Chapter 78: Champion
Although Bai Zhenzhen’s suggestion was to spit phlegm, Zhang Yu still felt it would be beneath his dignity as a contracted member of the Inspection Team, so he chose to use his own blood.
And as expected, the blood of a ‘poor wretch’ like him equally disgusted Le Mulan, who would rather dodge than let her sword qi touch it.
On the other side, Le Mulan saw Zhang Yu seizing the opportunity to charge and let out a cold snort. She flicked her sword-fingers, about to block him with sword qi, only to find that Zhang Yu’s speed was astonishingly fast.
This was because Zhang Yu’s weighted clothing had already been torn to shreds over the past few fights.
Facing Le Mulan in this battle required him to unleash his full speed, so he had simply taken off the weighted suit before the fight began and spent about ten minutes adapting.
After the battle started, he deliberately held back his full speed, partly to lull Le Mulan into a false sense of security, and partly to continue warming up.
He needed to adapt to the speed of Le Mulan’s sword qi, and he also needed his body and blood to grow warmer, hotter, and more ignited!
…
Bai Zhenzhen: “Her Ice-Skinned and Jade-Boned body should be a special constitution. I don’t know if it’s innate or acquired, but because of it, her magic power doesn’t need any special conversion. It’s directly a low-temperature, specialized magic power. The moment it’s refined, it’s a cut above the rest.”
“After this low-temperature magic power is infused into her sword qi, any collision with it will lower your body temperature, slowing your nerve reactions and muscle speed…”
“You have to get your body scorching hot to resist this low-temperature magic power for a short period.”
…
At this moment, Zhang Yu’s full-speed sprint was like a clap of thunder and a flash of lightning. It couldn’t be said that it was too fast for Le Mulan to react, but it was certainly faster than she had anticipated.
His full speed is this fast? He was holding back before?
Did the low-temperature magic power not work?
This series of surprises slowed Le Mulan’s sword qi reaction by another fraction of a second. In the end, she could only slash all of them in front of her, trying to stop Zhang Yu in his tracks.
Facing more than a dozen streams of sword qi rushing toward him, Zhang Yu thrust out his right palm, wreathed in crimson astral qi, choosing to meet the sword qi head-on.
This was the other flaw Bai Zhenzhen had mentioned about Le Mulan.
Although the Stardust Swordplay was sharp, Le Mulan had ultimately not cultivated this sword art to the absolute limit possible in the Qi Refinement realm.
Her immense magic power allowed her to shoot out sword qi with impunity, but her magic power control was simply not refined enough to maintain fine control over so many streams of sword qi for an extended period.
Therefore, after fighting for a while, if multiple streams of sword qi struck at once, they would actually interfere with each other and weaken in power due to her insufficient control.
In an instant, Zhang Yu’s right arm had clashed with the dozen or so streams of sword qi.
Just as I thought, it’s not as powerful as it looks.
Using the Formless Cloud-Astral Qi in conjunction with the Imperishable Seal, Zhang Yu shattered most of the sword qi, though his palm was cut by several more slashes. The splashing blood dyed his astral qi an even deeper crimson, wreathing his arm like fire.
But Zhang Yu’s steps did not pause for a moment. He had already rushed to within half a meter of Le Mulan and reached out to grab her arm.
“Ah!” With a roar, Le Mulan unleashed dozens of streams of sword qi from her two fingers, all slashing toward Zhang Yu.
Zhang Yu’s expression remained unchanged. Shielded by his Subcutaneous Astral Qi and the Imperishable Seal, he endured the sword wounds and splattering blood to seize Le Mulan’s right arm.
At that moment, Zhang Yu had finally closed the distance.
Bai Zhenzhen’s words once again flashed through his mind.
…
“I can feel that her sword qi’s primary goal isn’t to injure me, but to force me back.”
“Her final flaw is likely that, due to her obsession with cleanliness, she is not skilled in close-quarters combat.”
“After all, it’s only been half a year since high school started. Even for a rich person like her, I don’t believe she could have truly mastered every aspect of combat.”
…
At this very moment, facing Zhang Yu at close range, Le Mulan—who had watched his fight with Song Hailong—instantly felt a profound sense of danger.
Le Mulan’s first reaction was to slash out with streams of low-temperature sword qi, trying to force Zhang Yu back.
But from within Zhang Yu’s now scorching body, power was erupting ceaselessly, and his Formless Cloud-Astral Qi, mixed with the hot blood flowing from his body, blasted forward viciously.
For a time, within that half-meter distance, the ice-blue sword qi and the crimson astral qi clashed brilliantly.
But Le Mulan felt as if the close-range Zhang Yu had transformed into a fiery storm, continuously devouring her sword qi and threatening to swallow her whole.
The sword qi was deflected by the astral qi and repelled by the Imperishable Seal.
At the same time, the level-two Dragonback Mountain Toppler Hand activated fiercely. With a single move, he slammed Le Mulan brutally to the ground, leaving her head spinning.
The next moment, seeing the bloody, dirty, and smelly Zhang Yu sit right on top of her, Le Mulan’s face filled with horror, and she roared, “Get…”
Simultaneously, the sword qi within her body was about to erupt again.
But halfway through her roar, before her sword qi could be fully unleashed, she heard a strange sound from her hands. Zhang Yu had already used a heavy technique from the Dragonback Mountain Toppler Hand to dislocate her wrist joints.
The drugs she had taken prevented her from feeling any pain, but she could no longer unleash sword qi from her fingers.
Le Mulan looked at Zhang Yu, both shocked and furious, not expecting that a single dodge, a moment of carelessness, would be seized upon by him so completely.
It had left her in this predicament without even having had the chance to fully display her abilities.
Filled with indignation and rage, she kicked her legs to struggle further, only to hear Zhang Yu’s cold voice by her ear.
“You said you’re very rich, and that money is a part of your strength.”
Amidst a series of sickening cracks, Zhang Yu dislocated the joints in Le Mulan’s legs one by one.
“Well, I’m about to destroy you now. Let’s see you try and stop me with your money.”
At that moment, Le Mulan felt as if she had become a toy in Zhang Yu’s hands. As he employed the Dragonback Mountain Toppler Hand, her joints were broken one after another, and she soon lost all mobility, lying on the ground, unable to move.
Le Mulan stared daggers at Zhang Yu, as if she wanted to slice him into a thousand pieces.
Zhang Yu said flatly, “One last thing.”
“Bai Zhenzhen was the one who saw all these flaws of yours and told me about them.”
“If it weren’t for her insurance premiums being too low.”
“She could have beaten you too.”
Boom!
Grabbing Le Mulan’s head, Zhang Yu swung her off the arena, tossing her to the ground like a piece of trash.
Looking at the blood-covered Zhang Yu standing alone on the stage, the entire venue fell silent.
No one could have thought, no one could have predicted, no one could have even imagined that the winner of today’s Martial Arts Competition would be a poor student from Songyang High School.
Xiong Wenwu, defeated.
Song Hailong, defeated.
Le Mulan, defeated.
One by one, the top students and wealthy scions of the three major high schools had all been defeated—defeated by a poor student, defeated by someone from another high school.
The poor won? The rich lost?
In the moment that countless students from the three major high schools were lost in silence and shock…
Zhao Tianxing suddenly began to clap excitedly.
He had no ulterior motive, nor was he trying to show off; he simply saw Zhang Yu’s achievement today and subconsciously, irresistibly, began to applaud him.
At that moment, the tattered Songyang High School uniform on Zhang Yu’s body seemed to become grand and noble in Zhao Tianxing’s eyes.
But the lonely applause sounded so abrupt in the vast, quiet hall that after a few claps, Zhao Tianxing stopped in fear.
But soon, Bai Zhenzhen, cheering from below the stage, also began to clap.
Beside Zhao Tianxing, Qian Shen also began to clap, his eyes filled with shock as he looked toward the arena.
He Dayou, the Son of the School Director, also clapped lightly.
“You’re impressive. You’ve brought great honor to Songyang.”
From Purple Cloud High School, Lian Tianji also applauded slowly, thinking to himself that his advertisement would probably be back.
Song Hailong looked at Zhang Yu with a complicated gaze, then suddenly began to clap. His applause led all the White Dragon students to join in.
Even Chu Qiuhe, who had been lying on a stretcher feigning unconsciousness, had at some point propped himself up and was now clapping furiously.
Amidst the applause from the entire venue, Bai Zhenzhen laughed and jumped onto the stage.
“Champion! Champion! We’re the champions!”
“I told you that Le Mulan was no good! She can’t fight up close, doesn’t have the skill.”
She pulled Zhang Yu’s hands up high, looking out over the entire crowd with pride, the Songyang High School uniform on her body seeming to shine even more dazzlingly.
She then shouted, “Anyone looking for advertising or endorsements can contact us! My brother here is not only the Martial Arts Competition champion, he’s also fourth place in the Magic Power Competition…”
Beside her, Zhang Yu looked out at the crowd, but his vision began to blur.
Although he hadn’t been seriously injured in the last fight, the intense concentration, the consecutive use of several martial arts, and the amount of blood he’d lost, on top of the exhaustion from previous battles, made him feel dizzy once again.
He reached a hand out to Bai Zhenzhen.
“Zhen, I’m dizzy. Help me to a doctor.”
Bai Zhenzhen said excitedly, “Wait, wait, just stand here a little longer! The whole crowd is watching us.”
Zhang Yu sighed. “To help you teach that Le Mulan a lesson, I risked bankruptcy, fought with my life, and shed my blood. It’s one thing that you won’t call me ‘dad,’ but now that your dad is feeling unwell, you won’t even lend a hand?”
Bai Zhenzhen felt that Zhang Yu would be able to brag about this for the rest of his life.
But she was still dissatisfied that he hadn’t precisely followed her strategy, criticizing, “Didn’t you bleed so much because you insisted on looking cool? According to my plan, spitting phlegm, blowing snot, and just spitting would have been safer and much more effective than splattering blood, wouldn’t it?”
Lying on the ground nearby awaiting medical attention, Le Mulan’s eyelids twitched, a flicker of shock in her eyes. A realization dawned on her.
The depths these two poor people will sink to… are immeasurable.
Bai Zhenzhen had already picked up Zhang Yu and was carrying him toward the first aid area, wanting to stop the man from bragging in front of her any longer.
Lei Jun followed behind them, his face full of concern.
The mere thought that Zhang Yu had won first place in the Martial Arts Competition made his heart surge with emotion.