Chapter 87: Angry!
The moment those words were spoken, the entire hall erupted in applause.
Then, amid the chorus of cheers, Zhang Qiang smugly wrapped a belt around his own waist.
A yellow belt.
“What the hell? Since when did Zhang Qiang become a yellow belt?!”
“You didn’t know? He just advanced last week!”
“Damn... impressive, impressive... I thought he’d still been a white belt! Zhang Qiang really does improve at lightning speed, just like always!”
A boy exclaimed in astonishment.
Beside him, a girl had been whispering to her best friend. The instant she heard that remark, her face flushed red, and she turned around and slapped him across the face.
A sharp crack rang out.
Clutching his cheek, the boy cried, “W-why did you hit me?!”
The girl said in embarrassed fury, “You’re the one who’s abnormal! Your whole family is abnormal!”
The boy looked utterly aggrieved.
At that moment, every eye in the room settled on Ling Qiu.
Just when everyone thought he might continue to avoid the challenge, he finally rose slowly to his feet.
“Hey, brother... are you sure you can handle this?”
When Zhao Dezhu saw Zhang Qiang tie on the yellow belt, he looked startled. “That bastard’s actually a yellow belt... He didn’t put it on earlier because he was pretending to be weak so he could crush someone later!”
Ling Qiu said nothing. He only smiled faintly and walked straight forward.
Tap.
He planted both feet firmly. Between him and yellow-belt Zhang Qiang, there were only three meters.
“Heh! Good! This time you’ve finally dared to accept!”
Zhang Qiang struck a stance. “Fine. Today I’ll make you understand... the difference between the strong and the weak!”
Senior Wu Feng stepped forward at that moment and stood between them. With a sweep of his large hand, he shouted, “Begin!”
“Hah!”
Zhang Qiang barked out a cry, then spun at explosive speed and lashed out with a jumping spinning kick.
“Awesome!”
The crowd burst into cheers.
And yet...
At the very instant that cry went up, there came only—
Bang!
A dull thud.
Ling Qiu merely lifted his leg casually.
Then he drove a savage kick straight into Zhang Qiang’s stomach.
That single kick made Zhang Qiang feel as if his guts were splitting apart. He flew sideways like a dog, howling miserably as he was sent hurtling through the air.
Thud!
A heavy crash followed.
Zhang Qiang slammed into Dong Lei, who had been sitting in the audience, and the two of them tumbled into a chaotic heap.
Yes, a chaotic heap.
That was no misuse of words. The sounds the two of them were making hardly seemed human at all—they were like the shrieks of wounded beasts.
Crack, crack, crack...
The crowd could vaguely hear it—
the sound of bones splintering when the two bodies collided.
“Ahhh!”
“Waaah!”
Dong Lei clutched the arm that had been struck and rolled on the floor in agony.
As for Zhang Qiang, he curled up on the ground, retching sour fluid without end, clutching his stomach as his whole body convulsed. His face shifted between green and white, and even his screams came broken and intermittent.
One could well imagine...
just how unbearable his pain was at that moment.
But that was not the most important thing.
The most important thing was—
the distance between the ring and Dong Lei’s seat in the audience...
was a full ten meters or so.
That’s right.
Zhang Qiang had been kicked a full ten meters through the air.
What the hell?!
Everyone stared blankly, blinking in shock, completely stunned.
Just now...
Ling Qiu had used only one kick...
to instantly defeat yellow-belt taekwondo practitioner Zhang Qiang?
And more than that...
wasn’t that distance absurd?!
How terrifying was the explosive force in Ling Qiu’s legs?!
At this moment, Senior Wu Feng’s brows drew tightly together.
The way he looked at Ling Qiu changed at once.
Before this, he had utterly disdained him.
But that kick...
made him instantly understand...
this kid truly did have some ability.
Earlier, when Liu Donghai had said that this fellow named Ling Qiu had injured them, Wu Feng had already wondered whether Ling Qiu might have some real skill.
Now it seemed...
that was indeed the case.
“Zhang Qiang!”
At that moment, one of Liu Donghai’s lackeys suddenly stood up. “Damn it, that was too ruthless! Let me do it!”
Everyone looked over and saw that he wore a green belt.
Was a green-belt expert about to take the stage?
“You, sit down.”
Just then, Senior Wu Feng slowly rose and waved a hand lazily, carrying himself with all the authority of an elder.
“But—”
“No buts. You’re not his match.”
The instant those words left Senior Wu Feng’s mouth, everyone was startled.
Yet after thinking it over, it made perfect sense.
The crowd all looked at Ling Qiu in astonishment.
Why hadn’t this guy fought earlier?
He clearly possessed such overwhelming strength.
By now, Senior Wu Feng had already walked slowly up to Ling Qiu and adjusted the red-and-black belt at his waist.
In taekwondo, there were eleven ranks from lowest to highest: white belt, white-yellow belt, yellow belt, yellow-green belt, green belt, green-blue belt, blue belt, blue-red belt, red belt, red-black belt, and black belt.
And Senior Wu Feng had already reached the formidable rank of red-black belt.
Among everyone present, he ranked second only to that black-belt master from Korea, Park Dosi, who had been hired at enormous expense.
“I didn’t expect you to be so good at hiding your strength.”
Senior Wu Feng gave a cold smile. “But in my eyes, you’re still weak.”
As he spoke, he pointed at the members of the Chinese Martial Arts Club standing behind Ling Qiu. “Anyone who chooses Chinese martial arts is destined for mediocrity. As far as I’m concerned, everyone who joins the Chinese Martial Arts Club is just a childish fool misled by naive kung fu movies. A pity, really, for that excellent explosive power of yours. I may not like your attitude, but if you bow properly and ask to become my disciple, I might consider letting you join the Taekwondo Club.”
What a torrent of nonsense.
Ling Qiu was genuinely growing irritated.
Truly—if you want to fight, then fight. Why so much pointless talk?
And besides...
this man, a son of China himself, actually glorified foreign combat arts while trampling on the inheritance of his own ancestors, as though that made him insightful, fashionable, ahead of the trend?
After a brief silence, Ling Qiu suddenly said, “You seem to hold Chinese martial arts in very low regard.”
At this, Senior Wu Feng gave a cold laugh. “It’s not just me. Everyone knows Chinese martial arts are nothing but flowery tricks.”
“That’s bullshit! I won’t let you insult Chinese martial arts!”
At that moment, the short, chubby fellow from the Chinese Martial Arts Club shouted angrily, “Student Ling Qiu, step aside—let me fight him! I’ll show him what Chinese martial arts really are!”
He was hot-tempered by nature. No sooner had the words left his mouth than he charged forward, his thick eyebrows like two bold brushstrokes, and roared, “What I practice is Bajiquan! This move is called Splitting Mountain Palm! Take it!”
Whoosh!
When the short, chubby boy chopped his palm down, it actually carried a fierce, tiger-like force.
The crowd was shocked.
Damn, that power, that speed—he had something real!
Senior Wu Feng frowned and instantly withdrew a step, evading the blow with astonishing quickness.
Then, in a flash, he shifted his body, darted forward, seized the short, chubby boy’s arm, and said coldly, “I’ll let you see the difference between Chinese martial arts and taekwondo!”
Bang!
The moment he finished speaking, a heavy muffled impact rang out.
Senior Wu Feng hauled the short, chubby boy over his shoulder and smashed him brutally to the ground with an over-the-shoulder throw.
“Bwah!”
The short, chubby boy spat out a mouthful of sour fluid and, from that single throw, saw everything go dark.
Senior Wu Feng immediately followed with a vicious stomp.
Bang!
That stomp landed directly on the boy’s face. From first move to finish, the entire sequence had taken only two short seconds.
Every motion was smooth and dashing, every strike precise and complete.
“Ahhh! So handsome!”
In that instant, the whole hall screamed.