章節 13: First Round (2)
As soon as the countdown ended, the arena instantly became a buzz of activity.
Yan Guang could almost feel the ground shake as hundreds of martial artists simultaneously activated their martial arts.
He himself was no exception. He instantly started using the Flowing River Steps to maneuver to his closest opponent.
Within a second, Yan Guang was already in front of him, with his hand in front of his face.
"Token. Hand it over or get punched.", Yan Guang politely asked.
Frightened by Yan Guang's speed, the examinee handed over his token, sighing. He was eliminated by a speedy master before he even had the chance to participate.
Delighted by his new token, Yan Guang immediately decided on one important tactic.
He would safely store one token inside his armor, and keep the rest in his bag.
Although he was doubtful somebody would be able to sneak up on him and steal something of his, it was never hurtful to be a little cautious.
Yan Guang was yet unaware of the highest echelon of examinees and their abilities.
His immediate course of action was simply to continue extorting more examinees.
And so, he did.
Yan Guang was like a blur on the battlefield, constantly dashing to his next victim before graciously giving them a choice: their token or a smackdown.
Within a few minutes, he had managed to rack up 10 tokens this way. He felt he was quite high on the leaderboard by now.
Yan Guang was not going to stop, however. After having his fill of the weaklings, he wanted to challenge a stronger opponent.
This was not only an examination but a chance to further his martial arts.
With his enhanced eyesight, Yan Guang was easily able to spot the odd one out.
An arrogant aspirant stood there flaunting three tokens in his hands.
Logically, Yan Guang deduced that if he was holding three, he would naturally have a few more hidden someplace else.
Wouldn't it be too laughable if all someone had to do to eliminate you was to knock a few tokens out of your hand?
Weaving through the countless martial artists that stood in his way, he eventually made his way over to the arrogant man.
The two glared at each other immediately, each making their hostile intent obvious.
Putting the tokens in his hand into a bag, the man assumed a combat stance.
"You'll be the 7th person I beat to a pulp!", the man confidently asserted.
Meanwhile, Yan Guang was pleasantly surprised. So he had 4 tokens he was hiding.
Knowing exactly how many hidden tokens his opponent had would make shaking him down later much easier. Yan Guang was relieved.
Yan Guang remained fully silent, not responding to his opponent's provocation. He didn't see a point in talking to a walking token bag.
He stood corrected, the man was a token bag and a training tool in one. Pretty convenient.
The man released a palm attack on Yan Guang, who stood there in a normal stance, full of openings.
The man's confidence grew even larger as he saw this 'rookie' martial artist taking no stance at all.
Yan Guang's vision of the scene was slightly different.
He saw a palm moving towards him like a turtle moved to its destination.
So slow. I should just beat this guy to a pulp as quickly as possible, Yan Guang remarked.
Slightly adjusting his position, he was able to optimally dodge the palm and deliver a counter, his own Raging Tiger Fist.
As it landed, he could even see how the man's face contorted in shock and then pain, followed by three yellow teeth flying out of the man's mouth.
The man proceeded to fall to the ground, staggered.
"Please, I'll give you all of my tokens, don't hurt me!", screamed the now pitiful man.
Ah, how quickly pride turned to fear. Perhaps those three teeth had taken all the man's courage with them.
"All seven tokens right now. Otherwise... how about one tooth for each token?", Yan Guang suggested.
The man forked out the tokens with utmost urgency, immediately running out of the arena. He no longer wanted to compete against these hidden tigers and crouching dragons! He vowed to practice his family's palm art a thousand times a day from now on.
"17 tokens, not bad...", Yan Guang noted to himself.
Still, he wanted to fight stronger opponents.
Although all of the hundred people gathered here were at least 3rd-rate martial artists, their strength varied wildly.
Yan Guang wanted to find a 2nd-rate martial artist at this moment, simply to test his technique and strength against them.
So, he went with the fastest and simplest way to locate them. Reactivating his Qi sense, Yan Guang looked to find places with highly concentrated Qi. These places would naturally be in or near highly-rated martial artists.
Yan Guang quickly spotted a bright light nearby in the shape of a person.
He could feel that their body was surrounded by massive amounts of Qi.
Opening his eyes, Yan Guang was surprised to see that when he looked in that direction, he almost felt he could see the Qi with his own eyes.
An imposing young man stood in the middle of the thick aura with a scabbard tied to his waist.
Was this the worthy opponent Yan Guang was looking for?
Although fights took place all around him, not a single person looked to challenge him.
The same went for Yan Guang. No one wanted to challenge such a mysterious and dangerous person who had just eliminated multiple contestants.
Yan Guang slowly walked toward his opponent, each step further bridging the gap.
The young man did the same, taking slow deliberate steps to meet in the middle. Both of them had acknowledged each other.
The remaining contestants slowly cleared out, wanting to steer clear of whatever was about to happen.
It was quite strange to see what happened as a small area devoid of any activity had formed in the martial arena, one reserved for two contestants.
This was a testament to their power.
In an instant, both of them burst with their full strength and speed.
Yan Guang's brain switched into high gear as he began to analyze his opponent.
Based on the scabbard, he was a swordsman, and most likely a 2nd-rate martial artist to boot.
Still, overall combat power was not decided merely by rank. Martial arts and supplementary techniques such as body-refining could increase a genius' strength beyond his rank.
Yan Guang had a feeling his opponent this time was not as simple as he thought.
However, he didn't necessarily feel that was a bad thing. In fact, he could feel the excitement bubbling up inside of him.
Narrowly dodging his opponent's slash, Yan Guang could only say one thing: "Fast!"
By dodging his foe's attack, Yan Guang attacked with a rapid jab.
A great advantage of incorporating his martial arts into his every movement was the flexibility.
The original Raging Tiger Fists didn't have many quick attacks such as a jab. It focused more on strength than speed, but Yan Guang adjusted this style to meet his own needs.
Although it wasn't a perfect adaptation, it was good enough for him.
Unfortunately, his opponent also managed to dodge just in time.
Several exchanges occurred in the next few seconds.
Ordinary contestants could only see a blur as the two fought at a rate the naked eye struggled to understand.
Both of them struggled to land any attacks on the other; the speed at which they reacted was simply far superior to the speed at which they could initiate and finish an attack.
It was clear that they were in a stalemate that could only end with one coming out on top.
Who it would be was yet unknown.
For the first time, Yan Guang felt that his enemy's physical parameters were not lesser than his own. They might even have been greater.
10 seconds had passed, yet both fighters remained locked in this precarious situation.
There's only one way to end this, then... I didn't want to do this, Yan Guang thought to himself.
Instead of reacting to his opponent as he had been doing, he used the extra time to begin an earlier attack, aiming for the chin.
Yan Guang wanted to trade a blow for a blow.
However, the value of the two blows was not necessarily equal. He was using this fact to his advantage.
Yan Guang could only try to embody the principles of the Raging Tiger Fists in his mind.
Unyielding, fierce and explosive.
Almost 10% of his internal force was infused into this punch, making it one of the most powerful attacks he could release on short notice.
Time almost seemed to pass in slow motion as their attacks approached each other.
Somehow, by the most minuscule timespan, Yan Guang's blow managed to hit the opponent square in the chin first.
This caused the opponent's attack to be slightly moved, making it slightly less dangerous for Yan Guang to take.
Even still, as the scabbard sliced at him, Yan Guang could feel its sharpness. His foe's internal force seemed to have the property of sharpness inbuilt seeing as it made even the dullest of edges feel like a fine blade.
Luckily, the scabbard hadn't managed to cut open the skin, leaving only a mark.
That wasn't to say it didn't hurt like hell, however.
On earth, a blow square to the chin would leave someone disorientated and could even lead to a knockout. However, a stronger physique meant that such obvious weaknesses were nullified to a certain extent.
The man was staggered for a brief moment but quickly snapped out of it, immediately returning to a state of combat awareness.
It didn't take long before Yan Guang and the unknown young man began to go at it again, except things were noticeably different.
They were both trading blow for blow.
Yan Guang's clothes were now full of tears and there were marks all over his skin.
His opponent was also equally bruised, with bruising visible on his face and other body parts.
None of them gave up just yet, though.
This was the first time Yan Guang felt he had met an equal, someone who truly tested him in martial arts.
How could he give up such a precious opportunity?
Unexpectedly, his opponent took a step back before starting to talk.
"You quite impress me, stranger. My name is Han Jing. Remember the name of the martial artist who bested you!", he shouted.
His aura began to subtly rise as his scabbard took on a green glint, emanating waves of internal force.
Yan Guang was a bit annoyed. He felt like a gamer who had just beaten the boss only for it to go into phase two. How was this fair?
每周推薦票狀態
-- 推薦票
榜單 
-- 推薦票