Chapter 70: Suppression
Having defeated a powerful opponent, Bai Zhenzhen glanced around, expecting her victory over a top student from Red Pagoda High School to have stunned the entire crowd.
But as she looked up, she realized almost no one was paying attention to the fight in her corner of the venue.
The vast majority of the audience was watching Song Hailong, Le Mulan, and the 300-point Zhang Yu.
Damn it! Bai Zhenzhen thought. A bunch of fools blinded by scores, unable to open their eyes and see the real championship contender.
Still, Bai Zhenzhen believed that as time went on, more and more people would surely take notice of her accomplishments.
Meanwhile, the other two students in Bai Zhenzhen’s group had watched her fight against Hu Yuntao intently from start to finish.
Their original intent had been to observe Hu Yuntao, since Bai Zhenzhen’s performance in the scoring round had been so poor; he was the opponent they were focused on.
They hadn’t expected Hu Yuntao to inexplicably run to the edge of the stage and then get tricked out of the ring with a single careless move.
From their perspective, it was clear that Bai Zhenzhen hadn’t disappeared at all.
Suddenly, they recalled the 300-point Zhang Yu, who had used a similar tactic to get the Yellow Turban Strongmen out of bounds.
A thought occurred to them both: Is this a new tactic developed by Songyang High School?
Using underhanded tricks to push people out of the ring, allowing the weak to defeat the strong?
The quality of these low-scoring students from other schools is just so poor.
Low-scoring students are of poor quality; the pair felt this accepted theorem of the three major high schools had once again been proven true.
However, despite their contempt, they both raised their guard, silently warning themselves not to be careless and suffer an embarrassing defeat if they faced Bai Zhenzhen later.
Just then, Bai Zhenzhen noticed Zhao Tianxing in the stands, waving and giving her a thumbs-up.
Hmph, that old Zhao. Bai Zhenzhen waved back in his direction, thinking, As expected, you get plenty of emotional validation from these low-scoring students.
In the spectator stands.
Zhao Tianxing beamed while giving a thumbs-up. “Zhen saw us.”
“I can’t believe she beat that Hu Yuntao from Red Pagoda High School so easily.”
“At first, I was honestly worried he was going to eat her.”
He Dayou commented dismissively, “Just luck. That tiger-demon is a classic case of high scores but low ability. Getting tripped out of the ring like that… even I could probably beat him.”
Though he had felt for Bai Zhenzhen when she struggled against the Yellow Turban Strongmen, seeing her smug look after defeating Hu Yuntao was even more vexing to him now.
Qian Shen said, “I feel… it wasn’t that simple.”
“Why did that tiger suddenly run to the edge of the stage?”
Just then, Zhao Tianxing pointed toward Zhang Yu. “Zhang Yu’s about to go up.”
Zhao Tianxing remarked with a sigh, “Good thing Yu-boy and Zhen are in different brackets, one in the upper and one in the lower. They won’t have to face each other early on.”
He Dayou muttered darkly, “Maybe Zhang Pianpian pulled some strings.”
He thought about how he, as the son of the School Director at Songyang High, could slightly rig the lottery for the practical exams.
For a super-tycoon like Zhang Pianpian, with over 2.5 billion in savings, arranging a small convenience for her people would be nothing.
Just then, Qian Shen asked in surprise, “Dayou, look. Isn’t Zhang Yu’s opponent that old classmate of yours from junior high?”
He Dayou started and quickly looked toward the stage.
When he saw Zhang Yu and Chu Qiuhe walk onto the stage together, He Dayou’s brow furrowed.
Zhang Yu… He Dayou definitely didn’t want this poor kid who had instantly defeated him to win.
But Chu Qiuhe… He Dayou didn’t particularly care about his former classmate who had always looked down on him, but if he were to defeat a contestant from Songyang High School, that would also make him deeply uncomfortable.
Damn it… caught between a rock and a hard place. Couldn’t they both just be eliminated?
On the arena stage.
Chu Qiuhe walked to the center of the stage first, ensuring he wouldn’t be too close to the edge and get carelessly pulled off.
As he walked, Chu Qiuhe could feel the vital energy surging wildly through his body. His heart pounded, and the veins on his temples bulged, all of which pointed to one thing—he had used an alchemical enhancer.
The words of his competition coach echoed in his mind: “This is the latest combat supplement. It will enhance your muscle strength and stamina, temporarily boosting your physical fortitude to a 2.2 level.”
Chu Qiuhe had hesitated. “Is that really necessary?”
“Although this Zhang Yu’s stats are all inferior to yours,” the coach had said, “his martial skill is decent, and he’s good at developing tactics. Besides… do you really think a student from a school like that wouldn’t use enhancers to beat one of us?”
Now, on the stage, feeling the enhancer’s power spreading through him, invigorating every muscle and ounce of vital energy, Chu Qiuhe felt better than he ever had before.
This new enhancer is incredible!
I don’t care about your techniques or tactics. Today, I’ll crush you with absolute power.
With the countdown of three, two, one, the match began.
Chu Qiuhe lunged at Zhang Yu like a ferocious beast, leaving a trail of afterimages in his wake.
Boom!
He threw a punch, his entire body radiating a savage aura as he charged Zhang Yu like a massive truck.
Expert-level technique—Truck-Charging Fist! Level 2 Propulsion!
In ancient times, martial arts masters created techniques by observing flying birds, running beasts, mountains, rivers, the sun, and the moon.
Now, in this modern era, masters created techniques by observing bustling traffic and towering skyscrapers.
The Truck-Charging Fist was said to have been created by a martial arts master who spent three months observing a highway, grasping the artistic intent of a truck’s impact and infusing the momentum of multi-ton heavy trucks into his fist style.
As a strength-based body tempering practitioner, Chu Qiuhe had chosen to cultivate the Truck-Charging Fist to perfectly leverage his natural power.
Now, as he unleashed the level-two Truck-Charging Fist with all his might, he truly seemed to transform into a terrifying hundred-ton truck, the stage groaning under his weight as he barreled head-on toward Zhang Yu.
Faced with this attack, Zhang Yu has only one option…
Chu Qiuhe was confident that Zhang Yu could not possibly meet his strength head-on; his only choice was to dodge.
But the Truck-Charging Fist had a counter for that.
Once he dodges, I’ll follow up with the ‘Truck’s Sharp Turn,’ adding the force of this punch into a high-speed shift. The fist’s momentum will increase by another fifty percent.
I’ll send you flying out of the ring with a single punch!
But in the next moment, to Chu Qiuhe’s surprise, Zhang Yu met his charge head-on with a palm strike wreathed in white astral qi.
Boom!
As Chu Qiuhe’s fist slammed into the Formless Cloud-Astral Qi, Zhang Yu felt a force like a stampeding herd of wild boars surging through it, threatening to tear the astral qi apart and send him flying.
Level 10 Heavenly Martial Heart-Tempering Art—Total Concentration!
Everything around him instantly slowed to a crawl.
Watching Chu Qiuhe’s fist sink into the astral qi inch by inch, Zhang Yu clearly and keenly discerned the trajectory of the incoming force, then slowly swirled the Formless Cloud-Astral Qi, guiding his opponent’s power…
Thwack!
Chu Qiuhe felt his punch connect with the Formless Cloud-Astral Qi as if he were striking a slippery ball; his fist was guided aside, striking nothing but the air beside Zhang Yu.
But in the next instant, with a furious roar, Chu Qiuhe used his raw physical power to halt his momentum and launched another fierce punch at Zhang Yu.
Thwack!
But this punch was also deflected, leaving Chu Qiuhe wide open as he watched Zhang Yu slip inside his guard.
With a rapid-fire crackle, Zhang Yu landed three successive blows to Chu Qiuhe’s chest, ribs, and abdomen.
Roar!
The combat supplement prevented Chu Qiuhe from feeling any pain. Instead, with blood rushing to his head, he forcefully brought his arms together, intending to crush Zhang Yu in a grapple.
With my strength, if I can just grab him, I can crush him…
But Zhang Yu seemed to anticipate his move, dodging the grapple by the narrowest of margins.
Chu Qiuhe threw another punch, only for its force to be deflected again before two more blows landed on his chest.
Damn it… just one punch!
With his physique, if I can just get my Truck-Charging Fist past that astral qi and land a single solid hit on his body, I can definitely crush him!
He felt certain that all he needed was one solid hit to win.
Roaring, Chu Qiuhe unleashed a relentless, stormy barrage of attacks.
And yet, he was the one being suppressed.
Zhang Yu was like a winged ball, dancing amid his attacks, either dodging his grapples by an impossible margin or deflecting his fists with the Formless Cloud-Astral Qi.
He keeps hitting me…
Am I… being suppressed?
He’s using pure technique to suppress me, even though I’m stronger, faster, and have more stamina?
Chu Qiuhe couldn’t believe what was happening, and in the next moment, the Formless Cloud-Astral Qi slammed into his abdomen again.
Although he still felt no pain, his seemingly endless stamina was interrupted, and his entire body froze for a fraction of a second.
Not good… I think I’m bleeding internally.
And Zhang Yu seized that momentary stiffness immediately.
Upper abdomen… chest… shoulder… waist…
Zhang Yu struck Chu Qiuhe’s body repeatedly, interrupting every attempt he made to exert force with a heavy blow.
In that moment, he felt like a giant sandbag, allowing Zhang Yu to unleash his power upon him until he collapsed limply to the floor.
I… I lost?
Lost to a student from outside the three major high schools?
At that moment, Chu Qiuhe felt he could never face his classmates at White Dragon High School again.
He could already see his social standing plummeting, being ridiculed by the entire school, becoming a slave to his countless classmates. He wished he could just jump from the roof of the thirty-story White Dragon High School building…
And then, the horror of this dark future caused him to faint dead away.
With this, Zhang Yu was victorious!