Chapter 248: One Finger

　　Translator: AstralGhost Editor: Kurisu

　　Jiang Ranran shrieked silently and shrunk back as she looked at the tall and muscular old man walking over.

　　When the old man was on the stage, she did not feel much from him. But now that he was standing before her, she only felt a terrifying sense of pressure enveloping her. This kind of pressure was not based on the size of the person before her. Rather, it felt more like the kind of pressure one would feel standing before their superior after making a mistake at work!

　　“Elder, please calm down, our elder brother is not good with his words, so I hope you do not take it to heart!” Ji Wuxie hurriedly stepped forward and apologized.

　　“Get lost! He knows that he’s not good with words but he still chose to speak? Little fellow, you just said that you could beat 10 of me with a single arm? I dare you to say that again!”

　　Xia Bantian gulped angrily from his gourd and snorted, causing a mist of alcohol to fly outwards onto Bei Feng’s body.

　　“Hmph! I can fight 10 bags of thrash like you with a single arm! What are you going to do about it?”

　　Bei Feng placed an arm behind his back and looked at the old fellow before him expressionlessly. He couldn’t tell whether this fellow was really crazy or simply acting dumb.

　　“What big words! Little fellow, if you can still remain standing after receiving one blow from this granddaddy’s hammer, I’ll take out my most precious wine for you!” Then, snorting coldly, he continued, “If you’re unable to withstand my hammer, you can spend the rest of your life lying on a bed!”

　　Xia Bantian returned to the arena and picked up his hammer before swaggering back to Bei Feng leisurely.

　　“Big Brother Bei Feng, let’s hurry up and run! There’s no way anyone can withstand such a large hammer!”

　　Jiang Ranran and Ji Wuxie’s faces paled as they pulled on Bei Feng’s arm. They didn’t know what the hell was wrong with that old fellow. Also, that hammer in his hand was as big as a small millstone, but he was able to carry it with just one arm!

　　Bei Feng smiled lightly and shook his head. At the same time, he brushed off the two’s hands. Jiang Ranran and Ji Wuxie only felt an irresistible force traveling through their arms, pushing them backwards.

　　A martial practitioner must never be humiliated! Such a saying was very prevalent among the martial circle, not to mention the pride of an expert invincible under Xiantian like Xia Bantian!

　　Although he wouldn’t go as far as to take Bei Feng’s life, he was still prepared to teach the disrespectful youngster a harsh lesson!

　　Each of his steps was as heavy as a wild elephant’s. As he raised the hammer, Xia Bantian’s arms bulged dramatically, appearing extremely disproportionate in size with his right arm being a full size larger than his left!

　　Xia Bantian was a top tier Evolved Jing master, and a body refiner on top of that!

　　His blood and Qi were as boisterous as a dragon, and the smithing hammer techniques he’d grasped were even more amazing!

　　That’s right, Xia Bantian came from a long lineage of blacksmiths. Leveraging from a coincidental opportunity, he managed to create a weapon-forging hammer technique. Whenever he used the forging technique, his blood and Qi energy would grow stronger and more refined!

　　Although the hammer technique’s name sucked, its attack strength was not ordinary!

　　In addition to the technique, the hammer itself was made from over 1,236 jin of meteorite stone! Smashing downward with all his strength, the power in that strike was not weaker than a primary stage Xiantian Lord’s attack!

　　Xia Bantian furrowed his brows heavily as he looked at the motionless youth before him.

　　‘Those who look plain are either really ordinary, or are true experts!’

　　Xia Bantian measured Bei Feng in his eyes and felt like the first probability was much higher.

　　“Three Steps Collapsing Hammer!” Xia Bantian bellowed loudly as the veins on his right arm bulged up dramatically. The veins could be seen throbbing on his skin, branching out as if there were earthworms digging through his skin!

　　A shocking aura burst out of Xia Bantian’s body. Although the technique was called ‘Three Steps Collapsing Hammer’, Xia Bantian had already completely mastered it.

　　A single step was all he needed to display the full strength of the technique!

　　A martial artist must not be humiliated. Even if Bei Feng was an ordinary person, Xia Bantian would have to hold him to his word. His reputation was not the only thing at stake here. Rather, it was the face of the entire martial arts circle! If everyone outside of their circle was allowed to behave so disrespectfully towards them, they would never be taken seriously by others!

　　That saying was passed down from ancient times, and was not something that the martial artists had invented for themselves. Instead, it was a rule established by blood throughout Earth’s innumerable years!

　　Xia Bantian’s hammer slammed downwards without any mercy. A crushing wind gushed towards Bei Feng, accompanying the swing of the behemoth hammer. Bei Feng, however, was motionless, as though scared silly.

　　Jiang Ranran had already buried her head into Ji Wuxie’s chest, not daring to look anymore.

　　From the trajectory of the hammer, it did not appear to be aimed directly at Bei Feng. Instead, it was smashing towards the ground beside his feet. Xia Bantian had absolute confidence that the shockwave from the blast would be more than enough to make this youngster lie on a bed for a long time!

　　How could a peak Evolved Jing master like Xia Bantian possibly miss his mark? It was obvious that he was doing it on purpose!

　　Bei Feng looked at the huge hammer growing larger and larger in his sights emotionlessly. When it neared him, he slowly extended a single jade white finger.

　　A huge pressure suddenly surged from Bei Feng’s body, causing a huge finger with white hairy fur to materialize before him. The finger casually pushed outwards, towards the hammer.

　　The hairy finger was over half a meter long, and sharp black nails protruded from the end of it. It appeared extremely realistic, and the silvery white hair on it even swayed with the wind!

　　The moment the finger appeared, Xia Bantian felt a huge sense of crisis approaching him!

　　“Great Divine Hammer”

　　Xia Bantian quickly sobered up and switched his stance!

　　This move was the strongest among his thirty-six Hammer Techniques! When trained to grand completion, the thirty-six moves could merge as one, forcibly raising his body’s strength by thirty-six times!

　　Of course, the difficulty of training in this martial technique was very high. Despite spending the past fifty years training it, Xia Bantian had only reached the minor completion stage, merely managing to merge six moves together and increasing his strength by six times!

　　With his current blood and Qi energy and bones strength, he could only use this technique twice. If he tried to use the technique forcefully a third time, his body would splinter apart!

　　But faced with the terrifying finger, he did not hesitate to unleash his strongest strike!

　　The finger might look completely harmless on the surface, but his instincts told him that unless he met it with his strongest attack, he would definitely die!

　　“Dang!”

　　Under the anxious gaze of the crowd, a light sound rang out as Bei Feng’s finger met the 1,236 jin heavy hammer!

　　“Putong!”

　　“Bam!”

　　Xia Bantian felt an indescribably huge force gushing towards him, causing the hammer in his hands to be flung far away!

　　His body was also sent flying before smashing heavily back onto the ground!

　　“Pu!”

　　Xia Bantian coughed out a few mouthfuls of blood uncontrollably as his face paled to the color of paper. His right hand was bloody and filled with lacerations. The bones in that hand were also filled with cracks!

　　The blood and Qi energy in his body was fluctuating unsteadily, and his body was riddled with numerous internal injuries. From the looks of it, he would need at least half a year in bed to recover!

　　Xia Bantian forced himself up and looked at Bei Feng fearfully. No matter how he thought about it, he had not expected that he would actually be defeated by a single finger!

　　Bei Feng walked forward and picked up the huge hammer.

　　“Ding! Grade 4 treasure discovered, Dragon Veined Steel! (Extremely hard, but has low flexibility.)”

　　A System message popped up in Bei Feng’s head as he examined the so-called Dragon Veined Steel. There wasn’t even a mark left on the weapon from where his finger had poked against earlier. A faint golden veiny pattern lined the outside of the hammer.

　　“Looks like the reason this Dragon Veined Steel was appraised as a Grade 4 treasure was solely because of its toughness. But with how inflexible it is, it would not be suitable for crafting weapons like swords.”

　　Bei Feng mused silently as he threw the hammer back to the nervous Xia Bantian’s side.

　　“You’re not bad to manage to block my finger with just the strength of a peak Evolved Jing master,” Bei Feng praised him sincerely with a smile.