173: Chapter 173 Establishing Authority Through Force

Boom!

Just then, Qin Ce's wind-element energy erupted again.

Three faint Phoenix Flows took shape behind him, like three cyan ribbons, flashing across the twilight sky.

They formed too quickly; no one present could clearly see the trajectory of the three Phoenix Flows.

And no sooner had they formed than they instantly merged into Qin Ce's body.

"Rise!"

Qin Ce's legs bent slightly, then straightened abruptly.

Whoosh!

He leaped up.

His body shot straight into the air like a cannonball, rushing towards the Earth Lizard King, which was still restrained by the wind net and plummeting towards the ground.

His speed was even faster than the Earth Lizard King's descent, so fast that his teammates only saw an afterimage.

In the blink of an eye, he was in front of the Red-Scaled Earth Lizard King, then he grabbed the Earth Lizard King's front claw.

That front claw was half his body size, with five claws like five curved blades, capable of slicing him in half with a single swing.

But Qin Ce held on steadily.

Then his body flipped in the air, bringing the Earth Lizard King's massive body along with it.

A shoulder throw.

Using the inertia of the fall, Qin Ce violently slammed the Earth Lizard King's entire body towards the ground.

Boom—!!!

The sound of the Earth Lizard King hitting the ground was like a bomb exploding in their ears.

A shallow pit was formed in the ground, and gravel and dust splattered several meters high.

The Earth Lizard King's body was stuck in the pit, its limbs pointing skyward, and there were several cracks on its scales cut by Wind Blades, with dark green blood seeping out.

Its eyes were blank, still not having recovered from the series of attacks.

It didn't understand why a human with Bronze Rank strength kept using that Black Iron Pet Beast.

And even if he was Bronze, how could he control it and brutalize it like this?

However.

Qin Ce didn't give it time to recover.

He hovered in the air, the three Phoenix Flows behind him now fully integrated into his body.

He raised his right hand, palm facing down, and wind-element energy condensed again.

A giant Wind Blade, human-height, condensed to the extreme, with edges glowing silver-white, appeared.

The Wind Blade hovered for an instant beneath his palm, then, like a bolt of lightning, it struck directly at the Earth Lizard King in the pit.

The Earth Lizard King's eyes finally showed fear.

It struggled desperately, wanting to flip over, wanting to dodge, but its body was too large, the pit too shallow, and the time too short.

The trajectory of the falling Wind Blade grew larger and larger in its pupils.

Pfft.

The Wind Blade sliced through its scales, its muscles, and its bones.

Entering through the chest, exiting through the back.

Dark green blood gushed out like a fountain, splattering on the pit walls, on the gravel, and on Qin Ce's boots.

Ow—

The Earth Lizard King's scream was cut short halfway through.

At the moment the Wind Blade entered its body, it suddenly swelled, then exploded.

Like an overinflated balloon, it burst from within.

Flesh and scale fragments splattered in all directions, painting a dark red flower in the twilight sky.

Then, everything fell silent.

Qin Ce descended from the air, landing steadily at the edge of the pit.

His military uniform was stained with dark red lizard blood, as was his face, dripping down his chin.

His breathing was steady, his heartbeat calm, and his gaze indifferent.

He looked down at the unrecognizable pile of shattered remains in the pit, then turned around to face his teammates.

All of the teammates who were frantically rushing back stopped in their tracks.

Jiang Mo stopped fifty meters away, still clutching his standard long saber, his mouth agape.

Lei Gang stopped sixty meters away, with his Black Iron War Ape behind him, both man and ape wearing surprisingly identical expressions of dumbfounded shock.

Sun Lie stopped seventy meters away, his Ice-Armored Blazing Rhino panting heavily, its hooves digging shallow grooves in the ground.

The thirteen newcomers stopped even further away, some standing, some squatting, some slumped on the ground, each with an identical expression. Their eyes were wide, and their mouths were open as if to swallow an entire fist.

They looked at Qin Ce, at the young man covered in blood, standing beside the shattered corpse of the Earth Lizard King, with only one thought flashing through their minds.

Awesome!!!

Qin Ce stood at the edge of the pit, looking at his teammates.

Their expressions were clear to him.

He knew that from today, everything would be different.

There was something new in their eyes that hadn't been there before, and it wasn't obedience.

It was faith!

A Silver Rank fierce beast!

Crushed by a Bronze Rank Beast Tamer, who didn't even rely on his Pet Beast, only using borrowed power from it, engaging in close-quarters combat, directly confronting it head-on, taking it down in one go, and blowing its corpse into fragments.

Such strength was unheard of, let alone witnessed firsthand.

Just then, Qin Ce's aura suddenly surged again.

It wasn't the explosive surge from before, but a more sustained, deeper boiling.

His mid-grade bronze strength rose to Upper Bronze Rank.

Qing Luan had leveled up.

From mid-grade bronze to Upper Bronze Rank.

Actually, Qing Luan should have leveled up long ago.

It had killed so many fierce beasts in the beast tide, and casually cleared out so many fierce beasts while refining beast eggs, and most of those fierce beasts were higher ranked than it.

The accumulated experience was actually already sufficient.

But before, because Qing Luan had directly broken through to mid-grade bronze when it reached Bronze Rank, Qin Ce was afraid its foundation would be unstable, so he deliberately had Qing Luan suppress its advancement for a while.

And in that battle just now, coupled with the experience of killing the Silver Rank Earth Lizard King, all the experience points converged into a torrent at this moment, no longer suppressible, breaking through the threshold of Upper Rank.

Qin Ce could feel Qing Luan spreading its wings in the tattoo space, the new luster on its feathers brighter than before, its golden eyes deeper than before.

Its aura had changed; it wasn't just a little stronger, it was significantly stronger.

Its foundation was completely solidified.

From now on, it could once again grow rapidly.

Boom!

At this moment, the wind-element energy around Qin Ce uncontrollably spread outwards.

That wind pressure scattered the gravel and dust on the ground, pushing the nearest few Earth Lizard corpses ten meters away, dragging long trails of blood on the ground.

His teammates were pushed back a few steps by this wind pressure, but no one was afraid, no one retreated.

They looked at Qin Ce, at the cyan light swirling around him, watching him stand there like a god, the light in their eyes growing even brighter.

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