With the first battle lost, Chen Jingsheng’s expression was incredibly grim.
Zou Feng, on the other hand, was calm. After all, he was certain he couldn’t lose.
But Zou Feng hadn’t expected to lose this fight, especially since he was using the side effects of the Drunken Immortal Moon Gazing Step to help Wang Xingjian.
It also made him realize something.
Although both sides had gathered intelligence and made targeted preparations before the duel, his side was inferior to Zhu Qiming’s faction in one respect.
Their "resolve" to win, no matter the cost, was far stronger than his own side’s.
Wei Lingyun had clearly used a suicidal, all-or-nothing fighting style.
’To hell with your preparations. I’m just going to charge you like I’m strapped with dynamite. The fight is decided in a matter of moments—it’s either you die or I do...’
The battle ended so quickly that the support from Zou Feng’s side effects never had a chance to play its true role.
Now that the outcome was decided, Zou Feng immediately went and carried Wang Xingjian back.
Then, he stuffed a few healing Elixirs into his mouth.
These Elixirs melted the moment they entered his mouth, and before long, Wang Xingjian regained consciousness.
More than his physical injuries, Wang Xingjian was overwhelmed with shame.
"Hall Master, my brother, I... I’m sorry..."
Chen Jingsheng, however, was magnanimous. He waved his hand and said, "Forget it. What’s done is done. There’s no use blaming yourself. In this battle... our opponents were simply better prepared!"
He said that, but in reality, Chen Jingsheng was furious and incredibly anxious.
But he knew he absolutely couldn’t lose his temper at a time like this, nor could he be harsh with Wang Xingjian.
Because that might affect Zou Feng’s condition for his upcoming fight.
"Zou Feng, in this next battle, you absolutely cannot hold back any longer!"
’As expected of a veteran of the Jianghu. He must have seen through me long ago...’
’Then again, I’ve dealt with Chen Jingsheng many times, and I’ve never been particularly guarded around him.’
Zou Feng nodded. "Brother Chen, don’t worry. I will win... uh, I can win!"
Zou Feng had changed how he addressed Chen Jingsheng at the pre-battle pep rally five days ago.
"Chen Jingsheng, since we got lucky and won the first round, to be safe, we should proceed as we agreed and put out the Immortal Treasure first..."
Across the field, an overjoyed Zhu Qiming spoke up.
The demand he was making now was indeed what they had agreed upon from the start.
With one round over, the best-of-three duel had reached match point.
If Zhu Qiming’s side won the next round, there would be no need for a third.
But the problem was, even with the Heart Demon Poison Oath, no one could guarantee that the losing side would actually honor the bet and meekly hand over the Immortal Treasure.
What if one side simply refused to play fair, broke the oath, and decided they’d rather face the consequences—be it falling into demonism or dying on the spot—than let the other side get their way?
Therefore, once they reached match point, both sides had to take out their Immortal Treasures and place them in a spot visible to everyone.
This way, even if the losing side tried to renege, the winning side would have the advantage in seizing the Immortal Treasure.
After all, the loser would certainly be more heavily injured and, under normal circumstances, wouldn’t be able to out-snatch the winner.
And if the losing side broke the poison oath in the process, the winner could justifiably eliminate them completely.
"Fine!"
Chen Jingsheng wasted no words and followed Zhu Qiming to a large boulder they had scouted out earlier.
The two men carefully placed the round spheres into a crevice in the rock. Then, warily watching each other, they returned to the dueling ground at the same slow pace.
With a clear line of sight and the short distance, it was unlikely anything unexpected would happen to the items.
"Now then, let the second round begin!" Having won the first round, Zhu Qiming’s voice was clearly more confident.
As soon as he finished speaking, He Qingzhi strode forward, brimming with confidence.
Chen Jingsheng looked at Zou Feng, wanting to offer a few words of encouragement but worried about putting extra pressure on him.
Zou Feng wanted to reiterate that he would win, but he felt it would be jinxing it, so he simply stepped onto the field.
’It wasn’t that he was arrogant; Zou Feng truly couldn’t think of any reason he would lose.’
’Three Evil Skills cultivated to the level of Refined Skill, with no hidden dangers left in his body.’
’On top of that, he had two other Cultivation Skills, the Tribulation-Indestructible Body and the Drunken Immortal Moon Gazing Step, both of which he had cultivated to the Realm of Synthesis and Mastery.’
’In terms of Inner Qi, he had consumed three Nine Yang Profound Qi Pills, various Evil Pills from the Ten Directions Sect, and he’d been eating other Elixirs like Qi Blood Pills for breakfast—and that wasn’t even worth mentioning.’
’So how could he possibly lose?’
’No matter what preparations this He Qingzhi had made, no matter how extreme his resolve, it would all be in vain.’
"Zou Feng, for a mere Household Slave who reached Entering Grade with just the Basic Pile Skill, to have achieved your current strength and status is truly remarkable!"
"I must admit, I’m actually a little impressed!"
He Qingzhi slowly walked toward Zou Feng, launching a verbal assault as he went.
One shouldn’t underestimate verbal attacks. When opponents are of similar strength, psychological warfare is actually very important.
By deliberately bringing up Zou Feng’s past as a Household Slave, He Qingzhi was trying to destabilize his state of mind.
"But no matter what, you are absolutely no match for me."
"The Tribulation-Indestructible Body may have made your flesh and skin as tough as steel, but what about your insides?"
"The Karmic Fire Red Lotus Palm has some power, I’ll grant you, but the moves of that Cultivation Skill are utterly crude. The chances of you landing a hit on me are minuscule..."
He Qingzhi wasn’t in a hurry to attack. He just kept circling Zou Feng, incessantly running his mouth.
To be fair, his verbal assault was successful, because Zou Feng was indeed getting annoyed.
However, he had to admit that He Qingzhi’s trash talk wasn’t entirely baseless. He had accurately pointed out the weaknesses of the Cultivation Skills Zou Feng was known to practice.
Unable to stand it any longer, Zou Feng was about to make the first move when He Qingzhi seemed to find an opening and finally launched his attack.
The technique he used was neither a fist nor a palm, but two fingers pressed together, jabbing toward Zou Feng.
Clearly, this was some kind of Acupoint Internal Skill. Upon hitting the target, its Force would wreak havoc from inside the body—a perfect counter to the Tribulation-Indestructible Body.
Furthermore, once he was close enough, Zou Feng could feel that He Qingzhi’s Inner Qi was like an icy chill.
This, in turn, countered Zou Feng’s Karmic Fire Red Lotus Palm.
Most importantly, according to the intelligence provided by Chen Jingsheng, He Qingzhi had never practiced these two Cultivation Skills before.
This meant he had recently learned them in a last-ditch effort to win the duel.
And he had actually succeeded!
It was true that Evil Skills could be mastered quickly, but to switch to other Cultivation Skills and achieve such results in such a short time...
It would be no exaggeration to call this He Qingzhi an Evil Genius.
’Unfortunately for him, a genius is still nothing before a cheater.’
Faced with the acupoint-targeting finger strike, Zou Feng was tempted to counter with a finger of his own, but in the end, he chose to throw a palm strike.
The palm strike seemed unremarkable and wasn’t particularly fast, looking as if it could be easily dodged.
He Qingzhi thought so too, so he planned to maneuver his fingers around the palm and continue his strike toward Zou Feng’s acupoint.
Unexpectedly, even though he had clearly altered the trajectory of his attack, his fingers still inexplicably landed right in the center of Zou Feng’s palm.
With a CRACK, his fingers bent back at an unnatural angle.
"AHHH..."
Excruciating pain shot through him. He Qingzhi stumbled back more than ten steps, clutching his fingers and howling in agony.
’This is impossible!’
’My Hundred Flowers Acupoint Hand has already reached the Realm of Synthesis and Mastery! With the boost from my Inner Qi, even if I couldn’t break through Zou Feng’s Protective Inner Force, my fingers should never have been broken in return...’
"Watch out!"
Zhu Qiming’s anxious warning rang out. He Qingzhi, who had been inspecting his injured fingers in shock and fury, quickly looked up at Zou Feng.
But there was no one in front of him.
In truth, He Qingzhi hadn’t been careless. He had, after all, retreated a good dozen steps before choosing to check his injury.
Besides, the intelligence reports said that Zou Feng hadn’t cultivated any Body Technique Martial Arts.
However, upon finding no one in front of him, He Qingzhi instantly realized where Zou Feng must be. Without even turning his head, he roared, unleashed a burst of Qi, and launched the killing move he had truly prepared.
Countless short, thin steel needles exploded out from He Qingzhi’s body.
’This guy actually hid a huge number of fine needles in the flesh all over his body!’
’He must have embedded them days in advance, supplementing them with a Secret Medicine and using his Inner Qi to seal his acupoints to prevent bleeding.’
’And these fine needles were, naturally, another counter to body protection Cultivation Skills like the Tribulation-Indestructible Body.’
’Erupting suddenly like this, the needles were far stealthier than if they had been thrown directly, but this method was tantamount to self-mutilation.’
’To avoid revealing any weaknesses beforehand, He Qingzhi’s pain tolerance must have been incredible.’
’These guys are really ruthless to themselves just to win this duel!’
’Too bad. In front of me, it’s all just flashy, useless effort.’
’There was no way to dodge it anyway, so he’d just have to tank the hit.’
At the same time, Zou Feng landed a solid Great Universal Hand palm strike on He Qingzhi’s back.
PS: My stomach is upset, so I could only manage four thousand characters today...