"H-how could this happen?!"
Having experienced this strange phenomenon firsthand, Lin Zhuxian gaped in utter shock, his jaw nearly dropping to the ground!
Not far away, Bu Wuchen, who had met Lin Zhuxian's punch head-on, merely shook his hand and bared his teeth slightly. "Hiss, that stings a little."
"The Qi Observation Realm Fifth Layer really does have something going for it!"
Bu Wuchen's casual tone and faint smile instantly silenced the entire crowd!
What did he mean, "the Qi Observation Realm Fifth Layer does have something going for it"?
That should have been a compliment;
but coming from a Savage Martial Realm cultivator like you, why did it sound so much like an insult?
And "stings a little"?
A full-powered strike from the Qi Observation Realm Fifth Layer could shatter a thousand-jin boulder, yet to you, it merely stung a little?
Naturally, they had no idea that the system had already strengthened Bu Wuchen's body to the point of having "steel sinews, iron bones, and bronze skin."
A full-powered strike from the Qi Observation Realm Fifth Layer could hardly injure him, much less kill him with a single punch!
As for speed, the system-granted "cheetah gale speed" allowed Bu Wuchen to hold his own against Lin Zhuxian without falling behind in the slightest.
His only slight shortcoming lay in strength.
Even with his own Savage Martial Realm Peak mystic power added to the "strength of nine oxen and two tigers" granted by the system, Bu Wuchen still fell somewhat short of Lin Zhuxian, who was at the Qi Observation Realm Fifth Layer.
Even so, to the crowd, Bu Wuchen's feat of meeting a Qi Observation Realm Fifth Layer cultivator head-on with only Brute Martial Realm cultivation was nothing short of a miracle!
"One breath... no, two breaths have passed."
At that moment, the instructor acting as referee broke the silence.
Coming to his senses, Lin Zhuxian felt he had utterly disgraced himself!
He had just claimed he would smash the other man's dog head within a single breath, but now...
Before him, Bu Wuchen assumed his stance again and said-
"Let's continue. Bring out your best moves and give this young master some more practice."
At those words, veins bulged on Lin Zhuxian's forehead in fury!
To think that he, a dignified advanced-class student, was being treated as a sparring partner by a "flunkie" who had repeatedly been held back!
"Die!!"
Lin Zhuxian roared and charged forward, vowing to make his opponent pay in blood!
An excited gleam flashed through Bu Wuchen's eyes, and his lips curved upward. "Heh, just what I wanted!"
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam...
The two immediately clashed in a flurry of sweeping blows.
Every punch struck flesh, every impact thundered in their ears!
"Damn, if I hadn't seen it myself, I wouldn't believe it even if you beat me to death. Bu Wuchen, a Savage Martial Realm cultivator, is actually fighting Senior Lin Zhuxian to a standstill."
"Me neither."
"I really wonder how his muscles, skin, and bones grew like that."
"He clearly has no protective mystic Qi, yet he's fighting with the same intensity as someone protected by mystic Qi!"
"Exactly! Although Bu Wuchen keeps getting the worse of their clashes in strength, he still shows no sign of defeat."
"Yes, in my opinion, he stands a very good chance of lasting ten breaths!"
As time passed, more and more voices rose in admiration of Bu Wuchen.
This greatly irritated Lin Zhuxian!
Lin Senyu's and Lü Chunyang's expressions also grew increasingly grim!
"Seven breaths."
The referee announced the time again as usual.
Below the platform, Lin Senyu's clenched palms were already slick with cold sweat.
On the platform, however, Bu Wuchen's eyes shone with excitement.
He had discovered that, relying on his strength of nine oxen and two tigers, cheetah gale speed, and bronze skin and iron bone body, he could actually trade blows and fight this fiercely against Lin Zhuxian, whose cultivation realm far surpassed his own!
A sense of pride welled up within him: So an advanced-class student like you only amounts to this.
As for Lin Zhuxian...
No, no, this young master absolutely cannot lose!
If I can't defeat this repeatedly held-back student, this laughingstock of the entire academy, within ten breaths, what will that make me?!
Besides, if I can't win back those two sole surviving copies of the cultivation art and mystic technique, the lineage's main branch will subject me to hellish punishment...
I have to win. No matter what, I have to win!!
At that thought, Lin Zhuxian took a scarlet pill straight from his sleeve pouch and swallowed it in full view of everyone!
Seeing this, the old servant A Chun's heart jolted. Is that... a Qi Burst Pill?!
Although his cultivation had been completely crippled before he accompanied Bu Wuchen into exile in the frigid frontier, his discerning eye remained.
In fact, he was not the only one.
Apart from most of the intermediate- and beginner-class students, everyone else watching knew perfectly well what Lin Zhuxian had just swallowed-
A Qi Burst Pill could force the user's mystic Qi to erupt by overdrawing it, greatly increasing their combat strength for ten breaths.
"Damn, this Lin Zhuxian really has no shame, does he?"
"He actually took a mystic pill to boost his strength during a wagered fight with a fellow student?!"
For a time, many spectators scoffed at Lin Zhuxian's actions.
The instructor serving as referee also knitted his brows.
Unfortunately, their wager had not explicitly forbidden taking pills during the fight, so he could hardly stop it.
He merely called out coldly, "Eight breaths!"
Lin Zhuxian gave a cruel smile. "Hehe, two breaths left. That's more than enough to kill you-"
"Flame Tiger Fist!!"
"Roar!"
In that instant, a flaming tiger phantom actually formed around Lin Zhuxian's onrushing fist;
accompanied by a shriek of cleaving wind that stung the face, it viciously opened its blood-filled maw and hurtled straight at Bu Wuchen's face!
"H-he actually used the Lin Lineage's main branch's ultimate art, the Mortal Rank Middle Grade 'Flame Tiger Fist'?!"
"That bastard Lin Zhuxian took a Qi Burst Pill first, forcibly raising his mystic power to a level comparable to seven-star Qi Observation Realm, and then unleashed a killing mystic technique..."
"Even if he wins, it won't be an honorable victory!"
"Exactly! Utterly shameless!!"
"Alas, now things really do look grim for Bu Wuchen."
Hearing the scornful curses around him, Lin Zhuxian's father wore the brazen look of a dead pig unafraid of boiling water, secretly delighted. Well done, Xian'er!
As the saying goes, the victor becomes king and the loser a bandit. Even losing all our reputation is better than losing this fight.
On the martial arts platform.
The smile on Lin Zhuxian's lips grew increasingly unbridled. "Hahahahaha, at this distance, you have nowhere left to dodge."
"Submit to your death!!"
With a lift of his eyes, that imposing flaming tiger phantom was already right before him.
Just as everyone thought Bu Wuchen was certain to die-
Whoosh!
The figure that had remained standing in place without moving vanished just like that!
Lin Zhuxian's strongest killing move, which he had been certain would land, simply struck empty air...
Immediately afterward, he felt a chill down his spine.
Bu Wuchen, who had inexplicably vanished, was actually already standing silently behind Lin Zhuxian!
Even Lü Chunyang, who had remained composed and dignified throughout, could not help leaping to his feet at the shocking reversal that unfolded on the platform in the flash of a spark. "H-how is this possible?!"