First Match!

Canglang Martial Hall.

Chen Hour.

The azure sky stretched boundlessly, without a cloud.

The Great Sun had already risen, and the courtyard was sweltering.

"Junior Brother Jiang, how about a match?" Senior Brother Cheng suddenly spoke, his eyes blazing as he looked at Jiang Ning.

Ever since Jiang Ning had lent him a hand two days ago and he had felt the explosive force in Jiang Ning's arms, Cheng Ran had found it difficult to calm down.

From that moment, he had been intensely curious—just what level of strength had Jiang Ning reached?

At the time, he had proposed having a match with Jiang Ning in the future.

His purpose in proposing the match was simply to satisfy his curiosity about Jiang Ning's true strength.

It had not been for the reason he had stated before: that exchanging blows would increase their combat experience.

In his view, the only opponents who could truly increase one's combat experience were evenly matched opponents, not those whose strength differed by a world.

His Blood Qi was complete, and he had penetrated his whole body. The force of a single arm had long since surpassed five hundred jin, more than twice the force he had felt from Jiang Ning at the time.

With such a vast disparity in strength, a frontal battle would be like an adult fighting a child. They were not opponents on the same level at all.

In his eyes, how could such an enormous gap in strength increase any combat experience?

The proposal to spar was merely to satisfy his curiosity.

His curiosity about Jiang Ning's strength and the realm of his fist techniques.

In the courtyard.

Faced with Cheng Ran's proposal, Jiang Ning needed only a brief moment of thought before nodding in agreement.

"Good!"

He agreed to Cheng Ran's proposal for a very simple reason as well.

Xu Yunfeng possessed the strength of complete Blood Qi and a body penetrated throughout.

He was currently the person who posed the most direct threat to Jiang Ning, and the one most likely to make a move against him.

Cheng Ran also possessed complete Blood Qi and a body penetrated throughout.

In Jiang Ning's eyes, the two were theoretically neck and neck in strength.

By sparring with Cheng Ran, he could roughly gauge Xu Yunfeng's strength.

As for the information revealed during their exchange.

In Jiang Ning's view, it did not matter at all.

Keeping a low profile was not what he needed to do right now.

There was no such thing in this world as, "This child's talent is terrifying beyond belief. He absolutely cannot be allowed to live."

Displaying his talent in moderation brought far more benefits than drawbacks.

As long as he did not exceed the limits of what the world could understand and become demonized, it was fine.

A moment later.

Crackling—

Cheng Ran stretched his entire body and loosened his joints.

"Junior Brother Jiang,"

Crackling—

He stretched his entire body and loosened his joints.

"Junior Brother Jiang, you make the first move! I'll control my strength," Cheng Ran said, confident in his seniority.

"Then Senior Brother Cheng, be careful," Jiang Ning said.

The next moment.

His figure moved and suddenly erupted. His Blood Qi surged within him, coursing through his right arm, and he instantly transformed into the momentum of a Fierce Tiger Descending the Mountain.

The distance was less than two zhang, and he closed it in just a few strides.

"Good move!" Seeing Jiang Ning's right hand spread wide like a tiger's paw reaching out, Cheng Ran's eyes narrowed.

He immediately shifted his right foot and lowered his body.

Facing Jiang Ning's palm, he had no intention of dodging in the slightest.

In his eyes, it was neither necessary nor something he could afford to lose face over.

Cheng Ran clenched his palm into a fist and directly unleashed half his strength.

Bang—

Fist and palm collided, and a muffled boom rang out.

The powerful force erupted, causing Cheng Ran to retreat half a step involuntarily. Then, with strength still in reserve, his body instantly steadied itself in place.

What explosive power!!!

Cheng Ran's heart was filled with shock, and his gaze toward Jiang Ning changed abruptly.

Only after exchanging blows and personally feeling Jiang Ning's strength could he truly determine Jiang Ning's level.

His Tiger Form Fist had clearly reached Minor Completion!

"With that palm, Junior Brother Jiang used the momentum of a Fierce Tiger Descending the Mountain and unleashed a thousand jin of force."

"I had still underestimated him!"

Cheng Ran could not help feeling a little sour inside. Such talent in fist techniques was something he had never heard of or witnessed before.

If he had not seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed it.

A newcomer to the Martial Arts Hall who had practiced fists for just over ten days had cultivated all five forms of the Five Animal Frolics Fist simultaneously, yet had already reached Minor Completion.

That was what he envied most—and what shocked him most.

Such talent in fist techniques made him regard Jiang Ning as a heavenly human.

If only I had such talent in fist techniques!

After realizing Jiang Ning's talent in fist techniques, Cheng Ran could not help sighing with a thousand emotions.

"No wonder Teacher has shown Junior Brother Jiang such care these past few days."

"Not only did he let him stay in the Martial Arts Hall, he also provided him with some of the treatment given to Direct Disciples, including three bowls of medicinal soup a day."

"With talent like Junior Brother Jiang's, who wouldn't be moved to take him as a disciple?"

Cheng Ran also understood that Jiang Ning's astonishingly rapid progress and present achievements must have been partly due to Wang Jin giving him special instruction.

However, even knowing this, he did not feel the slightest sense of unfairness.

Because in his view, it was perfectly normal. Let alone Wang Jin—even he would have done the same.

A good teacher was hard to find, but a disciple with the talent and character to inherit one's mantle was even harder to find.

Now that he fully understood Jiang Ning's achievements in martial arts, only one thought remained in his heart.

He could only be a friend, never an enemy!

Even if Jiang Ning had no chance to join the Patrol Office, Cheng Ran did not know how far he could go in the future.

But he knew that with Jiang Ning's talent, even if his origins were humble, anything was possible for him in the future.

Perhaps one day, his name would resound throughout Guangning Prefecture.

Immediately afterward, a sincere smile appeared on Cheng Ran's face.

"Exploding with a thousand jin of force in an instant—Junior Brother Jiang, what talent!"

Jiang Ning stopped his retreating figure and shook his hand. Even with the eruption of his Blood Qi, such a violent collision had caused a faint ache in his right palm.

Yet the pain did not make him think of retreating from the fight. Instead, it made his blood surge and boil throughout his body.

"Senior Brother Cheng, again!" Jiang Ning's eyes burned like fire.

"Good!" Cheng Ran answered readily as well.

The next moment.

The two figures moved.

In an instant, they entered within one arm's reach of each other.

Thump—

Thump—

Thump—

Their fists collided repeatedly, every blow landing flesh on flesh and erupting with the most savage combat.

"This is what a battle between men should be!" Cheng Ran grinned when the two separated.

Jiang Ning was grinning too. Within his field of vision, a prompt appeared that only he could see.

[Five Animal Frolics Fist Experience Points +1]

So fighting could also increase fist technique experience.

At this moment, Jiang Ning understood.

Immediately afterward, his gaze toward Cheng Ran became even more charged with battle intent.

"Again!!"

With a sharp shout, Jiang Ning moved, like a White Ape Pounce.

"Good!" Cheng Ran answered as well.

Facing Jiang Ning as he pounced straight at him, he directly unleashed half his strength.

His five fingers spread, and he struck out like a tiger's paw.

The next moment.

Cheng Ran's expression changed.

Because Jiang Ning's figure instantly shifted from extremely fast to extremely slow, then, agile as an ape, he struck toward the opening in Cheng Ran's defense.

Thud, thud, thud—

Cheng Ran retreated three steps in succession, his face flushed red from holding back.

After a breath, he spoke: "That was the method of shifting between motion and stillness in the Deer Form Fist?"

"Yes! Please enlighten yourself, Senior Brother Cheng," Jiang Ning said.

"Again!" After regulating his breathing, Cheng Ran's battle intent also soared. He refused to accept defeat.