Martial Arts Livestreaming
Chapter 61 - 59 Iron Man

Chapter 61: Chapter 59 Iron Man

On the evening of December 17th, Wu defeated Yang Fan and successfully advanced to the Lightweight Final Eight.

Bang! In the room, Li Jun angrily threw his teacup.

"Waste!" Li Jun watched Yang Fan, who couldn’t get up from the ground on the television screen, and cursed angrily.

If everything had gone well, Yang Fan could have defeated Wu tonight, not only bringing another popular internet celebrity to Sky Entertainment, but also allowing Li Jun to kick Wu out. After all, what qualifications did someone who couldn’t even make it to the top eight have to continue being Liu Yuanbo’s master? And to waste the company’s money on promotions?

Even according to the contract, the losing Wu would also lose popularity, and the gym would struggle to improve. By then, Liu Yuanbo would obediently go back to inherit his family business, and the gym would belong to Mr. Li.

Unfortunately, Yang Fan lost, and Li Jun’s perfect plan fell through, and with him, Lin Dongsen was probably also cursing at this moment.

Li Jun picked up his phone, found Chang Zhiyang’s number, thought for a moment, and made the call. The call connected quickly.

"Hello, Mr. Chang, this is Li Jun."

"Mr. Li, hello, what can I do for you?"

"Mr. Chang, the tournament has been very successful. Congratulations."

"Haha, thank you, thank you. We should also thank you, Mr. Li, for your strong support."

"Mr. Chang is too polite. Here’s the thing. Do you remember what I mentioned to you last time about Wu?"

"Yes, I remember. Speaking of which, this Wu is really impressive. Facing so many masters, he still made it into the top eight one step at a time. I didn’t expect it either."

Hearing this, Li Jun sneered and cursed internally, ’Old fox,’ then said with a smile, "Yes, Mr. Chang, to be frank, I was hoping that Wu would stop at the top eight. I wonder if you could..."

"Mr. Li," Chang Zhiyang interrupted him, "You’ve seen Wu’s strength yourself. Now, besides Han Yuanfei and Lu Ping, no one else has a sure win against him, but if I let Wu meet these two in the quarterfinals, it would be a waste. I hope Mr. Li can understand."

Li Jun was silent; he understood what Chang Zhiyang meant. The Extreme Martial Arts Tournament had garnered so much attention largely because of Wu. If Wu could make it to the finals and then face either Han Yuanfei or Lu Ping, that would be a huge draw. Chang Zhiyang definitely didn’t want Wu to face Han Yuanfei or Lu Ping too early.

Knowing that stopping Wu from reaching the top four was unlikely, Li Jun quickly adjusted his mindset, "Mr. Chang, I’ll be frank with you, no matter what, Wu cannot win the championship!"

"But I can’t control the players’ performance on the field, Mr. Li."

"Then let him meet Lu Ping in the semifinals and Han Yuanfei in the finals."

"Won’t that be too deliberate?"

"Mr. Chang, no matter what, you have to help me with this. We still have many opportunities for cooperation in the future. Brother, I’m begging you!" Li Jun pleaded sincerely.

On the other end of the phone, Chang Zhiyang was silent for a moment, then spoke, "Alright, since Mr. Li has said so much, I’ll definitely help!"

Given the current prospects, Wu had a high chance of making it to the finals. Chang Zhiyang only needed Wu to reach the final for the buzz; as for who would win or lose in the end, he didn’t care. Since that was the case, he might as well do Li Jun a favor.

"Thank you, Mr. Chang!"

Li Jun hung up the phone, his face still looking troubled.

Even if Wu Li did not win the championship this time, his performance was impressive enough to boost his boxing gym’s reputation, which meant Liu Yuanbo would definitely not give up on the gym. This left Li Jun feeling somewhat irritable; a college student who had only practiced boxing for a few years was unexpectedly difficult to deal with.

On December 18th, at 8 PM, during the Lightweight 8 to 4 match of the Extreme Martial Arts Tournament, Wu Li still headlined the event, knocking out his opponent in the second round and successfully advancing to the semifinals.

Seed number 1, Han Yuanfei, successfully advanced, but seed number 2, Lu Ping, faced an unexpected setback. Although he too defeated his opponent, he fractured his left big toe and could not participate in the following matches, forcing him to withdraw due to injury.

On December 19th, Lu Ping’s quarterfinal opponent automatically filled his spot to face Han Yuanfei, and Wu Li faced the last seeded player in the lightweight category, Zhu Qianyuan.

Zhu Qianyuan’s overall score was C+ (94%), slightly stronger than Qi Quanzhi but weaker than Yang Fan. His performance on the field wasn’t much different, but the consecutive days of intense competition left him in poor form during the semifinals.

Starting from the group matches, with one match per day leading up to the semifinals, even in a group of four, there would be five matches.

Although each martial arts match seemed to last only about ten minutes, the intensity was significant. Even without serious injury, skin injuries and muscle soreness were inevitable.

Martial artists earn high incomes but also face high expenses, one of which includes hiring professional masseurs for massages. However, the continued intense competition, even with a masseur, accumulated more and more muscle fatigue.

Moreover, successive matches were a great test of the athletes’ physical fitness. Even rapid punching into the air could wear out a fighter quickly, let alone actual combat in the ring.

In ancient times, new soldiers who went into battle would collapse from exhaustion after the fight without even striking a blow, drained by the mental focus and constant tension that consumed a lot of energy. Similarly, when martial artists compete in the ring, their state is much like that of soldiers on a battlefield, highly focused and tense, leading to significant energy expenditure in just a few minutes.

After five previous matches, by the semifinals, Zhu Qianyuan’s physical fitness had only recovered to half of his usual level. Both his physical and mental states were poor, while his opponent, Wu Li, maintained excellent form, showing no signs of fatigue.

Thus Zhu Qianyuan only lasted one round; Wu Li quickly took advantage of an opportunity to knock him out early in the second round.

The reason Wu Li was able to maintain such good form was due not only to his great resistance to hits but also to a rare skill called "Iron Man," which played a significant role.

The description of Iron Man is: Reduce physical energy consumption by 10%.

It reduces by 10% rather than directly increasing Wu Li’s physical fitness by 10%.

This is like someone giving Wu Li a million-dollar voucher for consumption and then offering him two options: first, another $100,000 voucher; second, a card that gives a 10% discount on all purchases.

What should Wu Li choose? It’s actually a simple math problem.

Choosing the first option allows buying items worth 1.1 million while choosing the second results in purchasing items worth about 1.111 million, which is clearly more economical.

Iron Man is similar to such a discount card, allowing Wu Li to conserve more energy on the field, and as both his physical fitness and the number of matches increase, this advantage grows, creating a larger gap between him and other competitors.

Although a match is divided into three rounds, energy distribution isn’t even. Many times, 50% of energy might be used in the first round, 30% in the second, and only 20% left for the final round. With Iron Man, Wu Li is constantly conserving energy in the ring, possibly saving more after two rounds than his opponent has left for the third.

When engaging in strenuous activity, Wu Li found his breathing rhythm and rate changing unconsciously, akin to reaching Master Level in Tai Chi Fist, which includes certain passive effects. This effective breathing method, brought about by Iron Man, is something Wu Li plans to gradually comprehensively practice and teach others; this was one main reason he initially chose Iron Man.

Now, with Iron Man, Wu Li advanced to the finals in relatively perfect form.

(This Chapter explains why Iron Man was selected previously; I’ve seen many friends suggesting other skills should have been chosen. I want to say, ordinary people make choices; the protagonist, of course, wants them all—Eagle Eye and Fiery Flame are to come, but enhancing a fifth limb, that’s not happening...)

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