Chapter 59: The Terrifying Power of "Not Beneath Me" (Edited)

In a secret base of the Hand within the Manhattan area of New York, Madam Gao sat cross-legged in a quiet room, slowly using her nearly four hundred years of cultivated Qi to heal the internal injuries she suffered from a previous battle.

After many days of recuperation, her injuries had largely healed.

She even faintly felt that the Qi, which had always been at a bottleneck, seemed to be on the verge of a breakthrough.

Could this be the legendary breakthrough after reconstruction? Madam Gao was overjoyed at this realization and chose to enter closed-door meditation without a second thought.

Now, it was the third day since she began her meditation.

In these three days, her injuries had almost fully healed, and her cultivation of Qi had reached a peak. If nothing unexpected occurred, she could break through her previous bottleneck today, advancing her strength further and surpassing the other four fingers to become the number one master of the Hand. Thinking of her imminent breakthrough, a cruel smile appeared on her face.

The Black Hero, huh?

Once I emerge from meditation, I will show you what true cruelty is! With a slight hardening of her heart, Madam Gao quickly focused her mind, beginning to gather the Qi within her body to assault the bottleneck that had blocked her for over a hundred years.

Just as she was about to give her all in this final push.

Suddenly, the image of Clark holding a Ruyi Jingu Bang appeared in her mind.

"Old witch, your life of evil deeds is innumerable. Today, I will use this Ruyi Jingu Bang in my hand, representing justice, to send you to be judged in the netherworld!"

As he spoke, Clark's illusion swung the Ruyi Jingu Bang towards her head.

With one strike, the surrounding environment seemed to be drawn in, squeezing towards her from all directions. The invisible force made it difficult for her to breathe, and the Ruyi Jingu Bang was wrapped in a layer of light, brightening the dim quiet room as if it were daylight. This was... Qi!

Such a terrifying and powerful Qi, Madam Gao had only seen it on one person in her life.

That person was the strongest in Kunlun — the Venerable!

Caught off guard, Madam Gao had no time to ponder how Clark suddenly mastered Qi and managed to control it to such a terrifying extent.

Almost without thinking, she concentrated all the Qi in her body into her palms, pushing forward fiercely towards Clark's illusion.

She intended to use this desperate method, risking everything, to carve out a chance for survival.

"Boom!"

The door of the quiet room, along with a large portion of the wall, was blasted open by Madam Gao's strike. Only then did she realize that what she had seen was just an illusion.

"Pfft!"

Realizing the crux of the matter but too late to change anything, acting rashly at the critical moment of breakthrough caused her Qi to become chaotic. As she spat out a mouthful of blood, her entire body weakened instantly.

Madam Gao knew this was the most terrifying phenomenon for a martial artist cultivating Qi.

Entering demonic possession!

This instance of entering demonic possession caused her body more damage than the previous full-strength strike from Clark, ten times worse!

Her meridians were now severely damaged in that instant, a condition that would have been fatal for an ordinary person, bypassing any need for rescue.

No hope, just wait for death, goodbye!

With four hundred years of cultivated power protecting her, Madam Gao wouldn't die immediately, but recovering from such injuries without a year or half a year was unthinkable.

Even more likely, the injuries from today would haunt her for life, never leaving, never giving up, without a day of complete recovery. "Madam Gao!" Outside the quiet room, a white-haired elder in ninja attire looked at Madam Gao through the hole in the wall, frowning, "Weren't your injuries almost healed? How did you end up like this?"

This white-haired ninja was Murakami.

Madam Gao shook her head with a wry smile, "A heart demon appeared at the critical moment of breakthrough, now the situation is far worse than when I was injured before."

Struggling to get up, she sat cross-legged on the ground, looking at Murakami in confusion, "Your injuries are healed?"

"No major issues." Murakami did not intend to help Madam Gao up but instead held his katana at his waist, saying solemnly, "I recently discovered some clues and wanted to act with you, but now it seems I must go alone."

Madam Gao frowned, "What clues?"

"It's about the little girl adopted by that black policeman named Marcus." Murakami said calmly, "I suddenly thought during my recovery that the girl adopted by Marcus and the purple-haired girl who appeared that day are of similar age. After some investigation, I found out she is actually the daughter of Damon MacReady, who was framed and imprisoned by Frank D'Amico."

"So, I suspect she has close ties to the bastards who've been causing us trouble."

"And so..." Madam Gao coldly smiled, "You plan to target a little girl to draw them out?"

Murakami nodded slightly, "Damon is dead, and now she's just an orphan with no parents, the easiest to deal with."

"So, using her as a breakthrough is the least costly."

Murakami proudly justified his actions of bullying an orphan girl, "I don't believe her dead father can come back from hell to trouble me!"

...

Inside the villa, Clark, wearing thin clothes, was sitting on the ground in the backyard's martial arts training area.

Feather-like snowflakes were falling, accumulating more than an inch thick on the ground.

Yet, Clark's body remained spotlessly clean. The snowflakes drifting towards him were gently repelled by an invisible force just before touching him, falling elsewhere.

This special energy, known by many names, is called internal strength in the low martial world, true essence in the high martial world, and in the Marvel world, it is known as — Qi!

Yes, this is the Qi that Nalan Rong mentioned to Clark before leaving, which martial artists can control after reaching a certain level of cultivation.

Clark's martial arts had already reached the human limit, satisfying the conditions for cultivating Qi. He had always lacked the proper method, preventing him from achieving his goal.

Until half a month ago, when he activated the "Inconceivably Great Adventure" BGM on a midnight street, he underwent a transformation. The Qi he had long desired naturally became his to command as part of this breakthrough.

However, at this stage, he had only just acquired "Qi" through his body's transformation and had no idea how to further cultivate it to strengthen it, let alone how to use it.

Currently, he was trying to figure out how to use this power to enhance his combat abilities.

Suddenly, Clark raised an eyebrow, turning to look towards the side wall, only to see Hit-Girl, dressed in professional attire, sneaking into the villa, carrying a somewhat familiar katana, and stealthily heading towards the back door.