They had truly never expected this.
It must have been that their master taught her secretly, otherwise, how could she, a girl from a farmer’s family, be so formidable.
At this moment, Meng Zhuqing had no interest in paying attention to Gong Juechen; his focus was entirely on the sparring between An Jing and Gong Juese, watching with great relish. Although they were both women, their moves were fierce, precise, and fast—he admitted that he couldn’t achieve such proficiency himself.
Even though Meng Zhuqing wasn’t staring at him anymore, Gong Juechen hadn’t made any inappropriate moves toward Wild Goose Jade; instead, he too was watching An Jing and Gong Juese spar, with a smile that seemed both mocking and not.
As for his peach blossom eyes, they appeared to be smiling on the surface, yet they concealed profound meanings.
What those profound meanings were, only he knew.
Wild Goose Jade was quite astonished at how skilled An Jing and Gong Juese were; she felt that, compared to them, her own martial arts wouldn’t stand a chance.
However, since Wild Goose Jade had always been aloof, even if she was surprised, it was only inwardly, and nothing showed on her face.
Xiao Changyi knew well what An Jing’s skills were like, and he had also heard An Jing say that she was especially good at hand-to-hand combat. Now, seeing it for himself, even though he was aware, a flicker of admiration still shone through his cold eyes.
Gong Juese was also a master, and from beginning to end, even though An Jing was highly skilled in close combat, she didn’t dare to take her lightly.
It wasn’t until the end, when Gong Juese’s right fist came towards her face, that An Jing suddenly dodged to the right, her left hand forming a ’B’-shaped palm to push outward and grab Gong Juese’s right wrist to prevent the punch from landing on her face.
Immediately after, her right hand transformed into a claw, clasping Gong Juese’s throat.
At the same time, she slid her right foot behind Gong Juese’s rear foot, with her right hand pushing forward against Gong Juese’s throat, and her right foot sweeping backward.
As Gong Juese fell to the ground, An Jing followed through fiercely with her right knee, hammering down onto Gong Juese’s ribs.
An Jing’s movements were exceptionally fast, her wrist grabs especially accurate, and particularly the combined motion of the neck pinch, forward push, and rear leg sweep were executed so fluidly that Gong Juese, despite being a master, didn’t know how to defend against the assault.
Gong Juese had always excelled in offensive tactics and had never been this passive before. She estimated that this was probably because she had never encountered an opponent ; before her adversaries could become defensive, she had already taken the initiative and dealt with them.
Gong Juese lay on the ground, her throat locked by An Jing, her left hand held by An Jing, and her ribs pinned by An Jing’s knee; she wanted to move, but she couldn’t, unable to break free from An Jing’s grasp.
If An Jing wanted her life, just a little more pressure from the hand around her neck would have meant certain death.
"Alright, you’ve lost," An Jing said, seeing that Gong Juese could no longer resist, and let go of her, standing up.
At the same time, An Jing also kindly helped Gong Juese to her feet.
Even though the sparring session had been really exhilarating, and it had been a great workout, Gong Juese felt somewhat unconvinced. She had never lost before!
So, as soon as she was pulled up, Gong Juese said to An Jing, "You must be best at barehanded combat; how is it fair to compare your strength with my weakness? Let’s have another match, this time with swords. If you can still win against me with a sword, then I’ll truly concede to you!"
An Jing didn’t care at all whether Gong Juese acknowledged her or not; she just wanted to test her own skills using Gong Juese as a measuring stick. Now, she knew that she had not forgotten any of her close combat techniques and that she had mastered them just as well as she had in modern times.