The King had severed his own arm back then.
Although he received treatment, it was interrupted by Morrow halfway through.
The result was that the arm was initially sutured but couldn't channel aura smoothly.
This led to the defensive capability of the King's left arm being far inferior to other parts of his body.
Therefore, even with the King's astonishing bone and muscle strength, lacking Nen protection meant it was absolutely impossible to completely withstand the dense offensive woven by Netero's "100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva: 99th Hand."
The outcome was unsurprising.
That half-sutured left arm, under continuous heavy blows, quickly cracked and broke off.
Although Netero was aware of the weakness in the King's left arm, he didn't specifically target it.
However, every palm strike of the 100-Type Guanyin enveloped the King like a heavenly net.
As the number of palm strikes accumulated, the damage naturally spread to the weakly defended left arm.
After his left arm broke off again, the King didn't pay it much mind.
With his species' ability, stopping bleeding was a trivial matter.
It would just take some time to adapt to his body's balance without the arm.
And amidst the dense offensive of the 100-Type Guanyin, he quickly completed this adaptation.
He was proud.
He believed that with just one arm, he could breach Netero's lifeline.
But only after hundreds of clashes between the two did the King truly realize Netero's prowess.
It was the pinnacle of skill.
Also the pinnacle of Nen.
The countless paths composed of various palm techniques now stood like a towering giant wall, mercilessly blocking all his offensive intentions.
This is definitely not a result caused by the missing arm.
The King understood clearly that even if his left arm were intact, he couldn't breach the opponent's 100-Type Guanyin in a short time.
Yes.
Even though the 100-Type Guanyin displayed an impervious offensive, even with only one arm, the King still had confidence to break through.
Just like playing chess, as long as he found that one correct path among countless trials and errors... he could secure victory in an instant.
The King didn't know how "many moves" it would take to achieve this.
But he was certain he could persist until "that move" arrived.
Before that, he only sincerely hoped Netero could maintain his condition until that moment, so as not to disappoint his currently soaring fighting spirit.
The doubt in the King's heart was soon replaced by fighting spirit.
He continuously attacked Netero at his fastest speed.
The result was being heavily slapped away by the 100-Type Guanyin's palm strikes amidst Netero's praying hands.
The King's body always flew backward at even greater speed.
But he could always adjust his posture immediately, then use the surrounding giant stone pillars as footholds to launch swift and fierce counterattacks.
This was the King's tactic.
Extremely simple, extremely brutal.
All he had to do was ignore the damage from the 100-Type Guanyin, then keep attacking, attacking.
Therefore, every one of his offensives aimed directly at taking Netero's life.
Hahaha...!
The feeling of wanting to break through techniques made the King revel in it.
During their lightning-fast exchanges, Netero saw the King's uncontrollably excited smile.
Enjoying it...?
He murmured inwardly, then responded with even more fierce palm strikes.
Bam!
The unstoppable palm technique sent the King flying once again.
But the King had grown accustomed to this outcome, always readjusting his posture at the fastest possible speed before charging back into the fray.
In this relatively short span of time, countless sparks had flown from their collisions.
Thousands of times.
That was how many attacks the King had endured.
Even so, the King's offensive showed no signs of weakening.
He maintained his high-spirited stance, determined to pierce through the 100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva's palm techniques and deliver a killing blow to Netero's heart.
Facing the King's increasingly fierce assaults, Netero found himself in a position where he couldn't afford the slightest mistake in this ultra-high-frequency exchange of attacks and defenses.
Moreover, he had to choose the precise palm technique that would reliably strike the King in every single engagement.
This gradually increased the pressure on Netero's defense.
Many times, the King came dangerously close to slipping past the descending palms of the 100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva.
So could he breach the King's monstrous defense before his own strength was exhausted?
Netero never once entertained such thoughts in his mind.
He simply fought with the resolve that this might be his final battle, ensuring that every palm strike from the 100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva was delivered without regret.
Yet despite this, the King, even missing an arm, was gradually approaching his deadline.
Bam bam bam...
The King was battered back and forth like a ball.
He had long lost count of how many times he'd been struck, but that didn't matter.
What mattered was that he could faintly glimpse the sole source of light leading to victory in the dark depths.
Almost there... he would soon overcome this aged warrior.
The King could already foresee the impending outcome.
As for Netero, who had always dominated the offensive throughout the battle, he too had lost track of how many times he had struck the King.
The only certainty was that no matter how many hits landed, the King's strength and offensive showed not the slightest decline, instead growing ever more intense.
Should he feel disheartened or defeated by this result...?
There was no room for such emotional gains and losses in Netero's heart.
Yet even after pushing his spirit and power to their limits, why hadn't the expected outcome materialized?
So did "numbers" truly hold any meaning?
Though Netero's mind remained steadfastly calm, facing an opponent like the King inevitably gave rise to doubts.
—--
In the pouring rain, Neferpitou's offensive continued.
To land a hit on Morrow, she had devised numerous strategies and exhausted various means.
The conclusion she reached was that it boiled down to a contest of speed.
In Neferpitou's view, as long as she could reorganize her attacks faster than Morrow's defensive speed, then she could end the battle in an instant.
The only consideration was accomplishing this within a limited timeframe.
As for Morrow's counterattacks interspersed throughout his countless defenses... they were mere irritations.
So no matter how many times she was struck by Morrow, it held no significance.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh...
Attack after attack missed, followed by swift counter strikes.
After pushing her offensive speed to a threshold, Neferpitou finally managed to shake off the ever-present Starlight Convergence.
It's only a matter of time before I kill him, but with this unknown factor present, I still need to strive to end the battle faster.
Already foreseeing Morrow's defeat, Neferpitou instead contemplated how to conclude this fight more swiftly.
After all, A.P.R. remained an unstable potential variable, tirelessly reminding her to keep track of time.
She broke free from Future Sight... It seems I can't steadily accumulate Accretion Charges to the critical point.
Seeing that Future Sight could no longer lock onto Neferpitou, Morrow had no choice but to revert his Starlight Convergence ability to its original state.
Brilliant starlight spread around Morrow in that moment, as regular as the En in Nen techniques.
This also meant he could no longer efficiently predict Neferpitou's attack trajectories.
Thus, in the upcoming exchanges, he would truly be standing on the edge of a cliff, ready to be shattered to pieces at any moment.
Shrinking the range to the straight-line distance from when she adjusts her posture to when she counterattacks should suffice. Even if the effect isn't as precise as Future Sight's localized lock, it should barely manage to handle her assaults.
Facing life-threatening risks at any moment, Morrow harbored no superfluous emotions in his heart, always keeping his focus on victory.
The accumulation conditions for the Accretion Charges everywhere should be nearly met. In other words, as long as I endure this most difficult period, I can give the accumulated hit count the greatest significance.
Morrow's gaze pierced through the swirling star points, as if his eyes, bathed in starlight, could see Neferpitou's figure darting back toward him with utmost clarity.
He could even see the tangible bloodlust brewing in Neferpitou's eyes.
Perhaps due to the looming immense danger, under the construction of Starlight Convergence's information flow, Morrow slowly and powerfully stepped once again into the realm of Spirit Echoes.
Neferpitou's figure, freed from Future Sight's lock, shot forth like a sharp sword, cutting a sharp trajectory through the starry sky, aimed directly at Morrow's vitals.
In that extremely brief moment, Neferpitou suddenly felt as if her perception of time had been compressed, allowing her to clearly see Morrow's expression.
With his skills, he should foresee his imminent defeat, yet he remains so composed, meow... Whatever, it doesn't matter.
Adopting an even more aggressive offensive stance, Neferpitou charged at Morrow with thunderous ferocity, closing in on him in an instant.
Yet, Morrow still managed to evade the fatal blow at the last moment.
And after dodging, he repeated his previous tactic, sending a Nen wave toward the side of Neferpitou's arm.
But this time, the Nen wave counter missed its target.
Morrow wasn't surprised by this.
Because his "information processing speed" had slowed down, unavoidably lengthening his reaction time.
This slight delay might not affect his ability to evade Neferpitou's attacks.
But it greatly reduced his chances of landing a Nen wave on Neferpitou during defensive counters.
This was an unavoidable reality.
It also meant that Morrow needed to face the immense risk while increasing the hit rate of his Nen waves through more defensive counters, until he successfully ignited the Accretion Charge.
However, before this, Morrow had already accumulated the same number of hits in six other locations on Neferpitou's body in batches.
Six locations, each with a cumulative total of 43 hits.
Next, he would continue to accumulate the 44th hit in each of the six locations, still in a randomized order.
Then, as long as one of them ignited with an Accretion Charge... the remaining five areas would only need one more hit each to fulfill the conditions for Stellar Collapse.
This way, even if Neferpitou noticed something, she would have little time to react.
The high-speed exchanges of offense and defense between them continued relentlessly.
Neferpitou kept attacking, while Morrow kept dodging and counterattacking.
When the number of hits finally reached 46, a second Accretion Charge ignited on Neferpitou's chest.
The remaining five areas, her abdomen, left and right arms, and left and right thighs, had each accumulated 45 hits.
So, only one more hit was needed to gradually ignite the Accretion Charges.
It was only at this moment that the true life-or-death decision arrived.
Flames again...
Neferpitou glanced swiftly at the eerie blue flames on her chest.
From the moment the first cluster of flames inexplicably appeared on her forehead to the sudden emergence of the second cluster now, she had already exchanged thousands of blows with Morrow.
This left her with insufficient understanding of the conditions for the flames' ignition.
But in the next few exchanges, her right thigh was struck once by Morrow's Nen wave, and a third cluster of flames immediately appeared.
This instantly confirmed the ignition condition for the flames.
However... amid the increasingly rapid and relentless onslaught, she had little time to think. She could also see that Morrow was at his limit, teetering on the edge of collapse at any moment.
In such a situation, should she abruptly halt her attacks because of these flames with an unknown ability?
Should she play it safe, withdraw her offensive, and cautiously probe for more information about the flames?
If she did so, it would essentially give Morrow a chance to recover.
By then, it might take some time to push Morrow back to the brink of danger again.
The pressure from "time" made Neferpitou hesitate, and in that moment, her left arm was struck by Morrow's Nen wave, igniting a fourth cluster of flames.
Both sides were engaged in an ultra-high-speed battle, which meant the cost of hesitation and deliberation was amplified significantly.
This was exactly the outcome Morrow wanted.
He was indeed nearing his limit.
If not for reaching Lv.94 and restoring some of his potential aura, he would never have lasted this long.
So, his precarious state was also a condition he could exploit.
On this basis, he could maximize the time pressure that A.P.R. imposed on Neferpitou.
When facing different types of powerful enemies, simply adopting the appropriate strategy for their nature allows me to fulfill the harsh Limitation conditions with the same level of difficulty...
Morrow fixed his gaze on the fifth location for igniting an Accretion Charge on Neferpitou's body, silently reflecting, Continue hesitating in this limited time. This hesitation is the vital nourishment that will allow me to reap the "fruits of the Vow."
The fifth Accretion Charge ignited!
The scales of victory, which had been tipping in Neferpitou's favor, suddenly shifted to Morrow's side.
—--
Countless strikes from the 100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva landed.
Yet they couldn't halt the King's forward-evolving pace.
So it turned out, the scales of victory named "process" had been tilted in the King's favor from the very beginning.
Even if Netero firmly grasped the scales of victory called "outcome" in his hands, could he truly call it victory with peace of mind?
No... that would only be humanity's victory.
Thud!
The 100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva ultimately failed to stop the King, allowing him to pass through the afterimages of palm strikes and thrust his hand into Netero's chest.
Before the King could further expand the damage, belated palm strikes blasted into him from the side.
Boom.
A shockwave erupted, sending the King flying sideways.
Netero's eyes trembled violently as he let sweat trace the wrinkles carved by merciless time.
Guh.
He spat out a mouthful of thick blood, his aged body seeming as if it might collapse at any moment.
What... a failure.
Murmuring in his heart, Netero revealed a bitter smile at the corner of his mouth.
His personal defeat would allow the collective malice of humanity behind him to plunder the King's life.
It would also desecrate his pursuit of martial arts.
There's still the final Zero Hand...
Only when pushed to the absolute limit did Netero see his heart clearly.
If only they could have fought fairly... that would have been better.
----------------------
Bonus chapter @2200 powerstones