The sparring match

Mo Duoduo had never imagined that she would one day witness the true essence of Tai Chi, much less find herself won over by a conceited young man.

She had thought Jun Wangchen was nothing but an amateur whose ambitions far exceeded his abilities. Yet after watching him strike the wooden dummy, she realized that she was the one who had overestimated herself.

Striking a wooden dummy might seem unremarkable, but turning it into something as poetic and graceful as bending willow branches and plucking flowers was no ordinary feat.

Moreover, Jun Wangchen had already reached the point where he could integrate his power and release or withdraw it at will. Even the few prodigies in her family might not have reached his level.

More frightening still, Jun Wangchen was only in his early twenties. If he continued developing at this rate, his future potential would be immeasurable.

At that thought, Mo Duoduo stared at Jun Wangchen for three seconds, then softened her tone. "Jun, I was a little too harsh earlier. I apologize."

"It's fine. This is my first time seeing you get so worked up, Mo. I have to say, you're pretty entertaining when you're angry," Jun Wangchen replied with a wave and a faint smile.

Mo Duoduo's face darkened, and her softened tone abruptly turned cold again. "What did you just say?"

"Uh, that's not what I meant. I meant you're pretty cute when you're angry... No, I mean you're cute when you're not angry too, but even cuter when you are... No, no, no, I mean when you're angry... Argh, what am I even trying to say?"

"Pfft!" Seeing Jun Wangchen's embarrassed, flustered expression as he stumbled over his words, Mo Duoduo failed to hold back and burst out laughing.

Jun Wangchen looked utterly bewildered, his eyes blank.

Huh? Why did she suddenly... laugh?

Still, she looked... pretty nice when she smiled!

Mo Duoduo covered her mouth and laughed for three seconds. Then, noticing out of the corner of her eye that Jun Wangchen was staring at her, she realized she had lost her composure. She hurriedly stopped smiling and returned to her usual cool, aloof demeanor.

"Jun, you must have practiced Tai Chi Fist for over ten years, right?"

Jun Wangchen paused, then answered, "No, I only just learned it."

"How is that possible?" Mo Duoduo rejected the claim outright, as though she had just heard an outrageous joke.

"The Tai Chi Fist you used on the wooden dummy was already comparable to that of some grandmasters. How could you possibly reach that level without more than a decade of diligent practice?"

Jun Wangchen remained calm. "Some things don't need time to mature. Take a butterfly emerging from its cocoon. It only needs a few dozen seconds to learn how to fly."

"Well..." Mo Duoduo froze.

Jun Wangchen's words certainly made sense. But how could anyone reach such heights in Tai Chi Fist without years of practice?

After all, his movements while striking the wooden dummy had reached the realm of physical artistry, something only a martial arts grandmaster could achieve.

Besides, martial arts primarily emphasized controlling elixir qi and circulating power. Without powerful internal force to support him, how could he have performed that wooden dummy routine?

And power was something a martial artist gradually refined over time.

Every aspect of this was inseparable from time. Jun Wangchen's explanation was pure fabrication.

No, he must have deliberately said that to conceal something.

"Mo, I've already demonstrated on the wooden dummy. Can I go do my own thing now?" Jun Wangchen asked, checking the time on his phone.

He had already wasted ten minutes on Mo Duoduo. If this dragged on any longer, he could forget about cultivating that morning.

Mo Duoduo's face darkened at his words, and irritation stirred inside her again. Other boys would love nothing more than to trail after her every day, yet this blockhead seemed desperate to keep his distance.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. Finally, her expression turned icy. "No, you can't leave. Your Tai Chi Fist looked pretty good just now. I want to spar with you."

"Huh?" Jun Wangchen was dumbfounded.

What?

The campus beauty wanted to spar with him?

She had to be joking!

Seeing his startled expression, Mo Duoduo thought he was looking down on her. Her delicate brows immediately rose, and she parted her lips. "What do you mean, 'huh'? You have to spar with me today, or you can forget about leaving."

Jun Wangchen's eye twitched. Mo Duoduo was outrageously domineering, a whole Himalayan mountain range removed from the aloof goddess she had been before. With such a spoiled, willful personality, she was probably the pampered daughter of some rich and powerful family.

Looking at her unreasonable expression, Jun Wangchen opened his mouth, then could only invent an excuse to politely refuse. "Mo, my Tai Chi Fist is actually meant to cultivate the mind and strengthen the body. It isn't suited to actual combat, so you should find someone else to spar with."

"Really?" Mo Duoduo pursed her lips, raised an eyebrow, and said coldly, "I think you're just afraid of losing face if I beat you, so you don't dare fight me!"

Jun Wangchen did not know whether to laugh or cry. She was even trying to goad him into sparring with her. She really was going to great lengths.

Still, having advanced to mid-stage qi condensation only last night, he did need an actual fight to see how much he had improved.

At that thought, Jun Wangchen nodded and accepted her challenge. "All right. If you want to spar, Mo, I'll oblige. But once this match is over, could you please stop pestering me?"

"Pestering?" Mo Duoduo bit her cherry-pink lip and snapped coldly, "Beat me first!"

The moment she finished speaking, Mo Duoduo stepped forward and rapidly closed in on Jun Wangchen. Landing in a right bow stance, she used her forward momentum to drive her right fist out with savage force.

A smile lingered at Jun Wangchen's lips, but his gaze sharpened. He pivoted, lifted his sleeves, and stepped swiftly to the side, smoothly evading the punch.

At the same time, both his sleeves swept through the air, stirring a fierce gust as he hurled a powerful surge of force straight at Mo Duoduo.

Alarmed, Mo Duoduo hurriedly shifted her momentum and threw a punch.

Bang!

The impact rang out, and both figures retreated a step, surprise appearing on their faces.

What surprised Jun Wangchen was her punch. It had been fierce, explosive, and powerfully executed, combining sinking force, cross force, and silk-reeling force. It was truly extraordinary.

If his judgment was correct, Mo Duoduo's style was most likely Eight Extremes Fist.

Eight Extremes Fist was renowned for its vigorous, explosive style and close-range techniques of pressing, bursting, squeezing, and body-checking. It was an exceptionally practical fighting style.

Its power could extend far in all directions, and its ferocity was terrifying. A single strike could kill or maim.

Before the Han dynasty, Eight Extremes Fist had frequently appeared in fighting arenas and enjoyed immense popularity. But after Confucianism became the sole honored doctrine during the Han dynasty, the concept of Tai Chi took deep root in people's minds. Tai Chi Fist abruptly eclipsed Eight Extremes Fist, which gradually faded from public view.

Thus, since ancient times, there had been a saying: "In peace, Tai Chi brings order to the world; in war, Eight Extremes settles all beneath heaven."

He had never expected a girl like Mo Duoduo to practice such a fiercely forceful style as Eight Extremes Fist. She really was difficult to figure out.

While Jun Wangchen was surprised, Mo Duoduo was equally astonished.

The force he had unleashed possessed tremendous explosive power, nothing like the softness emphasized by Tai Chi Fist. Had she not used Eight Extremes Fist in time, that surge would surely have sent her flying.

"Since your power is so fierce too, I'll just fight force with force!" Having made up her mind, Mo Duoduo darted to Jun Wangchen's side at lightning speed. Her palms became fists, and her power surged like a dragon bursting from the water as she attacked from both sides.

With Mo Duoduo's fists about to strike him, Jun Wangchen remained unhurried. He abruptly stamped his foot, and a commanding aura seemed to envelop his entire body.

His hands quietly extended, tracing circles through the air as though feeling an invisible ball. As they moved, they seemed to merge with the wind, becoming soft and gentle, yet giving the impression that boundless power lay hidden within, ready to burst forth at any moment.

The instant he raised his hands, Jun Wangchen's entire bearing transformed. One foot traced an elegant, unearthly arc across the ground. Though the movement appeared light, anyone struck by it would surely take a nasty tumble.

At that moment, Jun Wangchen's hands and eyes moved in harmony. His waist served as the axis, his steps were catlike, and the real and feigned were impossible to distinguish. His form resembled a hawk striking a rabbit, his focus a cat catching a mouse. He was still as a mountain and fluid as a river, storing power like drawing a bow and releasing it like loosing an arrow.

As her punch landed, Mo Duoduo's expression changed. It felt as though she had struck a wad of cotton. She could not exert her strength at all; instead, her own force rebounded and drove her several steps back.

Damn it! With her punch proving ineffective, Mo Duoduo cursed inwardly and mustered all her power. Her attacks grew sharper, their strength abruptly swelling as she hemmed Jun Wangchen in.

In an instant, countless shifting fist shadows filled the air, all attacking Jun Wangchen at once.

Jun Wangchen remained composed, moving through his stances with effortless grace. His right leg extended forward, his upper body leaned back, and his sleeves fluttered in a display as beautiful as a dance. Invisibly, he gathered the force of every punch into a single mass, which slowly inflated like a balloon, growing larger and larger.

"How is this possible?" Mo Duoduo was stunned. She had never heard of, much less seen, martial techniques like these.

Once he had gathered all the force of her punches, Jun Wangchen swept both sleeves. With a boom, the ball of energy hurtled toward Mo Duoduo with overwhelming momentum.

Mo Duoduo's expression changed drastically. She planted both feet firmly against the ground, summoned every ounce of power in her body, and met the energy ball head-on.

Oh no! Jun Wangchen was alarmed. He had assumed Mo Duoduo would dodge the energy ball. After all, he had deliberately slowed it down, and with her abilities, she could easily have avoided it.

What he had not expected was that Mo Duoduo would refuse to dodge and recklessly clash with the energy ball instead.

That ball contained the combined force of several punches. There was no way she could withstand it.

The thought had barely crossed his mind when a deep crack abruptly appeared, accompanied by a sharp, piercing impact.

Pain crossed Mo Duoduo's face as she struggled with all her might against the energy ball. In the end, she could not withstand it and was blasted more than three meters away, plunging headfirst into a pile of sand.

This is bad! Jun Wangchen's heart jolted. He rushed over, crouched beside Mo Duoduo, and asked anxiously, "Mo, are you all right?"

Mo Duoduo did not answer. Her entire face was buried in the sand, and only her trembling body showed that she was still alive.

"Oh no, did that energy ball knock her unconscious?" Jun Wangchen bit his finger and hurriedly reached out to pull her up.

"Don't touch me!" The moment his hand touched her, Mo Duoduo let out a muffled shout and slapped it away. She staggered to her feet, her disheveled hair completely obscuring her face.

Biting his finger, Jun Wangchen asked awkwardly, "Um, Mo, are you all right?"

"What do you think?" Mo Duoduo gritted her teeth, trembling with anger.

Jun Wangchen rubbed his nose, looking thoroughly embarrassed. "I was against this match from the start, but you wouldn't listen. Now..."

"Could you stop babbling? Would it kill you to hand me a tissue?" Mo Duoduo revealed her grit-covered face and angrily cut him off.

"Um... I didn't bring any tissues. Should I go back to my dorm and get you some?" For some reason, seeing her like this suddenly made Jun Wangchen want to laugh.

"Why didn't you bring tissues?" Mo Duoduo's face turned livid with anger.

Jun Wangchen asked in confusion, "Why would I bring tissues?"

"You..." Mo Duoduo was practically driven mad by the bastard in front of her.

"Mo, are you hurt? Should I take you to the infirmary?" Seeing her standing there trembling all over, Jun Wangchen ventured the question cautiously.

With his acupuncture skills, he could treat Mo Duoduo himself if she was injured. In the present circumstances, however, she would certainly not trust him, let alone allow him to treat her.

"No need. I lost today, but don't get smug. I'll definitely beat you someday." Mo Duoduo shot him a murderous look, then strode out of the track and field grounds as though nothing had happened.

Watching her retreating figure, Jun Wangchen pinched his chin between two fingers and murmured, "Strange. Getting hit by an energy ball like that should have caused at least some injury, but Mo Duoduo seems completely fine. What's going on?"

That energy ball had contained a great deal of force. Even someone like him, whose physique had been enhanced through Marrow-Washing and Hair-Purging, would have been in pain for quite some time after taking that hit, let alone a delicate girl like Mo Duoduo.

No matter how he thought about it, Jun Wangchen could not find an explanation. Since Mo Duoduo refused his concern, he could not be bothered to chase after her and ask. Instead, he found a quiet spot, sat cross-legged, and began cultivating.

What Jun Wangchen did not know was that, in a corner hidden from his view, Mo Duoduo was bracing herself against a wall, blood spilling from her mouth as she struggled painfully forward...