"Hey, hey~ Kiana, Li Xuan has been leaving early and coming back late recently. Any idea what he's up to?" Raiden Mei asked with some concern, her right hand covering her cheek.
"Uh... him? I've seen him going out to fight Honkai Zombies and Honkai Beasts lately," Kiana replied distractedly, slumping in her chair. "Maybe he's practicing my family's ancestral Gun Kata!" Kiana said, puffing out her chest with pride.
"I see..." Raiden Mei said with a wry smile, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
'Li Xuan, what's gotten into you?!' Raiden Mei took a gentle sip of her tea, her gaze shifting to the window beside the table, a trace of worry in her eyes. Faintly, she thought she could hear the roar of a Honkai Beast...
"What kind of Gun Kata is this?!" At that moment, Li Xuan was fighting a Honkai Beast that was two stories tall, which was considered relatively 'small'. He had no choice; fighting Honkai Beasts yielded more Crystals than fighting Honkai Zombies. Anyway, Li Xuan had a shield. As long as he wasn't hit continuously, he could slowly wear the opponent down.
"Where's the promised Gun Kata?! Why am I always using my hands and feet instead of my gun?!" Li Xuan muttered to himself in frustration as he leaped to dodge a powerful blow from the Honkai Beast. From a certain perspective, Li Xuan was indeed practicing the combat technique 'Gun Kata', which he had learned from Kiana in exchange for a considerable amount of snacks.
'Might as well just call it martial arts. Why give it a name like Gun Kata?!' Li Xuan silently complained in his mind. When he first started learning 'Gun Kata', he didn't think much of it. But as he delved deeper, he discovered a bizarre detail... this so-called Gun Kata involved using hands and feet more than the gun itself! Even when the gun was used, it was often the hard parts—the grip, the stock—that were used for striking. There were very few moves that involved actually firing the gun.
Perhaps it was because his body was continuously being enhanced, but Li Xuan felt that his memory and learning ability were getting stronger and stronger. Otherwise... given how Kiana had lazily explained the essence of Gun Kata only a few times, it would have been impossible for an ordinary person to remember it all!
"..." The Honkai Beast before him suddenly opened its mouth wide, as if about to roar.
"Not good!!" Li Xuan immediately snapped out of his momentary daze. Based on his many days of experience fighting Honkai Beasts, this was the sign that the beast was about to...
"ROOOOAR!!" The Honkai Beast, with its bloody maw wide open, let out a roar. The next moment, a blast of air pressure comparable to a typhoon shot out of its mouth. Caught off guard, Li Xuan was sent flying by the gust. After a flip in the air, he managed to land safely using a Gun Kata technique, but he was drenched in a cold sweat...
"Hah... hah..." Li Xuan panted. He quickly raised the Super Electromagnetic Hand Cannon in his right hand, which had already been upgraded to a six-star Divine Weapon with a large amount of Honkai energy Crystals. "Bzzzt—BANG!!" A white super railgun blast shot out from the dark muzzle. In the blink of an eye, the glowing white blast struck the Honkai Beast, leaving a scorched black mark on its tough white hide.
"ROAR!!" The sudden injury sent the Honkai Beast into a frenzy. It charged towards Li Xuan on all fours, its thick forelimbs creating small craters in the concrete ground with every slam.
"You think I'm afraid of you?!" Li Xuan raised the Super Electromagnetic Hand Cannon again. Another white super railgun blast shot out, hitting the charging Honkai Beast just as it was about to crash into him. The beast froze as if a god had stopped the hands of time. This was the paralysis effect of the Super Electromagnetic Hand Cannon...
Li Xuan holstered the pistol in his ring, his hands now empty. Then... the emblem on his right chest, 'Knight Never Dies by Bare Hands', flashed with light.
"Hyaaah!!" Li Xuan clenched his fist, bent his waist, crouched, and leaped high... His mortal fist, whistling through the air, made contact with the Honkai Beast's hard head...
"BANG!!" With a sound like a bullet roaring from a muzzle, the two-story-tall Honkai Beast, struck in the head by Li Xuan's punch, was knocked backward and fell. However, it wasn't dead. Its powerful physique allowed it to get back up after being stunned for two seconds...
"Again!" Li Xuan clenched his bandaged right fist and pounced on the struggling Honkai Beast, like a hungry tiger pouncing on a lamb...