Chapter 996: Martial arts has no second place

Wang An's move was absolutely fierce enough and absolutely handsome enough; it could be said to be very watchable.

That was why the crowd couldn't help but gasp and cheer one after another.

But in sharp contrast to Wang An's side was the cold and deserted scene on Bai Xiuwei's side.

Not only were there no cheers, but there wasn't even anyone to encourage or comfort him.

To tell the truth, Bai Xiuwei looked quite dejected at this moment.

One has to admit that in any competition, what people are interested in is always the champion, and what people remember is always the champion.

Even if the runner-up performs extremely well, and even performs more watchably than the champion in the competition, people still only remember the champion.

It's possible that at the time, people still knew the runner-up's name, and it's possible that at the time, there would be people speaking up for the runner-up.

But after a period of time, what people can remember in their heads is only the champion's name.

Just like that, in Bai Xiuwei's extreme unwillingness, he watched Wang An win the championship throne and accept the cheers of the crowd.

And Wang An was still saying "Luck," "Luck" non-stop, appearing very humble.

Wang An's move of "Big Flying Knee" absolutely exceeded everyone's expectations, but Wang An winning the championship couldn't be called luck.

Because this was a complete manifestation of hard strength; even if Wang An didn't use "Big Flying Knee" but used "Iron Mountain Lean," Wang An believed the result would be the same.

Besides, the rules were just like that; whoever falls three times first loses, so saying anything else is useless.

Zhang Shuya pushed through the crowd, stepped forward, patted Wang An on the arm, and said with a face full of smiles:

"Not bad, not bad, very not bad."

Turning her head, Zhang Shuya gave Director Liu a wink, and then they heard Director Liu say:

"I announce the ranking of the defense personnel group competition: first place, Wang An; second place, Bai Xiuwei; third place, Zhang Lei."

After finishing this, Director Liu raised his head and asked the crowd:

"Is there anyone who wants to replace the three of them? Hurry up and sign up to challenge."

To show fairness, Zhang Shuya had previously set a rule that everyone could challenge the top three.

So Director Liu didn't just say this in the defense personnel group; he had said the same thing when the previous two groups finished their competitions.

It's just that in martial arts sparring, there actually doesn't exist a situation of "I beat you, you beat him, but he can beat me."

Some might talk about move counter-moves, move adaptability, physical flexibility, and other objective factors.

Of course, these factors cannot be completely ruled out, but the proportion of these factors in actual combat can be said to be negligible and cannot affect the outcome at all.

If you couldn't beat them at the time, then your skills were inferior to others. Continuing to fight would only result in getting beaten, and there was absolutely no other path to take besides practicing diligently and then competing again.

It was also because of this that the saying "Literature has no first place, martial arts has no second place" came about.

The most fundamental reason is that "literature" varies from person to person and has no accurate standard of measurement, while "martial arts" not only has an accurate standard of measurement but can also "decide superiority and inferiority, and decide life and death."

So although Director Liu said this every time, the people in the first two groups were all silent, and not a single person took the initiative to challenge.

Of course, it was the same at this moment; after Director Liu finished shouting, everyone looked at each other, observing the surroundings, but not one person took the initiative to step forward.

Only the "Cart Ax Man" who had been kicked by Wang An to the point of having his breath knocked out was looking very unwilling at this moment.

To tell the truth, with the "Cart Ax Man's" ability to withstand strikes, if it weren't for Wang An kicking him and causing internal injuries, he would definitely have been at least the third place.

You have to know that the number of people who have fought Wang An can be said to be countless, but whether in Wang An's past life or this life, Wang An had never seen anyone so resistant to being beaten.

It was as if this kid had practiced some hard qigong like the Golden Bell Shield or Iron Shirt; Wang An would land a solid punch, yet the opponent would damn well act like nothing happened. Do you dare to believe this?

The most critical thing is that the Cart Ax Man's strength was also quite considerable, almost on par with Wang An and Bai Xiuwei.

As for the third place, Zhang Lei, although Wang An hadn't sparred with him, someone who could be easily defeated by Bai Xiuwei couldn't be that strong.

After Director Liu shouted one more time, Zhang Shuya saw that everyone was still silent, so she walked up to the "Cart Ax Man," frowned, and said to him:

"Shi Suo, don't you want to challenge?"

Sun Nian, who was beside Zhang Shuya, also frowned and said:

"How did you practice your martial arts? You were kicked into this state with one kick?"

It was very clear that in the eyes of experts like Zhang Shuya and Sun Nian, who was strong and who was weak could be seen as long as they fought a match.

And in the eyes of Sun Nian and Zhang Shuya, this Cart Ax Man, also known as the defense personnel Shi Suo, was stronger than that third-place Zhang Lei.

Of course, fighting is something that not only experts can see, but ordinary people can also see.

Damn it, who is beating whom, who is getting beaten—as long as your eyes aren't blind, who can't see that?

Moreover, this defense personnel named "Shi Suo" could enter the top 4 and persist for such a long time while sparring with Wang An, which already proved his strength.

As soon as Shi Suo heard Zhang Shuya and Sun Nian's words, he put on a smile that was uglier than crying and said:

"My hard qigong was only half-practiced to begin with, and now I have internal injuries, so I can't exert any strength."

Never expected that this kid really had practiced hard qigong, just as Wang An thought.

It's just that his hard qigong was practiced like Bai Xiuwei's family martial arts—none of it was mastered, and it was in a state of half-understanding, or "half a bottle rattling."

After Shi Suo finished speaking, Zhang Shuya thought for a moment and said:

"Alright then, to show fairness, I'll give you another half hour to recover."

As she spoke, Zhang Shuya pointed at the three of them, including Wang An, and continued:

"After half an hour, you go and challenge any one of the three of them."

After finishing, Zhang Shuya and Sun Nian returned to their previous positions.

Third-place Zhang Lei panicked immediately upon hearing these words.

The main thing was that Zhang Shuya's words were clearly intended to let Shi Suo replace Zhang Lei.

After all, anyone with eyes could see that Zhang Lei's strength was actually inferior to Shi Suo's.

And for a Lingdao like Zhang Shuya, the competition with LQ County definitely required the strongest people to participate to be more secure.

Just like that, half an hour passed quickly.

It could be seen that Shi Suo hadn't fully recovered, but he still said very confidently:

"Report to Lingdao, I want to challenge the third place."

Although he had expected it, Zhang Lei immediately looked at Shi Suo with a fierce gaze upon hearing this.

Zhang Shuya smiled upon hearing this and said on behalf of Director Liu:

"Challenge approved, begin."

Thanks to "Emperor of the Great Empire" for the tip, thank you, thank you!

Wishing you, big brother, your career to be smooth and your wealth to be overflowing!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 997 =====