Feng Deying and Chu Yunfan both assumed the stance of The Tiger Descends The Mountain. They watched each other like hawks, their glares attempted to pick out each others' weaknesses— a single gap in their opponent's guard. Feng Deying smiled cockily, tilting his head sideways, before rushing forwards.
"Ascending Tiger!"
Yunfan watched as Feng Deying seemingly moved in slow-motion. While Feng Deying's technique seemed excellent to everyone else, Chu Yunfan could see every discrepancy between his opponent's technique and Instructor Qin's demonstrations. In his vision, the mental image of Qin Wu performing the Ascending Tiger overlapped with Feng Deying, which only made the mistakes more evident.
Chu Yunfan caught Feng Deying's fist before it reached his chin, twisting out of the path of the strike and diverting the force. He ended up with his back against Feng Deying's chest, before he pulled Deying's arm and judo-flipped the blonde boy over his shoulder.
This all happened in the time it took for a spark to fly off a piece of flint. Feng Deying's body made a loud "bang!" as his back struck the concrete floor.
Small fissures spread from where Feng Deying had struck the floor. A small trickle of blood dripped out of his mouth.
The spectators watched in complete shock.
"When did he become so skilled?!"
"How did Chu Yunfan produce so much power?!"
"Isn't he only at the Joint Popping stage?!"
Several audience members couldn't believe that they were the same level as Chu Yunfan. Most of the students' perception skills hadn't even been fast enough to observe what exactly had happened; for them, Feng Deying turned into a blur and had suddenly ended up on the floor. Chu Yunfan seemed to transcend his cultivation base!
Tang Siyu spoke, though her intense gaze made it seem that she was talking mostly to herself. "He leveraged the imperfections in Feng Deying's technique… guided the movement of kinetic energy and Internal Energy… and turned Feng Deying's power against himself!"
The students surrounding her were not only astounded by her analytical ability and visual acuity, but also by Chu Yunfan's incredible technical skill!
"I'll call that move… Neutralizing the Tiger!" Yunfan chuckled.
Feng Deying roared, his legs spinning around to sweep under Yunfan's feet. Chu Yunfan scoffed, leaping backwards to easily avoid the leg sweep. The blonde boy took this opportunity to stagger to his feet, wiping away the blood at the corner of his mouth.
"You… fucking bastard!" Feng Deying snarled, his expression contorted viciously.
Chu Yunfan yawned, dramatically covering his mouth.
Feng Deying's vision turned red. He charged forwards, covering the three meter distance between them in two steps, his sharpened hand reaching forwards in a powerful piercing motion.
"Fatal Pierce!"
Yunfan simply stuck his leg out at the last possible second, planting his foot flat against Feng Deying's chest. The blonde boy's hand stopped just millimeters before touching Yunfan.
He tsked disdainfully, before twisting his whole body and turning the front kick into an extended taekwondo back kick. Despite only pushing forwards about two centimeters, Feng Deying stumbled backwards.
A red flush of embarrassment heated Feng Deying's face. Chu Yunfan hadn't even deigned to injure him. His skills had so massively outclassed Feng Deying that Yunfan could neutralize his attacks without even needing to hurt him.
Yunfan chuckled darkly and Feng Deying felt a tingle travel down his spine. Yunfan's aura seemed completely different from the mocking playfulness he had exhibited earlier.
"You really like holding grudges, don't you?"
His voice was only slightly above a growl.
"Just because I was right… you decided to beat me down."
"Even though I'm far weaker than you."
"You thought that I was weak. You decided that I was easy prey."
"You thought wrong."
He took a step forwards. Instinctively, Feng Deying stepped backwards.
I'm… afraid of… him?
Immediately, shame and rage welled up in his chest. He roared again, rushing forwards recklessly.
"Your pride is so fragile," Yunfan said neutrally.
"Let me show you how you actually perform The Tiger Descends The Mountain."
A sense of dread filled Feng Deying, but he couldn't stop his momentum in time.
"Ascending Tiger."
Chu Yunfan suddenly disappeared and reappeared in front of Feng Deying. His fist was wreathed in steam as he launched a vicious uppercut into Feng Deying's sternum, launching him three meters into the air.
"Crushing Claw."
With ease, Yunfan pivoted his upper body. His hand was covered in flickering black light, before it slammed into Feng Deying and sent him crashing back down into the ground. The impact shattered the ground beneath the vice-monitor and caused him to vomit blood.
Yunfan landed on top of the prone Feng Deying. His foot slammed into the other boy's chest, causing him to vomit more blood and bile. He looked down at his bloodied, bruised, and disheveled opponent. Feng Deying's eyes were unfocused but he was still conscious. Yunfan's mouth was one hard line and his eyes were shadowed by his hair.
"Fatal Pierce."
His hand shot forwards, killing intent almost tangible at the tip of his fingers. His eyes seemed to overflow with bloodlust.
Feng Deying had one thought: I'm going to die here.
Chu Yunfan stopped the blow less than a millimeter from Feng Deying's throat.
The other boy had fallen unconscious.
Qin Wu untensed his muscles; he'd been ready to interfere if things seemed too dangerous. He simply gestured for another student to take Feng Deying to the nurse's office. Such injuries had basically no risk of permanent damage for someone at the Energy Gathering stage as long as he retrieved treatment.
If they want to pursue martial arts, they will have to get used to getting injured, he ambivalently thought. Rather, he was more interested in Chu Yunfan. His eyes gleamed with curiosity.
He demonstrates power on the cusp of reaching the Mastery Stage.
However, he shook his head. Internal Energy is the basis for everything. Although he recently obtained many resources, his mediocre talent in cultivation will continue to hinder him.
His eyes sharpened. Perhaps he can receive some special training.
Meanwhile, Chu Yunfan shuddered as he stepped off the stage. He felt an intense gaze on him and turned to look at Qin Wu. He turned away uncomfortably.
What does he want…
"He has a predatory look in his eyes."
Chu Yunfan sighed before walking towards the locker room to get his bag. His knuckles and fingernails were bleeding, and he remembered that he had left some bandages in his gym bag.
Mu Zhenfei's eyes had grown progressively larger throughout the entire spar. He quickly cleared the way as Yunfan walked by. Even though it stung his pride, he realized that Chu Yunfan had been going easy on him.
The gap in their abilities was just too large to not acknowledge.
"What a genius…" many of the students whispered as Yunfan wrapped his bloody knuckles and fingernails. His display had been so overwhelming that they couldn't even express disbelief.
"He beat someone two whole stages above him…"
"To be fair, Feng Deying had suppressed his cultivation base."
"That still doesn't get rid of the difference in their physiques…"
***
Feng Deying stayed in the nurse's office for the rest of the class. Whether it was because his injuries were too serious or because he was too embarrassed, no one could say for sure.
Thus, Chu Yunfan ended up taking a detour to the nurse's office on his way to the school gate.
When he stepped inside, he heard the nurse reading the medical report to Feng Deying.
"Six broken ribs. Damaged internal organs. Concussion. Assorted bruises."
A twinge of guilt tickled his chest.
"Feng Deying, you owe me a Blood Essence Refinement Pill." He stayed outside the privacy curtain.
Yunfan heard a strangled noise on the other side of the curtain, followed by deep breathing.
After a few moments, Feng Deying rasped, "Let him in and leave us."
The nurse slipped out and gestured for Chu Yunfan to enter.
He hesitated for a moment, before stepping past the medical curtain.
Inside, Feng Deying was lying on a sterile hospital bed. His shirt was hanging off of a chair next to the foot of the bed, but his chest was so completely wrapped with bandages that Chu Yunfan couldn't see any skin. Some plaster patches were applied to his arms and one to his face. A bandage was wrapped around his forehead.
Class 7's vice-monitor moved his hand to summon a small, black box. He wordlessly offered it to Yunfan, scowling the entire time. He seemed more upset that he lost rather than by the loss of the Blood Essence Refinement Pill.
"I'll win next time. Get ready."
Chu Yunfan locked eyes with him and took the box carefully. He opened the lid and saw a small, red pill with dark striations swimming across the surface. The small sphere was wrapped in brown parchment paper.
He closed the box and placed it inside his book bag. Feng Deying sneered, "Too poor to afford a spatial ring?"
Any guilt that Yunfan felt immediately evaporated like mist under sunlight.
He wordlessly turned and left. If only he knew, he cackled internally.
"…are you sane?"
"Sanity is overrated anyways," he laughed out loud and smiled in a self-satisfied manner as he interlaced his hands behind his head.