All-Out Firepower, Bountiful Gains

On the arena, Gu Yang had already gone all out. His fists clenched tight like two great hammers, swinging out in alternation.

"Boom, boom!"

His fists tore through the air, whipping up gusts of roaring wind.

With the boost of his new talent, Power Surge, he had no need to hold back for defense. In his hands, there was no such thing as using a move to its limit or exhausting all his strength.

"Bang!"

After taking another of Gu Yang's punches, Fang Qi could no longer keep his footing and staggered backward.

A sharp gleam flashed through Gu Yang's eyes. His feet shifted, and in the blink of an eye, he lunged before Fang Qi again.

His right fist shot forward like a great spear, smashing viciously toward Fang Qi's head.

"Good timing."

Fang Qi gritted his teeth and barely steadied himself. He swayed as though he were about to lunge right, only to pull the movement back and suddenly sidestep slightly to the left.

"That move again?"

Gu Yang had fought Fang Qi for quite some time and had always remained wary of his feints.

Seeing Fang Qi use the feint again, he immediately stomped down hard and halted. His left fist, long poised and ready, blasted out in an instant.

"Hmph."

Fang Qi grunted, forcibly reined in his movement, and slipped beneath his feet. He darted more than half a zhang away in one step. Though his movements looked crooked and awkward, he once again evaded Gu Yang's punch.

"Can you really run?"

Gu Yang sneered and pursued without relent, turning three steps into one as he caught up with Fang Qi again.

At the same time, the muscles along his back tensed high, like a pair of great wings folded behind him. His punches flew like arrows from a bow, his fists alternating as they stabbed forward in rapid succession.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

More than five hundred jin of force erupted in full, instantly ripping apart the air before Gu Yang.

In that brief instant, even Gu Yang himself did not know how many punches he had thrown.

Layers upon layers of fist shadows enveloped Fang Qi's entire body.

"Bang bang—"

A succession of impacts rang out, and Fang Qi threw his head back and spat out a mouthful of blood.

The next moment, he flew backward like a kite with its string severed and crashed heavily onto the arena.

"Crack—"

A sound of something breaking suddenly rang out from the raised platform in the corner, immediately drawing the attention of the other Martial Academy instructors.

Seeing the platform railing shattered in Yuan Qingshan's hand, one Martial Academy instructor immediately teased, "Old Yuan, what are you doing? If you're feeling upset, go spar with Old Qin. Why take it out on the railing?"

"What do I have to be upset about? The railing was just made of terrible material. I merely rested my hand on it—it broke before I even used any strength. How can you blame me for that?" Yuan Qingshan replied darkly, his face black as coal.

"Yes, yes, the railing's material was the problem. Fine, Old Yuan, hurry and move your hand away. It'll really break in a moment," another Martial Academy instructor reminded him.

"..."

"Huff, huff—"

Heavy panting sounded out. Gu Yang braced both hands against his knees, heat rising from his body as beads of sweat streamed down his cheeks.

Tired! He was utterly exhausted!

Since beginning martial arts training, this was the first time he had ever been so thoroughly drained.

Fang Qi had been far too decisive and agile in battle. Once he realized he could not clash head-on with Gu Yang, he had begun dodging without pause. Gu Yang's repeated pursuits had all been evaded by Fang Qi.

If Gu Yang had not made the snap decision to erupt with all his strength and leave his opponent nowhere to run, there was no telling how long this battle would have dragged on.

At this moment, the Martial Academy support staff stationed nearby had already rushed onto the arena. They placed the unconscious Fang Qi onto a stretcher and carried him off, running straight for the Pharmacy.

Clearly, Fang Qi would have no chance to participate in the later matches.

On the other side of the arena, Gu Yang had won, but his condition was not good either. More precisely, it was terrible.

His whole body was weak, and he had already exhausted his strength. When he walked down from the arena, he nearly fell.

Fortunately, his match against Fang Qi had ended relatively early. The battles on most of the arena platforms were still ongoing, so he had some time to recover his strength.

If he had been made to participate in the fourth round now, he likely would not have had even the slightest chance of winning.

Stumbling back to the formation, Gu Yang immediately sat down cross-legged and began to rest.

With every breath, surging vitality welled up within him, rapidly restoring his stamina.

The Vitality Surge talent began to take effect. After only a moment, Gu Yang felt himself break free from his exhausted state. Though his limbs still held little strength, he was no longer in a state where anyone could carve him up at will.

I need to keep this kind of burst as a trump card in the future. I absolutely can't use it casually. Once I unleash it, I must strike a fatal blow and finish the enemy quickly. Otherwise, this period of weakness is simply too dangerous!

As he summarized the experience in his heart, Gu Yang took a deep breath and slowly let it out. He closed his eyes and began checking the gains from this battle.

Skills: Blood Nourishing Stance · Minor Success (76/200); Azure Dragon Dance · Minor Success (58/1000)
Talents: Vitality Surge, Power Surge.

During his battle with Fang Qi, a series of proficiency increase notifications had flashed before his eyes.

But at the time, he had been fighting with everything he had and simply had neither the time nor the energy to spare for checking them.

Only now did Gu Yang notice that a single battle with Fang Qi had increased the Azure Dragon Dance's proficiency by more than fifty points.

"So this is what a high-quality match feels like!" Gu Yang could not help but sigh.

Compared with the mere four proficiency points he had gained from the first two rounds combined, the third-round battle against Fang Qi had been difficult and dangerous, but its gains had also risen by leaps and bounds.

"This kind of improvement rate... if I could keep fighting that young man..."

Shaking his head, Gu Yang dismissed the thought.

After such a long period of continuous cultivation and sparring, he had already worked out the pattern behind skill proficiency growth.

If he cultivated and sparred step by step, his proficiency would only rise step by step as well.

There would be no bottlenecks, but the efficiency could not be raised either.

Only when one poured everything into cultivation, caught a flash of inspiration, suddenly came to an enlightenment, or experienced a shining moment of concentrated focus and all-out eruption in battle could proficiency possibly increase in great amounts.

It was the same principle as "a single dawn of enlightenment during cultivation, and one's realm rises at a gallop," or "amid bloody life-and-death battles, cultivation rises faster and bottlenecks are easier to break through."

In an ordinary spar, even if Fang Qi were his opponent again, neither of them could reproduce the circumstances or state of mind from their battle just now.

Shaking his head, Gu Yang looked toward the arena. Without his noticing, all the battles of the third round had already ended.

Seeing that a new round of matches was about to begin, Gu Yang immediately stood.

"Hiss..."

He drew a breath of cold air into his lungs, straightened his chest, and stretched his muscles and bones. A string of crackling sounds rang out all over his body.

"Hah..."

He slowly exhaled a mouthful of turbid air, which turned into a white ribbon in the air. Gu Yang felt refreshed and light all over.

After resting for this period, he had recovered one-fifth of his stamina.

As long as he did not erupt with all his physical strength in one breath as he had just done, handling one battle would be no problem.