084 The Beast Tamer (Please add to your favorites and vote for recommendations.)
Heartbeat gradually stabilized, breath temporarily ceased, and the vital energy within surged abruptly, gathering in the arms like a collapsed dam, erupting forward with thunderous force.
Swish!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
At that very moment, the tall, sturdy basketball hoop emitted a muffled sound, as if a giant tuning fork had been struck hard.
“Wow, wow, wow!” The timid, snot-nosed boy hurriedly ran away, staring in terror at the swaying basketball hoop.
“Hey! Such a scaredy-cat.” The gap-toothed boy laughed, teasing.
“Everyone, look!” Only Chen Xinwu kept his gaze fixed on the punch strength tester hanging from the basketball hoop.
The shaking of the hoop was so pronounced that the LCD screen on the tester blurred the numbers.
Chen Anquan softly exhaled the remaining air from his lungs, then slowly inhaled a breath of cold air. He withdrew his fist, calmed himself, and watched the wavering digits.
Punch Strength: 265KG!
At the same time, in the passive section of his mental attribute panel, a new entry appeared: [Punch Strength 265KG]
“Wow, that's over 500 pounds!” Chen Xinwu jumped up, excited.
“Awesome!” The gap-toothed boy chuckled.
The snot-nosed boy began to chatter, “No wonder you're an idol! You're not far from becoming the Light!”
“Light, your sister!” Chen Anquan retorted, giving the snot-nosed boy a playful flick on the forehead. “Uncle wants to be Superman—the flying kind!”
The snot-nosed boy, struck on the forehead, burst into laughter, not angry at all but instead quite thrilled. “Yes, idol-uncle wants to be Superman! One Punch Man!”
One Punch Man? What Chen Anquan aspired to be was the American Superman, not that bald fellow!
Truth be told, seeing his punch strength at only 265 kilograms did not excite him much.
After all, the boxing legend Tyson had reached a monstrous level of 800 kilograms; he was still far from Tyson.
Of course, this was merely a comparison of punch strength. If it came to a deadly fight, he was confident he could settle Tyson in a second!
He had yet to test what his punch strength would be under the Dragon Subduing Palm!
The Dragon Subduing Palm was currently his only finishing move, not to be revealed even to these few little fans before him.
“Kids, go home for dinner now; it's getting dark!” Chen Anquan looked at the three children with satisfaction, giving them instructions.
“Idol-uncle, do you want to eat at my house?” Chen Xinwu grabbed his wrist without waiting for his consent.
“I’m very tired today. I need to go home, eat early, and rest early,” Chen Anquan declined his nephew’s invitation.
Although the families were related, Chen Anquan had known since childhood that his second uncle, under his aunt’s special attention, had not cared much for him and his grandfather. Now living in his hometown, Aobei Village, he inevitably interacted with them, but internally, he was somewhat resistant to those interactions.
An occasional visit for a meal made him a guest; frequent visits would make him a nuisance.
After politely refusing, Chen Anquan took the punch strength tester and timer and returned home.
Once the three children had left, Chen Anquan stepped outside again.
At dusk, fiery clouds burned out over the western mountains. Holding the punch strength tester, Chen Anquan sprinted toward the wilderness.
He needed a place to test the explosive power of his Dragon Subduing Palm.
A few minutes later, he reached the foot of a deserted mountain, standing before a massive boulder five or six meters high.
In front of the boulder, a flat stone surface was perfect for attaching the punch strength tester.
Chen Anquan clenched his left fist, drew a deep breath, held it, and punched the tester.
Boom!
200KG!
“Damn, my left-hand punch is so weak!”
“No, I have to try my right hand!”
He gathered his strength again, took a deep breath, and struck with his right fist.
Boom!
270KG!
In his mind, the attribute panel’s punch strength number flickered: 270KG!
“Let’s try my Dragon Subduing Palm!”
Chen Anquan closed his eyes, channeling his internal energy to his chest—specifically to the Middle Dantian.
“Break!”
He bent his knees, then straightened them sharply, springing up like a frog.
In the pitch-black night, a dark silhouette leapt up, soaring seven or eight meters high.
Soaring, Chen Anquan reached his peak, abruptly opened his eyes, and twisted his hips, reversing direction.
Head downward, legs up, he stretched out an arm, palm open, and slammed down onto the tester.
He was like a meteor glowing faint gold in the night, crashing heavily to the ground.
Boom!
With a thunderous crash, Chen Anquan landed feet-first, his waist as agile as a water snake, straightening his body. He looked down at the tester.
Beep, beep, beep!
Warning: Please do not strike the device with excessive force to avoid damage!
Punch Strength: 2700KG!
“Damn!” Chen Anquan swore instinctively. What kind of crap equipment was this, suspecting him of cheating!
Nonetheless, seeing the number below, he was quite satisfied.
Under the burst of Dragon Subduing Palm, he reached 2700 kilograms of punch strength—that’s 5400 pounds of force, enough to kill an elephant instantly!
Now he finally understood why the mutant wild boar he struck on the head with his Dragon Subduing Palm had survived; its body must have been incredibly tough!
The only drawback of the Dragon Subduing Palm was that it could only be used once in a short period. In a life-or-death battle, once unleashed, he had to finish the opponent in one blow!
The Dragon Subduing Palm was truly a killing move!
“As long as I don’t reveal my Dragon Subduing Palm, my regular punch strength of 270 kilograms and my 100-meter sprint in just over 9 seconds are still within the range of a normal person and won’t attract the attention of mysterious figures like Yin Miaomiao!”
Chen Anquan decided that he could only show part of his strength publicly—even in short videos to attract traffic, only a fraction could be displayed!
“To the outside world, punch strength must not exceed 400 kilograms, and the 100-meter sprint must not go below 9 seconds. That should keep Yin Miaomiao and Uncle Lu from noticing!”
Biting his lip, having witnessed his own power, he suddenly realized Uncle Lu’s strength.
Could Uncle Lu’s punch strength be 400 kilograms? Or had he broken the human limit of 500 kilograms?
“I must intensify my practice of Dragon Subduing Palm after Tai Chi reaches LV3! For now, the LV1 Dragon Subduing Palm still has the power to protect me!”
After returning home, Chen Anquan ate dinner, took a cold shower, and changed into a clean Tai Chi uniform.
Since he began training, after each session, a thin layer of salt had formed on his skin. Being a southerner, he always needed a cold shower after exercise, or he’d feel uncomfortable all over.
Fortunately, he had bought several sets of black shorts and white Tai Chi uniforms online, so he wasn’t worried about laundry in cold weather.
Chen Anquan sat in front of the small table in his bedroom, doors tightly shut. His sharp hearing confirmed that no one was passing nearby.
Ensuring absolute secrecy, he reached out and pulled open the drawer beneath the table.
Inside, various treasures were neatly arranged, including precious blood-red flowers picked from Aobei Mountain.
He had named these flamboyant, exotic flowers “Blood Fiend Flowers.” The fantastical name reflected his conviction that this world had truly changed.
He wasn’t certain whether spiritual energy had revived, but he was sure this was a world where mutants existed!
So-called mutants, first seen in Western comics and novels, were ordinary people who suddenly gained strange abilities. Unlike in fantasy or cultivation novels, they didn’t need gradual training—mutants typically reached their peak as soon as they changed.
“Rather than becoming a mutant, I’d rather be a cultivator!”
Starting at the peak seemed ideal, but the cultivator who slowly grew was the only one who could reach the limits of life!
“Is the ability I awakened really just the attribute panel?” Chen Anquan was reluctant to believe this; he hoped the attribute panel wasn’t his only awakened skill, so he could gain more abilities later!
Chen Juanjuan seemed to have awakened the power to communicate with animals. Though it seemed useless now, what if monsters or even divine beasts appeared in the future?
Beast tamer, advanced beast tamer, beast king?