Astral Apostle - Chapter 272

Chapter 272: Selected As The Core (1)

Just as Zhou Jing was thinking, Wu Fan moved.

Swish!

He approached like a ghost, holding the saber with both hands and slashing with all his might, sweeping up a strong wind.

Zhou Jing’s eyes flashed as he raised his saber and blocked.

Bang! Buzz —

With a muffled sound, the two training blades slashed horizontally and vertically. After bouncing slightly, they “attached” themselves once again, and the collision of their forces created a circle of dust.

In the next moment, the two of them changed their moves at the same time. The shadows of their blades flashed as they headed straight for their respective vital points. With their speed, they exchanged more than ten moves in an instant, emitting continuous sounds of ringing metal.

Zhou Jing turned the blade on his wrist and stuck it to Wu Fan’s weapon. He reached out with his other hand and grabbed the other party’s blade tightly. He raised his eyebrows and said, “What a familiar action. Are you imitating me?”

…..

Wu Fan did not pull out his saber. He also reached out and grabbed Zhou Jing’s training saber.

The two of them controlled each other’s weapons and struggled, causing them to come to a standstill in the middle of the arena.

“My ability can accurately imitate the movements of others, be it muscles, bones, or fascia. I can imitate the trajectory of all details. In my eyes, there are no secrets. I’ve already understood your combat skills.”

1

Taking advantage of the stalemate, Wu Fan casually explained without hiding anything.

Zhou Jing narrowed his eyes, “Your strength and speed are also very strong. Can you imitate my movements and my physical fitness as well?”

“That’s not the case.” Wu Fan was expressionless as he slowly said, “This is another ability of mine. I can use thoughts, thoughts, or willpower to temporarily increase my strength. In other words… I think that if I’m strong, I’ll be very strong.”

Zhou Jing’s heart skipped a beat.

F*ck, what kind of idealistic superpower was this? If you think you can do it, then you can?!

“Therefore, no matter what kind of enemy it is, I can surpass them. I imagine that if my physical fitness is stronger than yours, I can temporarily increase it to beyond your level!”

As Wu Fan spoke, he slowly exerted more force with his palm on the blade and pulled it towards him.

Zhou Jing knew that this was his opponent’s psychological tactic. He quickly calmed down and quickly came out with a countermeasure.

Although he said that he had no weaknesses, there must be a limit. Otherwise, he would not have just Class S potential, but Class SSS.

There would definitely be a limit to the strength, duration, and other factors of his imitation. Moreover, it was probably impossible to easily replicate the special abilities of others just purely through his will and thought.

Even if his physical fitness was temporarily increased to be similar to his own, he did not have the many characteristics enhanced by his own mutant blood and could only be considered a blank slate. Moreover, the increase in strength would cause his body’s control to weaken. Even if the other party imitated his combat skills, he would probably not be able to get used to the temporarily obtained strength in one go.

However, this was indeed an unreasonable and magical ability. Zhou Jing was amazed.

“Do you think it’s enough to imitate my skills? Do you know how to use them? Can you copy my experiences as well?”

Zhou Jing suddenly let go.

Without the opposing force, Wu Fan staggered slightly from his own strength.

Hong!

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Zhou Jing grabbed out with both hands and slapped Wu Fan’s chest, bringing with him a fierce wind.

Wu Fan hurriedly exerted strength to stabilize himself. Before he could counterattack, he placed the two blades in front of his chest and faced Zhou Jing’s palm.

At the same time, his eyes lit up as figures in different positions flashed past, as if he was analyzing the movements.

Swish!

But just as Zhou Jing’s palms were about to hit the blade, his tensed palms suddenly softened, turning into a tap akin to a butterfly crossing a flower.

A hand hit the intersection of the two blades from the side, and he skillfully pushed the blades aside. Then, his palm quickly slid down the blade, controlling one of Wu Fan’s hands.

His other hand grabbed the hilt. Taking advantage of the fact that the blade had deviated, he slipped past the guard and grabbed Wu Fan’s collar.

Zhou Jing did not stop walking. He moved forward and stepped into Wu Fan’s space, tripping him and upsetting his center of gravity. Then, he twisted his waist and moved his arms, as if he wanted to grab Wu Fan and throw him to the side.

“You want to flip me?” Wu Fan reacted quickly. Just as he was about to fly into the air, he wrapped his leg around Zhou Jing’s leg and used the momentum to break the fall.

However, in the next moment, Zhou Jing seemed to have been prepared. Before Wu Fan could change his move, he suddenly bent his knee and clamped Wu Fan’s leg between his calf and thigh. Then, he turned around and rolled to the other side.

Bam!

With a muffled sound, Wu Fan, who had completely lost his balance and could not dodge, had already drawn an arc and landed on the ground with Zhou Jing above him on his back.

One of his arms that was holding the saber was also twisted behind Zhou Jing’s back, sandwiched between the two of them, unable to move.

The few months of combat classes on the ship were not for nothing.

The moment the posture was formed, Zhou Jing did not say a word. Then, he threw an elbow at the back of Wu Fan’s shoulder, producing a muffled bang.

“Hiss!”

Wu Fan gasped in pain. He hurriedly exerted strength to arch his waist and push up Zhou Jing, who was lying on his back.

However, before he could make his next move, he felt a heavy blow on his back. He was hit by a knee while suspending himself, and his spine went limp. He temporarily lost his strength and was pressed underneath once again.

In the next moment, a series of punches landed on Wu Fan’s head and back.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The ground under the two of them shook, creating circles of dust.

Wu Fan’s vision was blurry from the blow. His free hand quickly let go of the hilt of the saber and protected the back of his head, enduring the blow.

At this moment, Zhou Jing suddenly retracted his fist, pressed Wu Fan’s body, and rolled to the side.

Wu Fan’s wrist was almost broken by this move. He could not help but let go of the saber in pain, and the weapon in his hand was snatched away by Zhou Jing.

Having gotten a saber, as he rolled, Zhou Jing picked up the other saber that Wu Fan had let go of.

The moment he finished rolling and before he could get up, his legs suddenly kicked out, the explosive power within like a cannonball.

Without the pressure on his back, Wu Fan was about to get up when he was kicked hard in the back, eating a fully powered blow at his ribs!

Bang! Bang!

Wu Fan lost control and was sent flying more than ten meters away. He landed on the ground with a bang and rolled a few times before sliding to the edge of the arena.

He spat out a mouthful of stomach acid. The pain was so intense that he could not maintain his cold expression. His face was slightly distorted, and he felt as if his entire row of ribs had been broken.

On the other side, Zhou Jing flipped over and stood up with two blades in his hands.

“Skills are dead, but humans are alive. Imitation is just imitation. If you can’t truly master it, once you encounter the opponent’s multiple adaptations in actual combat, you might not be able to resolve it with just imitation skills. You’re still far from perfecting it.”

“I haven’t lost yet…”

Wu Fan held his ribs and stood up with difficulty. He gritted his teeth and assumed a fighting posture. His fists emitted a blurry light, as if he still had some abilities that he had yet to use.

However, in the next moment, Zhou Jing’s figure suddenly enlarged in his eyes.

Whoosh!

Zhou Jing instantly approached, his speed even faster than before. It was almost impossible to react.

The surroundings seemed to have suddenly darkened. The two bright lightning bolts that were about to burst out of Zhou Jing’s eyes became the only color in Wu Fan’s vision.

The two blades stirred up a violent wind as they slashed side by side, heavily striking Wu Fan’s abdomen.

Peng!

The muffled sound overlapped, and the impact was so strong that a shockwave spread out with their figures as the center.

“You’re indeed… impressive.”

Wu Fan’s face turned purple as he forced himself to finish speaking. The whites of his eyes then rolled back as he fell back into the arena.

The medical staff waiting at the side hurriedly came up to treat him, but realized that Wu Fan had only suddenly fainted from the force. His injuries were not serious.

Zhou Jing took a few glances before walking back to the middle of the arena and secretly exhaling.

“Phew, this person is quite powerful… An imitation ability? It should be considered something like having the aptitude of a martial arts genius. His potential is astonishing. The battles he experienced in the beginning are limited, so perhaps he’s not strong enough, but the more he fights, the stronger he becomes. If I give him enough chances to learn and grow through imitation, it won’t be so easy to take him down.”

Zhou Jing secretly took this seriously. Wu Fan… was definitely someone with potential.

He composed himself and put away his thoughts. His two blades hung to the ground as he looked down at the stage and asked, “Is anyone else coming up?”

There was silence.

This time, no one wanted to challenge him.

Many of the new students gulped, no longer looking down on him. They were only filled with reverence.

Even a Class S was easily defeated. Although it was not an instant kill, it was still a complete suppression.

This series of smooth close combat skills made everyone intoxicated, but also shocked and afraid.

It seemed that… even among the special candidates, this Zhou Jing was also an extremely strong person.

This was especially true for his close combat ability. Compared to freshmen like them, he was undoubtedly an expert among experts. He could completely crush them as though they were children… In terms of close combat, no one felt that they could match Zhou Jing.

Even with the same physical fitness and skills, those supers seemed to be inferior to him in combat.

Seeing that no one accepted the challenge, Zhou Jing left the stage. Unless he wanted to challenge someone, he probably would not have to go on stage again.

As soon as he got off the stage, Tang Liu came over. He stood on his tiptoes and patted Zhou Jing’s shoulder with a “well done” expression.

“Not bad, not bad. Although you’re still inferior to me, you’re already very powerful. I hereby officially promote you. From now on, you’re the number one general under me!”

“…Then I’m really happy.”

Zhou Jing glanced at him strangely, at a loss for words.

He did not know if he should say that this young man did not know his limits or that he was too confident.

Besides, could it be that you still have someone else under you? Isn’t it just me who likes to tease you…

Shaking his head, Zhou Jing did not dampen the young man’s interest. He casually responded and sat at the side to watch the battle.

In the following sparring session, he did not go on stage again and observed the abilities of the others below the stage.

He also took a look at the superpowers of the other special candidates.

As for the other freshmen’s plans to challenge the special candidates, a few of them succeeded. The ones they won were all the special electors who were ranked at the bottom.

From the day to the afternoon, almost everyone was exhausted. The internal sparring was finally over. Li Yun led the mentor team down from the viewing platform and gathered everyone around to announce the results.

“Everyone’s performance today is not bad. We have gathered your actual combat information and made an evaluation. The spots for the arena and team competition have been decided.”

As he spoke, Li Yun displayed a virtual screen with the names of 50 people on it.

Everyone hurriedly squeezed forward to find their names.

Zhou Jing also took a look and quickly saw himself in the name list of the arena.

Li Yun looked around before his gaze landed on Zhou Jing.

“In addition, the mentor team has decided to let Ding Qiu, Tang Liu, Wu Fan, Feng Xulei, and Zhou Jing be the core of the competition. Our tactics will revolve around them.”

Hearing this, everyone looked at the five of them with envy and reverence.

Zhou Jing nodded to himself. Other than him, the other four were all Class S.

On the stage, Deng Yunjie and the other leaders shook their heads and laughed. They looked at Zhou Jing and teased him softly,

“I didn’t expect to really let a Class B serve as the core. This is a first in the history of the Faculty.”

“Heh, I hope the other faculties won’t be shocked by him.”