Chapter 328: Of Unknown Origin

"Please!"

After Zheng Guan finished his entire set of boxing forms, it was as if he had become a different person — his whole bearing was full of vigor and spirit. Though his frame was nothing but skin and bones, it inspired not the slightest contempt in anyone.

"Hmph, fancy footwork and flowery fists!"

Xu Yanqi judged himself to be far superior to this so-called Zheng Guan, and with his obviously greater strength to boot, this second champion title would, from any angle, be his for the taking.

Seeing that Zheng Guan treated him with due courtesy and was not some reckless brute who would charge in without a word, Xu Yanqi straightened his back, stepped forward a few paces, clasped his fists, and bowed as he said:

"You flatter me!"

Though the two were enemies at this moment, as the cream of the crop in this military examination, they would surely both become students of that Shuntian Military Academy in the future, and might even be comrades-in-arms thereafter — there was naturally no need to make things too awkward.

For Xu Yanqi and Zheng Guan, as long as the court attached real importance to the military examinations this time, graduating from the military academy in the future would net them at least a command post holding down a town. Though others called them crude military men, there were many things they understood clearly in their hearts.

For most people, losing might mean elimination, but for these two this was a battle for honor — victory or defeat would not greatly affect either of them. Rather, it was the matter of face that made a man more likely to give his all.

With no further words exchanged between the two, after each had performed the basic courtesies to the full, Xu Yanqi let out a great roar, shuffled his feet several paces with heavy thuds, and threw a punch with the force of a thunderbolt.

Xu Yanqi's punch held nothing back — judging by its direction, it was aimed straight at Zheng Guan's face.

The others could already tell from the faint whistle of the air that the force behind Xu Yanqi's punch was considerable — at least eighty percent of his full strength. By all convention, since the two had never crossed fists before, the first five exchanges should have been mutual probing.

For Xu Yanqi to show this hand right from the start — first, he was showing off his innate divine strength; second, he clearly wanted to end this bout with no suspense at once, taking down his opponent with his greatest advantage.

Few among the crowd in the arena felt they could face Xu Yanqi's punch and come out unscathed — after all, the old ginger is the spiciest.

Many knew that Xu Yanqi had already dominated among the military students back in the fourth year of Chongzhen. Because there was no one to match him, and because the court did not value the military examinations, his quota had been seized by nobles and imperial relatives — that was the only reason he had not advanced further.

Coming again now, he was surely aiming for the highest rank of military Zhuangyuan.

Just as many were thinking this bout would end like that, Zheng Guan, who had been standing stock-still in place, gave a faint smile, twisted his waist lightly, and in that flash of an instant — at the very limit — dodged Xu Yanqi's fist that had seemed already half-landed.

And that wasn't the end of it. Zheng Guan's legs drove back two rapid steps, he lowered his stance, reached out both hands, and drove a short-inch punch straight into Xu Yanqi's lower abdomen.

Though Zheng Guan's posture was not much to look at, the force of this punch was in no way inferior to Xu Yanqi's strike a moment before.

Xu Yanqi, big and tall as he was, was clearly slower in reaction than Zheng Guan. He was still in his punching posture when he took the hit, and could only clutch his abdomen and stumble back four paces.

This time, Zheng Guan gave Xu Yanqi no chance to recover. Blocking, chopping, splitting, hooking — he unleashed one technique after another in rapid succession. They looked gentle, yet every strike that landed on Xu Yanqi seemed to carry sudden great force, causing him unbearable pain.

Wang Xiantong, seated on the platform, watched and remarked: "This man is no ordinary provincial soldier. His techniques are fierce, his advances and retreats are measured, and even now his face is not flushed nor his breath short — even a seasoned martial artist couldn't manage that. Where on earth did he come from?"

Hearing his words, Li Fengxiang, who knew nothing of martial arts, was also puzzled and said: "Lord Xinjian, I dare not take such a matter lightly. Are you suggesting I've been up to something fraudulent?"

"... This Zheng Guan is just a deserter who came back from the east of the Liao River — but that was over twenty years ago. Now he makes his living slaughtering pigs around Tongzhou. What could be so different about him?"

"Different — he is different!"

"More than twenty years ago, when exactly did he desert and come back?"

Wang Xiantong was himself a man of the ranks. Zheng Guan's performance on the platform was truly unlike those green young newcomers — he seemed more like one who had been through great battles. The more he thought, the stranger it felt, and he hurriedly asked in return.

Hearing this, Li Fengxiang, though displeased, still thought it over and said:

"That was in the first year of Tianqi. At the time I was still a minor eunuch of ceremonies under Lord Wei. Thinking back on it, the Qi family army and the White Pole troops were both destroyed in that very period."

"The first year of Tianqi — the Bloody Battle of Hun River!?"

Li Fengxiang might not connect the dots, but Wang Xiantong muttered a few words and immediately conceived an extremely shocking possibility in his mind — yet the next moment he shook his head, repeating that it was impossible.

"Impossible, impossible!"

"As Eunuch Li says, the Capital Gazette at the time reported that in the Battle of the Hun River, the Qi family army and the White Pole troops were wiped out to the last man — especially the Qi family army, not a single survivor! Then what is this Zheng Guan about? Why does he know the Qi family boxing forms and the White Pole spear techniques?"

The more he thought, the less he understood, so Wang Xiantong could only go consult with the other dozen or so associate examiners.

Many among them could not tell that what Zheng Guan used were the White Pole spear techniques and the Qi family boxing forms — they only felt that this man stood out like a crane among chickens, that among a crowd of youngsters his every move was far too conspicuous.

Wang Xiantong obtained the opinions of the other associate examiners and, carrying their jointly signed documents, went up to the very top to see the chief examiner — Dong Qi, Commissioner-in-Chief of the capital's city defense forces. He too found this Zheng Guan somewhat unusual.

The two exchanged a few words, and when they looked back down, they saw that the big, tall Xu Yanqi — first in the military examinations of all provinces in the fourth year of Chongzhen — was being completely overwhelmed by Zheng Guan, able only to parry and defend with no strength to strike back at all.

In build and every other respect, Xu Yanqi held an utterly crushing advantage over Zheng Guan. Every military student beforehand had thought this would be a bout with no suspense — yet who would have imagined this Zheng Guan was playing the old trick of the wolf in sheep's clothing!

At this moment, Zheng Guan smiled faintly at the already gasping Xu Yanqi, clasped his fists, and said:

"You yield to me."

The words had barely left his mouth when Zheng Guan suddenly crossed two steps with an extremely nimble footwork and threw a fierce punch at Xu Yanqi's chest.

This punch was not especially fast, but Zheng Guan's steps were very quick. Xu Yanqi's mind had registered it, but his body had not yet caught up — and in that split instant, Zheng Guan's fist arrived.

"Puh —!"

Xu Yanqi was hit dead on. It was as if a hard object had struck his completely unguarded chest. He could even feel two of his ribs break. His whole body was sent flying, a mouthful of fresh blood spraying from his lips, and he tumbled several rolls across the platform before coming to a stop.

Xu Yanqi tried at once to push himself up, but he discovered in horror that he could not muster any strength at all — no matter how he strained, he could only manage halfway before failing. In the end, he could only collapse back onto the platform in bitter defeat.

In truth, for Xu Yanqi, what galled him was not that he simply could not beat the man — it was that the other's figure had been drifting and elusive the whole time, impossible even to touch, let alone land a fist on. That was simply a fantasy.

"Good!"

"Well struck!"

For the assembled military students, this was a victory snatched from absolute disadvantage by Zheng Guan — such an exciting bout naturally deserved applause and cheers. But for examiners like Dong Qi, having a man of unknown origins display such prowess in the examination hall was an unexpected contingency they had never anticipated.

"Bang!" Dong Qi suddenly rose to his feet, slapped the table, and pointed at Zheng Guan, shouting: "Men! Seize him for this Commissioner!"