Chapter 10: The True Way Is to Strike Unexpectedly

The leaves turned green, then yellow, then withered again.

The young men in the training ground, dressed in thin clothes, shouted loudly as they sparred in pairs.

To practice boxing, you need real combat.

Nathaniel Clark's opponent was Emily Turner. He didn't choose her; he had no choice.

Three months had passed, and the other students at the academy were still just as unwelcoming toward him. When picking opponents to test their boxing skills, everyone simply ignored him.

Emily Turner was also too strong.

In the whole academy, only Henry Collins could definitely beat Emily Turner, but Henry Collins had a macho streak and was unwilling to fight a woman.

The others were even less willing—losing to a woman was a bit embarrassing.

So in the end, it was always Nathaniel Clark and Emily Turner facing off.

The result was that Nathaniel Clark had been getting thrashed for three months.

In terms of strength, Nathaniel Clark had already surpassed Emily Turner, because he steadily increased his strength by four jin every day, reaching the threshold of 700 jin, while Emily Turner only had 650 jin.

But in terms of internal techniques, Emily Turner had broken through to the fourth level of "Bull Demon Force," while he was still at the third level.

The fourth level of "Bull Demon Force" allowed Emily Turner, when combined with the Bull Demon Fist, to unleash three times her strength, while he could only manage double—this created a gap.

Not only was there a difference in explosive power, but also in speed.

No matter how he fought, he lost.

"Nathaniel Clark, you said you were going to beat me today. Don’t just talk big."

Emily Turner looked at Nathaniel Clark. Last time, Nathaniel Clark lost to her as usual, but unlike before, he had made a bold claim that he would definitely beat her next time.

This was the first time Nathaniel Clark had said something like that, and it actually made her a little expectant.

"Don’t worry, I’ll definitely give you a surprise today."

To be honest, after being beaten by Emily Turner so many times, Nathaniel Clark was holding back a fire inside. As a grown man, he’d only ever been the one to dominate women, never the other way around.

Uh, well, not that kind of dominate, but not this kind either.

"Take this!"

Nathaniel Clark made the first move, lowering his head and throwing a right punch forward.

Emily Turner shifted her left foot half a step to the side, dodging Nathaniel Clark's punch, and turned her right fist into a knife-hand to chop at Nathaniel Clark's right arm.

As Emily Turner's hand chop came down, Nathaniel Clark quickly pulled back his punch, and at the same time, stepped forward with his left foot, arching his back and swinging his left arm fiercely at Emily Turner.

The two exchanged blows back and forth. Nathaniel Clark knew in his heart that Emily Turner wasn’t going all out. This girl was actually pretty nice—if she went full force, he’d be down in a few moves.

That wouldn’t be sparring anymore; he’d just be a punching bag.

He wasn’t a simp. Even though Emily Turner was quite pretty, he wasn’t about to be anyone’s punching bag.

After a dozen rounds, Nathaniel Clark was sweating on his forehead, while Emily Turner was still fine except for her slightly messy hair.

"Nathaniel Clark, is this what you call beating me?"

Emily Turner started to get serious, and Nathaniel Clark was forced to retreat step by step. Just as he was about to be pushed out of the training ground, Nathaniel Clark suddenly looked behind Emily Turner: "Instructor Foster!"

Emily Turner frowned. Wasn’t it normal for Instructor Foster to show up? Every three days, when everyone sparred in the training ground, Instructor Foster would come to watch and give pointers—there was no need to call out.

But seeing Nathaniel Clark's odd expression, Emily Turner curiously turned her head to look.

"This is the moment I was waiting for!"

Seeing Emily Turner turn her head, Nathaniel Clark instantly exploded with power, his right fist shooting toward Emily Turner's chest.

"Despicable! Sneak attack!"

Emily Turner was angry but not flustered. Although she had just been distracted and glanced behind, she had also deliberately kept her distance from Nathaniel Clark. Facing his incoming punch, she didn’t retreat but instead advanced, throwing a punch of her own.

Then, Emily Turner saw Nathaniel Clark suddenly grin, his right hand unclenching, the north wind whistling, and in her widening eyes, a cloud of yellow powder came flying at her.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

The pungent, spicy smell and the burning in her eyes made Emily Turner instinctively shut her eyes and pull back her fist. By the time she forced her eyes open, it was too late—Nathaniel Clark's fist was less than an inch from her face.

Nathaniel Clark withdrew his fist, and before Emily Turner could speak, he turned and walked away.

"This is a lesson for you, and also a lesson for this world."

With his back to Emily Turner, Nathaniel Clark said this in his most magnetic voice, thinking that in Emily Turner's heart, he must seem pretty cool right now.

"Why are you walking so fast? Afraid I’ll beat you up?"

Hearing Emily Turner's voice behind him, Nathaniel Clark's mouth twitched. He was just walking a bit faster—how did it turn into running away?

Watching Nathaniel Clark walk farther and farther away without stopping, Emily Turner couldn’t help but shout, "Come back! I won’t beat you up. Instructor Foster hasn’t pointed out our mistakes yet!"

But Nathaniel Clark still didn’t look back.

This really was the last lesson he gave Emily Turner.

Real combat isn’t just about boxing techniques—sometimes you have to use all kinds of tricks. The true way is to strike unexpectedly and catch your opponent off guard.

"Don’t bother calling him. Nathaniel Clark will be leaving the academy today and won’t be training here anymore."

Walking around the training ground, watching the students spar, James Foster spoke up. His words stunned Emily Turner and made the other students stop what they were doing.