Chapter 344 Showing Strength

On the spectator stands, Xu Jingming and the other five watched the two teams on the commentary stage. After some interviews and chatting, the two teams finally headed to the combat space.

"It's starting." Xu Jingming said, "Watch this match carefully. The Xianzi team's situation is very similar to ours. We can learn some experience from it."

"Senior Liu Hai hasn't really shown his strength for a long time. I hope we can see some of his true abilities in this match," Wang Yi added.

Everyone present watched carefully, and Li Miaomiao was mixed in among them, looking very serious.

The first semi-final was on a mountain forest map.

The mountain forest was muddy after the rain.

Liu Hai's group of five and Zhang Qing's group of five were deployed in different areas—some on the mountainside, some on the ground, and some in the trees.

"The four of you, join forces to deal with those four seniors first." Zhang Qing wore close-fitting light armor and carried two swords on her back. She was quite a beautiful woman, but her eyes were as sharp as swords. "Coach Liu Hai won't interfere in your fight."

"Yes, Captain."

"Yes, Master." The four female team members responded.

In the mountain forest, Sun Yuting, Wang Nuan, Dai Xiaoqing, and Yuan Yujiao of the Xianzi team, and Xu Hong, Dai Tongda, Tian Yiqu, and Zhou Fan of Liu Hai's team, began to fight.

In a one-on-one confrontation with the cooperation of archers, arrows whistled and a battle broke out in an instant.

Liu Hai watched this scene with interest, admiring the fight between these juniors. "Zhou Fan and the others have become more and more experienced in their moves and better and better in their cooperation after my guidance and the honing of many major competitions. Those little girls… they are quite beautiful, but they are too young and not stable enough."

After a round of fighting.

All four members of the Xianzi team were wiped out, and the archer 'Zhou Fan' of Liu Hai's old team survived to the end!

"Whoosh."

When she was the only one left on her team, Zhang Qing moved. She was extremely fast and headed straight for Zhou Fan.

Zhou Fan didn't escape either; he stayed where he was and watched silently. When Zhang Qing rushed to within thirty meters, he suddenly began to shoot arrows rapidly, one arrow after another! Zhang Qing didn't dodge at all; she charged head-on, and with a slight flash of her dual swords, she blocked the arrows.

"Swoosh." A sword swept past Zhou Fan's body, and Zhou Fan's body turned illusory and disappeared.

Zhang Qing turned her head and looked at Liu Hai in the distance. Liu Hai had already walked over.

"Coach Liu Hai, aren't you going to take up a weapon?" Zhang Qing looked at him.

"I'll take it naturally when I want to." Liu Hai was burly and tall, with his hair draped over his shoulders, his eyes burning with anticipation for this battle. "Make your move."

Whoosh.

Holding her dual swords, Zhang Qing flashed and lunged at Liu Hai with incomparable agility.

Zhang Qing's swordsmanship was different from others'—it carried an extreme sense of beauty, as if it were an art. Therefore, Zhang Qing had many fans, because watching her perform swordsmanship was an extreme enjoyment of beauty.

Likewise, her swordsmanship was also very brutal beneath its beautiful exterior; she was recognized as the number one swordsman in Xia country.

"Clang." At the moment Zhang Qing approached, Liu Hai, who was still standing there empty-handed, instantly drew the saber at his waist and blocked the attack.

Zhang Qing didn't stop at all. Her figure moved, and at the same time, she struck one sword after another, either stabbing, chopping, slicing, or cutting. All that could be seen was a dazzling sword light; for a time, it was impossible to count how many swords she had struck. Only the sound of the collision of sabers and swords could be heard again and again.

In an instant, Zhang Qing seemed to transform into several figures, with countless sword lights besieging Liu Hai from all directions.

Liu Hai stood still, not moving at all. He merely used a single saber, and each time, he blocked Zhang Qing's sword with incredible precision.

"Zhang Qing has brought her movement technique and the agility of her sword to the extreme." Xu Jingming watched the live broadcast. "The most terrifying thing is still Master. The distance that Master's saber moves is very short. He achieves the best effect with the shortest displacement. He doesn't want to waste a bit of strength."

"Master's control of power and space has reached an unbelievable level." Xu Jingming was a little frightened. "Zhang Qing's movement technique changes very quickly, and her dual swords strike extremely fast. But all the changes in the trajectory of her swordplay are completely under Master's control."

"Master once said that he controls the enemy's speed. But now, Master has completely controlled the space." Xu Jingming felt his master's ease.

…

"I've received over a hundred of your swords; now, you receive one move from me." Liu Hai, who was standing still, suddenly moved.

Boom.

With a single step, his figure blurred. Zhang Qing's expression changed. She only felt that she couldn't determine the area of Liu Hai's final attack, and she watched the saber in Liu Hai's hand with extreme vigilance.

"Bang!"

Liu Hai's left fist, however, was as fast as lightning. It pierced through the void and directly struck Zhang Qing's abdomen.

This punch was so fast and so sudden. Once it was unleashed… Zhang Qing didn't even have time to react. This was similar to Xu Jingming's Shadowless Thrust—a punch that exceeded the speed of neural reaction.

Zhang Qing flew backward like a cannonball and crashed into the big tree behind her. The big tree exploded.

Zhang Qing knelt on the ground, covering her abdomen in pain. There was a huge fist-shaped dent in her light armor, and the terrifying impact was destroying the organs in her body. Blood was oozing from her mouth and nose as she looked up at Liu Hai in disbelief. "One punch?"

Zhang Qing turned illusory and disappeared from the battlefield.

Liu Hai stood where he was and sighed softly, "Can't even take one punch?"

He who had cleared the Star Tower in 38 minutes since the Star Tower opened, and after more than a month of hard training, coupled with the country's key cultivation, Liu Hai only felt lonely. Even someone as outstanding as Zhang Qing… couldn't defend against his punch; she was killed with one punch.

The mountain forest map collapsed, and Liu Hai's team still won.

******

The entire Xia country live broadcast room was somewhat suffocated, and the live broadcast room was still slowly replaying the previous fight.

In slow motion, everything was clearer.

Zhang Qing's movement was as fast as a phantom, and the cooperation of her dual swords was even faster. Liu Hai, however, merely used a single saber, without moving a single step. His single saber simply moved to completely defend against all attacks. This single saber… was like an absolute space defense; any attack within three feet of space around it would be blocked.

"Senior Liu Hai didn't even use a shield; he passed the third level of the Star Tower with the shield-saber combination." Male guest Jin Fan's voice trembled. "It's been more than a month since the virtual world opened. To what extent has Senior Liu Hai improved?"

"Is the gap between other experts and the experts on the Star Ranking so exaggerated?" Female guest Ju Wenqing was originally a crazy fan of Zhang Qing, but the gap in this battle was too great.

"I understand now why the officials held this Fire Seed Cup competition and fixed Senior Liu Hai and Senior Lei Yunfang's teams as teams number 1 and 2," female guest Ju Wenqing shook her head. "They are just too strong."

Countless viewers also felt dazed.

"After watching so many matches, I've always thought that the Xianzi team was very strong."

"They've had a winning streak all the way, and Zhang Qing has always been very relaxed; she hasn't used her full strength. But in front of Liu Hai… how could she not even be able to take one punch?"

"Isn't light armor able to defend against saber and sword strikes and block arrows? How could Liu Hai's fist kill his opponent when it hit the armor?"

"Is Liu Hai's fist a fist? It's even more terrifying than a heavy hammer! Didn't you see that before, Liu Hai split heavy armor in two with one saber strike?"

"Liu Hai's realm is too high. I guess his physical fitness is ridiculously high, and his combat skills are ridiculously high, so he can be so crushing."

"Is this the strength of the world's number one?"

"Everyone says that young people have potential, but why do I feel that the gap between young people and this old man is getting bigger and bigger?"

Countless comments surged.

The people of Xia country had very complex feelings about Liu Hai. One was pride that the world's number one was a Xia country native, and the other was that Liu Hai was too strong—so strong that he far surpassed everyone else.

…

"Master is really strong." Xu Jingming was secretly shocked. "Throughout the entire Fire Seed Cup competition, it was only when he encountered Zhang Qing that Master truly revealed some of his strength. But it's also a strength that makes people despair."

His other teammates felt even more in awe.

If Xu Jingming could see a lot of the truth and felt that he could still fight ten or eight moves, his other teammates only felt that he was strong—strong to a degree that far surpassed them.

…

"Liu Hai is really strong. His realm should still be the world's number one now," Pang Ze said on the spectator stand.

Director Zhou nodded lightly. "Although the other top experts in the world have also improved quickly, Liu Hai has also been improving all the time. His current combat power data is still the absolute world's number one."

"It's a great fortune for Xia country that such an expert is from our country," Pang Ze said.

Director Zhou said, "We attach great importance to him now and are willing to do our best to cultivate him. It's just that Liu Hai hasn't asked for any new resources after choosing the Tier 5 Shield-Saber Technique."

"I'm very optimistic about him," Pang Ze nodded. "His future is limitless."

Director Zhou's heart stirred. He knew very well that Pang Ze had a sharp eye.

"Besides him, who else among the experts in Xia country are you optimistic about?" Director Zhou asked.

"Don't you know?" Pang Ze smiled. "Three years ago, I had my son learn spearmanship from Xu Jingming. Who do you think I'm most optimistic about?"

Director Zhou nodded slightly.

So you're so optimistic about Xu Jingming?

——

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