"Bring it on!"
The will to battle in Qin Feng’s eyes boiled over!
Facing an attack that was nearly impossible to dodge, he advanced instead of retreating, stomping his feet hard on the ground.
BOOM!
The alloy floor shattered as he met the furious assault head-on, making no move to evade.
At the same time, his fists transformed into the claws of a predatory Fierce Owl, whistling sharply as they shot forward to clash with the attack!
Fierce Bird Boxing—the Fierce Owl Technique!
CLANG! BANG!
One sound was the ear-piercing ring of metal on metal as fist met Finger Tiger, sending sparks flying.
The other was the deep thud of fist meeting palm. The violent shockwave ripped up a layer of the alloy floor beneath their feet!
In their first pure hand-to-hand exchange, the two were evenly matched!
However, before Qin Feng could even catch his breath, Sun Chan Hall’s assault came like a great river—endless and relentless, with each wave stronger than the last!
His strike was blocked, but his arm moved as if boneless. It slid and coiled around Qin Feng’s fist, transforming into a roaming Spiritual Snake as his palm struck out, aimed straight for Qin Feng’s heart!
The Wandering Dragon Hand!
The craftiness of the Technique and its bizarre transformations instantly doubled the pressure on Qin Feng.
Qin Feng could only push his Control Realm "Fierce Bird Boxing" to its absolute limit. His fists flew like raindrops, each one precisely intercepting Sun Chan Hall’s attacks.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
In an instant, the entire arena was filled with nothing but the thunderous roar of their colliding fists and palms, as dense as a torrential downpour!
From the very beginning, the battle had plunged directly into a white-hot intensity!
For the first time, facing an opponent of the same caliber, Qin Feng felt a suffocating pressure.
Sun Chan Hall’s afterimage was like a living, perfect encyclopedia of close-quarters combat!
His "Cicada Chasing Body Technique" was phantom-like, allowing him to always appear in the most fatal and awkward positions.
He wielded his five Perfection Level fist and palm Killing Skills effortlessly, switching between them seamlessly. His movements were as smooth as flowing water, without a hint of stagnation.
His Dragon Elephant Boxing was fierce and domineering. A single punch seemed to carry the roar of an ancient dragon-elephant, its weight so immense that even Qin Feng had to use his full strength to block it.
His "Prajna Palm" was heavy and dense, its Palm Force layering like massive waves crashing ashore, making it impossible to defend against.
His Wandering Dragon Hand was tricky and bizarre, clinging like a cancer and attacking from every inconceivable angle.
Add to that the sharp, piercing power of his "Minor Stele-Splitting Hand" and the nigh-absolute defense of his "Golden Bell Frame" blocking technique...
In his hands, these five Perfect Killing Skills were no longer five separate techniques. They were strung together by the flawless thread of his "Cicada Chasing Body Technique," creating a flawless Combat System that integrated offense and defense, balanced hardness and softness, worked at any range, and had no weaknesses!
In contrast, Qin Feng’s "Fierce Bird Boxing" had reached the Control Realm. In terms of raw power per Technique, it was even superior to any one of Sun Chan Hall’s fist skills.
But he was too one-dimensional.
All of his attacks, defenses, and variations stemmed from that single boxing style.
After the first few minutes of probing, the combat logic of Sun Chan Hall’s afterimage seemed to have completely seen through all the variations of "Fierce Bird Boxing."
The rest of the fight was exceptionally difficult for Qin Feng.
「Ten minutes.」
The two had already exchanged no fewer than several thousand blows.
The central area of the "Absolute Arena" had been completely destroyed by the aftershocks of their battle, the alloy floor riddled with craters and cracks of all sizes.
For the first time, fine beads of sweat appeared on Qin Feng’s forehead.
His armor now bore dozens of Fist Seals and claw marks of varying depths.
Several times, if not for his quick reflexes, Sun Chan Hall’s "Minor Stele-Splitting Hand," empowered by the Finger Tiger, would have already punched a hole through his body.
’He’s too strong...’
Qin Feng’s heart was filled with shock.
’This... this is Master Sun’s true strength!’
’This is the caliber of the most legendary genius in the history of Qiming First High School!’
’My so-called Control Realm can’t gain the slightest advantage against this perfect Perfection Realm system!’
Technically, they had reached a stalemate of sorts.
’In that case, the next contest will be one of pure... strength and Will!’
"Come on!"
Not a hint of retreat could be seen in Qin Feng’s eyes. Instead, an even more blazing fire ignited within them.
He abandoned all thought of finding a weakness, because his opponent’s system had none!
He simply integrated the essence of his "Fierce Bird Boxing" into the simplest of jabs, hooks, and charges, fully unleashing his greatest advantage—his terrifying physical body, comparable to that of an Embryonic Stage Starry Sky Beast!
In an instant, the fighting style shifted from a chess match of techniques to the most primitive, savage... war of attrition!
BANG!
A heavy blow from Sun Chan Hall’s Dragon Elephant Boxing slammed into Qin Feng’s shoulder.
Qin Feng took the hit straight on, his muscles absorbing the impact. He only staggered slightly, while his own fist simultaneously smashed heavily onto the "Golden Bell Frame" that Sun Chan Hall used to block.
Trading injury for injury!
Blood for blood!
The energy of Sun Chan Hall’s afterimage was finite, perfectly replicating the total amount of vitality and blood he had at graduation.
But Qin Feng’s vitality was like a vast, endless ocean!
「Fifteen minutes...」
「Twenty minutes...」
The battle had entered its most frenzied stage.
The two of them were like a pair of tireless, primeval beasts, wildly trading blows in the arena.
Every collision produced a deafening boom and a blinding shower of energy sparks.
Qin Feng’s armor was now cracked in several places, revealing the bronze-colored skin beneath, as hard as Divine Iron.
Meanwhile, the body of Sun Chan Hall’s afterimage across from him began to flicker with extremely faint signs of data instability.
His attacks were still sharp.
His Body Technique was still elusive.
But his strength, compared to the start of the battle, had declined by an imperceptible amount.
Qin Feng, however, was like a perpetual motion machine. Every punch he threw maintained its peak power!
「Twenty-four minutes.」
The two clashed again in their most ferocious exchange yet.
Sun Chan Hall’s afterimage used the same old trick, launching a primary assault with his domineering Dragon Elephant Boxing in an attempt to force Qin Feng back.
But this time, Qin Feng didn’t dodge or evade. He met the punch head-on with his chest!
BOOM!
The terrifying fist power exploded against Qin Feng’s chest, sending him flying backward.
But at that same moment, he seized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
In the instant he was sent flying, his right fist finally broke through all of Sun Chan Hall’s defensive techniques. Gathering all his strength, he thrust his fist forward—a single Fierce Owl Chasing Shadow—and slammed it heavily into the chest of Sun Chan Hall’s afterimage!
CRACK!
A crisp sound echoed, as if an Energy Core had shattered.
The entire body of Sun Chan Hall’s afterimage stiffened abruptly.
In his perfectly calm eyes, streams of data began to flicker and scramble wildly.
Finally, his entire body, like a sand sculpture weathered by the wind, dissolved with a silent sigh into a billion golden points of light, slowly dissipating over the ravaged battlefield.
[Battle Over]
[Challenger "Qin Feng" Victorious]
[Time: Twenty-five minutes and three seconds]
Qin Feng climbed up from the ground, patting the clear Fist Seal on his chest as he gasped for breath.
This wasn’t physical exhaustion, but a natural release after twenty-five minutes of intense mental focus.
A hearty, utterly satisfying smile spread across his face.
’This is the kind of battle I wanted!’
He stood quietly in place, closed his eyes, and furiously replayed the heart-pounding deathmatch in his mind.
’Master Sun’s close-quarters combat from back then was simply incredible.’
’Those five Perfect Fist Skills and one Perfect Body Technique had completely merged in his hands, forming a perfect, self-sustaining cycle.’
’Offense within defense, defense within offense, a combination of fast and slow, hard and soft. There were almost no openings to exploit.’
’He was just one step away from reaching Control in all Six Gates Killing Techniques!’
’A monster. A freak!’
’And me?’
’Relying on a single Control Realm "Fierce Bird Boxing," I could barely fight Master Sun’s system to a standstill on a technical level.’
’The reason I won in the end wasn’t because of superior skill, but because of this ridiculously powerful body of mine, comparable to the cub of a Starry Sky Giant Beast.’
’I won by relying on greater strength, faster recovery, and more enduring vitality to just... grind Master Sun’s afterimage down.’
’If my body were only as strong as Master Sun’s, there’s a ninety-nine percent chance I would have been the one to lose.’
"My ’arsenal of techniques’ is still too barren..."
Qin Feng opened his eyes and sighed with heartfelt emotion.
"A single Killing Skill at the Control Realm is powerful, but one pillar can’t support a house. When facing a mature Combat System like Master Sun’s, built from multiple Perfect Killing Skills, it feels stretched thin, with too few variations."
"If I had two, or even three, Killing Skills at the Control Realm—one for offense, one for defense, and one for my Body Technique... The synergy between them would unleash a combat power where the whole is far greater than the sum of its parts!"
At this moment, Qin Feng had a clearer understanding than ever before of the path his future training should take.
He was no longer satisfied with just pushing a single Killing Skill to a higher realm. He now craved more "material" to build his own unique and powerful Combat System!
Just like Master Sun.
A Combat System formed from six complementary Killing Techniques, just shy of reaching Control with all six!
’If all six had reached Control, I would have just been crushed.’
"Master Sun is even more of a monster than I am,"
Qin Feng muttered to himself.
Little did he know that this final step often took decades to achieve.
In a way, that made him the bigger monster.
As his thoughts settled, the magnificent hall, filled with the weight of history, returned to his vision.
[Your battle recording meets the criteria for inclusion in the Heroic Spirit Hall.]
[Generating your exclusive afterimage...]
Qin Feng subconsciously raised his head and looked toward the front of the hall.
Beside the spot where the statue of Sun Chan Hall Master had originally stood, a brand new, even taller White Jade Base was slowly rising from the ground.
Countless streams of data-light converged and swirled above the base, finally coalescing into a new statue.
The statue had a straight, tall posture and a resolute expression—it was Qin Feng himself.
In its hands, it tightly gripped a three-meter-long Alloy Battle Rifle. Its gaze was as sharp as a knife, staring into the distance, and it exuded a piercing aura.
And below the statue, on a golden nameplate, his information appeared.
Its position had surpassed Sun Chan Hall, surpassed all three hundred and seventy-two legends in the hall, to stand proudly in... first place!
[Name: Qin Feng]
[Strength at Graduation: Vitality Index 30.03, Killing Skills "Thousand Army Spear" (Control), "Fierce Bird Boxing" (Control)]