Following the Hearts of the People Is Merit!

Gao Wu had not stepped onto the stage for a match for the first time. He had competed in smaller events before—school selection tournaments, neighborhood ring matches, middle school cups, leagues, and so on.

But he had never gained any Merit from those competitions.

Today, he had suddenly gained a large amount of Merit from the match, leaving Gao Wu somewhat puzzled. Why had this fight earned him Merit?

Looking at the frenzied audience around him, he suddenly understood a little about where the Merit came from. It lay in satisfying everyone's positive emotions.

Bai Xiang's brutality had enraged the home crowd. They had all hoped Gao Wu would win, and when he won the fight, he naturally earned everyone's affection and admiration.

Compared with the efficiency of gaining Merit through short videos, the Merit provided by a live audience was clearly far, far greater.

From this one match alone, he had gained at least three to five thousand Merit...

Gao Wu grew excited as well. This way of accumulating Merit was simply too friendly to him.

By that logic, the short videos had earned him Merit because his good deed of saving people had received strong recognition from others.

Following the hearts of the people was Merit!

After stepping down from the ring, Gao Wu received a warm welcome from the Martial Arts Team members.

Huang Long and the others wore complicated expressions. There was envy and jealousy, but also a measure of awe. Clearly, this battle had given Huang Long's group quite a shock as well.

Coach Huang Hai nodded approvingly at Gao Wu. "You fought well. Get some proper rest now."

"Coach, I can still fight." Having discovered that matches could earn him Merit, and with his momentum at its peak, Gao Wu naturally had no intention of resting.

"Hm?" Huang Hai looked at Gao Wu's swollen, bruised, bleeding eye, a flicker of doubt appearing in his gaze.

The eye was only a superficial injury. Bai Xiang's two vicious slams were the truly fatal blows. That Gao Wu had been able to walk off the ring was already a miracle, yet he still wanted to continue competing in this condition?!

Was the imitation Blood Dragon Agent really that potent?

After turning it over in his mind, Huang Hai could only attribute Gao Wu's abnormal performance to the Blood Dragon Agent.

He sneered inwardly. The stronger the drug's effect, the greater its side effects. Energy did not come from nowhere. Gao Wu's current excitement had to be burning through a great deal of his life force.

If Gao Wu truly possessed extraordinary drug resistance, that would not be a bad thing either...

"Are you sure you're all right?" Huang Hai asked another question, feigning concern.

Gao Wu did not care whether Huang Hai was sincere or not. He had the Boundless Merit Book, which could calculate his lifespan precisely down to the hour, allowing him to accurately assess his own condition.

The previous battle had been intense, but it had not done him much harm. He also had the Azure Dragon Divine Qi Incantation. Thirty seconds of rest was enough for him to recover his strength and mental clarity.

He said seriously, "I can still fight. Please, Coach, give me a chance to prove myself."

"All right. Rest for a bit first and replenish your strength."

Huang Hai personally handed Gao Wu a bottle of energy drink, signaling for him to adjust his condition.

Gao Wu did not stand on ceremony. After taking two sips, he closed his eyes and meditated, silently circulating the Azure Dragon Divine Qi Incantation.

The Divine Dragon formed from azure light traveled throughout his body, inside and out. The intense pain in his face, spine, internal organs, and everywhere else vanished in an instant.

Even his swollen, throbbing eyeball seemed to be fine now.

At that moment, the school doctor used a disinfectant cotton swab to wipe the blood from Gao Wu's face, then sprayed hemostatic medicine on his split brow bone and eyelid.

At the same time, the livestream was airing an advertisement for that very hemostatic medicine. The hemostatic agent from Taiji Group Biochemical Pharmaceutical Company was highly effective and could even bond wounds shut.

The livestream even gave the hemostatic agent in the school doctor's hand a huge close-up...

Gao Wu tried opening his eyes. His vision had already recovered; only his swollen eyelids reduced his field of view to a narrow slit, but that was enough.

He now felt brimming with energy, and his mind was much clearer as well. He had almost returned to peak condition.

He was overjoyed. The Small Success realm Azure Dragon Divine Qi Incantation really was useful!

The school doctor untied Gao Wu's martial arts uniform and examined the bones along his back with his hands, but found no problems at all.

He had nearly been slammed into a pancake, yet aside from some bruising, Gao Wu had not suffered a single bone injury. Even the school doctor marveled at Gao Wu's formidable physique.

Two minutes later, Gao Wu stepped onto the stage again. The spectators who saw this were all astonished. Could Gao Wu, who had just fought such a desperate bloody battle, still fight?

The coach from Sixth Middle School was somewhat dumbfounded as well. He watched Gao Wu on the ring for a while before saying, "Fang Hai, you'll be the supporting fighter. That kid definitely injected some kind of drug. Don't rush in. Grind him down slowly. Watch out for his whip kicks..."

Fang Hai cultivated the Wild Ox Fist. His tendons, bones, and muscles were exceptionally powerful, second only to Bai Xiang's in the Martial Arts Team. However, his endurance was extraordinary, making him ideal for wearing down opponents.

The Sixth Middle School coach could not make sense of Gao Wu's style. For the sake of caution, he sent out Fang Hai, the Martial Arts Team's second strongest fighter.

The moment Gao Wu saw Fang Hai's stance, he knew his opponent intended to defend steadily and wear him down.

With the Azure Dragon Divine Qi Incantation in hand, Gao Wu was actually the least afraid of a battle of attrition. But the entire audience was cheering and rooting for him. If he dragged the fight out now, he would wear down the spectators' enthusiasm.

So Gao Wu decided to take a little risk. Even if he slipped up, his opponent could not do much to him anyway.

The instant the referee announced the start, Gao Wu took a quick running approach and launched a flying knee at Fang Hai. It was an extremely risky move, but Fang Hai had intended to hold a solid defense. Caught off guard, he had no time to evade and could only cross his arms to take the blow head-on.

Fang Hai was actually somewhat stronger than Gao Wu, but Gao Wu concentrated all his strength into his hardest weapon, his knee. It blasted apart Fang Hai's crossed arms and drove straight into his forehead.

The violent impact blackened Fang Hai's vision, and he staggered backward. To maintain his balance, he naturally had to swing his arms to adjust his posture, leaving his head completely exposed.

The moment Gao Wu landed, he whipped out a high roundhouse. The top of his foot cracked right against Fang Hai's ear.

Fang Hai's tall, burly body suddenly went rigid. He toppled straight backward onto the ground.

Fearing that Gao Wu would continue attacking, the referee sprang forward and blocked him. At the same time, he raised his hand to signal that the fight was over.

The entire city erupted in thunderous cheers once more.

Although No. 9 Middle School had held Gao Wu in extremely high regard, no one had expected him to instantly defeat his opponent in a single exchange.

It was a clean, decisive, beautiful victory.

The Sixth Middle School coach's expression darkened. He understood perfectly well that Gao Wu had seen through his tactics, which was why he had used a flying knee the instant they met. If Fang Hai had been just a little quicker on the uptake, he might have turned the tables and won instead.

But it was too late to say anything now. Both Bai Xiang and Fang Hai had lost, while the remaining team members were clearly a whole tier weaker.

Were they really going to let this kid cut through all five of them by himself today?

This time, the coach thought for quite a while before sending a nimble fighter onto the stage as the main fighter.

After winning two straight matches, Gao Wu had found his rhythm. Though his opponent was agile, the ring was only so large. After circling with him for a while, Gao Wu found an opening and seized him in a clinch.

Then came several consecutive headbutts. With a head hard enough, he smashed his opponent unconscious by brute force.

The fourth ace fighter from Sixth Middle School had already lost his nerve. While dodging, he was struck by one of Gao Wu's changing-line kicks and fainted on the spot.

The final main fighter to take the stage seemed to have injected a stimulant, looking incredibly violent and agitated.

He actually stood there and traded punches with Gao Wu. The two barely moved as they exchanged dozens of blows. That main fighter was beaten to the ground by Gao Wu, convulsing and completely unable to resist any longer.

The utterly satisfying victory sent the No. 9 Middle School teachers and students watching on site into a frenzy. Even the most reserved among them stood in the stands, waving their clothing and jumping as they cheered.

The main reason was that Bai Xiang had been so savage and powerful earlier, pressing down on everyone at No. 9 Middle School until they could barely breathe. Gao Wu had turned the tide against the wind, instead cutting through Sixth Middle School's Martial Arts Team all by himself, one against five.

The swing from despair to victory had been too immense, making the taste of triumph extraordinarily rich and intoxicating—enough to leave everyone utterly drunk on it.

Meanwhile, everyone from Sixth Middle School looked ashen. They had wanted to use a one-against-five sweep to crush weakling No. 9 Middle School, yet they had never imagined Gao Wu would reverse it and sweep all five of them instead.

For Sixth Middle School's Martial Arts Team, this was an absolute disgrace.

The Martial Arts League was the world's number one sport, and the Middle School Martial Arts League held great significance for every school.

At this moment, collective honor truly took tangible form, and every person from No. 9 Middle School shared in the glory!