Chapter 260: This Is Impossible!

"Let's see how long you can keep smiling! On your knees!"

Yan Wu bellowed and lunged forward like a hunting leopard, drawing his right arm back like a taut bowstring. His muscles bulged, packing terrifying, explosive power. Thick veins coiled like horned dragons beneath his taut skin, and his bones popped and cracked under the strain.

Boom!

His punch howled, shattering the air with an ear-piercing sonic boom. Wrapped in a white slipstream, his fist smashed ruthlessly toward Su Mu's cheek.

Seeing Su Mu completely motionless, as if scared stiff, Yan Wu let his savage sneer widen, the thrill of revenge flashing in his eyes.

But the next second—bam!

A muffled impact rang out. The savage sneer froze on Yan Wu's face as his momentum abruptly halted, and he stared at the hand in front of him in sheer disbelief.

That hand was pale and slender, completely free of calluses. If not for the distinct knuckles, it would have looked softer than a woman's.

Yet this hand, flawless as a work of art, had effortlessly blocked his fist.

Yan Wu felt like he had just punched a mountain; he couldn't move it an inch.

"This is impossible!" he screamed, struggling desperately to rip his fist free from Su Mu's grasp. But no matter how much strength he used, that hand didn't budge a single millimeter.

"You!" Trembling slightly, he looked up and met a pair of calm, fathomless eyes. His own terrified face was reflected in those pitch-black pupils.

"Kneel," Su Mu said flatly.

A crushing force immediately followed. Crack!

The pale, slender fingers clamped down. Yan Wu's knuckle bones shattered, distorting into a grotesque shape.

That terrifying power traveled from his fist up his entire arm. Su Mu gave a slight downward tug, and Yan Wu shrieked in agony, dropping to his knees.

The massive impact left a shallow crater in the ground beneath him, sending a dense spiderweb of cracks spreading outward.

"Ahhh!"

Yan Wu let out a bloodcurdling scream, but more than agonizing pain, he felt utter disbelief.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! Why is this happening... A mere Illusion Technique user..."

He didn't understand. He couldn't understand. The physical power Su Mu had just unleashed completely defied common sense, far surpassing even a Follower of Strength.

"I told you I knew a little martial arts. Why didn't you believe me?" Su Mu shook his head helplessly. With a casual twist, he wrenched Yan Wu's arm into a spiraling mess. Bone snapped repeatedly, and several jagged white splinters pierced straight through the skin, trailing crimson blood.

"Ahhh! You are definitely not Silver 1! Who the hell are you!?"

A glint of confusion passed through Su Mu's clear eyes. "You're a Silver 1 with strength comparable to Silver 2. I'm also Silver 1, so isn't it perfectly reasonable for my strength to be a little higher?"

Reasonable my ass!

If not for the excruciating pain, Yan Wu would have cursed out loud.

Bam!

Su Mu lashed out with a kick, landing squarely on Yan Wu's chest. His chest instantly caved in, leaving a massive depression. Yan Wu's eyes bulged from their sockets as blood poured from his mouth, mixed with pieces of ruptured organs.

That single kick had shattered his internal organs.

Su Mu released Yan Wu's hand, letting the man collapse to the ground like a puddle of mud, his body twitching uncontrollably.

"A rather interesting ability. It's just a shame it ended up in your hands." Su Mu studied the dying Yan Wu. This was the first time he had seen a power that permanently increased attributes. Such abilities were usually weak in the early stages but grew extraordinarily powerful later on.

If Yan Wu had managed to survive a bit longer and continuously fight others using Life and Death Arena, he likely would have gained a physique comparable to a Gold powerhouse over time, even if he remained at the Silver tier.

It was precisely because he saw the potential of Life and Death Arena that he felt it was a bit of a pity.

After pondering for a moment, Su Mu came up with an idea. The Seven Deadly Sins was currently in need of manpower, and he had just stumbled upon a decent candidate. He might as well use his hypnosis to completely erase Yan Wu's consciousness and turn him into a reserve member of the Seven Deadly Sins.

The only difficulty, however, lay in the fact that Life and Death Arena forced a battle to the death. If the opponent didn't die, this octagonal cage couldn't be deactivated.

Bam!

Su Mu delivered another kick straight to Yan Wu's head. Yan Wu's eyes immediately rolled back, and he passed out cold.

Taking advantage of Yan Wu's unconscious state, Su Mu quickly hypnotized himself to sleep, entered his dreamscape, and dragged the comatose man in as well.

With the disappearance of the two men, the octagonal cage of white light vanished without a trace.

"Just as I expected. No matter how strong the power of Life and Death Arena is, it can't restrict a dream."

Inside the dream, Su Mu looked at the comatose Yan Wu. Crystal-blue light radiated from his eyes as he began the hypnotic brainwashing. He wasn't in any rush to go find a Mithril Token, because he had total control over time inside the dream. At its maximum ratio, one day in the outside world could equal an entire year here.

So he had plenty of time.

While Silver powerhouses were incredibly difficult to hypnotize and brainwash, it depended on the conditions. Naturally, it was impossible to hypnotize a wide-awake Silver powerhouse in peak condition. But if that powerhouse was critically injured, on the verge of death, and completely unconscious, it became much easier.

Boundless mental energy flooded into Yan Wu's body, continuously carrying out the hypnotic brainwashing.

A day later, Yan Wu woke up from his coma. Realizing Su Mu's intentions, his expression shifted drastically and he tried to resist, only for Su Mu to kick him unconscious again.

This process repeated several times. Half a month later, Yan Wu was finally completely hypnotized.

"Leader!" Yan Wu dragged his heavily injured body to kneel on the ground, his face full of fanatical devotion.

"Mhm." Su Mu nodded, looking at his handiwork with satisfaction. A Silver powerhouse with immense potential. Not bad.

The only hassle was that the hypnosis wasn't permanent. He would need to repeat the process every so often to prevent the man's original consciousness from recovering.

With his current mental strength, he could permanently hypnotize ordinary people, but he still couldn't permanently hypnotize a Transcendent, especially a powerful one.

"Tell me about your Silver Law, Life and Death Arena. Where is its upper limit? Can you continuously gain strength through dueling indefinitely?"

Yan Wu naturally held nothing back. "To answer the Leader, I do not know where the limit lies. So far, I have only killed a dozen or so Transcendents, the vast majority being Bronze."

Su Mu frowned slightly. No wonder Yan Wu was so weak. He had constantly sought out Bronze opponents for his duels. Even when he won, he only obtained a small fraction of their attributes each time. How strong could he possibly get like that?

"Why have you been constantly dueling Bronze opponents?"

"There is something you do not know, Leader. Life and Death Arena is a growth-type Law. The initial boost it gave me was extremely low. At that time, I was practically the weakest Silver, inferior even to a Follower of Strength. Afterward, I plotted in secret, hunting lone Bronze Transcendents and accumulating attributes bit by bit until I became strong.

"Once I grew stronger, I finally shifted my targets to Silvers.

"When it comes to providing attributes, Silver powerhouses naturally offer much more."

Hearing this, Su Mu understood why Yan Wu had such a terrible reputation in Star City and a long record of misdeeds. While his personality was certainly a factor, a portion of it was driven by his need to duel and grow stronger.

"What about ordinary people? Can they increase your attributes?"

Yan Wu shook his head. "Ordinary people are useless."