"Chen Jue, Boat Boxing of An County. Master Li, please!"
Chen Jue returned the fist-and-palm salute, his eyes fixed on his opponent, his mind taut while his entire body seemed to relax. He knew the middle-aged man before him was anything but ordinary. Rather than setting himself in the Eight Immortals Stance again, he switched to the Hunyuan Stance of Supreme Ultimate Fist.
And Li Xiang indeed proved extraordinary. He drew a hot breath through his nose, expanded his chest, stepped out, and raised both arms level. Though empty-handed, he looked as though he held a long spear. His entire body gave a sudden shake as he assumed the Two Principles Stance of Eight Extremes Fist.
"Hum!" A tremendous, rolling-thunder grunt erupted from his abdomen, like thunder rumbling across the sky. It shook the entire venue, cutting off every murmured conversation in an instant. His clothes snapped with the grunt, his eyes widened in a fierce glare, and his hair stood on end. He looked like an unmatched warrior emerging from an army of thousands with a spear in hand.
That single grunt drew everyone's attention. Even the bouts in the two neighboring circles were disrupted.
"Hum!"
Another muffled, thunderous sound issued from his chest. Li Xiang took two strides, advancing swiftly through the circle, and drove straight at Chen Jue with an utterly simple stamping punch. Leading with his left fist, he charged straight down the centerline. It was a punching variation of Yama Three-Point Hand, the opening move of Eight Extremes Fist!
Chen Jue did not dare take it lightly. His body likewise rose and fell with a shake, his five fingers loosely curled, and he lunged like a black tiger descending a mountain. Meeting force with force, he clawed straight at the incoming fist.
Bang!
Fist met