Chapter 80 : Chapter 80
Chapter 80. Let Me Teach You a Lesson
The next morning, on Changning Street,
Xu Yuan was checking this month’s street accounts when Chen Sanli came in quickly, his expression rather strange.
“Brother Xu, someone’s outside. He says he’s Yang Feng from Fufeng Street. He specifically asked for you by name, saying that… he wants to test what you’re made of.”
“Yang Feng?”
After a brief moment of thought, Xu Yuan remembered him—a Fourth Meridian martial artist under the Bai family, famous for his speed and with quite a reputation.
“Is he alone?”
“Just him. He’s standing right at the street entrance, brazen as can be.”
Xu Yuan set down the account book and rose to his feet. “Let’s go take a look.”
At the street entrance, Yang Feng stood there in fitted martial attire with his arms folded, chin slightly raised, his expression arrogant.
Quite a crowd of martial artists and commoners from both streets had already gathered nearby, whispering among themselves and pointing.
The news of Xu Tianlong’s defeat yesterday had already spread, and now someone from the Bai family had come again to issue a challenge. Naturally, it drew attention.
When he saw Xu Yuan come out, Yang Feng sized him up from head to toe, and the disdain in his eyes grew even stronger.
“So you’re Xu Yuan? You don’t look like much.”
“I heard you’re pretty fast. Good timing—I’ve practiced a bit with my legs too. Today I’m here to teach you what real movement technique looks like!”
Before his voice had even fallen, his body suddenly blurred.
The crowd only felt their vision flash. Yang Feng had already closed in on Xu Yuan like a streak of green wind, one hand chopping silently toward Xu Yuan’s neck.
He was astonishingly fast—he even seemed a shade faster than Xu Yuan’s Minor Mastery Youlong Step!
Xu Yuan’s pupils contracted slightly. His feet moved at once, Youlong Step unfolding instantly as he narrowly twisted aside. The force-wind raised by Yang Feng’s hand strike scraped his cheek painfully.
“Oh? Not bad. But still lacking a bit.”
Yang Feng was slightly surprised that his first strike had missed, but he did not pause in the slightest. His body flashed again, turning into several blurred afterimages as he attacked Xu Yuan from different angles.
What his Gale Step emphasized was one word: fast.
It pushed speed to the extreme, making his offensive like a torrential storm, so swift it dazzled the eye.
Xu Yuan calmed his mind and centered his breath, pushing Youlong Step to its limit.
His movement technique was not as fast as Yang Feng’s, but it was stranger and more unpredictable. Again and again, at the last possible instant, he shifted and turned with the smallest possible motions, evading the fatal attacks.
At the same time, Tieyi Gong circulated silently through his body, a bronze sheen surfacing faintly on his skin and protecting his vital areas.
Bang bang bang!
Figures crossed and intertwined in the field, fists and legs colliding in a dense string of impacts.
Yang Feng grew faster and faster, almost turning into a mass of green shadow as he circled Xu Yuan and attacked.
Xu Yuan, meanwhile, was like a boulder fixed at the center. Though he defended far more than he attacked, his steps did not falter in the slightest. No matter how fierce Yang Feng’s assault became, Xu Yuan always managed to protect his vital points at the final moment.
The surrounding spectators were dazzled, even holding their breath as they watched.
At some point, Lin Yue’e and Zhao Tieshan had also arrived after hearing the news. They stood at a distance watching the battle, their expressions grave.
“Yang Feng’s speed… truly is terrifying,” Zhao Tieshan murmured.
“Street Guard Xu’s defense also seems much stronger than before.” Lin Yue’e had sharp eyes. She noticed that Xu Yuan had deliberately taken a few attacks he could have dodged, yet his body had only swayed slightly, with no real harm done.
“Could this be… a hard-body martial art?” Zhao Tieshan narrowed his eyes, shock and uncertainty rising in his heart.
…
In the field, Yang Feng had attacked for a long time without breaking through, and agitation gradually began to rise in his heart.
His Gale Step was fast, but it also consumed a great deal. This kind of intense, continuous assault could not last long.
What alarmed him even more was that Xu Yuan’s defense was practically watertight. That layer of bronze skin on Xu Yuan’s body was astonishingly tough. When Yang Feng’s attacks landed, it felt as though there was nowhere for his strength to truly bite.
Even when a bit of force occasionally penetrated, it sank away like a mud ox entering the sea, quickly dissolved by Xu Yuan’s vigorous qi and blood.
Could it be that he’s wearing treasure armor too?
Yang Feng was inwardly suspicious. He himself was protected by treasure armor, but Xu Yuan’s defense seemed to be more than just the effect of armor.
Another dozen exchanges passed, and Yang Feng’s breathing had already grown disordered. His speed slowed by the tiniest margin.
At that fleeting instant, a sharp light burst from Xu Yuan’s eyes.
Seizing the moment when Yang Feng’s old force had just faded and his new force had yet to be born, Xu Yuan’s footwork suddenly changed. Instead of retreating, he took the initiative to close the distance, his right fist striking like a venomous dragon that had lain in ambush for ages, smashing straight toward Yang Feng’s lower abdomen!
The timing and speed of that punch were both exquisite to the absolute limit!
Yang Feng was greatly alarmed. He used his movement technique at full power to retreat sharply, while also throwing up a palm to block.
Boom!
Fist and palm collided.
Yang Feng only felt a needle-like, condensed force easily pierce through the defense of his palm strength and slam viciously into the treasure armor over his lower abdomen.
The treasure armor flashed faintly, weakening most of the force, but a crafty strand of power still penetrated into his body.
He gave a muffled grunt, his face turning pale as he staggered backward.
Qi and blood churned violently in his lower abdomen. The penetrating force was not fatal, but it instantly threw his breathing into disorder, and a minute stiffness immediately appeared in the circulation of his footwork.
When experts fought, victory was decided in a single line!
At the moment Yang Feng’s body stalled ever so slightly, Xu Yuan moved!
Youlong Step erupted with full force. Like a disease clinging to the bone, he stuck close to Yang Feng, both fists shooting out together, the shadows of his punches falling like rushing thunder and covering Yang Feng’s entire body.
Yang Feng was horrified. He barely managed to gather his breath to dodge and block, but with his breathing already disrupted and his speed greatly reduced, how could he still completely evade Xu Yuan’s long-prepared ferocious counterattack?
Bang bang bang!
Pff!
Amid the string of dense collisions came one heavy, muffled impact.
Yang Feng took two punches to the chest in succession. Though protected by treasure armor, his qi and blood still shook violently. Sweetness rose in his throat, and he could no longer suppress it.
With a “wah,” he spat out a mouthful of blood. His entire body flew backward and crashed heavily to the ground. He struggled twice, but for a moment could not get back up.
The field fell into total silence, broken only by Yang Feng’s heavy gasps.
Xu Yuan slowly withdrew his fists and stood where he was. His own breathing had also become a bit uneven, but his gaze remained sharp.
He glanced at the fallen Yang Feng and did not step forward again. He only said lightly,
“That’s enough for today.”
His tone was casual, as though he had merely dealt with some cat or dog on the road.
“You’ve gone too far…”
Hearing that, Yang Feng’s face flushed red with pent-up anger, yet he could do nothing.
The winner had already been decided.
The martial artists of Changning Street erupted into thunderous cheers, while the Bai family’s onlooking martial artists all looked ashen, unable to believe what they had just seen.
Lin Yue’e and Zhao Tieshan exchanged a look, and each saw the shock in the other’s eyes.
In just a few short days, Xu Yuan had not only brought his movement technique to Minor Mastery—he had also trained his defense to this level?
This cultivation speed was simply terrifying!
And judging by how things looked, he had won even more calmly than he had against Xu Tianlong!
Just how much strength was he still hiding?!
…