On a virtual arena in the Heaven Martial Battle Net, two figures abruptly materialized.
Zhang Zhihao pulled himself together and looked at the opponent matched against him nearby. A layer of hazy mist veiled the other person's face, leaving their features indistinct. Clearly, they had activated anonymous mode.
He immediately pulled up his opponent's profile panel and quickly skimmed the data.
"Blood-Qi Value just over 3, zero ranking matches... Ha, a fresh recruit. This one's in the bag!"
"At least today's Battle Net fees weren't wasted. After three straight losses, the Battle Net finally decided to throw me a bone!"
At the thought of easily "farming noobs," the gloom from his losing streak lifted in an instant, and his mood brightened.
Still, to be safe, he decided to use the ten seconds before the match to seize the initiative and throw his opponent off balance, ensuring there was no chance of losing.
"Tsk, hiding your face and name. Another gutless rat hiding in the shadows!" Zhang Zhihao switched on his trash-talking mode, his voice dripping with deliberate disdain. "A real man would proudly show his name!"
Chen Mochuan was taken aback. He hadn't expected the opponent he'd been matched with to be such a chuunibyou.
But he paid no attention to the other man's words, instead using the ten-second safe period to study him closely.
The ten seconds of preparation passed in a flash. The instant the countdown hit zero, the battle officially began!
Zhang Zhihao launched the first attack. He drove forward with a burst of speed, sending a jab straight at Chen Mochuan's face. His fist cut through the air with a whistle; he had clearly been building up power for some time.
Facing Zhang Zhihao's ferocious charge, Chen Mochuan showed no hint of panic. He neither dodged nor retreated, but swung his fist to meet the attack. Their fists collided with a dull thud.
The two traded punches and kicks, both using moves from Foundation Building Fist.
Zhang Zhihao's punches were forceful and fierce, aimed at ending the fight quickly;
Chen Mochuan, meanwhile, mixed offense into his defense, his movements flowing in smooth circles. Each time, he defused the other man's fierce attacks at the very last instant. Though he appeared to focus on defense, he had already taken firm control of the fight's tempo.
After a dozen or so exchanges, Chen Mochuan had figured out Zhang Zhihao's general level.
His Foundation Building Fist was at a higher level than Lu Feng's, having reached Mastery. But judging by how he used his punching force, he hadn't yet grasped Clear Force. And with a Blood-Qi Value of only 3.63, his overall strength was actually inferior to Lu Feng's.
Still, he made for a decent free sparring partner.
A thought crossed Chen Mochuan's mind. During his earlier sparring session with Feng Shi, the other man's strength had been so overwhelming that even his full-force attacks couldn't hurt him in the slightest. He still hadn't fully figured out how Clear Force performed in actual combat, so he decided to test it on Zhang Zhihao.
He deliberately left an opening, exposing his left ribs.
Zhang Zhihao was delighted. Thinking he'd spotted his chance, he threw a punch with all his strength!
Chen Mochuan turned slightly. His left hand flicked and guided the incoming fist aside like a darting fish, effortlessly dissipating the attack Zhang Zhihao had charged up. Meanwhile, he secretly gathered Clear Force in his right fist and shot it into Zhang Zhihao's ribs like lightning.
A dull thud rang out, followed by Zhang Zhihao's cry of pain. "Ah!"
The agony in his ribs brought Zhang Zhihao out in a cold sweat. The pain simulation in ranking matches was exactly the same as in reality, and couldn't be adjusted. That one blow made him feel as though his ribs had cracked!
When the ranking match had just begun, Zhang Zhihao had planned to rely on his Blood-Qi advantage and Mastery-level Foundation Building Fist to launch a fierce assault and take his opponent down in one go.
But as the fight went on, he realized something was wrong. His anonymous opponent's fistwork was exceptionally advanced, and Zhang Zhihao was the one being firmly suppressed.
He was shocked. "Great Completion Foundation Building Fist?"
But one thing made no sense to him: his opponent's Blood-Qi Value was only 3.20...
By rights, Foundation Building Fist tempered the muscles and bones and honed one's Blood-Qi. Anyone who trained it to Great Completion shouldn't have such a low Blood-Qi Value. It might make sense if the opponent were an elderly person in their seventies or eighties whose Blood-Qi had declined, but the other man was clearly young. Zhang Zhihao had never seen a freak like this in real life.
Even so, facing a powerful opponent hadn't cost him his fighting spirit. He believed that with his wealth of combat experience, as long as he kept circling his opponent, he would eventually spot an opening—and that would be his chance to win.
Yet when he thought he'd found a weakness and attacked, he had fallen straight into the other man's carefully laid trap.
His triumphant attack was effortlessly deflected, and then a heavy blow struck his ribs!
That punch brought him fully to his senses. "That was definitely Clear Force! He only just broke 3 in Blood-Qi and he can already use Clear Force? Since when did Antu City get such a vicious third-stage Martial Warrior?!"
Seeing that Chen Mochuan didn't follow up, Zhang Zhihao hurriedly clutched his ribs and retreated, enduring the pain as he cursed the Battle Net's matchmaking system nonstop.
"I was too naive. I thought I could farm noobs, and instead I ran into a damn shark! Three losses in a row weren't enough, so now it throws me into a fourth match to get wrecked! @#￥%& Battle Net! Give me back my trust!"
Zhang Zhihao could feel his ribs hurting even when he breathed. He'd wanted to surrender outright, but the "proudly show your name" bravado he'd just put on before the match would surely become a joke to his opponent. As someone who cared about face, he couldn't let that go.
He figured that if he took just one more punch, his physical condition would be poor enough for the Battle Net to declare him defeated. So he decided to keep going and lose "with his head held high."
But once again, things went contrary to his expectations.
His opponent didn't use Clear Force again. He even changed his style of fistwork, switching to a set of punches that seemed somewhat unfamiliar. Zhang Zhihao found himself handling them with ease, and for a moment, the illusion that "I'm back in this!" came over him.
"That looks like Tiger Fiend Fist. Feels like it's only at Initiation level. What is he trying to do?"
After just a few exchanges, he caught on. "Damn, wait... This guy seems to have taken me for a free sparring partner. He's using me to hone his newly learned fistwork!"
A scholar could be killed, but never humiliated!
And with that "breathing pain" in his ribs, Zhang Zhihao promptly submitted his surrender.
So what if he'd lost four in a row? He'd win the next one for sure! There was no way that after running into a shark, the Battle Net could match him with someone even stronger!
When he saw his opponent turn into a streak of white light and vanish from the arena, Chen Mochuan felt a little helpless. He'd only just been getting ready to practice Tiger Fiend Fist, and the other man had already grabbed his bucket and run.
It seemed he'd used too much force with Clear Force and completely crushed his opponent's will to fight.
At least he'd more or less learned how Clear Force performed in actual combat. He decided that if he wanted to keep someone around as a sparring partner next time, he'd need to hold back and not scare them away.
As he pondered, the system's match results appeared.
"You have won this ranking match!"
"Points +11 (base victory points +10, Blood-Qi Value difference bonus +1)"
"Your current rank: Black Iron (511 points)"
"Congratulations on your first victory! Keep up the good work and climb to greater heights!"
Chen Mochuan nodded slightly. The Heaven Martial Battle Net's points system was indeed thoughtfully designed.
Winners of ranking matches earned base victory points, and if their opponents' Blood-Qi Values were higher by a certain amount, they could also receive bonus points. The greater the difference in Blood-Qi Value, the larger the bonus.
In addition, once a player reached a three-match winning streak, they received a bonus to their consecutive-win points. The bonus increased with each additional consecutive win, allowing the strong to earn points more quickly and rank up sooner.
After winning his first match, Chen Mochuan briefly reviewed what had gone well and poorly in the fight, then opened a new matchmaking queue without hesitation.
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