Chapter 16: Overbearing

"First match, Li Tianyu versus Zhou Yishan."

On the arena, the referee shouted loudly.

"I'm going up."

Li Tianyu said to Li Fei and Chen Lixin, then turned and stepped onto the arena.

Her opponent was 1.9 meters tall, with a burly build, his robust muscles almost bursting through his clothes!

Zhou Yishan was the student with the best physical condition in this year's Zhige Academy.

He, Li Tianyu, and Chen Lixin were the three most formidable students in this cohort.

Among them, Li Tianyu had the most agile movement techniques, Zhou Yishan had the greatest strength, and Chen Lixin possessed the heritage of a prominent family, mastering martial arts techniques superior to those of ordinary students; each of the three had their own strengths.

If Li Tianyu's physical exertion in previous matches hadn't been significant, Li Fei would have felt her chances against Zhou Yishan were fifty-fifty, but now that Li Tianyu's stamina was severely depleted, her odds of winning were much lower.

After the match began, Li Tianyu employed her movement techniques, resembling a butterfly, nimbly circling around Zhou Yishan and continuously striking him with her palms.

She primarily practiced the Flower-Piercing Steps and the Continuous Cloud Palm from the Blue Hand technique.

The Flower-Piercing Steps were agile and varied, while the Continuous Cloud Palm had a relentless offensive; combined, they could strike over a hundred vital points on an enemy's body in the blink of an eye!

However, in arena matches, there was protective gear, and attacking vital areas was prohibited, so it was difficult for Li Tianyu to truly inflict heavy damage on her opponent.

Relying on his powerful physique, Zhou Yishan let Li Tianyu attack, only seizing opportunities to counterattack from time to time.

He primarily practiced the Mountain-Collapsing Stance from the Blue Hand technique.

This was a style of Blue Hand that was open and wide, focusing on hard strikes and heavy hits. The Mountain-Collapsing Stance had a total of eight moves, also known as the Eight Extremes Collapse, which was extremely rigid and overbearing.

It was difficult for Li Tianyu to cause any damage even after hitting Zhou Yishan ten times, but once she was hit solidly by Zhou Yishan, it would be very uncomfortable.

Fortunately, she didn't necessarily have to knock Zhou Yishan down; as long as she could drag it out for five minutes until the referee's final scoring, she, having maintained the initiative throughout, would certainly have the higher score.

It was just a pity that while the idea was good, her stamina could hardly support Li Tianyu in doing so.

After more than three minutes, Li Tianyu's breathing began to grow heavy, and her speed slowed down significantly.

"Bad."

Li Fei secretly thought it was not good.

Bang!

A dull thud suddenly rang out on the arena; it was Zhou Yishan who finally seized an opportunity to punch Li Tianyu, knocking her directly down.

Li Fei subconsciously clenched his fists, becoming nervous.

After all, he had inherited all the memories of his predecessor, so he was inevitably affected emotionally. Although his own will remained dominant and he no longer had other thoughts about Li Tianyu, her position in his heart was still different, as was the case with Li Lei and Zhang Yuqing.

On the arena, Li Tianyu lay on the ground for a moment before standing up again.

The burly Zhou Yishan looked at her playfully and crooked his finger at her.

Li Tianyu's eyes turned cold, she gave a light shout, and charged up again.

But the stamina problem still existed, and she had to change her fighting style, focusing on evasion and no longer actively attacking.

In any case, she had already scored enough "points" in the first half, which was enough to guarantee that her score would be higher than her opponent's.

Zhou Yishan naturally wouldn't let Li Tianyu evade so easily, constantly forcing Li Tianyu through his positioning, gradually pressing her to the edge of the arena.

The arena was only so big, and Li Tianyu's speed had slowed down, so she was eventually forced to the edge by Zhou Yishan, with nowhere left to retreat.

A flash of excitement crossed Zhou Yishan's eyes; he took a step forward, simultaneously twisting his waist and turning his hips, side-stepping to thrust his elbow, using his whole body's strength to thrust his right elbow out.

Mountain-Collapsing Stance, Heart-Thrust Elbow!

Li Tianyu crossed her arms in front of her, having no choice but to take the elbow strike head-on.

Bang—

The next second, a figure fell from the arena.

Li Fei had guarded below a step early, catching Li Tianyu just as she fell from the arena.

"Zhou Yishan, wins!"

The referee announced the result.

Zhou Yishan walked to the edge of the arena, looking down at Li Fei and Li Tianyu below. He gave Li Tianyu a thumbs-up, then slowly turned it downward.

After finishing this gesture, he turned his head to look at Chen Lixin on the other side.

"Hahahahaha!"

Chen Lixin laughed and clapped, giving Zhou Yishan a thumbs-up.

The other party's action was clearly to curry favor with him, the young master Chen, so he naturally had to accept the gesture.

"Oh my, it seems you won't be getting that extra bonus. What a pity."

Chen Lixin walked over here and said with a smile.

Li Tianyu's face was livid, her fists clenched tightly as she didn't speak.

She didn't like to engage in verbal sparring; losing was losing, and saying anything more now would only make her look weak.

Li Fei helped Li Tianyu up and looked calmly at Chen Lixin:

"The match isn't over yet; you're laughing too early."

"I..."

Chen Lixin still wanted to say something, but Li Fei had already turned and left with Li Tianyu.

This made Chen Lixin quite displeased.

"Young Master Chen, if this kid happens to face me later, I'll definitely beat him even worse than his sister."

On the arena, Zhou Yishan said.

The two were in the same half of the bracket; if Li Fei could make it to the top four, his next opponent would be him.

Chen Lixin turned to look at him and smiled: "Good, I'll wait and see."

The second elimination match of the afternoon began soon after, with Li Fei facing the group winner of the 'Huang' group.

This time, Li Fei changed his previous fighting style; he didn't immediately enter a defensive posture and let his opponent attack, but instead launched an offensive as soon as he got on the stage.

Stepping forward, twisting his waist and turning his hips, side-stepping to thrust his elbow.

He was also using the Mountain-Collapsing Stance!

The Mountain-Collapsing Stance was open and wide, with rigid and fierce force, suitable for people with large and robust builds to practice, such as Zhou Yishan.

Li Fei's physical condition wasn't actually that suitable for the Mountain-Collapsing Stance, and using it with his strength didn't pose much of a threat.

So when Chen Lixin, who was off the stage, saw him use this move, he laughed out loud:

"Who does this kid think he is?"

Zhou Yishan, standing to the side, also laughed, intending to make a few comments.

Bang!

On the arena, the opponent chose to trade blows head-on with Li Fei, because his build and weight were both superior to Li Fei's, so head-to-head combat was to his advantage.

However, the final result was that Li Fei didn't budge, while the opponent retreated a step.

Li Fei continued to step forward, employing the Mountain-Collapsing Stance.

Fists, elbows, knees, head, shoulders, hips—every part of the body could serve as a weapon for striking. Li Fei unleashed the Mountain-Collapsing Stance with full force, attacking only and never defending, advancing only and never retreating!

Chen Lixin stopped laughing, and Zhou Yishan frowned.

Li Fei's opponent tried several times to trade blows head-on with him, but the final result was always that he suffered, and in desperation, he could only switch from offense to defense, retreating as he fought.

But this person's movement techniques were not as good as Li Tianyu's, and he was soon forced to the edge of the arena by Li Fei, and finally forcibly knocked off the arena.

"Li Fei, wins!"

The referee announced the result.

From start to finish, this match took less than a minute.

On the arena, the victorious Li Fei looked calmly at Chen Lixin before turning to step off the stage.

Chen Lixin clenched his fists and turned to look at Zhou Yishan:

"Are you confident you can beat him?"

"Of course!"

Zhou Yishan nodded very confidently, "That guy lost because of strength; I won't lose!"

He believed that Li Fei was only able to fight so overbearingly because he relied on his strength; such a fighting style might work against others, but it wouldn't be effective against him.

He was quite confident in his own strength.

The matches continued, and Chen Lixin and the winner of another group defeated their opponents, advancing to the top four.

The first match of the upcoming semi-finals would be Li Fei versus Zhou Yishan.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 17 =====