Youth Is Wasted Without Showing Off

"Yeah, yeah, sure."

"With Brother Chen's strength, he'll reach Ming Force in two days at most, right?"

Shi Jian fawned over him in an extremely affected manner, as if afraid no one would realize how insincere he was.

After two days together, the two had become quite familiar, so neither minded a little teasing.

Chen Sheng's talent for martial arts was now known throughout the martial arts school.

Likewise,

everyone knew that Chen Sheng's qi-sense talent was abysmal, and his physical fitness was barely better than that of an ordinary person.

That was precisely why the only people in the martial arts school willing to speak with Chen Sheng were Shi Jian and a few disciples with equally terrible martial arts skills.

"It won't take that long."

"I've already reached Ming Force."

Faced with Shi Jian's teasing, Chen Sheng spoke as though it were only natural.

"Yeah, yeah, sure."

Naturally, Shi Jian didn't believe him, and still wore that irritatingly smug expression.

Chen Sheng was so annoyed that he laughed.

"Want to spar?"

He crooked a finger at Shi Jian.

Then he removed his Weighted Gear and tossed it onto the floor beside them.

Clang.

The Steel Bars struck the wooden floor with a tremendous crash.

Shi Jian's eyelid twitched at the sound of the Weighted Gear hitting the ground.

That sound... seemed louder than yesterday?

Then he looked at the unreadable smile on Chen Sheng's face.

For some reason, a bad feeling rose in his heart.

But Shi Jian quickly shook his head and steadied himself.

No matter how talented Brother Chen was, he was still a martial artist who hadn't reached Ming Force.

Shi Jian himself was at the peak of Ming Force.

What was there to fear?! With that thought,

Shi Jian widened his eyes, puffed out his chest, and met Chen Sheng's gaze.

"Bring it on!"

As he spoke,

Shi Jian stepped in front of Chen Sheng.

"Brother Chen, I'll go easy on you."

He grinned playfully.

"Heh. You'd better."

Chen Sheng smiled without warmth.

The two clasped their fists in salute.

"I'm coming!"

Shi Jian shouted and struck first.

He did not attack with full strength, instead holding his physical abilities to roughly the level of an ordinary person.

There was no need for him to hold back further.

Shi Jian stepped forward, rapidly closing the distance to Chen Sheng.

His right arm turned into a black blur, crashing toward Chen Sheng's chest with unstoppable force.

Chen Sheng remained calm, using a Splitting Fist to deflect Shi Jian's attack.

He also had not used his full strength. He planned to launch a sudden attack later and catch Shi Jian off guard.

There was no other reason.

He just liked fighting dirty.

At that moment,

Shi Jian immediately switched techniques after his punch was broken.

His right hand pulled back to his waist as his left foot stepped forward.

Crushing Fist into Cannon Fist! In an instant, Shi Jian's left arm shot toward Chen Sheng like a cannonball leaving its barrel.

If that blow landed cleanly, Chen Sheng would probably be lying on the ground for quite a while.

But this was not Chen Sheng's first sparring session. Coupled with the dynamic vision granted by his agility attribute, no matter how Shi Jian switched techniques, he could immediately respond with the appropriate counter. He remained utterly composed as the two traded blows, one attacking and the other unraveling each move, thoroughly enjoying themselves.

A minute later, bang! Chen Sheng switched techniques midway through and hurled a Cannon Fist at Shi Jian's face.

Shi Jian had no time to counter it and could only raise his arm to block.

The fist slammed into his arm, numbing it from the impact.

"Good!"

Clap clap clap.

Several martial arts school disciples watching nearby applauded excitedly.

Normally, everyone trained on their own, while sparring with Personal Disciples was nothing more than a one-sided beating.

A match this exciting was truly rare.

However, "What are you staring at?!"

"Get back to training!"

Shi Jian swept his gaze over them, instantly cutting off their cheers.

The disciples hunched their heads and pretended to resume training.

Yet their eyes still occasionally darted toward the two of them.

Turning back, Shi Jian shook his slightly numb arm.

"Little Shi, you're not all that impressive either."

Chen Sheng stood where he was and said with a grin.

After his physical fitness improved, combined with the advantage in dynamic vision brought by his agility attribute, this level of sparring could no longer put much pressure on Chen Sheng.

So he decided to provoke Shi Jian.

Sure enough.

Shi Jian was young and hot-blooded, and immediately took the bait.

The playful mindset he had held moments ago vanished at once.

After all, he had been at the Xingyi Association Hall for several years and had successfully awakened as a Qi Sense User shortly after the Tide Rising Era began.

If Chen Sheng kept suppressing him step by step, he would lose far too much face.

"Little Brother Chen, let me apologize in advance."

Shi Jian said with a serious expression.

"I won't hold back anymore."

The moment he finished speaking,

whoosh! Shi Jian burst forward, flashing in front of Chen Sheng in an instant.

A fierce wind rushed straight at his face.

"You brat, you have no martial virtue!"

Chen Sheng's pupils shrank. With no time to attack, he could only raise his arms to block!

"This is the adult world, Brother Chen. You're too young!"

Bang! Fist and elbow collided.

The watching disciples could not help closing their eyes, unable to bear seeing Chen Sheng's miserable body sent flying.

Yet they heard nothing for a long time.

When they opened their eyes,

Chen Sheng had not retreated even half a step.

How was that possible?! Shi Jian looked as though he had seen a ghost.

He had used strength close to that of a Ming Force martial artist.

Yet Chen Sheng's physical fitness had somehow withstood it without being affected.

Shi Jian was so immersed in his shock that he forgot to continue attacking.

But Chen Sheng was not going to foolishly wait for him to recover.

His body swayed, and a Crushing Fist blasted toward Shi Jian's abdomen.

Caught off guard, Shi Jian had only just regained his senses and could only block again.

Soon,

the two once again fell into a back-and-forth exchange.

But there was an obvious difference now: Chen Sheng unleashed one move after another, growing faster and stronger with every attack.

In just a few minutes, Shi Jian actually began to feel as though Chen Sheng's strength was evenly matched with his own.

He had no choice but to increase his strength again, attempting to suppress his opponent through brute force.

But Chen Sheng soon caught another opening. His fist shot straight toward Shi Jian's chest.

Unable to switch techniques in time,

Shi Jian calmly raised his arm to block again! He was fully confident that even if he took this punch head-on, his arm would merely go numb and would not be greatly affected.

But Chen Sheng was different.

As long as he took one hit, Shi Jian could press him relentlessly until he defeated him!

However, just as Shi Jian was calculating this,

he suddenly caught sight of a wicked grin on Chen Sheng's face.

Something was wrong!

There was a trick! The next second, crack! A sudden explosive sound drowned out the noise of the Martial Arts Training Field.

Bang! The fist struck Shi Jian's forearm solidly.

Stagger, stagger, stagger.

Shi Jian had never expected Chen Sheng to suddenly throw a punch with the force of a Ming Force martial artist.

Caught off guard, he lost his balance and stumbled back three steps.

"Little Shi."

"This is the adult world."

Chen Sheng slowly lowered his stance and grinned.

But he received no response.

The entire Martial Arts Training Field had fallen silent.

Everyone's gaze was fixed on Chen Sheng.

What had just happened? Chen Sheng, who had only arrived at the martial arts school two days ago and had abysmal qi-sense talent, had unleashed Ming Force?

Did I hear wrong? Or had I trained so much that I was hallucinating? Questions like these

filled everyone's minds in the Martial Arts Training Field.

As one of the people involved, Shi Jian

stared blankly at Chen Sheng with wide eyes, his body frozen in place.

As though he had been petrified.

Seeing this, Chen Sheng, who had only meant to give Shi Jian a scare, suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

He forced himself to ignore the ghostly looks from the people around him, walked over to Shi Jian, and snapped his fingers.

"Wake up."

"Stop standing there like an idiot."