Words were unnecessary… all that was needed was to strike.
At the moment he burst into laughter, Netero's hands hanging at his sides suddenly moved, seeming to outpace time, coming together naturally.
As the palms closed, a series of afterimages of arms belatedly rippled out, constructing a picture full of contradiction between extreme speed and slowness.
In the King's eyes, at that moment, a golden light filled his vision.
He saw a golden Guanyin with numerous arms, standing behind the aged martial artist.
From Netero's clasped palms, one hand abruptly separated, slashing down through the air.
The golden Guanyin followed with a palm, striking the King's body.
Even as the image was transmitted from the retina to the brain...
"Huh?"
The information of his body being heavily struck arrived even faster.
By the time he reacted, he realized he had already been struck to the ground by a palm.
Boom!
The Guanyin's chopping palm directly smashed out a large crater.
"An impressive strike."
The King offered unreserved praise in his heart, then stood up from the crater completely unharmed.
That fierce strike couldn't even scratch his skin.
"Purely in terms of technique, it's quite good."
The King looked at Netero, who maintained the chopping stance, offering his evaluation.
The implication, of course, was that the power was somewhat lacking.
Netero stared coldly at the King. At this point, he deeply understood... the Chimera Ants' defense, which defied conventional logic.
Of course, he had only struck once. The battle to come still promised enjoyment.
Second Hand!
Netero's downward-chopping right palm suddenly flipped over, then pushed outward.
The Guanyin's bamboo-like arm on the right rippled with golden light, pushing over from the King's left side.
The King only had time to raise his right hand, fingers spread, palm facing the Guanyin's ground-scraping push, before being mercilessly sent flying.
His body became a black streak, crashing heavily into a rocky cliff face over a hundred meters away.
With a loud bang, dust scattered.
Netero lowered his posture and charged forward.
The King freed himself from the cliff wall, landing steadily on the ground, still unharmed.
At that moment, golden light once again filled his vision.
'Indeed fast.'
This thought flashed through the King's mind as palms came at him from left and right, enveloping him.
Third Hand!
A sharp glint flashed in Netero's eyes. He urged the Guanyin's power, continuously squeezing the King trapped within the clasped palms.
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, the Guanyin's clasped palms were forcibly pushed apart. The King used his right hand and left foot to pry the palms open.
Simultaneously, a terrifying purple-and-white Aura emanated from the King, seemingly declaring that he was now beginning to get serious.
That Aura, which even from Netero's perspective could be called monstrous, brutally and unreasonably pierced through Netero's spirit and body.
In that instant, Netero reflexively retreated, doubling the combat distance compared to before.
Simply because, from that erupting Aura, he sensed an indescribable omen of disaster.
This physical reaction faster than thought deeply discouraged Netero.
It signified that he had yielded before that Aura, even if subconsciously...
At the same time, Netero had no extra time to dwell on the discouragement. He immediately made a decision.
His opponent was an absolute monster. From the very start, he should have launched an uninterrupted series of strikes, not these widely spaced palm strikes.
With almost no hesitation, in front of the King, Netero suddenly leaped into the air.
The Aura tinged with golden light pulsed from his body like a breathing light.
The King, enveloped in purple Aura, slowly looked up, his gaze following Netero into the air, then also leaped up.
He bent his right arm, fingers spread into a palm, charging murderously towards Netero in the air.
Then, the King saw Netero clasp his palms again, then perform a peculiar gesture.
Both palms formed the number '9'… primarily the thumb and forefinger forming the circle of the 9, with the middle finger forming the lower part, then the hands coming together to form the highly suggestive number '99'.
[100-Type Guanyin: Ninety-Ninth Hand!]
The golden Guanyin manifested in an instant.
The King's eyes narrowed. His right hand stabbed towards Netero's face, missing by a palm's breadth as a chopping palm struck him from above.
Boom!
The King, powerless to resist, was smashed from the air into the ground.
These inconsequential strikes annoyed the King. The moment he landed, he immediately rose, but the Guanyin's second and third palms almost simultaneously landed on him, pressing him harshly into the earth.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Guanyin's arms were like machine guns, unleashing a barrage of relentless palm shadows. The King, at the center, was pinned to the ground, utterly unable to move or dodge, forced to passively endure the pummeling.
Boom! Boom! Boom...!
The rocks shattered, erupting layer upon layer like a fountain, spraying towards the sky.
In the blink of an eye, the Guanyin had pounded a large crater into the ground. The King's figure was long lost amidst the golden palm shadows, not a trace visible.
The dust stirred by the immense impacts rolled outwards, quickly filling the flat valley enclosed by rocky mountains.
At this moment, an outsider arrived at the combat zone's edge.
It wasn't Law, it was Selina.
She stood on a rocky mountain, her face full of terror as she watched the commotion below.
The golden palms of the giant Guanyin, the old man in the air emanating an awe-inspiring presence, and the King, who could still radiate a powerful aura even while being frenziedly attacked.
'What on earth... is this?'
Selene's spirit suffered an inexpressible impact.
Earlier in the palace, the two humans who had brushed past her had given her soul-piercing pressure. But this exaggerated scene before her completely stunned her.
'Humans were not trash at all.'
'Humans could also be terrifyingly strong.'
Suddenly, a topic once discussed by the Squadron Leaders surfaced in Selina's mind.
In their eyes, humans were merely readily available food or toys to be played with at will.
Then came the declarations from each Squadron Leader, proclaiming their intent to establish their own kingdoms.
'Establish their own kingdoms?'
Amidst her extreme shock, Selene even felt a trace of pity.
That pity was directed at those Squadron Leaders.
'If they had personally seen those two humans in the palace, if they had seen the old man now suppressing the King... would they still dare to establish their own kingdoms, form their own nations?'
In her shock, Selina was immobilized, only able to stare blankly at the Guanyin unleashing its might, her ears filled with the sounds of bombardment.
…
The Flowerbed Nen Space.
Ging stood on a green leaf, the numbers on his chest obscured by a dead leaf.
That was where the number of collected Insect Cards should be displayed.
However, he had used the concealing effect of the [Dead Leaf Insect] to hide the number of cards he had gathered.
Looking up, under the sunlight, Pouf hovered in the air with his iridescent butterfly wings, looking down at Ging from above.
Like Ging, a dead leaf also covered his chest.
Concealing one's hand was a basic pre-battle operation.