As soon as the match began, the big screen in the sports arena started broadcasting live, instantly capturing the attention of everyone in the venue.
"Haha, Director Xiao, what an unfortunate draw — running into our White Cloud Martial Arts Hall's genius in the very first round. Young Lu's test score for punching power hit 604 kg this year, putting him among the absolute top tier of the national championships." An old man with white eyebrows, seated not far from Xiao Yu, chuckled gleefully.
Hearing this, Xiao Yu's expression darkened even further.
Even the top fighter in all of Jinhai City, Master Chen, could only manage 453 kg per punch.
Their Beidou Training Center wouldn't even make it past the first round.
It wasn't just Xiao Yu who thought this — everyone in the entire arena shared the same view, including Sword Shadow Fu Jinghong himself. Lu Jingshan was incredibly famous in the fighting circuit, a prodigy that even the top fighters from other cities looked up to.
"Chairman, are you sure there's no problem?" Fu Jinghong couldn't help but glance over at Shi Feng seated in the VIP section. His heart was hammering in his chest.
He'd only arrived at Green Water Villa four days ago. Sure, he'd gone through three days of intensive training and consumed quite a few S-rank nutritional supplements — his physical stats had improved considerably. But being suddenly thrown into a major tournament against fighters from cities all over… he had no confidence. After all, he'd been nothing more than a professional candidate before all this.
He'd told Shi Feng multiple times that his level wasn't good enough, that he couldn't possibly advance through a competition like this. But Shi Feng had simply told him not to worry — just keep a normal mindset.
"Kid, are you going to step down yourself, or do you want me to send you flying?" Lu Jingshan sneered at Fu Jinghong. "Fair warning — my strength's gone up quite a bit lately. If I can't hold back properly, don't blame me."
"Bring it on." Fu Jinghong clenched his teeth and decided to go all in. After all, Shi Feng had invested a full five bottles of S-rank nutritional supplements in him. If he just forfeited, he'd be letting the Chairman down completely.
"Good — you've got guts."
Lu Jingshan clapped and praised him, but the very next second he was charging straight at Fu Jinghong like a brown bear barreling forward — the kind of rush that made you want to turn and run.
In the blink of an eye, Lu Jingshan was in front of Fu Jinghong. He threw a textbook straight punch aimed right at Fu Jinghong's face, so fast it left nothing but an afterimage. It sliced through the air with a sharp crack.
"Not bad — just a standard straight punch, yet he's brought it to this level. No wonder the fighters he faced in past national tournaments couldn't beat him," remarked Jiang Tianyuan from the VIP seats.
From the moment Lu Jingshan launched himself forward to the punch, the entire sequence flowed like water — speed, precision, and ferocity executed to absolute perfection. There wasn't the slightest hitch in his movements, nothing to impede the transfer of force. Every ounce of power in his body was concentrated into that single punch. It looked simple enough, but it was actually incredibly dangerous — handle it wrong, and one punch would be all it took.
BOOM!
A thunderous crack rang out, echoing across the arena.
Lu Jingshan's fist stopped just three inches from Fu Jinghong's face — he hadn't landed the hit, contrary to everyone's expectations.
The entire crowd was stunned.
"He didn't hit him?"
"So Lu Jingshan really does like to toy with people — deliberately missing just to scare his opponent."
"Yeah, the gap between them is massive. If he ended it in one blow, there'd be no fun in it. I guess he just wants to give the other guy a little face."
"That Fu Jinghong really is unlucky. Losing would've been bad enough, but now he has to get scared a bunch of times first. What if he faints from fright? And if Lu Jingshan accidentally lands a hit with that kind of force, it could cost him his life."
Several spectators who knew Lu Jingshan started laughing and gossiping, feeling a degree of sympathy for Fu Jinghong.
Meanwhile, in the VIP section, Xiao Yu could barely stand to watch. He glared at the smiling white-browed old man beside him — the White Cloud Martial Arts Hall was clearly trying to ride the Beidou Training Center's reputation to rise higher. After this, who would want to train at Beidou?
But the white-browed old man was secretly quite surprised himself. He hadn't expected that little Lu Jingshan was so shrewd — the boy hadn't forgotten to promote the White Cloud Martial Arts Hall's name along the way.