Lei Ao's reaction was indeed fast, but Yaoguang's movements were still far faster than his.
Just as Lei Ao's right foot stomped toward the wrist gripping Yaoguang's sword, the young man suddenly flicked his wrist. The stabbing blade rotated ninety degrees in an instant, allowing Yaoguang to reverse his grip. His attack changed from a straight horizontal thrust into a downward slash.
At the same time, Lei Ao's left foot kicked hard against the car's B-pillar, using the rebound to propel his body backward. However, before he could retreat completely, a streak of cold steel stabbed straight through the shin of the leg he had just used to kick.
Combined with the speed of Lei Ao's retreating body, the downward sword slash immediately ripped open the man's right calf, sending blood spraying everywhere.
The tremendous pain from the horrific wound twisted Lei Ao's expression into something as savage as a monster's.
Yet he endured the pain of having half his calf torn open and smashed through the car window opposite him with a low growl. Amid an explosion of shattered glass, his body shot out like a trapped dragon bursting from the bottom of the sea.
"I'll kill you!" His savage roar thundered like muffled lightning.
However, almost at the exact moment he escaped the cramped space and became certain he had finally broken free from his disadvantageous position, Yaoguang moved as well. The young man directed his body toward the roof of the car.
He lunged forward, and the Jin beneath both his feet exploded. Like a spring, his body launched itself one and a half meters into the air and glided across the car's roof. He seemed to cling to the roof's surface as he shot over it.
Realizing that the force of his leap was insufficient as he began to land on the sedan's roof, he freed his left hand and slammed it down hard, releasing a wave of Jin.
The steel roof caved beneath his palm, leaving a clear handprint bent so deeply that even the people inside the car could tell exactly where the blow had landed.
Using the rebound from that strike, Yaoguang's falling body suddenly shot two meters forward, gliding across the width of the car's roof.
When Lei Ao shot out of the vehicle, certain that he could launch a counterattack after escaping, Yaoguang was already waiting for him in the air. The young man followed close behind him like a predator hunting its prey, hovering one meter above the man's head.
"You!?" Lei Ao's eyes widened instantly.
But Yaoguang did not hesitate in the slightest. His right hand drove his invisible sword downward once more, aiming directly at Lei Ao's heart.
"Die!" Lei Ao snarled. A terrifying power within him seemed to awaken at incredible speed.
Just as the invisible sword was about to stab him, his right arm swung out with unbelievable speed. At the final fraction of a second, the man seized the blade itself.
No! That wasn't his right hand!
Lei Ao's entire arm had transformed, swelling to nearly twice its normal size. It looked more like a demon's claw than a human limb. Even the invisible sword's sharp edge could not immediately cut through the enlarged arm covered in thick scales.
But at that very moment, all of Yaoguang's internal organs trembled in unison. The Jin flowing through his entire body condensed into a single destructive force. It surged into his arm with the weight of a mountain.
That power was Core Jin—the Jin possessed only by Martial Arts Paragons who had trained their breathing into a core and begun breaking into a realm beyond ordinary humanity!
A trace of horror flashed through Lei Ao's eyes before the savage Jin force tore the man's clawed grip away from Yaoguang's invisible sword. The sharp blade ripped through muscle, crushed his ribs, and pierced straight into his heart.
At the same time, both bodies lost their ability to fly. They fell and crashed together into a puddle on the ground, sending water splashing violently in every direction.
Even with a sword through his heart, Lei Ao's killing instinct erupted instead. His roar grew wilder as his body trembled with seemingly endless power.
Yet Yaoguang, despite weighing far less, managed to use a grappling technique to pin Lei Ao down completely. His knee pressed against Lei Ao's thigh, leaving the man's muscles no room to extend.
Meanwhile, Yaoguang's left hand shot upward the instant after their bodies struck the ground. It flashed downward like lightning and slammed hard into the hilt of the invisible sword still gripped tightly in his right hand.
Even though the blade had already pierced his heart, Lei Ao still seemed determined to use his demon claw to pull it out. But under the crushing pressure of Yaoguang's left-hand strike, the invisible sword drove straight through his heart, burst out through his back, and sank deep into the ground beneath his body.
Yaoguang's left hand hurried to join his right on the sword's hilt, then twisted the blade with every ounce of strength he possessed.
Slash! Blood instantly sprayed from the wound, and Lei Ao's fierce struggle—which had nearly succeeded in throwing Yaoguang off—stopped abruptly.
His half-transformed demonic body lost all its strength. His resistance faded, and the area fell silent for a moment.
Demons could possess humans and transform their hosts' bodies, granting the possessed vessels extraordinary physical strength.
However, as long as those creatures maintained a form resembling a human's, they were forced to share humanity's weaknesses.
Crack! Yaoguang yanked his invisible sword forcefully from Lei Ao's ruined heart. Without the slightest pause, he stabbed again, driving the blade straight through the man's skull.
This Martial Arts Master could not pretend to be dead like Xia Li in an attempt to launch a counterattack, because he was already dead with no possibility of returning to life.
Yaoguang exhaled softly as sweat dripped from every pore.
Holding the sword, he rose to his feet and turned around.
Behind him, the driver named Ah Bao finally came to his senses after being stunned by the sudden turn of events.
The clash between the two men sounded like it had lasted a long time when described, but in reality, it had unfolded in the blink of an eye.
From the moment Yaoguang exploded into motion, pierced Lei Ao's shin, tore it open, then stabbed through his body and destroyed his heart, the entire sequence had taken less than three seconds.
This was how top-level martial artists fought. There was no need for fancy techniques. Life and death were decided in an instant.
In a situation like this, even though Ah Bao possessed considerable skill and held the title of a third-level martial artist, he could only react once the situation had settled somewhat.
When he realized that Yaoguang's brutality was far beyond anything he could handle, the driver—so loyal and devoted to Lei Ao—turned and fled without the slightest hesitation. His decisiveness was truly unbelievable.
He knew very well that the only hope of avenging Lei Ao was to immediately mobilize all of his boss's men and attack Yaoguang together. If he faced this bloodthirsty monster alone, he would certainly die.
Whoosh! A faint humming sound whistled past Ah Bao's ear just as he began running for his life.
It was the sound of something sharp slicing through the air. The thought flashed through his mind.
A moment later, a tremendous force slammed into his body. His body was suddenly thrown forward, completely out of control.
As he stumbled forward, he vaguely saw something resembling a sword embedded in the wall ahead of him. Cement dust filled the air, while the sword's hilt trembled.
There was blood on the blade, and that blood... Ah Bao lowered his head slightly.
Only then did he realize that when the heavy impact had struck him, it had created a clean, bloody hole straight through his chest.
That sword just now... Ah Bao thought.
"I..." He opened his mouth, trying to speak.
But all his body could do was continue staggering forward a few more steps under the force of inertia before he finally lost his balance and crashed hard to the ground.
Those few steps had exhausted every last bit of strength remaining in him.
Now, even keeping his thoughts focused had become impossible.
In the end, his eyes closed as the last remnants of his life faded away.
In the final moments before his consciousness completely sank into darkness, he faintly heard a voice speak. "They said he was Shanlong's number one? Turns out he's nothing special."