This competition was the North China Plain Provincial Friendship Tournant. Although it wasn’t an official tournant and didn’t affect the provincial rankings for the national league, it was still a large-scale regional event involving nearly a hundred universities.
Zhao Rui watched with rapt attention.
This was a level of competition he had never encountered before.
"Look! This is what you call solid fundantals. If he had stepped firmly on the Qian Position here, then moved from Qian→Xun→Zhen, how could he have failed to break through his Palm Technique?"
"And this, what is this? A piece of dog shit?"
Listening to Wang Zhanshan’s profanity, Zhao Rui’s face couldn’t help but twitch. ’You really can’t judge a book by its cover.’ When nothing was going on, the guy was a total slob, just like so street bum.
But once he got serious, he was a raging wildfire, a violent squall—utterly explosive!
As if re analysis wasn’t enough, Wang Zhanshan directly called upon a mber of the practice squad and a competition team mber to reenact the scene.
He then proceeded to break down their opponent’s every move and variation right there on the spot.
His temper may have been foul, but his understanding of the Martial Dao was absolutely top-tier. His insight was so sharp that he could spot a flaw in an exchange with just a single glance.
This analysis session went on for the entire afternoon. It wasn’t until dusk, as the sun began to set, that Wang Zhanshan, still feeling it wasn’t enough, finally let everyone go.
Perhaps because Zhao Rui’s level was too low, or maybe out of concern he wouldn’t be able to keep up, he wasn’t asked to participate in the sparring this ti.
Even so, Zhao Rui felt he had gained a great deal that afternoon—not just in his understanding of competitions and his analysis of Martial Arts.
Even his perspective had broadened trendously. ’It just goes to show how important the right platform is!’
After they were dismissed, Zhao Rui and Zhang Kui walked out of the Martial Arts Arena together when a voice suddenly called out to them.
"Hey, you two up front!"
Hearing the voice, Zhang Kui froze. His expression turned extrely sour as he stopped and shot Zhao Rui a look.
Then, plastering a slightly fawning smile on his face, he turned around.
"Senior Brother Gongye, did you need us for sothing?"
"You’re Zhang Kui, right? Getting more pathetic by the day, reduced to the practice squad. I bet you’ll be eliminated in a couple of days."
The speaker was a tall, handso young man, with the elegant bearing of a noble scion carved from jade.
But his words were exceptionally harsh.
"You’re right, Senior Brother!"
Zhang Kui chuckled awkwardly.
After speaking, Senior Brother Gongye ignored Zhang Kui and turned to Zhao Rui, asking curiously, "I haven’t seen you before. How did you sneak in here?"
"Senior Brother, I’m a new first-year."
Zhao Rui replied politely. Seeing Zhang Kui’s reaction, he knew this senior brother was most likely difficult to get along with.
"Oh? So you got in through the back door, huh? Let test your ttle. Since when did the Martial Arts Team start letting people in through connections?"
Before Zhao Rui could react, Senior Brother Gongye’s figure flickered and appeared before him. With a casual sweep of his right palm, it seed to expand in the wind, rapidly blanketing Zhao Rui’s entire body.
Zhao Rui was alard. He tapped his feet in quick succession and leaped back to dodge, but the Palm Technique was like a maggot boring into his bones, relentlessly pursuing him.
"Great Demon Subduing Palm. Copy?"
’Fuck, copy!’
Looking at the palm shadows that seed to blot out the sky, leaving him no room to escape, Zhao Rui decisively chose to copy.
’Since my Lightweight Skill can’t get out of this, I won’t even try to dodge.’
Zhao Rui gathered all his Inner Strength into his Hand Taiyin Lung ridian, pouring it into the Middle Mansion Acupoint and pushing the Soft Power of his Cloud Hand Star-Picking to its absolute limit.
Just as he had done against Company Commander Hao, he continuously used his Inner Strength to wear down the opponent’s Palm Force.
"A little interesting, but not enough!"
Senior Brother Gongye sneered. He abruptly retracted his palm and, in the blink of an eye, struck out again. This ti, his Palm Technique had beco erratic and unpredictable.
Zhao Rui barely managed to counter two moves before a palm struck his shoulder, sending him flying over ten feet away.
"You got in through the back door with this level of skill?"
Senior Brother Gongye scoffed, not even sparing Zhao Rui and Zhang Kui another glance as he swaggered off with his companion.
The other team mbers nearby who hadn’t left yet quickly averted their gazes, pretending they hadn’t seen a thing.
Zhao Rui clutched his shoulder and sat up. Just as he was about to ask Zhang Kui who that was, Zhang Kui waved his hand, silently helped him to his feet, and said, "Let’s go! Training is over!"
He said nothing more after that.
Zhao Rui instantly understood. This elegant-looking Senior Brother Gongye was the legendary petty, eavesdropping jerk they had talked about.
’What a waste of a handso face.’
Fortunately, this Senior Brother Gongye had shown so restraint. He had only struck him with a single palm and hadn’t used much Inner Strength. His shoulder was just slightly red and swollen; it would be fine by the next day.
A long while after the two had left Mingcan Courtyard, Zhang Kui finally looked around and whispered, "Gongye Lingchen. One of the four great masters of our Martial Arts Team. Stay away from him in the future."
Zhao Rui nodded at his words and didn’t ask any more questions. They were still within the Martial Arts Academy grounds; who knew if Gongye Lingchen might be strolling nearby.
"Senior Brother Zhang, I’m heading out!"
"Go on!"
Zhang Kui’s Essence, Qi, and Spirit had clearly been flagging lately. He gave a listless wave and headed toward his own place.
Like Zhao Rui, he also rented a place off-campus, though it was in a different direction.
Although the dorms at the Martial Arts Academy were excellent, most of the Martial Arts Team mbers didn’t live in them.
The world outside was far more exciting than life on campus.
After parting ways with Zhang Kui, Zhao Rui went straight to a nearby traditional Chinese dicine shop and bought so ointnt for bruises and sprains.
’That son of a bitch.’
’I’ll rember this grudge!’
Zhao Rui opened the system panel in his mind and found that the progress for the Great Demon Subduing Palm was only at 0.1%.
If he wanted to copy it completely, a brief exchange like that wouldn’t get him very far.
’Looks like I’ll have to find a way to get him to ’practice’ with more often.’
Zhao Rui frowned, pondering in secret.
The autumn night was cool. Stars hung in the night sky, their light mingling with the moon’s glow to cast a tranquil veil over the world.
...
「The next day」
With all the main team mbers having returned, the entire Martial Arts Team resud its usual training schedule.
Mornings were for fundantal training, afternoons for combat practice.
Fundantal training included polishing Inner Strength and practicing Techniques. The Technique practice wasn’t as simple as one might imagine—it wasn’t just about going through a few sets of Martial Arts moves.
The purpose of these Martial Arts Techniques, beyond defeating an enemy, was also to condense Inner Qi and clear the ridians.
So of the stances were slightly different from those used in actual combat. When combined with a Heart thod, these stances actually stretched the tendons and ridians, gathering and guiding Qi.
This allowed the body to adapt to the execution of the Technique to the greatest extent possible, thereby generating power.
In the morning, Zhao Rui continued to practice the Bodhisattva Palm Technique with Wang Zhe’s group.
Wang Zhe naturally noticed the injury on his shoulder. Many team mbers had witnessed Gongye Lingchen "bullying" the newcor yesterday, so of course, he knew about it too.
However, he just shook his head and didn’t say much about it.
At a little after two in the afternoon, the combat practice session officially began.
The session mainly consisted of practical Martial Art analysis, combat drills for team mbers, and specialized training for specific mbers.
The main job of Zhao Rui’s practice group was to cooperate with the coaches and support the main team mbers in their combat training. This also included simulation drills for specific opponents.
For example, to prepare for a specific opponent in a match, a special training plan would be created, and mbers of the practice group would act as the opponent, using their Martial Arts.
This kind of targeted training, hitting the mark, was naturally highly effective.
However, the difficulty of this special training lay in simulating the opponent’s Martial Arts. If it was only similar in form, it would be aningless.
Ideally, the simulation should capture both form and spirit, even mimicking the circulation of Inner Strength, to achieve the best results.
Perhaps because Zhao Rui was a newcor, he and Zhang Kui were assigned to the second-year students.
Their main task was to help them improve the practical application of their Martial Arts.
After all, the second-years had only been on the Martial Arts Team for about half a year and might not have even mastered the team’s fundantal Martial Arts yet.
According to Wang Zhe’s introduction, the Martial Arts Team had four compulsory Martial Arts. One was the previously ntioned ntal Tranquility Technique, which was a Support-type Cultivation Technique.
Another was the Prajna Palm that Zhao Rui was currently cultivating.
As for the other two, mbers would only be qualified to learn them after surviving two elimination rounds during their second year.
Right now, these second-years were actually learning the sa thing as Zhao Rui: the Prajna Palm.
Seeing the coach’s assignnt, Zhao Rui was overjoyed.
’Here cos Master Level Prajna Palm!’
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