Chapter 152: Yi Chen vs He Peng

"Huh? Isn’t that Brother Chen? Why is he walking towards the stage?" Qin Yao asked in a confused voice.

"Yes... Wasn’t Sister Ning doing everything today...was there a change of plans?" Feng Min voiced out her thoughts after hearing him out.

With furrowed brows, both of them momentarily met each other’s eyes. Seeing the apparent confusion written in each other’s gazes, they directed it back towards the fighting stage.

Meanwhile, Yi Chen arrived on the fighting stage and stopped at his designated spot.

"Choose your opponent," The Imperial Envoy said, seeing this.

Yi Chen subtly nodded and, turning towards the He Clan’s stands, matched his eyes with He Peng. A hateful glare was directed towards him the next instant.

’Is this brat really...’ The momentary confusion on He Peng’s face soon faded after seeing Yi Chen’s gaze and turned to one of anticipation.

"Come at me, you snake-eyed bastard." Yi Chen said the next instant loudly, "Or can you fight only from that disgusting mouth of yours?"

"Huhuhu...how childish." He Peng coldly laughed in a low tone. The next instant, he stood up from his seat.

Although he found Yi Chen’s attempt to provoke him childish, he would be lying if he said that he wasn’t provoked by them in the slightest.

With his eyes slightly narrowed, He Peng began making his way towards the Fighting Stage.

’I was hoping for Feng Ning to catch the bait, but even this is not bad...I had already planned to deal with this brat once the tournament is wrapped up, so his personally choosing to fight me just makes things easier.’

He Peng thought to himself as his footsteps finally stopped when he was standing just a few meters ahead of Yi Chen.

"As a man, one shouldn’t get provoked so easily." He Peng chuckled in a derisory manner and said, "I’ll make sure to imbibe this lesson into you by the time our match is finished."

"Does it matter if an elephant gets provoked by an ant or not? Either way, it’s going to get crushed." Yi Chen fired back without batting an eye.

"Hmph! Quite a mouth you got," He Peng’s eyes narrowed, not expecting such a sharp and immediate rebuttal, "I’ll make sure to crush it when the match begins."

Although he had been able to maintain a poker face all this time, it would be a lie to say that Yi Chen’s words didn’t faze him at all.

Hearing He Peng’s remark, a wide grin formed on Yi Chen’s face as he asked in an amused tone, "Are you now? What a coincidence! I’m thinking of doing the same thing to yours.

Here’s a question for you. Who do you think will succeed? Me or You?"

"Isn’t it ob-"

Before He Peng could finish his words, the Imperial Envoy cut their short exchange of words.

"Enough! Get ready for the battle!"

He didn’t let the verbal spat go on for any longer than necessary,

When Yi Chen heard the Imperial Envoy’s instruction, he immediately took the fighting stance which would help him with his movement technique.

However, unlike Yi Chen, He Peng had a totally casual attitude.

’Why should I worry about a brat who’s in the Fifth Meridian Refinement stage when I’m already on the verge of breaking through to the Seventh Level?’ He Peng snorted dismissively and stood there with a disdainful smirk on his face.

"Fight!" The Imperial Envoy declared.

’Bursting Fire Steps!’ Yi Chen exclaimed inwardly, and his figure bolted towards He Peng the next second.

As He Peng had clearly witnessed Yi Chen’s matches yesterday, he was already anticipating such an attack.

With a grin on his face, he circulated his Qi that very moment and formed a thick wall right in front of Yi Chen’s forward path.

’Just try entering by the sides, you brat,’ He Peng snickered gleefully as the next second, he circulated three-fourths of his Qi for his next martial technique.

’Serrated Tidal Spears!’

Four spears made of water took shape right next to He Peng that instant. Their serrated edges glimmered viciously under the sunlight as if declaring their intent to shed blood.

The four spears soon directed themselves towards the two sides of the water wall. If Yi Chen wanted to attack him, then he would have come through either of these two paths.

’And when he bolts past the side, all ready to attack me,’ the grin on He Peng’s face widened, ’I’ll impale him to the arena and then play with him to my satisfaction.’

Even though the rat had willingly decided to enter the snake’s mouth, He Peng was still adamant on tormenting Yi Chen until the end before finally swallowing him whole.

However, the very next instant, something unexpected happened.

BREAK!

The water wall, in which he had the utmost confidence in staying put, shattered like thin ice the instant it came into contact with Yi Chen’s fists.

Not giving a damn about He Peng’s shell-shocked expression, Yi Chen circulated his Qi to initiate another burst with much greater Qi than usual.

Not even a second had passed, and Yi Chen’s figure, which had just broken through the water wall, zipped through a few meters in a matter of milliseconds and appeared right next to He Peng.

"Didn’t I tell you earlier that I was going to crush your face?" Yi Chen said with a grin when his eyes met He Peng’s widened gaze and launched a punch straight towards his face.

"Like hell I’ll let you!"

He Peng roared in outright anger as a feeling of humiliation welled up in his heart. Seeing that Yi Chen had directed a punch towards him, he too launched his fist straight towards the incoming fist.

’I refuse to believe that a mere Fifth Level could overcome me in strength!’

Although Yi Chen was able to break his water wall, he believed that he must have used some underhanded moves to do that, as logically, there’s no way for him to have the strength required to break it.

The very next instant, two fists collided and a shockwave, immensely greater than He Peng’s imagination, travelled through his entire arm as his bones shattered, followed by his arm’s flesh being torn to shreds.

AAAAARGH!

A huge, painful cry echoed throughout the arena, and a second later, as He Peng’s eyes finally registered the state of his arm, which was hanging limply in a mangled state.

However, before he could even let out his pain-filled screech fully, he found the back of his head being grabbed by one of Yi Chen’s hands.

"Now, let’s take care of that disgusting mouth of yours, shall we?"

’He...was he hiding his real strength all along?!’

A possibility immediately surfaced in He Peng’s mind, and fear gripped his eyes the very next instant.

"N-No! Don-"

He Peng tried to plead, but it was all for nought as Yi Chen’s right fist was already on the move, and before he could even finish his words, Yi Chen smashed his mouth.