A muffled sound, almost a stifled laugh, escaped the onlookers.
Once again, they found themselves questioning Song Qiao's sanity.
Did he truly wish to be eliminated in the first round?
However, upon hearing his confident declaration, they were jolted back to reality.
Pointing accusingly at Song Qiao, they decried his extreme arrogance!
"Examiner Xue's Tai Chi is top-tier, and you want to finish early?"
"Tch! You haven't even measured your own strength!"
"If you ask me, there's no need to get angry with this kid. It's not arrogance, it's foolishness!"
"Who says it isn't? He really wants to be swept out in the first round?"
"I think everyone misunderstood him. He probably lacks confidence and just wants to be beaten home sooner, hahaha."
"That makes sense! It truly does!"
This time, the crowd's dissatisfaction with Song Qiao was truly justified.
Even Xu Rou couldn't help but turn her head and glance at Song Qiao as if he were an idiot.
Temporarily changing the assessment order was an unprecedented and unreasonable act.
The Security Department had never set such a precedent in its assessments.
As long as she explained the situation to Mo Ling over the phone, he would surely not ignore it.
After all, the assessment valued rigor and precision.
She absolutely would not tolerate such a last-minute change of examiners to disrupt someone's mindset.
Yet, for something that only required a phone call, Song Qiao had stopped her?
Xue Zhifeng, on stage, almost burst into laughter. He looked at Song Qiao with a concerned expression, nodded, and said,
"I think you have a bright future. Cough, cough, then please come onto the stage!"
Song Qiao actually took a step towards the martial arts arena.
But halfway through, he was called back by Mo Ling's phone call.
Naturally, Xu Rou would not allow Song Qiao to act recklessly, so she had explained the situation to Mo Ling.
From the other end of the phone, Mo Ling's icy voice immediately rang out:
"Xue Zhifeng! Who gave you the authority to arbitrarily change the assessment order?"
"And you, Song Qiao!"
Upon hearing Song Qiao's name, Xu Rou, her expressionless, walked forward and handed him the phone.
Song Qiao looked at the phone with a helpless expression. "What did I do now?"
"I didn't want to trouble you, I just wanted to make things easier for you."
"Alright, alright, it's about to start, I need to hang up now."
With that, Song Qiao actually hung up the phone.
Xu Rou, standing beside him, was stunned speechless, while Mo Ling on the other end of the line was almost fuming.
Only Xue Zhifeng on stage let out a sigh of relief.
But then, he felt as if Song Qiao had belittled him.
His face instantly turned ashen, and his sword-like eyebrows seemed to twist into a knot.
He let out a cold snort and declared, "Young people these days are truly arrogant!"
"I advise you, if you give up now, you might at least be deemed sensible."
"Otherwise, you're just being utterly foolish!"
Thump, thump, thump.
Song Qiao stepped forward, climbing the stairs one by one, and soon arrived at the other side of the martial arts arena.
Standing opposite Xue Zhifeng, his expression was relaxed, and he responded without an ounce of fear,
"Tch, just one Tai Chi makes you this arrogant."
"If you get beaten down later, I'm afraid you'll be crying!"
"You!"
Xue Zhifeng's expression changed rapidly, turning from ashen to purple, looking extremely unsightly.
A surge of anger churned within his chest, clearly not taking Song Qiao's words lightly.
"You're all glib! Since you're insistent on making a fool of yourself, don't blame me for being impolite!"
Saying this, Xue Zhifeng slightly lowered his stance.
He slid one foot on the ground, instantly completing a semicircle!
Simultaneously, his hands crossed in front of him, rotating nimbly. The mere posture was dazzling.
If one could look from above, a perfect Yin-Yang fish pattern might have been faintly visible beneath his feet!
The sheer force of his qi was on the verge of taking form!
Xue Zhifeng truly lived up to his reputation!
The crowd below, who had been holding their breath, couldn't help but gasp in admiration.
Pointing at Xue Zhifeng's moves on stage, they exclaimed,
"It's starting!"
"The opening move of Tai Chi!"
"Look closely, drawing a semicircle with one foot, combined with the hand movements, it forms a perfect circle!"
"Continuous and unending, just like the essence of Tai Chi!"
"As expected of Examiner Xue, his moves are substantial from the very first!"
Without giving the crowd any more time for discussion, in the blink of an eye,
Xue Zhifeng exerted force with both legs after setting his stance!
His toes lightly tapped the ground rapidly, with no extra pause after each tap.
A continuous stream of soft clicks echoed from the surface of the martial arts arena.
Dense like drumbeats!
Swish, swish!
His sleeves billowed with the wind from his punches, carrying boundless intent like a surging tide towards Song Qiao!
Even from several yards away, the audience could feel the sharp, suffocating punch wind!
It was as if the endless intent of his fists had penetrated the distance,
And even more strangely, it showed no sign of weakening, but rather continued to accumulate and build!
Yet, Song Qiao remained standing calmly in the distance.
As if he couldn't see the imminent danger.
This made the onlookers inwardly curse him as an idiot!
In this tense atmosphere, no one dared to speak loudly from below the stage,
Because Xue Zhifeng's punch wind was already nearing Song Qiao's face!
According to everyone's expectations, the surging intent of his fists should have already seeped into Song Qiao's bones, rendering him unable to move or react!
But these were not the most dangerous parts, because in the next moment, those fists arrived!
Xue Zhifeng's hands rotated nimbly like a flower picker.
Only when his form was nearly complete did he gather his strength to unleash his attack.
His fists shot towards Song Qiao's face like cannonballs!
In Song Qiao's vision, those fists grew larger and larger, filling his entire sight.
But his eyes still showed no fear!
He suddenly sprang forward, his foot seeming to slip.
At the critical moment, he effortlessly shifted his position by a single step.
This seemingly trivial movement caused Xue Zhifeng's fists to miss their mark.
Not only that, but the fully accumulated punch wind also dissipated directly!
At the last moment, he had to hastily retract his fists, which caused him to lose his balance and almost fall over!