48: Chapter 48 They're all the sixth brother!

"Greetings, Brother Chen!" Across the Martial Arts Arena, seeing Chen An slowly ascend the stage, Zhou Shuyan followed the etiquette among students and politely cupped his hands in a salute.

"Greetings, Brother Zhou!" Chen An's eyes flickered slightly. Sensing no intense hostility from the other party, he also cupped his hands with composure and returned the salute indifferently.

"Alright, the hour is getting late. Let us begin!" The Instructor serving as the referee glanced at the darkening sky; the setting sun was dipping, and dusk was approaching. Sweeping his gaze over the two on stage, unwilling to waste more words, he directly reached out, raised his hand, and said, "Ready!"

"Begin!" With the Instructor's right hand swinging down, the duel officially commenced.

"Brother Chen, offend me!" Zhou Shuyan took a deep breath, his gaze stealing a glance toward the direction of the Old Ancestor on the high platform. Immediately, he gathered his focus. True Qi surged violently around his body, and the faint sound of thunder roared between his palms, surrounded by swirling gale winds.

It was exactly the Profound Rank High Grade Martial Skill he had already cultivated to the Minor Achievement Realm—the Thunder-Splitting Gale Palm!

Facing Chen An, who had once defeated a powerhouse at the Perfection of the Qi Condensation Realm in just eight Moves, he dared not hold back the slightest bit, nor did he dare to harbor any chance. He knew well that if he took his opponent lightly, he would only be defeated faster and more miserably.

However, the order of the Old Ancestor was like a mountain; he had to go all out. Even knowing his opponent was unfathomable and impossible to overcome by force, he had to exhaust all his abilities to fight.

The next moment, Zhou Shuyan stomped hard on the bluestone of the arena, his figure darting out like an arrow from a bow. His palms carried the momentum of thunder and howling winds, wrapped in the thick True Qi of the Condensing Qi Stage 11, shooting straight toward Chen An's front.

Facing Zhou Shuyan, who pounced with the momentum of thunder and gale, Chen An raised his eyebrows slightly and immediately understood his intention. He was planning to suppress him by force with his cultivation and Martial Skill!

In response, Chen An's expression remained without a ripple. Seeing the lightning palm shadow approach, his figure suddenly slid to the side, like flowing clouds in the wind, lightly dodging this heavy and powerful strike.

Boom! The palm wind whistled past his sleeves, striking the arena floor, instantly causing gravel to splash and making the entire arena tremble slightly.

With the strike missing, Zhou Shuyan's heart grew tense, but he didn't pause for a moment. Taking advantage of the momentum, he changed Moves, and palm shadows stacked one after another. The Moves of the Thunder-Splitting Gale Palm advanced layer by layer, the palm wind wrapped in terrifying True Qi, sealing off Chen An's evasion space from all directions. Every Move was rigid and fierce, with shocking power.

Yet Chen An always moved with composure, not actively launching strong attacks, but only using exquisite footwork to dodge and dismantle. Every time, he barely avoided the edge of the palm wind; it seemed passive, but in reality, he saw through Zhou Shuyan's offensive clearly.

After several Moves, Zhou Shuyan's all-out fierce attacks still couldn't touch the hem of Chen An's clothes. The consumption of True Qi in his body grew, and his heart became increasingly anxious.

Knowing that continuing to drag it out meant certain defeat, he gritted his teeth and gathered his strength, pouring all his True Qi into his palms. The thunder roared, and he unleashed the killer Move of the Thunder-Splitting Gale Palm, slamming a palm toward Chen An's chest!

This strike condensed the essence of his life's Foundation; its power was shocking, and it was the strongest strike he could currently unleash.

Chen An also saw the reality behind this palm. At the moment the palm wind was about to arrive, he finally stopped dodging and suddenly threw a punch. Mountain Crushing Force!

Bang! The fist and palm collided, and air waves scattered with a roar.

Zhou Shuyan felt a majestic force like a mountain and sea rushing back, instantly shaking his blood to surge, his arm numb, and the True Qi in his palms dissipated on the spot. He staggered back more than a dozen steps, retreating to the edge of the arena, his body swaying, nearly falling off the stage.

His eyes were wide open, his face full of shock, looking up in disbelief at Chen An, who stood in place, calm and unruffled.

"Pfft!" Suddenly, Zhou Shuyan's expression changed abruptly, and a mouthful of fresh blood sprayed out. Then his body swayed, and he actually fell off the arena.

"Whoa!" Seeing that after Zhou Shuyan traded a punch with Chen An, he was not only beaten back but also spat out a large mouthful of blood, as if he had been seriously injured, the entire Martial Arts Arena immediately erupted in an uproar.

You must know that before this, when Chen An fought those students with higher cultivation than himself, he mostly relied on mysterious footwork to dodge and maneuver, rarely confronting offensives head-on. Even when he won in the end, it was likewise by using mysterious footwork to counterattack.

This led everyone to believe that he only had strange footwork and nimble Moves, was good at winning with skill, and that his strength in a head-on clash might not be very powerful.

But the scene right now completely overturned everyone's perception. Zhou Shuyan, at Condensing Qi Stage 11 and possessing a Minor Achievement Profound Rank High Grade Martial Skill, had his full-power palm strike countered by Chen An with a hard-hitting punch, causing him to be seriously injured and fall off the arena.

Could it be that Chen An's cultivation was not just Condensing Qi Stage 6? Had he hidden his cultivation?!

On the high platform! Ancestor Zhou Tong looked at Zhou Shuyan, who was spitting blood and falling off the arena in a sorry state. His face instantly turned as dark as water, chill surged between his brows, and a terrifying pressure faintly radiated from his body.

He had originally wanted to use Zhou Shuyan's hand to blunt Chen An's edge, suppress this dark horse that had suddenly risen, and by the way, relieve his mood after losing an earth-grade breakthrough pill because of this kid.

He never expected that Zhou Shuyan would be such trash, defeated and heavily injured by the opponent in just one Move. Zhou Tong's gaze locked tightly onto the calm and composed Chen An on the arena, a trace of imperceptible malice flashing in the depths of his eyes.

"What a powerful punch!" Different from the students and ordinary Instructors below, Instructor Fan Suiyun, as an Innate powerhouse, could see that the punch Chen An just threw was extraordinary, at least a Profound Rank Medium Grade or higher Martial Skill practiced to the Major Achievement level.

Only then could he, with a cultivation of Condensing Qi Stage 6, hard-clash with, and even severely injure, a Zhou Shuyan who was at Condensing Qi Stage 11 and mastered a Minor Achievement Profound Rank High Grade Martial Skill.

Instructor Fan Suiyun also did not expect that in the County Academy, there would actually be someone who had comprehended a fist technique that was at least a Profound Rank Medium Grade Martial Skill to the Major Achievement Realm while in the Qi Condensation Realm. One must know that even many Acquired Realm powerhouses might not necessarily be able to practice a Profound Rank Martial Skill to Major Achievement. And the more this was the case, the more it represented Chen An's extraordinary Comprehension Ability.

"It is a pity that it is said this child's Aptitude is only a Mid-grade Martial Bone!" Instructor Fan Suiyun suddenly thought of when Chen An was tested upon enrollment, where he was only detected to have a Mid-grade Martial Bone, and he couldn't help but sigh slightly.

Everyone knew that the grade of the Martial Bone determined cultivation potential! Mid-grade Martial Bone Aptitude is mediocre, and it is difficult to achieve great things; according to common sense, one would likely only be able to linger in the Qi Condensation Realm for a lifetime.

Instructor Fan Suiyun had always believed that cultivation is the Foundation of the Dao! Even if Chen An's Comprehension Ability was extraordinary, his Martial Skills were exquisite, and he was invincible among his peers, with the shackles of his Martial Bone, his future cultivation would eventually be left far behind by those Prodigies with High Grade, Earth Grade, and Heaven Grade Martial Bones, making it difficult to become a true top powerhouse.

At this moment, Chen An, standing on the arena, did not pay attention to the shock of the students below the arena, nor did he know that Instructor Fan Suiyun on the high platform was lamenting his Aptitude and Martial Bone. Instead, he looked at the place where Zhou Shuyan had just fallen, a subtle, strange glint flashing in his eyes, and the corners of his mouth twitched imperceptibly...