I Will Grind My Way To Godhood

“What, are you thinking of fleeing after causing an accident?”

Xiahou Shen's shoulder was gripped, but he remained unfazed. He gathered all his internal force into his shoulder, shaking it, which caused a sudden burst of power.

The force was almost at a level comparable to a fifth-rank martial artist. Though not at full strength, it was enough to shatter an average person's hand bones.

It was meant to be a small lesson for this reckless person.

However, to his surprise, the hand gripping him didn't budge at all.

The explosive force was like a mud ox entering the sea, disappearing without a trace the moment it touched the hand, silent and invisible.

Had it not been for the residual quickened blood flow from using his power, he almost thought he had failed to exert any force.

‘This isn't right; he's an expert,’

Recognizing the danger, Xiahou Shen quickly responded, reaching out to grab the slender hand on his shoulder.

Xue Jing merely intended to keep this man from escaping, wanting him to discuss compensation with the chatty driver. He was still in the reasoning phase.

Yet, this man seemed very resistant to the idea of compensation and even used force himself.

Xue Jing couldn't be bothered to maintain a civilized facade any longer.

He directly entered the physics phase.

With his power surging, a true dragon quickly took form within, its roar pouring into his palm. His slender, jade-like fingers bore visible white waves.

These white waves subtly resembled a dragon's head, with sharp dragon teeth aligned with Xue Jing's fingers.

The fingers, hard as refined steel, clenched fiercely.

Dragon-shaped energy, a true dragon's bite!

"Creak——"

His five fingers, like sharp dragon teeth, pierced directly into the opponent's shoulder and collarbone, making a creaking sound of bones.

The shoulder and collarbone area was crushed into a mass of pulp, bones fractured, bone spurs pierced through the skin, leaving two rows of deep bloody holes where the fingers penetrated, as if a large beast had savagely bitten through.

"Good technique!"

Amidst the agony of torn tendons and shattered bones, Xiahou Shen's expression only changed slightly. Aware of the profound skill of the person behind him, who had reached a level of manifesting energy, he knew not to compete with pure force.

Decisively, his expression turned ruthless, and he forcibly pulled his shoulder from the vice-like grip, enduring the pain.

"Rip——"

Blood and shattered bones flew. In the pull, a large piece of flesh was torn from his shoulder.

Such decisiveness, so harsh on himself, even surprised Xue Jing, causing his pupils to contract as he hadn't anticipated this, which caused a slight delay, being a beat slow.

Xiahou Shen knew this move was a chance for a counterattack at the cost of severe injury. Thus, he didn't hesitate, immediately igniting his entire internal energy.

In a battle between experts, every second counts. The attacks of his practiced martial methods required some charging time, which he couldn't afford now.

In the blink of an eye, he gathered all his energy, estimating his opponent’s height from the force exerted on his shoulder, and aimed a backhand swing at what he guessed was the opponent’s neck.

While it wasn't a killing move, he was confident that even a highly skilled martial artist would be gravely injured by his attack landing on their neck.

Should the opponent lack sufficient defensive training, it might even be fatal.

And even if blocked, he would gain the upper hand, readying follow-up moves to prevent any chance of counterattack.

As a seasoned professional martial artist, with extensive competition and combat experience, he never allowed his opponent the opportunity to retaliate.

In that electric moment of turning around, Xiahou Shen caught sight of his opponent's face.

Surprisingly, it was not a young or middle-aged man as he had expected, but a youthful boy, clearly not yet of age.

‘Another prodigy? Participating in the U19 tournament...? The level this year is extraordinary, even at just a city-level elimination round, apart from those few, there’s such talent here…’

‘To have honed such strength at this age, he must have focused all his early efforts on foundational training, only facing real combat now...’

‘Not worth fearing.’

Despite his swirling thoughts, Xiahou Shen's movements did not slacken, unleashing a punch with explosive inner energy aimed at the boy's neck.

“Bang!”

The sound was like a massive hammer striking a steel plate, and Xiahou Shen's pupils contracted to the extremity.

“Impossible!?”

The punch, capable of shattering steel, landed on the seemingly frail neck of the boy—and it did not even budge.

It was as if he had struck not a person, but an ancient, steadfast pine tree, unmoved by millennia of storms.

His planned follow-up attacks stalled by this unbelievable outcome.

Before Xiahou Shen could recover from his shock, a hand gripped his neck with unfathomable speed, lifting him off the ground.

Powerful qi surged from the hand into his neck, immobilizing key points that would let him exert force, and with his windpipe closed, he couldn't gather energy through his breath.

Xiahou Shen was rendered powerless, hanging in the air, frozen.

“Good instincts, decisive response, and decent speed.”

“But your strength falls just short.”

Xue Jing remarked calmly, regarding the man he held up.

The draconic scale-like imprints on his neck slowly faded away.

“Urgh…”

Xiahou Shen could only make a hoarse, unintelligible sound, unable to speak, while staring at Xue Jing.

He had many questions.

What were those scale-like things on this boy's neck? Some sort of lethal defensive technique? How did he manifest it so swiftly?

Also, just as Xiahou Shen's backhand swing was about to hit, he swore he saw a leathery black layer briefly appear on the opponent's neck…

"Is it an illusion?"

Although it seemed to take a while, the exchange from words to the end of their brief skirmish happened in less than a few seconds.

Two figures dashed out from the hotel entrance. One was a middle-aged man who saw Xiahou Shen being lifted in the air by a chokehold from Xue Jing. His expression changed immediately as he anxiously called out, "Friend, let's talk this over! Don't act impulsively!"

Xue Jing turned his head and was surprised to see that the middle-aged man was accompanied by the short teenager he had seen earlier at the port's waiting hall.

After recalling the news he read on his sister's phone, he thought this boy's name was... Du Mingluan?

"It's you!"

Du Mingluan looked at Xue Jing in shock.

Just hours ago, this damn rascal had knocked him and Kou Chengjian out, leaving them in an embarrassing embrace on the floor.

Hell!

Du Mingluan's face flushed with anger, and he immediately wanted to charge at Xue Jing.

"Mingluan, what are you doing!?" The middle-aged man quickly reached out to stop him, sensing something was off.

Gritting his teeth, Du Mingluan said, "Uncle Li, this is the guy who just..."

Understanding the reason for Du Mingluan’s reaction, Uncle Li shook his head and said gravely, "No, please don't. Xiahou is in his hands right now, we mustn't act rashly..."

It was a woman standing nearly six feet two inches tall, dressed in a black martial arts outfit. Her tanned skin and bulging muscles stretched the loose fabric taut—A woman?

Xue Jing looked at her with curiosity.

Though it wasn't obvious at first, there was a certain rise across her chest that didn’t resemble pectoral muscles. Her face had rugged muscular contours, yet her features leaned towards the delicate side, with long hair flowing down her back.

The muscular woman also noticed Xiahou Shen’s predicament after stepping out, and her expression was filled with surprise.

"Friend, let's talk this over. What kind of conflict did Xiahou have with you? Surely it hasn't come to a life-and-death situation, right? We can discuss this peacefully..." The middle-aged man, Uncle Li, spoke cautiously, worried about provoking Xue Jing.

Meanwhile, the taxi driver was hunched inside the cab, peeking out curiously and fearfully at these ‘superhumans’.

Xue Jing smiled lightly and said, "It's not that serious... He crashed into the driver's car, intending to flee without discussing any compensation or responsibility. I just tried to persuade him a little, and somehow things escalated to this point."

Upon hearing this, the muscular woman appeared embarrassed and raised her hand, saying, "This... was partly my responsibility too."

Contrary to her appearance, her voice was sweet and melodious, akin to that of a young girl.

Such contrast momentarily left Xue Jing stunned.

He nodded to the woman, smiling, "Since that's the case, why don't you come over and negotiate with the driver too... Miss, what's your name?"

Miss?

The woman looked puzzled; it was the first time someone, upon seeing her unfamiliar face, called her 'sister'.

However, because Xue Jing's attitude towards her was quite novel and he was good-looking, she couldn't help but feel a slight fondness for him despite her lack of interest in romantic affairs.

“I'm Yin Mǔhǔ.”

The woman introduced herself.

Xue Jing nodded and smiled, "Nice name, I'm Xue Jing."

Uncle Li seized the opportunity to interject, "Mr. Xue, Miss Yin, the fault lies entirely with Xiahou. We'll take responsibility and fully compensate the driver. Among us martial artists, we say no fight, no friendship, and there's no deep-seated enmity here. I think Xiahou has learned his lesson well enough, so why not call it a day?"

His attitude was quite sincere, and Xue Jing was indifferent either way. Since they were willing to compensate the chatty driver for his losses, it seemed the matter could end here.

“You see, in these situations, it's better to talk things out rather than resorting to violence,” Xue Jing said with a shake of his head.

Xiahou Shen: "..."

The iron grip on Xiahou Shen's neck released, and he fell to the ground like a chick being let go.

He caught himself with one hand, clutched his throat with the other, coughing incessantly, while blood poured from his shoulder.

Within moments, as he regained his breath and his strength began to flow again, the wound on his shoulder started to gradually close, ceasing to bleed.

“By the way, Sister Yin, how did this fellow provoke you?”

Xue Jing turned to ask Yin Mǔhǔ.

Despite not knowing the detailed circumstances, Xue Jing had already assumed that this Xiahou must have instigated the trouble.

“Sister Yin...”

Hearing the nickname, Yin Mǔhǔ's mouth twitched, speechless, as her massive arms—the size of ox thighs—crossed over her chest, making her appear even larger.

She replied calmly, "He tried to flirt with me, so I kicked him away."

“I see.”

Xue Jing rubbed his chin and looked at Xiahou Shen, "The fault is all yours, indeed."

Seeing the tense atmosphere ease, Uncle Li breathed a sigh of relief. He approached the wrecked vehicle and began negotiating the compensation with the driver.

Initially, the driver timidly shook his head, insisting it wasn't necessary, but after some convincing and with a few words from Xue Jing, he gleefully accepted more money than the repairs required.

After expressing his endless gratitude to Xue Jing, the driver called a tow truck, dispatched the car to a repair shop, and left in the same truck.

Once resolved, Uncle Li smiled at Xue Jing, "Mr. Xue, may I ask which prestigious school you hail from, to have produced such an outstanding individual like yourself?"

Xue Jing glanced at him and replied, "Qingcheng, Hidden Dragon Dojo."

“Hidden Dragon?” Uncle Li pondered for a moment.

Then he realized, “I see, he's a disciple of the 'Dragon King'? Truly, great teachers produce great students.”

Xue Jing waved his hand dismissively, “Alright, let's skip the idle talk. I've got an appointment, so I'll take my leave here.”

Uncle Li had intended to chat more with this young prodigy, but seeing that Xue Jing wasn't interested in further conversation, he had to let it go.

Xue Jing turned to look at Yin Mǔhǔ, curiously asking, “Sister Yin, are you here for the U19 as well?”

Yin Mǔhǔ nodded first, then couldn't resist asking, “Why do you call me 'sister'?”

In response, Xue Jing contemplated briefly and shook his head, “I don't know, it's just an instinctive feeling, like you should be younger than me.”

Even though they had only just met, Xue Jing felt that some people just seemed like they could be friends right away.

He sensed he had a natural affinity with this robust older sister.

“I'm born in October, 250,” Yin Mǔhǔ said, her arms crossed, speaking in a surprisingly sweet girlish voice.

Xue Jing replied, “I was born in June of the same year... See, I am indeed older than you.”

Yin Mǔhǔ seemed somewhat displeased, “Even if I'm slightly younger, do I really have to be called 'sister'?”

Xue Jing shook his head with a smile, “It's just a title, change it if you don't like it.”

“It's not that I'm unwilling, it just feels a bit odd...”

As they chatted, they walked into the Yunlu Hotel.

Uncle Li, Xiahou Shen, and Du Mingluan silently watched their backs.

After a moment, Uncle Li spoke up, “This Xue Jing... is something else.”

He glanced at Du Mingluan, some things better left unsaid face to face.

“I'll beat him, on the field,” Du Mingluan said plainly.

Xiahou Shen rubbed his shoulders, grimacing in pain, “Yeah right, you just got beaten up at the docks with Kou Chengjian, don't boast too much.”

“That was because Kou Chengjian was being a hindrance, and I was careless then...”

“Haha, as long as you're happy.”

Xiahou Shen chuckled lightly.

“Uncle Li, is Master Zhang in Maple City? You've got influence, help me set up an appointment... otherwise, my shoulder will be ruined, that kid, how does he train, like a monster, with such strength.”