Chapter 169 The Weakest or the Strongest?

The moment those words were spoken, the entire venue fell silent for a split second—then erupted into roaring laughter, even louder than the cheers from before!

Host Brother Li froze on the spot, his microphone nearly slipping from his hand. His eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at Miao Yunyou, the corners of his mouth twitching, his mind full of confusion:

Wait… Coach Miao? After something like this, he still shouldn’t be proud?

A one-second knockout!

This was an international competition! Ending a match in one second was already a ceiling-level performance—was there even room to “achieve greater glory” beyond that?

What—was he supposed to win in zero seconds next?!

The audience burst into uncontrollable laughter, many slapping their seats as they leaned back and forth, voices overlapping in teasing admiration—

“Hahaha, Coach Miao is too funny! A one-second knockout and still not allowed to be proud? That standard is way too high!”

“Exactly! That’s already the peak—how can you go higher? What, is Wei Zijun supposed to blow his opponent over with a puff of air?”

The livestream comments were instantly flooded with “HAHAHAHA,” the entire tone turning cheerful and playful—

【HAHAHAHA help, is this coach here for comedy? Not allowed to be proud after a one-second KO?!】

【Achieve greater glory? What—KO two people at once next time? Coach Miao, you’re too greedy!】

【Wait, I just realized something important! Didn’t Coach Miao say yesterday that Wei Zijun is their weakest member? My god—if the weakest is already this strong, how powerful are the others?!】

【Yeah yeah! I heard that too! She said they’d send the weakest first, and he still won in one second—how terrifying are the other two?!】

【Help! Now I really want to know how strong Coach Miao herself is! Usually, coaches are even stronger than their players, right?】

【Not necessarily—some coaches are retired veterans past their prime. But Coach Miao looks young, about the same age as her team, not like someone who retired due to age!】

【And her attitude is so calm! From beginning to end, she hasn’t been flustered at all—just sitting there in her down jacket watching casually, whether facing doubts or cheers. She’s like some hidden master!】

【Please! There has to be a chance for Coach Miao to step onto the stage—let us see her strength!】

The cheers from Area A still echoed through the mountains of Xuanwu, and the audience’s excitement had not faded in the slightest.

But on the other side, in the South Korean team’s temporary rest area, the atmosphere was like falling into an ice cellar—so silent it was suffocating.

That one-second knockout, followed by the ten-second count defeat, was like a heavy slap across the face of every Korean team member. The burning humiliation surged from their feet to their heads, leaving them unable to lift their heads.

The first player, who had just been helped aside by medical staff, still looked pale as paper. His eyes were unfocused, his entire being yet to recover from the shock of being instantly defeated.

Especially when he recalled, through the translator, Wei Zijun’s line—“Could you say it again?”—that ultimate mockery made his whole body tremble with anger, yet he didn’t even have the strength to retort.

The Korean coach’s face was ashen. His hands clasped behind his back, he paced back and forth in the rest area. The dull sound of his leather shoes striking the ground echoed heavily, each step pressing down on everyone’s nerves.

His brows were tightly furrowed, his eyes filled with fury, humiliation, and disbelief. His lips were pressed into a cold, hard line, and an oppressive aura radiated from him.

The first match had been lost too badly.

Too thoroughly.

Too humiliating.

Before the match, they had made bold and arrogant claims, boasting that they would crush the Chinese team and insisting that Chinese martial arts were stolen from Korea. In the end, however, they were defeated in one second by a seemingly shy and harmless opponent, knocked unconscious in ten seconds by the count, without even touching the opponent’s clothes. They were then casually mocked, to the point that even their arrogant words were not worth remembering.

This was not merely losing a match—it was a complete trampling of Korean martial arts’ dignity, crushed in front of a global audience.

Several team members kept their heads down, not daring to look at the coach’s expression. There was only one thought in their minds—they wished they could pack up immediately, withdraw on the spot, leave this place of trouble, and never appear on this stage again, nor face the ridicule and gazes of the crowd.

But they couldn’t.

They were a national team representing their country, standing on the international stage under the Korean flag. If they fled in disgrace after a single crushing defeat, they would only become a global joke, accused of being unable to accept loss and lacking composure. In that case, it would not just be their reputation at stake—it would be the face of the entire nation.

They were stuck between advance and retreat, utterly disheveled and humiliated.

“Stop standing around! Assemble immediately! Emergency review!”

According to the rules, there was only a five-minute break between matches. However, since they had lost the first match far too quickly, they were now granted over ten minutes to prepare.

That should be considered… fortunate.

The Korean coach finally suppressed his raging anger, lowering his voice as he barked out orders with undeniable authority:

“Now is not the time to be discouraged. We must figure out one thing—whether Wei Zijun really is, as the Chinese team claims, their weakest player!”

This was the core issue.

If Wei Zijun truly was the weakest, then the Chinese team’s overall strength was unfathomable, and they would stand no chance in the matches ahead.

But if Wei Zijun was actually the strongest, and Miao Yunyou’s statement about “sending out the weakest first” was merely psychological warfare, then they still had a chance to turn things around!

Because they had underestimated their opponent too much, they hadn’t even considered gathering intelligence yesterday.

Now, they had to make full use of these ten-plus minutes to determine the strength of the other two players!

All the team members immediately snapped to attention, gathering together. The coach, assistants, and data analysts huddled in a group, pulling out phones and tablets, frantically searching the internet for all available information on the three official Chinese team members.

Time passed second by second. Everyone held their breath, watching the assistant’s fingers scrolling rapidly across the screen, their hearts rising to their throats.

“Found it! Coach! I found it!” the assistant in charge of gathering information suddenly exclaimed in a low voice, his finger firmly tapping the phone screen, a look of excitement appearing on his face. “I’ve found publicly available videos of the other two!”

“Coach, take a look carefully!” The assistant eagerly tapped and opened the first high-definition video—

The footage showed the signature iron flower performance of Xuanwu Mountain. Sparks rained down like a blazing galaxy, dazzling to the extreme.

At the mountain peak, a man named Shen Yan stood tall in a plain robe, holding a long bow. He drew and released arrows with perfect accuracy, his movements blending with the falling iron sparks—striking, powerful, and visually stunning.

Pointing at the screen, the assistant said with absolute certainty:

“This person, Shen Yan—among all the videos online, his only demonstrated skill is archery. He is a professional long-range archer, specializing in distance shooting with a bow. All his performances and appearances revolve around archery. There is not a single video, not a single clip, that shows any form of unarmed close combat ability!”

“And this one, named Luo Xinglan!” the assistant continued, his voice growing more excited. “She’s the assistant to the resort owner. She spends her days following the boss around, doing nothing in particular and wandering everywhere.

She has no martial arts training, no sparring experience, no demonstrations of striking techniques—she has absolutely no connection to martial arts at all!”