The victor between the two teams was decided within ten minutes.
Song Ou killed two henchmen, no adepts and suffered critical internal injuries – defeated.
Shen Yiren killed seven henchmen and three adepts. She was cut with a blade and coughed blood – defeated.
Hong Jiu killed twenty-nine henchmen and one adept. His index finger broke – defeated.
Up until Abels made his move, triumph or defeat was still up in there air.
Shen Yiren's team tried their best to turn the tides. They slaughtered over two dozens of enemies. Nobody expected Shen Yiren to go wild and smash through the wall; on the other side of the wall was a waterway. Shen Yiren left a trail of blood in her wake, trying to create a retreat path.
As a veteran of the pugilistic word and a quick thinker, Hong Jiu threw a smoke bomb when the enemy was distracted to escape.
Song Ou showed a sagacious side for once. His two allies drove the enemies back. Meanwhile, he went and hijacked a small boat. Song Clan was involved with business; therefore, he had travelled across long bodies of water for business before. Thanks to the experiences, he was savvy with boats and knew how to read the water's behaviour. He could move the boat three metres with each stroke effortlessly and was more technically sound than the average sailor at operating a boat. If they could escape, he would be credited with the biggest contribution. Alas, their efforts were futile.
Abels' movements went unnoticed. In a single leap, he leapt over sixty-six metres. Shen Yiren and Hong Jiu didn't even realise he was behind them when he landed there. The only one who saw it was a horrified Song Ou. He witnessed Abels pick up a bamboo pole for paddling. Abels used it to launch himself over to their boat effortlessly. Song Ou watched the bamboo pole coil and spring, smashing the end of the small boat with the impact of a colossal hammer. Even more unbelievable was the end of the boat wasn't damaged despite the impact. The small fishing boat should've been able to carry over a dozen people. For Abels to drive the boat back to the shore, he must've generated five thousand kilograms of force.
By the time Hong Jiu and Shen Yiren noticed Abels' presence, he had already circled around to their front side, sacrificing a perfect opportunity to take them down from behind and opted to fight face to face.
"Together!" commanded Shen Yiren.
Holding nothing back, Shen Yiren's blue qi started from the hilt and ran up the blade. Song Ou's despair already overwhelmed him after witnessing Abels' might; still, he still summoned all of his internal strength, adding a golden glow to his hands. Song Ou went all out, using Song Clan's Sundering the Nine Heavens' Rending the Dragon's Neck, a technique designed to subdue one's opponent through brute force.
Although Hong Jiu's single palm strike was formidable in its own right, he only used half of his strength, saving energy to protect himself. His experience in combat led to the decision; he wanted to ensure he had a chance of finding an alternative option if they failed to subdue their opponent.
The trio didn't even have the chance to take a second blow. Actually, they didn't even have the chance to see how they were defeated. When they moulded internal energy and assumed their fighting stance, there should've been a barrier keeping the wind and rain off them, yet they felt the violent wind and raindrops hitting their face. By the time they realised it, all three were already crushed. Thinking back on it… there was nothing they could recall.
None of them could identify what made Abels' style special. A punch was a straightforward punch. A palm strike was a straightforward palm strike. He didn't use feints or disguise his strikes. They were positive he didn't conceal some otherworldly skill. If anything, his technical skills were the equivalent of a beginner. How they couldn't defend any of his blows escaped them. His punches were insanely heavy; he could topple top martial artists without even needing to learn combat skills using his sheer might. Perhaps he wasn't called Beijiang's God of Monsters for nothing.
"Sh-Shit, he's too strong…" stuttered Hong Jiu, after coughing up a mouthful of blood.
Hong Jiu's evaluation held the most weight, for his style was most apt for filling the role of a vanguard – which was the role he assumed. The fifty percent he kept in reserve was useless when Abels swung. He could discern he wasn't just inferior in terms of martial arts but also in terms of realms.
Only someone who had ascended to Abels realm could've effortlessly put Hong Jiu away and still seem as if he had enough power to reverse the tables regardless of how the odds were stacked against him.
Shen Yiren, Hong Jiu and Song Ou had all underwent high-level, strict and harsh training. In terms of experience, Song Ou was lacking, but Hong Jiu and Shen Yiren were both combat veterans, yet none of it was of any help in the face of Abels' overpowering might. In other words, their previous experiences and common combat knowledge didn't apply against Abels.
Hong Jiu deemed Abels to be very similar to his first senior brother, particularly during the time the latter was active in the pugilistic world. For that reason, he felt defeated and saw no hope in winning. The only thing that came to Hong Jiu's mind was fleeing via the lake behind them. If they could sneak into the water, then Abels wouldn't chase them out of consideration for his status, perhaps. The conjecture was derived from the assumption Abels' subordinates wouldn't be good in water due to them hailing from Beijiang. Finding the chance to actually escape against someone of Abels' calibre was unfathomably difficult, nevertheless.
Sweating, Hong Jiu muttered under his breath, "Abels sure is…"
Abels didn't follow up. Maybe it didn't make any difference to him. He could murder them whenever he wanted to, and there was nothing they could do to stop him. If he wanted to capture them alive, they'd be relegated to that fate. Perhaps the only common factor between people who had reached the same realm was the fact that they could do whatever they fancied.
Abels calmly swept his eyes over the three, starting from Song Ou to Hong Jiu and, finally, Shen Yiren. Shen Yiren was the only one who hadn't submitted. She kept her sword in front of her to counter anything thrown her way.
Abels remarked, "You had the chance to escape, but you didn't."
Abels was referring to when Shen Yiren smashed through the wall. She surprised everyone. Had she leapt into the lake, they wouldn't have been able to catch up to her.
Gaze still firm, Shen Yiren rebuked, "They are my comrades… I would rather die than abandon them."
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