"Hundreds of punches in a split second? That's impossible! His fist speed—am I the only one who can't see it clearly? What about you guys?" One of the Taiyi Sect experts stared, eyes wide.
The others just kept shaking their heads—clearly, nobody saw how Ryan Ling threw those punches. All they knew was one thing: fast.
And besides fast, there was one more thing—ferocious!
Right now, every punch Ryan Ling threw was earth-shattering, blasting into the formation with deadly force. In no time, the whole center of the array swelled up twice its size, covered in deep fist marks.
"Senior brother, is his strength really just at the Blue Realm grandmaster level? This is basically reaching Purple Realm! I can't take it anymore!"
"Me neither!"
Two of the weakest second-generation Orthodox Unity disciples coughed up blood with a loud "waah!" The rest looked downright miserable—even Mason Ma, the most senior, had gone pale as a ghost.
He never expected to end up in a situation like this. Back when they trapped the Seven-Tailed Fox Demon, they never faced this kind of counterattack. Which means this kid's explosive power is even stronger than a demon beast!
Could his strength really be at grandmaster peak? But he's just a teenager! Across the whole of China, where would you find a grandmaster at the peak who’s only in his teens?
For a moment, a thousand thoughts crashed around inside Mason Ma's head!
In the end, all those tangled thoughts boiled down to one line—second upgrade for the formation.
Normally, any Daoist formation can only be upgraded once—never twice. If you force a second upgrade, you're basically risking your life. Even if you kill your enemy, you’ll probably end up dead or crippled yourself.
That’s why, under normal circumstances, nobody dares to do it!
But facing the pain of losing his son and the threat of sect destruction, Mason Ma finally snapped. Eyes red, he suddenly shouted, "Heaven-Gang Earth-Fiend Demon-Subduing Array, second upgrade!"
The moment he said that, everyone from the Taiyi Sect and Golden Sword Gate was stunned. Deep down, they couldn't help but admire Mason Ma's guts—better to die with honor than live in shame.
But the Orthodox Unity disciples nearby turned pale. They’d all been thinking about retreating—maybe even cutting a deal with a freak like Ryan Ling. But Mason Ma was dead set on this, so a bunch of them immediately tried to bolt.
"Die!" Mason Ma shouted, and without a hint of hesitation, a sword flew out from behind him—cleanly lopping off the head of a junior who was about to run.
Everyone froze, too shocked to say a single word!
"Damn it, I've already lost my son. If you guys don't fight to the death with me, I'll kill him myself—anyone tries to run, just watch!" Mason Ma was clearly losing it. After he finished, nobody else dared move; they all backed off, knowing Mason Ma was the most ruthless here and nobody wanted to mess with him when he went crazy.
Then, with Mason Ma’s roar, the Heaven-Gang Earth-Fiend Demon-Subduing Array upgraded again. The second upgrade instantly pushed its power to the max—the whole array shifted from red to black. At the same time, Mason Ma and the others turned hellish, looking like demons crawling out of the underworld!
In an instant, everyone from Taiyi Sect and Golden Sword Gate backed way off—nobody could guess how destructive a second-upgraded formation might be, since it’s literally never happened before.
"Mason Ma really is insane!"
"That kid’s done for this time!"
"Dead for sure—and maybe the whole Dragonridge Mountain gets leveled!"
Right then, everyone started sighing and shaking their heads.
Even Ryan Ling didn’t expect Mason Ma to go this nuts; he instinctively took two steps back.
"See that? The kid’s losing it—this time we’re definitely winning!" Mason Ma burst out laughing, totally reckless now. All he wanted was to crush Ryan Ling for good.
In that instant, the array’s pressure crashed down on Ryan Ling like a tidal wave—even the Bronze Summit Daoist Temple started cracking layer by layer.
"Kneel! Right now, I want you to kneel for my son!" Mason Ma roared, unleashing endless pressure straight at Ryan Ling!
At that moment, Ryan Ling’s legs trembled slightly—but he still stood tall!
He took a long, deep breath, gathering all his qi into a single point. Suddenly, everyone’s eyes went wide—his face was a blur behind the swirling energy.
"This kid’s strength is unreal—even now he can still ramp up his explosive power. Just how much potential does he have?"
"Watching the Heaven-Gang Earth-Fiend Demon-Subduing Array’s second upgrade go head-to-head with this kid at full blast—this has gotta be the strongest fight Dragonridge City’s seen in thirty years!"
"No kidding. Who’d have thought Dragonridge would get a monster teenager like this? Any one of us steps in there, we’re dead for sure!"
...
Everyone watching couldn’t help but sigh—both sides were just insanely strong!
Right now, Mason Ma obviously saw Ryan Ling powering up—and he also heard all the other sects praising him. No way was he letting that slide. He went totally berserk, screaming, "Die! Even if your luck’s off the charts, you’re still gonna die! Die! Die! ..."
He shouted "die" seven or eight times in a row, and the whole formation started shrinking like crazy. Where it used to cover all of Dragonridge Mountain, now it was squeezed down to just the Bronze Summit Daoist Temple—and the concentrated power shot up several more times.
In a split second, the centuries-old Bronze Summit Daoist Temple was flipped over and smashed to pieces.
All the other sect members around gasped, eyes popping wide open.
Because something absolutely insane was happening—while fighting Mason Ma and holding off the killing array, Ryan Ling somehow managed to split off part of his power to shield Warren Yuan, Jason Lin, and the others. Under his protective qi, they were totally untouched by the array’s crushing force.
"What kind of monster strength is this? Has he actually hit grandmaster peak?"
"No way—if he’d really broken through to Purple Realm, there’d be purple qi swirling around him. But there’s nothing like that! Seriously, what kind of cultivation method is he using? This is just freaky!"
"Honestly, with this kid’s power, he might just pull off a miracle. You believe it or not?"
...
Everyone was totally hooked—almost all their comments were rooting for Ryan Ling now.
"Crush him to death!" Mason Ma practically roared. No matter what Ryan Ling did, in his eyes it was all pointless now.
Suddenly, the array launched its final, all-out blast—every ounce of force slammed straight at Ryan Ling, shaking the heavens and earth. It was like divine thunder smiting a demon; for a moment, it looked like the whole peak of Dragonridge Mountain was split in two!
But right then, Ryan Ling finished gathering his power—his fists shot out like rain, every punch packing Purple Realm grandmaster force. And even crazier, he was moving so fast he threw out thousands of punches a second!
At that moment, not a single eye could track Ryan Ling’s movements.