Chapter 15: Quarterfinals

As soon as Yang Tong jumped down from the stage, Feng Xiaobo came up to him, his face full of admiration. “Yang Tong, that slow, drawn-out fist style of yours is really that powerful?”

“I didn’t win easily,” Yang Tong shook his head. He didn’t feel excited; instead, he felt some pressure. The first opponent in the Grand Final Tournament was already this strong, what about the ones to come? Fortunately, this match gave me a new understanding of Taijiquan.

Pressure creates motivation, and Yang Tong was now full of motivation. He rarely had such strong drive.

The round of sixteen matches on the stage ended one after another. Those who qualified for the next round were: Yan Xiaodong from Class One, Xiao Jian from Class Four, Yang Tong from Class Five, Feng Jun from Class Six, Di Xuanluo and Niu Yue from Class Seven, Zheng Meimei from Class Eight, and Lu Guang from Class Nine—eight people in total.

For the quarterfinals, it would be Yan Xiaodong versus Xiao Jian, Yang Tong versus Feng Jun, Di Xuanluo versus Zheng Meimei, and Niu Yue versus Lu Guang.

The matches would officially begin in half an hour.

Yang Tong’s first match had ended relatively early, so he had rested enough by now. He wasn’t in a hurry himself and was chatting idly with Feng Xiaobo. Feng Xiaobo was gleefully teasing about the match between Di Xuanluo and Zheng Meimei, calling it the battle between the handsome guy and… well, that.

Just then, Ge Yunfei walked over.

“Monitor, what brings you here?” Feng Xiaobo asked quickly as he saw Ge Yunfei approach. Ge Yunfei was the monitor of Class Five and was quite popular in the class.

“Nothing much, just came to say a few words to Yang Tong,” Ge Yunfei replied with a smile. “Yang Tong, you’re the only one left from our Class Five. You have to give it your all. Your next opponent is no simple matter. His palm technique is called ‘Divine Sword Palm.’ It was adapted from sword techniques, swift as the wind and lightning, sharp as divine weapons, almost impossible to defend against.”

Hearing Ge Yunfei’s words, Yang Tong nodded seriously and thanked him. “Thanks for telling me. I’ll be careful.” Yang Tong naturally took his next opponent very seriously because he didn’t want to lose. Moreover, Yang Tong knew that Feng Jun and Feng Jun were twin brothers, and their martial arts styles were quite similar. Feng Jun had actually lost to Di Xuanluo. If he couldn’t even defeat Feng Jun, then wouldn’t the championship be out of his reach?

Over on Feng Jun’s side, familiar friends had also informed him about some of Yang Tong’s performances and strength.

“All contestants, please get ready and take your positions,” a voice announcing the imminent start of the match sounded at that moment. The previously noisy playground instantly quieted down.

“Yang Tong, do your best!” Feng Xiaobo handed a water bottle to Yang Tong and patted him on the shoulder.

Yang Tong nodded, took a sip of water, handed the bottle back to Feng Xiaobo, and with a leap, jumped onto the stage.

Feng Jun was a tall, thin, and stern-looking youth. Under the referee’s direction, the two exchanged a salute and each assumed their fighting stances.

“Begin!” The referee waved his hand and announced loudly.

“My palm technique is named after the divine sword. Watch carefully, here’s my move!” Feng Jun launched a fierce attack right from the start.

Although Yang Tong reacted in time and dodged, he hadn’t expected Feng Jun’s palm technique to be so unusual. Ordinary palm techniques mainly involved “slapping,” with the palm surface being the strongest attacking part. But Feng Jun’s palm technique focused on “stabbing,” with extremely strong piercing power, good at finding the opponent’s weak points.

After dodging a few moves and blocking more than a dozen, Yang Tong finally adapted to this palm technique. He identified the center of force in the palm strikes, directly broke its root of power, severed its foundation, and borrowed its force.

After gaining the initiative with his strong offense, Feng Jun had been on the offensive. But suddenly, he felt a strange force that diverted his own power and then sent it back. Instantly, he felt an awkward sensation, like punching cotton. Feng Jun wanted to pull back his arms but found himself stuck to his opponent and couldn’t retrieve them.

Feng Jun made a quick decision. He kicked at the point where their fists and palms met, forcefully withdrew his move, and took two steps back.

“Good fist technique. Again!” Feng Jun somewhat understood the function of Yang Tong’s fist style now, and his fighting spirit surged.

“Divine Sword Falling Petals Style!” Feng Jun knew he couldn’t get entangled with Yang Tong. Yang Tong’s fist technique borrowed force to strike back. Dragging it out would lead to his defeat sooner or later, so he might as well decide the outcome with one ultimate move. This move was the most powerful stance in the “Divine Sword Palm.”

Yang Tong’s surroundings were immediately engulfed by countless palm shadows, like falling petals, blurring the line between real and false. It seemed every palm shadow possessed deadly piercing power and lethality.

Yang Tong was speechless. Faced with such an unreasonable move, it was indeed a bit troublesome.

Taiji circular motion, sealing and closing!

Yang Tong used eighty percent of his strength. His body seemed to split into several figures. His moves appeared slow but were actually fast. Countless arm shadows formed a “circle,” stubbornly blocking the piercing of countless palm shadows and with difficulty guiding the opponent’s force into the “circle.”

Seeing that his prolonged attack wasn’t succeeding, Feng Jun couldn’t help but grow anxious.

He knew that even he couldn’t sustain the Divine Sword Falling Petals Style for too long; this move consumed a huge amount of energy. But he also knew his opponent was under great pressure. Because prolonged defense would inevitably lead to a slip-up, and as time passed, the pressure would surely increase greatly. Now it was a matter of who would hold out first.

Yang Tong was indeed under great pressure. If he couldn’t hold on, defeat was certain. But unlike what Feng Jun imagined, the pressure wasn’t constantly increasing. In fact, as time passed, Yang Tong could borrow and deflect more and more force, naturally becoming more and more at ease.

The two, one attacking and one defending, held out for about five minutes. Finally, Feng Jun couldn’t hold on any longer. His strength and speed began to decline.

Seizing the opportunity, Yang Tong used the “burst” principle, releasing all the accumulated force in the “circle” at once.

Feng Jun reacted extremely quickly. He withdrew his force and move, mustering his remaining strength to meet Yang Tong’s dual palms. Their four palms collided.

“Boom—”

Yang Tong was forced back three steps, but Feng Jun was sent flying five meters away. He fell to the ground, sweating profusely as if he couldn’t catch his breath. Clearly, he was overly exhausted, and with that final strike, his internal organs must have been injured.

“1, 2, 3, 4…” The referee began the count.

Yang Tong stood still, not moving, but he gained more insight in his heart. Everything has a limit. If the piercing power and speed of Feng Jun’s palm technique had exceeded Yang Tong’s neural reaction speed, even the most exquisite Taijiquan couldn’t have blocked it.

Just now, it was precisely because Feng Jun’s attack speed did not exceed Yang Tong’s neural reaction speed that Yang Tong could fully perceive the pattern and defend perfectly.

“9, 10! Yang Tong wins!” the referee announced loudly. At the same time, several school doctors came up and carefully examined Feng Jun.

“It’s fine. He’s just exhausted, and his internal organs suffered some shock. Nothing serious,” the school doctor said after the examination, and they carried him away.