Ye Feng’s eyes were bloodshot as he stared at Yu Fei, clearly enraged.

Below the stage, Dongfang Yebai gripped the railing tightly, watching Ye Feng with concern.

"You have to win!"

She prayed inwardly.

Even though she had lost to Yu Fei in a humiliating fashion, neither she nor Ye Feng had thought he would lose the final. But that one punch had been a rude awakening.

Yu Fei was no weakling; he was incredibly strong.

Ye Feng clenched his fists. The hard and soft energies in his body fused and circulated. With a roar, he charged toward Yu Fei. He had just seen a staff member escort his mother out.

"You shameless bastard, die!"

[Light Swallow Shadow] was not just a Body Technique, but footwork as well.

Both of them had cultivated this Cultivation Technique to the point of great mastery, and their speed was immense.

On the competition stage, the two figures crisscrossed like flashes of light, illusory and phantom-like. An ordinary person could no longer follow their movements.

The chatter from the crowd below the stage was like a tidal wave, growing louder with each successive crest. They had thought Ye Feng was a once-in-a-generation genius, but they never expected there would be two.

The clash of their mastered Body Techniques was a true eye-opener for the audience. Most of the regular spectators could only see two blurry shadows, but that didn’t stop them from expressing their profound shock.

Ye Feng was on the offensive, having already begun blood refinement. This was the final stage of the first realm of martial arts. A Martial Artist who had succeeded in blood refinement would have abundant Qi Blood, giving them the ability to fight for extended periods.

Gao Yunxiang stroked his beard, his heart filled with shock. He was also at the blood refinement stage, the same martial arts realm as Ye Feng. If he were Ye Feng’s opponent, he figured he would be utterly defeated in just a few moves.

But what about Yu Fei?

On the stage, Ye Feng’s fists and feet were like the wind, his movements like thunder. Every strike made the air crackle, displaying his masterful control over his power. Yet, such a genius was currently being toyed with.

Yes, toyed with.

Because Yu Fei still had his hands in his pockets, dodging Ye Feng’s attacks with a variety of comical and bizarre movements, as if walking on a tightrope. All the while, he was spewing an endless stream of trash talk.

"Hey, shorty, you mad? Getting angry is bad for your health..."

"Whoops, you missed! Aren’t you mad? Here, I’ll let you get a hit in..."

"Haha... Just kidding! Missed again! Heh, I’m just playing around..."

"Let me ask you a question. There are ten lotus flowers in a pond. I can only pick one, but you can pick nine. Do you know why?"

Ye Feng’s continuous, all-out assault consumed his Qi Blood at a rapid rate. Even though he had reached the blood refinement stage, he was *only* at the blood refinement stage. He was already starting to pant and was forced to stop.

Listening to Yu Fei’s non-stop trash talk, he grew agitated. Wanting to shut down the mental harassment, he subconsciously asked:

"Why?"

In the audience, Liu Ming put a hand to his forehead, unable to watch. Yan Sea had a strange expression, as if he was trying to stifle a laugh.

Dongfang Yebai lowered her head and lightly bumped it against the railing, a frustrated look on her face. ’Ah Feng is probably going to lose!’

’Did this guy trade his IQ for good looks? Damn it!’

Furious, she slammed her fist on the railing.

Yu Fei grinned. He hadn’t actually expected Ye Feng to take the bait. He didn’t think the kid would be this naive!

"Because... if you suck, you should practice more!"

Ye Feng froze. He realized he’d been played again.

"You son of a bitch!"

Ignoring the consumption of his Qi Blood, Ye Feng rallied and charged viciously at Yu Fei once more.

But the result was a repeat of the previous script. No matter how hard he tried, he still couldn’t touch Yu Fei.

"HUFF... HUFF..."

Ye Feng rested his hands on his knees, his legs trembling slightly. Ten straight minutes of high-intensity attacks had nearly depleted his Qi Blood.

As physical exhaustion set in, his reason returned. He realized he had made a mistake.

’However Yu Fei is doing it, his dodging ability is ridiculously strong.’

’My attacks aren’t working. I should be defending, not attacking. My realm is higher, my Qi Blood is stronger. As a Martial Artist at the blood refinement stage, as long as my Qi Blood doesn’t drop below thirty percent, it will recover quickly.’

But now it was too late.

As the one defending and dodging, Yu Fei had avoided nearly all of Ye Feng’s attacks. His Qi Blood consumption was surprisingly low; he still had half of it left.

Seeing that Ye Feng could no longer resist, Yu Fei quickly moved in and kicked him to the ground.

Although Ye Feng reacted in time, his exhausted body couldn’t muster any defense. He had lost.

"Little punk, do you know why you lost?"

Before Ye Feng could answer, he continued on his own, "The moment the fight started, you lost your cool. Didn’t your teacher ever tell you that a Martial Artist’s greatest enemy is themselves? No matter how angry you get, you have to remain calm and restrained, analyze your enemy’s strengths and weaknesses as well as your own, and play to your advantages while avoiding your shortcomings."

"You act like a king at your ’First High’, looking down on all the heroes of the world, and you even have a ridiculously laughable fan club. Are you even worthy?"

The referee at the side was about to step in and stop Yu Fei’s taunts but was stopped by a look from the main platform. The person was the head martial arts coach of First High, a master in the Inner Qi Realm.

Yu Fei didn’t notice any of this and continued:

"If you have any sense of shame, go back and disband that stupid fan club. Focusing on your training is the proper path. Do you think being good-looking will stop you from getting beaten?"

Ye Feng struggled to his feet and said stubbornly, "I didn’t organize them! I..."

"But you gave your tacit approval, didn’t you? Felt pretty good, right?"

Yu Fei could guess Ye Feng’s thoughts with his ass—because if it were him, he’d have done the same thing.

Ye Feng was suddenly at a loss for words, because he had indeed thought and felt that way.

Yu Fei stepped forward and patted Ye Feng on the shoulder, his expression turning serious.

"Tianning County is too small, and there are too few experts. At our level, it’s easy to become a big fish in a small pond without any rivals. You need to settle down and reflect. We can spar more in the future. To be honest, I was pretty disappointed with your performance today."

"Think about it. Do you want to be lost in the praise of others, enjoying a false sense of strength? Or do you want to train hard day after day, growing stronger by sweating and bleeding in battle?"

"I’m looking for a regular sparring partner. I wonder, are you worthy?"

His tone was arrogant, but his expression was dead serious. After all, he had gone to all this trouble just for this one outcome.

Fanning the flames before the match, the arrogance on the stage—it was all for this moment.

After a moment of silence, Ye Feng looked up at Yu Fei and said with determination:

"I lost today, but this fight isn’t over. I’ll come looking for you in the future. I’m just afraid you won’t dare to face me!"

"Oh? Then it’s settled. We can spar often from now on. You pick the place."

"Deal!"

"Don’t you be a no-show!"

The two bumped their fists together with a solid CRACK.

Yu Fei breathed a sigh of relief internally. He had finally achieved his goal. For the next year, he would get an orange-quality talent every month. He shouldn’t be short on Stardust anymore.

With Ye Feng taken care of, Yu Fei once again looked toward the northwest section of the audience. Ever since his match with Ye Feng began, a bone-chilling cold had enveloped the stage and hadn’t dissipated. He judged that it was coming from the northwest, but he couldn’t pinpoint the source. There were just too many people in the crowd.

’Are there evil cult members here in town, too?’

Yu Fei mused to himself. He would have to talk to Mr. Yan about this.

...

"The second-year division of the Tianning Youth Martial Arts Tournament has officially concluded. The first-place winner is Yu Fei from Nanguan Second Senior High School... with Ye Feng taking second place... and Yv Yeye from Yongping Fifth Senior High School in third. Let’s congratulate all three students.

Next up is the award ceremony..."

The tournament was finally over. Yu Fei couldn’t wait to be alone for a bit. He needed to check his haul.

’An orange-quality one!’

But there was no way around it. Rules are rules. As the star of the tournament, he had to stick it out until the end of the ceremony.

Yu Wei was already jumping up and down with joy in the audience. Lei Xiaoqiang waved a flag, shouting, "Yu Fei! Yu Fei! Number one badass!"

Meanwhile, Ye Feng’s fangirls hadn’t conceded defeat. They shouted a rival slogan, "Yu Fei! Yu Fei! Shameless and vile!"

These were all just minor interludes. The medals and trophies would be presented on site, but the physical prizes had to be collected from the staff separately after the tournament.