Overturning

Xie Haining put on her gloves, then waved to Makina in front of her, signaling her to just go for it.

"How pitiful. Being teammates with 'Yinglong' must be very stressful, right?" Makina asked Xie Haining with some sympathy.

Xie Haining was somewhat puzzled. "Why? Isn't Yinglong under more pressure? Do you understand how much responsibility he carries with him? There's no room for failure under that name, which is why I have to help him win even more."

"Ah, what a gentle person..." Makina exclaimed, looking at Xie Haining.

"But you," Xie Haining raised his hands in a fighting stance, "Must be under a lot of pressure being Yinglong's enemy, right?"

"Hmm..." Makina thought for a moment seriously, then spread her hands and said, "I'm speechless."

After saying that, Makina raised her longbow at Xie Haining: "Sorry, handsome, although I like you quite a bit, I still have to defeat you. After all, this is a world where the strong prey on the weak, and my teammates are waiting for my help!"

Xie Haining assumed a horse stance, but it wasn't a standard stance. Instead, she was slightly turned to the side, with her right foot forward and left foot back, her hands raised and palms open. It was less of a fighting stance and more like... Tai Chi.

Makina drew her bow and fired a volley of arrows into the sky. Then, she aimed at Xie Haining and pulled back her longbow. A uniquely shaped spiral arrow appeared on the longbow.

At that moment, the arrows in the sky seemed to come alive, turning a corner in the air and flying towards Xie Haining. But Xie Haining waved his hands, drawing two beautiful arcs, and caught all the arrows in his hands.

"Got it!" Makina shouted, firing the spiral arrow in her hand.

In Xie Haining's eyes, the spiral arrow approached him in slow motion. He extended his index finger and touched the arrowhead, then slowly transferred his power along the arrow, gradually changing its flight direction until he successfully guided the arrow to pierce the ground at his feet. But when he turned his head, a rain of arrows followed closely behind.

Xie Haining remained calm and composed. He moved his hands and spun his body, deflecting the incoming arrows. The audience immediately began to whisper among themselves, "Hey, don't you think his movements look like Tai Chi?" "Right? I think so too!" "Such graceful and beautiful movements..." "He actually deflected so many arrows! Amazing!"

Despite Makina's continuous arrow shooting at Xie Haining, the arrows failed to hit Xie Haining. Gradually, everyone noticed that the arrows were scattered all over the ground around Xie Haining, but a clean "circle" was formed within a 1.5-meter diameter radius centered on Xie Haining, and not a single arrow fell within this circle.

"What is the pinnacle of human martial arts skills?" Cui Man crossed her arms and smiled smugly. "The answer is... Tai Chi. Tai Chi has no fixed moves; it's purely a martial arts theory that emphasizes using softness to overcome hardness and the balance of softness and hardness. But over the years, no one has been able to use Tai Chi in actual combat. Why? Because there's just too much information to process..."

As she spoke, Cui Man counted on her fingers. "Where is the opponent's center of gravity? What is the direction of their attack? How should we change it? Which way should we guide it? There's too much information to process in a single attack; there simply isn't enough 'time' to process all of this in actual combat. That's why the most powerful martial arts theories can't be applied to real combat. But!"

Cui Man turned to Ye Wanqing beside her, raised an eyebrow, and smiled, "Now there's a man who has unlimited time to process this information during battle... What technique could be more suitable for him than 'Tai Chi'?"

"Although I don't quite understand it, it seems really amazing..." Ye Wanqing said with a slight smile.

"Let me show you how a mortal who's not even LV2 can defeat a LV5 god." Cui Man winked at Ye Wanqing.

At this moment, Xie Haining swept his leg and deflected the last arrow coming at him.

Arrows were already stuck all around him, but the circle around Xie Haining remained clean.

"Isn't it about time we tried a different method?" Xie Haining asked calmly, while Makina, standing in front of him, was already panting heavily. She asked incredulously, "Aren't you tired? I've clearly shot hundreds of arrows..."

Xie Haining remained silent. In fact, he deflected the arrows with minimal movement, altering their trajectory by following their flight path. This required very little force and consumed almost no physical strength.

"If you're not coming, then I'll go for it," Xie Haining said calmly, getting into a charging stance.

"I won't let you get cocky! Being beaten by a LV2 is too embarrassing!" Makina said irritably. "Ares, Ares!" A red lightning bolt struck, forming a suit of armor and a red greatsword as tall as a person on her body. Then Makina raised her hand again, "Hermes, God of Shepherds!"

A gentle breeze enveloped Makina's body, and a pair of wings appeared beside her armor boots. Then, Makina charged towards Xie Haining: "Range attacks can't hit you, so what about melee?!"

"Trying to crush me with brute force? The idea is fine, but..." Xie Haining got into position, slightly turning his body the instant Makina's longsword came down, while simultaneously pushing against the blade with his left hand, slightly deflecting the sword's trajectory.

The sword barely grazed his shoulder, slicing off a corner of his clothes. The two figures passed each other, and Xie Haining seized the opportunity to throw Machina on Makina ankle, his right hand supporting the back of Makina head. He spun around and used the momentum to throw her away.

Makina didn't feel any "resistance" from Xie Haining. It was as if Xie Haining had added a force to her movements, making her faster but changing her direction.

At that moment, Makina felt herself lose her balance and was tumbling through the air before flying away.

She sat up in surprise, turned around and looked at Xie Haining behind her. Xie Haining was standing still, as if she hadn't moved at all.

"What kind of magic is this!" Makina was a little confused, but she still swung her sword forward again.

This time, Makina unleashed a powerful diagonal slash towards Xie Haining's shoulder. Xie Haining ducked and turned sideways, slapping the side of the blade with his palm. He swung his arm in a semi-circle, causing Makina's sword to strike the ground. Xie Haining then followed up with a sweeping leg kick, landing it on Makina's ankle.

Although he himself was not strong, this attack went along with Makina's own power.

Therefore, Makina flew out in a forward-stepping motion. Xie Haining got up and pushed Makina's chest with a palm, guiding her flight trajectory downwards. Then, he pushed her chin with another palm. Makina's forward speed suddenly increased, and she crashed headfirst into the ground. "Boom!" A shockwave spread out, and Makina was stunned by the fall.

"How is this possible!?" Makina sat up, turning to look at Xie Haining in disbelief.

"Use softness to overcome hardness, borrow strength to strike back." Xie Haining replied calmly, repositioning himself. He remained within the "circle" he had initially drawn, never leaving its boundaries.

Makina rose and continued her attack, thrusting her longsword straight at Xie Haining's abdomen. Xie Haining dodged the blow, then placed one hand on Makina's sword-wielding hand and the other on the back of Makina head, spinning her around and throwing Makina away. Makina staggered a couple of steps before collapsing to the ground, her mouth full of dust.

Makina cursed angrily and got up to continue. However, no matter how she attacked, Xie Haining could always deflect her attacks and throw her to the ground. She felt as if she were fighting against water. No matter if she stabbed, slashed, or hacked, her attacks seemed to hit the water, and then she would be swept away by the current and fall to the ground.

This gave her the illusion that she was a shipwrecked person adrift at sea, struggling to resist but only being carried forward by the powerful current. The tiny man before her grew larger and larger, transforming into an endless ocean current that swallowed her whole...

Logically speaking, Xie Haining's attack rating should not have been able to hurt her at all. However, after about ten rounds, Makina felt pain all over her body. This was because what hurt her was Xie Haining's power combined with her own.

"Huff, huff..." Makina looked at Xie Haining in front of her, panting, and for a moment felt... at a loss for words.

"Not coming anymore? Then I'll go." Xie Haining said, leaving the "circle" beside him for the first time, and then rushed towards Makina. Makina tensed up, preparing to deal with Xie Haining's attack.

But when Xie Haining threw a simple, unadorned punch, Makina was momentarily puzzled: how could such a punch defeat her?

So much so that Makina didn't even know how to dodge, because she didn't need to dodge at all; such a powerful punch couldn't hurt her.

The moment Xie Haining's fist struck Makina's chin, his right foot also landed behind Makina's ankle, causing Makina to lose her balance and fly backward. As she flew, Xie Haining pushed her chest with a palm, accelerating her flight, and then leaped up, punching Makina in the face mid-air.

The combined force of Makina's own gravity, Xie Haining's gravity, the power of the punch, and the initial push exploded outwards. Makina was knocked to the ground, the heavy impact causing her head to sink into the ground!

Xie Haining performed a light somersault and landed smoothly, while Makina lay on the ground, unresponsive.

"Don't think that Tai Chi is just about using softness to overcome hardness. True Tai Chi is a combination of softness and hardness," Cui Man said with a smug smile, arms crossed.

Of course, Xie Haining's ability to achieve such results is also due to his physique being above LV1. Otherwise, if the difference in physique between the two were too great, such as that of Xiao He, then the Tai Chi techniques would be useless.

"Phew..." Looking at Makina in front of her, Xie Haining smiled slightly and breathed a sigh of relief. "Actually, I was still a little worried."

He looked up at Xiao He's direction and saw the Word Spirit Master begging for mercy. "I know I was wrong! Stop hitting me! I'll never do it again! Please, please stop! I... ugh--!"

Meanwhile, Thunder God's face turned crimson from being strangled by Xia Yu, and he repeatedly slapped the floor in surrender.

"Looks like everyone's done," Xie Haining chuckled to himself. But at that moment, Makina, standing behind him, suddenly sat up, patted the pebbles off her head, and exclaimed, "Ah--! This is truly eye-opening! There's even such a technique! Amazing! To be beaten like this by a LV2... Oh no, I'm captivated!"

As she spoke, Makina sat down on the ground and laughed, "Hi, do you have a girlfriend? I really like you!"

"I'm already married and have children," Xie Haining replied casually. Makina smiled, cupping her hands, "It's okay, I don't mind that you've been married before. We foreigners are more open-minded about this."

Xie Haining fell silent, unsure how to respond. Makina, on the other hand, raised her hand and complained to the referee, "I give up! I give up! I'm not playing anymore!"

"Oh my god! After the Truthspeaker and Thunder God surrendered, Makina also admitted defeat!" the host roared excitedly. "The Dragon Country has won these two victories beautifully! Let's congratulate them!"

A cheer erupted throughout the arena, but in all the common lounges, the Mutant from various countries fell silent: this was a battle that overturned their Cognition of the world, a battle that shattered the rules of Mutant ranking.

Mutant was not even LV2 defeated a LV5 Mutant... This is simply unbelievable.

If rank doesn't represent strength, then what's the point of Mutant's rank?

It is well known that the M Country is most keen on using soft means such as economic aid and hard means such as military and trade coercion to acquire powerful Mutant from various countries. This has led to Mutant with powerful Superpower becoming a hot commodity. As a result, people have been influenced by the values of the M Country and believe that Superpower equal powerful strength, and they have begun to admire Mutant with powerful Superpower.

Therefore, the current rating of Mutant depends entirely on the "power of their Superpower," causing everyone to overlook an important point: combat ability.

Xie Haining completely overturned all of this. From today onwards, at least in the audience's mind, the strength of Mutant will no longer be linked to their "rating".

The strong are simply the strong.

After today's competition, those Mutant who were buried, ignored, or hidden because their Superpower were inconspicuous will spring up all over the world like mushrooms after rain.

Xiao He, Xie Haining, and Xia Yu retreated to the players' rest room together, and Xiao He was still very unhappy.

"Tsk... bastard, how dare he use a cockroach to scare me, making me lose face in front of so many people." Xiao He gritted his teeth and thought to himself, "If it weren't for the competition, I would definitely kill him!"

"Well done! You truly deserve to be our Four Cornerstones!" After Xiao He and the other two finished playing, Cui Man smiled and hugged them. "Alright, now have a meal and get some rest. This afternoon's matches will be played in a 'mixed format,' we'll shuffle your teams and use various combinations to test out some new possibilities."