Writing Novels Will Make You Invincible

Chapter 43 : Outstanding Martial Virtue, Complete Victory in First Battle



Chapter 43 : Outstanding Martial Virtue, Complete Victory in First Battle

Outstanding Martial Virtue, Complete Victory in First Battle

First came the check-in, then drawing lots for groups. Once his group was set, he followed a volunteer to get the venue…

Before he knew it, time had rolled around to eight in the morning.

The Martial Arts Tournament opening ceremony was about to begin.

The opening ceremony for the group stage was a simple affair. No shows, no parade of contestants, no big speeches from the higher-ups…

Well, that last one was still actually on the agenda.

The President of the Canghe City Martial Arts Association, the seventy-two-year-old True Qi Grandmaster Zhou Yue, stood on the stage. Without using any sound amplification equipment, he projected his voice directly into the ears of every contestant on the field and the ten thousand spectators in the stands.

"This year's Martial Arts Tournament is about to begin. Before we start, I'll emphasize just one point: sparring matches stop when you've made your point. Forget about martial virtue. That’s all from me. Let the group stage begin.”

It’s important to note that “martial virtue” in this world completely differed from what the so-called masters in Chu Tianxing’s old world preached.

In this world’s Ming Dynasty and the cultures it influenced, nobody ever got the fancy idea that the character for "martial" (武) meant "to stop fighting." It still meant what it always had.

To take action.

In other words, to take up arms and cut people down.

Martial Path is the way of killing that originated from the battlefield.

The first appearance of supernatural martial arts in history was the Chongzhen Emperor charging alone into an army of thousands and personally slaying the rebel king.

So in this world, "martial virtue" means staying alive, protecting your comrades, and killing all enemies.

If you can manage all three of these things properly, that's outstanding martial virtue.

But this was just a tournament. No enemies needed killing here.

That's why Grandmaster Zhou specifically reminded everyone to "stop when you've made your point. Forget about martial virtue.”

Once the big boss’s speech was over and done, the Martial Arts Tournament group stage officially kicked off.

The entire tournament was divided into four major groups: the Children's Division, the Youth Division, the Young Adult Division, and the Senior Young Adult Division.

All four groups fought simultaneously, each taking over a quarter of the soccer field.

And each of those quarters was split again into ten smaller fighting rings.

In other words, forty pairs of contestants from various age groups would be competing on the soccer field at the same time.

Each pair's match was refereed by members of the Embroidered Uniform Guard with strong martial skills and rich combat experience.

They were responsible for both judging victories and preventing accidents.

After all, not every contestant could control their strength perfectly.

If someone got carried away and couldn't hold back, the referees needed to intervene quickly.

Chu Tianxing had some pretty good luck with his draw and got put in the very first round of fights. But from anyone else's perspective, that would have been called rotten luck.

After all, the group stage was a single round-robin tournament, where every contestant had to face each of the other nine members of their group once.

So if you fight in the first batch, that means the other contestants in your group can watch from the sidelines and look for weaknesses in your martial arts.

That's why all the first-batch contestants looked pretty grim.

Only Chu Tianxing remained completely calm and totally unbothered.

He knew way too many martial arts techniques.

Forget about whether anyone at the scene could see through his martial arts; even if there really was someone as gifted as him who could spot flaws in his techniques, he could just switch to a different style anytime and be done with it.

That's the beauty of being well-rounded.

The forty pairs of contestants from the four age divisions in the first batch had all entered their respective competition areas.

Chu Tianxing stood in the arena, calm and composed as he looked at his opponent.

He was a young man in his early twenties with a buzz cut. His features were sharp, his frame tall, his muscles well-developed, and his aura was composed and heavy. He looked quite formidable.

The other eight guys in their group were on the sidelines watching, whispering among themselves.

"That guy's Chu Jun from the Azure Dragon Dojo. I heard he's already opened two of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians. Not only does he have deep internal energy, but he's also learned the true teachings of the Azure Dragon Leg Technique from his dojo. They say one of his kicks can turn a six-inch stone slab to powder…”

“Man, facing Chu Jun in the first match. That kid’s toast.”

"No kidding. Chu Jun is a strong contender who might make it to the city's top sixteen in our entire Young Adult Division..."

"Hope that young guy can last a bit longer against Chu Jun. That way, we might get a chance to see Chu Jun's techniques clearly and find his weaknesses."

"I doubt it. The kid looks like he’s still in high school, probably just scraped into the age bracket. At his age, how profound can his skills be? The way I see it, he’ll be lucky to last three moves against Chu Jun!”

“Hey, don’t be so sure. What’s wrong with being a high schooler? Our City First High has had martial arts geniuses who opened all Twelve Principal Meridians at sixteen or seventeen and got early admission to the Mingdu University."

"Heh, I've seen all the martial arts geniuses from City First High at the Martial Arts Association, and this kid definitely wasn't among them... He's probably just here for the experience... Wait, he won?"

And so, while the other fighters were still busy gossiping…

The referee announced the start of the first unarmed combat match.

Chu Jun from the Azure Dragon Dojo decided to end this quickly so the later contestants couldn't find flaws in his techniques.

As soon as the referee finished speaking, he lunged forward to Chu Tianxing with his leg sweeping out like an azure dragon emerging from the sea and aimed at Chu Tianxing's lower abdomen.

This move had tremendous force and incredible speed.

An ordinary contestant who had only opened five Principal Meridians wouldn't have time to dodge. Their only option would be to try to block.

But if they tried to block it, there is no way for someone who had only opened five of his Principal Meridians to stop the power contained within Chu Jun’s kick.

They'd be blasted right out of the ring and lose immediately.

However, just as Chu Jun moved and launched his powerful kick, Chu Tianxing moved as if he had predicted the future and stepped diagonally to one side.

This single step perfectly dodged Chu Jun's kick, causing him to miss completely while allowing Chu Tianxing to poke a finger into Chu Jun's ribs.

One Yang Finger.

Even though Chu Jun's internal energy was far deeper than Chu Tianxing's, it was impossible for him to constantly circulate his internal energy throughout his entire body for defense. At most, he could focus on protecting a few vital points.

The ability to circulate internal energy constantly like wearing full-body armor is only doable for someone who has reached the Grand Completion within the Inner Force Realm. Unfortunately, Chu Jun does not.

Plus, the One Yang Finger specialized in pressure point attacks, excelling at breaking through surface defenses with precise strikes. The finger force was powered by the pure internal energy of the Xiantian Art, so this strike right to Chu Jun's Zhangmen Acupoint immediately broke through the thin layer of defensive internal energy that Chu Jun instinctively deployed and wrecked his meridians and acupoints.

Chu Jun felt his ribs go numb, and half his body lost sensation.

He completely lost his balance. The sheer force of his own missed kick sent him stumbling, and he crashed to the floor.

And just like that, Chu Jun, the man touted as a contender for the city's top sixteen in the Young Adult Division, was defeated by Chu Tianxing in a single move.

The eight contestants watching from outside the ring didn't react until Chu Jun hit the ground; they all stood there dumbfounded.

Even the referee gave Chu Tianxing a surprised look. He went to check on Chu Jun, then raised his hand.

"First match, unarmed combat, winner is Chu Tianxing!”

After speaking, he massaged Chu Jun's ribs several times to dispel the finger force that Chu Tianxing had held back on, then asked Chu Jun, "Can you continue competing?"

After the unarmed combat, they still had a weapons match to fight.

If Chu Jun couldn't continue, then Chu Tianxing would win that by default and get a full three points.

Chu Jun got to his feet with his face red from embarrassment as he glanced at Chu Tianxing and said through gritted teeth. "I can still continue!"

"Very well." The referee didn't try to persuade him otherwise. “Prepare for the weapons match. Each of you select a weapon and put on your protective gear.”

Off to the side was a weapons rack, loaded with all sorts of gear.

It had all the classic eighteen types of weapons as well as some exotic ones like ropes, fans, and silk ribbons.

Of course, all the hard weapons were made from special wood and weren't sharpened. But their shape and weight were equivalent to real weapons.

Even so, weapons combat was still very dangerous.

In the hands of an Inner Force Realm martial artist, these blunt wooden weapons could still kill people.

So there was also protective gear on the weapon rack.

Whether contestants wanted to or not, they had to wear these protective equipments to cover vital areas and prevent accidents.

But even that couldn't guarantee you'd walk away without a scratch. It all came down to the ref stepping in at the right time and the fighters' self-control.

Chu Tianxing actually didn't need protective gear.

But rules were rules, so he had to put it on anyway.

So he reluctantly let the volunteers help him put on the gears. He saw Chu Jun grab a wooden saber, so he picked up a long spear.

The second he grabbed the spear, the peanut gallery started up again.

“It takes a month to learn the staff, a year to learn the saber, and a lifetime to master the spear. Yeah, this Chu Tianxing kid is surprisingly good, dropping Chu Jun in one move. But I doubt he is good with weapons. Especially with the spear, that thing’s the hardest weapon there is to get right.”

"That's hard to say. The whole point of geniuses is to break the limits of normal people's imagination. This Chu Tianxing... might just be a genius who suddenly appeared out of nowhere."

“Nah, I think Chu Jun only lost the first round ‘cause he got sloppy. He was afraid we'd spot his weaknesses, so he was too eager to end it quickly. He was overconfident and reckless, which is why he lost so inexplicably. He’s learned his lesson. This time, he’ll be careful. There’s no way that Chu Tianxing can… uh, wait, he won again?”

This time it ended even faster.

The guys on the sidelines barely got a few words in before Chu Jun was down for the count.

And it wasn't like Chu Jun was reckless this time. As soon as the ref said 'start,' he immediately went on the defensive.

But this time, Chu Tianxing went on the offensive.

He held the spear one-handed and just walked forward.

But as he walked, his body bobbed and weaved as if he were riding a warhorse. He was on foot, but he gave off the vibe of some legendary general on horseback, spear leveled, leading a charge.

On top of that, he was radiating a genuine, bloodthirsty aura—the kind you can only get by facing down stone-cold killers like the thing that possessed Feng Yufei, or by fighting for your life and killing giant fish monsters in another world.

In contrast, although Chu Jun’s skills were well-practiced, he had never killed any intelligent beings.

His only real combat experience was beating up a few thugs, and he couldn’t even hit them too hard in case he broke something.

So when Chu Tianxing came at him with that whole ‘invincible’ momentum while radiating a tidal wave of killing intent forged in real battle, Chu Jun could only freeze. One look from those ice-cold, murderous eyes felt like a bucket of ice water was poured over him. His scalp went numb, his spine shivered, and his brain had only one thought on repeat.

He's going to kill me! He really is going to kill me!

Fortunately, martial artists have vigorous blood and are braver than ordinary people. When Chu Tianxing and his classmates encountered the fish monsters, many students were initially panicked and confused. But later, when they formed defensive lines in the dining hall against the fish monster attacks, every single student bravely gripped their weapons and faced the fish monsters in bloody combat.

If this had been high school students from Chu Tianxing's original world, most would probably just cower in corners, crying and waiting to die with their heads covered.

Chu Jun's cultivation was even stronger than Qin Ling and Xiao Hu, so his courage certainly wasn't weaker than Chu Tianxing's classmates.

After that initial shock from the killing intent wore off, he quickly bit his tongue tip to break free from the fear and was about to counterattack.

But against Chu Tianxing, even a split second of hesitation is fatal.

By the time Chu Jun broke free from his fear and came to his senses, Chu Tianxing's spear was already pressed against his throat...


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