Chapter 157: Chapter 114: Suppression! Asserting Dominance
The very instant the Golden Bell faded, Chen Sheng made his move.
He unleashed the right fist he had been charging for so long. There were no dazzling lights, no piercing whistles—only a force, condensed to its absolute limit, that cut through the air and drove, plain and unadorned, straight for Zhan Fusheng’s chest.
He struck later, but his fist arrived first.
Zhan Fusheng’s face paled. In his haste, he could only circulate all his True Qi and counter with a punch of his own.
BOOM—!!!
The collision of their fists was like a sudden clap of thunder.
A violent burst of True Qi erupted from where they stood, creating a visible ripple of air that blasted outward. It whipped the robes of those in the front rows and made their cheeks sting from the force.
The bluestone slabs beneath their feet finally gave way. With a series of CRACKS, the stone spiderwebbed with fissures, sending shards of rock flying.
Zhan Fusheng felt an overwhelming, mountain-crushing force surge from his fist, far exceeding his expectations. His entire right arm went numb, he felt a stifling pressure in his chest, and a sweet, coppery taste filled his throat. He nearly coughed up a mouthful of blood.
He stumbled back seven or eight steps, his retreat uncontrollable. Each step pounded a deep footprint into the stone before he could finally regain his footing.
By now, his eyes were filled with sheer terror.
’In a head-on clash, I’m completely outmatched?!’
Before Zhan Fusheng could recover from the terrifying force, Chen Sheng pressed his advantage. Closing the distance like a phantom, he instantly changed his technique. His fist became a palm, fingers like a hook, and he latched onto Zhan Fusheng’s right wrist—which had just regained a hint of feeling—with unerring precision.
A numbing sensation shot through half of Zhan Fusheng’s body. The flow of his True Qi instantly stagnated.
Then, Chen Sheng’s footwork shifted. With the fluid motion of a fish, he pulled his opponent off-balance with a masterful close-quarters technique. Zhan Fusheng felt a powerful tug, and his body was yanked forward, stumbling uncontrollably.
In an instant, they were practically chest to chest.
Chen Sheng stepped forward with his left leg, sinking his stance and dropping his shoulder. He focused his body’s entire power into that shoulder, becoming a small, mobile mountain as he slammed it into Zhan Fusheng’s chest!
Iron Mountain Lean.
BOOM!!!
Another deafening, heavy impact rang out.
Zhan Fusheng felt as though he’d been rammed by a colossal beast. His Protective True Qi shattered instantly, and his sternum emitted a sickening CRUNCH. Like a kite with its string cut, his feet left the ground as he was sent flying backward.
However, his nightmare had only just begun.
The power and True Qi Chen Sheng had held in check for so long finally erupted. He moved like lightning, leaving a faint golden afterimage in his wake. In another display of striking later but arriving first, he caught up to the airborne Zhan Fusheng.
In the next instant, Chen Sheng’s arms blurred into a storm of fists. Like a torrential downpour or a meteor shower, they descended with sharp, whistling shrieks upon the airborne Zhan Fusheng, who had no way to dodge or parry!
THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!
The sickening thuds of fist meeting flesh sounded like a frantic war drum, the rhythm so dense it was suffocating.
The boom of colliding True Qi echoed relentlessly, and the stray Qi Force carved deep gouges into the arena floor.
Zhan Fusheng could only rely on instinct, barely managing to raise his arms to block. His True Qi circulated frantically, trying to neutralize the terrifying Fist Force that battered him like a torrential river.
But the earlier assault on the Golden Bell had already left him with serious internal injuries, and the rebound force had damaged his organs. Now, with Chen Sheng seizing this opening to launch an all-out offensive, he was utterly incapable of mounting an effective counterattack. He was trapped, forced to simply endure the beating.
Every punch landed with the weight of a mountain, hammering his arms, shoulder blades, and chest.
If not for his solid foundation and a body tempered by years of harsh training, his arms would have been snapped in two by the sheer force of the blows!
Even so, under this torrential assault, his internal injuries worsened with every passing moment, and his True Qi circulation grew increasingly sluggish.
Finally—
PTAH—!
A great gout of crimson blood sprayed uncontrollably from Zhan Fusheng’s mouth, staining the front of his robes.
The last vestiges of his True Qi scattered, and his Protective True Qi disintegrated. Like a limp sack of grain, he took Chen Sheng’s final, solid punch to the chest. His body curled like a shrimp as he was blasted backward, slamming hard onto the edge of the arena stage.
BOOM!
Dust and rubble flew into the air.
Zhan Fusheng lay in a crater of cracked stone, his clothes torn and bloodstained. He tried to struggle to his feet, but the effort only brought on a more violent coughing fit, causing him to spit up several more mouthfuls of dark blood. It was clear he had suffered grievous internal injuries.
The sudden reversal and the miserable sight of Zhan Fusheng’s defeat plunged the entire training grounds into a dead silence.
At that moment, everyone stared, dumbfounded, at the dark-clad figure standing on the stage with his hands clasped behind his back. His breathing was calm and even, and their eyes were filled with a mixture of disbelief, shock, and awe.
’How could Chen Sheng’s power be so terrifying?!’
After all, Zhan Fusheng was no ordinary master. He was a notoriously fierce figure within the Ning’an Prefecture’s Jingwu Bureau. With his early-stage Innate Cultivation and savage fighting style, he rarely found an equal among his peers. This was one of the main reasons he had the confidence to vie for the position of Deputy Captain.
Yet this formidable figure, before Chen Sheng, was like a child facing a grown man. He was utterly dominated from start to finish, with almost no chance to even fight back.
Waves of shock crashed through Lu Cheng, and a cold sweat beaded on his back. He secretly thanked his lucky stars that, despite his own ambitions, he had never openly shown any hostility toward Chen Sheng. Otherwise, it might not be just Zhan Fusheng lying on the stage today.
The power Chen Sheng had just displayed was far beyond that of an ordinary early-stage Innate cultivator!
Zhao Changqiu, however, let out a long sigh of relief, an irrepressible look of delight spreading across his face.
