Chapter Forty-Eight: The Ultimate Move! (With gratitude to 'QAQ Hui' for the generous reward!)

"Oh my god!!!"
"What on earth is this evil thing?!"
"Just looking at this scene makes me feel like I'm going to throw up!"
"Biotech? Forbidden experiments?"
"This is clearly almost a success, right? They've managed to cultivate such a massive Inky Ghost Umbrella!"
"I remember reading before that the main components of the Inky Ghost Umbrella are quite similar to human tissue, aren't they? Are they trying to make giants by growing such an enormous one?"
"We're not even sure this thing is artificially cultivated! Have you all been watching too many movies? Why does everything have to be some kind of conspiracy theory?"
"Why bother breeding giants? Isn't there one right in front of us?"
"Professor Ling's super giant transformation is absolutely insane! He's almost as big as a Behemoth now, isn't he?"
"His combat power in this form is simply inhuman! He roared just now and blew away an entire mountain! What would happen if he started throwing punches and kicks?!"
"The most crucial thing is, Professor Ling can even change back! This is a controllable skill!!"
"Now I just want to know, in this form, could a Grand Magus defeat him? Or would it take an Archmage?"
"Viewer 'Left Guardian of the Martial God Sect' sent the streamer an 'Earth-Shattering Cataclysm' and left a message: I think I need to change my username... Seeing Professor Ling like this makes me nervous. Would he dislike my current name?"
"Viewer 'Deputy Director of the Inquisition of the Martial God Sect' also sent an 'Earth-Shattering Cataclysm' and left a message: Same here... If he takes a disliking to me, he could crush me like an ant. Maybe I should just be 'Lowly Follower of the Martial God Sect'?"

"With just this technique, maybe it's a stretch to say martial arts surpass magic, but it's definitely a top-class path worth pursuing! Farewell, everyone! As a magic dropout, I'm off to wait at the Scarborough Market!"
"Why panic? Watch how this scene plays out first!"
"..."

Ling Mo stood there like a deity, and after blasting a small mountain away with a roar, he didn't immediately make his next move. Instead, with a gentle gesture of his left hand, he drew Katherine up from the ground to stand before him. He broke into a broad grin and said, "So, what do you think? Not a bad path, this martial arts business, is it?"

Unlike the viewers in the stream, Katherine felt the full force of Ling Mo's transformation at close range—his posture and aura left her utterly stunned. She nodded mechanically, gave him a thumbs-up, then hesitantly asked, "Master, this form is indeed awe-inspiring, but... just how much food would you have to eat to keep it going?"

Ling Mo burst out laughing, hearty and unrestrained. "Excellent question! Right to the point! Every second in this form burns a ridiculous amount of energy—it's not a skill to use lightly! Miss this chance, and who knows when you'll see it again. Watch closely from up there, my good student—don’t miss a thing. I’m about to teach you the first killer move of martial arts!"

With that, he tossed Katherine gently upward. She floated easily up a hundred meters or more, and as she reached the peak and was about to fall, it was as if some invisible force caught her, suspending her in midair! Just as before, when Ling Mo had walked on air to reach the nesting white-necked windbird!

From this high vantage point, looking down and right, she could take in Ling Mo’s gigantic form and the colossal sand whale in their entirety—there was no better view. Thoughtfully, Ling Mo even tossed up the Magic-Eye Sprite for her. Katherine, with her enhanced titanium-alloy “dog eyes,” looked down. In the sand whale’s massive, lifeless eye, endless pain tormented it, but sensing Ling Mo’s murderous intent, it felt not fear, but joy! With the last bit of control over its body, it strained to lift its huge head from the earth, exposing its soft underbelly to Ling Mo’s attack!

What kind of torment had the sand whale endured? From its actions, Katherine even detected a kind of... elation! But she had no time to ponder this further, as her master Ling Mo stomped heavily in front of the sand whale.

Such a mighty stomp landed in utter silence! Yet the impact zone sank a dozen meters or more into the ground! At the same time, beneath the sand whale’s prone body, a deep rumble like an earthquake erupted, and the ground suddenly surged upward, launching the hundred-meter-long sand whale into the air, right in front of Ling Mo!

Sensing immense danger, the giant Inky Ghost Umbrella rooted atop the sand whale’s head flared its cap and beat up and down, its enormous roots wrenching themselves violently free, shredding the whale’s innards to pulp as they withdrew—within two breaths, a third had already been torn loose!

But would the sand whale allow it to escape? Its two massive, amber eyes exploded into shards, leaving two blackened holes. The energy from the explosion did not blow outward, but instead surged back into the whale’s body, piercing through its ruptured organs to merge with the protective yellow 'membrane' around its brain. Instantly, the pale yellow membrane blazed with light, shifting from pale yellow to gold, then spreading out as a vast golden sphere, wrapping the giant Ghost Umbrella like a bubble!

The Ghost Umbrella reacted quickly—its thick root transformed into a sword, stabbing through the now-unprotected skull and piercing the whale’s brain. The golden sphere lost all control and burst like a true bubble!

Even so, that brief delay was enough. Ling Mo had finished gathering his strength. He planted his feet in a horse stance, clenched his fists at his waist, every muscle of his upper body swelling, thick veins bulging with blood racing like a torrent—the roar of it, from Katherine’s vantage, sounded like a tsunami! The next instant, she could hear nothing at all!

Ling Mo unleashed his fists!

His punches moved at the pinnacle of speed—seeming to teleport through space, they hammered the sand whale and the giant Ghost Umbrella with overwhelming force. Left, right, one after another, each punch’s afterimage still lingering as the next covered it, the speed reaching its peak in less than half a second. The air was filled with a storm of fists, the sound of mountains shattering and stones splitting, the barrage completely engulfing the whale and mushroom!

BOOM BOOM BOOM—

With Katherine’s enhanced vision, she couldn’t tell how many punches Ling Mo threw in those few seconds—hundreds, or thousands? Her mind was utterly seized by the explosive force of his attack, her thoughts filled with the rhythm of Ling Mo’s muscles, her eyes tracking nothing but fists and the growing crimson of his body. She was so excited she began mimicking his movements in midair, copying the rhythm and trajectory of his blows.

Within the storm of fists, the giant whale and Ghost Umbrella began to crumble, breaking into chunks, sand, dust—by the time Ling Mo drew back his fists, nothing remained but motes of dust too fine for the eye to see. Intense friction set them ablaze, forming a fireball hundreds of meters across that hung in the air. Then, as the flames contracted inward, a colossal explosion burst forth in a blinding flash!

The blast did not so much as shake Ling Mo’s body—he didn’t even shift his stance. Drawing his fists to his waist again, his bare torso was now entirely crimson, like steel at the brink of melting in a forge. Even from a hundred meters up, Katherine felt the searing heat—her short hair even curling at the ends.

As Ling Mo ended his move, a hissing jet of steam burst from every pore, enveloping the area in a white mist hundreds of meters across—much like the spectacle of opening the sluice gates at a blazing steel mill.

Visibly, the unnatural red faded from Ling Mo's skin, returning to its normal hue. The steam ascended and condensed, triggering a localized rain shower, which neatly extinguished the scattered sparks from the explosion. His body rapidly shrank, returning to its original size in less than a second, then he gestured, gently bringing Katherine down to the ground.

The moment she landed, she dashed to Ling Mo’s side, bombarding him with questions: "Master, I just tried it—does the core of that technique involve strengthening the contraction of the heart? And overloading the internal organs in sync? But wouldn’t overloading speed up the blood flow and cause all the capillaries to burst from the heat—how do you deal with that? And what’s the name of this insanely awesome move, Master? Master, aren’t you going to say anything? Master, what’s wrong? Master, please—uh, sorry, Master, I’ll let you rest."

A fierce glare finally made Katherine realize her mistake, and she fell silent. Ling Mo sat on the ground, rubbing his chest, then fished out a new "super energy compressed biscuit" and stuffed it in his mouth, replying gruffly, "With a disciple like you, you’ll be the death of me! This is the first explosive martial arts technique—a more modern name would be ‘Jet Cannon Fist.’ In the old days, we called it ‘Raining Arrows’!"

(P.S. 1: The inspiration for this move comes from Ralph’s NEO MAX from King of Fighters XIII, the hidden ultimate—Machine Gun God Fist. It’s gorgeous and visually stunning, you can check out the animation on my Weibo.)
(P.S. 2: Huge thanks to ‘QAQ Hui’ for the generous reward! I was almost moved to tears when I saw it. As a rookie writer, it’s hard to put my feelings into words right now!)