Crushing

The results of the third-round draw had been posted.

Zhou Yan versus Zhou Hong.

In Mountain-Suppressing Martial Hall's seating area, Liu Tiehe slapped his thigh so hard that the bandages on his arm nearly came loose. He whispered to Meng Lei, "You didn't know, did you? Zhou Yan against Zhou Hong! Those two are cousins. This is going to be entertaining!"

Meng Lei sat beside him with bandages wrapped around his arm and muttered, "No wonder Zhou Hong had been avoiding Zhou Yan these past two days. He can't avoid him now."

Liu Tiehe took a sip of hot water and chuckled. "Of course. Lesser Qi Gathering running into Qi Gathering Greater Achievement? He'd be crazy not to avoid him."

Zhou Hong really had been hiding.

After the second round, he had watched Zhou Yan knock Xu Changqing out of the ring with just a few punches.

Qi Gathering Greater Achievement!

When that cousin of his from the mud-brick courtyard had been shoved into Class C of Mountain-Suppressing Martial Hall, Zhou Hong had laughed about it to himself.

Class C was where those without talent were sent.

But now, Zhou Yan had reached Qi Gathering Greater Achievement, even a minor realm above him.

He had originally thought that, having entered martial training one or two years earlier, he would be able to crush Zhou Yan completely.

Thinking back on the things he had said before made his face burn.

For the next two days, whenever he spotted Zhou Yan from afar, he would go around him, always choosing the less crowded paths.

When his junior brothers from Heavenly Peak Martial Arts Hall asked why he was never around, Zhou Hong made excuses about practicing his palm techniques extra hard.

When the draw results were posted, he stood before the notice board and stared at the five words "Zhou Yan versus Zhou Hong" for more than a dozen breaths.

Seeing that he was in a bad mood, a senior brother beside him tried to comfort him. "It's fine. You're at Lesser Qi Gathering, while he's at Qi Gathering Greater Achievement. It's only natural that you can't beat him. See if you can force out some of his hidden moves. If Senior Brother Luo runs into him later, at least he'll be prepared!"

Zhou Hong gave a grunt, his throat feeling as though something had lodged in it.

Third round, Zhou Yan versus Zhou Hong.

When Zhou Hong stepped onto the arena, his pace was much slower than usual.

The referee raised the mallet for the bronze gong.

Zhou Hong lifted his head and looked at the familiar yet unfamiliar face across from him.

A year and a half ago, at the entrance to the village, Zhou Yan had still been a farmhand in rough hemp clothes.

Now, the man standing before him looked valiant and spirited. His eyes rested calmly on Zhou Hong, as though he were looking at a stranger.

Zhou Hong gritted his teeth and forced himself to straighten his back.

"Cousin, I never thought..."

"You've been avoiding me for two days," Zhou Yan cut him off. "Why aren't you hiding today?"

Zhou Hong's face instantly flushed red. He clenched his fists until his knuckles cracked.

"I wasn't hiding. I was practicing my palm techniques extra hard these past two days."

"Practicing your palm techniques?" Zhou Yan took a step forward and smiled. "Good. Then let me test them."

At those words, Zhou Hong took a deep breath and assumed the stance of the Yue Family Palm.

He knew he could not escape today. Rather than stand there and be ridiculed, he might as well give it everything he had.

His three years at Heavenly Peak Martial Arts Hall had not been wasted. He had trained the Yue Family Palm to Greater Achievement.

His opponents in the first two rounds had both been knocked off the stage by two palm strikes, though he had been lucky to draw easy opponents.

The referee struck the gong.

Zhou Hong pushed off the ground and charged forward.

The Yue Family Palm slashed out, its palm wind tearing through the air as it went straight for Zhou Yan's face.

He held nothing back in this strike. With the Yue Family Palm at Greater Achievement, the muscles in his arm were taut as a fully drawn bowstring.

Zhou Yan used his forearm to take the palm strike head-on. A dull thud rang out, yet he did not move an inch.

Zhou Hong's pupils shrank. He had known there was a gap between him and Zhou Yan, but he had not expected it to be this vast!

He had put all his strength into that strike, but hitting Zhou Yan's arm was like striking an iron plate.

Instead, the recoil numbed his wrist, and panic surged up within him.

A wave of fear immediately seized him!

He wanted to withdraw his palm and change moves, but Zhou Yan gave him no chance.

The Mountain-Suppressing Fist came straight at him. A fist was heavier than a palm, and its force even more crushing.

Zhou Hong crossed his arms to block. The instant the fist smashed into his forearms, he slid backward four or five steps.

Before he could steady himself, Zhou Yan's next punch had arrived.

The Mountain-Suppressing Fist was broad and forceful. At Greater Achievement, every punch followed the body's movement, leaving the opponent no room to breathe.

Zhou Hong gritted his teeth and tried to meet it with his palm, but the moment his palm touched the fist, it was knocked aside.

He staggered back another three or four steps, already at the edge of the arena.

Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced behind him. One more half-step, and he would fall. The wind stirred the sand in the pit below.

A thought suddenly surfaced in his mind: It's over.

The fist slammed into his chest.

His blue training uniform was dented by the force of the punch. Zhou Hong was sent flying, spun once in midair, and crashed into the sandpit below the platform.

Sand shot more than a person's height into the air, then rained down over his head and face.

In three exchanges, Zhou Yan had defeated him as cleanly as he had defeated Xu Changqing.

But this time, no one below the stage applauded.

On the platform, Bai Lingfeng stared at Zhou Yan for a long while, then snorted at Xue Zhenshan beside him. "Mountain-Settling Stance at Perfection, fist technique at Greater Achievement... I never expected you, old Xue, to have hidden such a disciple. Looks like one finalist has already been decided!"

Xue Zhenshan picked up his teacup, took a sip, and said calmly, "The outcome has yet to be decided. I see quite a few outstanding disciples under Hall Master Yue as well."

Yue Wuyuan gave an embarrassed laugh. "Not at all, not at all. The disciples under Brother Xue are still a cut above."

The few of them exchanged smiles. Everything was understood without being spoken.

Zhou Hong sat up in the sandpit, covered from head to toe in sand.

He looked up at the arena. Zhou Yan stood in the center of the platform, gazing down at him with a faint, ambiguous smile.

"Cousin, thank you for letting me win."

Zhou Hong opened his mouth but could not say a word.

His face reddened from his ears all the way down to his neck. He climbed up, brushed the sand from himself, and burrowed into the depths of the crowd without looking back.

None of Heavenly Peak Martial Arts Hall's disciples spoke.

In the crowd, a sturdy young man in Heavenly Peak's gray uniform stood by the arena with his mouth hanging open for a long time.

Zhou Tiezhu had come to watch the Martial Meet with the martial hall's people today. He had never expected to witness this.

Looking at Zhou Yan standing on the arena, he remembered how, a little more than a year ago, Zhou Yan had been carrying water buckets by the village well just like him. Yet now, it seemed that his childhood companion had traveled farther and farther ahead.

Back then, Zhou Yan had not even touched the threshold of Body Tempering. Now he stood in the center of the arena at Qi Gathering Greater Achievement and had sent Zhou Hong flying with three punches.

Zhou Tiezhu swallowed, not knowing what to say.

On the other side of the third round, Shi Meng faced Luo Chengyuan.

The two were evenly matched, and their fight was far more exciting than Zhou Yan's.

Shi Meng had brought two blades today, one long and one short: White Cloud Martial Hall's Flowing Cloud Twin Blades.

The blades were a finger-width narrower than ordinary sabers, their edges gleaming with a cold white sheen beneath the sunlight.

The moment he stepped onto the platform, his broad shoulders and powerful build, paired with the two swift blades, made him look intimidating.

He also had the foundation of Qi Gathering Perfection, his inner qi far more abundant than Luo Chengyuan's.

Luo Chengyuan still wielded that long spear, its shaft made of iron pear wood and its tip freshly sharpened.

Qi Gathering Greater Achievement against Qi Gathering Perfection meant a full realm's difference, but the reputation of his Breaking Wind Spear was no empty boast.

He was the fastest spear user Heavenly Peak Martial Arts Hall had seen in ten years.

The referee struck the gong!

Shi Meng attacked first. The long and short blades of the Flowing Cloud Twin Blades moved together, the long blade chopping straight ahead.

The blade light flashed like a streak of silk, while the short blade hid beneath the long one and slashed diagonally toward Luo Chengyuan's ribs.

One blade was obvious, the other concealed. The obvious strike was a feint; the hidden one was the killing move.

Luo Chengyuan had anticipated it and saw through the trick.

With a flick of his spear, its tip struck the face of the short blade with perfect precision. With a clang, the short blade was knocked off course.

Borrowing the force, he retreated half a step, then swept the spear horizontally. The shaft howled through the air as it whipped toward Shi Meng's waist.

Shi Meng sank his left arm. The spear shaft struck his forearm with a dull thud, but he remained completely still.

Qi Gathering Perfection inner qi flooded his arm. An ordinary spear sweep could not injure his muscles or bones.

He grinned, and the long blade came chopping down right after it, so fast that it looked like nothing more than a white line.

Luo Chengyuan twisted aside. The blade passed by his ear and sliced off several strands of hair.

Before Shi Meng could retract his blade, the spear had already stabbed back. Fourth form of the Breaking Wind Spear: Chasing Wind.

The spear tip pursued the motion of Shi Meng withdrawing his blade. Shi Meng blocked with his short blade, and sparks flew where the spear tip scraped across its surface.

But the shaft thrust forward with the motion, and the spear tip shifted toward his throat.

Shi Meng leaned back to evade. The spear tip grazed his chin, leaving a bloody line across his neck.

The crowd below erupted into discussion.

"Greater Achievement is actually gaining the upper hand against Perfection!"

Shi Meng's smile vanished. He took a deep breath, and both Flowing Cloud Twin Blades slashed out at once.

Long and short crossed through one another, their fierce blade lights weaving into a net.

One strike followed another, each faster than the last. Seven or eight strikes came in a single breath, their blade lights merging into one.

Luo Chengyuan retreated four or five steps in succession. Two gashes had been cut into his spear shaft, and splinters of iron pear wood flew through the air.

But just as Shi Meng's momentum was fading and before his next strike could follow, Luo Chengyuan moved.

Seventh form of the Breaking Wind Spear: Linked Pearls.

One spear became seven shadows. Before the first spear tip had even withdrawn, the next had already thrust out.

Shi Meng blocked several strikes in a row, the spear tips hammering against his blades with ringing clangs.

But the rhythm of the Linked Pearls Spear grew faster and faster. In the blink of an eye, a spear tip slid past the blade and pierced his left shoulder, blood running down the shaft.

The next strike chased after his right wrist, forcing him to drop his short blade with a clang.

The remaining spear shadows surged forward together, striking his right shoulder before the final spear stopped half an inch from his throat.

Shi Meng lowered his head and looked at the spear tip before his throat, then at the short blade lying on the ground.

He was at Qi Gathering Perfection, the highest realm among all the Qi-Gathering Realm fighters present, yet he had lost to someone at Qi Gathering Greater Achievement.

He had lost to Luo Chengyuan before. He had not expected that even after raising his cultivation this time, he would still lose to Luo Chengyuan!

"Excellent spearwork," Shi Meng said through gritted teeth.

Luo Chengyuan withdrew his spear and cupped his hands. "Brother Shi, thank you for letting me win!"

The Heavenly Peak Martial Arts Hall side shouted like mad. Luo Chengyuan had won back all the face Zhou Hong had lost moments earlier.

Yue Wuyuan finally lifted his teacup and took a sip, a smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

Bai Lingfeng, master of White Cloud Martial Hall, did not look pleased. Shi Meng had possessed the highest cultivation among White Cloud Martial Hall's competitors. Losing at Qi Gathering Perfection to someone at Greater Achievement did not sound good, but after seeing Luo Chengyuan's final seven strikes, Bai Lingfeng had nothing to say. Shi Meng had not lost unfairly to that spear technique.

After the third round ended, Zhou Yan and Luo Chengyuan advanced to the fourth round.

Mountain-Suppressing Martial Hall had only Zhou Yan left, while Heavenly Peak Martial Arts Hall had only Luo Chengyuan remaining.

Ma Biao and Chen Fangyuan from the Lesser Martial Academy were still in the competition.

Zhou Yan stood beneath the corridor, wiping away sweat as he glanced toward Luo Chengyuan.

He had seen those seven spear strikes clearly just now. He just did not know how many his pair of fists could block.