A Big Slap

The evening breeze blew gently.

The students passing by pulled their clothes tighter. Yang Sheng wore a thinner training uniform, yet the fire in his blood refused to cool.

Especially after hearing that his opponent in this test would be Li Ya, the anger Yang Sheng had been suppressing slowly began to surface.

Jiang Tian, Liu Chang, and even those who knew Yang Sheng well all held limitless faith in his future.

Given enough time, his future would surely be brilliant.

But there was no time now. Only four days remained.

Lesser Completion of Bright Force against someone nearly at Great Completion of Bright Force.

Everyone agreed it was a contest whose outcome had already been decided.

But Yang Sheng knew that four days were enough.

When he returned to Skysea Boxing Gym.

The lights in the gym were already off. Boss Tianhai sat behind the cashier counter, grinning from ear to ear.

"One, two, three, four..."

Yang Sheng knocked on the counter.

"Boss, can I train tonight?"

Boss Tianhai had been immersed in the joy of counting money. Hearing the voice, he looked up and saw that it was Yang Sheng.

He immediately jumped up in excitement.

"You can. Of course you can."

"I might be training here all night. You can just lock the door."

Boss Tianhai was somewhat surprised. "You're not going home to sleep?"

Yang Sheng shook his head. "I'm not that sleepy, and sleeping wastes time."

Boss Tianhai gave him a thumbs-up. "Honestly, Yang Sheng, if you don't succeed, no one will."

"I'll have the kitchen work overtime tonight and make you another four servings of medicinal cuisine. Also, here's your pay for today."

As he spoke, Boss Tianhai placed a stack of cash on the counter and left.

After Boss Tianhai left, Yang Sheng picked up the stack of bills and squeezed it.

It felt nice and thick.

He counted it roughly. There was actually 1,800 yuan.

Yang Sheng carefully put the money away. After eating a large bowl of medicinal cuisine, he began tonight's match.

It wasn't that he truly did not need sleep.

With the powerful support of the Martial God Soul, Yang Sheng's training had produced remarkable results. Not only were his cultivation and physical abilities improving.

His mental strength was also growing day by day.

This had also made his sleep incredibly efficient.

He now only needed two or three hours of sleep a day to feel refreshed and full of energy.

This gave him even more time to devote to cultivation.

Ordinary people could cultivate for at most twelve or fourteen hours a day.

Yang Sheng could now cultivate for twenty hours a day.

He entered the Stellar Martial Arts Match System.

Yang Sheng opened his personal information and checked it.

Black Iron Sixth Stage, 80% progress.

Ranked 104th in Bay City among those at Lesser Completion of Bright Force.

"Ranking is like rowing against the current. If you don't advance, you fall behind."

Yang Sheng sighed softly, then immediately started matchmaking.

Today, Jiang Tian had taught him all the remaining moves of Six Openings.

Although he had not said anything outright.

Yang Sheng knew that Jiang Tian did not hold much hope for his victory over Li Ya.

After all, in most people's eyes, the gap between Lesser Completion of Bright Force and someone nearly at Great Completion of Bright Force was enormous.

Before learning about the Stellar Martial Arts Match System, if someone had told Yang Sheng that his opponent was Li Ya, he too would have been uncertain.

After all, if he spent all four remaining days training by himself, he might improve his strength and cultivation.

But his actual combat experience would remain almost nonexistent.

But now, with the Stellar Martial Arts Match System.

Yang Sheng could train through battle.

By constantly honing his techniques through real combat, he could also rapidly increase his cultivation.

He could even receive generous rewards after reaching a new stage.

It was simply killing three birds with one stone.

He had already decided to immerse himself in the Stellar Martial Arts Match System for the next four days.

He would fully absorb all the techniques of Eight Extremes Fist and gain more practical combat experience.

As the matchmaking countdown ended.

Yang Sheng gathered his thoughts. A figure appeared in his field of vision.

The man wore a fitted combat outfit, with red boxing wraps around his large hands.

When Yang Sheng saw who it was, he froze slightly.

North Sea Divine Fist!

It was actually an acquaintance he had sparred with during the day.

North Sea Divine Fist was clearly stunned as well.

After his match with Yang Sheng that afternoon, he had won in a stifled and frustrating manner.

So he logged off to rest, intending to bully a few weak opponents that night to vent his frustration.

After recovering and logging back in, he completed matchmaking and discovered that his opponent was at Black Iron Sixth Stage.

Only one stage below him.

Just as he adjusted his breathing and prepared to cut loose.

He suddenly realized that the person before him was the guy named Yang Sheng who had tangled with him for hundreds of exchanges that afternoon!

In just one afternoon, Yang Sheng had raised his rank to Black Iron Sixth Stage.

North Sea Divine Fist's expression was complicated. It had taken him nearly three days to go from Black Iron Ninth Stage to Sixth Stage.

Yet this young man had done it in only one afternoon.

More importantly, he found Yang Sheng incredibly difficult to deal with. Although Yang Sheng was weaker overall, his fundamentals were extremely solid.

A single Whirling Wind Hand was enough to disrupt all his boxing attacks.

In the end, he had been forced to defeat Yang Sheng with a whipping kick, something he looked down on.

It could be said that this was the most uncomfortable victory of all his years of actual combat experience.

But since they had been matched, he naturally had to go all out.

If he quit now, he would only be giving Yang Sheng free points.

Meanwhile, Yang Sheng was overjoyed to see that his opponent was North Sea Divine Fist.

He desperately needed opponents like this—stronger than him, but not by too much—to serve as sparring partners.

Two entirely different mindsets collided here.

North Sea Divine Fist snorted. "Yang Sheng, I won't hold back like I did this afternoon. I'll be going all out tonight, so you'd better be prepared."

Yang Sheng was somewhat excited as he casually warmed up.

"That's exactly what I want."

Hearing that, North Sea Divine Fist was visibly choked up.

"You really are addicted to getting beaten!"

"Nineteen, eighteen, seventeen..."

As the system countdown ended.

North Sea Divine Fist attacked first.

His fists were as swift and fierce as ever, his entire presence unleashed as he charged at Yang Sheng.

This time, Yang Sheng did not choose to defend passively.

He stepped forward and rapidly closed in.

From their encounter during the day, Yang Sheng had basically mastered all of North Sea Divine Fist's moves and patterns.

None of North Sea Divine Fist's attacks could escape the Martial God Soul's detection.

Thus, the instant North Sea Divine Fist struck, Yang Sheng determined where his explosive point lay.

Just as he was about to make contact with North Sea Divine Fist, Yang Sheng suddenly raised his forearm.

Cloud-Crushing Strike!

This was a close-range surprise attack from Six Openings. It mainly relied on the sudden springing force of the forearm and the lifting force of the wrist joint, with the force reaching the back of the fist.

Like a spring hidden in a sleeve suddenly exploding, it specialized in striking vital areas such as the opponent's chin, throat, and bridge of the nose.

Though it was less lethal than the Heart-Piercing Elbow, its force path was extremely short and its speed incredibly fast.

The opponent had no time to react.

And as it happened, North Sea Divine Fist's punches were broad and unrestrained.

He held nothing back with every strike.

Thus, he focused heavily on offense and lightly on defense, making him prone to falling into a disadvantage in close-range combat.

Sure enough, Yang Sheng's left forearm snapped upward, using finesse to overcome force.

It directly knocked North Sea Divine Fist's punch slightly off course.

That tiny gap was all he needed.

Yang Sheng's right hand lashed back fiercely.

Smack!

A sharp slap rang out.