Invincibility Begins with Mastery of Fist Techniques-Chapter 56: Southern Fighting Tournament

Three seconds passed in a flash.

As the Heart’s Desire Bursting Out state ceased, the resonance between his mind and body vanished, and the abnormal changes within him gradually subsided.

A slight fatigue followed. The state was tantamount to forcibly enhancing his bodily functions, so it inevitably came with side effects.

’Looks like I need to be careful about using this in a duel.’

"Three seconds..."

Zhou Yuanjue muttered to himself. That was the longest he could currently sustain Heart’s Desire Bursting Out. In a single duel, he could likely use it two or three times, and that was already his absolute limit.

This was only possible because he had achieved a breakthrough in his Spiritual Realm during his fight with Huang Shuwen, and because of the help from the Lamp Burning Technique.

Before this, he could only use Heart’s Desire Bursting Out once per fight, and it lasted for merely the blink of an eye.

Compared to Zhang Ling Heng and Wei Fengyi, his Psychic Power was still far from strong enough.

Those two could release their Heart Power without any limits on frequency or duration, allowing it to naturally permeate their entire Fist Technique in a continuous, unbroken flow.

Every single move was an instance of Heart’s Desire Bursting Out.

He still had a long way to go.

Having finished his training, and knowing that honing his Lamp Burning Technique wasn’t likely to see any more rapid progress for now, Zhou Yuanjue left the training room. He took a shower, changed into clean clothes, and made his way to the villa’s spacious living room, passing servants who bowed politely.

In the living room, Li Qingxuan was curled up on the soft sofa like a cat. She wore a set of loose cartoon pajamas, her long hair piled high on her head, and a facial mask plastered on her face. Cradling a bag of vegetable crisps, she watched a TV drama, a somewhat creepy, doting smile spreading across her face.

"Taking it easy today? Nothing to do?"

Seeing her like this, Zhou Yuanjue was a little surprised.

She wasn’t usually like this. Whenever he had nothing for her to do, she was often nowhere to be found. He had no idea what she was up to, and he never asked, because it wasn’t the right time yet.

However, whenever he needed her for something, she was always available at a moment’s notice and never caused any delays.

"It’s Saturday! What’s wrong with me taking a break? You think everyone is a maniac like you, training like their life depends on it? This is the first time I’ve ever seen someone sleep on the floor in a training room."

Li Qingxuan said, her face, covered by the volcanic ash mask, twisting into what might have been a "sneer."

Zhou Yuanjue walked over to the other end of the sofa and sat down. "How’s the intel gathering on the Southern Boxing Three Capitals coming along?" he asked.

The Southern Boxing Three Capitals was his next destination after leaving Tianlu Prefecture.

The so-called Southern Boxing Three Capitals actually referred to three large metropolises in Donghua Country’s southern coastal region—Shuntian City, Mingzhu City, and Guangpu City—which formed a strategic triangular configuration.

Since the old days, this area had always been home to Donghua Country’s most important port cities. This gave rise to prosperous industries in trade, shipping, finance, manufacturing, and entertainment, making it a crucial channel for the country’s foreign exchange.

Due to this special geographical location, countless Boxers and Martial Artists from the southern regions had gathered here since the old era, working in industries like shipping and trade, and making a living with their fists.

In modern times, it gradually became the most prosperous region in the Southern Martial Arts Realm. Traces of nearly every style of southern Fist Technique could be found there.

The most representative forces within the Southern Boxing Three Capitals were the Eight Great Boxing Schools, whose lineages stretched back to the old era. All of these schools possessed First Grade Fist Technique traditions, with some having more than one. They were widely acknowledged as the top-tier schools in the Southern Martial Arts Realm and were collectively known as the Southern Eight Sects.

One could say that land was fertile ground for Fist Techniques. The martial arts culture there was so strong that almost everyone knew a move or two.

Hearing Zhou Yuanjue’s words, Li Qingxuan shot up from the sofa. On her dark, mask-covered face, her eyes glittered, creating a slightly startling sight. "What? Is it time to start the next phase?"

"Yes. I’m pretty much ready on my end. Staying in Tianlu Prefecture any longer would just be a waste of time."

Zhou Yuanjue said with a nod.

"I’ve already gathered all the intel on the Southern Boxing Three Capitals. In fact, some bombshell news came out in the last couple of days, but I didn’t tell you because I saw you were focused on your Cultivation."

Li Qingxuan said to Zhou Yuanjue.

"What is it?"

Seeing her expression, Zhou Yuanjue’s interest was piqued.

"Hold on a sec."

Li Qingxuan seemed to realize how frightening she looked with the dark mask on. She scrambled up from the sofa, hurried to the bathroom to wash it off, and came back with a fresh, makeup-free face, her skin still rosy and tender. Her expression turned grave as she spoke to Zhou Yuanjue.

"Just as Elder Wei said, things in the Southern Boxing Three Capitals have been unusually heated lately. After all, the area is recognized as the core of the entire Southern Martial Arts Realm and is home to well-known, powerful Martial Arts Schools like the Southern Eight Sects. Because of this, the recent changes in the Martial Arts Realm have had a huge impact there. Experts from all over the Southern Martial Arts Realm are converging on the area, causing the number of Martial Artists to multiply several times over in a short period."

"And you know how Martial Artists are—hot-blooded and quick to anger, easily getting into conflicts. As the old saying goes, ’The martial artist breaks the law with force.’ With so many of them converging on those three cities, it’s had a significant impact on social stability. And that’s not even mentioning that many have come with the express purpose of challenging experts to temper themselves, which just adds chaos on top of chaos."

"So, to mitigate the impact and the risks, rumor has it that the Southern Eight Sects received support and approval from the higher-ups to come up with a way to minimize the fallout."

"What kind of way?"

Zhou Yuanjue asked.

"By hosting an underground fighting tournament."

Li Qingxuan said with a smile.

"An underground fighting tournament?"

Zhou Yuanjue was slightly stunned when he heard the name, but then he seemed to understand.

"That’s right, an underground fighting tournament. The tentative name is the ’Southern Fighting Tournament.’ There are simply too many Martial Artists gathered, so allowing them to challenge each other freely would definitely lead to chaos. That’s why they came up with this solution."

"When the time comes, the Southern Eight Sects will work with all the arenas in the Southern Boxing Three Capitals to host this private, underground fighting tournament. The matches will adopt the rules of Decisive Fist. The use of weapons will be decided by the two combatants. There will be no referee, no weight classes, and no rules. Fights are irrespective of life or death, continuing until one side loses the ability to fight or surrenders."

"For now, the tournament is set to last three months. There will be eight ’ring master’ positions. All other challengers will be divided into five tiers, and they can only challenge others within the same tier. Challenges are unrestricted and completely voluntary. The winner is promoted a tier, and the loser is demoted. A victor has the right to refuse challenges for seven days, but after that, they must accept a fight. Otherwise, it’s considered a forfeit, automatically promoting the challenger and demoting the one who forfeited."

"A Martial Artist who fights their way to the fifth tier earns the right to challenge a ring master. If they win, they become the new ring master and must accept challenges from others. If they lose, they’re demoted one tier and have to start over. After two months, challenges against the ring masters will automatically cease. The eight remaining ring masters will then draw lots and face off in pairs."

"Finally, they will determine the strongest in the South!"