"'You'll definitely succeed at Qi Gathering?' What a boast. Not even Lu Ren would dare say something like that."
Zhou Yang and his brother, Zhou Yuan, happened to be passing by and couldn't resist a sarcastic dig.
Xu Yang glanced at them but didn't say a word. Zhou Xia, however, frowned slightly.
Seeing that Xu Yang wasn't responding, Zhou Yang lost interest and entered Weiyuan Hall.
"You should go. It'll be past mealtime soon. Please, don't get into any arguments."
Thinking about what happened earlier, Zhou Xia couldn't help but warn Xu Yang.
"Don't worry, Cousin!"
After watching Zhou Xia leave, Xu Yang turned and walked into Weiyuan Hall.
After eating, he first went to the Medicine Hall to pay his silver and arrange for his Strengthening Soup and Health Soup. Then, he strode into the Outer Courtyard and shouted, "Zhou Yang, didn't you want to spar with me? Today, I'll grant you your wish."
He had always followed the principle of lying low and not drawing attention to himself. Even though Zhou Yang had provoked him many times, goading him into a fight, he had never agreed.
But today was different. He had just been pressured by Qian Ming, and seeing his cousin at Weiyuan Hall had finally eased his mind a little. Then Zhou Yang had to jump out and start barking like a dog, right in front of Zhou Xia.
If he endured this any longer, it wouldn't be 'lying low'—it'd make him a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.
"Xu Yang is actually challenging Zhou Yang? What's gotten into him?"
"Hasn't he always been too scared to fight Zhou Yang?"
"Just now, Xu Yang was outside talking to a girl, and I think Zhou Yang was being a sarcastic prick again. I saw Xu Yang during the meal; he was absolutely seething."
...
Xu Yang's voice wasn't quiet, and it immediately drew everyone's attention.
"You? You finally dare to fight me?" Zhou Yang turned his head in disbelief.
"Not fight. Spar," Xu Yang corrected.
Weiyuan Hall forbade private duels between disciples, but sparring, even if it resulted in injury, was no issue.
"Right, a spar. Come on, Junior Brother Xu."
Zhou Yang caught on and corrected himself. At the same time, he took a large stride straight toward Xu Yang.
The moment he was about to reach Xu Yang, he suddenly leaped, his five fingers bent as he grabbed directly for Xu Yang's shoulder.
"Nice!" Seeing his cousin's technique was both skilled and stylish, Zhou Yuan couldn't help but shout.
Zhou Yang leaped like a bear king, his presence extraordinary.
'Nice, my ass!' Lu Ren cursed under his breath.
This technique was the Bear King's Probing Claw, an extremely domineering grappling technique from the Mountain-Shaking Bear Fist that specialized in dislocating joints. But under normal circumstances, no one would use it as their opening move.
The move was incredibly arrogant; using it without knowing an opponent's true strength would leave one wide open and at a disadvantage.
Clearly, even though Xu Yang had been the one to issue the challenge, Zhou Yang still didn't take him seriously. After all, he had been practicing martial arts for half a month longer than Xu Yang.
'Idiot!'
Even Xu Yang hadn't expected Zhou Yang to be this arrogant. 'He must think I've been avoiding fights because I can't win.' For his first move, he not only used a technique that left him wide open, but he even launched his entire body off the ground, leaping into mid-air.
All that daily Meihua Posture training was a complete waste on him, as if he didn't understand the importance of a stable stance.
Flashy moves might look domineering, but they were riddled with openings.
His charging footsteps came to a sudden halt. Xu Yang's body coiled like a great python, his muscles tensing.
The instant Zhou Yang's fingers were about to dig into his shoulder, Xu Yang sank his chest and rounded his back. His shoulder shot up sharply, and Zhou Yang's hand missed. Instead of his shoulder, he grabbed Xu Yang's upper arm.
Xu Yang was strong and well-built. It was no exaggeration to say his arms were nearly as thick as an average person's thigh. When his muscles were tensed, they were even more formidable—how could anyone grab them with one hand?
So, when Zhou Yang tried to tighten his fingers, he felt like he was grabbing a massive tree. He couldn't dig in at all.
The next moment, Xu Yang had seized his wrist in a reverse grip.
'Not good!'
Zhou Yang's heart sank. He tried to react, but his body was still in the air, with no way to leverage any force.
The sound of a fist slicing through the air rang out as an uppercut smashed heavily into his chin.
BANG!
Zhou Yang's head snapped back, the whites of his eyes showing, and his hundred-plus-pound body was blasted upward by the impact.
His vision went black. He didn't even feel the searing pain because he was on the verge of blacking out.
But Xu Yang wasn't done!
He pulled back his fist, tucked in his arms, and lunged forward, driving his shoulder hard into Zhou Yang's chest.
With another loud THUD, Zhou Yang's body shot backward like a kicked ball. He landed three or four meters away, kicking up a cloud of dust, and skidded for another moment before coming to a stop.
"Aaaargh..."
Only then did Zhou Yang's miserable scream finally ring out. He clutched his chin with both hands, wailing and rolling on the ground.
Xu Yang stopped in his tracks, not striking again.
"Brother..."
Zhou Yuan roared and rushed over to help Zhou Yang up. Drops of blood were already trickling from between Zhou Yang's fingers. His chin was swollen beyond recognition, and he was twitching from the pain.
"Zhou Yang lost!"
"I thought this would be a clash of titans. It was over so fast."
"And it wasn't Xu Yang who lost! He's that strong? Why was he always too afraid to fight Zhou Yang before?"
"One exchange! He beat Zhou Yang in a single exchange! Xu Yang is a beast!"
...
The entire courtyard was in an uproar. Many people hadn't even processed what was happening before Zhou Yang was defeated.
It was over in the blink of an eye, after just two techniques.
"It's not that Xu Yang is so strong, it's that Zhou Yang is an idiot. Using the Bear King's Probing Claw as an opener and leaping into the air to look cool... his brain must be full of shit."
An older disciple, upon seeing the outcome, explained the reason for Zhou Yang's swift defeat.
If he hadn't been so arrogant and had fought Xu Yang on the ground, the outcome would've been much harder to predict.
"Xu Yang! This was a spar between fellow disciples! How could you be so vicious?" Zhou Yuan glared furiously at Xu Yang.
As for Zhou Yang, he still hadn't fully recovered his senses.
"Vicious my ass! He's the one who's trash. How was I supposed to know someone who'd been training half a month longer than me couldn't even last a single exchange? Go on, ask our fellow disciples here if I, Xu Yang, intentionally used excessive force."
As he spoke, Xu Yang walked over and asked with mock concern, "Senior Brother Zhou, are you all right? We agreed to a spar, you know. With so many people watching, you wouldn't try to frame me, would you?"
Zhou Yang had recovered his senses by then. Enduring the intense pain, he gritted out, "I'm fine. I'll be okay after a little rest. It was indeed just a spar."
Looking at the crowd around them, he swallowed his rage. Losing to Xu Yang was humiliating enough. Making a scene by accusing him of viciousness would only be more so.
Once your reputation stinks, it's hard to get by in this circle.
The crowd dispersed. For them, this was just a minor interlude; they still had to get back to their own training.
"Brother Lu Ren, what do you think of Xu Yang's strength? Could you tell?" Luo Dehu asked in a low voice.
"Nothing special. If it were me, I could have killed Zhou Yang on the spot with that exchange." Lu Ren flashed a confident smile.
He was confident he would achieve Qi Gathering by the end of the month at the latest. Xu Yang, who could barely afford to eat, was no longer qualified to be his rival.
"As expected of Brother Lu Ren! You'll soon be a respected master, a Martial Artist with a Qi Gathering Cultivation!" Luo Dehu couldn't help but suck up.
"Qi Gathering? What's that? My goal is to advance to Marrow Cleansing within a year." Lu Ren raised his head proudly.
By now, his sights were set not on Qi Gathering, but on the realm beyond it. Only people like Xu Yang were still focused on making a name for themselves after finally achieving Qi Gathering.