool smile.
“A clean knockout in one strike,” Su Wan said softly. “The arena medical team will need an industrial crane to peel Lei Hu off that wall.”
Shen Qiaoqiao checked her tablet, tapping the screen with a sharp click.
“According to underground colosseum rules,” Shen Qiaoqiao announced in a clear, carrying voice, “the challenger wins all side purses, and the host must surrender all disputed rights. Zhao Pharmaceutical’s claims on municipal distribution are legally dissolved.”
Up in the VIP box, Zhao Kun pushed himself up from the floor, coughing violently. His designer suit was soaked in hot tea and covered in wood splinters. A jagged gouge ran across his left cheek where a flying teacup had grazed him.
Beside him, Zhao Kai sat slumped on the wet floor tiles, staring at his soaked betting slips in sheer horror.
“Thirty million...” Zhao Kai sobbed, his voice cracking like a broken reed. “My personal savings... my car... my apartment... it is all gone...”
Zhao Kun kicked Zhao Kai in the ribs with savage fury.
“Shut up, you useless waste!” Zhao Kun roared, though his own legs were shaking so hard he had to lean against the wall. He stared down at Lin Mo with wild, bloodshot eyes. “Lin Mo! You think you won?! This arena is the territory of the Black-Tiger Hall! My elder brother, Supreme Grandmaster Lei, is in closed-door cultivation at the provincial peak! When he comes out, he will wipe your entire Taichu Group off the map!”
Lin Mo did not even look up at Zhao Kun’s rant.
To Lin Mo, a defeated dog barking from a broken balcony was not worth answering.
Lin Mo turned his attention to the fifty disabled martial veterans who had escorted them into the colosseum.
The old soldiers were standing along the benches, their eyes wide with disbelief and joy. Many of them had tears streaming down their weathered, scarred faces.
“Commander Tie won...” an elderly veteran with a wooden peg leg whispered, clutching his chest. “A boy from the common people broke the butcher’s poison palm with one punch!”
“Thirty years!” another scarred veteran shouted, his fist raised high. “The Black-Tiger bullies have terrorized the south docks for thirty years! Today, justice finally arrived!”
Lin Mo smiled warmly at the old men.
He took out his Black-Gold Sovereign Benevolence Card and handed it to Su Wan.
“Su Wan,” Lin Mo said in a clear voice. “Tie Niu fought bravely, but these fifty senior brothers stood behind us without flinching. They risked their lives coming into this pit. They protected our people.”
“What are your orders, Chairman Lin?” Su Wan asked, opening the payment console.
“Wire ten million yuan immediately,” Lin Mo commanded. “Two million to Tie Niu as a personal victory bonus. And divide the remaining eight million equally among these fifty veterans. That is one hundred and sixty thousand yuan in cash for each veteran. In addition, every veteran receives free lifelong medical care and spirit-herb tonics at Taichu Sanctuary Hospital.”
The fifty veterans froze in absolute shock.
“O-One hundred and sixty thousand yuan?!” the old peg-legged soldier stammered, dropping his cane. “Chairman Lin, we only stood on the benches! We did not even throw a punch! We cannot take your money!”
“Take it,” Lin Mo said, his voice firm and gentle. “You bled for this country on the border forty years ago. When you grew old and wounded, the Zhao family treated you like trash. In my Taichu Group, no righteous veteran will ever beg for medicine or worry about food. This money is your victory reward.”
Tap.
Su Wan swiped the card across the portable satellite terminal.
BEEP.
A crisp, glorious system chime rang out inside Lin Mo’s mind, clear as mountain water:
[Ding! Detected spending of ¥10,000,000.00 RMB on Subordinate Victory Bonus & Righteous Veteran Relief!]
[Target Beneficiaries: Tie Niu (93/100) & 50 Disabled Martial Veterans (Goodness: 88–94/100)!]
[Purpose: Direct cash bonuses, lifelong medical security, and high-grade herbal recovery!]
[Pure Altruistic Intent Verified: Rewarding loyal service and honoring honorable veterans!]
[Triggered 100x Pure Benevolence System Refund!]
[Cash Refund Received: +¥1,000,000,000.00 RMB!]
[Funds deposited directly into Host Personal Liquid Vault!]
[Personal Liquid Vault: ¥81,000,000,000.00 RMB!]
[Benevolence Merit Points: +1,000,000 BMP | Total BMP: 173,949,528 BMP!]
[Good People Network Expanded: 9,550 Verified Righteous Allies (+50 martial veterans added to Taichu Security Core)!]
Another billion added to the vault, Lin Mo noted with calm satisfaction. Eighty-one billion yuan. And fifty loyal, battle-hardened veterans now have full medical care and secure lives. That is what true wealth looks like.
The mobile phones in the veterans’ pockets began chiming in rapid succession.
Ding. Your account has received ¥160,000.00 RMB. Ding. Your account has received ¥160,000.00 RMB.
The fifty old men looked down at the bank alerts on their cracked phone screens. Several of them collapsed to their knees on the concrete, weeping openly as they gripped Lin Mo’s hands.
“Chairman Lin... you are a living saint!”
“For twenty years, nobody cared if we lived or died! You gave us our dignity back!”
“From today on, our fifty old bones belong to Taichu! If anyone dares touch Chairman Lin, they will have to step over our corpses first!”
[Ding! Fifty veterans pledge undying martial loyalty to Host!]
[Network Morale: Peak Righteous Resonance!]
While the veterans cheered and wiped away their tears, a heavy rumble came from the backstage iron doors.
The iron doors parted with a loud grind of chains.
Four security guards in dark suits rolled out an ornate display cart made of antique rosewood. On top of the cart sat an antique box carved from fragrant dragon-scale sandalwood, inlaid with mother-of-pearl and secured by a silver clasp.
The head auctioneer stepped onto the raised podium with a microphone. His hands were shaking violently as he looked nervously at Lin Mo and then up at the broken VIP box.
“L-Ladies and gentlemen!” the auctioneer announced, his voice trembling through the speakers. “We now present the grand finale of tonight’s underground gathering! An unmatched imperial medical treasure passed down through nine generations!”
The auctioneer reached out with gloved hands and slowly lifted the lid of the sandalwood box.
Inside, resting on a cushion of faded gold silk, lay nine slender needles.
Each needle was seven inches long, forged from pure millennium spirit-gold. Even under the dim lights of the colosseum, the needles emitted a soft, warm golden glow, humming with a faint, musical vibration like the song of cicadas on a summer evening.
In the second row, Dr. Gu Qinghe sprang to his feet.
His hands shook so violently that he nearly dropped his glasses. His eyes fixed on the nine humming needles, tears spilling freely down his weathered cheeks.
“The Sovereign Spirit-Gold Nine-Turn Needles...” Dr. Gu cried out in a voice choked with grief and joy. “The lost Upper Nine Needles of my master’s Sun-Simiao lineage set! Zhao Pharma’s thugs set fire to our family clinic ten years ago and stole them... they really survived!”
Beside Dr. Gu, six-year-old Little Guo’er reached out her tiny hand, her eyes wide as she pointed at the box.
“Grandpa Gu,” Little Guo’er whispered in her sweet, clear voice. “The needles are singing! They are warm, like sunshine!”
Up in the ruined VIP box, Zhao Kun wiped blood from his cheek and looked down at the stage.
When he saw Dr. Gu’s tearful face, Zhao Kun’s mouth twisted into a vile, sadistic grin. He lunged toward the microphone mounted on the wall railing.
“Dr. Gu, you old quack!” Zhao Kun spat, his voice screeching through the colosseum. “You want your family’s needles back? Keep dreaming! I’ll bid fifteen million yuan right now! I’ll melt those needles into gold teeth for my guard dogs before I let you touch a single one!”