Chapter 261: Wu Jiong’s Calculation!
Translator: DRZ Editor: H2dH2mr
After taking the stage, Wu Jiong and Chang Le had their guards up. Wu Jiong shouldered the huge pressure of having to win, while Chang Le hoped to end this battle in his turn and become the great hero of Leiting.
In contrast to Lin Zhidong's and Boss Huo's uncertainty, Chang Le was extremely confident of himself as he had already reached mid-level early stage Qi-Jin, and believed that Wu Jiong was around the same level as those two new cadets who had come out earlier on, who had just entered first-level early stage Qi-Jin. He was not convinced that there would be new cadets stronger than him, and Qi Long, the one who came out during the third match, was probably the rumoured aberrant as he was extremely strong.
Chang Le had overlooked Ling Lan's existence at this moment. He was under the impression that Ling Lan could severely injure Nie Feng-ming in one strike only because Nie Feng-ming and Qi Long had been in a situation where both sides had suffered serious injuries, so Nie Feng-ming had been defenceless It had to be said that having a huge discrepancy between their strength made one unable to see the actual facts, and Chang Le was currently in such a state.
When Chang Le saw Wu Jiong doing a high-level military physical defensive hand gesture when he took the stage, he was instantly delighted.
There were numerous top-class combat arts in the military academy, one of which was the top-class combat art used by the military. When Chang Le had advanced into Qi-Jin, the physical skill he had selected to match his upgrade was that one. As such, seeing that Wu Jiong was also using that same set of military physical skills, he was overjoyed. When using the same series of physical skill, the higher levels countered the lower levels. With that, Chang Le was even more convinced that victory was in his grasp.
He who was extremely confident did not think of probing his opponent, instead using a powerful finishing blow from the military physical skill right off the bat.
Witnessing the situation, Wu Jiong's eyes gleamed. Perhaps the opponent's attack speed was extremely fast and he could not dodge, as Wu Jiong merely braced himself by making a cross with his arms to defend and intercept the opponent's attack!
"Bang!" A loud sound resounded and Wu Jiong was knocked back hard, his feet sliding across the ground, marking it with two streaks. Meanwhile, Chang Le's body simply shook before he steadied himself.
Solely based on this encounter, it seemed like Wu Jiong's strength was a notch lower compared to his, and Chang Le was heartened by this. He did not even think it through before he continued attacking, his foot kicking out forcefully.
Wu Jiong did not choose to receive the attack but instead dodged it with a slide.
This action reaffirmed Chang Le's belief that the other party was weaker, thus not daring to receive his attack directly. Before he went up on stage, Boss Huo had reminded him to exercise caution and thoroughly understand the opponent's strength before making a move. Currently, Chang Le whose whole head was filled with grand dreams of being a hero had tossed Boss Huo's warning to the back of his mind. In addition, burning up with passion, he had long forgotten the need to retain thirty percent of his strength for defence as he unleashed all of his strength into his attacks against the opponent.
He did not notice that, despite the fact that Wu Jiong had been sidestepping from the beginning and seemed like a small boat struggling amidst a surging gale, his face was abnormally calm. Every dodge of his was extremely efficient without being sloppy, and those with keen eyesight could see that Wu Jiong seemed to have a well-thought-out plan with every dodge and clearly understood his opponent's path of attack.
"No good, Chang Le's too impulsive, and I'm afraid he's fallen into the opponent's stratagem." Boss Huo who was seated below and observing the match furrowed his brow, involuntarily looking towards Ling Lan seated in the New Cadet Regiment's area with his hands crossed, his expression calm, seemingly having a card up his sleeve.
Apparently sensing Boss Huo's line of sight, Ling Lan coldly met his gaze, and then, the corner of her mouth raised slightly, as if saying victory belonged to them...
Boss Huo felt stifled. Although he had had a premonition of Chang Le having a difficult fight, Boss Huo did not wish to lose...
"You're stronger than your opponent and as long as you remember to go steady and strike hard without advancing prematurely, we can win this match." Wu Jiong who was dodging on the stage suddenly recalled the words Ling Lan had told him before he took the stage, and endless admiration welled up in his heart.
After receiving an attack from the opponent, Wu Jiong was aware that the opponent was inferior to him by a notch. Initially, he could have chosen to attack head-on and fight a fierce battle, and defeat his opponent that way, but Wu Jiong did not wish to do so.
After three consecutive bitter and desperate battles, Wu Jiong wanted to gain a complete and overwhelming victory to prove the might of their New Cadet Regiment. Therefore, he had revealed weakness on purpose, so that the opponent would have the mistaken impression that his strength was weaker, and abandon defence to focus fully on offence …
Of course, there was another reason why Wu Jiong had set this up. — he knew the opponent had also learned the top-class military use combat arts. If it had been any other combat move, he would not have done so. After all, deliberately showing weakness might very well lead to shooting oneself in the foot, allowing the opponent to seize the flow of the match and put him in a passive position. Just like during the first battle Luo Lang fought, it was the opponent's mocking that allowed Luo Lang to seize the opportunity and gain upper hand.
However, it just so happened that the opponent had learned the top-class military combat move, and who was Wu Jiong? He was a direct descendant of a military elite family, the Wu family, a genuine N-generation military family descendant. In addition, the inherited martial arts in the family was the physical skill used by the military, and when he had advanced in Qi-Jin levels it had caused a sensation in Wu family because he was the youngest descendant in the family who had advanced. Even the family head was alerted, who then directly instructed him in the Wu family's exclusive secret moves.
These combat moves had been researched and tempered through N-generations of Wu family masters, assimilating the best traits of the top-class military combat moves while harmonizing them with other top combat moves. It was inevitable to be extremely familiar with various types of military physical skills while learning their family's secret moves, and there were even many moves that specifically countered those of the military physical skill set, including the top-class military combat moves.
This was also the reason Wu Jiong had fearlessly devised this plan. He was familiar with the opponent's moves and even during the first few attacks, killing moves aimed to counter them had directly surfaced in Wu Jiong's mind. However, Wu Jiong believed that the opportune timing had yet to arrive, so he had endured silently until now...
But now, Wu Jiong considered that timing to have arrived. The opponent had once again struck out with both fists — this was a military top-class combat move called the Twin Dragon Strike. The scary part of this attack was that as long as both hands were to simultaneously make contact with the opponent's body, a Qi-Jin loop would appear between the fists, directly destroying the opponent's internal organs, which made this one of the most powerful killing moves of the military top-level combat arts.
Yet, there was a fatal weakness in this attack, and that was the user's chest would be completely exposed, and when both fists struck out, the move had to be completely executed without any leeway for retreat. Thus, as long as he pinpointed a weak spot, the opponent would not have time to change moves even if he wanted to save himself. Therefore, Wu Jiong believed that his opportunity had arrived...
Wu Jiong suddenly came to a stop and no longer dodging, his hands abruptly came together, while both his arms thrust forwards to place him between Chang Le's fists. With a loud shout, his originally joined hands suddenly separated, while his arms spread open to push out forcefully against the opponent's forearms …
Only after both of the opponent's fists had brushed past his body, did Wu Jiong retract his arms and used both fists to strike fiercely at the opponent's chest —— Twin Dragon Strike Remake! This was the Wu family's secret move, a revised first-rate combat move of Twin Dragon Strike. This secret move allowed offence and defence in one move, counteracting the weak point of the original Twin Dragon Strike of being unable to defend!
Chang Le received a direct blow from Wu Jiong and crashed heavily to the ground with a thud, sliding out several meters before spitting out a jet of blood...
This unexpected scene shocked everyone, because Chang Le had held the upper hand all along, so they had not expected the situation to suddenly change, for Wu Jiong to actually knock down the opponent with one move.
Chang Le collapsed onto the ground, covering his chest, but was unable to contain the fresh blood in this mouth. He then asked painfully, "Why do you know this move…?" Familiar with the military combat art, he naturally understood that the move the opponent had executed was from the same series.
Wu Jiong coldly replied, "As a student of the military combat arts, you should know which family has the strongest military combat arts."
Chang Le recalled something, and his complexion turned deathly pale. "The Wu family. So you're from that Wu family… I am too unlucky." That said, he fainted and was thoroughly unconscious. Wu Jiong had pulled his punches and only injured his heart instead of completely destroying it. Otherwise, Chang Le would not even have had the opportunity to speak with him….
Unlucky? Was it truly just bad luck? A hint of disdain was revealed on Wu Jiong's lips and he felt ashamed for actually losing confidence earlier on. Luckily, Boss Lan had made him realize in time that he was strong enough ...
At this moment, Colonel Tang Yu had gone up to examine Chang Le's condition, and discovering that the youth's injuries were severe, he hastily called out for staff members to send Chang Le to the treatment centre. Subsequently, he announced the New Cadet Regiment the victor for this match, bringing the overall score to 2-2, with both teams back at the starting line once again.
Everyone's attention was now on the last match. They were all looking forward to whether Boss Huo, the number one in combat arts, would truly appear on stage...
Wu Jiong coolly walked off the stage. Out of the four matches, he was the only representative who was uninjured. His performance was sufficient to prove that he was absolutely suitable to be the public regiment commander of the New Cadet Regiment.
"You've done well." Spotting Wu Jiong walking over, Ling Lan was generous with her praise.
A hint of a smile appeared on Wu Jiong's originally stony face at the praise. He recovered his senses very quickly, however, and mentally shook his head. He had not expected to be so happy with just one sentence from Ling Lan — he was even happier than when he had received his father's acknowledgment...
This time, Little Four immediately submitted Ling Lan's name without waiting for the opponent to publish their list, as regardless of who came out, Boss was going to fight the last battle anyway.
The five-minute intermission finally elapsed, and Tang Yu loudly announced on the platform, "New Cadet Regiment Vs Leiting Mecha Clan, 1st year Ling Lan against 5th year Huo Zhenyu."
Following the announcement, enthusiastic shouts sounded from the audience. Reason being, Huo Zhenyu was the Military Academy's number one in physical skill combat, as well as being the Leiting Mecha Clan's previous leader. His reputation was not inferior to Thunder King Qiao Ting's, and it was only during the fourth year, after passing the position to Qiao Ting, that his prestige had declined. Even so, witnessing Huo Zhenyu actually standing up on the stage, the older students who had been looking forward to seeing him fight could no longer contain their excitement as they cheered loudly.
"He's really going to fight. Damn, seems like Leiting is determined to win against the New Cadet Regiment." The various leaders of the major forces sighed.
After witnessing Huo Zhenyu emerge on the stage previously, they had had a premonition that he might be fighting. However, they had still held on to a trace of hope, wishing that he would consider his status as the top rank in combat skills and not rashly take the stage.