The Great-Mastery Technique

After Li He's match, the rest were all fights between members of the school. The atmosphere remained subdued until the eighth match, when Yuan Lingling received a bye and advanced directly.

After a brief break, the rematch draw began. Li He drew Yuan Ziheng.

Before the match began, Yuan Ziheng sauntered over with a grin.

"Big Li!" Yuan Ziheng reached out as if to pat Li He on the shoulder. "Look at those muscles—tch, tch, tch. Impressive! You've trained well. They should've put you up against Miao the Big."

His hand hadn't even touched Li He when a cold stare pinned it in midair.

Li He's gaze carried an invisible pressure.

Yuan Ziheng's hand awkwardly froze in the air. He gave a couple of nervous laughs and casually ran his fingers through his hair. "Ahaha, don't be so cold. Sure, we're about to compete, but we're still fellow students, aren't we?"

He plopped down beside Li He.

"Brother Li, I watched your match against Zhao Dahai earlier. Tch, tch, you were fierce! Especially that move you used with your foot—it cracked the ground. What's it called? It didn't look like our school's Ape Trace Steps."

"But now that I think about it, a move that flashy must take a lot out of you. I've got some chocolate. Want some?"

Li He acted as if he hadn't heard a word, calmly watching the arena.

In the arena.

The first match had already begun. Sun Ao was fighting one of his fellow students, but within a few breaths, he defeated his opponent and won.

The second match was more interesting: Yuan Lingling versus Sun Jiaoyang.

"Senior Sister Yuan's up!"

"Senior Sister Yuan, avenge Senior Brother Jin!"

"Teach that arrogant guy a lesson!"

The crowd's lifeless expressions suddenly came alive again.

As the schoolmaster's granddaughter, Yuan Lingling taught the others martial arts alongside Lin Feng. She was usually playful and lively, but her strength was unquestionably among the best.

After Sun Jiaoyang had brutally injured Jin Yongsheng, all the ordinary students had been nursing anger and humiliation. They hoped Yuan Lingling would get justice for them.

On the stone platform, Jin Wancai sat up straight, watching the match intently. Schoolmaster Yuan Shan and Sun Zhenhai both looked composed, their expressions giving nothing away.

Down in the arena.

Yuan Lingling's small face was grave as she clasped her hands toward Sun Jiaoyang. "Junior Brother, please."

Sun Jiaoyang raised his eyelids slightly and glanced at Yuan Lingling, but didn't respond.

His rude gesture instantly set off the anger of the students gathered around the arena.

"He's so arrogant!"

"Senior Sister Yuan, teach him a lesson!"

"Show him what you can do!"

Yuan Lingling, too, felt her anger rising. After Lin Feng announced the start, she and Sun Jiaoyang faced off for a moment. Seeing that he had no intention of making the first move, she sneered inwardly. So you're that confident? Let's see how strong you really are!

She pushed off the ground, her footwork nimble and swift as a butterfly flitting among flowers. She leaped between the Plum Blossom Stakes, skated along the edge of the Quicksand Pit, and used the slick blue flagstones for leverage, hoping to use the complicated terrain to restrict Sun Jiaoyang and create an opening.

Despite her swift assault, Sun Jiaoyang kept his hands behind his back. He barely touched the ground with his toes, leaving no trace in the snow. No matter how Yuan Lingling used the terrain, he effortlessly countered her, even putting her in danger in return.

After several exchanges,

Yuan Lingling was at a disadvantage.

But she didn't lose heart. Her footwork shifted again, producing several afterimages so lifelike they were impossible to distinguish from the real her. They lunged at Sun Jiaoyang from different directions at once.

When a martial art reached the stage of great mastery, the qi and blood inside the body surged like a river, condensing until they were almost tangible.

A martial artist's qi and blood could surge out of the body in response to their will, weaving extraordinary power in the space around them.

This was the Great-Mastery Technique. Its form and power could take countless shapes, with no fixed pattern, forged entirely by the martial artist's past experiences.

Thousand Shadow Illusion was a move Yuan Lingling had naturally developed after training her Ape Trace Steps to great mastery.

The afterimages she created weren't illusions. They were clones condensed from her refined qi and blood, each containing a portion of her true strength. Nimble and swift, they confused and distracted her opponent, making it impossible to tell them apart from the real her.

The move's creation was closely tied to her childhood.

Her parents had died young, and her grandfather, Yuan Shan, had been too consumed by his desire for revenge to spend time with her. In her lonely childhood, only the spirit apes in the mountains kept her company.

She had lost both parents at a young age and lived with her grandfather, Yuan Shan. But at the time, Yuan Shan had been consumed by revenge and never had time for her.

Her longing for companionship had eventually become this strange footwork technique, which let her split off copies of herself and create companions.

On the stone platform,

Sun Zhenhai looked impressed.

"That footwork's interesting. It blends the real and the unreal, shaping qi and blood into forms. This girl's mastery of the Ape Trace Steps has reached the Great-Mastery stage. I didn't expect her to develop such a variation."

Jin Wancai clenched his fists, thinking, Lingling's move is incredible. She'll catch him off guard for sure!

However,

Facing the overwhelming attack, impossible to distinguish as real or unreal, Sun Jiaoyang's expression remained unchanged. His gaze was indifferent as he shifted his feet slightly.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Every one of Yuan Lingling's attacks from the afterimages missed, whether real or illusory.

Sun Jiaoyang saw through every one of Yuan Lingling's intentions. Each movement landed precisely in the blind spot of her attacks. He didn't even bother to block, relying solely on his footwork to evade.

"Hiss..."

A collective gasp went through the crowd.

Yuan Lingling was horrified. Thousand Shadow Illusion took a tremendous amount out of her. In just a short while, fine beads of sweat had appeared on her forehead, while her opponent's breathing remained steady.

"Senior Sister Yuan, keep going!" one of the students cried from the sidelines.

Yuan Lingling suddenly gritted her teeth, and her qi and blood surged! She formed a strange hand seal before her chest. "Spirit Ape Secret Technique, Thousand Pound Break!"

She gave a sharp cry! This explosive technique was something she had comprehended after bringing Old Ape Stretches Arms to great mastery. It allowed her to instantly gather her entire strength and unleash several times her normal power.

She struck with both palms, her fists howling through the air.

The move came close to the wall-shattering, house-demolishing power of a Martial Master. It was her strongest attack!

Faced with the earth-shattering blow, a flicker of interest finally appeared in Sun Jiaoyang's eyes. He stopped dodging and raised his right hand. His arm uncoiled like a whip, the movement seemingly slow yet, in truth, swift. With perfectly rounded, flawless force, he lightly met Yuan Lingling's powerful palms.

"Perfected Technique, Cloud Rolling Cloud Relaxing."

Thud!

A muffled impact rang out.

Yuan Lingling felt as if her palms had struck a mass of cotton.

A soft, unending force not only dispelled her strength with ease but coiled around it like a poisonous snake, redirecting her power and throwing her off balance.

No! Yuan Lingling was horrified, but it was too late.

Sun Jiaoyang's left hand, sharp as a blade, silently struck the Tanzhong point on her chest, exposed when she lost her balance.

A soft yet incredibly penetrating force instantly pierced into her!

"Pfft!"

Yuan Lingling's face turned deathly pale. She spat out a mouthful of blood, all strength drained from her body, and collapsed limply to the ground, unable to continue fighting.

On the stone platform, the light in Jin Wancai's eyes went out completely. He slumped in his chair, his face ashen. He knew what he was looking at: a Perfected Technique, achieved only after training a martial art to its absolute limit.

Schoolmaster Yuan Shan's hand, resting on the armrest, clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

Sun Zhenhai smiled and said nothing.

Below the platform,

Sun Jiaoyang lowered his hand and stood still.

"Interesting, but that's all."

His voice wasn't loud, yet it carried clearly to everyone.

After speaking, he turned and walked back to the waiting area as the crowd watched in fear.

Lin Feng hurried onto the arena with the medical staff, and they carried the unconscious Yuan Lingling away.

Li He watched Sun Jiaoyang's retreating figure, then glanced at Yuan Lingling as she was carried away. He could already tell that both of them had greater vitality than he did, and were infinitely close to becoming Second-Rank Martial Artists.

Deep in his eyes, his fighting spirit quietly gathered.