The reason became apparent just an instant later, as Eric hadn't actually clashed against the tree he had been thrown towards, but he had actually used it as a propelling stand.
In order for him to do so, it was clear that the control he had on his body, his strength, and his surroundings was clearly above the masses.
Even the war experienced captain Huo Tie would have trouble to do something like that, and yet the young man in front of him had pulled it off easily.
That made him a bit bitter about the talents, and prowess of the opponent, but he knew better than anyone that the fight wasn't over yet. It was only starting to get interesting.
With those thoughts in his mind, Huo Tie didn't lose any precious instant, as he quickly put his arms in front of him in a defensive position and prepared to use the generating inertia against Eric.
Eric's punch came just like a ragging meteor, but since he was prepared it only caused him a bit of numbness in his forearms and nothing more.
On the other hand, he used the inertia of the attack to propel his body in the air, and use both his feet to actually attack Eric, while flying away.
As a senior, and as a strong ex-soldier, as the pride of the country he couldn't allow Eric to best him, could he?
Eric was clearly prepared for the attack, as he expected something like that, so he quickly retracted his hands to block the attack, and then use the generated force to jump back.
Everything happened so fast, and so quickly that all the people present were looking at the duo in front of them as pure monsters.
Even though they were also at the same level as Huo Tie, they still felt rather lacking compared to him, and if they had a one on one fight with him, they would definitely lose.
But that wasn't all, the masked young guard in front of them seemed to be around the same level as that terrifying Huo Tie in their eyes, and that made them even more bitter.
Too bad that there was nothing that they could do, as despite Eric there was another masked guard by Cui Xie's side, forgetting Cui Xie himself, that sneaky old man Ma was nowhere to be seen as well.
If these guys had a chance or saw an opening then they would surely try their best to kill Cui Xie, despite his rather disturbing background, and in the meantime take care of Huo Tie as well.
Greedy humans were like that, they couldn't bear the existence of something or someone that could actually threaten their own.
As for the normal mortals, well they were just too happy living in their bubble of ignorance, as they were treated like living stock, to even think something about it.
While these guys were stuck in their own world and thoughts, Huo Tie and Eric were looking at each other with mutual respect and estimation.
It takes a Master to know another one, and Eric could tell that the man in front of him had been stronger than what he was showing.
Being a Realm 2 being was already enough evidence of persistence, and hard work that was worthy of respect, but this man had climbed even higher.
And despite losing his previous strength, and power he still hadn't lost his edge and his sharpness and was still trying to grow stronger.
This was the first time that Eric had actually met someone that he could truly respect, besides Panda, but his situation was a bit different and he was still too green.
Huo Tie seemed to have similar thoughts to him, as he looked towards Eric with a heavy look, and then said with a voice matching his look,
"Youngster, this is my last attack, if you manage to defend against this, then we will admit that your Master has the qualifications to negotiate with us!"
At the same time, inside he was thinking with a bit of fear, just where the hell did this Young Master Cui Xie find someone like him, it was just mind-blowing to him.
Eric looked seriously in the eyes of the opponent, without any trace of fear, or hesitation as he said,
"Go on!"
He knew that if he didn't use his Dragon Force it would be impossible for him to actually have a chance against the Master in front of him, so he decided on only defense against it.
This way he would not only show his strength and qualifications, but he would also keep Master Huo Tie's face and pride.
These guys were among the most prideful people of all, and if he wasn't careful they might even try to act against him here and now in order to keep him in check.
Not that he feared them to be precise, as even if he couldn't kill them all, he still had the confidence to escape from them, but that would bring him a lot of troubles and headaches.
Those troubles would need a lot of time to actually be solved, and time was what he was lacking the most right now. With each passing day, he was one day closer to the S-day.
Master Huo Tie didn't let the audience wait for long though, as he jumped high in the air, pulled his right arm like the bow of a bowstring, and then released it towards Eric.
Immediately the air around his fist started whistling and moving faster, as some bits of shining light surrounded it, taking the shape of an orange roaring tiger.
'ROOOAAARRRRRR~!'
It was beyond normal comprehension, as the ex-soldier Huo Tie seemed to have actually trained this skill to completion as he was able to show the figure of a roaring tiger as he used it.
Eric could feel that this attack had around 90% of Huo Tie's strength, and it wasn't his full strength attack, but it was still overwhelming.
Even for someone like him, that attack seemed to be a bit over the top, but he had the confidence to best that attack.
Finally, he was having a good chance to use that skill, and despite the fact that it wasn't going to be of full potential it was still exciting.
The next moment, a green light started appearing all over his body, making him look like some kind of green lantern, and at the same time, a small layer of green glass donned his body.
At least that was how it looked on first look, but if one managed to look better at that, they would find that it wasn't actually glass, but rather jade.
It was Eric's Pure Jade Body skill, even though he had had this skill for such a long time, this was actually the first time that he felt the need to use it.
After all the upgrades that Eric had done to this skill bringing it to full potential, he should be able to block 40% of the enemy's attack, as long as he was on his Realm, and 15% if it was a Realm higher than him.
That was enough for the current him to block the approaching attack totally without even receiving a single scratch, but that would be just too overpowering, and concerning about these guys.
So he was planning of letting around 2% or 3% of the upcoming attack reach him, with that thought in mind, he didn't use the skill to its full potential, but just enough.
'Clankkk~!'
The next moment, he felt like he was suddenly thrown in front of a real roaring tiger, that came crushing upon him, as the jade layer around him was broken in 1 second.
The next second the tiger engulfed him totally as he used all his strength to actually defend against that attack head-on.
His stubborn and forthright attitude surprised even Master Huo Tie, who thought that the opponent was actually a forthright and courageous young man, a true warrior.
Too bad that he didn't know that Eric was doing something like that only because he had full confidence in his skills to actually block the attack, and everything was going according to his plans.
Eric was the type of guy that would never fight a losing battle, he wasn't some kind of justice strident fool or any kind of hopeful hero. He was a cold-blooded and cuny fighter.
Still, this didn't mean that he had any intention of clearing Huo Tie's or the other people's false assumptions, as that would even be against his interest.
But he didn't have much time to think about it, as he felt that Roaring Tiger overwhelm him and then take him flying towards the trees behind him.
'Booooommmmmm~!'
This time it was impossible for him to actually control his body and his strength in order to propel himself and attack back once again, as he went crashing upon those trees with a loud booming sound.
A cloud of dust and debris was formed momentarily before he jumped back and stood right where he was standing a moment ago.
There were scratches, bruises, and blood spilling cuts all over his body, still, he was standing as straight as a steel pole.
It was clear that he had suffered injuries, but he was still showing his pride as a fighter that would never bow his head in front of someone else, well besides his 'Master'!
On the other hand, Master Huo Tie seemed extremely satisfied with Eric's endurance and attitude, even more after he blocked that attack of his, as he laughed out loud and said,
"Hhahahaha~! You are clearly a promising young man, how about you come and become my adopted son, instead of being with that Xie brat!"
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