Chapter 33 — Section Thirty-Two: The Wild Wind-Cloak Staff Technique

The barefoot youth's body was like a roly-poly toy, tipping to yet another side, dragging the staff's momentum along with it.

From the change in the staff's hum, Tang Tang knew the power behind this strike had grown again!

The barefoot youth tipped to another side, and the long bronze staff's force increased once more. The shaft blurred beyond the eye's ability to follow, and the wind it raised grew ever more fearsome.

Tang Tang had no choice but to leap to yet another side.

What a bizarre martial art!

Tang Tang had already begun to see the pattern. The barefoot youth used his own body as an axle to drive the staff. Each time he tipped, the power in the bronze staff increased by a measure. Now the barefoot youth was like a top spinning at high speed, and the bronze staff, heavy and immense, was terrifying in its power—one solid hit, and ten to one you'd lose your fighting capacity. The youth's staff shadows looked chaotic, but they covered an enormous range.

This much was plain from how Tang Tang kept dodging without pause.

What staff technique was this...

"What staff technique is this?" Ming Guang could not help asking from the stands. "What a strange way of attacking."

"[Wild Wind-Cloak Staff Technique]," Wang Zhen said, somewhat surprised himself. "Very few people ever practice this one."

It was the first Ming Guang had heard of it, and he was taken aback. "Why not? It looks formidable! I never expected a preliminary round to have a contestant this strong!"

"The Wild Wind-Cloak Staff Technique requires innate divine strength—it wins through sheer power," Wang Zhen explained. "The body drives the staff's momentum. Look at his posture—he looks drunk, but in truth, lethal intent lies hidden within. Once the Wild Wind-Cloak Staff Technique starts whirling, he holds the advantage."

"Then isn't Tang Tang in danger?" Ming Guang frowned.

"The best moment to break the Wild Wind-Cloak Staff Technique is his first few strikes, before the staff's momentum has fully unfurled. Now the force is layered on layer, truly immense." Wang Zhen said.

Whoo! Whoo! Whoo!

The sound of the heavy bronze staff being whirled at high speed filled the arena. Gravel and dirt were constantly swept up from the ground, then crushed to powder by the staff shadows.

The barefoot youth's figure was completely shrouded in the staff shadows.

Like a raging tornado, it howled and thundered through the small arena.

Tang Tang had not expected his first opponent to be this formidable.

Yet he was not affected by the other's staff momentum.

His gaze was focused, every stray thought cast aside. The opponent was like a whirlwind set loose, and wherever it passed, sand flew and stones scattered.

That bronze staff had to weigh over sixty catties, and when he swung it, the sight was terrifying.

Tang Tang halted and faced his opponent squarely.

The brass-colored blur of the staff pivoted abruptly with the gale and came crushing down toward Tang Tang with a thunderous roar.

Tang Tang's face was calm, his eyes fixed forward, his body leaning slightly in, his right fist drawn back at his waist.

This was...

The crowd in the stands was startled at once. Against such a heavy staff strike, meeting force with force was nothing but seeking death.

Did Tang Yan want to live?

Tang Tang stomped his left foot hard against the ground; his calm face abruptly turned savage; driving off his left leg, he shot forward like an arrow.

Every step Tang Duo took was leaden, sinking deep into the mud.

As everyone gaped, Tang Xuan charged at the gale like a maddened wild bull, thundering forward amid sprays of flying earth.

Yet behind that savage face, Tang Tang's gaze was clear and still. To ordinary eyes such force might be suffocating, but in his eyes it was not nearly enough!

Had he not stood beside monstrous powerhouses like the Fly Ox? Not to mention Brother Stone, that superhuman road-roller! Even a random pick from the quarry, swinging a great iron hammer about, made a far more terrifying din!

Boy, you have no idea what kind of baptism I have been through...

Chapter Thirty-Three: A Declaration of Victory

The distance between them shrank. Tang Yi's clear eyes began to change, as though a flame had surged up from the depths of his pupils.

On the final step, Tang Xuan stamped down hard like a savage rhinoceros.

Borrowing that force, Tang Tang's speed spiked and he flashed before the blur of the staff.

He exhaled and cried out, and the right fist long held in wait swung out with a roar.

All the strength in his body gathered into that one punch, heavy as a thousand catties!

Clang!

A deafening impact rang out as Tang Duo's fist and the bronze staff met full on! The staff-blur filling the sky vanished; the low, heart-stopping wind died away; the barefoot youth's high-speed spinning figure seemed suddenly seized and forced to a stop, frozen in place.

The violent contrast of extreme motion and extreme stillness gave the onlookers an unbearable feeling.

Bewilderment spread across the barefoot youth's face; he had not worked out what exactly had happened.

Once his staff technique was unleashed, he had never lost; no one had ever beaten him before his strength ran dry.

How could this be... how could this be...

Suddenly, another fist shot out without warning from below his face.

Flash Fist!

Bang!

The bewildered barefoot youth made no reaction at all; the punch landed square on his face. As if struck head-on by a rhinoceros, he was sent flying sideways.

Clang-clatter!

The bronze staff flew far away.

Dead silence filled the arena.

After a moment the referee came to his senses and hastily shouted, "Tang Tang wins!"

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Tang Tang held his punching stance and let out a long breath; the flame in his eyes faded bit by bit.

The stands erupted.

The turnabout had been so fast! A moment ago they had thought the barefoot youth's staff technique was mighty and flawless, and then in the blink of an eye Tang Xuan had won. More to the point, Tang Tang had used hardly any Li Tang martial arts—he had settled it on sheer strength alone.

Beating the Random Whirling Wind Staff with nothing but brute force? That... that was simply absurd!

By contrast, the big shots were far calmer.

"Foundations this solid are rare," Sima Tangshan said, turning to Shen Yuan. "I hear he trained five years in basic martial arts?"

Shen Yuan nodded. "Mm, that is what they say."

"Seems it is true. Perfect force generation. In pure muscle technique alone he has nearly reached the peak. That Flash Fist was fine too. I imagine Wang Zhen came for that." Sima Tangshan praised.

Shen Yuan answered honestly, "That I could not say."

Ming Guang's mouth hung open; he stared blankly into the arena and only after a long while asked, dazed, "This—this—this..."

Wang Zhen made a sound of acknowledgment. "His strength is just under Amori's, but his technique is better. I have seen the two of them trade punches—a draw."

At that Ming Guang calmed down. A draw trading punches with Amori...

How fearsome Amori's brute strength was, Ming Guang knew firsthand. He pictured it: swap Tang Tang for Amori—oh, then this was a perfectly normal outcome.

Still, a draw trading punches with Amori... another true freak!

Cai Xue stared blankly at Tang Tang in the arena. "So fierce!"

He Xiaoqin was likewise wide-eyed. "Is he a wild beast..."

Han Zhao was calm. She had seen Tang Tang wrestle the Ink-Armor Iron Rhino, so the result did not much surprise her. What she had not expected was that Tang Tang would beat his opponent in such a technically barren fashion.

Only, how crude... how savage!

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Tang Tang held his punching stance, his face cold and grim.

"Wah wah wah! Big Brother is the best!" Little Nannan raised her plump little hands and cheered.

Suddenly Tang Duo's eyebrows twitched, and then he leapt up as if his backside were on fire, frantically shaking his right hand.