Chapter 3 – Breaking through to the 2nd Rank of the Martial Path
“One move, you’ve lost….”
Zhao Feng had an expression of shock and excitement which was hard to cover up.
I won? And I won in one move?
Before the battle, because of the changes in the left eye, Zhao Feng was confident that by relying on his reaction speed and vision, he would be able to block one of Zhao Kun’s moves, and if used well, he could be able to block more than 10 moves.
The result however, was well out of his expectations.
Zhao Kun’s attack was very fast for some of the bystanders, but under his left eye, all of his movements were as clear as day.
And when the left eye was activated to its fullest capabilities, Zhao Feng felt that the opponent’s moves seemed slow and clumsy.
He was stunned because he saw faults in Zhao Kun’s skill.
Faults!
Faults in a high ranked martial art!
Zhao Feng didn’t understand it either, how could he see the opponent’s faults so easily? Maybe it was because the opponent hadn’t fully polished the skill.
At last, Zhao Feng reacted on instinct, just like how he had with the fly, and gave the opponent a deadly hit, which allowed him to win in one move.
Hua!
All the disciples on the martial arts field were shocked.
“Did I see wrong!? The one that lost was Zhao Kun!”
“You are right! The person who lost was Zhao Kun!”
All the Zhao disciples opened their eyes wide and had weird faces on.
…….
“How is this possible………. How could I lose to this guy?”
Zhao Kun had a questioning face.
Yep!
He lost so suddenly he didn’t understand.
At this time, the expressions on Zhao Feng and Zhao Kun’s faces were comparable.
“It was by accident!”
When the Zhao disciples saw the expression on Zhao Kun’s face, they understood.
After this was said, all of them started agreeing.
“You are right! This kids luck must be too good, he won by accident.”
“His luck must be too good……”
The crowd agreed on the reason for Zhao Feng’s victory.
“Luck? Maybe.”
Zhao Feng gave a faint smile and turned to leave.
“Kid! Stay there!”
Zhao Kun clutched his stomach as he slowly stood up before he, in a dark manner, said, “Zhao Feng! You were just lucky before, that’s why you won. Let’s fight again!”
“Fight again?”
Zhao Feng scrunched up his eyebrows and looked at Zhao Kun, “Firstly, you’re hurt. Secondly, I don’t have time.”
After saying this he turned towards a corner in the martial arts field and left behind a group of disciples with stunned faces.
“Bastard! After I’m healed, I’ll perfect my Thirteen Changes of the Poisonous Snake, then I’ll fight you.”
Zhao Kun had a face of anger as he then left without another word.
Looking back on the fight, Zhao Kun had his own reasons of why he lost, and there were 3 main reasons:
Firstly, he looked down on his opponent.
Secondly, he had only learnt the first 3 moves of the Thirteen Changes of the Poisonous Snake, and there were still many faults as it was yet to be perfected.
Thirdly, Zhao Feng had too much luck.
……
On the other side of the martial arts field, Zhao Feng started to practise.
“The reason I was able to win the last fight is mainly because Zhao Kun looked down on me too much, as well as the fact that he have yet to perfect the high ranked martial art skill, which allowed for me to the faults……”
Zhao Feng knew the answer in his heart.
Zhao Kun would definitely not go easy on him in the next fight, and if he perfects the Thirteen Changes of the Poisonous Snake’s first 3 moves faults, then Zhao Feng doesn’t have any confidence in winning again.
That was because the difference between the 1st rank and the 2nd rank of the martial path was too big.
The Martial Path had 9 ranks in total, the first three ranks were known as “Power ranks”.
The “Power ranks” were about gaining more strength and increasing one’s foundation.
So the 1st rank and the 2nd rank of the martial path had a difference of around 100kg’s in terms of strength.
That’s why, under normal conditions, to be a 1st rank and beat the 2nd rank of the martial path was so surprising, even more so to win by 1 move.
“The key point is still to increase my strength!”
Zhao Feng took a deep breath and started to practise “Flaming Metal Fist” again.
The first move… The second move….. The third move……
The “Flaming Metal Fist” seemed to be as smooth as water, smoother than it had ever been.
Hah!
As Zhao Feng finished his moves, he had an excited look on his face. The “Flaming Metal Fist” had a total of 32 moves, and he could now finish them in one breath, a much faster speed than previously, the power of the moves had also increased.
After finishing the moves, he felt that his blood flowed better and faster than before, as if it was burning.
Peh!Peh!…..
At the same time, the beat coming from his left eye became even more obvious.
Zhao Feng closed his eyes and his consciousness interacted with the pitch black dimension.
At the centre of the dimension, there was a faint green light.
At first, the faint green light had a radius of around 60cm, and was especially faint.
Now however, the faint green light’s length and brightness seemed to have increased.
“Could it be? Is the left eye’s abilities directly linked to my own strength?”
Zhao Feng guessed in his heart.
The changes in his left eye gave him the chance to change his destiny. Firstly, it let him beat Zhao Kun, secondly, when he practised his moves, they became super smooth.
“Again!”
Zhao Feng eyes became sharp as he started to practise “Flaming Metal Fist” again.
Hu Hu Hu…….
Zhao Feng’s movement speed became faster and faster, and the moves started to perfectly link with one another.
After practising it for the 3rd time, the speed had already become 2 times faster than before, and the damage had also increased by heaps.
Through his breathing, he felt his blood circulate better and the parts of his body that could not be toughened before had also started to become stronger.
“At this speed, I will just need a few more days to break through to the 2nd rank of the Martial Path.”
Zhao Feng felt that his increase was very obvious.
He practised until night and then wiped his sweat and headed back towards his home.
After arriving home, he still was thinking about the change in his left eye.
“To continue my bloodline of the Eye, you will Rule everyone, control every race. You lucky youngster, do not disappoint me….”
He remembered the voice that came from the pitch black dimension before he fainted.
“This eye might have come from an Ancient God-like existence, and in an accident, merged with my own eye.” Zhao Feng assumed.
Even at night, when he opened his eye, he could still see everything outside.
The darkness of night had almost zero influence on Zhao Feng. His eye still saw the birds that were a few miles away.
Zhao Feng lay on his bed at night and felt his left eye releasing sizzles of heat, which merged with his blood.
Under this weird feeling, Zhao Feng fell asleep.
The second morning.
Zhao Feng woke up, extended his 4 limbs and went to practise in the small courtyard.
“This yards too old, and the environment is bad, When I am stronger, I am definitely going to let my parents live inside a big yard.”
Zhao Feng thought in his heart.
Quickly, he began to practise the 32 moves of the “Flaming Metal Fist.”
Hu Hu Hu…..
The fists carried the wind and now contained extreme power.
As soon as Zhao Feng threw a few punches, he felt that something was wrong.
Between his breaths, his blood was raging and gave off an aura of power, every punch contained at least 200-250 kg’s of force.
“What!”
Zhao Feng was shocked, and his two fists burned in 2 patches of red light.
Ka Ka Ka ——
One of the punches hit the big tree in front of him, and a branch, as thick as a fist, snapped into pieces.
“No! This definitely is not the power of a 1st rank, could it be……”
Zhao Feng’s heart jumped.
To prove his thoughts, he took a deep breath and put all of his power into one stomp.
Peh!
The ground shook and the layers of earth crumbled, leaving Zhao Feng’s footprint half an inch deep into the ground.
His expression turned happy, then one of his palms hit a stone that was at least 30 kg’s , and broke it into pieces.
This kind of power wasn’t something that the 1st rank of the martial path could do.
“2nd rank of the martial path….. I’ve broken through to the 2nd rank of the martial path!”
Zhao Feng closed his eyes and began to feel the power coursing through his body.
He first thought that breaking through to the 2nd rank would at least take a few days, but didn’t realise that he broke through just after one night’s sleep.
His consciousness went inside his left eye, there, Zhao Feng found that the faint green light had now extended from around 60cm to 67cm.
He felt that his energy was better than before and that it also had different changes which could not be explained…….