58 Communication Orb (1/2)
Xue Wei looked at the buff man in front of him and shook his head. ”I want to defeat this guy, but I can't do it too cleanly,” he thought as he wondered about what to do.
The opponent did not waste any time and rushed at Xue Wei; the entire podium trembledfrom the weight that landed every time he took a step.
Xue Wei narrowly dodged a few attacks. He had not clashed with the other because he wanted to gauge his own strength first.
If he sent out an attack and defeated him straight away, he would have wasted all the time he had spent to make himself seem like a weakling.
As a result, he was just narrowly escaping every time. He could feel the wind of the punch fly past his face, his body, and his limbs.
The punches were indeed backed by a strength that Xue Wei had never before seen amongst other Ordinary Warriors, but his own strength was similarly overwhelming. After a moment, he finally decided it was time to clash head-on with the burly youngster.
The longer he spent dodging the attacks, the crowd started to progressively boo at him, yelling for him to stop being such a scaredy-cat, and some even called for him to stop wasting time on the stage, yet the judge and the Crown Prince looked on with a frown on their faces.
They were much higher ranked than the other people present. They could see that there was no hesitation or panic whenever Xue Wei moved. It was clear that he was not as backed into a corner as he seemed.
At the same time, his eyes were completely calm; his actions were constantly under control. The Crown Prince smirked when he saw this. ”Seems like I was not mistaken,” he said to himself.
Xue Wei threw out a punch that contained twenty percent of his strength. He was still testing the waters, yet when he threw out the attack the majority of the experts in the hall looked at him with disdain.
Everyone was waiting to see the outcome of the clash. The Crown Prince and the judge, who were of a much higher rank, could see that the punch that Xue Wei threw out was a casual one with not even half his strength, their eyes narrowing slightly.
The two fists clashed, and a boom resounded in the hall. The burly young man was stopped in his tracks while Xue Wei took five steps back.
He then looked at his fist, which ached slightly, and acknowledged that he had overestimated his strength.
”Well done!” The burly man was shocked, as he had been stopped by Xue Wei with raw strength. That had never happened before.
Xue Wei, on the other hand, was also shocked that he had been forced backward and that his fist was hurting.
”No more underestimating, I am going to use half of my strength this time,” he mumbled to himself. Although his voice was very low, both the judge and the Crown Prince heard him, their faces twitching slightly.
They knew for a fact that when they were as young as Xue Wei, they were likely not to be his opponent.
The shine in the Crown Prince's eyes grew. He truly wanted to recruit this young man, and he decided to start with showing goodwill towards his friends. If he became good friends with Shen Mu and Luo Zhirou, it was likely that Xue Wei would join him too.
Having decided on this, the Crown Prince shifted next to Luo Zhirou and Shen Mu, where he began chatting with them about the outcome of the fight.
”Xue Wei will win,” Luo Zhirou said straightforwardly. ”He is much stronger than anyone else here, not counting Your Royal Highness or the esteemed judge.”
Luo Zhirou was of the impression that Xue Wei was a god that had descended from the heavens, someone who had strength like no one else and abilities that others could not comprehend.
Shen Mu was a little more reserved about what he said, but in his heart he too had complete faith in Xue Wei.
The other experts surrounding the Crown Prince were looking at them with various expressions. Some looked on with loathing and complete disregard, while others had expressions of confusion and deep thought.
Things did not add up. Xue Wei had downplayed his abilities so far, at least a group of experts were certain of this. When they heard the certainty in Luo Zhirou's voice, they felt even more sure of this fact, and when they saw how he had not been judged as the loser just yet by the judge, they understood that he was hiding a lot of strength.
”This man is the nephew of Xiao Lei,” one of them mumbled to himself. ”He has a special physique, and he is shrewd. This is a young man we should not make into an enemy.”
While this guy made this conclusion, others had the same thought, but many were completely disregarding of his potential.
The burly man on the podium charged at Xue Wei again, but this time Xue Wei was prepared, and half his strength was inserted into his arm as he threw out another punch.
The speed of this punch far exceeded the speed of the previous one. The pupils of the burly youngster's eyes contracted, and he tried to avoid the collision, but he was too late.