Battle Against Ninth Middle School (Please Vote)

"Some schools haven't arrived yet. Warm up first, then get your emotions under control."

Zhou Wu began giving pre-match guidance to Qin Fen and the other four participants.

Before the final match, warm-up exercises and emotional preparation were both extremely important.

Emotional preparation in particular meant getting one's blood boiling, becoming more explosive and aggressive.

But one could not become overly excited. Once the mind was filled with excitement and rage, anger would cloud one's judgment, causing one to lose calm judgment and giving the opponent an opportunity to strike.

Nor could the mind be too calm, or it would lose a certain degree of explosiveness.

Thus, striking the right balance was extremely difficult. One had to stir up one's emotions and possess the explosive force of a volcanic eruption, while also keeping a cool head and looking for the enemy's weaknesses.

One could not simply keep exploding without restraint. If one failed to take down the opponent in a single burst of momentum,

then that momentum would weaken the second time and be exhausted by the third, allowing the opponent to seize an opportunity.

The best approach was to know when to press and when to hold back, erupting completely at the perfect moment and securing victory in one stroke.

After warming up and adjusting themselves for about half an hour, the exchange competition officially began.

"Arena Three, Thirteen Middle School versus Ninth Middle School."

The massive display screen in the center of the venue showed the matchup information. Thirteen Middle School's first opponent was Ninth Middle School.

No matter which school they faced, everyone remained calm, because the competition format required each school to fight the Martial Arts Students from the other nine schools. Every participant had to go through forty-five battles.

A win earned one point, a draw earned zero points, and a loss deducted one point.

The exchange competition lasted three days, with each battle limited to ten minutes.

If no winner was decided within ten minutes, the match was declared a draw.

The Martial Arts Student with the highest total score in the end would take first place in the Freshman Martial Arts Exchange Competition.

Matches were held simultaneously on five Arenas, and the referees for each Arena were the Martial Arts Teachers from the competing schools.

When the match announcement echoed through the Martial Arts Hall, Qin Fen and the other four took a deep breath and followed Zhou Wu out of the lounge. At the same time, Ninth Middle School's team emerged from their lounge and headed with them toward Arena Three.

Several cameramen stood near each Arena, with multiple cameras set up.

Although there were no spectators at the exchange competition, the matches could still be recorded. Once the competition ended, each school could copy a video to take back, allowing their students to watch the exciting battle footage.

These exciting battle videos could also be used for teaching and motivating students.

"Hello, Teacher Zhou. Please have your students go easy on ours."

"Teacher Lin, it should be your students who go easy on ours."

Zhou Wu shook hands with Ninth Middle School's Teacher Lin, both wearing smiles.

The students from both sides also stepped forward one by one to shake hands. It was the most basic etiquette.

The massive display screen at the center of the Martial Arts Hall displayed the matchup information.

Arena Three, first match: Chen Bo versus Zhu Hao.

"Chen Bo, good luck!"

Qin Fen cheered Chen Bo on.

Chen Bo took out his phone, wallet, and other personal belongings, placed them in a bag, and handed it to the teacher for safekeeping. Zhu Hao, the Martial Arts Student from Ninth Middle School, did the same. The two slowly stepped onto the Arena and cupped their fists in salute.

"Three minutes of dialogue."

Zhou Wu and Teacher Lin from Ninth Middle School both stepped onto the Arena and began presiding over the match according to procedure.

In official competitions, there were many stages, such as striking poses and taking media interviews. But everything was simplified now. There were not even any spectators, much less media interviews.

Still, there was a dialogue period.

This dialogue period was meant to provoke the opponent with words, making them furious and embarrassed so that they would lose their composure in the ensuing fight and reveal weaknesses.

Or one could boast about one's record, claiming to be incredibly formidable, to have participated in all kinds of competitions, to possess extensive combat experience. One could also flaunt one's family background, saying one had been taught by famous masters since childhood, applying psychological pressure to the opponent from every angle.

Put simply, it was psychological warfare.

But Chen Bo and Zhu Hao were both rookies, and the tension on their faces was obvious.

So forget psychological warfare. They merely stood there through the three-minute dialogue period, having no idea what to say.

"Please teach me."

In the end, both sides uttered the same all-purpose phrase.

The three minutes quickly passed. Zhou Wu pressed his right hand downward and began the timer. "Match start."

The moment his words fell, Chen Bo made the first move. He stepped forward in a rush and threw a straight punch at Zhu Hao's chest.

A straight punch attack.

This was the most basic attacking move.

In a match, few people would use their ultimate technique right from the start.

Most would first use simple fist-and-kick techniques to probe their opponent, gauging the power in their punches and kicks, their adaptability, and more. Only after figuring out the opponent's capabilities would they use an ultimate technique to decide the match in one blow.

Using an ultimate move without understanding the situation could put one at a disadvantage if it failed to achieve an instant finish. If one used ultimate moves too often, they would no longer be ultimate moves and could easily be seen through.

Still, they were all only Senior One freshmen, and their schools had taught them only two or three martial arts techniques.

Facing Chen Bo's straight punch, Zhu Hao assumed a stance and raised his arms, crossing them before his chest to block the punch.

Then he spread the five fingers of his right hand and seized Chen Bo's wrist in the motion, clamping down hard on the acupoints there before yanking backward with force, pulling Chen Bo's body forward.

Chen Bo lunged forward with the pull, both feet leaving the ground as he wrapped his legs around Zhu Hao's waist.

His other hand slashed toward Zhu Hao's neck like a hand blade.

Zhu Hao raised his left arm to block it. Chen Bo immediately changed the chop into a grip, tightly seizing the acupoints on Zhu Hao's wrist as well.

Both of them were using grappling techniques from the Silken Entanglement Grappling Hand. Their mastery had reached the realm of Entering the Hall and Reaching the Inner Chamber, and there was not the slightest awkwardness in their movements.

The two clung to each other and rolled around on the ground, trading moves back and forth for a full ten minutes.

In the end, the match concluded in a draw.

"How did it feel?"

When Chen Bo stepped down from the Arena, Qin Fen asked.

"Much harder than sparring with classmates." Chen Bo stretched his body. "Some places are still aching faintly. It's clear he really went all out and didn't hold back."

Qin Fen nodded.

When classmates sparred, whether intentionally or not, they would hold back to some degree and would not use their full strength.

But when Martial Arts Students from different schools fought, they did not know each other at all. In order to win, the opponent would not hold back. They would go all out and use every trick at their disposal.

That was precisely the purpose of the Freshman Martial Arts Exchange Competition jointly organized by the major schools: to increase practical combat experience.

"Go apply some Secret Medicinal Oil to ease the pain first. You still have four more matches ahead."

Qin Fen reminded him.

When two schools faced each other, every participant had to fight each of the five people on the opposing team, for a total of five matches.

"Yeah."

Chen Bo nodded and went to the lounge to apply medicinal oil and relieve the pain in his body.

"Next match: Qin Fen versus Qiu Shaoyue."

Not long afterward, the massive display screen displayed the new matchup information for Arena Three.

PS: Please vote.

Thanks to reader 'Southeast Wind Level Eighteen' for the 500-coin tip, and thanks to reader 'Reader20190813234505268' for the 100-coin tip.