The Invisible Hand, Master's Demeanor!

The first round of preliminaries ended without much fanfare. After a brief rest, the advancing contestants welcomed the drawing for the second round.

The atmosphere in the arena grew even tenser than before.

Anyone who had fought their way through hundreds of experts to reach this point was an expert in their own right.

People were still discussing Lin Xuan's strange victory from earlier.

Some thought it had merely been luck—that the burly man named Huka had been too stupid and fallen off the platform himself.

Others vaguely felt that something was off, and there was now a little more fear in the way they looked at Lin Xuan.

As for the martial artists who had mocked him earlier, they now kept far away from Lin Xuan, terrified that this seemingly harmless "monster" might notice them.

"Second Round of Preliminaries, Ring Five!"

"Contestant No. 49, 'Ghost' Shadow Maru! Versus Contestant No. 66, Lin Xuan!"

The moment the announcement called out those two names, every gaze in the waiting area of Zone B turned toward Lin Xuan and the masked ninja.

"Oho! It's that ninja!"

Son Goku's eyes lit up, clearly full of anticipation.

"That guy's presence is unusual. He's incredibly fast. How is Lin Xuan going to fight him?"

Krillin was a little nervous. He could tell that the ninja named Shadow Maru was one of the experts in this tournament, far more dangerous than Huka, who had only known how to rely on brute force.

"Hmph, shadow this, shadow that—Lin Xuan will definitely win!"

Bulma waved her little fist to cheer Lin Xuan on, though the way she clenched it tightly showed that she was nervous too.

On the other side of the contestants' area, Master Roshi adjusted his sunglasses. For the first time, genuine interest appeared in his eyes behind the lenses.

Master Roshi wanted to see what impressive method this young man, whom even he could not see through, would use against an opponent specializing in speed and technique.

Shadow Maru slowly rose to his feet and gave Lin Xuan a ninja salute.

His gaze was sharp. There was no contempt in it, only a warrior's seriousness and fighting spirit.

Lin Xuan also rose from his cross-legged position and nodded in response. Then, one after the other, the two walked onto Ring Five.

The crowd immediately erupted.

"It's 'Ghost' Shadow Maru! I heard he's a once-in-a-century genius of the Iga School, and his Phantom Shuriken technique is incredibly powerful!"

"That kid Lin Xuan won't be able to rely on luck this time. Shadow Maru is so fast you can't even catch his shadow!"

"That's right! Before absolute speed, any trick is useless! I bet Shadow Maru ends this within thirty seconds!"

The referee looked at the two of them. Seeing that both were ready, he immediately brought his arm down.

"Match begin!"

The instant he spoke, Shadow Maru moved.

Without any warning, his figure flickered on the spot and turned into a faint wisp of green smoke.

"So fast!"

The spectators below had barely cried out when Shadow Maru's figures appeared in all four corners of the ring.

Not just four.

Eight, sixteen!

He launched a fierce phantom assault around Lin Xuan, who stood motionless at the center of the ring.

Countless shuriken shot in from every direction, sealing off every route of escape as they closed in like a cage.

Yet Lin Xuan, standing at the center, made a move that left everyone staring in disbelief.

He began taking a stroll.

Yes, a stroll.

With his hands behind his back, Lin Xuan walked at an unhurried pace, as if he were not competing at all but wandering through his own backyard.

His steps looked slow and casual.

One step forward, and he neatly avoided three kunai shot from behind him.

A slight lean to the left, and a blade flashed past the tip of his nose.

A small dip of his head, and a net of more than ten shuriken skimmed over his scalp.

To the audience, the sight was bizarre.

Shadow Maru's attacks were swift and vicious, each strike whipping up a gust of wind.

Yet Lin Xuan moved as though taking a walk, always using the smallest motion at the most unexpected moment to evade every attack in advance.

It was as if he was not dodging at all, but the weapons were actively going around him.

"Th-This is impossible?!"

"Is it a coincidence? How can he just happen to dodge every single time?"

"No! Look at his expression! He hasn't even blinked! It's like... he already knew where Shadow Maru would attack from!"

Shadow Maru was equally shocked.

His speed and footwork were the skills he took the most pride in.

Yet before this man, they were completely useless.

Every step his opponent took landed in the blind spot of his attacks, as if every thought he had had been seen through in advance.

"I don't believe it!"

Shadow Maru shouted and rapidly formed hand seals.

"Ninja Art: Illusory Haze Clone Killing Formation!"

In an instant, dozens of identical Shadow Marus appeared across the arena.

These clones were not mere shadows. They had been created from chakra and could truly strike someone.

The real body hid among them, ready to launch an attack.

The entire arena was instantly filled with killing intent.

The spectators below could no longer tell which was real and which was fake.

Just as the killing intent reached its peak, Lin Xuan slowly closed his eyes.

An uproar broke out below the stage.

"Has he gone crazy?!"

"Against a killing move like this, he actually closed his eyes? Has he given up resisting?"

Only Master Roshi's pupils suddenly constricted, his body trembling slightly with excitement.

He understood.

Lin Xuan had closed his eyes because seeing with them would only be a distraction.

In Lin Xuan's perception, once he closed his eyes, the entire world became incomparably clear.

Shadow Maru's clones, realistic enough to fool anyone, were merely clusters of tiny lights with slight differences in energy to him.

And among them, one point of light remained perfectly clear no matter how it shifted—the aura of life and emotional fluctuations it gave off.

Every breath Shadow Maru took, every heartbeat, every tightening of his muscles, was clearly reflected in Lin Xuan's mind.

Every possible route of movement became a visible line.

"Now!"

Shadow Maru seized what he believed was the opening created the instant Lin Xuan closed his eyes.

His real body burst out from among the dozens of phantoms. The short blade in his hand traced an arc as it silently stabbed toward Lin Xuan's back.

This was his strongest move.

But the poisoned dagger could not reach its target.

Lin Xuan did not even turn around.

Just as the blade was about to strike, he calculated the exact point where Shadow Maru would need to change direction after exhausting his momentum, then slowly extended a single finger.

That finger did not point behind him, nor did it point at any of the clones.

It simply pointed, unremarkably, at... a patch of empty air half a meter in front of Lin Xuan.

To everyone watching, it was a useless, even slightly comical gesture.

But in the next second, a scene the entire audience found impossible to believe unfolded.

Shadow Maru's strike missed. His old force had run out, while new force had yet to arise. Carried by immense inertia, he could only stagger forward and change direction in an attempt to steady himself.

And the spot where he landed after changing direction was, without the slightest deviation, the very patch of empty space Lin Xuan's finger had pointed at.

Thus, beneath the stunned gazes of thousands, Shadow Maru seemed to deliver himself straight to Lin Xuan, slamming his most vulnerable chest squarely into that seemingly powerless finger.

Bang!

A soft, muffled impact rang out.

Shadow Maru's body jolted violently, as though he had been struck hard by an invisible hammer.

The strength throughout his body was instantly scattered by that finger. His forward momentum carried him helplessly flying toward one of the arena pillars.

Thud!

The back of Shadow Maru's head slammed solidly into the hard arena pillar. His eyes rolled back, and he crumpled to the ground on the spot, completely unconscious.

Silence.

A deathly silence descended over the venue.

Everyone stood with their mouths open, their minds blank, unable to comprehend what they had just seen.

In their eyes, the entire sequence had gone like this:

Shadow Maru unleashed a terrifying phantom killing formation.

Lin Xuan closed his eyes and extended one finger toward empty air.

Then Shadow Maru charged straight into it and knocked himself unconscious.

Th-This wasn't martial arts anymore! This was sorcery!

"R-Ring Five... Contestant No. 66, Lin Xuan... wins!"

The referee swallowed hard and announced the result in a trembling voice.

After a brief silence, the entire venue erupted in shocked cries and discussion.

"One finger! He actually defeated 'Ghost' Shadow Maru with one finger!"

"That wasn't an air strike! Shadow Maru ran into it himself... No, that's not it! He calculated that Shadow Maru would run into it!"

"My God! What level was that?"

In an instant, Lin Xuan became even more mysterious in everyone's eyes.

If the first match had been luck, then this one was a miracle.

In the contestants' area, Master Roshi slowly sat back down. He removed his sunglasses and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief, muttering softly, "Not a martial technique... not ki... this was calculation... He predicted everything about his opponent... This is the bearing of a grandmaster... No, this is the bearing of an immortal!"

Lin Xuan slowly stepped down from the ring and returned to his corner, as though he had merely done something insignificant.

Just then, the match on Ring Seven also came to an end.

"The match is over! The winner is Yamcha!"

Yamcha panted heavily as he threw his bruised and battered opponent off the ring, successfully advancing as well.

He ignored his own injuries and immediately looked toward Lin Xuan, his eyes filled with excitement and shock.

He had seen it clearly just now.

He had seen Lin Xuan's unfathomable finger strike, and he had seen that composure.

A fierce longing for a higher realm began to blaze in his heart.