“Reckless! He was too reckless. If he had made a single mistake, his veins would burst and he would’ve died from internal bleeding. Zhu Tan was right. Cultivators especially of their age are idiots and reckless.” The first elder clicked his tongue and frowned over Fu Chen’s action.

But, on other hand, the second elder had different thoughts in his mind. He slowly smiled and shook his head.

“It was indeed reckless but he was sure that he could pull that off. That means he wasn’t being an idiot. He was just taking a serious risk.”

“What do you mean?” The first elder turned his head and asked.

“You are right about Zhu Tan. Not just of this age, but most of the cultivators do tend to rush. Unlike in the past, we don’t have a high amount of Spiritual Qi hence people try to cultivate faster.”

“And, they skip body and soul cultivation just so that they can enhance their Qi cultivation. Fu Chen would’ve taken the same route if he had awakened the Martial Spirit after joining the sect.”

“But, since he had no choice but to physically train, he made his body stronger. At this moment, it wouldn’t be a surprise to say that his Foundation is the strongest among most disciples.”

Saying so, he turned at Elder Zhu and continued “That also made him a perfect punching bag for your grandson.”

“But now, all that hard work and suffering gave him the ability to breakthrough whenever and wherever he wants as long as he stored enough Spiritual Qi in his veins.”

“At least, within the Foundation Establishment Realm, he wouldn’t face any problem unless he keeps improving while taking such risks.”

The first elder folded his hands and snorted.

“But, that kid is still too reckless. Not to mention, why wasn’t he using his Eye Talent for so long? It would have made his battles much easier.”

…..

On the battle stage,

Fu Chen was beaming with an immense amount of Spiritual Qi. After reaching the peak of the first stage, his physical stats have also increased.

Jian Shen gritted his teeth seeing Fu Chen’s reckless progression especially after he told him that he can’t improve in the middle of battle. He believed Fu Chen’s bet will fail.

But, it didn’t.

‘I guess, I have no choice but to use it.’

Jian Shen took a deep breath and gripped his sword hilt.

Fu Chen instantly sensed an immeasurable amount of Sword Energy coming out of Jian Shen.

“Roaring Tiger First Stance!”

“Roaring Tiger Second Stance!”

Fu Chen snorted and released two stances at the same time. His body got covered with the blue tiger armor and a phantom of a red tiger appeared behind him.

He clenched his fist and dashed towards Jian Shen. This strike was something that he can’t dodge. Even if he dodge it, he believed the impact will still chase him unless he goes behind Jian Shen.

But, then Jian Shen could tweak his strike as he wishes. In front of him, there was no panel coming out until he reached Jian Shen.

[Strike with all of your strength]

Seeing this, Fu Chen immediately understood the power behind Jian Shen’s strike. Jian Shen simply pulled his sword up and the air around them started vibrating.

This vibration was so strong that it destroyed the stage below them. The audience and the elders had their eyes glued to this scene.

Nobody could even blink at this moment. The sword came straight down with an immense force splitting the air in half. In less than a few seconds, Fu Chen combined his wrists and charged all of the energy at once, covered with droplets of blood.

The energy head to head against the sword. But, the collision between these resulted in devastating aftermath as the ground beneath them split in half and the both of them got slammed out off the stage while rolling on the ground.

Jian Shen lost the grip of his sword. At this moment, it was his Sword Spirit that kept the sword against the energy beam, not him. He was too weak to hold the sword and got blown away by the impact.

But, at this moment, Fu Chen took out his dagger and stabbed it at the ground. Upon doing so, his body didn’t roll out of the stage while Jian Shen also released his Sword Energy and tried to balance himself before falling to the ground.

Boom!

As soon as both of them thought they were safe, the sword managed to cut the energy beam in half but the drop of small blood surrounding the energy beam got intensely heated and the entire energy beam exploded.

Thud!

When it exploded, a powerful shockwave emerged and spread around the stage, pushing Jian Shen out. On other hand, Fu Chen fell inside the edge of the explosion, resulting in an extremely severe situation.

Whoosh!

“Water Dragon Art- Waves of Echelon!”

Suddenly, the referee elder floated above the explosion and released his True Essence. It transformed into the water and shaped itself like a dragon. The dragon roared and the large waves of water appeared behind it.

The dragon merged with the water as it fell over the flames. The referee had to wait until Jian Shen fell to the ground otherwise he would’ve destroyed this explosion even before it could happen.

Since Jian Shen fell to the ground, Fu Chen was the winner.

Water splashed all over Fu Chen and finally cooled down his body. The fire burned his skin and his clothes. The referee elder landed on the ground and walked towards him.

“Take these and recover! Your next battle will start in one hour.”

The referee elder gave him two pills and rushed towards Jian Shen. Fu Chen didn’t speak much and took it. He put the first pill in his mouth and sat crossed legs.

‘If I hadn’t used the second stance with the third stance, that explosion would’ve never happened. Those droplets of the second stance are truly explosive.”

‘So, the first stance is all about defense. The second stance is all about offense but then the third stance, is it also offense? Why do I feel like I am missing something every time I use the Tiger Cannon.’

‘Is my guts telling me something wrong? Or, am I really not considering that possibility?’

The third stance releases an immense amount of energy in the form of a beam so it was supposed to be an offensive technique. Even books suggested the same thing. But, he feels that something was wrong here.

After all, all three of them are offensive art but the first stance is more about defense than offense. The second stance has a greater offense than defense but the energy released by the third stance is much higher.

This is what made him assume that the third stance is for movement. It’s just that he doesn’t know how to. There is no record of using it for movement in the book.

‘Anyway, I need to find that quick. I only got half an hour for rest. Zhu Tan might not be as strong as Jian Shen in offensive capacities, but his inextinguishable spiritual qi makes him an unbeatable opponent.’

‘If I don’t get serious enough, I won’t be able to win. I must attack seriously from the start.’

Making up his mind, he started resting. He didn’t have much time to recover so he must constantly use his Martial Spirit to absorb the Spiritual Qi and recover.

This process ended as the time limit was only one hour. Soon, his enemy finally came to the stage. He also stood up. His eyes fell on Zhu Tan and the intense hatred burning inside his heart erupted.

Zhu Tan also looked at him with a serious gaze and said “For the past year, the person I hated most was you.”

“I know. You hated me because you are just a slacker while I used to work hard every single day. You thought I would never be able to awaken and seeing me working hard made you look like a fool.”

“But, that’s all in the past. Today, I will take revenge for every hit you landed on me.” Fu Chen calmly spoke as he released his Spiritual Qi around his fist.

“Hahaha! Hahaha! Do you think you can really defeat me? I wasted one whole year just to cultivate spiritual qi in each of my cells. Do you really think I would simply rely on my inextinguishable qi for this tournament?”

“Once again, I will prove to you that hard work means nothing when you don’t have a talent for cultivation.” Zhu Tan released his Spiritual Qi wildly. It was so immense that everyone around the audience was shocked.

Slowly, the Spiritual Qi created a red cloak around his body. And, it didn’t end there. The Spiritual Qi also formed the Tiger Armor over his Red Cloak. He clenched his fists and raised his hands.

“Today, I will show you the true power of a slacker.”

“Is that so?” Fu Chen muttered as his Spiritual Qi also wildly burst out of his body, forming a blue tiger armor.

“Then, I will show you the true power of hard work.”

‘Ysla, he is not a genius. I am not a genius. He is a slacker and bully. I am a hard worker and a person who got bullied. So, please understand and turn off the system functions for this match!’