Chapter 75 - Crushing the Expert

When Hong Jiaxin pointed at Luo Yang and said he was her teammate, Liu Xiong was not convinced.

At Dongfeng Middle School, Liu Xiong knew well which students had high-level ping pong skills.

He knew Luo Yang was academically poor and was sure his ping pong skills weren’t great.

Liu Xiong admitted Luo Yang was handsome, but he felt he was not bad-looking either.

Moreover, since they were there to play ping pong, he considered himself the boss.

Seeing the school beauty, Hong Jiaxin, favoring Luo Yang especially, he felt sour and reluctant and wanted to pick a fight.

“Junior, let’s play a couple of games, and let me see how your ping pong skills are,” Liu Xiong said.

“I’m just average at ping pong,” Luo Yang responded.

“Then you are dragging Hong Jiaxin down.

With her skills, if she teamed up with me in mixed doubles, winning the championship would not be a big problem,” Liu Xiong said proudly.

At first, Luo Yang thought Liu Nan just wanted to play casually, but hearing him say this, he understood his intentions and sneered inwardly.

“Unfortunately, the class president likes to team up with me,” Luo Yang replied with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Liu Xiong’s face grew even more sour.

“Come on, let’s play two games.

If your level is too poor, it’s better not to participate in the competition.

It would be embarrassing,” Liu Xiong’s expression became unnatural.

“We are here to participate.”

Hong Jiaxin couldn’t stand listening anymore and coldly retorted.

“Suit yourself,” Liu Xiong deflated a bit, but wanted to vent his anger on Luo Yang, “Junior, come on, let me see your level.

Play a little.”

There was a ping pong table nearby, made of cement.

Liu Xiong grabbed a pair of ping pong paddles and handed one to Luo Yang, clearly forcing him to play.

Since obtaining the “Shennong Scripture” and True Qi, Luo Yang’s physical strength and reaction agility had significantly improved.

His skill and power also increased accordingly.

In sports, training focuses on two aspects: physical fitness and technique.

Reaching one’s physical limits and honing one’s technique to near-instinctive reactions, combined with high-level awareness, makes one a sports master, like Jordan.

With good physical conditioning, you don’t worry about misshaping your movements due to being physically drained, which directly affects your competitive standard.

Luo Yang, with True Qi, had much stronger physical qualities than Liu Xiong.

Though Liu Xiong had more experience in ping pong techniques,

However, when a person’s reaction speed reaches a certain level, a slight lack of technique experience is not much of an issue.

Luo Yang’s eyes could clearly see faster-moving objects, providing him the basis for reacting.

In terms of ping pong awareness, Liu Xiong was not too strong, otherwise, he would have achieved rankings in city-level or provincial-level competitions long ago.

In reality, he had only won awards at county-level competitions.

To others, it seemed Liu Xiong would crush Luo Yang in ping pong.

In truth, the two were about evenly matched.

Liu Xiong thought he was several levels above Luo Yang, and with this idea, he felt he could easily win and embarrass him.

Before serving, Liu Xiong scoffed, “Junior, I’ll serve the simplest ball, let’s see if you can catch it.

If you can’t, then your level is really too poor.”

Luo Yang shook his paddle, signaling Liu Xiong to hurry up and serve.

This was a match between a skilled player and a less skilled one; no one expected the outcome to be suspenseful, the crowd only gathered to witness the serving techniques of a ping pong expert.

Liu Xiong glanced at Hong Jiaxin with a suggestive look, as if to say: you’ll regret choosing him as your teammate.

Then, he skillfully and lightly served, spinning a low ball that barely grazed the net.

This type of serve, if not handled well by the opponent, would directly hit the net.

Luo Yang saw the ping-pong ball slowly coming towards him, gave a faint smile, and casually reached out to slice the ball lightly, hitting it just right as it grazed the net and dropped even lower.

Having never expected Luo Yang to catch and return the ball, Liu Xiong had no intention of receiving it and only glanced towards Hong Jiaxin.

By the time he saw the ball cross the net, it was too late to extend his paddle to flick it, and he hit the ball into the net instead.

The underdog won over the champion, and the whole crowd cheered.

Hong Jiaxin and the members of the Sorority all celebrated Luo Yang’s victory, clapping to encourage him.

Losing a point, Liu Xiong could no longer save face and said coldly with a sneer, “Alright, the warm-up is over.

Junior, watch out, I’m going to start crushing you now.”

Luo Yang nodded, urging him to serve.

This time, Liu Xiong knew that another careless loss would be utterly humiliating, so he woke up completely and served a fast, spinning, low ball.

The ball also grazed the net, and any poor handling would have resulted in the ball hitting the net.

Luo Yang had a faster reaction time and could see faster-moving objects clearly.

To him, the ping-pong ball seemed to fly over in slow motion—not too slow, but definitely not too fast to even think.

He thought to himself, “If I return a high ball and he smashes it, it will be very difficult for me to receive.

But if I can hit the ball at the edge of the table, he won’t be able to smash it, and he will have to return a high ball as well.”

This thought was fleeting, yet it was deliberately considered by him.

Consequently, he quickly moved back and pushed the ball forward, and although he couldn’t precisely calculate the landing spot, he roughly aimed for the far edge of the opposite half of the table.

As Luo Yang predicted, Liu Xiong wanted to smash the ball but because he was not well-positioned, he also had to move back to receive the ball, returning it high.

His return landed right in the middle of Luo Yang’s side of the table.

Taking advantage of this, Luo Yang, who was already prepared to smash, suddenly swung his paddle and hit the ball.

The power was tremendous, and the ball shot away like lightning.

Liu Xiong didn’t even react, but just stood there frozen.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to receive the ball, but that he didn’t see it coming at all.

Clap, clap, clap…

The applause was like a tide, all for Luo Yang.

Liu Xiong’s face turned as red as a pig’s liver with humiliation as he glowered at Luo Yang, who was receiving the applause of the crowd.

When the applause died down, Luo Yang returned the paddle to Liu Xiong, smiled, and said, “Senior, how did you win any awards with that skill?

Was it a competition with three people, and you came in third?”

The people present laughed with a snort at his comment.

Upon hearing this, Liu Xiong immediately flared up, angrily said, “What did you say?!”

It was a small joke, but Liu Xiong, biased against Luo Yang, couldn’t tolerate his joking.

“Senior, was it a competition with four people, and you took third place?” Luo Yang smiled and said.

“Let me tell you straight!

The mixed doubles slots have been filled.

You can’t register anymore!” Liu Xiong knew he couldn’t physically fight Luo Yang, so he resorted to other means to get even.

This act of personal revenge was too obvious, and everyone scoffed at Liu Xiong’s actions.

The president of the student union, Zhang Xue, said, “Liu Xiong, who asked you to limit the quota?”

Liu Xiong, with a dark expression, said, “As long as I am the head of the sports department, I say it’s limited, so it is limited!

In any case, he can’t participate!”

Saying this, he left without looking back.

Luo Yang looked at Hong Jiaxin and said, “Class leader, I’ve cost you the championship.”

Hong Jiaxin, dissatisfied with Liu Xiong’s actions, forced a smile and said, “Then you owe me a championship.” She then asked Zhang Xue, “Sister, isn’t Liu Xiong being excessive?”