974 Metamorph

The only form of protection he had was the chi he used as pseudo armour, yet the shot was nearly a point blank. He did his best to tilt his head slightly, leading to the bullet blasting his ear off instead of his head. The pain and buzzing sound from the pistol made him stumble backwards to maintain balance and regain a sense of the current situation. The echoing of the aftermath rang in his head, the searing pain of the bullet on his skin might be too much for an average person, but he was a seasoned fighter. 

Tolerating it was not an issue for him.

The spectators were all bewildered and racked their brains, trying to figure out how Jin had managed to fool everyone. Even Yuan Ba had never seen such a high-level defensive trick before, despite being exposed to many styles during his life. He had thoroughly researched the Panda Styles to advise his eldest son on what to look out for, and this was never one in the books. (His youngest son had been left out for fear his impulsiveness would reveal the plan too early.)

"Honestly, how did Jin do that? He literally broke off as if he was coming out of a husk and let them target him." Lynn questioned on the System Channel, and his minions all had their theories, yet nobody had a clear answer. The System appeared to have been waiting for anticipation to grow before it finally answered without disturbing Jin.

"According to System's deduction, this was a display of a high level of manipulation of Maqi. User must have created an Astral Projection that looked real enough to fool everyone. Not only that, he maintained the density of his Astral Projection while using his Maqi at the right moment to move away from the attacks." The System explained though Jin's minions questioned how he was able to hold enough Maqi to create such a high-density Astral Projection without letting the opponents know about it.

Yet, the System was a bit off the mark from its deduction. Jin had actually used the very same method he had used previously to create the sharp jab against Yang Rong. All he did was do a slight trip backwards, prompting him to activate his Maqi to create this Astral Projection. And with Green Wind Panda Maqi, he floated back with ease during the tripping, allowing him to hide behind after the attack. 

Jin did not stop shooting and with his Inverse Eyes activated, he was able to predict where they were going to land, making it even more difficult for both the Tiger Brothers to evade.

Yet, Yang Hui just felt humiliated by Jin. He was aware that from what they knew about Jin, these guns were not his main way of fighting. It was like he was indirectly taunting the Tiger Brothers and telling them that they were only worth bullet shots and not his actual skills.

"I will show you that I am not messing around!" Yang Hui called out as he released his cultivation aura. Two Tigers silhouette like projectiles sprawling out of his body and they rushed towards their prey. Jin was able to move away quick enough and later saw behind the Eldest Brother was a massive Tiger silhouette to portray his Grade 10 and a smaller tiger silhouette beside it to show that he was Grade 11.

Jin now focused on Yang Hui, who had started a metamorphosis process and was gaining stripes on his legs and hands. His teeth turned into fangs, and his eyes were filled with ferocity staring at Jin.

Yang Rong was also sick of dealing with the way too accurate bullets and activated his own chi aura. Despite being the younger brother, he revealed a massive Tiger with two smaller tiger silhouettes, showing that he was actually a grade higher than his elder brother.

"Epic Royal Zodiac Tiger Technique, Steel Fur Skin!" The Tiger Duellist shouted, and he turned all greyish with a shiny matte all over his body. There were faint stripes on him too, indicating that he had metamorphosed as well and with even better control compared to his sibling.

"Steel skin and metamorph ability, huh? This is starting to feel nostalgic fighting with tigers. Let's see if our experimental product is working as we hoped." Jin raised his watch, and a bullet clip was released out from the storage watch. Some of his minions were wondering why he needed to change his pistol clip when Bam and Boo worked via his chi.

"Oooooh! Looks like we might get another twist in the fight!" Ayse said excitedly since she had recognised what he pulled out. After all, she was the one to create them. "Seriously, I was getting worried if he was too busy to try it out despite meeting such a good target! It's no longer experimental in my eyes! He just failed to approve it!" The last part was said in a pouting voice.

Yang Rong did not bother to evade the bullet shot that Jin shot and just took it straight on.

His Epic Technique was enough to even resist machine guns with high penetrative power much less a chi indued bullet. But something unexpected occurred... 

The bullet managed to pierce the Steel Fur Skin even though it was just the tip of it, making Yang Rong feel quite a bit of pain. Accompanied with it was a blast of fire yet it only scorched a portion of the armoured skin which was non-consequential. 

At that point, the Tiger Duellist thought that his Steel Fur Skin might not yet have been fully activated, yet Jin's next shot proved otherwise. To make things worse, he had aimed at precisely the same place again, and this time Yang Rong could feel the pain of the bullet within his abdominal area.

Not only that, the blast of fire ensued, this time causing the rest of his insides to burn as the Steel Fur Skin tried to close the hole that Jin had just created. Yang Rong toppled onto the floor, coughing blood, and to a certain degree, puffs of smoke emerged from his mouth too.

But to show weakness immediately after showing his cultivation was truly an insult. The reminding minor clan members were all depending on him to win this fight. Not to mention, his territory was at stake— one which he took great effort to earn it from his father as compared to his other siblings. However, as he tried to stand up, he felt the firey sensation pulsating through his entire body, as the fire boiled his circulatory systems, paralysing him for a moment.

"Heh, I did not expect this to be so effective. Well done, Ayse. I definitely approve this for further developments." Jin praised her via the System and Ayse gleed very widely. 

"I am glad you like the weapon research team's development. It was rather easy to replicate since you had the actual product. We've used your sludge to further improve the firepower. Therefore part of this achievement partially belongs to you as well, master." Ayse said as she saw the System bless her with additional System Points to put the other elemental bullets into development.

The truth of these bullets was that they were Ayse's recreation of the ones Ming had left behind when Jin unlocked the series of inheritance gifts. They had been in the same box as the Anti Demon Manual and given that Jin had used these Ruby Fire Bullets before against an imaginary tiger, he had figured it would be useful against a real metamorphosed tiger too. 

After all, the metamorphosis was not too different from demonising oneself to become stronger. Grandma Yuan would be proud if she saw Jin utilise his knowledge of Demon Exorcism in such a way. Naturally, that info came from his two week crash course with Ming when they had their random chats and lectures.

But for now, it's time to put the raging proud tigers down, one bullet at a time.