On the morning of the fifteenth, everyone rose early. For those dedicated to the path of martial arts, diligent training was indispensable for any hope of achievement, regardless of one's innate talent.
After everyone had eaten breakfast and stretched their limbs, they made their way to the arena to wait.
Due to the large number of participants, the competition was split between two arenas.
Yu Fei was in the Cyan Dragon Arena, Jian Dalong was in the Vermilion Bird Arena.
Yan Sea conferred with the other two teachers, and they divided up the students. He then took Yu Fei and another student, Wang Jiale, to the Cyan Dragon Hall. The remaining four students, including Jian Dalong, were at the Vermilion Bird Hall, led by the other two martial arts teachers.
The siblings, Yu Fei and Yu Miao, followed Yan Sea. Each competitor was allowed to be accompanied by a maximum of two family members.
The moment they stepped into the Cyan Dragon Hall, a wave of noise washed over them, and the hot-blooded, electrifying atmosphere hit them in the face.
Inside the Cyan Dragon Hall, 20 fighting rings had been set up. Countless staff members and referees moved among them, with a professional medical team on standby at the side.
The competition started at 8:00. With half an hour to go, Yu Fei and his group sat in the rest area to wait.
"Feifei, are you nervous?"
Yu Miao had been quite excited, but after learning that her little brother was the weakest one in the entire competition, she couldn't help but worry.
"Don't worry, this is nothing. I'll definitely make it to the main tournament."
Yu Fei, however, was busy activating his Reversing Destiny Vision to observe the crowd. 'It's not every day I get a chance like this. I have to snag at least two of those precious purple-grade talents before I leave.'
Scanning the whole arena, among this batch of students, he only saw a few white-quality talents. His vision was filled with an interweaving of blue and green.
He spotted four or five purple-quality talents, but none of the even higher legendary orange ones.
Yan Sea saw that Yu Fei was distracted and not the least bit worried about the competition, so he ignored him and instead started giving Wang Jiale some tips on fighting.
He figured Yu Fei was in for a rude awakening.
A Martial Artist like Gao Yunxiang was at the very bottom of the martial path.
A true genius had no weaknesses—not in their martial realm, their technical skill, or their practical combat experience.
No matter what, Yu Fei had only completed the Skin Tempering stage; his physical conditioning was the worst in the entire arena.
He hoped the boy would learn a thing or two. Exceptional talent could provide an early advantage, but one couldn't get far on talent alone.
Yu Fei's confidence stemmed from the fact that both of the martial arts he'd mastered were at the Grand Completion stage.
Three days ago, he had trained Yin Stream Shattered Jade to the Grand Completion level. Combined with his extraordinary nerve response speed, he could execute nine rotations in a single strike without any loss of power.
"Will contestant number 147 please come to the contestant lounge!"
"Will contestant…"
Yu Fei stood up, shouldered his bag, and bid farewell to his sister and Yan Sea. He turned to walk toward the lounge.
"Go for it! If you can't win, just surrender!"
Yu Miao shouted from behind him.
"Don't worry!"
Yu Fei waved back without turning his head.
Watching Yu Fei's confident departure, Wang Jiale said to Teacher Yan Sea,
"He doesn't seem nervous at all!"
He was a little envious.
Yan Sea's lip curled. "Don't you learn from him."
Wang Jiale immediately fell silent. He was a bit afraid of Yan Sea. Among the martial arts teachers at Nanguan Second Middle School, Yan Sea had the highest realm, and he was also very low-key and somewhat cold.
As soon as Yu Fei entered the lounge, his attention was immediately drawn to an entire refrigerated cabinet full of energy drinks. Judging by the brand, they were high-end products from Jade Farmer Hall. They even came in a variety of flavors, and a sign said that contestants could help themselves.
'I'm suddenly a little thirsty. The energy drinks I've had so far have never tasted very good, and I haven't tried a fruit-flavored one yet.'
So, he immediately changed into his martial arts uniform, grabbed a bottle of lychee-flavored energy drink, and chugged it down in one go.
"Poor hick, never seen anything nice before. Drinking an energy drink right before a match is a terrible choice. Having something in your stomach slows your reaction time. Heh, what an idiot."
Yu Fei turned to look and saw it was just a completely unremarkable person with a green-grade talent. The guy was doing various stretches in the lounge, looking full of confidence.
Yu Fei ignored him and found a massage chair to lie down in.
Activate!
'Ahhh… So comfortable!'
'When I get rich, I've got to get one of these for home.'
Seeing that Yu Fei was ignoring him, the guy felt he was losing face. So he stopped stretching, deliberately walked over to Yu Fei, and provoked him.
"Boy, you drank that whole energy drink. If you run into me later, be careful I don't beat you till you cry."
Yu Fei was incredibly annoyed. 'Is this guy nuts?!'
Just as he was about to get up, he heard an announcement over the broadcast system.
"Contestant number 147 and contestant number 294, please proceed to Ring 11. Your match is about to begin."
Yu Fei pressed on the armrests, leaped out of the massage chair, shoved the other guy aside, and headed for the ring.
Caught off guard, the guy was shoved to the side. He was furious! He stormed after him.
At Ring 11, Yu Fei had just taken his position on the left side when he saw his opponent run in from the other side and stand opposite him.
So, contestant 294 was none other than this foul-mouthed jerk.
"You'd better apologize to me, or I'll beat you to death!"
He was furious, feeling that a Martial Artist like Yu Fei didn't even deserve to be in the competition.
Yu Fei chuckled.
He dug a finger in his ear and then blew on it.
"Come on, then. Let's see who beats up who!"
The referee at the side saw that the atmosphere between the two was off and immediately stepped in to stop them.
TWEET! The sharp blast of the whistle cut across the ring. The referee then looked at the two fighters, motioning for them to prepare, and waited until he saw both give the ready signal.
The referee shouted,
"Ready…
3
2
1
Begin!"
The moment the match began, his opponent closed in on Yu Fei at extreme speed. Of the five basic fist forms of the Six Harmonies Killing Fist, the only one contestant 294 had achieved initial mastery in was Light Swallow Shadow.
This fist style focused on coordinating footwork and breathing, primarily using the circulation of Qi Blood in the lower body to generate explosive power in the fists.
Yu Fei's eyes were locked on his opponent. 'He's too fast,' he judged instantly. 'I have to let him attack first, or he'll lead me by the nose.'
At the same time, he pushed his Super Speed Reaction talent to its absolute limit, constantly keeping himself facing his opponent directly.
The man was like a swift swallow. He darted in, and just as he was three meters from Yu Fei, he quickly retreated. He then began weaving back and forth across the small ring. He had actually made several intentional mistakes in his footwork to bait Yu Fei into attacking; he had a counter-sequence prepared.
However, he never expected that even after weaving back and forth five times, Yu Fei remained as steady as a mountain, completely unmoved.
'Could this guy be an expert? Did he see through my routine?'
Yu Fei slowly assumed a linear, piercing-style opening stance, then stood there, utterly unshakable.
His opponent started to get anxious. Yu Fei's rock-solid stance only made him look like a monkey in comparison.
The referee watched the guy hopping back and forth. 'This guy must have a screw loose. Just go hit him! What are you doing, playing jump rope? And this other one, striking a pose… Are you practicing your forms in the park? Your opponent is wide open, can't you see it? Are you blind? Kids these days… I just don't get them!'
Contestant 294 felt that this couldn't go on. He decided to make another five passes. If Yu Fei still didn't take the bait, he would attack proactively.
The referee glanced at the opposite ring where a heated battle was raging, then looked back at the two lunatics on his own.
'Sigh… might as well slack off.'