Chapter 347: Renzhi Vs West

"How could you deceive my family?" his fists trembled. "How could you touch my wife..."

His voice cracked.

"...and my daughter?"

The final words exploded from his throat. "YOU’RE DEAD, YOU BASTARD!"

A violent surge of crimson energy erupted from his body.

BOOM!

The wooden floor beneath his feet splintered apart.

Lianhua instinctively shielded Mei as overwhelming pressure flooded the room.

Renzhi’s activated his branches completely.

Eight brilliant crimson eyes slowly opened across his neck, shoulders and arms.

Each eye glowed with an eerie red light, swiveling independently as though alive.

His shirt tore apart as dark feathered wings burst from his back... and unlike ordinary wings, these were covered with dozens of blinking crimson eyes from top to bottom.

Every eye fixed itself upon West simultaneously, sending an oppressive aura rolling through the room.

What was left of the already shattered windows, rattled violently while picture frames crashed from the walls.

Mei’s breathing stilled, seeing her father ready to tear West apart.

She didn’t know what to do...

West’s expression remained unchanged as he studied Renzhi’s new look. "So this is your full transformation..."

He studied the countless eyes with genuine curiosity. "...Impressive."

That single word was enough to snap the last thread of restraint inside Renzhi.

With a thunderous roar, he vanished.

CRACK!

The floor exploded where he had been standing and an instant later, he slammed his shoulder into West.

BOOOOM!!

The impact shook the entire mansion and the force carried them straight through the bedroom wall.

Concrete shattered, steel reinforcement bars twisted apart and chunks of masonry blasted outward like artillery shells as the two figures tore through the side of the mansion before crashing into open air.

For one breathtaking moment... they were suspended above the estate grounds before Renzhi drove West downward.

The pair crashed into the courtyard below causing an explosion of dirt, stone and shattered pavement to blast in every direction.

The mansion trembled and inside the ruined bedroom, Lianhua stared at the massive hole where the wall had once stood.

Her hands shook uncontrollably as cold wind rushed through the opening.

Mei slowly stepped toward the edge before looking down.

Far below... another explosion erupted.

BOOOOM!

Fragments of stone shot into the sky as crimson energy swept in every direction...

The battle had already begun.

"...Mom..." Mei whispered. "What do we do?"

Lianhua trembled as every fiber in her wanted to stop them... to stop everything before someone died...

Yet she knew, she couldn’t.

Neither she nor Mei possessed the strength to insert themselves into a clash between two high-level awakened.

Doing so would accomplish nothing except getting themselves killed.

She slowly shook her head. "We stay back."

Mei looked at her in disbelief. "But Dad—"

"We stay back," Lianhua’s voice was firm despite the fear in her eyes. "We’d only make things worse."

Mei looked back toward the courtyard as another deafening impact echoed across the estate.

Windows throughout the mansion shattered simultaneously.

She felt utterly powerless as the realization sunk in. "...Smith... was lying to us..."

Lianhua closed her eyes. "The entire time."

Mei leaned weakly against the remaining section of wall.

Every conversation, laugh, shared meal, memory... she replayed them one after another in her head.

West’s kindness and patience had seemed genuine... the concern he had shown for both of them had seemed genuine...

And yet... his name, background and very identity were fabricated.

A tear rolled slowly down her cheek. "I..."

"I don’t even know who he is anymore."

Lianhua didn’t answer because she wasn’t sure she knew either.

Down below...

BOOOOM!

Another tremendous collision split the ground apart.

A crater several meters wide spread outward in an instant as shattered stone and uprooted grass erupted into the air.

West skidded backward across the broken earth, leaving two long trenches behind his boots before finally coming to a stop.

He barely had time to steady himself before Renzhi moved again.

"YOU’RE DEAD!" his roar shook the surrounding neighborhood.

The crimson eyes covering his arms, neck, and enormous black wings all snapped open simultaneously, swiveling in unison... before locking onto West.

A suffocating pressure rolled across the battlefield.

West narrowed his eyes as Renzhi spread his wings.

BOOM!

One powerful flap sent West rocketing through the air like a crimson missile.

The dozens of glowing eyes embedded throughout his wings flashed brilliantly.

An instant later...

SHHHHHHOOOOM!!

Scarlet beams erupted from every eye at once.

The night sky was instantly painted red as concentrated blasts carved through everything in their path.

Trees exploded into splinters, streetlights vaporized and parked vehicles were reduced to molten wreckage as the beams converged toward West from every direction.

West’s pupils contracted as he threw himself sideways.

BOOOOM!!

The ground where he had been standing disappeared beneath a massive explosion.

Dust and debris engulfed the entire vicinity but Renzhi didn’t pause.

He folded his wings and dove straight into the smoke.

Fwwwhiiiiiii~

West had only just regained his footing when a fist shot toward his chest.

He raised both forearms just in time...

BANG!

However, the impact blasted him backward... but something strange happened before he could travel very far...

The crimson eyes covering Renzhi’s right arm glowed and in the next instant, a thin crimson beam flashed across West’s body.

West suddenly felt his entire body become impossibly heavy.

"...What?" his knees buckled as he landed back on the ground.

CRACK!

The ground beneath his feet fractured and every movement became sluggish.

He felt his muscles strain under the sudden increase in gravitational force.

"So that’s what your right arm does..."

Renzhi’s eyes burned with murderous intent. "It crushes."

He vanished again and West barely managed to raise an arm as another punch landed.

BANG!

The gravity intensified whime West crashed through a decorative stone fountain over fifteen feet away.

Water exploded into the air but bwfore he could recover, Renzhi’s left fist arrived.

The eyes embedded throughout that arm flashed brilliantly and another crimson wave enveloped West.

Instantly... the crushing heaviness vanished and was replaced with an impossibly light feeling.

"...Seriously?" his boots left the ground as he floated upward uncontrollably.

His center of gravity disappeared completel, making his movements awkward and unstable.

West couldn’t even plant his feet properly.

Renzhi’s expression twisted into something almost feral. "Now..."

"...fall."

As he launched himself upward, West couldn’t defend himself properly while drifting weightlessly.

BAM!

A brutal uppercut slammed into his ribs, sending West shooting across the sky.

He crashed through the roof of a nearby house before bursting out the opposite side.

Concrete tiles rained into the streets while alarms immediately began blaring throughout the neighborhood.

West hadn’t even landed before another crimson beam struck him.

Gravity returned violently, sending his body plummeting.

BOOOOM!!

He smashed into the pavement hard enough to leave another crater, causing the surrounding road to shatter like glass.

Renzhi descended slowly with his wings spread wide.

The countless crimson eyes stared down at West. "I’ll kill you."

West slowly climbed out of the crater with dust rolling from his shoulders.

"You know..." he wiped blood from the corner of his mouth. "...Zu Li isn’t going to appreciate this."

The mention of her name only fueled Renzhi’s fury. "I DON’T CARE!"

His voice echoed through the streets. "I DON’T CARE ABOUT ZU LI!"

"I DON’T CARE ABOUT DRAGON FANG!"

"I DON’T CARE ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES!"

"I JUST WANT TO KILL YOU!"

His aura exploded outward and the pressure alone shattered every remaining window within hundreds of meters.

The crimson eyes all opened wider. "You took everything from me!"

West sighed quietly. "...You’ve completely lost yourself."

"SHUT UP!" He flapped again and unleashed another barrage.

Scarlet beams rained across the neighborhood like divine punishment.

West darted between collapsing buildings as every blast left behind smoking trenches stretching hundreds of meters.

One beam clipped his shoulder, another grazed his leg while a third exploded directly beneath him.

BOOOOM!!

The resulting explosion hurled him skyward and Renzhi instantly appeared above him.

His fist came crashing down upon West’s ascending figure.

BANG!

West became a living projectile as he shot across the neighborhood.

CRAAASH!!

He crashed into one tree after the other, snapping them in the process but it didn’t end there...

Massive trunks toppled like dominoes, wood splintered and leaves filled the air before West finally slammed into a boulder at the edge of a small woodland.

The stone cracked apart behind him, sending dust drifting lazily through the air.

A cloud of rolling dust that left a trail across the neighborhood, hampered visibility for a few moments.

After the dust cleared... a hand suddenly emerged from the debris.

West slowly stood with bruises covering his arms.

His jacket hung in tatters and blood trickled from several cuts across his face as he stretched one shoulder. "...Ouch."

Far away... Renzhi stared while floating in mid-air.

His expression slowly shifted from rage to disbelief. "...Impossible..."

His breathing became uneven. "Those attacks..."

"They’re impossible for a Tier One to survive."

"How..."

"...HOW?!"

West simply rolled his neck causing a series of loud cracks echo through the surrounding.

Renzhi’s eyes widened further. "What..."

"...are you?"