The judge couldn't do anything about the strange candidate at his feet. All he could do was wave his hand and say, "Battle, start!"
Liu Zhen raised his fists and charged toward the judge, much to the shock of Xu Xiaoshou.
Xu Xiaoshou immediately let go of the judge's leg. He'd be breaking the rules if he was still messing with the judge after the battle started.
He collected himself. He had to be more cautious when facing a Level Ten fighter.
Liu Zhen wasn't as weak as the other candidates in the group-stage competition. Level Ten was already half a step into the Innate Stage, so he couldn't afford to take this battle lightly.
However, even though Xu Xiaoshou hurriedly retaliated against the black-colored fists that rained a flurry of punches down on him, he wasn't able to defend himself against a single punch and was reduced to being a human sandbag once again.
Boom, boom…
The familiar sounds rang out again. The people in the spectator seats couldn't sit still.
"He's appeared! Sandbag Xu!"
"He must be sick in the head. He insists on having a brawl every time, but when it's time to fight, he takes his opponent's punches to the face."
"It doesn't look like that Xu Xiaoshou really knows any fist techniques. Liu Zhen is more powerful than him!"
Xu Xiaoshou secretly thought that things weren't looking good. Liu Zhen had dropped all of his pretenses at this time. As he repeatedly got punched, he felt that his body wouldn't be able to hold out much longer.
"What kind of fist technique is this?" he thought.
"It's capable of causing an Innate-stage physical body this much pain?"
Xu Xiaoshou could only guard his vital areas as he was blasted back by Liu Zhen one step at a time.
"Got attacked. Passive Points +2."
"Got attacked. Passive Points +2."
"Got attacked. Passive Points +2."
"What's going on?" he thought.
"I'm only getting two Passive Points for every punch I take? That doesn't make sense!"
Xu Xiaoshou became more startled the more he was hit. The notification panel never made mistakes. Not only was Liu Zhen's fist technique never-ending, but his every punch inflicted double the damage.
He closely examined his body, and sure enough, he found that each of Liu Zhen's punches had secretly left a trace of black energy in his body.
What a sneaky fist technique!
He didn't know what the energy could do. However, it must have some hidden effect if Liu Zhen was secretly leaving it in his body.
Xu Xiaoshou became anxious when he saw that he was about to be blasted out of the arena.
He'd been careless this time!
He should have immediately pulled out his sword. Then he might've had a fighting chance. Now that he was being bombarded with punches, he couldn't even take out his sword from within his ring.
"Liu Zhen, give me a chance!" Xu Xiaoshou said sincerely.
However, Liu Zhen didn't say anything, instead punching Xu Xiaoshou more fiercely. He knew that Xu Xiaoshou had many sneaky techniques up his sleeves, as he'd watched Xu Xiaoshou become the champion of the group-stage competition, so how could he give Xu Xiaoshou a chance?
"Don't force me!" Xu Xiaoshou said fiercely.
There were just a few steps left before he'd be forced off the arena!
Liu Zhen disregarded his words. His punches ripped through the air, causing the air to crackle.
Xu Xiaoshou couldn't take it any longer. He effortfully extended his hand amidst the flurry of punches, then gathered his spiritual power and stabbed his hand forward.
"Sharpness!" he thought.
"I'll stab you to death!
"Even though I can't hit you while you're hitting me, you'll definitely bleed if you keep punching me."
"Ah!"
Sure enough, Liu Zhen let out a startled shock the next second and put some distance between them.
It was inevitable that at least one punch out of the flurry Liu Zhen rained down on Xu Xiaoshou would land on Xu Xiaoshou's dagger-like fingers. Liu Zhen wasn't on the defensive and was caught off guard. His fist felt like it were about to explode it was so painful.
Fortunately, he had trained his body in the past. Even though his body wasn't at the Innate Stage, it was still much stronger than that of an average person. If it wasn't, his fingers would've been torn off from Xu Xiaoshou's attack.
"How could this happen?"
Liu Zhen's eyes were filled with shock. He knew that Xu Xiaoshou didn't know any fist techniques, so how had he taken out a dagger and injured him under his flurry of punches?
The next second, he saw that Xu Xiaoshou's twisted right finger was covered in blood.
His Great Darkness Calamity Fist inflicted double damage with dark energy. There was no way that Xu Xiaoshou was bleeding from one of his attacks, which meant that the blood on Xu Xiaoshou's finger was his.
"So that lad countered my Great Darkness Calamity Fist with his finger?" he thought to himself.
"How is that possible?"
"What technique was that?" Liu Zhen asked. His desire to know what had countered his attack won out over his will to revenge.
Xu Xiaoshou had been blasted to the edge of the arena by Liu Zhen's punches and had almost broken his finger. Fortunately, he'd managed to avoid the crisis.
He forcefully twisted his finger back to its original position and hissed, "Sharpness."
"Got doubted. Passive Points +1."
Xu Xiaoshou was speechless.
"Why did you ask if you weren't going to believe me anyway?"
"You might as well not have asked at all!"
Many of the people in the spectator seats stood up. All of them were in disbelief...
"How did he get out of that tricky situation? I don't get it. Why did Liu Zhen suddenly stop?"
"Look at Xu Xiaoshou's hand. It's bleeding. Is that Liu Zhen's blood?"
"Are you joking? Can't you see Liu Zhen's spiritual technique? That's the Innate-stage Great Darkness Calamity Fist! How could it have been countered by Xu Xiaoshou's finger?"
"What? An Innate-stage spiritual technique?"
Someone had managed to identify Liu Zhen's spiritual technique. Everyone was immediately stunned.
An Innate-stage spiritual technique was something that an individual had to be lucky enough to come across. How could an outer yard disciple have had the opportunity to obtain an Innate-stage spiritual technique?
Even if he had obtained it, how had Liu Zhen managed to master it?
Xu Xiaoshou had deduced that Liu Zhen's fist technique was a high-level technique. It couldn't have inflicted that much damage on him otherwise.
Liu Zhen's series of punches had hurt him several times more than all of the attacks he'd gotten hit with during the group-stage competition.
That wasn't even counting the black-colored energy in his body.
Xu Xiaoshou was a little flustered. He couldn't expel the energy from his body. He guessed that the energy would trip him up at the critical moment. Fortunately for him, he had his notification panel. Otherwise, he wouldn't have known how he'd gotten defeated.
He quickly changed his style when he saw Liu Zhen charge over again. He moved as he took out his wooden sword and said, "A gentleman fights with words, not his fists. Let's not use our fists anymore. Why don't we spar with wooden swords?
"We'll just lightly spar. Don't be rash."
His body wouldn't be able to take it if he had to earn Passive Points from being beaten by Liu Zhen's fists. Xu Xiaoshou decided to admit that he was weaker.
The judge was shocked. What happened to what you said last time during the previous battle? Did you eat your words?
The spectators roared with laughter. All of them slapped their thighs.
"I can't take it anymore. That Xu Xiaoshou is too funny!"
"Did he forget that he said that a gentleman uses his fists rather than swords during his last battle? So why did he admit that he's weaker now when they really got into it with their fists?"
"Hahaha, Xu Xiaoshou is so naive! I can't take it anymore!"
With a thud, a rush of spiritual power erupted from the ground and blasted Liu Zhen forward. A flurry of fists immediately rained down upon Xu Xiaoshou.
"F***, you're still coming!"
Xu Xiaoshou immediately tucked away his wooden sword and whipped out Hiding Pain. He could no longer hide it. He would definitely be blasted off the arena if Liu Zhen used his technique on him again!
"Fortunately, I have a trump card."
"Fleeting White Cloud!"
He sliced his sword horizontally through the air, and all of the dust in the surroundings was sent flying into the air from the powerful momentum. Even the people in the spectator seats couldn't help but kneel. They looked on without blinking.
"Dark Calamity, activate!"
Liu Zhen knew without thinking that Xu Xiaoshou was going to use his ace in the hole, so he made a forceful hand gesture while in the air and ignited the thousands of strokes of dark energy he had left within Xu Xiaoshou's body with his punches just now.
Boom!
Xu Xiaoshou spat out a mouthful of blood. His eyeballs nearly fell out of their sockets, and all the veins all over his body popped out. One could only imagine how much pain Xu Xiaoshou was in.
He knew that his opponent also had a trump card. However, he didn't expect that trump card to be this powerful!
Xu Xiaoshou clenched his teeth hard. He was pouting like a toad and was just short of vomiting blood.
Everyone in the spectator seats were shocked. They didn't expect events to take such a drastic turn for the worse. This battle was incredibly brutal. This was too cruel!
"Xu Xiaoshou… Hang in there!"
All of them cheered for Xu Xiaoshou from the bottom of their hearts. After all, even though Xu Xiaoshou was unconventional and made people hate him, he was the one being beaten to a pulp in this battle.
A Level Six being beaten up by a Level Ten would draw pity from anyone!
The judge arched his feet and immediately charged over. He couldn't allow Xu Xiaoshou to be hit by Liu Zhen's next punch. He would die.
He knew just how powerful the Great Darkness Calamity Fist was. The dark energy inflicted by the technique became more terrifying as more and more punches rained down on the opponent. Xu Xiaoshou had taken the brunt of a few thousand punches. The dark energy in his body was enough to cause an Innate-stage expert to explode!
Fortunately, Xu Xiaoshou had an Innate-stage physical body. The judge rejoiced.
Just as he was about to get close to Xu Xiaoshou, who was forcefully trying to hold back from vomiting blood, Xu Xiaoshou suddenly secretly give him a hand signal.
He doesn't need me?
The judge's heart thumped wildly. Logic told him that he should stop the battle. However, for some reason, he chose to believe in Xu Xiaoshou at this moment, and stopped in his tracks.
Everyone had their hearts in their mouths. Liu Zhen's fist shot upward, straight toward Xu Xiaoshou's chin.
"Puu!"
At the critical moment, Xu Xiaoshou spat out a large mouthful of blood he'd saved in his mouth and instantly covered Liu Zhen's face with it, blurring his vision.
But what could that accomplish?
Everyone in the spectator seats could see the situation clearly. Xu Xiaoshou could no longer avoid the attack. The dark energy had robbed him of the ability to move.
"Get out!" Liu Zhen roared furiously.
With a thud, his punch landed on Xu Xiaoshou's forehead and sent him flying.
The next second, he felt himself being taken up into the air. What was going on?
He rubbed off the blood that was obstructing his vision and realized that Xu Xiaoshou had grabbed onto him with his legs and was bringing him up into the air along with him.
There was blood on Xu Xiaoshou's forehead. However, his legs were wrapped tightly around Liu Zhen's waist like a pincer. They were flying out of the arena together!
The sight of the two candidates entangled in the air was rather strange. It felt like time had stopped.
He was taking Liu Zhen down with him?
Everyone in the spectator seats was shocked. However, they saw Xu Xiaoshou how had actively stepped forward toward Liu Zhen while his forehead was being punched and then took advantage of Liu Zhen being blinded to grab onto him with his legs.
He'd first used his blood to blur Liu Zhen's vision and had then grabbed onto Liu Zhen by wrapping his legs around his waist. Was this a tactic that he had come up with on the fly while he was being punched?
Unbelievable!
"Release me!"
The two of them fell straight down. Liu Zhen wanted to punch him again. If he didn't take action now, he would fall from three meters up in the air. His head was facing the ground. He would definitely be knocked out if he fell!
He didn't have Xu Xiaoshou's body.
Xu Xiaoshou chuckled. He maneuvered around Liu Zhen's body and spun their bodies around, not allowing Liu Zhen to punch him.
During their high-speed revolution, Xu Xiaoshou propped his head against Liu Zhen's feet and grabbed his ankles. He then released his legs from around Liu Zhen's waist and made use of the momentum to gain higher ground and threw him fiercely onto the ground.
Boom!
Dust flew everywhere. Liu Zhen was the first to hit the ground. He was devastated by the impact.
Boom!
Dust was sent flying everywhere again, and Xu Xiaoshou fell elegantly on top of Liu Zhen, who was lying on the ground.
He spat out a mouthful of blood, then waved to the shocked and speechless spectators as he whispered:
"Liu Zhen, you sure are impressive!
"Liu Zhen, what fist technique was that?"
"Liu Zhen, you've taught me never to be careless. I'll always remember that!"
All of Xu Xiaoshou's sarcastic remarks finally made Liu Zhen come back to his senses. He gave up on his "silence is golden" principle and said, unhappy that he'd been beaten:
"Get off of me, darn it!"