Although the kid opposite him had been beating Shi Suo for several minutes straight, he wasn't actually feeling relaxed at all right now.
That's right, beating someone up is genuinely quite exhausting; it's even more damn tiring than doing manual labor.
However, now that Bai Xiuwei wanted to take him on, he had no choice but to fight back.
And so, the two of them clashed, trading punches and kicks.
Perhaps because he had promised Shi Suo, or perhaps because Bai Xiuwei simply wanted to win, Bai Xiuwei fought with extraordinary bravery and ferocity. Every punch and kick carried immense power, as if he were a man fighting for his life.
Combined with the fact that the opponent had exhausted a significant amount of stamina on Shi Suo, the opponent quickly fell into a disadvantage under Bai Xiuwei's rapid assault.
However, Bai Xiuwei's desperation was different from Shi Suo's; Shi Suo had been the one receiving the beating, while Bai Xiuwei was the one delivering it.
This kind of grappling competition was, to put it bluntly, just fighting, only with a few rule restrictions and a ban on using weapons.
And fighting is all about momentum. Once the momentum is there, one becomes invincible and unstoppable.
Seeing the opponent fall into a disadvantage, Wang An knew that this round was practically in the bag for Bai Xiuwei.
Mainly, Bai Xiuwei was currently full of energy and his momentum was like a rainbow, while the opponent not only lacked stamina but was completely suppressed in terms of momentum.
Sure enough, just as Wang An expected, after blocking a few more moves, the opponent realized he would inevitably lose if he continued to defend. He tanked one of Bai Xiuwei's "Azure Dragon Probing Claw" moves and exerted all his strength to execute a "Strange Python Flip."
Bai Xiuwei tilted his head to dodge the punch and immediately launched a half-move: a "Leg Kick Throat Lock."
The reason it was called a half-move was that the competition forbade striking the throat area, so Bai Xiuwei's move was primarily a leg kick.
Having dismantled the opponent's offensive, Bai Xiuwei continued his fierce attack. His fists blurred into afterimages, and his large feet kicked with unpredictable precision.
Just like that, the opponent was suppressed once again.
After a few moves, just as Bai Xiuwei used a "Single Palm Monument Push" attempting to push the opponent out of the ring, the opponent seized the opportunity to use a "Two Dragons Playing with a Pearl" move—which was essentially pressing the arm to poke the eyes.
It had to be said that the opponent's "Eighteen Hands of Grappling" were practiced quite well. This move not only neutralized Bai Xiuwei's technique but also allowed for a counterattack.
With his move broken, Bai Xiuwei had to lean his head back to avoid the two poking fingers. However, while leaning back, Bai Xiuwei executed a "Black Dragon Swings Its Tail," kicking out at the opponent.
This move was intended to force the opponent back, so it didn't quite land; the opponent simply dodged to the side.
The two started over again.
No one knows what Bai Xiuwei was thinking after restarting, but he suddenly stopped using the Eighteen Hands of Grappling and switched to his family's ancestral martial arts.
And indeed, once he switched to his family arts, Bai Xiuwei's aura changed instantly. He was no longer so aggressive, and his fighting style became softer.
Bai Xiuwei's family martial arts were very similar to the traditional "Eighteen Falls of Touching Clothes."
Wang An had a deep understanding of this set of martial arts. The only way to deal with it was to absolutely prevent Bai Xiuwei from getting close; otherwise, with just one moment of carelessness, one would be slammed to the ground with no way to recover.
Sure enough, just as Wang An predicted, as soon as Bai Xiuwei's family arts came out, the ring immediately entered "wrestling mode."
No matter how the opponent attacked, Bai Xiuwei ignored it. He dodged what he could and tanked what he couldn't; regardless, he just kept closing the distance.
But as soon as Bai Xiuwei got close to the opponent, the opponent would inevitably hit the ground shortly after.
Soon, the opponent had fallen an unknown number of times.
Seeing this, Wang An's eyes lit up.
In Wang An's subconscious, pushing the opponent out of the ring was the simplest and fastest way to victory.
But Wang An had forgotten that in a competition where neither side could push the other out of the ring, victory was calculated by the number of times a person hit the ground.
You couldn't really blame Wang An for forgetting; it was mainly because Wang An's fighting style had always been a straightforward, aggressive path.
Whether it was a street fight or a grappling competition, Wang An's core philosophy had always been just one thing: fight, fight to the death, and even if you can't win, fight anyway.
Otherwise, Wang An wouldn't have been given the nickname "The Big Lunatic."
At this moment, Bai Xiuwei's approach was undoubtedly the most stable.
One must realize that Bai Xiuwei's throwing technique used a clever force that "deflected a thousand pounds with four ounces." In other words, Bai Xiuwei could save his own energy while throwing the opponent.
If he had continued to attack fiercely as before, even if he eventually defeated the opponent, Bai Xiuwei certainly wouldn't have had much strength left.
Doing that would have been a waste of the great advantage that Shi Suo had fought so hard to secure.
It had to be said that Bai Xiuwei's brain wasn't just for show.
Thus, Bai Xiuwei and his opponent continued until the match ended. Neither was pushed out of the ring, but the opponent was perfectly defeated.
As soon as that contestant stepped off the ring, the third and final contestant from LQ County walked up.
However, as this contestant stepped onto the ring, he casually took off his clothes, even removing his undershirt.
It was clear that this kid was very wary of Bai Xiuwei's family martial arts; as soon as he got on stage, he removed the clothes that were easy to grab.
Mainly, the previous kid had truly been thrown into the ground by Bai Xiuwei. From the moment Bai Xiuwei used his family arts, he had been getting slammed repeatedly; one could say he fell the moment they touched.
That the previous kid fell so easily didn't necessarily mean he was useless; it was mainly because his stamina had been heavily depleted by Shi Suo, making it difficult to withstand Bai Xiuwei's family arts.
It had to be admitted that this last young man did not look like a pushover.
This contestant had a height similar to Wang An's, a lean, muscular build that looked very powerful, and six-pack abs. Combined with a five-centimeter-long scar under his eye, everything indicated that this kid would be very troublesome.
Moreover, if he didn't have some skill, he wouldn't have been the one to appear as the finale.
To be honest, if the opponent hadn't taken off his clothes, Wang An wouldn't have thought much of it. But once those sharply defined muscles on his upper body were displayed, Wang An immediately felt that a formidable rival had appeared.
This era was not like later generations. Most of the muscle-men in the future relied on protein powder and glycerol injections to bulk up their muscles; while they looked shaped, they were basically for show.
But in this era, to train muscles to this extent, they absolutely had to be built up honestly, bit by bit.
After the referee shouted "Start," the kid charged toward Bai Xiuwei like a gust of wind.
(End of Chapter)