Apotheosis Begins with Tai Chi

Zhang Yu hadn't yet caught her breath. She instinctively threw up her arm to block, but met only air.

BANG—

Another fist slammed into Zhang Yu's abdomen, and the sickening sound of her insides churning was clearly audible.

She staggered backward, her body bent double. Her breathing and circulation were thrown into chaos, and she was left gasping for air.

"Wait... I..."

She struggled to speak, but before the words could leave her mouth, Lin Fengxiao's knee had already shot up.

It struck her right on the lower jaw. The jawbone shattered on impact, the crisp sound like dry wood being crushed.

Zhang Yu was sent flying backward. A spray of fresh blood arched through the air, mixed with fragments of shattered teeth.

She slammed hard against the edge of the ring, rolled twice, and fell off.

A dull thud kicked up a cloud of dust.

She lay collapsed below the ring, curled into a ball. Blood was still pouring from her mouth. Her eyes were half-open, her pupils already unfocused.

The entire arena fell deathly silent.

Without a word, Lin Fengxiao turned to leave. He suddenly felt something warm and wet on his cheek and raised a sleeve to wipe it away. It was blood.

The bright red smear was particularly jarring against his pristine white clothes.

He turned and stepped down from the ring.

From start to finish, his face had remained completely expressionless.

After a brief silence, someone let out a curse. The crowd instantly erupted, like a drop of water hitting a wok of boiling oil.

"Is he fucking human? That girl was so pretty, and he could still do that to her? He's a fucking animal!"

"Beating her like that... her whole face is ruined. How is she ever going to get married now?"

"That kid is way out of line! The girl was about to forfeit, and he still slammed her with a knee. Isn't he just trying to ruin her on purpose?"

Most of the spectators were laymen. They sneered at Lin Fengxiao's ruthless decisiveness and hurled endless curses.

Most of the martial artists present, however, could understand Lin Fengxiao's actions.

"Junior Brother Lin, well fought!"

Ye Qiluo was the first to voice her support.

"This is a combat tournament, not a friendly spar! Only a stupid pig would show mercy to an enemy! Who knows if she was about to forfeit or just pretending so she could catch her breath and launch a sneak attack!"

"Senior Sister Ye is right!"

From a distance, Zhu Mingyuan immediately raised his voice, calling out in agreement.

"That Miss Zhang isn't some ordinary, weak girl. She's a top disciple of the Cloud Platform Middle Courtyard Inner Hall! She's a Three Pillars of Blood Qi Master who can kill a bull with a single punch! A moment's hesitation from Junior Brother Lin, and the entire fight could have been reversed!"

"That makes sense!"

Hearing Zhu Mingyuan's words, the tone of the surrounding crowd also began to shift.

"A duel between experts should be like this! If their positions were reversed, that Miss Zhang definitely wouldn't have shown any mercy!"

"That kid in white is ruthless, but there's no rule that says you can't be!"

"If he wasn't, he'd be the one on the ground!"

In the crowd, some agreed and some disagreed. The arguments rose and fell, but no one seemed able to convince the other side.

"Junior Brother Chen, what are you looking at?"

Zhu Mingyuan glanced sideways, following Chen Cheng's gaze to the area where the people from Cloud Platform Hall were seated.

From a distance, he could see that the faces of both Han Chuo and Han Tianqi were grim to the extreme. The former sat rigidly, not saying a word. The latter had his arms crossed, his jaw clenched tight.

The surrounding disciples from Cloud Platform Hall were all dead silent, not even daring to breathe too loudly.

At a glance, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

"Something seems off," Chen Cheng said calmly, withdrawing his gaze.

"After the first two matches—one draw, one loss—Han Tianqi chewed out both of those disciples. But after this third match, such a humiliating defeat, he hasn't said a word."

"That..."

Zhu Mingyuan's expression faltered for a moment.

"Maybe his spirit is just broken. Before this tournament, that Han Tianqi was making a huge fuss everywhere, building up hype, and this is the result. One more loss and it's a total defeat. It's normal he'd be too angry to speak."

Zhu Mingyuan raised an eyebrow and chuckled softly.

"If it were me, I'm afraid I wouldn't even have the face to keep sitting there. After such a humiliation, I'd rather find a crack in the ground to crawl into, heh heh."

Meanwhile, the fourth match had begun.

Two figures zipped and dodged across the ring, their fists and feet colliding as they fought in a dead heat.

Chen Cheng's gaze fell on the figure dressed in black martial attire.

That was one of the disciples from the Dragon Mountain Middle Courtyard Inner Hall, Lu Changning. Chen Cheng had only seen him a few times in total, and this was the first time he had ever watched him fight.

"That guy on the other side is pretty skilled. To think he can fight on par with Junior Brother Lu!"

Zhu Mingyuan clicked his tongue in amazement. Noticing the inquisitive look in Chen Cheng's eyes, he began to explain.

"Junior Brother Lu is a bit like you. His Root Bone isn't outstanding, but his Comprehension is extremely high. Plus, his physique is extraordinary, and most importantly, his Blood Qi is far stronger than others of the Same Tier!"

He paused, watching the two figures locked in close combat on the ring, and continued.

"That's why the fact that his opponent can fight Junior Brother Lu to a standstill means he's already one of the top masters among those with Four Pillars of Blood Qi."

Chen Cheng didn't reply, just kept watching.

But Zhu Mingyuan kept talking.

"Junior Brother Lu is great at everything, he just has terrible luck."

He shook his head, a hint of lament in his voice.

"Take that mission to clear out the Red Moon Nunnery, for example. The few of us from the Inner Hall who went all came back just fine, and we all got some benefits out of it, more or less."

"Only Junior Brother Lu got nothing out of it. Instead, he was seriously injured and spent nearly three months at home recovering. He only just came back a few days ago after healing up...!?"

BANG—!

From the ring, a muffled explosion suddenly erupted, like thunder imploding in the depths of the mountains and seas.

Zhu Mingyuan's voice cut off abruptly. His eyes shot wide, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks. His mouth hung open, a gurgle caught in his throat, but he was too stunned to utter a single word.

Chen Cheng stared straight ahead, his brow suddenly furrowing.

The arena fell into a deathly silence.

One breath.

Two breaths.

ROAR—!

As if a pot of boiling oil had been thrown onto a blazing fire, the surrounding crowd instantly boiled over.

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