Edward Clark's eyes suddenly widened, a hint of surprise and delight appearing in them.

Brian Carter's hand blocked the strike, but William Harris didn't feel any resistance at all. It was as if his powerful blow had landed on cotton—soft and yielding, with no sense of force!

As William Harris's fist came down, Brian Carter's hand followed, seemingly about to land on Brian Carter's head. But in that instant, Brian Carter suddenly reversed his grip and moved his body sharply.

William Harris's immensely powerful punch was actually caught by Brian Carter's hand, and with a sideways twist, the force was suddenly redirected uncontrollably, sliding off to the side!

William Harris was stunned. What kind of move was this?

He could actually block my immensely powerful strike?

Before William Harris could react, Brian Carter had already lunged forward in a bow stance, his waist and back bent like a drawn bow. As he crashed into William Harris's chest, every muscle in his body exploded with power.

His body, like a taut bow suddenly released, slammed heavily into William Harris.

William Harris only felt his body suddenly fly up, the tremendous impact making him feel as if he had been hit not by a person, but by a ferocious beast!

William Harris heard the crisp sound of his own ribs breaking. His vision went black, and his body crashed straight onto the hard ground more than three meters away, kicking up a cloud of dust!

Chapter 9: The Xiao Family's Overlord Fist

The sudden turn of events shocked everyone around. The two young trainees who had been loudly cheering for William Harris abruptly fell silent, as if someone had grabbed their throats—their eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets!

William Harris, who had held such a clear advantage, was actually defeated in an instant?

And defeated so thoroughly, by the Thunder Lord Smash, the most powerful move of the Thunder Lord Fist?

Resting on the side for a while and almost fully recovered, Mark Reed's face turned pale. The look in his eyes as he gazed at Brian Carter was now filled with utter fear.

When fighting me, Brian Carter defeated me in a single move while I was using my best technique, the Triple Rabbit Change. Now, facing William Harris, he also waited until his opponent had the upper hand and unleashed his most powerful and aggressive move, only to counterattack in one swift, clean strike and seriously injure him!

What is going on?

Has he been hiding his true strength all along?

Suddenly, Mark Reed felt utterly hopeless. The Brian Carter he had always looked down on—he had just been deluding himself. The other was far stronger than him. Not to mention anything else, just now, the way he took the Thunder Lord Smash and then counterattacked so beautifully—both moves were incredibly exquisite. Clearly, they weren't from the Void-Breaking Fist he practiced. In other words, Brian Carter had also mastered other brilliant martial arts, but had never shown them before!

"Ah, William Harris actually lost!"

"This Brian Carter... is just too fierce!"

"Fighting back-to-back, he defeated Mark Reed, who was ranked fifth, and then immediately beat William Harris, who was third. That's amazing!"

"He's incredible, practically an idol!"

...

Amid the exclamations of countless trainees, William Harris struggled to get up from the ground. Looking at Brian Carter, who stood calmly in place, a complex and indescribable expression appeared on his face. After a long moment, he sighed unwillingly, "I lost. The last two moves you used—what fist technique was that? It was brilliant..."

Brian Carter slowly shook his head, not answering William Harris's question. Instead, he said apologetically, "Sorry, I couldn't hold back on that counterattack just now. Otherwise..."

The fist techniques Brian Carter practiced were all taught by his father. He had been taught two sets in total. The first was the Void-Breaking Fist he had used before—a fairly common style that many people on the continent could perform. The other set, however, had only eight moves, but each was incredibly exquisite and powerful. However, his father had instructed him not to use these eight moves unless he was in real danger.

Besides fist techniques, his father had also taught him a powerful axe technique. But since he was at the academy, and the academy strictly forbade students from fighting with weapons, he hadn't even brought his usual short-handled, thin-bladed axe.

Just now, seeing that he was about to lose, Brian Carter had unwillingly taken the risk to use two of those five fist moves for the first time. As expected, they were immensely powerful. As for what these five moves were called or their origins, his father had never told him. But his intuition told him that both the fist and axe techniques had a significant background, and that his father was by no means as ordinary as he appeared.

William Harris touched his chest and gave a wry smile. At least three ribs were broken, but fortunately, there was no internal injury. It looked like he'd be bedridden for a while.

Brian Carter's tone was sincere, not the mockery of a victor. William Harris shook his head and smiled bitterly, "It's not your fault. If you had held back when counterattacking under my assault, you would have lost for sure... I was even planning to break one of your arms, so I guess this is karma..."

Brian Carter said nothing, just smiled indifferently, turned, and walked over to the bench to pick up his spoils.