Chapter 141: Utter Destruction

With his voice trailing off, he lunged straight toward Chu Han. Wielding the long spear in his hand, he aimed directly for Chu Han's throat, the immense power he exerted shattering the ground into a crater.

Anyone who assumed Bai Qing was purely a brute-strength fighter simply because he wielded such a heavy spear would be gravely mistaken. During previous battles, he had used his superficial appearance to deceive quite a few opponents.

The reality was that he was a master who combined both strength and speed. His strength was formidable enough, and his speed was astonishingly swift, catching people completely off guard. The Gravity Movement Technique passed down through his family was an exceptionally fast footwork style.

Moreover, this movement technique worked by pushing physical strength to its absolute limit and then converting that power into velocity, making it notoriously difficult to deal with. True to form, he flashed right in front of Chu Han. Had his opponent been anyone ordinary, this strike would have succeeded seamlessly.

However, Chu Han was far from ordinary. Even before Bai Qing rushed in front of him, he had already reacted. Tilting his head slightly backward, he evaded the spear thrust, and then slammed his right foot fiercely into the ground. The earth began to fracture, and the violent tremor caused Bai Qing to lose his footing momentarily.

Taken aback, Bai Qing hastily leaped into the air, executing a backflip to distance himself from Chu Han. At that exact moment, Chu Han shouted, "Thunder Strike!"

As the words left his mouth, his right hand surged with crackling lightning, and he charged fiercely toward Bai Qing. Having just landed, Bai Qing was completely unable to react in time. Furthermore, Chu Han practiced the Lightning Emperor Technique, granting him terrifying speed.

Panicking, Bai Qing could only raise his spear to barely block the lightning assault. Thunder Strike relied entirely on instantaneous explosive force; if it failed to defeat the target on the first hit, the momentum would quickly wane.

Recovering, Bai Qing launched a counterattack, unleashing a barrage of gravity-based spear techniques. Attack followed attack in endless succession, leaving no room to breathe.

Seeing this fluid and seamless display of spearplay, the surrounding onlookers began to cheer. The elders seated on the high platform also nodded in satisfaction. Bai Qing's combat ability was indeed impressive; he executed the spear techniques to perfection with zero gaps between strikes, leaving one overwhelmed.

Yet, once the spearplay concluded, Chu Han was still standing right where he had started. He had completely blocked Bai Qing's entire set of spear moves using only his bare hands. Although he had retreated a few steps, his body was completely uninjured.

Even though Bai Qing's attack speed and movement were exceptionally fast, they meant very little to Chu Han. The defense of his Purgatory Golden Body was simply not something an assault of Bai Qing's caliber could pierce.

With Bai Qing's offensive finished, Chu Han initiated his counter-offensive. Raising his right hand, the converging lightning forces materialized into a giant python that coiled tightly around Bai Qing. Knowing the paralyzing properties of the lightning, Bai Qing dared not take it head-on, and could only use his spear to fight off the lightning python.

Meanwhile, Chu Han darted to his side and landed a vicious punch straight into his back. Because Bai Qing was preoccupied with the python, he failed to notice Chu Han approaching his rear. The blow struck squarely between his shoulder blades, causing him to stagger and nearly collapse to the ground, though he managed to steady himself in the end.

Though he appeared largely unscathed, Bai Qing was inwardly shocked by Chu Han's raw strength. It felt as though he had been rammed by a rhinoceros; his internal organs vibrated violently, leaving him with severe internal injuries. Enduring the agonizing pain, he roared, "Blazing Rock Spear!"

As the command left his lips, the long spear became coated in an earthy-yellow layer of true Qi. With a fierce thrust, he pierced the body of the lightning python, causing the electricity to vanish instantly. Without pausing, his attack continued directly toward Chu Han, the sheer force generating a shrill, piercing whistle in the surrounding air that chilled onlookers to the bone.

Refusing to conceal his strength any longer, Chu Han did not dodge the incoming spear. Instead, he dropped into a horse stance, his right fist completely engulfed in blazing electricity. Seeing this posture, the spectators assumed he had lost his mind—attempting to meet Bai Qing's attack head-on was nothing short of suicidal.

"Haha, go to hell!"

Seeing this maneuver, Bai Qing was overjoyed. Since Chu Han refused to evade, he was confident that this single strike would claim his life.

As the spearhead reached him, Chu Han raised his right fist and smashed it directly against the tip of the weapon. The two forces collided, kicking up a dense cloud of dust. When the dust finally settled, the two figures remained locked in a stalemate. Yet, Chu Han's expression remained utterly calm, while Bai Qing's face was a mask of disbelief.

A moment later, the spear began to fracture inch by inch, the extraordinarily sturdy weapon snapping right down the middle. Only then did the crowd truly grasp the terrifying extent of Chu Han's strength. It was no joke—sixteen thousand catties of brute force was simply not something someone like Bai Qing could easily contend with.

With a flick of his wrist, Chu Han conjured a ball of compressed lightning in his right hand and hurled it directly at Bai Qing. The orb detonated violently upon contact with the air, blasting Bai Qing backward. He slammed heavily onto the ground and spat a mouthful of fresh blood. Witnessing this, the crowd erupted into cheers once more.

Chu Han had defeated Bai Qing effortlessly, not through a grueling battle, but by utterly crushing him with sheer, overwhelming power. This decisive victory demonstrated clearly that he was vastly superior to Bai Qing.

Chu Han merely smiled faintly; defeating Bai Qing was hardly enough to excite him. His true target was Tang Feng, and beyond him, the Great Scarlet Heaven. The fact that Bai Qing's strength barely touched the threshold of the Great Scarlet Heaven was a testament to how terrifying that realm truly was.

Turning around, Chu Han cupped his fists toward the elders on the high platform and prepared to step down from the Life-and-Death Stage. At that exact moment, he heard Zhang Yuxi's voice cry out, "Big Brother Chu, watch out!"

Startled by the warning, he reacted instinctively, whipping around to thrust his fist forward. Sure enough, Bai Qing had scrambled back to his feet. The two fists collided, but because Chu Han had been forced to parry in a hurry, the impact left his knuckles numb and sent him stumbling backward several steps.

"Wait, why has Bai Qing's aura suddenly grown so powerful?"

"Indeed! That kind of aura is clearly something only a practitioner in the Yin Realm can emit. I'm certain of it."

"Could this guy have taken a forbidden pill?"

The crowd broke into a flurry of animated discussions. The elders were hardly fools; naturally, they perceived the sudden shift in Bai Qing and hurriedly stood up.

At this moment, Bai Qing's face was flushed crimson, veins bulging across his skin. His cultivation realm had forcefully broken into the Yin Realm, and his previous injuries seemed to have vanished entirely as he charged back toward Chu Han.

"Bai Qing, stop this instant! Taking a forbidden pill on the Life-and-Death Stage—do you wish to be expelled from the Taiyi Sect? Stand down immediately, or do not blame us for showing no courtesy!"

Xuan Xuzi bellowed angrily. Yet, at this point, nothing could stop Bai Qing. He was acutely aware of the consequences of consuming a forbidden drug on the Life-and-Death stage, but he no longer cared. Even if it meant expulsion from the Taiyi Sect, he was resolved to eliminate Chu Han right here and now, and the only way to achieve that was by taking the pill.

This forbidden drug was an elixiral concoction capable of forcibly elevating one's cultivation realm. Having previously been at the peak of the Dao Palace realm, taking the pill pushed him directly into the Yin Realm. He was firmly convinced that this surge of power would guarantee Chu Han's death.

With his fist already inches away from Chu Han's face and the elders too far to intervene in time, it appeared to be an inescapable death trap. The fainter-hearted members of the audience averted their eyes, unable to bear watching; after all, Chu Han had already defeated Bai Qing fairly through his own strength, only for this shameless opponent to resort to a forbidden drug.

Sensing the surging energy within Bai Qing's body, Chu Han merely smiled slightly. The man had indeed ingested a pill designed to forcibly boost his power, but the potency was far too weak—several tiers below the pills he himself had consumed before entering the Samsara Valley.