novel-bin Chapter 71 Matching
Chapter 71 Matching
Luo Lie's expression changed drastically.
The solemnity slowly faded, finally settling into a state of tranquility.
He slowly withdrew his fists, lowered his waist, and arched his back slightly, like a lone wolf forced to the brink of despair, suppressing all excess energy and revealing only his deadly fangs.
"You do have some skill."
"But that's all."
Jiang Lan did not reply.
My right fist was still tingling, my chest was churning with blood and qi, my meridians were sluggish and tight, and every breath was accompanied by a slight stinging pain.
My probing exchange with Luo Lie just now was merely an appetizer.
The real, all-out, life-or-death battle has only just begun.
The next moment, Luo Lie suddenly moved.
His palms were burning red and hot, like red-hot irons, and his whole body was vibrating. A muffled booming sound rolled past his ears like thunder.
The violent palm wind swept in all directions, like a mountain collapsing and a tsunami pouring down. The invisible pressure crushed the entire scene, making everyone around gasp for breath and feel a tightness in their chests.
Breaking the Mountain Hand - Breaking the Mountain Threefold.
The first palm strike came down from mid-air with the force of a giant axe splitting a mountain, savage and domineering, aiming straight for Jiang Lan's vital point on the head.
Before the palm strike even truly got close, the sharp, oppressive aura had already gripped his throat.
Jiang Lan quickly dodged to the side, and the aftershock of her palm swept past, causing the bluestone floor tiles beneath her feet to shatter and fly everywhere.
The second palm strike followed immediately, sweeping horizontally with a powerful spiraling twist, aiming directly at Jiang Lan's vital points in the waist and abdomen, while simultaneously sealing off all escape routes to the left. There was nowhere to retreat, nowhere to dodge.
Jiang Lan lowered his waist and planted his stance, firmly securing his lower body. He then twisted his right arm from his waist to generate force, delivering a head-on blow with the Crashing Mountain Fist Tiger Form.
Fists and palms collided with a loud crash.
A dull thud exploded like a thunderclap.
Jiang Lan's entire arm went numb, and a powerful force surged into her body through her fist. She lost her balance and involuntarily slid back half a step.
Before he could regain his footing, Luo Lie's third palm strike arrived silently.
The move was cunning and ruthless, like a venomous snake secretly flicking its tongue, suddenly rising from below and aiming straight for Jiang Lan's heart.
It conceals a hidden, subtle yet powerful force; once it strikes, it will shatter the internal organs on the spot, beyond the help of even a god.
Jiang Lan had no room to dodge anymore.
His body instinctively twisted, his spine swung like a dragon-shaped beast's long tail, narrowly missing his vital organs at the last second.
The palm strike grazed across his left ribs, tearing his clothes and leaving a burning red mark on his skin.
The cold, dark energy penetrated through the skin and flesh, drilling into the bones and muscles. A sharp, dull pain instantly shot through my left rib, as if I had been struck hard by a thousand-pound hammer.
A gasp of surprise erupted from the audience.
In Guangchang's seat, Liu Changqing gripped the armrests of his seat tightly with his fingers, his lips pressed into a straight line.
But his eyes were already churning with shock, and he could not hide the shock in his heart—Jiang Lan, a newly promoted nine-point martial artist, had actually taken the Songfeng Martial Arts School's signature move, the Three-Fold Breaking Mountain Technique.
Jiang Lan forcibly suppressed her surging blood and swallowed the metallic taste rising in her throat.
Luo Lie launched three consecutive fierce attacks, but his moves were already worn out. His momentum momentarily faltered, creating a fleeting opening.
It was in that very moment.
A sharp glint suddenly flashed in Jiang Lan's eyes, as sharp as a drawn blade.
His taut, compressed body suddenly burst forth with power, his feet slamming into the ground, and he charged forward like a tiger descending a mountain, fearless and reckless.
He unleashed both fists simultaneously, employing the full power of the Mountain-Crushing Fist Tiger Pounce, disregarding the cost and leaving no way out, each move a life-or-death struggle.
His arms were as strong as iron pillars, and his fists exploded with a whistling wind, breaking straight through Luo Lie's central defense.
Luo Lie's pupils suddenly contracted, and he hurriedly crossed his arms to block in front of him.
Fists and arms collided violently, and the dull thud of bones hitting each other was deafening.
The immense impact struck Luo Lie as if he had been hit head-on by a charging wild bull. The bluestone beneath his feet shattered one after another, and he slid back three feet. His arms instantly went numb and powerless, and his tiger's mouth was directly shattered, with bright red blood continuously seeping out.
Jiang Lan gave the other party no chance to catch their breath or adjust.
One punch was barely retracted before another was launched in an instant, the Tiger Swing seamlessly following. The body spun rapidly, using centrifugal force to unleash a powerful burst of energy, the arc-shaped fist sweeping out at an unpredictable and tricky angle, impossible to defend against with ordinary moves.
Luo Lie hastily raised his arm to block, his fist slamming heavily onto his forearm. The knuckles creaked and cracked, and excruciating pain spread throughout his body, causing him to furrow his brow in agony.
Luo Lie gritted his teeth and endured the pain, pushing out with both palms in an attempt to force back Jiang Lan's fierce attack and regain the initiative in the battle.
Jiang Lan did not retreat. Instead, she lowered her body and squeezed under the gap between her opponent's arms. She twisted her waist and unleashed the Tiger Style again, her fierce fist aimed straight at Luo Lie's chin.
Extremely fast!
Luo Lie had no time to react and could only desperately tilt his head back to dodge. The fierce wind of the punch grazed his chin, leaving a trail of bright red blood.
He staggered backward, breaking two bluestone tiles before finally managing to steady himself.
All the noise on the command platform came to an abrupt halt.
The owners of the various martial arts schools present exchanged glances, their eyes filled with undisguised horror.
What shocked everyone was not that Luo Lie, a veteran of the Nine Acupoints, was at a disadvantage, but rather Jiang Lan himself. A junior martial artist who had broken through to the Nine Acupoints less than a month ago was actually able to stand firmly against the fierce attack of a Perfected Nine Acupoints expert who had been consolidating for five years, and even counterattacked to suppress his opponent, turning defense into offense!
On the seats of the Cangsong Martial Arts School.
Shi Yunshan's face was ashen and cold, and his aura was chilling.
He suppressed the atmosphere to its extreme, and the disciples around him were all silent as if trembling with fear.
Everyone knew perfectly well that.
If Luo Lie is defeated today, Songfeng Martial Arts School will lose all its reputation for the past century and will never be able to hold its head high in the local martial arts world again.
Luo Lie slowly steadied himself, his chest heaving violently, his breathing heavy and disordered.
He glanced down at the blood seeping from his tiger's mouth, then looked up at Jiang Lan across the arena. His previously calm and composed gaze shattered completely, replaced by intense anger.
As the chief disciple of Songfeng Martial Arts School, he had perfected his nine acupoints in five years, possessing a solid foundation and martial arts prowess far surpassing his peers.
Now, I've been forced into such a pathetic situation by a junior newcomer!
We cannot retreat, not even half a step.
Luo Lie took a deep breath, and his blood and qi surged and boiled, causing his bones to crack and pop repeatedly, like the sound of popping beans.
His eyes were bloodshot and his body was filled with powerful energy surging wildly, like a volcano about to erupt, his power terrifying.
"Mountain Breaker - Rock Smash!"
A loud shout echoed throughout the entire venue.
He unleashed a flurry of palm strikes, each one possessing the power to shatter stone and split rocks.
The palm strike was fierce and sharp, the sound of it tearing through the air was extremely piercing, and it made the skin of everyone around it sting.
He abandoned all clever moves and stopped paying attention to offensive and defensive techniques. He relied solely on the powerful brute force accumulated over five years to crush Jiang Lan's resistance with overwhelming force. He wanted to use absolute power to forcefully defeat all of Jiang Lan's resistance.
Jiang Lan remained undeterred.
With a stable stance and a firm waist, the three forms of the Mountain-Crushing Fist – Tiger's Strike, Tiger's Pounce, and Tiger's Swing – rotate rapidly, with the fist shadows as dense as the wind.
Fists and palms collided repeatedly, producing a dense and continuous series of explosive sounds that made everyone's eardrums sting and go numb.
The hard bluestone arena could not withstand such violent and terrifying power. From the center of the battle between the two, cracks spread wildly like a spider web, with broken stones flying everywhere and dust filling the air.
Ten moves.
Twenty moves.
Thirty moves.
……
Their breathing grew heavier, veins bulged on their foreheads, and beads of sweat mixed with bright red blood dripped onto the broken bluestone.
Luo Lie's palms were already torn open, a bloody mess; Jiang Lan's fists were also badly damaged, the gaping wound between his thumb and forefinger was getting deeper and deeper, revealing the bone, and blood was flowing down his fingertips.
Even though they were severely injured, the two showed no intention of stopping.
Every move is a fight to the death, every move is deadly, it's a fight to the death.
The forty-third move.
Luo Lie's palm strike missed its mark, causing his body to suddenly lean forward, completely exposing a very subtle yet fleeting weakness.
In just a moment.
Jiang Lan's body shot out like an arrow, his spine twisting violently, his waist and hips exploding with all his might, his right arm transforming into a hard whip, his five fingers joined together like a sharp sword, all the extreme spiral force concentrated at his fingertips—the Mountain-Crushing Fist killing move, Tiger Tail Whip.
Extremely accurate, extremely ruthless!
Like a tiger turning around and whipping its tail, it is silent and yet can break a tree in one strike and kill on the spot.
Luo Lie had no time to dodge and defend.
His palms remained suspended in mid-air, unable to regain his balance, and he could only watch helplessly as the sharp fingertip pierced his vital chest.
"puff!"
The fingertips pierced deep into the flesh, and the powerful, hidden force instantly penetrated the chest cavity, directly damaging the lungs and internal organs.
Luo Lie felt as if his heart was being squeezed tightly by an invisible hand. His vision suddenly went black, and a large amount of sweet and pungent blood rushed to his throat.
Jiang Lan did not pause.
In an instant, his fingertips transformed into fists, the fist pressing firmly against the opponent's chest. He gathered all the strength in his body and unleashed it all with a thunderous roar.
"Bang!"
The crisp, piercing sound of bones cracking echoed clearly throughout the venue, breaking the deathly silence.
Luo Lie's clothes instantly ripped to shreds, his chest visibly caved in, and several of his sternums were broken.
He flew backwards like a kite with a broken string, a distance of three zhang (approximately 10 meters), before crashing heavily onto the bluestone ground below the arena. He remained motionless after falling to the ground.
Dark red blood kept spilling from the corners of his mouth, and his chest was sunken and deformed, making him look horrific and shocking.
The entire place was deathly silent; the gale stopped, and everything was still.
All the disciples of Cangsong Martial Arts School stood frozen in place, motionless.
Shi Yunshan suddenly stood up, his chair tipping over and shattering, the ear-piercing sound breaking the silence.
His face went from ashen to deathly pale in an instant, his lips trembled uncontrollably, and after a long while he managed to squeeze out a single sentence, his voice shaking violently: "Quick...quickly go and get a doctor!"
The disciples of Songfeng instantly snapped out of their daze and rushed to the edge of the arena in a panic. Some hurriedly carried over a door panel, while others frantically wiped away the bloodstains. However, the more they wiped, the more blood appeared. Everyone was in a chaotic mess, and the strong smell of blood continued to permeate and spread in the air.
"Senior Brother!"
"His sternum is broken!"
"Doctor! Get a doctor quickly!"