At this very moment, the one hundred youths that had qualified among the exam candidates that participated in the martial arts examination from Qinghe County could be considered the most outstanding ones in this batch. The slightly inferior ones in strength had all already been eliminated during the previous matches. The strength of the remaining candidates was definitely above average among their peers.
This year, fifty of these one hundred candidates would be eligible to get into the martial arts academy of Pingxi Prefecture. So this had, in turn, led to the stark contrast of the outcome in the subsequent fifty matches. The victor would ascend to heaven while the loser would descend into hell.
Yan Liqiang quietly watched the match on the stage from below the stage. Since the start of the first round, he realized that the matches in the arena had suddenly intensified. The youths on stage seemed to start giving their all in the matches as if their lives depended on it.
In the midst of the young and immature, yells, cries, injuries, bleeding or even fractures became a common sight. Everyone had already become inured to such misfortune. In the next few matches, the losers ended up being directly carried to the medical hall of the martial arts academy.
The cheers below the stage ceased as everyone watched the battle on stage in silence.
Both Shen Hongbing and Shi Changfeng still remained seated together in the audience seats on the stage with unchanging expressions on their faces. The looks on their faces were solemn while they occasionally exchanged a few words with each other, commenting on the situation of the match.
A person’s destiny was most often determined by either a match onstage or a deadly fight offstage.
In just the blink of an eye, the matches on Arena A had gone on for more than half an hour and there were already outcomes for eleven pairs of candidates. Eleven victors had successfully advanced into the top fifty strongest candidates at the expense of the eleven losers, thus gaining the eligibility of entering the martial arts academy of Pingxi Prefecture.
Under the great difference of failure and success, the fight on stage grew even more intense.
On stage at this moment, the twelfth group of youths was fighting each other, already struggling against each other for two minutes. All of a sudden, one youth suddenly broke through the other’s defense, his punch had left the other with a fully bloodied face. However, with a strange movement of his hand at the moment the fist collided with his face, that person with his face bloodied suddenly grabbed ahold of his opponent’s arm and the place between his thumb and forefinger. He then leaned to the side and locked the body of that youth that had punched him, with both of his legs. Both of them fell on the arena at the same time...
"STOP!" Shen Hongbing who was watching the battle immediately stopped the fight. The judge also hurriedly went up to separate the two people who were on the floor.
"The winner of this match is G, number 17, Zhu Haolong!" Shen Binghong subsequently announced the victor. G, number 17, Zhu Haolong was the youth had been beaten until his face was bloody just now. Upon hearing of his victory, Zhu Haolong wiped away the blood on his face and smiled brilliantly.
"Headmaster Shen, I don’t agree! Our battle hasn’t ended yet, I can still fight! So why is he pronounced the winner? I request to resume this match!" The face of the other youth turned red while he yelled with his fists tightly clenched, he seemed very agitated.
"Zhu Haolong gave you an opening on purpose just now so that you would hit him and then he could armlock you. That technique he used was from one of the techniques from Small Grabbing Hand [1], Python Entanglement. If it wasn’t for Headmaster Shen, Zhu Haolong would have used the power in his waist to turn over and subsequently break your right arm. How would you continue fighting then?" Shi Changfeng explained with an indifferent tone of voice while looking at that red-faced youth, "In this arena, the match is not only about brute force but also wisdom at the same time. Since you have the courage to fight, you are expected to know how to fight too.
When the red-faced youth heard Shi Changfeng’s words then recalled the situation just now, he instantly paled and unclenched his fists. He shot a look at the youth that had been beaten by him until his face was bleeding. Half of his face was already obviously swollen by now. He cupped his fists, then clenched his teeth and descended from the arena. The victor didn’t go down the arena, instead, he went directly to the audience seat in the arena to take a break and continued watching the match.
Yan Liqiang managed to learn a lot of lessons from this kind of match, reaping great benefits out of it.
The matches continued. Two number plates were drawn once again in front of the arena.
"Next round, one of the top three of the preliminary exam, Shi Dafeng, and B, number 11, Jin Nanguo…"
"Hahaha, it’s finally my turn…" Shi Dafeng, who was beside Yan Liqiang, laughed loudly while he cracked his knuckles then patted Yan Liqiang’s shoulder. "I shall go ahead and wait for you in the winners’ area. We shall have a good fight after the top ten honor roll has been decided!" He said with much pride.
After finishing his sentence, Shi Dafeng briskly walked up the stage. On the other hand, his opponent, the youth named Jin Nanguo, went up the stage with a depressed expression.
Naturally, there was nothing to doubt about the strength of one of the top three in the preliminary exam. Being chosen as an opponent to Shi Dafeng, the chances of that youth being eliminated was nearly guaranteed. He might not lose if his opponent was someone else, but faced with Shi Dafeng, the possibility of his victory was simply too slim. This was luck and sometimes, luck was also part of a cultivator’s strength.
At the start of the match, Shi Dafeng made a beeline straight for Jin Nanguo.
Shi Dafeng flung out his fist. An explosive noise that sounded just like a loosened belt being snapped taut in a moment reverberated in the air. At the same time when Shi Dafeng flung out his fist, a brilliant light suddenly shone out from his body. Within that brilliance was an image of a black gibbon — it was evident that Shi Dafeng was cultivating the Full Arm Boxing technique. Not only that, it was a Full Arm Boxing technique that had attained the realm of the third layer, therefore giving rise to such phenomena.
Compared to Yan Liqiang’s Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique that only possessed the realm of the fifth layer, the Full Arm Boxing was at a higher level. This was a fist technique that possessed the realm of the sixth layer.
The Full Arm Boxing technique was a ferocious fist technique. It could be easily controlled and was flexible and ever-changing. Shi Dafeng unleashed the Full Arm Boxing techniques relentlessly within a single breath and mowed that youth down like a bulldozer. His every fist was unleashed at that youth named Jin Nanguo. He forged ahead without retreating, wearing out that youth who was warding off his attacks and leaving him with only one option, which was to evade his attacks. Finally, when the seventh fist was unleashed, that youth was forced to jump off the arena from Shi Dafeng’s attack.
Shi Dafeng ended this match directly and efficiently, claiming victory in just less than half a minute. However, the youth that was forced off the stage by him wasn’t really injured.
...
"Next round, F, number 34, Qi Donglai and H, number 87, Xiong Yihao…"
The fact that Qi Donglai managed to storm into the top one hundred during this examination was somewhat out of Yan Liqiang’s expectations. He had already seen Qi Donglai earlier, but he didn’t greet him and had instead treated him as if he was transparent. But Yan Liqiang was secretly quite baffled. Based on Qi Donglai’s past strength, Yan Liqiang thought that it was barely enough for him to qualify to officially participate in the martial arts examination. He wondered how Qi Donglai had managed to improve so much within such a short period of time.
Qi Donglai had an icy expression in the arena, he didn’t look at Yan Liqiang either. His opponent appeared to be a seventeen or eighteen-year-old youth, a year or two older than Qi Donglai. As soon as the match commenced, both of them were quickly tangled with each other.
Yan Liqiang watched Qi Donglai in the arena with his brows slightly knitted together. Qi Donglai had indeed undergone tremendous changes, regardless of speed or power. He was a completely different person from the one Yan Liqiang had known a few months ago. His current strength was more than double previously. Qi Donglai’s footwork was nimble, crafty and was not any inferior to his opponent. It was even rarer to observe another fierce power from within him. That youth who was older than Qi Donglai couldn’t gain an upper hand at all.
He had only managed to change wholly within this short two months because of the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Manual in his possession. Could it be that Qi Donglai managed to undergo a complete change because he encountered some sort of opportunity too?
Yan Liqiang was making conjectures in his heart. It wasn’t like he was jealous of Qi Donglai or anything. People like Qi Donglai put him on guard, so naturally, he’d pay closer attention to him. Qi Donglai had mentioned that he found a master to study leg techniques, but Yan Liqiang didn’t know if it was true or not. However, watching Qi Donglai’s current performance and the skill of his leg techniques, Yan Liqiang was certain that he had never seen that before. At first glance, it already exuded an icy cold aura.
Qi Donglai fought with his opponent on stage for more than three minutes. Both of them were evenly matched and they had both knocked each other down a few times, there was no sign of overwhelming dominance from either one of them. However, when more than four minutes had passed in their fight, Qi Donglai was beaten to the ground by his opponent’s elbow strike. But the moment he fell, his right leg violently slid out against the floor. His violent sideways kick collided directly with the opponent’s shin across from him.
"Kachaa..." A cracking noise rang out. From below the stage, Yan Liqiang could hear that person’s shin being broken from Qi Donglai’s kick.
The two of them fell down at almost the same time. Qi Donglai swayed as he got up, then wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and spat out two teeth. His opponent was, however, hugging his leg on the floor as he let out an agonized scream. Soon after that, he was taken away by someone from below the arena on a stretcher.
Qi Donglai’s technique from just now was extremely ruthless. It was a move that brought destruction on both parties, but since he was tougher than his opponent, that one move from him decided the outcome of the match.
"Winner, F, number 34, Qi Donglai…"
Qi Donglai accepted his number plate. He inadvertently looked at Yan Liqiang as a strange smile appeared on his face before he made his way towards the resting area of the winners with his head held high.
While Qi Donglai was full of himself earlier, he didn’t notice Shi Changfeng who was sitting in the audience seat behind him frowning slightly.
But Yan Liqiang did, and he couldn’t help but feel a stir in his heart.
...
More than twenty minutes after Qi Donglai’s match, it was finally Yan Liqiang’s turn.
His opponent this time was similarly a youth that was older than him by two or three years.
Upon discovering that he was matched up with Yan Liqiang, whose Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique had stunned everyone, a hopeless expression emerged on that youth’s face when he came into the arena. As soon as the match began, that youth steeled himself with determination and went for broke. He bellowed with rage and without waiting for Yan Liqiang to come over, he charged towards Yan Liqiang of his own accord. He waved his arms like car wheels and acted like a desperate man ready to bring Yan Liqiang down together with him.
Yan Liqiang was slightly surprised before he smiled.
When his opponent was rushing towards him, Yan Liqiang quickly retreated three steps. He waited until that person had stormed in front of him before unleashing the Turning Drill Punch of the Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique. He brought his left foot a step forward then rapidly did a hundred-eighty degree spin. With the light hook of his right leg and turning around to put his fist that had changed into a palm on that youth’s shoulder, he gave it a gentle push. Like a mad dog that threw itself to food, the feet of that youth left the ground as he was immediately pushed from the stage to below it.
The entire process was less than two seconds and it seemed like this was the shortest match in this martial arts examination.
The surrounding audience below the stage was silent for two seconds before they abruptly erupted into laughter when they saw the pathetic state the youth was in from being thrown off from the stage.
Shen Hongbing and Shi Changfeng glanced at each other before they both nodded at each other and smiles appeared on their faces. In their eyes, of course, they could see how Yan Liqiang had perfectly executed this technique. It was rare to see someone like Yan Liqiang who unleashed his attacks very appropriately. That attack that he used when he turned around was supposed to be a much more powerful drilling punch which targeted a vital spot in the middle of the opponent’s back. With Yan Liqiang’s attainment in the Roaring Tiger Consecutive Fist technique, if he had used his drilling punch normally, that youth would be heavily injured or maybe even lose his life. But instead when Yan Liqiang turned around, not only didn’t use any force in his hand but also changed his fist to a palm. All he did was transform the force used to attack the opponent by pushing him against his shoulder and it sent the opponent flying off the arena without injuring him.
Compared to certain people in previous matches, this Yan Liqiang really had a kind disposition. Despite his young age, he possessed the demeanor of a great expert.