At that moment, several questions flashed through Jiang Chen's mind.

Had he made a mistake in the execution of the kick?

Why did the vital energy disappear the moment he truly needed it?

Why did Han Xuhan look like he was expecting this very outcome?

Did this outcome have anything to do with the wooden mask he was wearing?

But Han Xuhan didn't give him the time to deliberate over his thoughts. Clearly having foreseen this situation, he disregarded all defensive tactics and lashed out with a simple side kick at Jiang Chen's stomach.

There was no way Jiang Chen could avoid the kick from a distance this close and in a position so delicate. All he managed to do was to bring an arm in the trajectory of the kick to bear some of the force behind it.

"Hngh!"

Han Xuhan's heel sank into his stomach and Jiang Chen was thrown off balance since only one of his feet was on the ground. But to his relief, the side kick had no real martial power behind it. The force was just a little stronger than what an ordinary human could display.

Staggering several steps backwards and barely avoiding the humiliation of landing on his back, Jiang Chen steadied himself and switched to a different stance.

But Han Xuhan didn't give him the time to transition the stance into an offensive form. As his moves were devoid of martial elements, he could attack without worrying about correct forms and vital energy.

In a way, this was far more humiliating to Jiang Chen. His opponent was treating this fight like a mindless brawl in the street, discarding all etiquette and rules. But this also matched his impression of Han Xuhan's character.

Surely, you couldn't expect a scourge like this to fight in a fair and proper manner.

Han Xuhan's strikes came in like leaves blown by the summer wind, erratic, powerless, but bothersome. Every time Jiang Chen was at the precipice of executing a new martial move, he was disrupted by slaps, punches, kicks, and even curses so filthy that they inevitably distracted him.

Five moves, ten moves, twenty moves...

By the thirtieth move, Jiang Chen's face was completely pale, a cold feeling enveloping his back.

This Han Xuhan... He had definitely done some research into the Martial art Jiang Chen cultivated. He knew which moves he used the most often, his transitioning habits, and even some of his sneaky maneuvers.

Did anyone from the Starheart Mountain Peak get bribed to collect information on his fighting techniques?

That was the only possibility! This lowlife had used another dishonorable method to ensure his victory!

Jiang Chen gnashed his teeth, righteous fury burning in his heart as he pushed his body and mind to the extreme. Relying on months of experience in martial duels, he finally managed to push Han Xuhan away for long enough to execute one of his best martial moves.

The feeling of a hard-earned victory was so overwhelming that he even shouted aloud the name of the move.

"Flesh Severing Palm!"

There was no way Jiang Chen would make a mistake in executing this move. He had practiced it till his hands bled every day.

Threads of vital energy burst forth across his right shoulder, elbow, and palm, forming a curved, sword-like structure that snuck past his opponent's defenses and struck him square in the ribcage.

THUNK!

"Aaagh!"

The dull noise of their bones colliding was delightful, but Han Xuhan's yelp was not. Excited as he was, he could detect the mockery in that shout.

And he knew why. His vital energy had been eaten up the moment he had channeled it through his palm to leave a proper injury on his target.

Flabbergasted, Jiang Chen looked down at the bottom of his palm, throbbing painfully as the skin turned red. He could not understand why the vital energy became ineffective again.

From the corner of his eyes, he noticed a shadow closing in. Han Xuhan was trying to take advantage of his confusion to sneak a strike in.

Eyes narrowing, Jiang Chen switched tactics and took a defensive stance, observing Han Xuhan's attack closely without thinking about retaliation.

The first strike, a punch, was a brutish move solely dependent on physical power. Jiang Chen had no trouble defending against it.

Seeing him not going for retaliatory moves, Han Xuhan immediately followed up with a feint targeting his eyes, a tactic that couldn't even phase someone as combat-experienced as Jiang Chen. He saw through the amateurish feint the moment it started.

But still, he refused to retaliate, letting Han Xuhan go crazy with offensive moves.

Punch, double punch, several attempts to grapple, two front kicks followed by a shoddily executed leg-sweep...

Seeing that none were getting past Jiang Chen's conservative stance, Han Xuhan roared.

"Don't dare to fight properly anymore, you coward? Then let me show you my Martial prowess!"

Jiang Chen nearly felt like vomiting blood and bile from disgust.

This guy dares to talk about fighting properly?!

But when he saw Han Xuhan take a low, front-leaning stance, his face became serious.

He had seen his opponent make martial moves before. Although there were some imperfections and weaknesses in that knee strike he executed facing Sister Mei that day, it was still a legitimate martial move.

Besides, no one could reach the second phase of the martial path in two weeks by simply relying on stances and medicine. He had to have practiced a variety of moves in a strict routine.

As if mocking Jiang Chen's earlier blunder, Han Xuhan yelled out the name of his move too, distracting him from his analysis again.

"Swallow Springs Forth In Six Steps!"

Blood rushing to his head, he watched Han Xuhan wave his hands around like a chicken trying to fly, and approach him quickly while keeping his body low.

In Jiang Chen's experienced eyes, numerous mistakes popped out. The Lightfoot Swallow Art was too common a martial art, disseminated in almost every corner of the continent. Hailing from a cultivation clan, Jiang Chen was familiar with many of its moves.

Body angle... terrible. Hand movements... comically terrible. Sprinting speed... too slow to be effective in a duel against a matching opponent.

If a proper martial artist executed the move, there would be blades of wind to attack the opponent's face, a martial aura of rising momentum to intimidate the opponent's spirit, and the accumulation of potent vital energy for a truly powerful follow-up strike.

None of these elements seemed to be present in Han Xuhan's approach.

However... there was no way someone as cunning as Han Xuhan would think that this would be enough to break Jiang Chen out of his current tactic.

With an inscrutable expression, Jiang Chen maintained the defensive stance and waited for the real move, hidden under all these overly obvious mistakes.

"Swallow Takes Flight!"

Two meters away from Jiang Chen, Han Xuhan used the momentum of his sprint to leap upwards and extend his left knee forward. Jiang Chen recognized the offensive move, and he could also see how well-executed it was.

There were no mistakes at all! The mistakes in the first move were clearly intentional!

Heh! Trying to fool me into lowering my guard? Dream on!

He even knew how much power it could carry when executed by a second-phase martial artist! But if his suspicion was true...

He simply raised his own knee, flanked by his two hands. This was a flexible defensive stance.

If Han Xuhan could channel vital energy with this perfect offensive strike, then Jiang Chen would be sent flying into the air, but he would be able to shake off the force when his raised foot landed on the ground.

But if Han Xuhan failed to infuse vital energy, he wouldn't even be able to upset Jiang Chen's balance.

Sure enough, he didn't sense any threads of destructive vital energy as their knees collided and he shoved Han Xuhan backwards casually. In terms of pure strength, he still had a considerable edge over his opponent.

And now, he was going to use this advantage to achieve victory, because evidently, it has somehow become impossible to channel vital energy in this place.

Neither Jiang Chen, nor Han Xuhan could execute their most destructive martial moves, regardless of how well they executed them.

Grinning wolfishly, Jiang Chen watched Han Xuhan adamantly rush forward for another knee strike. This time, he'd retaliate, and this idiot would never see it coming!

Again, Han Xuhan followed the required steps perfectly and leaped towards Jiang Chen's welcoming body with his knee extended.

Jiang Chen knew it wouldn't hurt him even if the knee landed with full force in the absence of vital energy. So he decided to take it head-on to put Han Xuhan's knee in an inescapable lock with his arms.

Thump!

Han Xuhan's flying knee struck between his ribcage, and just as Jiang Chen's hands were about to clamp down from both sides, he felt the air in his lungs turn into flames.

"Aaaaarrghhh!"

Faint noise of ribs shattering was shrouded under Jiang Chen's blood-curdling howl as he flew back like a rootless ragdoll, smashing into the wooden fence so hard that even his spine seemed to crack in several places.

If the fence hadn't been reinforced with array formations, he would have probably been blown through it outside.

Blood gushing out of his mouth and nose, Jiang Chen lay crumpled against the fence, his mind too overwhelmed by the pain to analyze why....

Why could his opponent suddenly use vital energy when both of them had failed so many times before?