"A year ago, I came to Nan University and single-handedly challenged its so-called Ancient Martial Arts Club, but not one member could fight. A year later, the Ancient Martial Arts Club no longer exists. Chen Zheng, you're Su Cheng's bodyguard, so you should know how to fight. Since you won't apologize, I'll give you a chance-a chance to step into the ring. Do you dare accept?"
Kim Eun-woo stared at Chen Zheng with cold arrogance.
"Trash! Do you dare accept the challenge?"
The blond-haired youth started shouting outright.
"A challenge?" Chen Zheng studied Kim Eun-woo very seriously. "Are you sure you want to challenge me? Everything I know is meant for real combat. If I accidentally beat you to death, wouldn't that make me guilty of murder?"
"Arrogant bastard! How strong could a bodyguard like you be? Our Eun-woo won the national collegiate taekwondo championship! What does a bodyguard like you amount to? Hmph! A lowly bodyguard!"
The blond-haired youth mocked him furiously.
"Chen Zheng, if you're a man, follow me!"
Kim Eun-woo stared at Chen Zheng as he spoke.
He thought nothing of a mere bodyguard. Besides, his fighting skills went well beyond taekwondo. He was confident he could finish Chen Zheng within three minutes. Besides, Chen Zheng wasn't the point-An Jing was. From the first moment he saw An Jing after arriving at Nan University, he had resolved to conquer this icy Chinese beauty. Today was undoubtedly an opportunity.
He would let An Jing see that the man beside her was nothing but trash compared to him, that he was the real man! Only a man like him deserved to enjoy a beauty like her!
"Are young people these days so fond of inviting humiliation?"
Chen Zheng spoke mildly.
"After you!"
Kim Eun-woo answered coldly, then turned to lead the way.
"Chen Zheng! You arrogant bodyguard! You'll find out how powerful he is soon enough! You're a legend on the basketball court, but you'll be a joke in the ring!"
The blond-haired youth shot Chen Zheng a vicious glare. This time, his Mandarin was slightly more fluent.
"Hmph! If not for the rules of the Ancient Martial Arts world!"
An Jing muttered.
If not for that rule, she would have struck long ago.
"What rules?"
A trace of curiosity appeared on Chen Zheng's face.
"You can't initiate an attack against ordinary people."
An Jing lowered her voice again and spoke close to Chen Zheng's ear. To outsiders, the gesture looked like she was whispering secrets to him, making quite a few male students in the crowd feel a pang in their hearts.
Had Nan University's famous icy beauty fallen in love with campus belle Su Cheng's bodyguard?
"We're in for a good show!"
"Three-point king Chen Zheng versus taekwondo expert Kim Eun-woo!"
"Wrong! It's Su Cheng's bodyguard Chen Zheng! He's a bodyguard by profession and plays basketball occasionally!"
"That Korean bastard Kim Eun-woo is pretty formidable. He challenged the Ancient Martial Arts Club alone that time and beat its president so badly he dropped out! Over the past year, the Taekwondo Club has overshadowed all the other combat-related clubs at Nan University!"
"A bodyguard... I hope Chen Zheng can beat Kim Eun-woo, but it feels like it'll be tough unless Chen Zheng knows real Ancient Martial Arts. After all, the old Nan University Ancient Martial Arts Club's skills were pretty ordinary, nowhere near the martial arts in novels that let you fly over eaves and run up walls."
The onlooking students discussed it in low voices and followed them. Naturally, they wouldn't miss a show, especially with icy beauty Professor An and campus belle Su Cheng there. Besides, Chen Zheng was something of a celebrity himself. A recently recorded video of his incredibly long-range three-pointers had already reached first place on a certain short-video app.
A little over ten minutes later.
Nan University Taekwondo Club.
Chen Zheng stood on the left, Kim Eun-woo on the right, with spectators on both sides, most of them students there to watch the excitement.
Kim Eun-woo had already changed into a taekwondo uniform and stood with a stern expression. His gaze toward Chen Zheng held nothing but coldness, with an air of arrogance beneath it.
"Trash! In one minute, you'll be lying on the ground, unable to get up!"
The blond-haired youth shouted from outside the ring, looking like a blond-haired monkey.
"You can warm up first. I'll give you time!"
Kim Eun-woo spoke coldly.
"Since you're giving me time to warm up, I'll give you five minutes to attack. For those five minutes, attack however you like. I absolutely won't strike back."
Chen Zheng gave Kim Eun-woo a smile.
"Whoa!"
"Holy shit!"
"He's that cocky?"
The watching students instantly erupted.
Giving Kim Eun-woo five minutes to attack without striking back-wasn't Chen Zheng being a little too overconfident? Kim Eun-woo really was strong. During a school event last year, he'd even demonstrated kicking through several thick layers of wooden boards!
Was Chen Zheng really that confident?
"Haha! Chen Zheng, you're scared, aren't you? He's scared you out of your wits! You're not even making sense anymore! Haha! Hahaha!"
The blond-haired youth outside the ring started shouting again. He thought Kim Eun-woo had frightened Chen Zheng into babbling nonsense.
"Chen Zheng! You really are arrogant! But I won't go easy on you! You're giving me five minutes? Then let's see how you survive the next five minutes! I'll show you the power of taekwondo! Taekwondo is the most powerful and greatest combat art in the world! Chen Zheng! You've already lost!"
Kim Eun-woo spoke coldly, and the moment his words fell, his attack began!
The first strike!
A flying kick!
"The five-minute countdown starts now."
Yet Chen Zheng only smiled faintly. Facing Kim Eun-woo's swift, ferocious flying kick, he merely turned slightly sideways, and Kim Eun-woo's foot struck empty air!
"Huh?"
"He dodged it!"
"Looks like Chen Zheng has some skills!"
The watching students cried out.
To their eyes, Kim Eun-woo's kick had been even more impressive than those of experts in ordinary kung fu movies. That kick had been fierce and vicious. If it actually hit someone, it might have broken their ribs!
At that instant, they had all broken into a cold sweat for Chen Zheng, never expecting him to dodge the kick with a slight turn!
Chen Zheng had some skills!
"A coincidence! That was definitely a coincidence! Chen Zheng, you only happened to dodge it!"
The blond-haired youth outside the ring also froze briefly, but started yelling again a second later. He didn't believe a Chinese bodyguard could be that formidable. That had to have been a coincidence.
"Time is ticking away."
Ignoring the blond-haired youth, Chen Zheng smiled as he reminded the stern-faced Kim Eun-woo.
"One move is all I need to defeat you!"
Kim Eun-woo spoke coldly. His body suddenly moved, darting in front of Chen Zheng almost instantly before he drove a straight punch toward Chen Zheng's chest!
A straight punch!
Fast, precise, and vicious!
An ordinary person probably wouldn't even have reacted, but Chen Zheng merely lifted his foot slightly, and Kim Eun-woo's attack missed again!
"What!"
"So fast!"
"Holy shit! How does Chen Zheng move so fast?"
Another round of cries rose from the watching students.
They hadn't even seen clearly what had happened. It only seemed that Chen Zheng had casually shifted one step, and Kim Eun-woo's attack had missed!
"Eun-woo! You!"
The blond-haired youth outside the ring frowned too. He thought Kim Eun-woo was holding back.
But Kim Eun-woo didn't answer him. Instead, he quickly adjusted, and in less than three seconds, unleashed another fierce side kick at Chen Zheng!
Whoosh!
The sound of air being sliced apart!
It missed!
Kim Eun-woo's side kick missed!
Another attack!
It still missed!
He kept going!
It missed again!
As the watching students saw Kim Eun-woo's attacks miss again and again, and Chen Zheng evade those fierce attacks as though strolling through a quiet courtyard, their mouths opened wider and wider, their expressions growing increasingly astonished.
Why the hell did it feel like Chen Zheng had been toying with Kim Eun-woo like a performing monkey from beginning to end?
Whoosh!
Another of Kim Eun-woo's flying kicks missed. This time, he didn't keep attacking. He wasn't Superman; he didn't have endless stamina. So many fierce attacks in succession had drained his strength, and every miss had thrown his state of mind further off balance!
"How is this possible? My attacks are already this fast! How can you still dodge them?"
Kim Eun-woo stared at Chen Zheng with an utterly grave expression, his voice extremely low.
"Fast? Are your attacks faster than bullets?"
Chen Zheng asked him in return.
Kim Eun-woo froze, then secretly gathered his strength. With a sudden explosive roar, he launched another flying kick at Chen Zheng!
Boom!
Almost at the very moment Kim Eun-woo's fierce kick came within twenty centimeters of Chen Zheng's body, Chen Zheng raised his right foot and abruptly kicked him. With a boom, Kim Eun-woo flew backward and crashed onto the blond-haired youth outside the ring!
"Ow!"
Pinned to the ground, the blond-haired youth wailed!
As for the watching students, every last one was dumbstruck. They stood like statues, mouths agape, not knowing what to say. They even forgot to gasp or scream!
An instant kill!
Chen Zheng's kick had just instantly defeated Kim Eun-woo!
Fuck!
Was he that strong?
"Sorry, the five minutes are up."
Chen Zheng smiled faintly at Kim Eun-woo, who lay on top of the blond-haired youth outside the ring, then walked over to An Jing and Su Cheng and headed out with the two women.
"Wait!" Kim Eun-woo suddenly raised his head from atop the blond-haired youth. Clutching his chest, his face deathly pale, he shouted at Chen Zheng's retreating back, "Cough, cough! Chen Zheng! Just what level are my fighting skills in your eyes?"
"Rotten fish and shrimp."
Already at the door, Chen Zheng couldn't even be bothered to turn around and simply tossed back that airy reply.
"Rotten fish and shrimp..."
Kim Eun-woo stared after Chen Zheng, repeating the words dazedly. As he repeated them, he suddenly spat out a large mouthful of blood, then shakily climbed up from the ground. But the moment he stood, he fell again with a thud!
At that moment, Kim Eun-woo's expression changed drastically. His eyes filled with terror. He wanted to climb up again, but discovered he had no strength to get up at all. It felt as though every bone in his body had broken!