Zhang Shan naturally couldn’t spare attention for this minor pain, only keeping his eyes fixed on Qiao Jiajin’s hands and feet at all times.

Because Qiao Jiajin was far too agile, Zhang Shan had no way to predict which limb the next strike would come from. He could only guard his chin while constantly looking his opponent up and down.

Qiao Jiajin slowly shifted his feet forward. The two had already reached a distance where they could touch each other with a strike, yet neither threw the first punch.

The rule-less death match made both men appear especially cautious.

The one who struck first could seize the advantage, but would also create an opening.

Qiao Jiajin feinted first with his right fist, and Zhang Shan’s head immediately shifted half an inch to the right.

Zhang Shan also feinted by lifting his leg slightly. Qiao Jiajin immediately retreated half a step.

Even their feints could be dodged by the opponent. If they truly struck out, the possibility of being countered was too great.

Yet both their footsteps kept moving closer to each other. Within seconds, their hands were almost touching.

Zhang Shan’s eyes turned cold as he suddenly feinted with his left fist. Qiao Jiajin, thinking his opponent was about to strike, raised his right arm at the same moment to block. This move played right into Zhang Shan’s hands.

Taking advantage of the opening exposed under Qiao Jiajin’s ribs, Zhang Shan lifted his leg to kick.

Qiao Jiajin reacted extremely fast. After realizing the opponent’s left fist was a feint, he immediately lowered his right hand to press down on Zhang Shan’s whip kick. This press didn’t matter—Qiao Jiajin immediately discovered that Zhang Shan’s left whip kick was superficial and hadn’t used any real force.

Clearly Zhang Shan’s offensive wasn’t just this. His left leg seemed to be yet another layer of feint. Sure enough, the next second Zhang Shan switched legs. His left leg, using the force of Qiao Jiajin’s push, dropped back down, immediately changing to a sweeping kick with his right leg.

In the blink of an eye, both men’s movements were completed almost instantaneously. But Qiao Jiajin knew he would have to take this sweeping kick. His center of gravity was entirely placed on his right side blocking Zhang Shan’s left leg. In that instant, he had no way to intercept the attack from the right.

So this fight not only required technique, but also relied on instinct.

Qiao Jiajin momentarily emptied his consciousness. His knee unconsciously lifted upward. Though his leg moved later, his knee immediately curled up and rose high, also blocking the opponent’s leg bend. The two unexpectedly locked in a stalemate for half a second, neither able to advance an inch.

After a moment, both men simultaneously lowered their legs and threw jabs at the same time, each blocking the other’s attack.

Qiao Jiajin knew the opponent’s reach was longer than his own, and opportunities to close in were few. So he simply didn’t retreat. After blocking the opponent’s jab, he got as close as possible to Zhang Shan, then swung several hook punches right under his eyes.

Zhang Shan didn’t retreat a single step either. He blocked what he could of Qiao Jiajin’s punches, and took the full force of those he couldn’t block. Then, seizing any gaps, he returned hook punches as well. But Qiao Jiajin’s form was exceptionally agile. Under such close-range attacks, he gradually abandoned blocking and instead chose to dodge everything.

Seeing that Qiao Jiajin had almost burrowed into his embrace, and that his next strike would be unavoidable and unblockable, Zhang Shan directly reached out to grab the hair at the back of Qiao Jiajin’s head, yanked his head down sharply, and his knee flew upward.

Qiao Jiajin knew that if his nose was struck by that knee, he would certainly lose his fighting ability in the short term. So he immediately crossed both hands, braced them downward, and firmly blocked the opponent’s thigh.

Zhang Shan lifted his leg to strike two more times in succession, but couldn’t break through Qiao Jiajin’s defense. He could only do the opposite—exert force with his hands, yank Qiao Jiajin’s hair backward, exposing his face, then lean his upper body back, preparing to use a headbutt to heavily injure Qiao Jiajin’s nose.

Qiao Jiajin was somewhat amazed by Zhang Shan’s extraordinarily brutal strength. He simply couldn’t break free for the moment. When the opponent suddenly came at him with a headbutt, he changed his fists to palms and pushed upward from below onto the opponent’s chin.

A tremendous sound rang out. Zhang Shan released his grip, his entire body swaying and staggering backward several steps.

Qiao Jiajin didn’t pause. He ran forward a few steps, then stomped hard on the ground and launched himself into the air, executing the “Heart-Piercing Elbow” from Bajiquan, striking toward Zhang Shan’s completely unguarded chest.

This level of force he wouldn’t even dare use in street fights—at minimum the opponent would go into shock, at worst he’d have a death on his hands.

Yet though Zhang Shan’s eyes were clearly closed as he retreated, in his dazed state he seemed to sense something through instinct. While retreating, he curled up his arms and blocked them in front of his chest, somewhat awkwardly taking this strike. His entire body fell backward onto the ground from the tremendous impact, but he immediately adjusted his form, rolled once, and stood back up.

Only then did Qiao Jiajin remember this move…

Previously, when working as teammates with Zhang Shan in Earth-Tiger’s game, they had personally witnessed Kung Fu Girl execute this “Heart-Piercing Elbow.”

So he had learned how to use it, while Zhang Shan had also learned how to block it.

Qiao Jiajin secretly thought that for the opponent to still have such instinct at this critical moment, he truly was a difficult opponent to handle.

Though the two had clearly only fought for just over a minute, both were now somewhat breathless. After standing on opposite sides, neither struck out again.

In this kind of battle requiring every nerve to be highly tense, even a small oversight could lead to death. The overly taut mental state combined with a higher density of exchanges than ordinary fighting meant they both needed to catch their breath.

But it was precisely through these brief exchanges that Qiao Jiajin discovered the crux of the problem.

Most of the fighting knowledge Zhang Shan had learned came from the military. Though stronger than the vast majority of ordinary people, his actual combat ability was inferior to someone like himself who looked for boxing matches or street brawls every day.

Even if the opponent’s mind contained countless pieces of fighting knowledge, he still had to briefly think before deploying them through his brain. And though he himself had lost his body’s peak condition, his instinct remained. Many movements would be executed subconsciously, and might very well save his life.

Meanwhile, Zhang Shan had also determined his tactics at this moment.

Something had gone wrong with Qiao Jiajin—this body’s strength had greatly diminished. Though his movements were equally agile and his fighting knowledge extremely rich, he just felt the strength was insufficient.

It seemed that to defeat him, the best method would be to catch him. In the face of powerful strength, even the best techniques would be difficult to employ. As long as he could break one of Qiao Jiajin’s arms or legs, this match could be declared a victory.

Qiao Jiajin took several deep breaths, then bounced in place a few times, seemingly already prepared to begin the next round of grappling.

“Punk, it’s my turn this time,” Zhang Shan said.

“Alright, please enlighten me.”

Zhang Shan raised both arms and began walking forward with large strides.

Qiao Jiajin knew that if his body was struck even once by the opponent, he would have to declare defeat. He could only retreat following the opponent’s pace.

But after a few steps, he felt something was wrong. After all, this wasn’t a ring. If he was forced into a corner, there would be no retreat. So he could only plant his feet and let Zhang Shan approach him step by step.