The roach man's head was smashed by a single punch, and the onlookers hadn't had the chance to process what had just happened.
Without a head, the roach man somehow moved again, its six insect legs stretching out to embrace Xue Jing.
"Tsk, figures it's a cockroach," Xue Jing frowned and leaped backward, avoiding the roach man's deadly embrace while kicking out mid-air.
Under the explosion of the Power of Twins, he broke two of the roach man's stacked legs, sending its torso flying backward.
"Crack!"
Xue Jing didn't pause; instead, he immediately activated the Twin Speed, bending forward and dashing up to the roach man, his gaze sharpening as he reached his hand into the gaping hole where its head had been.
Cockroaches, as creatures, do not have their weakness in their heads. Even without it, they won't die, at least not for eight or nine days, until they perish from thirst and hunger for lack of food.
Their real vulnerability lies just below the throat, above the chest, in the nerve ganglion beneath the esophagus.
A sticky and disgusting sensation transmitted up from his palm, and Xue Jing, suppressing his revulsion, scooped up what seemed like a soft object.
The roach man immediately convulsed, struggling frantically as several sharp legs sliced deep, bone-deep gashes in Xue Jing's body.
Xue Jing hardened his heart. Instead of dodging, he strengthened his whole body with Power for defense; then, gripping the soft object, he hoisted the headless roach man into the air before slamming it into the ground and pinning it there.
In the banquet hall, shadows cast by the lighter's flame allowed numerous black streams to flow towards Xue Jing's palm. Inside the roach man's body, unseen by others, a burst of Dark Flame exploded.
The surface of the roach man's body suddenly swelled, then stiffened. Its convulsions and struggles gradually ceased until it lay motionless.
Pei Youguang, holding his lighter, watched Xue Jing's movements, and thought he saw wisps of Black Flame rising from the creature's body. But it was so dark that it was hard to see clearly, almost like an illusion.
He mumbled to himself, "My god... Dark Flame of Bashen?"
As the roach man stopped moving, Xue Jing withdrew his palm from its body.
"Is it... over?"
The crowd stared blankly at the young man standing in the center, his body covered in wounds and smeared with dark green goo.
The monster that seemed to have leaped out of a horror movie no longer stirred; it lay dead on the ground.
"It's dead, it's dead!"
Someone exclaimed excitedly.
Many people's faces were splattered with the foul-smelling, dark green goo from the roach man's burst head, but they were unconcerned, their excitement and joy at having survived a harrowing experience unchecked.
"Who is that guy? Which dojo's disciple is he? I want to donate money to his dojo, I'll donate a freaking million!"
"You can spare a million? I'm donating two million, damn it, and I want to acknowledge him as my brother. If that doesn't work, even an adoptive father will do!"
"Second Young Master Pei, Second Young Master Pei, hurry up, take us over there, let us meet him!"
Noticing Pei Youguang standing stunned to the side, someone quickly nudged his shoulder and urged him on.
Li Zhaoquan, Zhang Daqing, and the other surviving dojo disciples gazed at the blood-drenched Xue Jing with vacant eyes.
Zhang Daqing stretched out his hand, patted Li Zhaoquan on the shoulder, and gave him a thumbs-up.
"Old Li, from now on, I am completely convinced by you."
"You dared to provoke such a person; from here on out, in the entire Qingcheng martial arts circle, who wouldn't commend Old Li for his courage?"
Li Zhaoquan swallowed hard, feeling weak in his knees.
What did he do just now… with that guy?
Shook hands…
His bones still ached.
Suddenly, Li Zhaoquan appeared thoughtful.
"Old Zhang, I might have just made a huge gain," he said.
Zhang Daqing looked at him curiously, "What are you talking about?"
"Look, this Xue... Xue, he's definitely going to make it big in the future, right?" Li Zhaoquan pinched his chin.
Zhang Daqing rolled his eyes, "No shit."
"Then tell me, the sparring I just had with him, it was exceptionally intense, wasn't it? I only lost by a slight margin at the end, a narrow defeat."
Li Zhaoquan patted his own arm.
Zhang Daqing stared at him in disbelief, "You... Are you planning to brag about this to others in the future? Do you have no shame?"
Li Zhaoquan chuckled.
...
"Ying Yang..." Ye Chenglin walked to the first victim's body, his face showing grief.
As he began to speak, everyone was jolted from the joy of their narrow escape, realizing that several friends had died.
"Why on earth... Where did this monster come from, and why did the power at the Rui Zhu Hotel suddenly go out, even our phones stopped working."
"This must be a targeted, organized, premeditated assassination against us; I will definitely have my dad look into it!"
Ye Chenglin shouted angrily.
He felt panic inside.
Those who attended the banquet today were not ordinary people, but several had died. As the organizer of the banquet, he was definitely going to be blamed, maybe even mostly blamed.
Even if his father was a Governing Councilor, this was still too much to handle!
He glanced at Pei Tiancheng standing beside him, anger burgeoning in his heart.
Damn it, what a bold claim, saying 'nothing would go wrong with me here'. Bullshit!
Recalling how Pei Tiancheng had simply jumped aside when faced with the monster, causing several people behind him to get killed, Ye Chenglin felt a surge of bitter resentment.
All these martial arts bodyguards turned out to be good for nothing... Thank goodness that young man was there; otherwise, everyone might have died today.
Pei Tiancheng beside him looked like he wanted to say something but in the end, he didn't; he just sighed.
He, too, had not anticipated... that it would be just a banquet. Even though someone had died the day before, he thought the danger would merely come from a common psycho killer or something similar and that he would easily take control with lightning.
Who could have expected such a terrifying creature to appear?
At that moment, a tall figure, drenched in blood and exuding an inexplicable oppressive aura, approached.
Everyone's eyes gleamed with excitement as they looked at him, wanting to say something, but they were intimidated by the aura he radiated. No one could utter a word, and silence ensued.
Xue Jing spoke as usual, "Everyone."
"Even though that beast has been killed by me, we might not be out of danger yet and need to remain cautious."
"Based on my estimation, the instantaneous failure of all electrical devices was probably due to an electromagnetic pulse, which is likely manmade."
"Given it's manmade, then that creature must also have been deliberately let in, not accidentally appearing here."
Everybody listened quietly to his words, with no one interrupting.
"— These matters will be left to everyone to investigate later. I'm just a security officer, my duty is to ensure your safety for now."
"Let's go, I will lead you out of here."
Having said that, Xue Jing took the lead towards the door.
Though his body was covered in wounds and blood, his words were filled with conviction to the people who had just witnessed his martial prowess. It sounded utterly persuasive.
Everyone hurriedly followed him.
Now, only by staying close to this man did they feel a semblance of safety.
...
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