Chapter 26: Domineering

"First match, Li Tianyu versus Zhou Yishan."

On the ring, the referee shouted loudly.

"I'm going up."

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

Her opponent was one meter ninety tall, with a burly build, his sturdy muscles nearly bursting through his clothes!

Zhou Yishan was the student with the best physical condition among this year's Zige Academy students.

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

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

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

After the match began, Li Tianyu deployed her footwork, moving like a butterfly, nimbly circling around Zhou Yishan and continuously striking him with her palms.

She primarily practiced the Flower-Piercing Steps and the Cloud-Linking Palm from the Blue Hand style.

The Flower-Piercing Steps were agile and versatile, while the Cloud-Linking Palm offered continuous offensive pressure; combined, the two could strike over a hundred vital points on an enemy's body in the blink of an eye!

However, in ring matches, there was protective gear, and attacking vital points 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 style.

This was a technique in the Blue Hand style characterized by wide, sweeping movements and hard, forceful strikes; the Mountain-Collapsing Stance consisted of eight moves, also known as the Eight Extremes Collapse, and was extremely rigid and domineering.

It was hard for Li Tianyu to cause any damage even if she hit Zhou Yishan ten times, but if she were hit solidly by him even once, it would be very painful.

Fortunately, she didn't necessarily need to knock Zhou Yishan down; as long as she dragged it out for five minutes until the referee scored the match, she, having maintained the initiative throughout, would certainly be the one with the higher score.

It was a pity that while the idea was sound, 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.

"Oh no."

Li Fei secretly thought it was bad.

Bang!

A dull thud suddenly rang out on the ring; it was Zhou Yishan who had finally seized an opportunity to punch Li Tianyu, knocking her straight 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 ring, Li Tianyu lay on the ground for a moment to recover before standing up again.

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

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

But the stamina issue remained, and she had to change her fighting style, focusing on evasion and no longer attacking proactively.

In any case, she had already scored enough "points" in the first half, which was enough to guarantee her score was higher than his.

Naturally, Zhou Yishan would not let Li Tianyu evade so easily; he constantly forced Li Tianyu through his positioning, gradually suppressing her to the edge of the ring.

The ring 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 lunged forward, simultaneously twisting his waist and hips, turning his body to deliver an elbow strike, channeling his entire body's strength into his right elbow.

Mountain-Collapsing Stance, Heart-Piercing Elbow!

Li Tianyu crossed her arms in front of her, forced to take the elbow strike head-on.

Bang—

The next second, a figure fell from the ring.

Li Fei had stepped forward in advance to stand below, catching Li Tianyu just as she fell from the ring.

"Zhou Yishan, winner!"

The referee announced the result.

Zhou Yishan walked to the edge of the ring, 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.

"Hahahaha!"

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

The other party's action was clearly a gesture of goodwill toward him, the young master of the Chen family, and he naturally intended to accept it.

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

Chen Lixin walked over toward them and said with a smile.

Li Tianyu's face was livid; she clenched her fists tightly and said nothing.

She did not like to engage in verbal sparring; losing was losing, and saying anything more now would only make her appear weak.

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

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

"I—"

Chen Lixin wanted to say something more, 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 will definitely beat him even worse than his sister."

On the ring, Zhou Yishan spoke up.

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

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

The second elimination match of the afternoon began soon after, with Li Fei facing the top-ranked student of the 'Huang' group.

This time, Li Fei changed his previous fighting style; he did not enter a defensive posture to let his opponent attack, but instead launched an offensive the moment he stepped onto the ring.

Stepping forward, twisting his waist and hips, turning his body to deliver an elbow strike.

He was also using the Mountain-Collapsing Stance!

The Mountain-Collapsing Stance was characterized by wide, sweeping movements and rigid, forceful power, making it suitable for those with tall, sturdy builds, like Zhou Yishan.

Li Fei's physical condition was actually not that well-suited for the Mountain-Collapsing Stance, and with his strength, the threat it posed was not very significant.

So, seeing him use this move, Chen Lixin below the ring laughed out loud:

"Who does this kid think he is?"

Standing to the side, Zhou Yishan also laughed, intending to offer a few critical remarks.

Bang!

On the ring, the opponent chose to clash head-on with Li Fei, as his build and weight were both superior to Li Fei's, giving him the advantage in a direct collision.

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

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

Fists, elbows, knees, head, shoulders, hips—every part of his body could serve as a weapon for striking; Li Fei unleashed the Mountain-Collapsing Stance with all his might, 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 clash head-on with him, but the result was always that he came out on the losing end; left with no choice, he could only switch from offense to defense, retreating as he fought.

But this person's footwork was not as good as Li Tianyu's, and he was soon forced to the edge of the ring by Li Fei, eventually being forcibly knocked off the ring.

"Li Fei, winner!"

The referee announced the result.

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

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

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 firmly, "That guy lost because of strength; I won't lose!"

He believed that Li Fei was only able to fight so domineeringly by relying on his brute strength; such a style might work against others, but it wouldn't work against him.

He was quite confident in his own strength.

The competition continued, and Chen Lixin and the top-ranked student from another group defeated their opponents to advance to the final four.

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

(End of chapter)