Chapter 255.2: Lu Changsheng Takes on a Hundred Alone! Extreme Martial Dao Sweeps Through the Pan City Martial Arts Community! (II)

Time flew, and a month passed in the blink of an eye.

The outside world buzzed with excitement and the internet remained in an uproar, but none of it reached Lu Changsheng. He had announced that he was going into seclusion to prepare for the fight and cut himself off from all outside news, leaving the day-to-day affairs of the Extreme Martial Dao Center to Fei Qianliu and Senior Sister Xiang.

There was little reason for him to concern himself with anything else at the moment. After all, what could possibly be more important than the challenge he had issued to every martial artist in Pan City at the Hidden Force level or above?

For an entire month, he allowed no one to disturb him.

Eventually, he opened his eyes. It's already been more than four months since I entered this secret world...

Looking back, it felt as though he had accomplished a great deal over those four months, but in truth, nearly everything he had done came down to one thing: practicing martial arts. Even now, he was still striving to break past his own limits and step into transcendence. Unfortunately, that goal remained far beyond his reach.

Lu Changsheng summoned his Status Panel and examined his current progress.

[Status Panel]

Host: Lu Yuan

Extreme Martial Dao Style: First Growth (40%)

It looked like Lu Changsheng's physical condition had already advanced to forty percent in First Growth without his realizing it.

Perhaps that number was not particularly remarkable at first glance, especially when it meant he still had another sixty percent to go before reaching the limits of the human body. However, by ordinary standards, forty percent was already extraordinary.

Even people with an excellent physique rarely broke past five percent. Those born with tremendous natural strength might surpass ten percent, but individuals like that were extraordinarily rare. One might emerge only once in a century.

When Lu Changsheng's progress had stood at just twenty-three percent, he had already been able to overpower the Hidden Force martial artists of the Bear-Hugging Martial Arts Center without even using his full strength. Now, at forty percent, he could genuinely claim there was no one in this sacred world stronger than him.

Suddenly, a knock on the door broke Lu Changsheng's train of thought, and Senior Sister Xiang's voice came from outside the room. "Master, it's time."

Creeeaaak...

Lu Changsheng opened the door and stepped out of the room.

Hundreds of students from the Extreme Martial Dao Center were already waiting outside. Every one of them wore a black martial arts uniform and stood in neat formation, their eyes filled with fervent respect as they looked at him.

Senior Sister Xiang had specially commissioned a designer to create the uniforms, giving students of the Extreme Martial Dao Center an appearance entirely distinct from practitioners of traditional Force martial arts. The design was simple but striking, and with hundreds of people dressed alike and standing together, the effect was powerful indeed.

Lu Changsheng swept his gaze across them. "Let's go."

Without another word, he led his people out of the Extreme Martial Dao Center and toward the Pan City Plaza.

***

The Extreme Martial Dao Center had chosen Pan City Plaza as the site of the challenge. The plaza was large enough to accommodate the enormous crowd, but more importantly, the open space gave Lu Changsheng room to move.

That mattered when he would be facing dozens, perhaps even a hundred opponents at once. If they fought in a cramped ring and everyone rushed him together, there would be almost no room for technique or maneuvering. In a wide-open plaza, however, he could dodge, reposition himself, and make full use of his speed and movement.

A crowd had already gathered at the plaza.

"They're here! The people from the Extreme Martial Dao Center are here!"

"They look so intimidating! Some of those students have only been training for a few days, yet they're already carrying themselves in a completely different manner."

"Just look at their physiques. Imagine what they'll be like after training for a few months."

"Exactly. Every one of them is built like a tank. Who would dare underestimate them looking like that?"

"They say the Extreme Martial Dao strengthens the entire body. Judging from these students, that doesn't seem like an exaggeration. Could traditional Force martial arts really be nothing more than flashy techniques?"

Most of the people surrounding the plaza were ordinary spectators who knew little about martial arts. They had no real understanding of martial artists who train their Force or the Extreme Martial Dao and had traveled to Pan City simply to witness the spectacle.

The difference between the martial artists who trained in the Extreme Martial Dao and those who trained their Force was striking. The students of the Extreme Martial Dao Center wore matching black martial arts uniforms, and nearly every one of them had a broad back, thick muscles, and a powerful build. Standing together in formation, hundreds of them created an imposing sight.

The martial artists who trained their Force, on the other hand, wore all kinds of clothing, and their physiques varied just as widely. Some were muscular, while others looked no different from ordinary people. It was hard to tell if they were actually strong.

From appearance alone, the Extreme Martial Dao had already won before the fight even began. However, the martial artists who trained their Force did not seem afraid at all.

"The Extreme Martial Dao Center certainly knows how to make its people look impressive," one of them sneered. ℴℴ𝘮

Another laughed. "With physiques like that, they should've opened a fitness gym instead. Why bother calling themselves martial artists?"

"If bigger muscles automatically meant greater strength, there'd be no need to fight. We could just line everyone up and see who's bigger."

Quite a few spectators found their comments reasonable. After all, looking strong and actually knowing how to fight were two entirely different things.

However, the truth was, the martial artists who trained their Force knew that physical ability was hardly meaningless. They also preferred disciples with naturally strong physiques. Someone born with extraordinary strength who then learned to train Force could combine that natural advantage with refined martial techniques and become an exceptionally powerful fighter.

In fact, some martial artists had already begun wondering whether the Extreme Martial Dao and Force martial arts could be practiced together. Extreme Martial Dao could strengthen the body, while training Force could refine technique and control. If the strengths of both systems could be combined, perhaps the result would be even greater than either one alone.

But that was nothing more than wishful thinking, and Lu Changsheng had never once entertained it. To him, there was no reason to waste time practicing Force martial arts. No matter how far the traditional system was pushed, it could never allow someone to step into transcendence. Extreme Martial Dao, on the other hand, could actually push the human body beyond its natural limits and open a path toward transcendence. In Lu Changsheng's eyes, the two systems could not even be compared.

Of course, no one would be convinced with his words alone, and neither would defeating one or two opponents prove anything. Instead, he was going to use this fight to crush their doubts so thoroughly that no one would have anything left to say. He was going to beat them into submission.

Lu Changsheng entered the plaza and walked straight to the center. Once there, he pulled off his jacket and tossed it aside, revealing a muscular, chiseled physique. Combined with his tall frame, he looked almost like a small giant from a distance, and the intimidating aura he gave off made many spectators instinctively tense.

"So that's Lu Yuan, the founder of the Extreme Martial Dao?"

"That's him, alright. A few months ago, he couldn't even make it past the first round of the Martial Arts Tournament. He was nearly beaten to death by someone using the Meridian-Severing Fist. Who would've thought he would turn that disaster into an opportunity? He supposedly attained enlightenment afterward, created Extreme Martial Dao, and ended up where he is today."

"Is the martial artist who nearly killed him back then here?"

"You mean Zhao Jie, the Meridian-Severing Fist practitioner? Yeah, he's here."

"Ah, yes, I see him. This should be interesting. He nearly killed Lu Yuan once. Let's see whether he can still hurt him now, or perhaps even finish the job this time."

At once, many people began looking toward Zhao Jie. Anyone who knew Lu Yuan's history had probably heard the story. Zhao Jie had nearly killed him during the Martial Arts Tournament, only for Lu Yuan to survive, undergo a sudden transformation, and create the Extreme Martial Dao.

As Lu Yuan's reputation grew, that old match was mentioned more and more often, and Zhao Jie inevitably became part of the story. The strange thing was, even though Zhao Jie had been the victor in the Martial Arts Tournament, he was treated almost like a supporting character in this story.

Zhao Jie was well aware of the predicament he was in. He was filled with mixed emotions as he stared fixedly at Lu Yuan. What exactly have I done wrong? Was my mistake simply that I failed to kill Lu Yuan when I had the chance?

Back then, Lu Yuan had been a nobody. Zhao Jie had struck Lu Yuan down and nearly taken his life without giving the matter much thought. But just a few months later, that same nobody had become the founder of the Extreme Martial Dao and the most talked-about figure in Pan City's martial arts community.

Meanwhile, he himself, the man who had once defeated Lu Yuan, was now remembered only as part of Lu Yuan's past. Wherever he went, people looked at him strangely, as though wondering how he had managed to defeat Lu Yuan once and still somehow emerge looking like the loser.

The thought had been eating at him, and the more he thought about it, the more emotional he became. I'm not trying to prove anything. I just refuse to believe that someone I once defeated could suddenly create something like the Extreme Martial Dao. Damn you, Lu Yuan. I defeated you once. I'll defeat you again!

Lu Changsheng did not so much as glance at him. He was not trying to mock him or seem arrogant. It was just that he barely remembered Zhao Jie at all. The man who had once nearly beaten Lu Yuan to death simply did not matter to him.