"Mm. It is a way of fighting that casts everything else aside and pursues nothing but the utmost speed in striking. Once a skilled hand like that locks you down at close quarters, you can forget about countering properly—by the time your move is half-formed, your opponent has already landed several. All you can do is dance to their tune," Wei Zhao said.

"Whoa, that sounds seriously impressive!" The others exclaimed one after another, though their admiration quickly turned to grievance. "The boss is way too partial. Something that strong, and he only teaches Ziyu and not us..."

"Heh, if you want to learn, I can teach you any time you like. But it is only one way of fighting—not everyone is suited to it." As he spoke, Wei Zhao glanced at Ying Ziyu in the arena. It was hard to say for the others, but this girl had picked it up at a pace beyond all expectation; she seemed born for close-quarters instant striking.

The two in the arena were still locked in fierce combat, and sure enough, just as Wei Zhao had said, Luo Shasheng appeared to be thoroughly tied down by Ying Ziyu. His Shasheng Blade could hardly display its power once an opponent was in close, and what was more, Ying Ziyu was using close-quarters instant striking—even if only its barest outline, at the early Foundation Establishment level that was more than enough to catch anyone off guard.

"Close-quarters instant striking really does work! The man cannot find a single opening to counter—Ziyu truly has him by the nose!" Wu Chengtian said, his eyes shining.

But Yu Bing was still frowning. "That may be so, but Ziyu still has not truly posed a threat to him. At this rate she will run out of strength soon enough, won't she?"

"Close-quarters instant striking is a way of fighting that makes it easy to seize the initiative once you are in close. Its drawback is that the power of each blow is greatly reduced, and both physical strength and true qi drain fast. It is indeed unsuited to a war of attrition," Wei Zhao assessed.

"Then doesn't that mean Ziyu is in danger?" Qiu Lingshan asked anxiously at these words.

"You are wrong. Yesterday I suddenly discovered that Ziyu has a certain quality about her, one extraordinarily suited to close-quarters instant striking. Just keep watching and you will see." Wei Zhao smiled mysteriously.

"A certain quality?" The others were startled, and fixed their eyes on Ying Ziyu's performance in the arena, seeing nothing unusual for a time. But gradually, their expressions all changed.

The duel had already lasted a full stick of incense. With a fighting rhythm as intense as Ying Ziyu's, she ought by rights to be on the verge of faltering, and her speed of striking should inevitably be slowing. Yet her performance now was the very opposite—not only was it not slowing, it seemed she was striking faster and faster. More than that, judging by Luo Shasheng's movements, even the power behind her blows had grown considerably stronger than at the start!

"How can that be?" The others were baffled.

"Growing braver the longer she fights, coming on strong in the latter half—Ziyu seems to possess that rare, top-tier constitution." Wei Zhao explained with a smile. Ordinary people only grew weaker as their strength drained, but there were some who, in exactly such straits, could instead draw forth a strength far beyond the norm. Ying Ziyu looked delicate and frail, yet she happened to possess this formidable constitution—which showed that her days as a small-time hoodlum had not been mere chance. The gene for it was in her bones.

"A constitution that comes on strong in the latter half?!" The others were greatly astonished.

And in the very moment of their astonishment, the situation in the arena had already reached a white-hot stage. As Ying Ziyu's rhythm of striking grew faster and the power of her moves stronger, Luo Shasheng, who had been turtling up in defense all along, visibly began to falter. Within a brief span he had been struck five times in a row.

Though his body-protecting true qi blocked most of the force, the accumulated hits had done no small damage, and by now he was plainly somewhat injured. Even if the injuries were not grave, they had affected his movements to some degree. This was the beginning of a vicious cycle.

"The way it looks, the result should come soon." Xin Yi'an nodded with some surprise. By this point the situation was plain for all to see—Ying Ziyu's unexpectedly forceful performance had given her the complete upper hand. If Luo Shasheng did not produce some powerful last-ditch counterattack, the duel would soon be over.

Luo Shasheng knew this better than anyone, being the man himself. Unfortunately, this was his first encounter with close-quarters instant striking, and for the moment he simply did not know how to respond. Faced with a close-range assault of such tempo, he could not even execute a complete move, let alone mount a counterattack.

"To lose to a scrawny little slip of a girl—how could such a goddamned idiotic thing ever happen to yours truly?!" Watching himself being driven step by step to the brink, Luo Shasheng finally resolved to risk everything like a cornered dog.

Wei Zhao watched this scene and let the corner of his mouth curl slightly. Close-quarters instant striking was indeed an extremely dominant way of fighting, but it was not invincible; choose the right strategy and one could contend with it.

To deal with close-quarters instant striking, two things were essential. First, one must never let the opponent get in close lightly. Second, once the opponent was in close, one must immediately reopen the distance—even at the cost of trading injury for injury, no price was too high.

Yet Luo Shasheng had managed neither, nor had he even realized the need. To risk everything at this moment did, in a sense, coincide with the second point—but alas, it was too late. If a moment's rash, cornered-dog desperation could break it, then close-quarters instant striking, a way of fighting held in such high esteem even on Cloud-Tier Island, would be far too weak.

In his panic Luo Shasheng could not think of much, and shockingly brought out the Snow Kill Style outright, all of a sudden. Ever since he had lost to Qiu Lingshan in the first round, the flaw in this signature killing move of the Snow Sword Sect had become known to all, so each use required extreme caution—otherwise one was easily suppressed.

The onlookers clicked their tongues. At a time like this, all Ying Ziyu had to do was follow up with a strike at the obvious flaw at his throat, and the duel would be declared over on the spot. Under normal circumstances such an attack might be hard to land, but with Ying Ziyu's close-quarters instant striking, seizing the opening was child's play for her.

As it turned out, Ying Ziyu paid it no mind whatsoever and simply kept to her original rhythm, rapidly striking Luo Shasheng all over his body—everywhere but the flaw at his throat.

"The little wench actually saw through it?" Luo Shasheng was alarmed rather than pleased. His cornered-dog desperation had been nothing but a feint; he had meant to use this Snow Kill Style to bait her. In truth, he had never intended to perform the Snow Kill Style in full—from the very instant he began, he had been ready to change his move.

"Heh. Should I call it too clever for one's own good, or should I call it fools making fools of themselves?" Wei Zhao could not help laughing at the sight. Luo Shasheng's bait looked like child's play to him—and not just to him; Qiu Lingshan and the others had all sensed it at the very first moment. (To be continued.)