After Chen Chuan uttered those words, everyone in the hall froze, temper flaring within them. Even Assistant Qiu turned her eyes toward him in surprise.
Lu Fang studied him for a few moments, then nodded. "I understand." With an apologetic tone, he said, "I'm sorry, Student Chen, but we won't be going one-on-one with you today. Because the enemies you face in the future won't come to reason with you one by one either."
Chen Chuan did not back down in the slightest. "Fine. Can we begin?"
Lu Fang stepped backward, retreating all the way into the crowd.
At that moment, a subtle gleam seemed to emerge from the eyes of every Fenxin Society member. When preparing for battle, one needed to dilate the pupils to take in more light and heighten observational acuity, while their nostrils flared slightly and their breathing gradually adjusted to enter a state of combat readiness.
Assistant Qiu's gaze settled upon the arena. She began watching the movements of both sides closely. Her body appeared relaxed, but she was primed to exert force at any moment, ready to intervene should anyone cross the line.
Lu Fang gave a slight signal. Immediately, a third-year student charged head-on, while two others followed a step behind, flanking him from the sides.
Chen Chuan saw that the oncoming student had his hands slightly open and his footsteps heavy. Though he seemed to leave his front exposed, he was surely prepared to trigger his jin at any moment to absorb an attack, after which he would undoubtedly wrap his arms around him in a grapple.
Chen Chuan raised a knee. In an instant, the Second Self behind him merged as one with him. He snapped out a kick, planting a swift stomp against the side of his opponent's knee. The man's center of gravity tilted immediately. Chen Chuan followed up with a front kick. Grunting in pain, the student was sent flying backward through the air, crashing prone to the ground and unable to rise for quite some time.
Seeing an opening, the man on the right leaped forward and unleashed a midair sweeping kick. Chen Chuan raised a forearm beside his ear to block the strike, drove an elbow into the opponent's abdomen, and grabbed and pulled with both hands, hurling the midair body to the left and slamming him directly into the student flanking from that side.
In practically an instant, three people were down.
Chen Chuan settled into his stance once more and looked ahead, not a single ripple in his gaze.
Lu Fang nodded slightly, and the people beside him continued to press forward. They had an organized plan this time: send a few people ahead to probe and observe Chen Chuan's specific abilities before coordinating their assault. Having watched him make a few moves, many of them now had a rough idea of what to expect.
At this moment, three more charged toward Chen Chuan at the same time—or more accurately, four. One of them launched off another's shoulder with a powerful kick, vaulting high into the air, flipped, and planted a pair of bare feet directly against the ceiling. He then sprinted upside down toward Chen Chuan, moving as naturally as if running on flat ground.
Chen Chuan immediately recognized it as Wall-Walking Jin. Once mastered, this jin method allowed mutated tissue to grow on the soles of the feet and certain other body parts, enabling them to adhere to walls.
He began to pull back. As he created distance, he also shifted laterally so he could face one direction first, avoiding simultaneous attacks from multiple sides.
Glancing aside, he noticed a figure darting through the crowd, following swiftly on light feet. Occasionally, this person dropped low to the ground, using both hands to assist in running. It looked exceptionally agile and silent; Chen Chuan recognized it as the Sanshou Division's Civet Prowl.
Suddenly sensing something amiss at his flank, he realized that while he had intended to engage the person on his flank first, this opponent had somehow maneuvered behind him, chopping down with a vertical palm toward the side of his neck.
Yet Chen Chuan's movements were blindingly fast. Before the palm strike could fall, he had already thrown a punch, catching the man squarely on the chin. The man's head snapped back, and he tumbled backward.
Just as he turned to deal with the enemies on the other two flanks, movement came from above. Tilting his head aside, a dark shadow brushed past his shoulder. The person clinging to the ceiling had kicked downward with one foot while keeping the other anchored to the top; seeing the strike miss, he swiftly pulled back his foot and hung suspended there, glaring down at him.
With a quick thought, Chen Chuan backed up swiftly toward the wall. Not only did the students around him press forward, but the person on the ceiling trailed him step for step. They were spread relatively far apart, but together they formed a broad encirclement.
Everyone assumed he wanted to use the wall to protect his back from flanking attacks so he could focus on the enemies ahead. Though this would trap him in a tight pocket with little room to maneuver, it was still better than being attacked from all four sides.
Yet after stepping back just a few paces, Chen Chuan suddenly stomped the ground, dipped low, and surged forward like an arrow. Caught off guard by this sudden move, the encirclement scrambled to halt and turn back. By then, Chen Chuan had already closed in on one student, who immediately swung a punch at him.
Chen Chuan tilted his head slightly to evade the strike while driving a fist into the student's ribs. The student doubled over involuntarily and curled onto all fours. Without breaking stride, Chen Chuan kept charging forward. Moving so swiftly that those behind hadn't even processed what was happening, he was already right in front of another opponent. That student scrambled to strike, but Chen Chuan parried it aside with Piercing-Covering Hand and drove a palm into the student's face, snapping him backward through the air.
A figure flashed before him. Chen Chuan ducked under an incoming punch and, riding his forward momentum, slammed into the opponent shoulder-first, knocking him sideways through the air!
Having bowled through several opponents in a row, he should have broken out of the cordon. But a sensation flared behind him to the side. Raising his arm just in time to block, he found the practitioner of Civet Prowl latching onto his arm with both hands. In the next instant, the student's feet sprang up to tap his arm as well, leaping with all fours like a civet cat.
Chen Chuan immediately felt a jolt of force seep into him. Though he suffered no damage, his footing sank, bringing his momentum to a momentary halt. Just then, another kick swept down from the ceiling, and he tilted his head aside once more to dodge.
A large student nearby saw his chance and charged straight for him. But before he could even close the distance, his chest and abdomen caved under an incoming kick. A surge of force rushed through his body. Possessing resilient jin and solid balance, the large student did not immediately fall; his eyes went wide, feet digging furiously into the floor. Yet after skidding back more than a meter, he collapsed onto his backside with a heavy thud, unable to get up for a good while.
Though Chen Chuan had taken down opponent after opponent, that momentary delay had cost him his forward momentum. More and more students swarmed in, compressing his room to maneuver.
If they had held back earlier out of concern for their pride as upperclassmen, seeing how fiercely and stubbornly he could fight made everyone turn dead serious.
With the ring practically sealed around him, one student sensed an opportunity and lunged forward. Chen Chuan swept out a leg, disrupting the attacker's balance so completely that his feet left the ground and he crashed forward onto the floor.
Yet behind this attacker, even more students surged forward. Chen Chuan pivoted, deflecting an incoming fist, only for a silent palm strike on the right to sweep horizontally toward his neck. Reacting swiftly, he raised an arm to slap it upward, took a sidestep to evade a kick aimed at his flank from behind, and without looking back, reached down with one hand, shoving the head of the fallen student right back into the floor just as the boy tried to rise.
A tall figure charged him from the front, palm held rigid like an axe, chopping straight down at his face. The strike broke the air with an audible howl—the Sanshou Division's Mountain-Cleaving Hand!
Chen Chuan neither dodged nor retreated. Raising an arm to block, his Spirit-Startling Fist power erupted in full force. The direct collision sent a tremor through the attacker's entire body; the countershock left him limp and thoroughly sapped of strength.
At such close quarters, the attacker's gaze met Chen Chuan's utterly calm, unruffled eyes. In the next moment, his collar tightened, and his vision blurred as Chen Chuan swung him sideways with a single hand, bowling him into several other students and sending them tumbling together.
Heavy, pounding footsteps sounded behind Chen Chuan. Bi Yang of the Grappling Division charged in, attempting to wrap his arms around his waist. Chen Chuan spun and whipped out an incomparably swift kick. Even though Bi Yang had already circulated jin throughout his body in advance, the sheer weight behind the kick still left his head spinning. Yet he stubbornly reached out and clamped onto one of Chen Chuan's feet with all his might.
Seeing an opening, another student rushed in and slammed his shoulder against Chen Chuan's. Unable to maintain balance on one leg, Chen Chuan tilted backward. The attacker simultaneously tried to seize both of his hands. Yet no sooner had he gripped them than a force dragged him forward. Chen Chuan delivered a brutal headbutt square against the student's forehead. With a muffled groan, the student's hands went limp, and he dropped to his knees.
Someone behind Chen Chuan darted forward and yanked his clothing backward, pulling him half-prone toward the floor. Above him, a fist plummeted toward his face, while another student closed in from the side, stomping hard toward the trapped leg!
A light flashed in Chen Chuan's eyes. Suddenly bending his knee, he leveraged Bi Yang's grip to heave his body forward half a foot. The descending punch grazed the back of his head, sending ripples shivering through the floorboards like waves, while his raised knee met the stomping foot dead-on, knocking the attacker off balance with a stumble.
Seeing more opponents pressing in, he powered through his waist and back into a forward roll, rolling directly across Bi Yang's back. This maneuver tore his leg free from the grapple. Rising smoothly in stride, he sprinted forward.
The students pursuing behind saw the unlocked main doors ahead and assumed he was trying to break out. They hurried to intercept, but when Chen Chuan reached the doors, he planted one foot on them, kicked upward with another, and vaulted into the air. Borrowing that momentum, he spun around and delivered a sweeping roundhouse kick squarely against the head of the student tracking him along the ceiling. That student plummeted instantly, caught in the nick of time by the pursuers below.
Chen Chuan touched down lightly. Just as he moved to press the attack, he sensed movement overhead. Ducking down, the student skilled in Civet Prowl reappeared, vaulting nimbly over his back. But Chen Chuan dropped low, spun in place, and lunged forward a step. His fingers snapped out, seizing the nape of the student's neck like an eagle's talons.
The student paled in terror and struggled frantically, but his efforts were futile. Chen Chuan yanked him back and delivered a light tap of a fist to his temple. The student's limbs went limp, and he slumped unconscious.
At that moment, Chen Chuan sensed an approach. Turning his gaze, he saw a figure sprinting swiftly toward him through the crowd. Though many were sprawled across the floor, this figure slipped past them effortlessly as if encountering no obstacle at all, bursting from the pack and launching a punch carrying tremendous momentum straight at him!
Chen Chuan recognized Lu Fang, but he neither dodged nor deflected, throwing a punch of his own. Warning bells rang in Lu Fang's mind; refusing to clash head-on, he twisted his waist in an instant, pivoting away while bringing a crushing elbow down with the momentum of his spin!
Chen Chuan saw it clearly, yet took a step forward to deliberately brace the blow with his shoulder. Ignoring the jin exploding into his body, he let out a shout. His full strength erupted as he executed Pushing-Mill Hand. As the floorboards beneath his feet cracked and sank with a sharp splintering crunch, Lu Fang was hurled backward into the crowd, bowling over several students before tumbling across the floor for several rotations.
After dispelling the force on the ground, Lu Fang pressed a hand down and rose to his feet. He looked at Chen Chuan with undisguised astonishment. Chen Chuan still stood firm and steady, facing all of them entirely alone.
Just as the people beside him prepared to charge again, Lu Fang glanced aside and held out an arm to stop them. "Stop fighting."
Following his gaze, the members saw that Assistant Qiu was already standing not far from Chen Chuan. Looking at them with a warning in her eyes, she said, "Every single one of you has been knocked down or brought to the ground at least once. He has already passed the monthly exam. Any further action will be treated as a rule violation."
She then turned to Chen Chuan. "Student Chen, you have passed. You may leave." She stared at him for a moment, silently marveling. To have knocked down so many upperclassmen in such a brief span of time—and after only a single month since enrollment—she could now understand why these Fenxin Society members were so obsessed with him.
Chen Chuan thanked her, walked over to retrieve his coat, put it back on, and unhurriedly fastened the buttons one by one.
Many present were considerably injured, barely able to stand even when supported by their companions. They all looked at him with complicated expressions.
So many of them, yet they had been brought down by a single junior student. But the more exceptional Chen Chuan proved to be, the more it confirmed their earlier beliefs were right—and yet they were powerless to see those beliefs realized.
After fastening the last button, Chen Chuan gave the crowd a nod and walked toward the exit.
"Chen Chuan!"
Lu Fang called out from behind. Taking two steps forward, he said, "You have to understand: even if you beat us, the one who loses is you!"
Chen Chuan was already at the door. Hearing this, he paused, his back turned to him. "No. You are the only ones who lost." He tilted his head slightly. "You said no one gets to be an exception..." He took a step forward, speaking as he walked: "If no one is that exception, then I'll just be the exception."
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Chapter 58