Chapter 494: Chapter 239: Crushing (Part 2)

Just as he was about to grab Li Chang’an and lock him firmly in his attack range, he found his entire body seemed to be frozen in place. No matter how he tried, he couldn’t move a muscle.

Li Chang’an had slapped him on the chest, temporarily closing several of his acupoints and instantly immobilizing him. Not bothering to do anything more, Li Chang’an gave him a light kick that sent him flying off the Martial Arts Arena.

The fight had started quickly and ended even faster. The referee who had just announced the start barely had time to react before he saw one of the combatants had already fallen to the ground, completely immobile. It was an absurdly simple defeat.

After his easy first-round victory, Li Chang’an returned to Wu Yong’s side.

Third Martial Arts High School had entered a total of ten students. Among them, Zhao Suwu had already been half-crippled by Li Chang’an. After the medical staff on the airship checked his psychological condition several times, they decided he was unfit to continue competing and sent him off to recuperate.

Of the remaining nine students, four were eliminated in the first round. Including Li Chang’an, only five students qualified for the second round.

When Wu Yong, the teacher leading the team, heard this news, his expression soured.

After all, he had expected at least six or seven of his students to make it to the second round. He hadn’t anticipated this year’s Martial Dao New Star Competition would be so fierce. The group he had so carefully selected and painstakingly trained had been cut down by half in the very first preliminary round.

At this thought, Wu Yong couldn’t help but glance at Li Chang’an in the distance. Now, his only choice was to pin his hopes on the one person he felt he shouldn’t have to.

If things continued on their current course, Third Martial Arts High School’s performance in the competition would likely fall far short of his expectations.

The first round of matches lasted for an hour.

All contestants who advanced to the second round received a small bottle of Energy Supplement from the organizers as a reward to replenish the qi and blood they had expended in battle.

The Energy Supplement was, in fact, a diluted version of the Qi and Blood Supplement. While not as expensive as its more potent counterpart, it was still far beyond the means of an ordinary family.

To put it in perspective, Li Chang’an usually took Qi and Blood Pills, a bottle of which cost only a tenth of the price of the Energy Supplement.

Li Chang’an casually downed the Energy Supplement and felt a familiar sensation of his body filling with energy. A warmth spread through him... just like the Energy Infusion he had received in the Rebirth Space.

Of course, this paltry amount of diluted energy was to the Energy Infusion as a firefly is to the bright moon. No, it wasn’t even a firefly.

He finished the Energy Supplement, though it left him wanting more. He then secretly circulated the techniques of the *Martial Scripture* several times.

In the next moment, all the energy he had ingested was perfectly absorbed. As the qi, blood, and energy circulated through his meridians, Li Chang’an could feel a distinct change in his innately weak body.

It was getting stronger.

’It seems just as I predicted,’ he thought. ’The *Martial Scripture*, combined with Energy Supplements or Qi and Blood Supplements, can repair the innate deficiencies I’ve had since birth and restore my body to a normal state.’

After they finished their Energy Supplements, the second round of matches also began with a drawing.

With half the number of students from the first round, the once-crowded competition grounds finally cleared up. The surrounding spectators could now get a clear view of the action instead of just a chaotic mob.

As Li Chang’an went up on stage for the drawing, a sharp-eyed Li Furong spotted him from the crowd. Her face lit up with excitement and disbelief. "Dad, Mom, my brother really won the first round!"

Hearing her excited voice, Li Yan and Su Manyu followed her pointing finger with their gazes. When they saw Li Chang’an give them a quick wink, their faces also broke into joyful smiles.

After drawing his number for the second round, Li Chang’an soon saw who his opponent would be.

Compared to the student he had so easily kicked off the stage, this opponent was clearly in another league, judging by appearance alone.

Nearly 1.9 meters tall, his body was a mass of bulging muscle. He walked with a steady, stable gait, like a walking mountain of muscle.

His opponent’s name was Stone Sculpture. He was a local from Salma and a student at Salma’s First Private Aristocratic High School.

The fact that he could attend an aristocratic high school and still qualify for the Martial Dao New Star Competition meant his strength was clearly extraordinary. And that wasn’t even mentioning the physique he possessed, which was absurd for someone his age.

The moment he appeared, gasps rippled through the crowd. "It’s Stone Sculpture, the ace of Salma Aristocratic High School! That kid across from him sure hit the jackpot!"

Whether looking at their physiques or their imposing auras, it was clear this would be a severely mismatched fight.

But because Stone Sculpture was a well-known figure among the students, this particular match drew far more attention than any of the others.

In the family viewing area not far away, Li Furong, Li Yan, and the others saw this, and their excited expressions instantly froze. Their soaring hearts plummeted in an instant.

Li Furong couldn’t help but cry out, "These rules are unfair! My brother is so small, and they’re matching him against an opponent who’s almost two meters tall... Isn’t that just bullying?"

Her voice, thick with emotion, was not as quiet as she might have thought, and her complaint was easily overheard by families in the surrounding seats.

Someone nearby sneered. "Heh. Fair? The Martial Dao New Star Competition isn’t some children’s game you play at your little backwater school. Here, might makes right!"

Another well-dressed spectator added with a sneer, "If you can’t handle it, don’t play. Just have your brother forfeit. Everyone knows Stone Sculpture has a notoriously bad temper!"

Hearing the taunts from the people around them, Li Furong, who was already upset, became even more furious. Her face flushed red with anger, and her knuckles turned white from clenching her fists too tightly.

Beside her, Li Yan and Su Yuman looked grim, but not daring to offend the people around them, they could only force out an apology. "Our apologies, our apologies..."

They were about to say more, but just then, they noticed that the previously jeering crowd of families had suddenly fallen silent. All of them were staring wide-eyed at a spot near the stage, their expressions like they’d seen a ghost in broad daylight.

Startled, Li Yan and Su Yuman instinctively followed their gaze. The three of them saw that the second-round match had already begun at some point. On the stage, Li Chang’an was holding the student named Stone Sculpture by the neck. He dragged him to the edge of the arena as if he were carrying a piglet, and then unceremoniously tossed him out.

Every spectator who witnessed this was left utterly dumbfounded. For a moment, nearly half the venue fell silent.

The fight was just as one-sided as everyone had predicted.

But the outcome of this one-sided fight was the complete opposite of what they had foreseen. The ordinary, unremarkable-looking student had defeated the highly-touted Stone Sculpture in a matter of moments, tossing him from the arena as if he were a baby chick...

When the crowd finally snapped out of it a moment later, the venue erupted into an uproar. The way they looked at Li Chang’an had completely changed.

Dark horses appeared in the Martial Dao New Star Competition every year; it was the biggest reason for the event’s enduring popularity.

However, it was exceedingly rare to see an unremarkable, ordinary student defeat a popular contender—one with the potential to vie for the top ten, or even the top five—in just the second round.

As a result, within minutes, the video of Li Chang’an’s victory over Stone Sculpture had spread to the personal screens of every contestant and spectator in the arena.

...

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