Defeating the Enemy in One Move

Lin Hao did not hesitate. He confirmed in a low, firm voice in his mind, "Accept the mission."

[Main mission "Build a Foundation Through Fist Arts, Reach the Mysteries Through Mortal Combat" accepted. Current mission progress: 0/10000. Current proficiency in "Mountain-Subduing Basic Fist": 0.00%]

Moments after he accepted the mission, the familiar machine-gun barrage of notifications exploded madly in his mind again.

[Host detected successfully completing a standard offense-and-defense drill of "Mountain-Subduing Basic Fist." Mission progress updated: 1/10000. Proficiency updated: 0.01%]

[Host detected successfully completing a standard offense-and-defense drill of "Mountain-Subduing Basic Fist." Mission progress updated: 2/10000. Proficiency updated: 0.02%]

[...]

[Mission progress updated: 9999/10000. Proficiency updated: 99.99%]

[Congratulations, host, on completing ten thousand standard offense-and-defense drills of "Mountain-Subduing Basic Fist." Proficiency increased to 100%, the perfection realm!]

[Main mission "Build a Foundation Through Fist Arts, Reach the Mysteries Through Mortal Combat" completed!]

[Distributing mission rewards...]

[Ten years of practical experience fighting demonic beasts on the border front lines unlocked! Instinctive fist-art responses activated!]

Countless images surged along his nerves into his mind-not chaotic flashes of light and shadow, but muscle memory carved into his bones, punch by punch and kick by kick.

He had practiced the Mountain-Subduing Basic Fist for five years without ever fully grasping it.

Now, its transitions between offense and defense, its shifts between feints and real attacks, and its points of power release all unfolded clearly before his eyes and sank deep into his mind.

How to block at the very limit when a demonic beast lunged in for the kill.

How to unleash a one-inch punch when his old force was spent and new force had yet to arise, seizing the precise moment to turn the tables and kill.

These memories contained not a trace of empty showmanship. Every move followed the practical logic of subduing an enemy and fighting for his life.

[Host: Lin Hao]

[Qi and blood: 0.42]

[Mental power: 0.12]

[Combat power: 2.02]

[Cultivation method: "Basic Eighteen Forms of Qi and Blood" (great perfection)]

[Martial skill: "Mountain-Subduing Basic Fist" (great perfection)]

When Lin Hao saw that his combat power on the system panel had already reached 2.02, he was so shocked that his head began to swim.

Among the admission requirements for Capital Martial University, the best martial arts university in the Dragon Nation.

The combat power requirement seemed to be only 2.00!

Bai Cheng, standing in the sparring area, saw Lin Hao standing motionless with a strange expression and assumed he had been scared out of his wits.

He sneered and spoke again. "What? Standing there without moving because your legs have gone too weak to take a step?"

Jiang Chao was also puzzled by Lin Hao's reaction, but when he heard Bai Cheng say that, he clenched his fists and was about to step forward.

But Lin Hao stopped him again.

Lin Hao looked at Bai Cheng in the sparring area. His voice was calm, yet carried an irrepressible edge. "What's the rush? Since someone's so eager for a beating, I can hardly refuse to oblige."

With that, he stepped into the sparring area marked with white lines.

Watching the two refuse to yield an inch, Zhou Lie was inwardly amused. They really were young and hot-blooded.

He raised a hand to signal them to take their positions and said in a deep voice, "The rules of sparring: stop short of injury. No attacks to vital areas. Whoever crosses the white line loses. All right, begin!"

At those words, Bai Cheng assumed the opening stance of the Mountain-Subduing Basic Fist, his eyes fixed on Lin Hao.

Today, he had to make Lin Hao understand that the path of a martial artist could not be walked through crooked tricks.

Lin Hao also took his stance, and the precision of his movements made Teacher Zhou Lie's eyes light up.

Bai Cheng pushed off the ground hard. As his qi and blood surged, he shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow.

Aiming straight at Lin Hao's chest, he unleashed the heaviest offensive move in the Mountain-Subduing Basic Fist.

Mountain-Breaking Thrust Punch.

His fist whistled through the air. He held nothing back.

He wanted to send Lin Hao flying with a single move and show the entire class that he was its number one.

But just as his fist was about to touch Lin Hao.

Lin Hao shifted his feet half a step.

Yet that half step was just enough to let the heavy punch, charged with qi and blood, brush past the edge of his clothes without touching so much as a scrap of skin.

Bai Cheng's heart lurched. Before he could withdraw his fist and change moves, Lin Hao moved.

Lin Hao raised his hand and used the most basic blocking-hand stance.

It was originally a defensive blocking move, but in his hands, its use changed.

Turning his wrist, he lightly pressed the heel of his palm against the hollow of Bai Cheng's shoulder and gave a slight push along the momentum of his forward charge.

There was no earth-shaking force, no wind from a punch.

Yet it sent Bai Cheng off balance, stumbling backward.

Then Lin Hao also unleashed a Mountain-Breaking Thrust Punch, striking Bai Cheng squarely in the abdomen.

At once, Bai Cheng's face flushed red. He spat up bitter fluid and flew backward.

His body sailed straight beyond the white boundary line, and he landed on his backside, curling up on the ground in so much pain that he could not get up.

The entire place fell deathly silent.

A few seconds later, the students erupted.

"Holy shit? Bai Cheng lost?"

"Am I seeing things? Just two moves! Lin Hao knocked Bai Cheng out of the ring?"

"Since when was Lin Hao this fierce?"

"Bai Cheng really did underestimate him just now, but those two moves from Lin Hao were clever. Could it have been a fluke?"

"..."

The most shocked of them all was Zhou Lie, standing at the edge of the sparring area.

His eyes widened, his face full of disbelief.

He had seen it perfectly clearly. From start to finish, Lin Hao had used nothing but the most basic moves of the Mountain-Subduing Basic Fist, without a trace of flashiness.

Yet his control over timing, angles, and force had been precise to the extreme.

How could punches like those possibly come from a poor student whose qi and blood ranked at the bottom?

Could Lin Hao actually be an overlooked genius?!

Meanwhile, Bai Cheng took quite a while to recover from his fall before he finally stood up.

He looked at the white line beneath him, then at Lin Hao in the sparring area, his face flushing even redder.

Humiliated and furious, he shouted at Lin Hao, "I wasn't ready! You ambushed me! You played dirty! That didn't count! Again!"

Just then, Zhou Lie strode over and clamped an iron-vise hand onto Bai Cheng's shoulder, leaving him unable to move.

"Bai Cheng!" Zhou Lie's voice was icy. "Out of bounds means defeat. That is the rule of martial sparring. Lin Hao won. The match is over."

"I wasn't ready! Otherwise, there's no way I could've lost!" Bai Cheng shouted, still refusing to accept it.

"You attacked first. What do you mean, you weren't ready?" Displeasure crept into Zhou Lie's voice. "A loss is a loss. Why make excuses?"

Lin Hao looked at Bai Cheng and mocked him. "If you haven't had enough of a beating, I don't mind giving you another punch."

The surrounding students also cast peculiar looks at Bai Cheng.

Some were contemptuous, some mocking, and others were amused at the spectacle.

Bai Cheng's face alternated between red and white. He instinctively rubbed his still-aching stomach, then finally gritted his teeth and squeezed out, "I lost."

Then he lowered his head and returned to the group.

Lin Hao also turned and sat back down beside Jiang Chao.

Jiang Chao threw an arm tightly around his shoulders and exclaimed excitedly, "Holy crap! Haozi! You've been hiding way too much! You took Bai Cheng down in two moves! How are you a bottom-feeder? You're a god of war descended to earth!"

Lin Hao laughed. "All right, stop shouting nonsense. A god of war, even? Aren't you afraid people will laugh?"

But the moment he finished speaking, hunger surged through his stomach again.

It felt as though countless hands were tearing at his internal organs.

Even his meridians were permeated with an indescribable emptiness.

He was inwardly speechless. So absorbing and digesting his understanding of the Mountain-Subduing Basic Fist also consumed this much bodily energy.

Right now, he urgently needed tonics to replenish his qi, blood, and energy.

If his body kept going without replenishment, never mind the martial artist entrance exam in a month.

He might actually starve himself to death.