Fighting

Wang Ming regulated his breathing on his own after defeating Huang Yaoshi.

The Innate Skill true qi had not consumed much just then; it was mainly the Indestructible Vajra Body true qi that had depleted excessively.

That Thousand Flowers Scatter Money strike was executed using all of the Indestructible Vajra Body true qi, and Huang Yaoshi naturally could not block it.

Wang Ming closed his eyes to recover his kung fu, and three loud laughs suddenly reached his ears.

Ha-ha-ha, today I am going to become The First Under Heaven, which of you will come to be my opponent.

He opened his eyes to take a look, and it was actually Western Venom Ouyang Feng.

"Old Poison, you are arriving a bit late!" Hong Qigong stood out and said.

"Hmph!" Ouyang Feng had no intention of answering this question.

He glanced around at everyone present, then continued.

"How is it that Emperor Duan and Zhou Botong are not here at Mount Hua Sword Debate, leaving only the few of you?"

"Emperor Duan has already taken monastic vows to become a monk, and has no mind to vie for The First Under Heaven. Old Urchin also has other matters, so he should not have the energy to come," Hong Qigong said.

"If they are not coming, then they are not coming! Which of you is going first?" Ouyang Feng's eyes swept over the people present.

"I will come and cross hands with you! They just finished a match," Hong Qigong said as he stepped down into the arena.

"Old Beggar, are you competing with me today to decide the victory, or are we fighting to the death?"

Hong Qigong said, "It is both a wager on victory and a determination of life and death, so you do not need to hold back your blows."

Ouyang Feng said, "Good! Come on!"

His left hand, which had originally been behind his back, suddenly whipped out. Gripping his snake staff in his hand, he struck toward Hong Qigong.

Hong Qigong did not hesitate much either, and stepped into the arena to exchange blows with Ouyang Feng.

This time, because Wang Ming had pulled Hong Qi's group to the Siguo Cliff cave, Ouyang Feng had not run into them.

He had not been struck on the head by Hong Qigong's Dog Beating Staff, so the current Ouyang Feng's mental state was completely normal.

Huang Rong worried about Hong Qigong, and had previously handed the Dog Beating Staff over to Hong Qigong.

This was precisely a contest between Hong Qigong's Dog Beating Staff Technique and Ouyang Feng's Spirit Snake Staff Technique.

That Dog Beating Staff Technique was a martial art that only successive sect leaders could learn. The Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms could be taught to sect members one or two moves at a time whenever he felt like it, so one could imagine its extraordinariness.

Only after exchanging a few blows, the spectators watching from afar clearly discovered that Ouyang Feng was somewhat in a sorry state.

Huang Rong and Guo Jing cheered repeatedly over there, quite excited.

During the first Mount Hua Sword Debate, I saw that the old beggar had a verdant green stick at his waist, but he never once used it. He truly knows how to endure, Huang Yaoshi could not help but mutter inwardly when he saw the battle situation.

At this moment, Huang Yaoshi also slowed down his recovery speed to watch the battle, continuously deducing moves in his mind.

Ouyang Feng had crossed hands with Hong Qi many times, yet he had never seen him use the Dog Beating Staff Technique. On that day amidst the burning ship on the sea, they had fought to the death with the situation pressing, yet Hong Qigong had still not used it throughout.

Ouyang Feng had once seen Huang Rong use this staff technique and found her moves wondrous and strange, long since daring not to look down on her. Seeing Hong Qigong strike out two moves now, the staff whistling through the wind, it truly was no trivial matter.

Did this mean that the Dog Beating Staff Technique was mightier than the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms?

Martial arts like the Dog Beating Staff Technique were strong as they were strong, and weak as they were weak.

This was because such martial arts could not see the light of day; once brought to light, they would become tasteless chicken ribs.

This martial art mainly caught the enemy off guard, calculating the unwitting with the intentional.

It was just like a classic quote from Saint Seiya: the same move is useless against a Saint.

Against a martial arts grandmaster, martial arts of this category were likewise useless a second time.

Ouyang Feng also possessed a martial art identical to the Dog Beating Staff. He had created it while in seclusion at White Camel Mountain Villa to re-practice his Toad Skill, intending to use it to vie for The First Under Heaven at the second Mount Hua Sword Debate.

That was the Spirit Snake Fist Technique. For Ouyang Ke's safety, he had taught it to him, but as a result Ouyang Ke used it once in front of Hong Qigong.

Seeing that fist technique for the first time, it had shocked him endlessly.

After returning to ponder over it bitterly for a night, he casually cracked it.

Offensive martial arts were divided into two types: first, those centered on moves, such as the Dog Beating Staff—once a master saw it once, it became useless. Second, those centered on internal force, such as the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms—even if you knew the moves, you could only meet force with force.

Wang Ming's Five Peaks Swordplay was the same. Previously, his opponent was Hong Qigong, and he would have lost miserably because he had seen this swordplay.

If Huang Laoxie gave him one day, this swordplay would likewise have no effect against him.

Did that mean whoever Hong Qigong used the Dog Beating Staff against was guaranteed to win? Not necessarily. Not being able to crack it in a short time did not mean it could not be blocked.

Blocking meant letting the move fail to injure oneself, while cracking meant directly striking the vital points to take the enemy's life.

Sure enough, on the field, Ouyang Feng's snake staff lashed out left and right, aiming straight for Hong Qi's vital points.

His snake staff had already been lost twice, and the one he currently held in his hand was a newly made third one. The human head carved upon the staff was even more bizarre and terrifying, except that although the two strange snakes possessed venom no different from the original, they had not been trained for long, and when facing an enemy they were not as well-drilled and agile as those first two.

Relying on the Spirit Snake Staff Technique and the venomous snakes inside it, Ouyang Feng gradually leveled out the initial gap.

On that day, Hong Qigong's back had been bitten by his strange snake, and he had also suffered a fierce palm strike from him, nearly costing him his life. It took nearly two whole years of recuperation before he finally recovered.

That was the greatest defeat he had ever experienced in his life, and also the most bizarre peril he had ever encountered.

Now fighting him once again, he was extremely cautious and careful.

Just as Hong Qigong was about to execute a move, "Beating the Dog's Head", bringing down a staff directly toward the crown of Ouyang Feng's head, it was blocked by the latter's snake staff.

He was just about to change his move when he saw two strange snake heads darting out from inside the snake staff, lunging straight at Hong Qigong's face with extremely swift speed.

From far away, he sensed the immensely foul and stinky odor from the mouths of those two snakes. Hong Qigong was very familiar with it; this was the exact same extreme venom from the snakes that had claimed his life last time.

Immediately, he extricated himself and leaped backward, wanting to dodge this strike.

Yet how could Ouyang Feng so easily allow him to leave?

Releasing the snake staff, before Hong Qigong even landed, he channeled the Toad Skill and delivered a strike straight at Hong Qigong.

Facing this move, Hong Qigong had no other alternative either, and could only use the Dog Beating Staff to block the palm assaulting him. Borrowing the pushing force of that palm also allowed him to shake off the attack of the two strange snakes, but the Dog Beating Staff in his hand was also knocked out of his grip.

Seeing this, Ouyang Feng did not bother to pick up the snake staff on the ground.

Instead, he began to crouch on the ground, assuming the starting stance of the "Toad Skill".

With a single palm, he shoved it out toward Hong Qigong's direction.

This gave Hong Qi quite a fright, and he hurriedly dodged.

Among the Five Greats, basically no one dared to take Ouyang Feng's charged Toad Skill head-on.

Toads were creatures that hid deep in the earth for a long time, accumulating vigor and energy; after emerging from the earth, they did not require much food. The Toad Skill likewise emphasized the Dao of accumulating strength and storing power, which was why the cultivation of its internal kung fu was incomparably difficult. If one practiced even slightly incorrectly, they would inevitably suffer heavy injuries, or even vomit blood and die.

The Toad Skill purely relied on stillness to control motion, containing vigor, storing posture, and harboring strength throughout the entire body without releasing it. The moment the enemy launched an attack, violently formidable force would instantly counterattack.

Not only was it immensely powerful and fiercely imposing, but it was also unpredictable, profound, and miraculous, capable of instantly killing an opponent beneath one's palm.