The noon sun over Notting Academy's training grounds was a little blinding.
Three layers of students had gathered to watch, and even a few teachers stood off in the distance, watching with folded arms and keen interest.
Yu Xiaogang stood in the center of the field, his expression stern.
"Since this is an academic discussion, let's keep it civil."
He looked at the two boys on either side.
On the left, Tang San stood tall, his hands hanging naturally at his sides. A faint, lustrous jade sheen shimmered around his fingertips, and his gaze was as sharp as an eagle's.
On the right, Qin Feng stood lazily, with a gray wolf behind him. The wolf walked upright on two legs and wore a shabby robe. He was also holding that strange hand-cranked contraption and muttering things like "what a waste of my talents" and "why use a butcher knife to kill a chicken?"
"Begin." Yu Xiaogang waved a hand and stepped to the edge of the field.
Before the words had even faded, Tang San moved.
Without the slightest warning, his body seemed to defy the laws of inertia and vanished from where he stood.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Three afterimages of Tang San appeared out of nowhere on the training grounds.
They charged at Qin Feng from the left, right, and behind. Each image looked incredibly real, and the gusts from their steps sent fallen leaves swirling across the ground.
"Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track!"
Wang Sheng cried out, his eyes nearly popping out of his head. "How can anyone tell which one is real?"
The work-study students around them drew in sharp breaths, too. That kind of speed was beyond what a Soul Scholar should be capable of.
Tang San sneered inwardly.
This was the Tang Sect Secret Arts.
By using the Mysterious Heaven Skill to stimulate the meridians in his legs and combining it with a unique rhythm of steps, he created a visual illusion. Even an opponent whose Soul Power was ten levels higher than his would never easily pinpoint his real body.
He looked at Qin Feng, who was still standing there in a daze, and a hint of disdain flashed in his eyes.
Since you'd been so brazen, I'll make sure you can't even touch the hem of my clothes before I throw you out of the ring.
All three "Tang Sans" reached out at once, grabbing for Qin Feng's shoulders.
Just then, Qin Feng moved his lips.
"Brother Wolf, crank it."
"Enough already! I have to do this junk myself?"
Grey Wolf grumbled, but his hands moved astonishingly fast.
He violently cranked the wooden handle, and the grinding of meshing gears rang out at once.
"Bzzzz—"
At the front of the device, a crude light bulb made from a glass bottle and tungsten filament suddenly lit up.
But it didn't stay lit.
As the custom-made shutter spun rapidly, the bulb began flashing wildly at a frequency of thirty times per second.
The intense strobing light was like a series of invisible blades, slicing the scene on the training grounds into fragments.
A bizarre sight unfolded.
The three Tang San afterimages, which had been moving as smoothly as ghosts, began to stutter badly under the strobing light.
It was as if the video had frozen. Tang San's figure lurched in fits and starts, every movement breaking down into a stiff, motionless frame.
The smooth, dazzling afterimage effect vanished without a trace!
"W-what's going on?"
Wang Sheng rubbed his eyes, feeling a little nauseous.
The high-frequency flashing was deeply uncomfortable, but it also exposed the once-miraculous footwork for what it really was.
Two of the three figures faded and disappeared in an instant, leaving only the real Tang San, frozen in an awkward forward-leaning pose two meters to Qin Feng's left.
His rhythm was broken.
Human vision had persistence, and Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track used that persistence to create afterimages.
But the high-frequency flashes forcibly interrupted the continuity of those lingering images.
Tang San's vision was filled with a jumble of light and shadow. The flickering lights completely disrupted the smooth rhythm of his steps. His chest churned with blood and Qi, and he stumbled, nearly falling over.
"There."
Qin Feng didn't even turn around.
He casually grabbed a handful of soybeans he had prepared earlier and tossed them onto the ground to his left, as if scattering feed.
"Clatter!"
Tang San's foot had just touched down when he stepped right on several round soybeans.
Normally, with his sense of balance, this would have been nothing.
But with his vision obstructed, his rhythm disrupted, and his center of gravity unstable, this was the final straw.
"Slip—"
Tang San's foot slid out from under him. He lost his balance at once and crashed face-first into the dirt.
"Thud!"
Dust billowed into the air.
A deathly silence fell over the field.
The only sound was the generator in Grey Wolf's hands, creaking and grinding away.
Qin Feng signaled for Grey Wolf to stop, then walked over to Tang San, who was sprawled on the ground. He crouched beside him and spoke in a tone as flat as if he were stating an objective fact.
"Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track uses high-speed movement and sudden stops and changes of direction to leave afterimages on the retina and fool the brain."
"It's like a cartoon. Play twenty-four pictures in a second, and the human eye thinks they're moving."
"I used a strobe light to turn your twenty-four frames per second into three frames per second. Your fluid movements became slides to the human eye, so your afterimages naturally fell apart."
Qin Feng pointed to his own eyes, then at Tang San.
"Your so-called secret art is nothing more than exploiting the physiological shortcomings of the human eye, which hasn't fully evolved."
"If you know a little optics and physiology, countering your move is easier than drinking water."
Tang San lay on the ground, his hands digging deep into the dirt.
His nails broke, and blood seeped out.
He didn't understand what "frames" or "retina" meant, but he understood the matter-of-fact contempt in Qin Feng's voice.
The footwork he'd been so proud of had been completely countered by a broken lamp and a handful of soybeans!
Worse, Qin Feng hadn't even used his Martial Soul!
It was more painful than being killed!
"I refuse to accept this!"
Tang San sprang to his feet, his eyes bloodshot and his face covered in dust. He looked utterly disheveled.
"That was an accident! You blinded me with a bright light! What kind of skill is that, using such underhanded tricks?"
Qin Feng stood and dusted off his hands.
"Science means using tools to achieve your goal. If you call this an underhanded trick, then what do you call your Mysterious Heaven Skill? Bioelectricity strengthening your muscle fibers?"
"Enough nonsense!"
Tang San didn't want to hear any more terms he couldn't understand.
He had to win!
He had to!
Even without using footwork, he could still crush this ordinary person with no Soul Power in close combat, using nothing but Mysterious Jade Hand and Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon!
"Again!"
Tang San let out a low growl. His hands instantly turned as white and lustrous as jade, radiating cold air.
Mysterious Jade Hand!
Immune to all poisons, hard as metal and stone!
He pushed off the ground and, no longer using fancy footwork, charged straight at Qin Feng with nothing but the explosive strength of his body.
This time, he would use overwhelming strength to crush that stubborn mouth of his!
Qin Feng watched Tang San charge straight at him. Instead of dodging, he pulled out a strange contraption from his clothes. Copper wire was wound around it, and two metal probes were connected to it.
He glanced back at Grey Wolf.
"Brother Wolf, turn up the power."
Grey Wolf rolled his eyes. The muscles in his arms bulged as he suddenly cranked the handle faster.
"Bzzzzzz—"
A strange electrical buzzing burst through the air.
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