The coach of Hongchang Martial Arts Hall could no longer hide his utter humiliation.
Under the crowd’s scornful and disgusted gazes, he felt his cheeks burn as if seared by a flame, a scorching, stinging pain.
He knew that as of today, his Martial Arts Hall’s reputation was utterly ruined.
Flying into a rage from the humiliation, he dropped all pretense. He pointed at Qin Feng on the platform and blustered, "So what?! What matters for a Martial Arts Hall isn’t the student, but the coach’s skill! He’s strong on his own merits, but what does that have to do with your Extreme Martial Arts Hall?! Where are the coaches from the Extreme Martial Arts Hall? If you have any guts, get out here and fight me!"
He was trying to muddy the waters, shifting the focus from the fraudulent act of "hiring a challenger" to a contest of "the coaches’ skills."
This put the Extreme Martial Arts Hall in an awkward position.
Everyone knew that the Extreme Martial Arts Hall had been single-handedly founded by the Sun Chan Hall Master.
But Master Sun had been gone for a very, very long time.
The Martial Arts Hall was now run entirely by a group of old members, who, indebted to Master Sun, voluntarily maintained its daily operations.
Of course, the hall’s various maintenance fees and the coaches’ salaries were all automatically deducted from Master Sun’s bottomless personal account, so no one had to worry about finances.
The problem was, with Master Sun gone, there was no one to make executive decisions, so naturally, no new, powerful coaches had been hired.
Right now, the strongest person at the Martial Arts Hall was Li Weiguo, an enthusiastic "unofficial coach."
But his life force index had only just reached 30.0, and his Slaughter Realm, moreover, was only at the Great Success stage.
Facing a veteran Social Stray Martial Artist who had clearly come to cause trouble and had experience in underground fights, he wasn’t confident of victory.
But things had come to this. If he didn’t step forward, the Extreme Martial Arts Hall would be utterly disgraced.
Li Weiguo took a deep breath, just as he was about to step forward.
But then, Qin Feng spoke.
Qin Feng just smiled, his gaze shifting to the shouting master of Hongchang Martial Arts Hall below the platform. He spoke in a placid tone:
"I was taught by a coach from the Extreme Martial Arts Hall."
"So, let me fight you. It’s all the same. If I defeat you, won’t that prove my point even more effectively?"
"How arrogant!"
The coach of Hongchang Martial Arts Hall roared in anger.
He was just a stray on the streets to begin with, who had opened Hongchang Martial Arts Hall with his older cousin by relying on a scrappy, self-taught style honed in black market fights.
He had never gone through the Empire’s elite education system and had no idea of the terrifying prestige represented by the four words: "Morning Star General Star."
In his eyes, no matter how powerful Qin Feng was, he was still just a wet-behind-the-ears high school kid!
How could he possibly tolerate being provoked like this by a high school student!
With a furious roar, he launched himself off his legs like a cannonball, leaping up and landing heavily on the platform, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"Kid! Today, I’m going to teach you a lesson on behalf of your parents and show you what it means to know your place!"
He fell into a stance, his boxing style radiating a fierce power.
It was indeed some kind of standard-issue military boxing style, with broad, powerful movements, filled with an Evil Qi of Iron Blood.
Unfortunately, his mastery was only at the "Great Success" stage.
His life force index didn’t even reach the 30.0 threshold, sitting at a meager 29.8.
Qin Feng just looked at him and shook his head.
After witnessing the true Martial Arts World and powerhouses like Master Gu Yue and Teacher Wu Shangfeng, this so-called "coach" seemed like a stumbling toddler in his eyes, riddled with openings from head to toe.
"Come at me!"
The master of Hongchang Martial Arts Hall bellowed and took the offensive, throwing a ferocious straight punch right at Qin Feng’s face.
Qin Feng neither dodged nor evaded.
The very instant his opponent’s fist was about to make contact with his face...
He shifted his body sideways by an imperceptible, almost incomprehensible, margin.
It was just enough to avoid the brunt of the straight punch.
At the same time, his right hand shot out like a black bolt of lightning. Though he moved second, he struck first, unerringly grabbing the massive opening at his opponent’s wrist, exposed from the force of the overextended punch.
It was Vicious Bird Fist again.
And again, a one-move victory!
CRACK!
A sickening crack of bone echoed.
With a squeeze of his five fingers, Qin Feng had instantly crushed the wrist of the Hongchang Martial Arts Hall master.
"AHHH—!"
A bloodcurdling scream tore through the hall.
Qin Feng gave him no quarter. Gripping the man’s shattered wrist, he yanked him forward while simultaneously sweeping his left leg out like a steel whip, kicking him hard in the abdomen.
"AGHH—"
The Hongchang Martial Arts Hall coach was sent flying, landing uncontrollably in the exact same spot as the student from Golden Dragon Martial High School.
One move!
Another defeat in a single move!
The surrounding Martial Artists all stared wide-eyed, their jaws hanging open.
If they could understand Qin Feng’s previous one-move victory over the young man as the overwhelming power expected of a "Morning Star General Star"...
...then seeing a living, breathing Martial Arts Hall coach—an expert in their eyes—also be so casually defeated in a single move by this teenager was something else entirely!
The visual impact was utterly paradigm-shattering!
"He’s... he’s truly worthy of the name Morning Star General Star! How is he so strong!"
"Holy crap! A high school kid just one-shotted a Martial Arts Hall coach? What the hell is going on?!"
"I always thought the geniuses from the Martial Arts High Schools were just a little better than us... Now I see we’re not even in the same league!"
Most of the Martial Artists present were ordinary people who hadn’t gone through the Empire’s elite education. Graduates from regular Martial Arts High Schools were rare enough, and those whose Slaughter Arts had reached the Minor Success Realm were as rare as a phoenix’s feather.
They couldn’t comprehend the intricacies of Qin Feng’s Slaughter Arts; all they knew was that a high school student had just taken down a Martial Arts Hall coach in a single move!
He was just too incredible!