Chapter 39 - Finals Phase First Match
In the midst of the quiet generated by this result’s astonishment, Hei, regardless of the audience's reaction, calmly descended from the ring and sat down on the ground where he had left his belongings.
His bare feet were dirty with dirt and dust, and he used his hands to clean his feet before finally putting on his shoes. Then he got up and resumed his spear behind his back, before silently returning to the corridor from where he had come.
When he was no longer visible, the audience finally expressed their reactions. The outer members who were the easiest to impress were loudly applauding because of the surprise; although some were disappointed that Hei had eliminated their friends or family relatives, they couldn’t deny the boy’s abilities.
However, it was the inner members who had the most complex reactions among those in the audience - some were merely surprised and applauded Hei's talent; others, however, had on their faces twisted expressions with insecurity and fear.
Even if they possessed superior cultivation, could they say they were capable of fighting one vs. five with a stage of difference? It didn't matter that those were outer members. With the talent shown by that boy, what would have happened if he had reached their cultivation stage?
These were the thoughts of many inner members, especially those who were competing for the top 50 rankings. Since only the first 50 inner members were given rewards, the last seats in the top 50 were always the most disputed until the end.
It had to be said, however, that the ranking only concerned those belonging to the younger generation, i.e., those under the age of 25 years old. After all, it didn't make sense to give valuable resources to those who didn't have enough talent. Those over 25 could only use other methods to obtain contribution points and buy the necessary resources out of their own pockets.
With Hei's young age and fighting strength, there was no doubt that he would play an essential role within the sect. In the eyes of the people, the sect leader had a long foresight in acquiring such a talent.
Regarding the elders’ reactions, even those were all different.
The sect leader, the third, sixth, and seventh elders were all pleasantly impressed. Especially the sect leader who, despite having confidence in him, couldn’t but have a little fear given that she had never seen him fight.
The second and fifth elders, belonging to the same faction, were mentally discussing with each other to plan their faction's future moves - if possible, they will try to take him away from the sect leader’s faction or at least prevent them from getting too close.
The first and fourth elders were also talking to each other, but their expressions were the most worried - there was no doubt that with this new talent, the sect leader would acquire power, but at the same time, the overall strength of the sect would also be increased. If they wanted to compete against the other big sects, they had to bite the bullet and leave free rein to sect leader; no matter how much they wanted to manage things, it didn't mean they would put their personal desires to the good of the sect.
After a while, the clamor subsided, and the sect leader gave the signal to let the next group enter. The remaining three rounds ended smoothly but without a sensational win like Hei's. However, this didn’t mean that the winners weren’t strong, quite the contrary. The winners of the other three rounds showed a skill level that aroused the interest of the inner members, and they won their challenges without too much effort.
Once the preliminary phase was over, it was time to move on to the final phase. The four winners would, therefore, fight in turns according to the rules already cited by the sect leader. In order to leave the last two winners some time to restore their strength, the first challenge would see the winner of the preliminary phase’s first two rounds.
In the waiting room, the four finalists were informed of their respective opponents. Hei's first-round opponent was a 21-year-old man with a sturdy build and a shaved head. He was the biggest between them, and he didn't use bladed weapons, but a pair of iron gloves.
When he heard that his opponent was Hei, he smiled and walked over to Hei.
"I heard from the audience’s din that you did a good show out there, kid. Unfortunately for you, this time you won't win. If I were you, it would be better to surrender immediately to have more chances against the other two. If you fight with me, you won't come out unscathed."
Hearing him speak, Hei, who was sitting at one corner of the room, raised his eyes for a moment, and then he lowered them again. He wondered why these people were wasting time provoking him.
Seeing his reaction, the man laughed and turned to leave. However, immediately afterward, he whirled around again and threw a fist covered by his metallic glove against Hei's face. The blow could easily break someone's nose and make it bleed.
But instead of the expected contact, the fist hit the wall shattering part of it. Hei had gotten up and moved sideways, just enough to dodge his fist. Then with a quick snap of the arm, he placed the index and middle fingers of the left hand, with a V pattern, towards his aggressor’s eyes.
"If it had been a life and death situation, I would have already blinded you. You may have time to waste, but it's not the same for me. If you want to die, just say it, and I'll make it happen."
Hei's response was authoritarian and decisive; even if he didn't care about these junk provocations, it didn't mean he wouldn't react if provoked physically.
Hearing the noise produced by the clash with the fist and the wall, the regulation division guards approached to check the situation.
"Participant Hei, participant ZhenKang. I remind you that fighting in here isn’t allowed. If you want to come to the hands so much, you can do it outside. Your turn has arrived anyway. "
The guards' tone was accompanied by a slight hint of intimidation as if they wanted to imply that they would use force on the next violation.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
ZhenKang laughed again and went to the corridor to enter the ring, followed by Hei shortly after. For safety, they were accompanied by one of the guards on the way. Although they had threatened to use force, they couldn’t injure the two as this time's selection had many expectations.
Upon seeing the prodigy boy who had defeated his enemies in the preliminary phase, the outer members began to cheer for him. The inner members also laid their eyes on him - this time, the fighting would be individual, and they hoped that with stronger opponents, Hei would reveal more of his strength so they could plan any countermeasures.
Like how he did it during the preliminary phase, Hei took off his shoes and put the spear on the ground. Before, he had done it to get more mobility and movement’s speed, now instead because he wanted to use his snake fist to the fullest of his current abilities. Now that he had an opponent of a certain level, he could use his strength without holding back. The only thing he hoped was that the shaved man could hold out as long as possible to allow him to exercise for as long as possible.
Unlike the preliminary phase, both activated their spirit power from the beginning. Hei decided that he would use the two-legged mode spider running for this fight and remained standing instead of lowering himself on the ground. When he heard the start of the battle, the shaved man threw his whole body at Hei. With the difference in size, he was sure he would send Hei flying.
However, unlike what the public expected, Hei charged forward to meet the enemy’s charge. Even though he had an athletic body, he didn’t have a body that could be called massive, and with the difference of one stage, the explosive force resulting from a head-on collision was undoubtedly less than that of the enemy. But Hei paid no attention to this and still ran forward.
ZhenKang thought Hei had lost his calm, giving in to the provocation from before, and threw both his fists forward to attack him in the chest. With his iron gloves and his muscular power, he would send K.O. that kid in one shot.
And when he was close to hitting him, Hei went into the four-legged mode and let his body fall to the ground and then move forward under ZhenKang's legs. Taken aback by this move, ZhenKang reacted quickly by turning his torso in Hei’s direction, but he was no longer on the ground where he thought.
In fact, immediately after passing under his legs, Hei had sensed that ZhenKang would have turned abruptly to counterattack. Therefore he switched to the two-legged mode and followed his movement to remain behind his back.
‘Snake Fist Storm’
It was nothing more than a variant of the snake fist - it was merely a matter of striking a specific area of the body in rapid succession with the snake fist. The power was less than a normal snake fist but allowed Hei to deliver more in just a few seconds.
ZhenKang suddenly felt a series of pangs behind his back. Although none of the shots were powerful enough to penetrate his defense, their number was impressive. In a matter of seconds, Hei had hit his back more than twenty times.
Resisting the pain, ZhenKang turned again and tried to hit him using his arm. But Hei had lowered himself again, and from that squatting position, he kept bombarding him with blows, this time at his left side, though.
Them shaved man tried again to punch him in the face, but Hei went once more to the two-legged mode and quickly moved to the side and blasted the other side with blows. Then he walked away to give the enemy some breath.
Normally, he would have closed the fight since he was taught not to play with the prey. But since he didn't have to kill the enemy, he decided to take advantage of this opportunity to train his snake fist against a human target.
Seeing that Hei was no longer continuing his assault, ZhenKang couldn’t help but take a deep breath. Never had he thought that he would have been so cornered from the beginning by a brat like that. Usually, in front of his muscular strength, his opponents could only receive his attacks passively. Hei, instead of moving away, had decided to closely attack him by exploiting the weakness of his opponent's bulk - his movements’ agility and flexibility.
"Stupid kid, I admit you caught me off guard before. But you have fucked your chances of victory now. If you think I will fall back into your trick, you're wrong." said with mockery ZhenKang as he placed his fists forward.
Even though his tone contained scorn and self-confidence, he couldn’t help but curse the pangs of pain he was constantly receiving. Hei, in fact, hadn't hit a casual part, but the points where his enemy's acupoints were positioned.
One of the snake fist’s most deadly features was that in its training, the user was expected to learn the human body’s structure. One of the reasons why Bao Bei had Hei exercised only two attack moves in this preparation’s month was precisely to make him memorize the areas of the human body. Considering that Hei already had a basic knowledge of it, thanks to Lei Lei, who was studying medicine, it wasn’t difficult for him to do it.
Although Hei hadn’t caused such extensive damage as to incapacitate the enemy, his blows had gone on to disturb his opponent’s movements. Unfortunately, he hadn’t yet such a capacity that he could go on to affect the flow of spirit power directly through the snake fist.
While ZhenKang was advancing slowly with his fists guarding any possible attack, Hei remained to observe him to understand his enemy’s condition. Then, he sprinted towards him, who remained in his place, ready to receive Hei’s charge.
This time ZhenKang didn’t attack but concentrated on defense; as soon as Hei tried to move on his back, he would anticipate him with a quick jab to break his rhythm and his movement and then throw a hook to his face. Even if Hei tried again to pass under his legs, he had placed them in a way that it was impossible for Hei to pass without being hit.
But, if everyone thought that Hei would try to move to the side, he once again surprised everyone by doing the exact opposite. This time he didn't move sideways but went to meet his opponent's body, wholly taken him back.
As the enemy's guard was raised, he focused on his legs. With his arms, he went to embrace ZhenKang’s right thigh. Using all his strength, he lifted it up, disrupting his enemy’s balance, who had to keep hopping with the other leg to avoid falling.
At that point, Hei used his right arm to hold the thigh and bring closer to his chest while, with his left hand, he grabbed the part behind the shaved man's left knee. Finally, making an effort with his back and concentrating his spirit power to the utmost, he lifted the mighty ZhenKang’s body and crashed it to the ground.
Snake Bind, Overturn
In snake bind’s moves, there weren’t only submissive moves. There were also particular moves that brought the enemy into an unfavorable situation. Overturn was one of them - it was mainly used to make the enemy fall to the ground and then follow with another attack. After all, the snakes’ forte was to attack by bringing the prey to the ground where it couldn’t get up.
Hei's series of movements was so fast that ZhenKang had no chance to react, and to his astonishment, he was lifted by that boy with a less robust body than his. When his body landed on the ground, there was only disbelief in him. But Hei hadn't finished his attack.
Since the impact on the ground had turned his arms away by breaking his guard, his enemy front was wholly uncovered. Hei took advantage of it, and hit the enemy's trachea with a snake fist to cut off his breath, then blasted him in the face, avoiding his eyes.
The face was among the body parts that weren’t trained and was usually protected using other parts like the arms. Although reinforced by spirit power, it was still more delicate than where the muscles had been trained. Thus, ZhenKang’s spirit power failed to resist. The aura around the face was penetrated by the multiple blows that were being poured on and on.
ZhenKang, in the end, without energy, fell unconscious under the barrage of blows as the blood flowed copiously from his disfigured face. When he felt that his opponent had lost consciousness, Hei stopped. Even if it had been provoked, it didn't mean that he had to rage against a defenseless enemy. So he rose from the ground, leaving his adversary on the ground completely unconscious.