[ID]: Mad Demon Staff
[Rank]: First Rank
[Points]: 152
[Record]: 375 Wins, 360 Losses
[Bio]: My staff sweeps all before it. Come at me if you’ve got a problem.
[Enemy Reviews (99+ Excerpts)]: Has this guy ever won in 800 years?; The pressure is insane, he doesn’t give you a chance to breathe; Terrible sportsmanship, he even gloats over your "corpse" after winning. Disgusting...; Does this dickhead only know one move?
Qin Feng remembered this ID well.
A month ago, when he had just entered the arena for his placement matches, he had run into this guy.
Back then, he had been completely helpless against the opponent’s unreasonable, mad-dog-like suppressive staff techniques. He was beaten from start to finish, his head smashed in by a final staff blow, and the guy had even stood on his "corpse" and sent a taunting emoji.
"Bring it on."
Qin Feng’s eyes sharpened.
The scene changed, and the two appeared in an ancient coliseum shrouded in yellow sand.
Across from him stood a burly, powerfully built man holding a long metal staff.
Qin Feng raised his Long Spear, its tip angled toward the ground, and assumed a standard "Coiling Dragon" stance.
The countdown to the start of the battle had just ended.
Mad Demon Staff let out a furious roar and charged toward Qin Feng like a tiger descending a mountain.
He brandished the metal staff in his hands, creating a whistling wind. It transformed into a dense, impenetrable screen of afterimages that descended upon Qin Feng’s head.
It was the same familiar, unreasonable, oppressive fighting style.
Right from the start, he launched an all-encompassing onslaught, giving his opponent no chance to breathe or create distance.
The last time, Qin Feng had been thrown into a panic by these very tactics, forced to retreat step by step until he was ultimately overwhelmed and crushed.
But this time was different.
Facing the screen of afterimages crashing down on him, Qin Feng’s expression didn’t waver in the slightest.
His feet moved.
Wandering Dragon Body Technique.
His figure left a faint afterimage in its place.
Meanwhile, his real body moved like a phantom, shifting three steps to the left.
Three steps. No more, no less. It was just enough to escape the range of the staff’s afterimages.
"Hm?"
Mad Demon Staff’s strike missed, and a trace of surprise flashed in his eyes.
He immediately adjusted his stance, flicked his wrist, and swept the long staff horizontally. It tore through the air with a sharp whistle, aiming for Qin Feng’s waist.
The blow was both fast and vicious.
However, Qin Feng’s movements were faster.
Just as the staff was about to connect, Qin Feng’s figure once again became illusory.
WHOOSH—
The heavy gust from the staff grazed his scalp as it whistled past.
Two attacks, both missed!
"A little interesting!"
Mad Demon Staff’s expression finally grew serious.
He no longer held back, unleashing his staff techniques to their fullest extent.
For a moment, the entire coliseum was filled with flying staff afterimages and rolling waves of air.
Every strike was powerful and heavy, wide and sweeping, filled with a wild, violent beauty.
Yet, no matter how ferocious or dense his attacks became...
...Qin Feng’s figure remained like a boulder in a raging torrent, standing firm and unyielding.
After the epiphany from his battle with Zhou Yu and the tempering of hundreds of subsequent matches, his Wandering Dragon Body Technique had become increasingly fluid and seamless.
He could always find the smallest openings amid the storm of attacks, using the most precise footwork and minimal effort to evade with ease.
The longer Mad Demon Staff fought, the more unnerved he became.
He felt like he was attacking a phantom that didn’t even exist.
No matter how much power he used, he couldn’t even touch the hem of his opponent’s clothes.
In contrast, his opponent hadn’t even raised the Long Spear in his hands from beginning to end.
This was a silent, ultimate show of contempt!
"AAAAAH! Just die!"
Mad Demon Staff went completely berserk. He let out a beast-like roar, abandoned all defense, and poured all his strength into the long staff in his hands. He unleashed a suicidal, indiscriminate horizontal sweep that covered the entire area in front of him.
"Killing technique—Mad Demon Staff!"
’Now!’
A sharp glint flashed in the eyes of the passively evading Qin Feng.
This was what he had been waiting for: the fatal opening his opponent revealed in his impatience.
Qin Feng met the sweeping staff afterimages head-on. Instead of retreating, he advanced, taking a sudden step forward.
At this moment, the Long Spear in his hands finally moved.
There were no fancy moves, no brilliant spear glints.
There was only a single thrust, so fast it seemed to chase light and shadow.
Killing technique—Flowing Light Chasing Shadow!
PFFT!
In the instant before the metal staff swept in front of Qin Feng...
...the cold, dark tip of the spear, though launched later, arrived first, accurately piercing through Mad Demon Staff’s skull.
All of Mad Demon Staff’s movements came to an abrupt halt.
His body slowly dissolved into countless motes of light and vanished into the air.
[VICTORY!]
The cold system notification sounded in Qin Feng’s ear.
Qin Feng withdrew his spear and stood tall, letting out a long, cloudy breath.
’My Slaughter Realm is now far beyond his,’ he thought.
He didn’t linger, immediately clicking the "Continue Matchmaking" button.
For the next several hours, Qin Feng completely immersed himself in the high-intensity battles of the Imperial Arena.
He encountered all sorts of opponents with vastly different styles.
Every battle, whether a victory or a defeat, became nourishment for the improvement of his spearmanship realm.
Thousand Soldiers’ Evasion grew more ferocious and unstoppable.
Flowing Light Chasing Shadow became swifter and more unpredictable.
The Wandering Dragon Body Technique also became more ethereal and elusive.
[Thousand Army Spear Proficiency +3]
[Thousand Army Spear Proficiency +2]
[...]
The notifications on the system panel refreshed continuously.
Only when the sky outside had completely darkened did Qin Feng log out of the Imperial Arena, ending his frenzied ranked session for the day.
He rubbed his throbbing temples and opened his arena data panel.
After an afternoon of nearly forty high-intensity ranked matches...
...his spear proficiency had increased by a full 112 points.
Qin Feng opened the ranked match panel and noticed that his total number of matches had unknowingly approached 400.
[ID]: Qin
[Rank]: First Rank
[Points]: 173
[Ranked Record]: 205 Wins, 168 Losses
[Win Rate]: 55%
[Bio]: None
[Enemy Reviews (2)]: A worthy opponent; Damned slippery eel.
There was a new review. Qin Feng guessed it was from Mad Demon Staff; the guy had terrible sportsmanship.
Next, Qin Feng looked at his proficiency panel.
[Name]: Qin Feng
[Vitality Index]: 10.059
[Martial Artist Level]: Second Level Martial Artist
[Refining Methods]:
Beginner Imperial Body Refining Technique (Perfection)
[Proficiency]: 10000 / 10000
[Effect]: At the current realm, passively increases Vitality Index by 0.001 per hour. Body recovery speed and energy absorption efficiency are slightly increased.
Emperor Meditation Technique (Entry)
[Proficiency]: 13 / 100
[Effect]: Nail of Favor x1: The speed at which you cultivate your Meditation technique receives a slight Amplification.
[Slaughter Methods]:
Thousand Army Spear (Major Accomplishment)
[Proficiency]: 112 / 10000
[Mastered Killing Techniques]: Thousand Soldiers’ Evasion, Flowing Light Chasing Shadow