In the training ground.
As Qin Xuan voluntarily jumped off the stage, only Jiang Ning and Yuan Fei remained in the arena.
"Your turn!" Yuan Fei grinned, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Jiang Ning.
At this moment, Yuan Fei's demeanor was completely different from before, resembling a violent and ferocious ape.
As he grinned, his crimson gums were exposed.
On the other side.
Hong Minghu's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Monkey King's True Form!"
"Monkey King's True Form?" Gongsun Yu, the Third Elder of the Medicine King Valley, was momentarily stunned.
Hong Minghu nodded slightly. "Yes, it's the high-tier martial art, Monkey King's True Form."
"So, this young man has already begun to master the Monkey King's True Form?" Gongsun Yu looked at Yuan Fei on the stage in astonishment.
Then, he sighed. "What a pity! This young man is already twenty-seven, yet he's still at the eighth rank of martial arts. Even if he's begun to master the Monkey King's True Form, his future in martial arts is limited. What a waste of such exceptional comprehension!"
"Indeed, it's a pity," Hong Minghu nodded in agreement.
At twenty-seven, Yuan Fei only had about seven or eight years left in his prime martial arts years.
Judging from his current achievements, unless he encountered some extraordinary opportunity, it would be impossible for him to reach the fifth rank, the Internal Strengthening Realm, like Hong Minghu.
Without reaching the fifth rank, Yuan Fei's physical abilities would decline after seven or eight years, and his strength would wane, making it difficult for him to achieve greater things.
Thinking of this, Hong Minghu shook his head slightly, then turned his gaze to Jiang Ning on the stage.
"It's also a pity for this young man. His luck is poor, encountering someone who has mastered a high-tier martial art at such a critical moment."
Gongsun Yu nodded. "Prefect Hong is right. This kid's luck is indeed bad. Who would have thought he'd run into someone who has mastered a high-tier martial art in such a small place?"
At the same time.
On the stage.
Monkey King's True Form?
A high-tier martial art?
Hearing these words, Jiang Ning was also slightly surprised.
"No wonder Qin Xuan lost. He didn't lose unjustly!"
"Blade combat or hand-to-hand combat? You choose!" Yuan Fei looked at Jiang Ning, his tone indifferent.
At this point, in his eyes, the last deputy commander position was already his for the taking.
If Qin Xuan had been easily forced off the stage, Jiang Ning would be no exception.
In Yuan Fei's view, with his current strength, even facing those two seventh-rank martial artists, he had a fifty percent chance of winning.
The reason he hadn't challenged them was simply to play it safe, not out of fear.
Mastering a high-tier martial art was his source of confidence.
"Blade combat!" Jiang Ning said directly.
"Brave!" Yuan Fei grinned again.
At this moment, Jiang Ning turned to the man overseeing the competition. "Sir, I need a heavier blade."
"Even heavier?" the man asked.
"Yes, even heavier," Jiang Ning replied.
"Alright," the man nodded.
He went to the weapon rack on the side of the stage and selected a heavy broadsword.
The back of the blade had nine holes, each with a ring.
"Be careful, this blade is heavy!" the man said, grabbing the hilt and tossing it to Jiang Ning.
The heavy broadsword whistled through the air.
Clang
Jiang Ning caught the blade with his right hand, and the rings on the back of the blade clashed, producing a metallic clanging sound.
"Good blade!" Jiang Ning's face lit up with joy.
As soon as the blade was in his hand, he knew its weight.
It weighed a full three hundred pounds.
A three-hundred-pound blade was still a bit light for his nearly four-thousand-pound strength, but it was already quite good.
After all, this was just a training ground. Having such a heavy blade here was a pleasant surprise.
With this three-hundred-pound blade in hand, Jiang Ning's confidence in defeating Yuan Fei grew.
At his current level of strength, a suitable blade could significantly enhance his power.
A blade weighing a few dozen pounds and one weighing three hundred pounds, with the same strength, would deliver completely different levels of explosive force when swung.
Moreover, a heavier blade of similar size naturally indicated superior materials.
After witnessing Yuan Fei's fighting style, Jiang Ning understood that to deal with him, he needed a blade that was both heavy and sturdy.
After all, his strength lay in overpowering his opponents with brute force, not in finesse.
When relying on brute force, a blade that wasn't heavy or sturdy enough wouldn't do.
If he were using a willow-leaf blade, no matter how strong he was, it would snap instantly under Yuan Fei's thousand-pound staff strike.
Because in such a situation, a thin, delicate blade like the willow-leaf blade would break immediately.
Jiang Ning walked to the center of the stage, standing opposite Yuan Fei.
Thud
Yuan Fei planted his iron staff on the stage, producing a dull sound.
"Let's go!" Yuan Fei said.
At this moment, his eyes were bloodshot, his mouth protruding, and his arms long and thick, resembling an enraged ape.
At the same time.
Jiang Ning's right foot stomped on the ground, and in an instant, he went from stillness to motion, charging toward Yuan Fei like a shadow.
Meanwhile, internal force was already circulating and accumulating within Jiang Ning's body.
As the internal force gathered, it felt like a mountain flood ready to burst.
"Bring it on!" Yuan Fei's eyes narrowed.
He kicked the staff planted on the ground with his right foot, instantly gripping it with both hands and swinging it toward Jiang Ning.
Clang
In mid-air.
Blade and staff clashed.
With the explosive force of the Fivefold Strength and the weight of the three-hundred-pound blade.
Boom
Yuan Fei's right leg was forced to take a step back, and the moment his foot touched the ground, it erupted with terrifying power.
Sizzle
Yuan Fei's muscles bulged violently, his arms and legs swelling to the point of tearing his clothes.
In an instant, fabric scraps flew everywhere.
"Take this!" Yuan Fei roared, his arms exerting force as he prepared to switch from defense to offense.
But at this moment, Jiang Ning's heavy blade seemed unaffected by the force.
As soon as the blade and staff separated, another strike came down.
Clang
Yuan Fei had no choice but to continue defending with his staff.
Thud
Under the immense explosive force, Yuan Fei's left leg was forced to take another step back.
As his thick left leg landed, the stage cracked.
"Such terrifying strength!" The man overseeing the competition couldn't help but pale slightly.
The force required to crack the stage with a single step was beyond what an eighth-rank martial artist should possess.
"How powerful is this blade strike?" The man looked at Jiang Ning, utterly astonished.
Then.
Thud
Yuan Fei took another step back, and the stage cracked again, with fissures spreading in all directions.
Clang
Jiang Ning swung his blade once more.
The explosive internal force sent Yuan Fei retreating again.
Then, strike after strike.
The blade's momentum was relentless, and Yuan Fei was forced to retreat repeatedly.
Just as Qin Xuan had been overwhelmed earlier, Yuan Fei now found himself in the same predicament.
Under Jiang Ning's powerful and lightning-fast blade strikes, Yuan Fei couldn't find any opportunity to counterattack.
He could only retreat, gradually falling into the same situation Qin Xuan had been in.
Below the stage.
Qin Xuan couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction as he watched.
Earlier, facing Yuan Fei's relentless staff attacks, even though he had blocked them all, he had been pushed to the point of nearly vomiting blood from the strain.
If not for that, he wouldn't have chosen to jump off the stage and concede.
Now, seeing Yuan Fei follow in his footsteps, Qin Xuan felt a deep sense of vindication.
At the same time, he was also extremely shocked by Jiang Ning's strength.
Having faced Yuan Fei himself, he knew just how powerful Yuan Fei was!
Being completely suppressed without any chance to fight back highlighted the immense gap between them.
And he was one of the top contenders among the many who had emerged as team leaders in the Inspectorate.
In fact, among the team leaders, he was at least in the top three.
Yet, he had been completely suppressed by Yuan Fei.
And now, Yuan Fei was being completely suppressed by Jiang Ning.
"What kind of monster is this?!" Qin Xuan thought, recalling Jiang Ning's earlier revelation that he was only eighteen. His heart was filled with complexity.
He had always considered himself a prodigy, born into a wealthy family, blessed with exceptional talent, and having sailed smoothly through life, with few peers who could match him.
Yet today, in this small place, he had witnessed what a true martial arts prodigy looked like.
He looked at the stage, where Yuan Fei's face was flushed red, his eyes bloodshot and filled with rage.
"To think I considered myself a prodigy, yet I don't even have the right to stand before him," Qin Xuan smiled bitterly.
Yuan Fei had been able to suppress him to the point of suffocation, and now Jiang Ning was doing the same to Yuan Fei.
The gap between them was unimaginably vast.
Moreover, Jiang Ning, who had achieved this, was still so young, not even twenty years old.
On the stage.
Yuan Fei had retreated to the same position Qin Xuan had been in earlier, only half a zhang (about 1.5 meters) away from the edge of the stage.
At this moment.
What seemed like an intense battle to outsiders felt like a warm-up to Jiang Ning.
Because his internal organs had already achieved some level of strength, far surpassing that of an ordinary person.
Even though he was wielding a three-hundred-pound blade and delivering full-force strikes with each swing, his face wasn't flushed, and his heart wasn't racing.
This level of combat was, at most, a warm-up for him.
Then, he swung his blade again, the wind whistling through the nine rings on the back of the blade, producing a ghostly wail.
Seeing this strike, Yuan Fei's eyes bulged like copper bells.
"Break!"
He roared, and a blood-red mist began to rise from his body.
The muscles in his limbs became as solid as iron, with clearly visible blue veins and meridians snaking across them.
"A forbidden technique!" Hong Minghu on the viewing platform uttered these words.
In the next moment.
Clang
Blade and staff clashed.
A vast and overwhelming force instantly transmitted from the blade to Jiang Ning's right arm.
Thud, thud, thud
Faced with this tremendous force, Jiang Ning was forced to take three steps back.
So strong!
Jiang Ning was inwardly shocked.
"Die" Yuan Fei glared furiously.
At this moment, his eyes seemed to burn with crimson flames.
A faint red mist surrounded his entire body.
As the staff came down, even before it reached halfway, Jiang Ning felt a powerful wind pressure bearing down on him.
"Bring it on!" Jiang Ning smiled.
Yuan Fei's earlier strength hadn't posed much of a threat to him.
It had made the fight somewhat boring.
But now, this staff strike excited him.
A clash of titans was exactly what he wanted.
In the next moment.
Thud
His heart suddenly beat heavily.
It was like a stone dropping into a calm lake, creating ripples.
The blood in his body surged like wild horses breaking free.
In an instant.
He felt an endless surge of power within him, his energy brimming and nowhere to vent.
His skin quickly turned red, veins bulging, and his muscles, under intense stimulation, took on the shape of coiled dragons.
All these changes happened in the blink of an eye.
At this moment, the restrictions within his body had been lifted.
Only a fifth-rank martial artist who had achieved internal strengthening could do this.
Lifting the body's restrictions and fully unleashing its potential.
Increasing speed, strength, reaction time, and endurance across the board.
And this was just a basic technique for fifth-rank martial artists.
But using this basic fifth-rank technique here far surpassed the effects of any forbidden technique.
On the other side.
On the viewing platform, Hong Minghu's pupils constricted sharply.
Internal and external cultivation, with significant internal achievements!!!
Gongsun Yu, seeing this, also had his pupils shrink violently.
Because both of them were fifth-rank martial artists.
They could naturally recognize the technique Jiang Ning was using.
It was a technique that could only be mastered after achieving a certain level of internal strengthening and enhancing the functions of the internal organs.
Moreover, using this technique required a relatively strong level of mental control.
Only those with strong enough mental power to visualize their entire bodies could use this technique to lift the body's restrictions and unleash its potential.
This technique was far superior to any forbidden technique.
Because the inspiration for most forbidden techniques came from the technique of lifting the body's restrictions.
"What kind of monster is this?" Hong Minghu couldn't help but marvel inwardly.
Jiang Ning's current performance was nothing short of astonishing.
"If I were suited to take on disciples, I would try to take this kid as my student. His performance is truly monstrous!" Hong Minghu sighed as he watched Jiang Ning.
At this moment.
Gongsun Yu also looked at Jiang Ning with envy.
"How wonderful it would be to take him as a disciple?"
"What a pity! What a pity!!"
He glanced at Hong Minghu beside him and sighed inwardly.
On the stage.
Jiang Ning swung his blade.
As the blade came down, a solid sense of pressure instantly enveloped Yuan Fei.
At the same time, Yuan Fei's flame-filled eyes saw nothing but the blade in mid-air.
The blade reflected in Yuan Fei's fiery pupils, creating the image of a golden blade forged in flames.
On the viewing platform.
Clang
The table in front of Hong Minghu shook, moving slightly by a centimeter.
Blade momentum!!
Hong Minghu's pupils constricted again.
"How is this possible?!" Gongsun Yu's mouth hung open.
As the Third Elder of the Medicine King Valley, he was well-traveled and knowledgeable. How could he not recognize that Jiang Ning's blade strike carried the momentum of the blade?
And this mysterious and profound technique was something even he had not mastered.
Among fifth-rank martial artists in the world, fewer than half had mastered any form of momentum.
Because only by mastering momentum could one advance to the fourth rank.
Momentum.
It was a mysterious and indescribable technique!
But there was no doubt that this technique was incredibly powerful.
No matter what kind of momentum one mastered, once unleashed, it was as if one could borrow the power of heaven and earth, merging with the universe.
Facing a master of momentum, one could only confront it head-on, with no way to escape.
If the momentum was strong enough, it could even overwhelm the opponent.
Winning without fighting.
This was something even the Valley Master couldn't achieve.
He had once been fortunate enough to witness such a master, a remarkably young fourth-rank martial artist.
That fourth-rank master's momentum was unimaginably powerful.
When the momentum erupted, all he felt was terror, not daring to make the slightest move.
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