304: Chapter 301 True Obsession

Azure Dragon looked at the corpse covered by the white sheet, shaking his head with a sigh.

"Oguriwara-san, did you see that? Combat and fighting are all about 'tugging.' What do I mean by 'tugging'? Tugging back and forth—when you get down to it, it's all about human relationships and worldly wisdom. In the back and forth, you have to know when to advance and when to retreat. If you can make friends, make friends. But what's the most important thing?"

Oguriwara scratched his head, thought for a moment, and said: "You have to know how to act?"

Azure Dragon was stunned, then nodded with satisfaction. "Hmm, close enough, but that's not quite the right nuance. You need to have self-awareness; if we can't win, we admit defeat. In the fighting world, that's not shameful. But if you can win... what should you do?"

"Make friends?" Oguriwara asked tentatively.

Azure Dragon shook his head vigorously. "No! Why make friends if you can win? What level is he, and what level are we? Of course, you beat him to death! You idiot!"

"Soka, Azure Dragon-kun, I understand now!" Oguriwara realized, hurriedly giving a thumbs up.

Seeing this, Azure Dragon shook his head inwardly.

Achieving the points he just mentioned was precisely the hardest part; ninety-nine percent of people actually lacked that self-awareness.

Without self-awareness, it's easy to become arrogant and harbor wishful thinking, just like those few guys who had already died on the spot.

At this moment, the lounge remained silent for a long time. With Park Jeong-gyeong dead on the ring, his corpse looking like a car accident scene, even the dullest person there finally understood the situation.

The person on the stage was an invincible opponent.

Everyone silently looked down at their tablets, and upon doing so, their eyes widened immediately. Good heavens, nearly half of the top ten had been wiped out.

Odoba, Wan Qianhe, Nakata Saburo, and Park Jeong-gyeong.

Excluding the three top-ten contestants who were resting today, there were only three top-ten contestants left in the lounge.

Thinking of this, everyone looked inexplicably toward the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu area, where one of the top ten contestants, the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Great Master, was located.

As well as another top ten, the Muay Thai super expert, Parola.

And the last one, the number one, Peter Guo.

These were the three top-ten contestants who were still in good condition tonight.

Seemingly sensing everyone's gaze, the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Great Master inexplicably shrank back behind his companion.

Following that, Parola, who had been playing with his arm bandages, suddenly felt countless gazes upon him. He hurriedly avoided eye contact and even began to cross his arms, pretending to doze off.

The attitudes of the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Great Master and Parola were very clear: don't look at me; whoever wants to kick this iron plate can go ahead and do it.

"It looks like these foreigners have been beaten into submission. This is so satisfying! When has our Huaxia Traditional Martial Arts ever been this prominent?"

Chen Youcai also felt a sense of honor. Before this, in their Huaxia Traditional Martial Arts area, apart from Master Wan who still had some dignity, the whole group had been humiliated quite badly.

One could see this from the Martial Masters who chose to participate tonight; other areas had about ten people, while they only had five in total.

Many Martial Masters would often sign up, watch the intensity of the ring battles, and then never participate again.

And this was normal.

With the continuous bans on Traditional Martial Arts and public opinion, few people learned it, and there were no high-intensity competitions.

There were few martial arts exchanges, and even when there were, people were afraid of this or that—if they weren't afraid of getting injured, they were afraid the opponent would try to extort them.

Over time, the entire circle fell into a vicious cycle; everyone was afraid.

Like a bunch of flowers in a greenhouse, they couldn't stand the light. Once they made a move, their inability to fight and their fear of fighting were all exposed.

"Do not underestimate the people of the world."

Zhang Zhao chuckled and shook his head. Deep down, he actually looked down on the martial arts circle here.

Among the people here, the only ones who could truly catch his eye were Wan Qianhe and Li Changsheng.

Other than that, in his eyes, they were all just worthless scum.

Even those slightly better ones like Chen Youcai and Master Huo Yude actually had flaws to varying degrees.

Their will for martial arts was not firm, their foundation was too poor, they were limited to one circle, and their experience in martial arts combat was also quite pathetic.

The key point was that they were timid and afraid to fight.

"Hehe, that's not true. I just really admire Master Li. With the Aura and strength Master Li has displayed, I'm afraid no one will dare to challenge him tonight."

Chen Youcai smiled.

However, just as he finished speaking, bang!

On the screen, two avatars instantly collided from the left and right, ice and fire special effects flooded the screen, and a large "VS" came into view.

"Your mouth is really blessed!"

Zhang Zhao glared at Chen Youcai. He didn't need to think to know that whoever dared to challenge him now was definitely not an easy opponent.

He casually flipped through the tablet to check the information, and his brows immediately furrowed.

"Whoa, it's Peter Guo, the guy ranked first. I didn't expect him to dare to enter the arena in this situation. Looks like Master Li is going to go straight to the top tonight!"

Chen Youcai was overjoyed. Clearly, he had seen Peter Guo fight in the ring before.

"Master Zhang?"

"I'll watch for a while."

Zhang Zhao waved his hand, his gaze fixed tightly on the screen in his hand.

Seeing this, Chen Youcai looked curiously and saw that the screen was playing Peter Guo's previous match.

"What's so interesting about this? Peter Guo has some skills, but it won't be a problem for Master Li to take him down."

"Are you sure?"

Hearing this, Zhang Zhao raised an eyebrow. Seeing a certain segment, he immediately pressed pause.

"What? Is there a problem?"

Seeing Zhang Zhao's serious expression, Chen Youcai once again began to doubt himself.

Why did he say "once again"?

Because he had been counter-educated too many times; Old Chen was almost developing a stress reaction.

"How do you think this Guo defeated his opponent in this segment?"

Hearing this, Old Chen immediately looked at the screen, and the video played again.

This was the footage of Guo's previous ring defense match against the then ninth-ranked Muay Thai expert.

The Muay Thai expert rushed forward rapidly, but when he got close, Guo very casually kicked and struck, and the opponent was down.

The whole process was as calm and breezy as Li Changsheng's instant defeat of his opponents.

"Hmm, as the number one, Guo does have some tricks, but it's nothing much, right? Master Li can easily do that too." Old Chen felt that Old Zhang was making a mountain out of a molehill.

Zhang Zhao looked at Old Chen, his expression one of disappointment at his failure to live up to expectations.

"Old Chen, I could understand that you didn't know much about the leg techniques of Xingyi and Baji Quan before. But how... now you don't even understand Taiji?"

"Taiji? This is Taiji?"

Chen Youcai was completely confused, and at the same time, felt a sense of grievance deep down.

Just a moment ago you were praising him and cheering him on, and now you're starting to attack him crazily. There's no love anymore; let it all be destroyed.

Sensing Old Chen's incredibly resentful gaze, Zhang Zhao frowned, feeling that something was wrong with the guy.

He coughed lightly and said awkwardly: "I'm not sure if it's Taiji—there were only two strikes in total—but I can be certain that this should be a technique for striking Acupoints."

"Look, when this Muay Thai expert came flying in with a kick, Guo just kicked lightly, without even seeing him exert any force. This kick landed three inches directly above the opponent's medial malleolus."

"And that is the Sanyinjiao Acupoint. When this Acupoint is stimulated by external force, the consequence is severe pain and numbness."

"If it were just once, it could be called a coincidence, but..."