Chapter 221 - Hei vs. Hu Jie - 2

"Then make me!"

It was Hei's response to Hu Jie's provocation. The latter didn’t get angry but replied in a joyful tone, “All right. Then get ready."

"Tiger Breathing."

Instead of going on the attack as he had done up to now, Hu Jie stopped where he was. He began to exhale and inhale rapidly as his muscular chest moved up and down, following his breathing rhythm.

'Whatever you have in mind, I won't give you time to do it.' thought Hei. Even though he didn't know the technique Hu Jie was using, he knew it wasn’t good. It was stupid to give Hu Jie the time to charge this technique.

"Intent of the Spear, Snake Sting!"

Even if he had to attack, it wasn't as if Hei had to expose himself. After all, just as it was true that he couldn’t allow Hu Jie to finish his technique, at the same time, it was true that attacking at that moment could leave him exposed to that unknown technique. So, attacking with his hair from a distance was the best method he came up with.

Peng!

The tip of the spear hit Hu Jie this time, but he remained motionless as if nothing had happened. He was continuing to circulate his breath. The spear rose again and fell once more. But Hu Jie showed no signs of being affected. Finally, however, when the spear was about to strike a third time…

Whoosh!

Hu Jie suddenly took off and found himself in front of Hei in an instant. Hei was amazed by Hu Jie's explosiveness and acceleration and found himself completely unguarded.

Bam!

Hei was hit hard in the face by Hu Jie's punch and backed away slightly. His mind was spinning at full speed to regain control of the situation. Of course, however, Hu Jie wouldn’t give him that opportunity.

"Tiger Assault, Jeet Kune Do Style!"

After placing the first punch and destabilizing Hei momentarily, Hu Jie began an assault of punches and kicks even more violent and swift than before.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Faced with this assault, the only thing Hei was able to do was to place his arms in front of him to decrease the damage and the affected area. However, the power behind each hit was enough to cause pain even though his defensive layer of spirit power still held up.

'The damage and speed of execution are impressive, but that's not what makes this move so suffocating. No, what's really scary is his lung capacity. His breathing can sustain a similar rhythm, and with each breath, he takes, the amount of oxygen incorporated increases. If that continues, it will come to a point where he could perform an entire combo with a single breath ... if that happens, I'd be in even more trouble.'

After thinking carefully, Hei decided to go on the counterattack. Of course, doing so would leave him more exposed, but it wasn't as if he could devote himself to defense and hope that Hu Jie would get tired. At least not with the breathing technique Hu Jie was performing.

"Darkness Law + Chameleon Tongue, Ink Saliva."

Spit!

A pitch-black liquid was ejected from Hei's mouth. This black ink-like liquid precisely hit Hu Jie's eyes, catching him off guard. The young man with the diamond body wasn’t expecting such a move and his punch missed the target.

'Now!' Hei began gathering his spirit power in his left arm to execute Spider Lance.

'I can feel the chills again. This flow of spirit power ... is he going to use Spider Lance?!'

Even without seeing, Hu Jie could still use his Spirit Sense to keep track of Hei's location. Thanks to it, he realized that the latter was beginning to condense his spirit power in the arm.

"As if I'm letting you do it!"

Though deprived of sight, Hu Jie had been training to reach the pinnacle of hand-to-hand combat. So, by using his Spirit Sense, he could still fight without sight. But of course, he wouldn’t reach such a mastery level as Hei since the latter used special techniques to compensate for the lack of sight. Either way, he was at a level he wouldn't panic even in a situation like this.

"Tiger Suplex!"

Hu Jie sprinted forward and then circled Hei with quick steps. The pressure from moving so quickly weighed on his feet and ankles, but this was no time to stop due to the pain.

With a sharp movement, he put both hands around Hei's waist and pulled with all the strength he had: his purpose was to crash Hei back into the floor and thus interrupt the charge of Spider Lance. Unfortunately, however, things didn’t go as he wanted.

Sizzle!

'He doesn't move?!' Hu Jie exclaimed in amazement. Despite his strength, he couldn’t bring Hei's body up, as if something was still holding him to the ground. And he soon understood what this object was.

"Shit!" cursed Hu Jie when he noticed that Hei's legs had unexpectedly tangled around his ankles. It was as if Hei's leg bones had suddenly disappeared, making them absurdly flexible.

Stab!

Suddenly, as Hei's legs trapped Hu Jie, the dark purple spear that had been on the sidelines during the Tiger Assault sank into Hu Jie's right flank. And to everyone's astonishment, the diamond layer covering Hu Jie's body shattered, and blood leaked out, staining the spear blade.

BAM!

Hu Jie slammed both fists violently against Hei, but by now, the young man had released his grip on Hu Jie and, retrieving the spear, had stepped back just in time to dodge the attack.

Peng!

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With blood still leaking from his hip, Hu Jie put his left hand to his face forcefully and tore the sticky, pitch-black substance that obscured his vision. His eyes were now glowing with a wild light, like a mad beast after suffering a wound. However, it only lasted a moment, and the next instant, Hu Jie had resumed his usual playful aspect.

But if Hu Jie had managed to regain his calm in the blink of an eye, that couldn't be said of the wide-eyed audience. Hu Jie was the Hu Family's future head; he possessed the strongest Metal Law Bloodline of the entire Sun Empire. He also managed to absorb the strongest material in nature - the diamond. So it was no exaggeration to say that he possessed the highest defense of all the participants. Yet now he had been injured, and it hadn't even been that long since the fight began.

"How did he do?! Did he really manage to pierce through Hu Jie's body?!"

“Am I dreaming or what? Is the impenetrable defense about to be defeated?"

Voices of astonishment emerged from the audience. In particular, the Academy's students and other members of the younger generation from outside were the most amazed. They had seen how hard Hu Jie's body was, and inside them, the conviction had formed that his body was indeed an impenetrable defense. Yet, the reality before their eyes at this moment was quite different.

But if they were lost in amazement and couldn’t understand how Hei had managed to break through Hu Jie's defenses, the latter already had a clear understanding of the dynamics behind the incident.

“Your knowledge of the Poison Law is very high. All this time, you have been aiming to hit me with quick attacks to spread your poison and reduce the diamond layer on my body. Not to mention that you used a delayed poison to lure me into a false sense of security and strike at the right moment. Even though I had foreseen such a tactic, I admit that I got too caught up in the heat. But don't think that you are the only one who has thought of such a tactic."

After saying this, Hu Jie placed his hand on the wound on his side. With his spirit power, he stopped the blood from flowing and restored the broken diamond layer. Nonetheless, even though on the outside it might look like he was unharmed again, he wasn't. Restoring the shattered diamond layer consumed far more spirit power than creating it the first time and keeping it active during battle.

'Does he want to leave the offensive to me?' Hei wondered as he watched Hu Jie's actions. Having restored the shattered diamond layer, his opponent didn’t move but took up a fighting stance and remained in place.

Watching this, the spectators in the stands became speechless. It was the first time Hu Jie had assumed a fully defensive fighting stance, leaving the offensive entirely to the opponent.

"Since you insist, then I won't back down," Hei said without dragging it out for too long. 'Even though I hurt him, it's only a marginal wound. If I want to win, I have to hurt him seriously. To do that, I have to get close. My most powerful attacks are all close-combat moves. So if he wants to focus on defense, that's good for me too.'

"Snake Fist Storm."

Hei threw himself into the attack: his goal was to hit Hu Jie's body again with quick attacks to reduce the stability of the latter’s diamond skin. It was a tactic that had worked, and although Hu Jie might have countermeasures, it was worth a try.

'Before, I had to hold back the amount of poison so as not to alert Hu Jie immediately. However, now that I can't fool him as before, I might as well use a higher dose.'

The spirit power on Hei's fingers increased in intensity as they took on a more purplish hue, a sign of the greater presence of spirit power.

Peng!

Hei's Snake Fist dashed forward, but this time, instead of dodging or taking damage, Hu Jie parried the attack. He parried it using his elbow, aiming at the wrist of Hei's outstretched arm. In doing so, he managed to deflect Snake Fist from his trajectory and at the same time leave Hei partly unguarded.

Peng!

Hei reacted using his other hand, but once again, Hu Jie parried using his elbow and returned with a straight punch. Hei dodged the punch and resumed his attacking stance. Nonetheless, Hu Jie's defense technique was impregnable: he would always deflect any blow with his elbows or dodge using his footwork.

'Is he using silat? As expected by Hu Jie: you have an immediate answer to every situation. But what about this?'

"Snake Whip + Snake Fist, Whip Snake Fist."

When the right fist was blocked for the umpteenth time by Hu Jie, Hei used Snake Whip and Snake Fist to use a combined technique. Snake Whip allowed him to soften the bones of his arm, increasing its attack range and flexibility. So, joining it with Snake Fist caused the fist to bend at the contact between his wrist and Hu Jie's elbow and stretch again.

Scratch!

Hei's Whip Snake Fist struck Hu Jie in the face, and the latter was surprised to see his silat defense being penetrated like that. But Hei hadn't finished his attack yet.

"Intent of the Spear, Poison Law, Poison Crescent Blade!"

Hei's hair carried the dark purple spear towards his left arm. Then, using both the strength of his arm and his hair, he waved the spear diagonally from bottom to top.

Slash!

A diagonal gash was drawn on Hu Jie's body, going from his right hip to his left shoulder. This time there was no blood mark, but the area of broken diamond was wider, which was what Hei was aiming for.

"Spider Lance!"

So, he condensed his spirit power to use Spider Lance; This time, however, he wouldn’t fail. With Hu Jie's defense broken, the damage would be much greater than if he had used it against a full-strength Hu Jie.

"Lethwei, Tiger Headbutt!"

Stab! Crack!

Hei's left arm advanced towards Hu Jie's stomach and pierced the diamond layer reaching deep into the flesh. However, some of Spider Lance's power was dispersed because Hu Jie had counterattacked at the same time.

Tiger Headbutt. It was the move used by Hu Jie, which consisted of a simple headbutt. Yet, it wasn't that simple as it instantly shattered Hei's spirit power. But it didn't just stop there: it broke Hei's nose, causing blood to spill over his face, and made him roll backward for several meters.

"Hei!" Lian called out Hei's name. She was fully aware of the danger of that technique, and Hei had received it in full. The damage didn't have to be limited to just a broken nose. The other teammates watching the match also had worried faces, especially Ye and Xing, who wanted to enter the field and support their big brother.

"He took the Tiger Headbutt in full… I can't imagine what kind of damage he received internally," commented Feng Chen, who had a fearful expression as if he remembered something unpleasant.

"Do you think this is the end?" Long Tian asked him.

"I don’t know. The first time I received the Tiger Headbutt from Hu Jie, I almost fainted on the spot. Luckily Hu Jie hadn't mastered that technique yet. But now, I don't know how scary it could have become. After all, since that day, I have promised myself not to allow Hu Jie to use the Tiger Headbutt."

Feng Chen's comment left everyone speechless. Even he, with all his talent and strength, was afraid of receiving Hu Jie's technique in full.

Cough!

Hu Jie spat blood and fell to his knees. His hand was placed on the stomach wound he had received. The blood fell copiously to the ground without a sign to stop.

'Shit… it really pierced me right. But even if it's deep, I can still keep fighting for a little while longer. I just have to finish as briefly as possible.'

Hu Jie forcibly stopped the bleeding again and restored the diamond layer on his body. His dark skin now had a faint pallor from blood loss. His spirit power was also beginning to show signs of instability.

Meanwhile, Hei was still lying on the ground with his eyes closed. Blood was running copiously from his nose, and he seemed apparently unconscious.

"Get up. I know you can still fight." Hu Jie said as he spat the blood accumulated on his mouth on the ground.

'In the same way that I dispersed the power of his technique, Hei did the same. If it weren't for the pain I felt at the time, I would have inflicted even more damage. But even so, I don't think I would have knocked him out on the spot. His bones… at the moment of impact, they became incredibly soft. Instead of resisting by condensing the spirit power, he used the tactic of the soft to mitigate the damage. Not to mention the backward movement to accompany the momentum of my head…. he really has an instinct out of the ordinary.'

While Hu Jie analyzed what had happened, Hei stood up. His nose didn't seem to stop bleeding, but he wasn't that worried. Instead, he brought his hand to his nose and forcefully straightened it, ignoring the pain.

'His headbutt… if it weren't for Spider-Lance that has despaired some of the power and for the training Mother subjected me to, I don't think I could have stood up. You are really a first-class hand-to-hand fighter.'

"Well, how about we end the dance, Hei?" Hu Jie asked.

"I agree. I'm ready when you want." Hei replied.

The fight between these two first-class martial artists was coming to an end.