Hong Yi's Challenge

Everyone's eyes instinctively converged on the two figures in the middle of the arena.

Their gazes were complicated to the extreme.

There was shock and awe, but more than anything, there was a flame called envy and desire, one that nearly spilled from their eyes.

First place in the Prodigy Class!

Eighteen Primary Qi-Blood Potions every week!

That reward was enough to make any direct descendant of a Martial Dao family go green with envy and lose their mind.

And now, that reward had been doubled!

In the corner, Hong Yi, who had been ignored, had eyes filled with fighting spirit.

On the arena, Qin Wuyue's eyes, as cool and clear as a wintry pool, rested on Chen Fan for a long moment.

It was the recognition of someone who, in the loneliness of being cold at the top, had finally found a kindred spirit.

She gave a slight nod in greeting, then her figure flashed, and she returned quietly to her corner like a weightless feather.

She lowered her sword, sheathed it, closed her eyes, and regulated her breathing.

It was as though all the clamor outside had nothing more to do with her.

"All right, today's assessment ends here..."

A playful smile had just appeared at the corners of Feng Lie's mouth as he prepared to announce the end of today's unconventional lesson in putting them in their place.

Just then!

Boom!

A surge of Qi and Blood, violent enough to be nearly out of control, erupted without warning!

Hong Yi strode forward, his eyes fixed on the slender figure on the arena who was about to turn and leave. He spoke each word distinctly, his voice impassioned.

"Instructor, I, Hong Yi, challenge Chen Fan!"

The moment he said it, an uproar swept through the crowd.

The prodigies, still reeling from the shock of Chen Fan and Qin Wuyue's peak showdown, looked at Hong Yi as though he were a madman.

Seventy-three cal of Qi and Blood, and the strength to defeat Lei Meng in a single move—hadn't he seen it?

But then, a faint, subtle anticipation quietly arose in everyone's hearts.

After all, Hong Yi was the monster who had held second place in the independent admissions assessment, as well as the orthodox inheritor of Hong Fist.

Could he... still have a hidden trump card?

Would the extraordinary sight of three people tied for first be born today?

"Heh..."

Feng Lie grinned, baring a mouthful of stark white teeth.

This was the kind of competition he wanted, one that would not end until one side was dead!

A flock of sheep who were nice to one another would never become fierce tigers that fought their way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood!

"Granted!"

With a broad wave of his hand, he directly awarded the main arena to the two of them.

Under countless gazes, Hong Yi stepped onto the arena. Each step was heavy and resolute, as though he were treading on everyone's hearts.

He forcibly suppressed the humiliation and fury churning in his heart, looked Chen Fan straight in the eye, and said in a deep voice, "Your fight with Qin Wuyue took a great deal out of you. I'll give you an hour to recover your Qi and Blood."

"I'll defeat you fair and square when you're at your peak!"

Those words were his pride as an inheritor of Hong Fist, as a martial artist.

But across the arena, Chen Fan merely shook his head calmly.

His deep eyes were utterly untroubled, as though he were stating the simplest of facts.

"No need."

Those simple words carried no emotion, yet they struck down like an invisible hammer weighing ten thousand jun.

"You...!"

Hong Yi's face alternated between green and pale. In the end, all his emotions turned into a roar suppressed to the utmost!

"Aaaaah!"

He held nothing back!

The vast Qi and Blood within him, reaching as high as 69.5 cal, surged out without restraint like an erupting volcano!

His whole body seemed to swell by a size, waves of air rolling around him and shaking the alloy arena beneath his feet until it hummed!

Hong Fist's basic fist technique!

Hong Sect Threefold Waves!

He unleashed a punch, and its force split into three in midair. The three streams of fist force were like the raging waves of a furious sea, each wave driving the one before it, each surge more powerful than the last. They piled atop one another, finally merging into a destructive torrent capable of obliterating everything, and roared toward Chen Fan!

This strike was his peak punch, containing all his essence, energy, and spirit!

Facing this world-shattering strike, Chen Fan's gaze remained calm.

In Hong Yi's seemingly unmatched and ferocious attack, he instantly spotted no fewer than seven fatal openings caused by his unbalanced state of mind.

Too slow.

Too crude.

Chen Fan did not even exert his full strength. He simply gathered the vast 73 cal of Qi and Blood within him into his right fist without betraying a hint of it.

He struck later, but arrived first!

With the most basic move of the Five Elements Fist, carrying the Star-Transferring Blood Art's terrifying, unstoppable penetrating power, he struck from an extraordinarily tricky angle, landing with flawless precision on the weakest, most unstable point where Hong Yi's three violent streams of fist force overlapped!

There was no earth-shaking crash, no dazzling display of light and shadow.

Bang!

There was only a dull sound, like a heavy object striking worn leather.

Hong Yi's incomparably violent fist force, which seemed capable of swallowing everything, was like a balloon instantly pierced by an invisible steel needle. It failed to last even a single breath before collapsing with a roar!

A condensed, domineering force, cold to the extreme, pierced his protective Qi and Blood like a force sweeping away dead wood and rotten weeds, then poured into his meridians!

"Pfft!"

Hong Yi's whole body jolted as though struck by lightning. His eyes bulged, the madness and fighting spirit in them instantly replaced by boundless horror and pain.

A great mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of his internal organs sprayed from his mouth, tracing a ghastly line of red through the air.

His burly body flew backward like a discarded burlap sack, faster and in a sorrier state than anyone before him. He traced a long arc and slammed heavily into the edge of the hall, dozens of meters away.

Bang!

A dull impact rang out. Hong Yi's body twitched twice before he fell completely unconscious, insensible to the world.

The entire hall fell deathly silent.

A pin could have been heard dropping.

Every prodigy stared stiffly and blankly, as though frozen by a spell, at the nine-year-old child who had defeated his opponent with one punch without so much as rumpling the hem of his clothes.

If Chen Fan's fight with Qin Wuyue had shown them what a genius looked like,

Then Chen Fan crushing Hong Yi with one punch had now made them truly understand what a monster was!

In the face of absolute strength, so-called pride was worthless.

Chen Fan slowly withdrew his fist, as though he had merely done something utterly insignificant.

He turned around, his calm gaze passing over the dumbstruck faces below the arena before finally settling on their instructor, Feng Lie.

"Can we finish now?"

Feng Lie froze for a moment. Then, on that unruly face, he burst into laughter of unbridled delight and fervor!

"Ha... hahahahahaha!"

His laughter echoed through the spacious hall, full of uninhibited pleasure.

He pointed at the little brats below the arena who had been scared completely witless, his voice exploding like rolling thunder.

"Did you all see that?!"

"That's the gap between you!"

"In the face of absolute power, that little bit of ridiculous self-respect of yours isn't worth a fart!"

Feng Lie stopped smiling, his gaze abruptly turning cold and cruel.

"Now, the rankings are settled!"

"Chen Fan and Qin Wuyue, tied for first!"

"Now get the hell back and properly digest what you gained today! Seven tomorrow morning, at the training ground. Get ready for your... real first lesson!"