The Way of Restraint

Chapter 165: Unrivaled in the Fight

While observing Liu Long, Su Jie was also observing Feng Hengyi.

His attacks were simple and direct. He attacked his opponent, finishing the fight with two swift punches, as easily as he had finished him last time—so simple it seemed like a fixed match.

Such a fight revealed nothing about his true strength.

However, Su Jie knew that the simpler the fight, the more skill it revealed.

Feng Hengyi’s strength had reached an unfathomable level.

He continued to observe the situation on the ring, resting and conserving his energy for the next round.

The first few days of the elimination rounds were extremely brutal, high-intensity, and high-density, unlike ordinary matches. This reminded Su Jie of his college entrance exam mock exams.

“Qian Zheng is here too?” Su Jie saw Qian Zheng.

He too had a match. His opponent was a somewhat famous professional fighter, ranked around eighty in the national rankings, at the level of a provincial champion. His punches and kicks were extremely fierce and aggressive.

But Qian Zheng remained calm and collected. In a few evasive maneuvers, he used his body’s hardest points to withstand a blow, then seized the opportunity to close the distance, delivering a knee strike to his opponent’s abdomen, incapacitating him.

This series of actions was no longer the display of strength and weakness of the former Starshine young master; it was the demeanor of a seasoned veteran.

“Being able to judge the opponent’s punching power, use his body to withstand the blow, seize the opportunity, and strike swiftly—his combat experience has reached a level of consummate skill. Qian Zheng’s progress in the past few months has been rapid, especially his physical attributes, which have improved by at least several levels.”

Su Jie nodded.

After defeating his opponent, Qian Zheng glanced specifically at Su Jie.

From his eyes, Su Jie saw a strong sense of excitement and challenge.

“My high school classmate is really competitive; he’s determined to defeat me.” Su Jie smiled. He knew Qian Zheng must have been chosen by Feng Hengyi as a trainee; otherwise, he couldn’t have improved so quickly in such a short time.

Soon, the second round of the competition began.

“Dian Dao Martial Arts: Su Jie; Zhonglong Sports: Cheng Dongliang.”

Su Jie stepped onto the stage and discovered his opponent was from Zhonglong Sports.

“You’re from Dian Dao Martial Arts? Zhonglong invested 30 million in you, but I won’t go easy on you just because you’re one of us. I need to test whether you can handle a 30 million investment,” Cheng Dongliang said.

Su Jie didn’t reply, simply waiting for the referee’s signal.

“Begin!”

The referee’s voice fell.

Whoosh!

Su Jie darted forward, diving downwards with a diving grab and leg takedown technique. This move is common in combat, very simple and practical, but also easy to counter.

First, when you dive down to grab, the back of your head is exposed, which is dangerous. If someone uses a traditional martial arts stepping punch to strike at this moment, it’s easy to suffer a head injury, potentially fatal.

Second, if your opponent raises their knee the instant you rush in, you could collide with their knee, easily resulting in a knee injury instead of a leg grab. However, in formal matches, strikes to the back of the head are not permitted.

So, the opponent was left with only a knee strike.

Sure enough, the instant Su Jie moved, Cheng Dongliang instinctively raised his knee, a fierce and powerful movement.

But Su Jie, in his lunge, had anticipated this move. As Cheng Dongliang raised his knee, Su Jie pressed down with both hands, precisely on the ulnar nerve of the knee joint, causing numbness in his leg.

Then Su Jie grabbed Cheng Dongliang’s legs again, pulling them up like radishes.

This was the “weeding” move from the “hoeing” technique.

Bang!

Cheng Dongliang was like a weed in a vegetable garden, uprooted by Su Jie, unable to exert any strength. He was then slammed onto the ring, his head spinning, not even knowing where he was.

Another takedown, an instant defeat.

The previous opponent was lifted from behind and slammed to the ground by Su Jie; this time, it was a leg takedown.

Having defeated his opponents twice using wrestling techniques, Su Jie seemed to suddenly understand why, when Japanese judo spread to Brazil, the Gracie family developed various ground techniques, and wrestling, in particular, dominated mixed martial arts for many years.

Under rules, close-quarters wrestling is indeed extremely lethal, simple, and effective.

This is why judo became the most widely studied and influential practical martial art in Japan.

After defeating Cheng Dongliang, Su Jie went back to recover his strength, awaiting the next round of matches.

Cheng Dongliang, deeply remorseful after his loss, walked to his captain, head bowed, unsure what to say.

The captain waved him away, his gaze fixed intently on Su Jie.

Su Jie felt the man’s piercing gaze, a burning sensation within him.

He knew that the captain of Zhonglong Sports in this competition was named Song Gua, Song Qiong’s older brother, a very strong fighter, a good friend of Shen Dao, and one of the top figures in the country.

“Brother Gua, this kid’s amazing. I think Old Cheng didn’t even have time to react before he was taken down by a takedown. This guy doesn’t seem to be using Japanese judo, but rather a classical Chinese wrestling style. If this kid gets the limelight, we’ll be laughed at to death by your sister,” one of the contestants said to Song Gua.

“My sister really has a sharp eye. She invested 30 million, which many in the family initially opposed, thinking she was just fooling around. Unexpectedly, she’s struck gold,” Song Gua frowned. “Shen Dao from Jiu Ding Security called me yesterday, saying he couldn’t handle Su Jie. I didn’t believe it, but now it seems he’s a formidable opponent.”

Soon, the third match began.

Su Jie stepped onto the stage again, this time facing Xiong Zhiguang from the Feng Lei Fighting Club.

“We meet again,” Su Jie said with a smile to Xiong Zhiguang.

Xiong Zhiguang’s face was grim, seemingly pondering a strategy. He was different from Zhou Chun; Zhou Chun was arrogant and conceited, but he wasn’t. Instead, he was deep and ruthless. Since his humiliating defeat last time, he had conducted extensive targeted research after returning home.

“Begin!”

The referee announced.

Su Jie moved swiftly, as if teleporting to Xiong Zhiguang’s side. This move was unpredictable, almost like instantaneous teleportation, his footwork magical. It was Odell’s signature technique, the “Magic Step.”

Su Jie had honed this step to perfection in the mountains, finding perfect blind spots in all directions.

In the previous two matches, he hadn’t used this footwork because his opponents were too weak; there was no need to use it. But Xiong Zhiguang was different. His strength was no less than Zhou Chun’s, and his ruthlessness was arguably even greater. He needed a quick victory to avoid being ambushed by Xiong Zhiguang’s underhanded tactics.

This kind of person was likely to disregard the rules in a fight.

Bang! Bang! 

As Su Jie moved closer, Xiong Zhiguang was startled, but much more composed than Cheng Dongliang. He twisted his waist and hunched over, suddenly unleashing two punches, each like an arrow released from a bow, a swift and powerful strike.

This was the Bengquan (崩拳) from traditional martial arts.

The angles were extremely precise, the power penetrating, each punch hitting the bone.

But the instant Su Jie charged, he abruptly turned, his back to Xiong Zhiguang, and suddenly bent low.

Xiong Zhiguang’s two punches landed on Su Jie’s back as if hitting a tortoise shell, the impact numbing his own fists.

He tried to retract his fists, but Su Jie’s hands were already behind his back, grabbing his arms and violently throwing him around!

He was lifted up like a heavy bag by Su Jie, hoisted onto his shoulder.

Carrying a heavy bag.

Su Jie resembled an old-fashioned farmer laborer from the old society, carrying heavy sacks at the docks. He casually squatted down, grabbed a sack weighing a hundred or two pounds, tossed it over his shoulder, and moved with incredible speed.

This was an over-the-shoulder throw, a technique used in wrestling.

Bang!

Xiong Zhiguang was thrown over Su Jie’s shoulder, spun 360 degrees, and slammed heavily onto the ring. The sound of his spine creaking could be heard. No matter how much he struggled, he couldn’t get up.

Xiong Zhiguang also possessed a fierce determination. His eyes were fixed on Su Jie, struggling to stay upright, his gaze seemingly murderous.

But Su Jie had gone too far. He wouldn’t be able to engage in strenuous exercise for at least a month. Against someone like Xiong Zhiguang, Su Jie felt he hadn’t gone too far; it was just that in the ring, he couldn’t use excessive force.

Qian Zheng and Josh could be reformed and persuaded to leave Feng Hengyi’s camp, but someone like Xiong Zhiguang was essentially beyond redemption.

The referee counted to ten, but Xiong Zhiguang still hadn’t gotten up. Finally, the doctor came up and carried him off on a stretcher.

“This kid’s ruthless,” Song Gua remarked, his eyes widening. With his discerning eye, he could easily see how formidable Xiong Zhiguang was. In the current fighting world, Xiong Zhiguang wasn’t famous, but in reality, he was incredibly strong, a master of close combat, and ruthless beyond compare.

Even if Song Gua wanted to take him down, it probably wouldn’t be a matter of just a few moves; it would require a series of grueling exchanges to find an opening.

But Su Jie had actually withstood two punches with his back and performed an over-the-shoulder throw. He felt he could hardly pull off such skill and courage.

“Interesting, very interesting. I’m looking forward to sparring with this kid,” Song Gua said with an expectant smile.

On the first day of the competition, Su Jie only had three matches, winning all three. Zhang Manman and Zhang Jinchuan did the same.

None of them encountered any particularly strong opponents, winning easily.

Su Jie won all three matches using wrestling techniques. 

After the matches, he, Zhang Manman, and Zhang Jinchuan returned to Odell’s courtyard to summarize the day’s experience, especially discussing the matches between Liu Long and Feng Hengyi.

Two windows appeared on the computer.

One showed Liu Long defeating his opponent with effortless ease, his skill evident to everyone.

Feng Hengyi also won easily, but it seemed fake.

Liu Long’s moves demonstrated an extremely high level of skill; even those unfamiliar with martial arts thought his moves were incredibly cool.

Feng Hengyi’s matches, however, seemed staged to everyone, whether they knew martial arts or not.

Every time Feng Hengyi faced an opponent, he would only throw two punches before the opponent was down, appearing clumsy. Many online suspected it was fixed.

But Su Jie and Zhang Jinchuan watched with great seriousness.

“Liu Long’s skills are inferior to Feng Hengyi’s.” Zhang Jinchuan concluded: “Liu Long’s strength is evident to all of us. But Feng Hengyi is on a higher level, making everyone feel that his moves are fake. In reality, we can’t understand his fighting style or grasp its subtleties. If we encounter him, we will be in extreme danger.”