Cultivating through increasing my stats in America-Chapter 116 - 115: The Ultimate Champion Showdown

Facing such an opponent who could still be fine after taking a slap with sixty percent of his strength, Li Ang also nodded slightly, acknowledging his opponent’s strength.

This was enough to prove that the man had surpassed the previous contestants by a class.

The opponent, the redneck uncle, was even more shocked.

He had anticipated that Li Ang’s strength was great, but he wasn’t worried about it because defense was his forte.

Yet, he hadn’t predicted that Li Ang’s strike would be so heavy.

This must have been his full strength, right? It was the final battle, so there was no need to hold back anymore.

The redneck uncle took a deep breath, first adjusting his feet to the most comfortable distance apart, then he pushed off with his right foot, twisted his hips, and turned his waist, channeling all his strength into his palm.

This method of force generation wasn’t something he had learned but something he had realized from chopping trees with an axe, the way that allowed him to exert all his strength.

"Snap!"

The sound of this slap almost reached the same volume as Li Ang’s previous slaps.

The two contestants who had just been defeated by the redneck uncle were a bit disgruntled, but now seeing his true strength, suddenly felt somewhat relieved.

If he had used that much force just before, they probably would have been lying down.

But what surprised them even more was that after Li Ang took such a powerful slap, his reaction was almost no different than before; he merely shook his head and then recovered.

"This slap was about seventy percent power," Li Ang thought to himself. The slap had made him feel a bit dizzy, but it was far from knocking him out.

During his regular Iron Head Skill training, one of the exercises involved hitting a wall with his head. Compared to that kind of impact, the force of this slap was still somewhat lacking.

As Li Ang returned the slap to his opponent’s face, the redneck uncle only had time to widen his eyes in shock, then his eyes rolled back, and he fainted.

"The winner, Li Ang!"

It was then that everyone snapped back to reality, realizing that the champion of the middleweight division had been decided.

Perhaps due to Li Ang’s presence, their division had finished much faster than the others.

The champion’s prize money was fifty thousand US dollars—not too much, but definitely not little. Counting the prize money for the others, they had nearly spent a million US dollars.

During the award ceremony, White Danna complimented each champion with encouraging words.

"Li Ang, you did a really good job. I knew that someone Johnson recommended so highly couldn’t be bad, and I actually think you’d make a great UFC fighter too. If you’re interested, remember to contact me," White Danna whispered to Li Ang’s side, but everyone below could see that he spent the most time at Li Ang’s side.

Given White Danna’s net worth and status, perhaps gaining his favor was more valuable than the fifty thousand dollars.

After the award ceremony and the usual pleasantries, White Danna announced another piece of major news.

To enhance the entertainment and the ferocity of the competition, an ultimate championship contest would be held in a month. This event would have no restrictions on nationality, gender, age, or weight class, and each bout’s three-round limit would be extended to five rounds.

The top three contestants from each weight class in this and the previous tournament, if they participated, would directly enter the Top 100; the rest of the spots would come from open auditions.

The purpose of this contest was to determine the strongest ear-slap fighter on the planet.

The top thirty finalists would all receive a huge sum of prize money, totaling five million US dollars.

Once this news broke, almost everyone present became excited.

For the audience, it meant they had even more thrilling matches to look forward to.

As for the competitors, a hefty prize was beckoning them, and the extended rounds were a boon for those whose strength wasn’t up to par.

It meant that some of the stronger competitors might deplete more energy, giving others a chance to capitalize on their fatigue.

Li Ang had barely heard the rules before he could already picture the brutality of the competition.

If only the champion were to take home the five million, many would be aware of their limits and not even contemplate entering the match.

But with more spots available for winning, more people would feel they might be the lucky one, and try their luck.

The more who entered the competition, the more popular it would be; and with that, there’d be no worry about not recouping those millions.

For Li Ang, this too was an opportunity, not only because of the prize money but also due to the massive influence of the competition.

However, that was all for later; what Li Ang cared about most at that moment was just how many Breakthrough Points he had acquired.

Upon opening his attribute panel, Li Ang discovered his Breakthrough Points had shot up to seven — the past two days of competition had netted him a whole 2.5 points.

Of all the competitions he’d participated in, this was by far the one that had awarded him the most points.

The video of Li Ang winning the middleweight division championship had only just been posted online when it caused quite the stir.

Mostly because Li Ang’s skin color stood out starkly among his predominantly white competitors.

Not to mention Li Ang’s weight, which was nearly a whole division lower than the other competitors in his group, leading many to wonder if maybe the level of his opponents was too low.

Influenced by some racists, even the white competitors in Li Ang’s group faced online backlash, accused of losing their honor.

And as the incident heated up, the exposure for all of Li Ang and Catina’s accounts increased dramatically, seeing tens of thousands of new followers in less than a day.

When the video spread to China, it caused an uproar.

Initially, netizens in China thought Li Ang was just making a bid for online exposure, and they didn’t really care about winning or losing.

Knocking out one opponent was considered break-even; two was seen as very lucky, seizing the initiative both times.

But aside from the attack power of Li Ang being as formidable as they expected, they were also shocked to discover that his ability to take hits was beyond what ordinary people could compare.

"No way, I was about to @FightFraudInMartialArts, and you’re showing me this?"

"Guys, seeing that one yellow-skinned person among so many white people, you get the sense of its worth, don’t you?"

"Forget the Tongbei Quan hype; he clearly has trained in more than just that one martial art. Otherwise, you might as well send ’Pigeon Martial Edge’ there to give it a try."

...

"Grandmaster, this is definitely the realm of a Tongbei Quan grandmaster."

When Pigeon Martial Edge saw the video of Li Ang, he was so excited that he was at a loss for words.

He even had the bold idea of going to America to visit the young Grandmaster.