Chapter 3 – Breaking Through to the Second 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 his 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, more than ten moves.
However, the actual result was well out of his expectations!
Zhao Kun’s attack was very fast to some of the bystanders, but under Feng’s left eye, all of his movements were as clear as day. When his left eye was activated to its fullest capability, 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 had 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 disbelieving face. He lost so suddenly that he didn’t understand how it had happened.
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 Feng’s face, they understood.
After this was said, all of them started agreeing.
“You are right! This kid’s luck must be too good, he won by accident.”
“His luck must be too good…”
The crowd rapidly agreed on the reason for Zhao Feng’s victory.
“Luck? Maybe,” Zhao Feng smiled faintly and turned to leave.
“Kid! Stay there!”
Zhao Kun clutched his stomach as he slowly stood up before he darkly 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, “First, you’re hurt. Second, I don’t have time.”
After saying this he turned towards a corner of the martial arts field and left behind the 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 full of anger as he left without another word.
Looking back on the fight, Zhao Kun had his own reasons why he lost, and there were three main reasons:
First, he looked down on his opponent.
Second, he had only learned the first three moves of the Thirteen Changes of the Poisonous Snake, and there were still many faults as it was not yet perfected.
Third, Zhao Feng had too much luck.
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On the other side of the martial arts field, Zhao Feng started to practice.
“The reason I was able to win the fight is mainly because Zhao Kun looked down on me, as well as the fact that he have yet to perfect the high ranked martial art skill, which allowed for me to see the faults in it…”
Zhao Feng knew the answer in his heart. Zhao Kun would definitely not go easy on him in the next fight, and if he perfected the Thirteen Changes of the Poisonous Snake’s first three moves, then Zhao Feng didn’t have any confidence in winning again.
That was because the difference between the first rank and the second rank of the Martial Path was too big.
The Martial Path had nine ranks in total, the first three ranks were known as the Body Ranks.
The Body Ranks were about gaining strength and increasing one’s foundation.
So the first rank and the second rank of the Martial Path had a difference of around 100 kilograms in terms of strength.
That’s why, under normal conditions, to be a first rank and beat the second rank of the Martial Path was so surprising, and even more so to win in one move.
“The key point is still to increase my strength!” Zhao Feng took a deep breath and started to practice 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 kata, he had an excited look on his face. The Flaming Metal Fist had a total of thirty-two moves, and he could now finish them in one breath, much faster than before. The power of the moves had also increased!
After finishing the kata, 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 fell into the pitch black dimension.
At the center of the dimension, there was a faint green light.
At first, the faint green light had a radius of around sixty cm, and was quite faint.
Now, the area and brightness of the faint green light seemed to have increased.
“Could it be? Is the eye’s abilities directly linked to my own strength?” Zhao Feng guessed happily.
The changes in his left eye gave him the chance to change his destiny. First, it had let him beat Zhao Kun, and secondly, when he practiced his moves, they had become super smooth.
“Again!” Zhao Feng eyes sharpened as he started to practice Flaming Metal Fist again.
Hu Hu Hu…
Zhao Fengs movement speed became faster and faster, and the moves started to perfectly link with one another.
After practicing it for the third time, his speed had already become twice as fast as before, and the damage had also increased greatly.
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 second rank of the Martial Path.”
Zhao Feng felt that his improvements were very obvious.
He practiced until night and then wiped his sweat and headed back towards his home. After arriving home, he still was thinking about the changes 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 him now. His eye could still see the birds a few kilometers away.
Zhao Feng lay on his bed that night and felt his left eye releasing sizzling pulses of heat, which merged with his blood.
Under this weird feeling, Zhao Feng fell asleep.
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The next morning...
Zhao Feng woke up, stretched his four limbs and went to practice in the small courtyard.
This yard is 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 practice the thirty-two moves of the Flaming Metal Fist.
Hu Hu Hu…
The fists carried the wind and now contained extreme power. As soon as he threw a few punches, he felt that something was wrong.
Between each breath, his blood was raging and gave off an aura of power, every punch now contained at least 200-250 kg of force.
“What!”
Zhao Feng was shocked, and his two fists blurred into two 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 first rank, could it be…” Zhao Feng’s heart jumped.
To prove his theory, 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 two cm deep into the hard-packed ground.
His expression turned happy as one of his palms hit a stone that was at least thirty kg, and broke it into pieces.
This kind of power wasn’t something that the first rank of the Martial Path could have.
“Second rank of the Martial Path…I’ve broken through to the second rank of the Martial Path!” Zhao Feng closed his eyes and began to feel the power coursing through his body.
He had thought that breaking through to the second rank would at least take a few days, but hadn’t realized that he had broken through after just one night’s sleep.
His consciousness went inside his left eye, and there Zhao Feng found that the faint green lightnow extended from around sixty cm to sixty-seven cm.
He felt that his energy was better than before, and that it also had different changes which could not be explained…