Chapter 15: Quarterfinals
Just as Yang Tong jumped down from the arena, Feng Xiaobo came up to meet him and said with an expression of admiration, "Yang Tong, is your slow-moving fist technique really that powerful?"
"I didn't win easily," he shook his head. He didn't feel excited; instead, he felt some pressure. If his first opponent in the general tournament was this formidable, what about the ones to come? Fortunately, this match had given him new insights into Tai Chi Fist.
Pressure leads to motivation. He was now full of motivation; he rarely felt such strong motivation.
The round-of-sixteen matches taking place on the arenas had all concluded one by one. The eight people who qualified for the next round were Yan Xiaodong from class one, Xiao Jian from class four, Yang Tong from class five, Feng Jun from class six, Di Xuanluo and Niu Yue from class seven, Zheng Meimei from class eight, and Lu Guang from class nine.
The quarterfinals would be: Yan Xiaodong versus Xiao Jian, Yang Tong versus Feng Jun, Di Xuanluo versus Zheng Meimei, and Niu Yue versus Lu Guang.
The matches would officially begin in half an hour.
His first match ended quite early, so he had already rested enough. He wasn't in a rush and was chatting aimlessly with Feng Xiaobo. Feng Xiaobo was gloating as he teased about the upcoming battle between Di Xuanluo and Zheng Meimei, calling it a battle between a pretty boy and... well, that.
Just then, Ge Yunfei walked over.
"Class monitor, why are you here?" Feng Xiaobo looked at Ge Yunfei walking over and greeted him quickly. Ge Yunfei was the class monitor of class five and was quite popular in class.
"Nothing much, I just came over to have a word with Yang Tong," Ge Yunfei replied with a smile. "Yang Tong, you're the only one left from our class five, so you need to do your best. Your next opponent is not simple. His palm technique is called the 'Divine Sword Palm.' It was adapted from sword techniques, fast as a gale and lightning, sharp as a blade, and impossible to defend against."
Hearing Ge Yunfei's words, he nodded solemnly and thanked him, "Thank you for the heads-up, I will be careful." He naturally regarded his next opponent with utmost importance because he did not want to lose. Moreover, he knew that Feng Jun had a twin brother with a similar martial arts style, and Feng Jun had actually lost to Di Xuanluo. If he couldn't even beat Feng Jun, wouldn't that mean the championship would be out of his reach?
Over on Feng Jun's side, there were naturally close friends who had informed him about some of Yang Tong's strengths and performance.
"Contestants, please get into position." Just then, the announcement that the matches were about to start rang out, and the originally noisy playground instantly fell silent.
"Yang Tong, good luck!" Feng Xiaobo handed the water bottle to him and patted him on the shoulder as he spoke.
He nodded, took a sip of water, returned the bottle to Feng Xiaobo, and leaped onto the arena.
Feng Jun was a tall, thin, and cold-looking youth. Under the referee's supervision, both sides exchanged a bow and took their stances.
"Begin!" the referee waved his hand and announced loudly.
"My palm technique is named after the Divine Sword. Watch closely, take this!" Feng Jun launched a fierce attack as soon as they started.
Although Yang Tong reacted in time and dodged, he hadn't expected Feng Jun's palm technique to be so strange. Ordinary palm techniques are usually based on "striking," where the palm surface is the strongest point of attack, but Feng Jun's palm technique was based on "piercing," with extremely strong penetrating power, adept at finding the enemy's flaws.
After dodging a few moves and parrying a dozen more, he finally adapted to this palm technique. He pinpointed the center of gravity of the technique's power and directly broke the root of its force, cutting off its root and borrowing its power.
After Feng Jun gained the upper hand with his fierce attack, he had been in the lead, but suddenly he felt a strange force that diverted his own power and then returned it to him, creating an awkward feeling of hitting cotton. Feng Jun wanted to retract his arms but found that he was stuck to his opponent and couldn't pull back.
Feng Jun made a decisive move, kicking at the point where their fists and palms met, forcibly retracting his move, and stepped back two paces.
"Good fist technique, come again!" Feng Jun understood a bit about the purpose of Yang Tong's fist technique and was suddenly filled with a heroic spirit.
"Divine Sword Falling Blossoms Move!" Feng Jun knew he couldn't keep tangling with Yang Tong. His fist technique borrowed force to strike back; if he dragged it out, he would be defeated sooner or later. It was better to decide the outcome in one move. This was the most powerful move within the "Divine Sword Palm."
Yang Tong was immediately submerged by countless palm shadows, like falling blossoms, making it impossible to distinguish between real and fake. It seemed that every palm shadow possessed lethal penetrating power.
He was speechless. Facing such an unreasonable move, it really was a bit troublesome...
Tai Chi circular rotation, sealing and closing!
He used eighty percent of his strength. He turned into several figures, his moves seemingly slow but actually fast. Countless arm shadows formed a "circle," stubbornly blocking the penetration of the countless palm shadows, laboriously guiding the opponent's power into the "circle."
Seeing that he couldn't break through after attacking for so long, Feng Jun couldn't help but get anxious.
One must know that the "Divine Sword Falling Blossoms Move" could not be sustained for too long, even by him; the consumption of this move was enormous. However, he knew that his opponent's pressure was equally great because long-term defense inevitably leads to mistakes. As time passed, the pressure would inevitably increase. Now, it was a matter of who would give up first.
Yang Tong was indeed under tremendous pressure. If he couldn't hold on, defeat was certain. But the pressure wasn't increasing as Feng Jun imagined. In fact, as time passed, he was able to borrow and deflect more and more power, naturally becoming more and more relaxed.
The two held on in attack and defense for about five minutes. Feng Jun finally couldn't hold on any longer; his strength and speed began to decline.
Yang Tong spotted the opportunity and used the "Collapse" technique, releasing all the power accumulated in the "circle" all at once.
Feng Jun reacted extremely quickly, withdrawing his power and move, and mustered his remaining strength to meet Yang Tong's palms. Their four palms collided.
"Boom—"
Yang Tong was pushed back three steps, but Feng Jun was sent flying five meters away, falling to the ground, sweating profusely, and seeming unable to catch his breath. Obviously, the consumption was too great, and combined with the final blow, his internal organs must have been injured.
"1, 2, 3, 4..." The referee began the count.
He stood in place without moving, but in his heart, he had gained more enlightenment. Everything has a limit. If the penetrating power and speed of Feng Jun's palm technique exceeded his nerve reaction speed, even the most exquisite Tai Chi Fist wouldn't be able to block it.
Just now, it was precisely because Feng Jun's attack speed did not exceed his nerve reaction speed that he was able to fully discern the pattern and defend against it perfectly.
"9, 10! Yang Tong wins!" the referee announced loudly. At the same time, several school doctors came up to give Feng Jun a thorough examination.
"It's nothing, just exhaustion and some shock to his internal organs, nothing serious." After the examination, the school doctors carried him away.