Chapter 50: Han Wenqing Challenged Once More

The next day, noon.

After several days of quiet, the Zhenling Academy Martial Arts Arena was bustling once again.

Students kept running toward the dueling platform.

They chatted excitedly as they ran.

"This batch of new students is seriously something else! First that freak Jiang Qin, then Su Lingwei, and now another one challenging Han Wenqing — it's not even two months into the semester, and this is the third time he's been challenged by a new student, right?"

"You said it. I heard this challenger is that SSS-level new student Chen Xiaohu who got wrecked last time. Sure, he can take a beating, but actually daring to send Han Wenqing a challenge letter…"

"Cut the chatter, hurry up! If we're late there won't be any seats!"

"Wait for me, you guys…"

A Martial Artist's cultivation is dull; the entertainments of ordinary people can hardly relax them anymore.

So challenges like this —

especially new students against old ones — have never lacked an audience in the Four Great Academies.

Ten minutes later…

The spectator seats of one of the Martial Arts Arena's dueling platforms were packed, the noise deafening.

Two figures stood on the platform.

Chen Xiaohu wore no Spirit Clothing, standing expressionless on the stage, looking no different from before. But on closer inspection, his eyes had changed.

If before he had been a sheep —

then now, deep in his gaze, lurked a vicious, starving wolf!

Han Wenqing, standing opposite him, twitched slightly at the corner of his mouth.

His realm was still stuck at Spirit Sea Peak, but his overall presence was noticeably more solid than before.

In the past, facing a challenge like this, he would have just played around in a mood of bullying noobs. But now… the pressure was enormous!

Although he had won his last match against Su Lingwei —

in just one night, his reputation within the Academy had been dragged through the mud.

If the teachers hadn't stepped in, and he hadn't been given resources as compensation, he absolutely would not have continued as Student Council President. He had thought that with that freak Jiang Qin and Su Lingwei out on a mission, he could finally return to his old life — but no sooner had two peaceful days passed than another challenge arrived!

Seriously, do you new students have to keep picking on just me?!

Han Wenqing first swept his gaze over the spectator seats, confirming that certain person's figure was nowhere to be seen.

Still on guard, he finally spoke, his suspicious voice echoing across the platform:

"Junior, you can't fly, right? And if you lose, you won't call for backup, right?"

Hearing this, the watching students couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Still, they could understand him — after all, last time's lesson was right there. In their place, they wouldn't dare act rashly either.

Chen Xiaohu shook his head: "Senior, you know my talent has limits — before the Law Realm I can't cultivate martial techniques, and I can't afford a Flying Spirit Tool either, so you don't need to worry."

"Then why are you challenging me?"

"…To prove myself."

Seeing he didn't seem to be lying, the corner of Han Wenqing's mouth curved upward, his delight plain on his face.

Locked in! Absolutely locked in!

This time… he would take back everything that belonged to him! He would show these juniors that senior is still senior!

"Good!"

"Junior, be careful!"

Han Wenqing erupted with surging Spirit Energy, like a fathomless ocean! A black spear appeared in his hand — no preamble, no probing — his opening move was his family heirloom ultimate art, the Dragon's Roar Spear.

The spear tip carried the momentum of a dragon's roar, as if to destroy every obstacle in its path.

The thrust was blindingly fast; by the time the crowd registered what had happened, the spear tip had already pierced through Chen Xiaohu's chest, blooming a spray of blood that dyed both their clothes red.

The blood reflected Han Wenqing's bewildered expression — he couldn't understand why the other hadn't dodged.

Yet Chen Xiaohu did not scream in agony from the "grievous wound." Instead, his eyes suddenly turned vicious, and he seized the dark spear before him in a grip.

Han Wenqing felt an immense force surge through the spear shaft, and for a moment he couldn't pull his weapon free.

Chen Xiaohu seized the chance and threw a punch — no Spirit Power coating it, as if it were merely an ordinary fist.

Han Wenqing hastily met it with a punch of his own, then abandoned the spear and retreated rapidly, putting several meters between them. His face still looked calm, but his right arm was trembling uncontrollably.

"What brutal force!"

A punch from Linghai Chuji could match the force of his own Spirit Sea Peak strike.

As if realizing something, Han Wenqing's pupils suddenly showed undisguised shock: "Y-you've cultivated an Ancient Martial Arts Method?"

Without that, there was simply no explaining such a savage, overwhelming force.

The spectator seats buzzed with discussion.

"Ancient Martial Arts Method — what's that? Some kind of powerful martial technique?"

"If you'd read more instead of playing with your stick all day, you'd know. Ancient Martial Arts Methods were passed down from the previous era, when Spirit Energy had not yet revived. People cultivated various Ancient Martial Arts Methods, repeatedly shattering the limits of the physical body — pure force alone could split mountains and part rivers."

"True enough. In terms of raw power, Ancient Martial Arts Methods are indeed terrifying — they crush those of the same realm in force. But the cultivation methods are absolutely brutal too."

"I once heard an elder in my family mention one of them: they place a person in mystic ice, let the cold crack their body apart, using extreme agony to trigger life's latent potential and reshape a stronger physique, breaking through shackles — and that's only the introductory stage. Some go even further, standing at the bottom of the deep sea, letting the water pressure crush their internal organs, all for the sake of tempering."

"Hiss~ that's ruthless…"

While the spectator seats reeled in shock, Chen Xiaohu had already pulled the spear from his chest and tossed it on the ground. In the blink of an eye, flesh buds sprouted from the hole in his chest, displaying a freakish recovery speed — the wound healed in an instant.

He nodded, not denying it: "I have indeed cultivated an Ancient Martial Arts Method. Senior, are you scared?"

"Scared? Ridiculous!"

Han Wenqing gathered all his Spirit Power into his fist, saying coldly: "Ancient Martial Arts Methods are indeed monstrous in raw force, but that's all they are — raw force. And battles between Martial Artists aren't a contest of who has the bigger muscles."

As his words fell, his figure vanished on the spot.

When he reappeared, he was already behind Chen Xiaohu, and a single punch powerful enough to shatter mountains slammed into his back, sending him flying to the edge of the arena. By the time Chen Xiaohu steadied himself, Han Wenqing had already rushed in front of him and thrown another punch.

Chen Xiaohu refused to back down and charged in to meet the punch head-on.

Their fists collided heavily, and the shockwave spread wildly in every direction!

What followed were several more exchanges — no flashy tricks, just raw fist against flesh. Blood kept splattering across the arena, until gradually the entire platform was drenched in it.

After several dozen rounds, Han Wenqing finally stopped his assault, his chest heaving unevenly as he panted slightly.

He was already starting to question his life.

Meanwhile, Chen Xiaohu climbed out of yet another crater, the injuries on his right cheek rapidly healing.

Although the former was clearly stronger, Chen Xiaohu's bodily recovery was simply too monstrous. Every one of Han Wenqing's punches did cause damage, but only because he gathered all his Spirit Energy into each one — without doing so, he couldn't even inflict an effective wound.

Yet even if he punched a hole clean through the opponent's body, the injury would heal in the span of a single breath.

Even more unkillable than an unkillable cockroach!