365: Chapter 365 Super Mode, Power Unleashed

"Again? I haven't even warmed up yet."

While his voice still drifted over the ruins, Chen Wuwang's right hand had already slid off the joystick, his fingertips prying at the bottom of the cockpit—

A rust-stained metal cover popped open, revealing a crimson button beneath it; it looked as if it had been cast in lava, its surface hot enough to roast an egg.

He grinned, a scrap of dry rations still stuck between his teeth.

"I've been waiting for you for three rounds."

He pressed the button down hard.

"Buzz—!!!"

At that moment, the entire "eye of wuwang" mecha was like a malevolent god dragged from the depths of the earth; the ruined platform beneath its feet exploded, and rubble flew in all directions like bullets.

Dozens of runic chains on the machine's surface lit up layer by layer, starting from the chest core and spreading upward one after another. The red light turned to gold, then gold to white, until finally, the entire mecha was enveloped in a layer of blinding white flames, looking as if it would self-combust and disintegrate at any second.

Alarms blared frantically.

[Warning! Energy circuit overload!]

[Right arm main control circuit damaged, forced override failed!]

[Hydraulic System pressure has broken through the threshold! Joints are about to melt!]

[Super Mode activated, safety protocols disabled, countdown: 90 seconds...]

"Shut up!" Chen Wuwang roared, slamming his left hand onto the console, making the entire panel rattle. "I didn't tell you to tell the time, I told you to work!"

His eyes were fixed on the sky—the Nascent Soul Expert's hands were still held in a seal-forming gesture. The third Psionic Sphere had just missed its mark, and the dust from the collapsing mountain had yet to settle.

The opponent had clearly sensed something was wrong; his brow furrowed and his expression shifted, but his spiritual power hadn't been withdrawn. Suspended in the air, he was unable to teleport.

Now!

"Move!" Chen Wuwang shoved the joysticks forward, the metal groaning under the unbearable strain.

The "eye of wuwang" stomped its right leg down hard, the ground instantly cracking as spiderweb-like fissures raced out for a hundred meters.

Using the force, the mecha soared into the sky. Its left arm armor folded back automatically, revealing an embedded Psionic Thruster that roared with three streams of blue-white ion flow, forcefully propelling the ten-zhang-tall body—which should have been clunky—upward like an arrow!

"What?!" The expert high in the air narrowed his eyes, his expression finally changing. "This thing... can fly?!"

He wanted to break the seal and retreat, but the spiritual power cycle wasn't complete; a forced interruption would only cause a backlash.

He could only watch helplessly as that battered mecha tore through the air, soaring three hundred meters high with a rolling sonic boom, its fist aimed directly at his face.

"What do you think you are?" Chen Wuwang grinned savagely in the cockpit, his voice as raspy as a knife scraping iron. "An old man playing pitch-pot, hiding in the sky throwing balls? You think you're worthy of being called a Nascent Soul Expert?"

The fist arrived.

It wasn't an afterimage or an energy wave, but a solid, physical punch. A right fist forged from Nano-alloy and Spirit-inscribed Steel, carrying all the residual energy of Super Mode, compressed the air into a circular shockwave that distorted light itself as it passed.

"Boom—!!!"

The world seemed to fall silent for an instant.

The remaining enemies in the distance looked up to see two figures facing off high in the sky—

One suspended motionless, the other lunging in mid-air. The air in front of that fist was actually compressed into visible ripples. Rubble, dust, and even severed threads of spiritual power were all suspended and frozen, as if time had been paused.

"Impossible!" The Nascent Soul Expert finally panicked. "How could a piece of scrap metal like you possibly get close to me!"

He yanked his hands apart, forcibly breaking the spiritual power cycle. Blood seeped from the corners of his mouth as he struggled just to gain half a step of evasion space.

But it was too late.

"I told you—" Chen Wuwang gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead and his eyes bloodshot. The words squeezed out from between his teeth, "I haven't even warmed up yet!"

"Boom—Crack!!!"

The punch was unleashed like a Dragon.

That punch struck less than ten inches from the Nascent Soul Expert. Although it didn't land directly, the pressure of the punch exploded like a landslide or a tsunami.

The air exploded, and spiritual power turbulence sliced through the sky like knives. The protective spiritual light in front of the expert didn't even last half a second before shattering. He was sent flying backward by the wind of the punch, coughing up a mist of blood that traced a crimson arc in the air.

"Cough—!" He jerked his body to stabilize himself, clutching his chest, his face pale. "You... what kind of evil art is this?! How can a mecha burst forth with such power?!"

"Evil art?" Chen Wuwang sneered. The mecha hovered in mid-air, its right fist not yet withdrawn, the energy on its surface still boiling, making the surrounding air crackle.

"This is called technology! Understand? Technology! It’s not like your pretentious tricks of chanting spells and forming hand seals!"

He slowly raised his left hand to point at his opponent, the cockpit's voice System amplifying his words simultaneously: "Didn't you just ask me what kind of expert hides and dodges behind a sheet of iron?"

"Now I'm telling you—"

"I'm not dodging anymore."

"I'm going to punch you right out of the sky!"

Before his voice had even faded, he slammed the joysticks forward to the limit again.

Every rune on the "eye of wuwang" instantly brightened to its limit, the thrusters roaring until they glowed red. The entire mecha lunged forward again like an arrow from a bow!

The Nascent Soul Expert's pupils constricted. He rapidly formed hand seals, attempting to manifest a defensive barrier, but before the spiritual power could take shape, the wind of the punch was already at his face.

"Boom—!!!"

The second punch!

This time, the fist slammed directly into the Psionic Shield the opponent had hastily condensed.

The shield shattered!

The man was sent flying!

The expert shot backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing through three layers of clouds before barely stabilizing himself over a kilometer away. The robes on his chest were completely shredded, revealing a burn mark deep enough to show bone—it had been seared into him by the sheer pressure of the punch.

"Heh... heh..." He panted heavily, fear appearing in his eyes for the first time. "This is impossible... how could a Mortal mecha... overpower a Nascent Soul's true body?!"

"Mortal?" Chen Wuwang stood in mid-air, the mecha's eyes flashing red as his voice spread across the battlefield through the amplification array. "I'll tell you what a Mortal is—"

"We have no innate Divine Power, no Bloodline bonuses, and no Immortals to teach us laws."

"But we dare to gamble with our lives, we dare to pour every last drop of energy into a fist, and we dare to damn well charge forward even when the mecha is about to fall apart!"

"You're afraid of death, so you don't dare to land."

"I'm afraid of my people dying, so I must win!"

He slowly raised his right fist. Cracks were already appearing in the runes on the surface, black smoke was rising from the hydraulic lines, and alarms were sounding one after another.

[Super Mode remaining time: 47 seconds...]

[Right arm structural integrity: 31%...]

[Core temperature too high, immediate shutdown recommended...]

"To hell with your recommendations." Chen Wuwang spat and wiped the sweat from his face. "If I shut it down, how the hell am I supposed to fight?"

He stared intently at the swaying figure a kilometer away and murmured softly, "Forty-some seconds left... that's enough."

The "eye of wuwang" activated its thrusters again, its body leaning slightly forward. Its right fist was held high as energy converged frantically in the center of the palm, forming a blinding vortex of white light.

"One last punch," he said softly, as if talking to himself. "If I miss, I fall."

"If it hits—don't even think about standing up again!"

The mecha began to accelerate.

It wasn't a straight line but a spiral thrust, utilizing the thrusters and terrain counter-force algorithms to trace a bizarre arc in the sky. Its speed grew faster and faster, the wind from the punch tearing the clouds to shreds as it passed.

The Nascent Soul Expert finally panicked. He frantically formed seals, condensing seven layers of Psionic Shields around himself while a Lotus Formation generated beneath his feet, preparing to teleport away.

"Want to run?" Chen Wuwang grinned, his eyes manic. "Hahahahahaha—!"

The laughter pierced through the clouds, making the entire battlefield tremble.

"You should have run long ago! But you just had to wait for me to make the first move!"

"Now—it's too late!"

"Boom—!!!"

The third punch, unleashed!

The world lost its voice.

That punch seemed to pierce even through time itself.

A thousand meters was covered in but an instant.

The last thing the Nascent Soul Expert saw was that white-light-enveloped fist filling his entire field of vision.

Then—

The world went black.