Chapter 2 (2/2)

Wufeng sized up the man that jumped out from the crowd. At around twenty three to twenty four years of age, he had a st.u.r.dy build and a beefy size. The man held a s.h.i.+eld in his left hand and a sword in his right, radiating a heroic presence. He bowed towards Wufeng before retreating to take up a ready position. Without hesitation, Wufeng took a spear a nearby soldier before shouting, “come!”

The opponent did not hesitate, with the s.h.i.+eld on his left arm protecting the body, he immediately stepped forward, throwing his entire ma.s.s into the attack.

Pivoting his frame, Wufeng countered by thrusting his spear towards the lower section his opponent. Immediately, Kang Jianguo struck his left arm along with the s.h.i.+eld into a smooth downward motion, deflecting the tip of Wufeng’s weapon.

‘Dang’ came the sound of the clash between spear and s.h.i.+eld, and both retreated a few steps. Wufeng is deeply impress by the martial skill displayed by the opponent, but what he did not realize is that the audience has already been shocked speechless by his very own performance. One has to know that the challenger, Kang Jianguo, has the reputation of being the most fearsome and skilled individual among all the new recruits of the entire Third Division.

The disparity between the power behind each individual’s strike is also shocking. Not only had Kang Jianguo used all his upper body muscle when deflecting that strike, but the toughness and weight of a s.h.i.+eld is incomparably more st.u.r.dy than that of the tip of the spear. Comparatively, Wufeng had only used the strength of his arms, a difference that is obvious to all those watching, and yet this individual was already the best from the batch of new recruits.

Kang Jianguo is even more aware of his current situation. Despite appearing to have evenly deflected that last move, the truth is that his left arm has already been struck numb, unable to find even the most basic strength, yet all he can do now is disregard his discomfort and continue to preserve.

Shaking his left s.h.i.+eld, Kang Jianguo executed a fast forward roll, arriving directly in front of Wufeng, and swung his right sword without mercy. However, Wufueng was already prepared and took an immediate step back, avoiding the swing before thrusting his spear in the direction of the opponent’s throat without a moment’s hesitation.

Turning his head to the side to avoid the strike, Jianguo bashed his s.h.i.+elds forwards while simultaneously bringing his sword in to defend.

Wufeng parried the s.h.i.+eld bash aside with the length of the spear before taking two steps back and directly thrusts the spear to the direction of Jianguo’s right sword. Unable to bring muster enough strength into the right arms, Jianguo was soon overpowered as Wufeng brought the spear into an upward motion. Jianguo’s sword flew to the ground several meters away.

Kang Jianguo dumbly stood with with a face of embarra.s.sment, not doing what to do. He wasn’t release from his stupor until Wufeng stabbed his spear into the ground before picking up the sword and returned it to Jianguo. Seeing this, Jianguo bowed with respect before apologizing, “Your subordinate is with crime, not knowing the different between the heavies and earth, respected official please forgive me.”

“I had already said, I welcome everyone’s teaching. You are without fault, so there is no need for punishment.”

The speed in which Kang Jianguo was defeated shocked many people. Reevaluating the situation, the members of the platoon had fell quiet.

Several veterans turned their eye towards a man standing at the very left of the line. At around one or two years older than Kang Jianguo, this individual didn’t even have Jianguo’s build, but standing there, he propagates a sort of presence that is incomparable to that of a newbie.

Wufeng did not say anything else, choosing to simply smile in the direction of this individual. While his face clearly showed his reluctance, in the end, caving into the pressure of the ma.s.s, he still came out and bowed.

“This one is named Liang Chongxin, the sergeant of the first squad, please enlighten me,” the tone that he used is much more polite when compared to the previous challenger.

“Please,” Wufen did not waste any time either. It looks like Liang Chongxin’s abilities is far superior to that of the previous Jianguo. Slowly, Chongxin walked out with a halberd in his hand. As for Wufeng, he picked up the sword and s.h.i.+eld that was previously used by Kang Jianguo.

This action caused immediate murmurings in the audience. Earlier, Wufeng had easily used a spear to disarm the sword and s.h.i.+eld wielding Kang Jianguo, demonstrating his proficiency with longer weapons. Yet, now that his opponent had chosen the halberd, he switched to the swords. This demonstrates that Wufeng is actually a master of all types of weaponry in which case it could be said that no one else within the audience has the ability to defeat Wufeng.

Seeing this, Liang Chongxin’s already nervous expression turned even graver. ‘Fine, since this demonstration is for the sake of fulfilling the brother’s curiosity, I’ll just try my best regardless of outcome,’ thinking so, he immediately pumped himself up, and with a shout, began his a.s.sault with a clean thrust using the halberd’s tip. Looking at the excellence of such a move, the audience immediately started cheering.

However, Wufeng didn’t slack either. Pivoting his left arm with the s.h.i.+eld, a simple tap against the halberd’s tip caused the the fearsome attack to be dispelled. The cheering of the audience which still hasn’t subsided following Liang Choxin’s technique exclaim even louder for the brilliance of Wufeng’s simple defense.

After the countering Liang Chongxin’s attack, Wufeng threw his body forward, and swung the sword at his opponent’s head. Using the blade on his halberd, Chongxin parried the attack before once again thrusting its tip towards Wufeng’s stomach, who avoided it by taking a step back. Pressing forwards with the momentum of the attacks, Chongxin continued to pommel the tip of his halberd in the direction of Wufeng’s ribs, but this time, knowing that if he does not disrupt the ferocity of the attacks, then the match is as good as over for him, Wufeng met his opponent’s blades with his s.h.i.+eld, locking it in place. Advancing forward, the blade in his right hands simultaneously cut its way towards his opponent’s midsection.

Liang Chongxing did not antic.i.p.ate that rather than retreating, Wufeng would choose to advance instead, and as a result, his was caught unprepared, unable to defend himself with his halberd. The only action he could take was retreat, but Wufeng was unrelenting in his pursuit, cornering his opponent without mercy.

This storm of consecutive attacks made it impossible for the strengths of the longer weapon to be used while allowing Wufeng to capitalize upon the strength of the sword, its speed. It wasn’t soon after that a hole appeared in his opponent’s defenses and Wufeng was able to exploit it, cutting off the shoulder strap of the armor.

This action could already be seen as lenient as if the fight was on a battlefield, then Chongxing would have already lost his shoulder, and subsequently his life.

Liang Chongxin felt that this outcome was somewhat to be expected. From the very beginning, he was already mentally prepared for the possibility of defeat, having preserved for this long he has fulfilled the expectations of his peers. Considering that his opponent was still clearly holding back, if he doesn’t admit defeat now, it would be too unreasonable.

“Your subordinant is defeated, many thanks to the official for this mercy,” Liang Chongxin said in a respectful tone as he bowed into a curtsy.

“Oh it’s nothing, this was for both our benefits, not to mention we are all brothers from now on,” Wufeng replied as he went to help Liang Chongxin up.

Seeing Wufeng’s modesty, an att.i.tude that is completely opposite of the arrogance normally displayed by youths of the aristocratic cla.s.s, Chongxin and the soldiers wouldn’t help but be moved and convinced.

And just like so, Wufeng was able to used his own ability to demonstrate his worth, greatly earning the respect of everyone in the unit. WIth his reputation secured, from that moment on, there was no one in the Second Platoon that dared to view him as ‘simply another child’.

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