Amid the crowd's shock, Qin Chen casually dusted off his hands, as if he'd done something trivial. His cold gaze settled on Zhou Nan, not far away. "You were one of the ones boasting about teaching me a lesson, weren't you? Let's see what kind of strength you have to back up your words."
All eyes turned to Zhou Nan. The crowd recalled that he and Li Ping had indeed been together, plotting to take Qin Chen down.
Zhou Nan's face paled, and he swallowed hard, forcing a facade of calm. "Hmph, you think I'm as useless as Li Ping? Trying to make an example out of me? You've picked the wrong guy. I'd advise you not to overestimate yourself."
"Overestimate myself?" Qin Chen let out a mocking laugh. "You coming after me is fine, but me coming after you is a mistake? You really think highly of yourself. Enough talk. Survive one punch from me, and I'll spare your pathetic life."
Whoosh!
Before his words settled, Qin Chen's figure blurred into a phantom, shooting toward Zhou Nan.
Roar!
A thunderous bellow echoed across the plaza, resonating like a dragon's cry or a tiger's roar, shaking the heavens. In that moment, Qin Chen was a beast king descending the mountain, his regal aura undeniable.
The overwhelming pressure made Zhou Nan's face twist in fear, his scalp tingling as he instinctively stepped back.
No, I can't retreat! Zhou Nan's mind raced. If I back down today, I'll be the laughingstock of the capital, never able to hold my head high again. Li Ping lost because he was careless and didn't go all out. As long as I take this seriously, why should I fear him? Besides, my defense is leagues beyond Li Ping's!
His eyes darted, thoughts churning, until resolve hardened within him. With a fierce shout, he roared, "Iron Cloth Technique!"
Zhou Nan pushed his true qi to its limit. A faint, grayish-brown glow enveloped him, as if he'd donned an invisible layer of armor.
This was the Yellow-Grade Superior defensive martial skill he'd painstakingly cultivated at the academy—the Iron Cloth Technique.
With his "iron cloth" in place, Zhou Nan's confidence surged. His eyes gleamed with ferocity as he thrust both fists forward.
"Barbarian King's Tyrant Fist!"
Boom!
Two torrents of terrifying fist energy swept forward, detonating the air in front of him like twin explosions. The resulting shockwave roared toward Qin Chen like a hurricane.
The Barbarian King's Tyrant Fist, another Yellow-Grade Superior martial skill, carried the domineering aura of a barbarian king ruling the world. Its fearsome energy seemed capable of shattering a small mountain.
Yet Qin Chen remained unfazed, his eyes scanning the oncoming fist energy. His hands suddenly clawed, plunging into the torrent and tearing it apart with a forceful rip.
Boom! Crack!
The terrifying fist energy split in two, shredded into nothingness. In Zhou Nan's horrified gaze, his defenses were laid bare.
"Not good!" Zhou Nan's face twisted in panic as he scrambled to retreat, desperate to evade Qin Chen's attack.
But Qin Chen gave him no chance. With a subtle shift of his foot, his speed surged, and he appeared before Zhou Nan in an instant. Without flourish, he threw a single, straightforward punch.
"Basic Fist Technique—Grand Ancestor Long Fist!"
The unremarkable punch cut through the air, unstoppable, sweeping all in its path.
By the time Zhou Nan registered the attack, Qin Chen's fist had already struck his true qi Iron Cloth.
Bang!
The true qi armor shattered like glass, fragile and useless. The force of the punch sent Zhou Nan's organs into chaos, pain searing through him.
The iron fist, undeterred, continued its path, accompanied by the faint roar of dragons and tigers, crashing toward Zhou Nan's chest.
"I'll take you down with me!" Zhou Nan bellowed, refusing to dodge. In his desperation, he ignored Qin Chen's attack, wrapping his arms together and aiming a frenzied double-fist strike at Qin Chen's head.
He was betting on mutual destruction.
"Hmph, pathetic," Qin Chen scoffed, a mocking glint in his eyes. His right fist unleashed a burst of energy.
Boom! Crack!
A dull explosion reverberated through the plaza, followed by the crisp snap of breaking bones. Zhou Nan's chest caved inward an inch, blood spraying from his mouth as he was flung backward like a broken kite.
His desperate counterattack fell short, his fists still a foot from Qin Chen's head.
"With that sluggish punch, you thought you could trade blows with me? Too slow," Qin Chen's voice echoed in Zhou Nan's mind, cold as the depths.
Before Zhou Nan could hit the ground, his peripheral vision caught a shadow darting toward him like a blade. A gust of force aimed for his back.
"No!" Zhou Nan roared in terror, his heart drowning in regret. Why did I provoke this monster? Why didn't I run from the start?
Pfft!
A tremendous force slammed into his back. Like a tattered sack, Zhou Nan's body soared into the sky before crashing down with a sickening thud beside Li Ping, unconscious.
Huff.
Qin Chen exhaled lightly. Even at Human-Level Mid Stage, he'd been able to defeat Wei Zhen, a peak Human-Level Late Stage fighter. Now, having broken through to Late Stage himself, how could Li Ping and Zhou Nan—mere ordinary Human-Level Late Stage students—hope to stand against him? If this weren't the Star Academy's year-end exam, Qin Chen would have crippled them both.
Whoosh!
Every student in Circle Eight recoiled in fear, staring at Qin Chen as if he were a monster.
Even the instructors on the field were dumbfounded.
"Are Li Ping and Zhou Nan… dead?" someone stammered, voice trembling.
"Not good!" The instructors snapped out of their stupor. Two of them rushed to Li Ping and Zhou Nan, lifting them and checking their breathing. They sighed in relief.
Though the two looked gruesome, they were still alive, if barely.
The instructors swiftly carried them off for treatment.
The plaza erupted into a deafening uproar.
"Two advanced-class disciples couldn't even last a few moves against him! When did Qin Chen get this strong?"
"If I remember right, just over a month ago, Qin Chen was nearly killed by Wei Zhen, a junior-class student, on the academy's sparring stage. How has his cultivation skyrocketed in just a month?"
"Hiss, this Qin Chen is something else. His bloodline awakening was shocking enough, but now…"
"Tch, looks like no one at the academy will dare mock him anymore."
The students buzzed with discussion, their faces etched with awe. If it had been anyone else, they wouldn't have been so stunned. But this was Qin Chen—the one who'd struggled to awaken his bloodline, nearly expelled from the academy. That made all the difference.