Chapter 82 Flower of Battle

Beicheng District, Lianhai City. The Fourth floor of a bustling shopping mall.

A small half of this large mall was occupied by a single Sect branch, its outer partitions made entirely of transparent glass. To the left of the branch’s main Sect entrance hung a stylish illuminated sign, printed with two lines of text in both Celestial Essence script and the common language of the Ousu and Soviet Countries.

—Flower of Battle: Ousu Traditional Martial Arts Club.

Passersby shopping in the mall could easily see inside through the glass. Over a hundred people were either sparring with swords in small groups of two or three, or engaging in solo routine Xiu practices. However, most of them were gathered in the center of the club’s arena.

Elastic ropes enclosed a ring roughly twenty meters across. Inside the ring, two figures wearing Protective Gear were engaged in high-speed combat, swords in hand. The longswords in their hands were plain in design with slightly wide blades, and without exception, they featured long, straight crossguards.

During the clash of blades, they frequently used this guard to Block their opponent’s chops. They even coordinated it with the blade to lock the opponent’s sword to one side, thereby gaining a massive offensive advantage.

The gathered students were watching this battle intently. They looked extremely excited, constantly letting out exclamations and cheering shouts.

After all, real-life battles between Fierce Level experts were actually quite rare. This was despite statistics showing over a million Fierce-level Powerhouses globally, with a hundred thousand in Celestial Essence alone. In reality, more than half of these Superhumans held special combat positions in the official Military Department or other law enforcement agencies.

Of those who Flowed out into society, at least half were employed by major corporations or powerful factions. Coupled with a portion of unrestrained, independent experts who wandered the gray areas of society’s laws, ultimately, only a minuscule fraction of experts remained visible to the general public. Unless one was an insider, the chances of a regular person seeing a Fierce-level Powerhouse in real life were actually lower than watching an Instant Level expert’s match on TV.

Therefore, witnessing Fierce Level experts sparring openly was a considerable stroke of luck for the students here in the Flower of Battle.

However, battles between Fierce Level experts were different from those at the Instant Level. The high-frequency exchanges and the continuous display of Absolute skills that people saw in Instant Level matches rarely occurred in Fierce Level combat. Fierce-level Powerhouses lacked the ability to See Through their opponents’ physical tells, so a battle between two Fierce Level experts relied entirely on experience and reaction Speed to fight. As a result, it appeared even more perilous.

For example, inside the ring right now, after exchanging over a dozen rapid, close-quarters strikes, the two Swordsmen immediately arrived at the deciding moment!

One executed a cross-step split strike, intending to break his opponent’s spinning parry. Yet, the very instant he initiated the move, the other man seized the premeditated opportunity, raising his sword and pushing the spine to forcefully deflect the blade before immediately following up with an advancing thrust.

THUD!

The unsharpened, blunt tip of the sword struck the opponent’s chest plate, forcing him two steps back.

The man coughed softly and let out a helpless laugh, raising his hand to concede. “Alright, alright, you caught the flaw in my movement change again. Chu Ming, your reaction Speed is simply too exaggerated.”

The victor took off his Helmet, revealing a rather young, boyish face. He chuckled, “Brother Tang, holding back is no fun.” Grinning, he walked up to Brother Tang, who had also removed his Helmet. “Why don’t we go all out? It’d be more satisfying that way.”

Beneath his Helmet, Brother Tang had the look of an older veteran. He patted Chu Ming’s shoulder and shook his head helplessly. “Forget it. Our strength is too high. If we go all out, it’ll damage the swords and Protective Gear too much. Besides, don’t you have an opponent coming for a spar later? It’s best not to waste too much stamina.”

Chu Ming scoffed dismissively, his expression tinged with disdain. “I’ve never lost a spar against anyone in my generation.”

Seeing the young man’s confident demeanor, Brother Tang’s eyes glazed over slightly. Thinking back to his own past, he had been just as spirited as Chu Ming, believing himself to be the unparalleled genius of his generation. That was until he participated in that year’s Rising Star Ranking Tournament, thinking he could make a name for himself across the world…

Only to run into a true monster.

A bitter smile surfaced on his face. Looking at the arrogant youth before him, he said pointedly, “Chu Ming, after only three years of practicing Swordsmanship, you’ve already reached the Xiong Zhong level. Even among Superhumans, you’re considered a genius, but you must know there is always a bigger fish out there.

“Take last year’s Rising Star champion, Ren Bai, for example. He reached the Fierce Upper Level before he even turned twenty. You still have a long road ahead of you, and you won’t lack opportunities to encounter such heavenly geniuses. I hope you can remain this optimistic when that time comes.”

Chu Ming looked unfazed. “Brother Tang, a super genius like Ren Bai might not appear even once in several years. Plus, apart from my lack of resources and perhaps my physical strength falling short of his…

“In all other aspects, whether it’s technical precision or reaction Speed, I shouldn’t be inferior to him. Even if I really fought Ren Bai, I wouldn’t flinch.”

Brother Tang sighed softly, offering no further warnings to Chu Ming. A person would only realize the gap between themselves and others after truly experiencing defeat.

Chu Ming glanced at the time. It was already nine-fifty. He frowned. “Are the people from Gangrou Sword Hall still not here? Arriving at the exact last minute is way too rude.”

Brother Tang also silently checked the clock on the wall, but before he could speak—

The next moment, the polite greeting of the receptionist rang out. “Welcome! How may I help you?”

Then, another crisp, energetic girl’s voice sounded. “We have an appointment!”

Brother Tang and Chu Ming both looked toward the front desk by the Sect entrance. They saw a young man and woman.

The girl was about Seventeen or eighteen years old, beautiful with fair, jade-like skin, and slightly round eyes that seemed to speak. Her figure was petite yet curvaceous. Below her light blue denim shorts were fair, shapely legs, paired with a simple white T-shirt on top, giving her quite a casual, everyday look. She gave off the friendly vibe of everyone’s ideal girl next door.

The young man, on the other hand, looked to be under twenty. He carried an elegant, dark cyan long wooden box on his back and held a silver case in his hand. His expression was calm, his eyebrows sharp as swords, and his lips slightly thin. He possessed an exceptionally striking appearance.

Then, they saw the girl turn her head with a beaming smile to glance in their direction before looking back at the receptionist. “Miss, we are students from Gangrou Sword Hall. Under our master’s orders, we’ve come to spar with your genius newcomer, Chu Ming.”

A spar!?

Following the girl’s words, the expressions of everyone in the entire club changed. People from another hall coming to spar with their Sword Hall?

To put it nicely, it was a spar. To put it bluntly, wasn’t it a challenge to their dojo!?

At this, even the many young men whose hearts had initially fluttered because of the girl’s pretty face suddenly felt she wasn’t so cute anymore. However, Brother Tang had already reacted. Putting on a smile, he walked forward.

He looked directly at the young man. “Are you that Feng Yin?”

The young man nodded slightly. “Are you Chu Ming?”

Brother Tang pointed behind him. “I am Tang Army. The guy behind me is Chu Ming. You’ll be fighting him later.”

Feng Yin followed the man’s pointing finger and saw the young man, who was also wearing Protective Gear and sporting an exceptionally confident expression. The two exchanged a look for several seconds.

Feng Yin asked softly, “How do you want to compete?”

Chu Ming smiled faintly, looking at Feng Yin with a peculiar gaze. “I don’t have time to waste with you. We’ll decide the winner in a single match.”

Feng Yin glanced at the reflection of Light on his sweaty forehead. Not wanting to take advantage of him, he nodded lightly and said, “I’ll give you ten minutes to rest.”

“Rest?” Chu Ming revealed a confident smile and slowly shook his head. “I’ve only just finished warming up.”

Seeing this, Feng Yin looked straight at Tang Army next to them. “He’s warmed up, but I haven’t. It’s not quite fair to me. Let him rest for ten minutes before we fight.”

Chu Ming was speechless.

He thought, “Seriously, dude, are you out of your mind?”