Chapter 165: Breaking Through Mid-Battle, The Iron Tiger Roars

"What is Junior Brother Zhou's current realm?"

This question surfaced in Shen Sijing's mind, and surprisingly, there was no answer.

His sparring partner Li Hao had been practicing in the Outer Courtyard and had not sparred with Zhou You for a long time, so he was also unclear about the situation.

"Zuo Shier, what do you think of Zhou You's chances of winning?"

After much thought, although Zuo Shier had joined the sect with prior training, he had been taught fist techniques hand-in-hand by Zhou You, and they had spent a long time sparring and interacting.

Zuo Shier thought for a moment, "Even if he hasn't reached Qi and Blood Stage 2, he isn't far off."

This was bad!

Shen Sijing knew Zhong Shaoying's background: Qi and Blood 3rd Stage, currently sprinting toward the 4th and 5th stages; once he successfully broke through, he would be a powerful warrior in the middle stages of Qi and Blood.

In the Qi and Blood stages, the Jade Tiger Art, from low to high, was divided into Stone Tiger, Iron Tiger, and Copper Tiger.

Among the Inner Court Disciples, Qi Fengzhang's strength was unknown, though it was said he had long since broken through to Copper Tiger.

The Big Senior Brother's nickname was Iron Tiger; on one hand, his personality was as tough as iron, and on the other, he had broken through to the Iron Tiger realm long ago, possessing at least the strength of Qi and Blood 5th or 6th stage.

The remaining Inner Court Disciples were all roughly at the Stone Tiger realm, ranging from the 1st to 3rd stage.

Shen Sijing and Zhong Shaoying were both at Qi and Blood 3rd Stage, the seed candidates most likely to break through to Iron Tiger.

If Zhou You had not yet reached Qi and Blood Stage 2, this match was dangerous.

There was already a gap in their inherent strength, and on top of that, Zhong Shaoying had been famous for many years, having fought over a hundred matches; he was experienced, ruthless in his methods, and had mastered the secret moves of the White Tiger Seven Kills.

Looking at Zhou You, he had spent too much energy researching the Two Hearts Fist a while ago, so his progress in strength was limited.

After Shen Sijing's analysis, Xu Ying and Li Hao both furrowed their brows, feeling that this battle was not optimistic.

On the ring...

"Zhou You, get on the ring and sign the life-and-death contract; if I beat you to death, no one will hold me accountable."

Zhong Shaoying grinned hideously as he tapped his toes on the ground; from his toes to his knees, the collision of joints emitted the sound of metal rubbing together.

Fierce energy surged and gathered on his legs, with a deep stone-gray base emerging with streaks of iron-gray.

Stone quality with iron patterns—this was the sign of being at the peak of Qi and Blood 3rd Stage, on the verge of breaking through to the Iron Tiger realm.

Seeing this scene, a cold smile of confidence appeared on Lu Jianqing's lips; this match was secure.

The remaining apprentices of the local faction were even more optimistic, placing bets on which round Zhou You would be beaten to death in.

In their view, the only person in the city faction who could rival Zhong Shaoying was Shen Sijing, and Zhou You's challenge was a display of overestimating his own abilities.

Zhong Shaoying exerted his full strength, his Qi and Blood scouring his legs; his flesh and blood expanded as if inflated, and his toughness increased significantly.

His nickname, Skull-Cracking Tiger, was certainly not an empty reputation.

With a full-force sweep of Zhong Shaoying's leg, he could kick a steel pillar as thick as a bowl into a fold; if he kicked a living person, they would turn directly into dumpling filling that didn't need chopping.

He collected rent and fields for Wang Jianxiong, and whenever he encountered resistance, one kick would leave the victim either with their brains splattered or vomiting blood until they died.

From the son of a tenant farmer to where he was today, not to mention outsiders, he had kicked and crippled at least two dozen fellow disciples.

Zhong Shaoying was a standout who had fought his way out from among his peers under Wang Laohu.

Compared to him, Zhou You was still too green, lacking foundation and seniority.

Zhong Shaoying raised his left leg, his whole body following like a shadow as he kicked, reaching Zhou You in the blink of an eye.

His movement technique and killing move were fused into one, clearly a method tempered through actual combat.

A gasp erupted from the crowd.

Zhou You seemed to be caught off guard, failing to make any reaction, standing motionless on the spot.

Thud—a muffled sound spread across the four corners of the ring, making one's teeth ache to hear it.

Zhong Shaoying started with a victory, his kick landing squarely on Zhou You's shoulder; the immense force tilted his shoulder and caused his body to sink slightly.

It was a solid kick, not a shred of force wasted; half his bones were surely unsalvageable.

It was even uncertain if his skin and flesh could remain intact. "Eh?"

Li Hao suddenly let out a cry of surprise; he noticed a familiar aura.

A familiar sign emerged from the surface of Zhou You's skin.

"General Unloading Armor, great cloak, Hard Qigong perfected, Iron Thread covering the body."

Iron threads appeared on Zhou You's skin, interweaving into a silk armor that covered his torso and limbs, also blocking Zhong Shaoying's kick.

Zhong Shaoying also sensed something was wrong; the feedback of his force was vastly different from usual, as if he had kicked... an iron net.

At this moment, Zhou You spoke, "Is that it? Did you not eat?"

He raised his hand to grab Zhong Shaoying's ankle and smiled, "Please, fly a kite."

The next moment, he gripped one of Zhong Shaoying's feet, swung him in a wide circle, and smashed him fiercely toward the ring.

The turn of events happened too quickly; the crowd watching had no time to react.

Zhong Shaoying plummeted at high speed, the airflow distorting his features; it looked as if his entire face was about to make contact with the ground.

He twisted his waist and abdomen, suddenly exerting force, and his two thick legs whipped out like lashes, popping the air.

While breaking free from Zhou You's force, he counter-attacked fiercely, his toes piercing toward Zhou You's forehead like an Iron Spear.

A desperate comeback, beautiful! Zhou You took a deep breath, and wisps of fierce energy appeared on his face, rolling and condensing into a mass.

It started as stone-gray, then the color deepened, transforming toward an iron-gray trend.

Within the large expanse of tiger energy, metallic lusters of iron-gray flickered in and out of view, actually appearing as stone-quality iron patterns as well.

This took the onlookers in all directions by surprise; Zhou You was actually also at the peak of Qi and Blood 3rd Stage, neck-and-neck with Zhong Shaoying.

But...

Zhou You breathed and exhaled, and the changes in the tiger energy around his body did not stop.

The iron-gray color spread rapidly like ink dropped into water, and even the original stone-gray texture showed a trend of transforming toward a metallic luster.

"The Zhou You you are fighting today is not a Stone Tiger, but an Iron Tiger one level higher—Qi and Blood 4th Stage."

Zhou You raised his Qi and Blood to the 4th Stage in one breath; the hard training of these past days, combined with the consumption of Experience Points, had finally broken the bottleneck and officially stepped into the middle stage of Qi and Blood.

At this moment, he was in an invincible state on the arena.

Swish! The Tiger Aura around Zhou You finally took shape; it was still a pattern similar to tiger stripes, but it no longer had a trace of stone-gray.

The base color was a faint iron-gray, and the stripes were a deep iron color shimmering with a metallic luster.

The Iron Tiger realm of the Jade Tiger Art, genuine and authentic! The Apprentices and Disciples of the martial arts hall, even if they hadn't eaten pork, had seen pigs run; having seen Big Senior Brother Lu Qiang display the power of the Iron Tiger realm, they could tell at a glance that Zhou You was absolutely at the same realm.

"Iron Tiger, Qi and Blood 4th Stage."

Lu Jianqing's eyes were full of shock; he had never dreamed that Zhou You, whom they considered a weakling, would actually grasp such terrifying power.

He immediately cried out that it was bad; could it be that Zhong Shaoying would capsize in the gutter and be defeated or crippled by Zhou You instead?

The reversal came too quickly, turning a match that originally had no waves into a twisty turn of events, making the plot even fuller and more exciting.

The newly added suspense also made this arena tournament more worth watching.

"When did Zhou You break through to Iron Tiger? You all Zang it deep!"

Shen Sijing was still racking his brains in confusion when he heard someone ask him.

It turned out to be Shi Gaofei, who had quietly squeezed nearby to secretly ask him for exclusive news.

Shen Sijing did not know how to answer, so he simply kept his mouth shut.

Now almost everyone thought that he and Zhou You had set a trap to scheme against Zhong Shaoying, and no matter how he explained it, it was useless.

(End of this chapter)