Chapter 110: Chapter no: Dare to Battle with Me
The martial arts competition hosted by the Wang Family was actually quite unregulated.
There was no fixed schedule for opponents, nor any referees. It was simply a matter of setting up a platform outside their door; whoever felt strong would go up and then face challenges from others.
You could come down from the platform after winning or losing a match.
If you won ten matches, you had to step down and wait for three others before you could continue.
Moreover, losing did not mean elimination-you could still go back up to compete, completely unaffected by any previous defeats.
In the end, the ranking data was based on the number of victories.
Therefore, under these rules, the stronger were not necessarily ranked higher than the weaker.
The strong might encounter even stronger opponents right from the start, getting defeated, and perhaps even injured to the point of losing the ability to compete later on, while the weak might never face anyone stronger, triumphing all the way to the end.
From these rules, it seemed the Wang Family did not believe that stronger individuals had a higher chance of comprehending advanced martial arts from the Stele of No Inscription; rather, they seemed to prefer giving martial artists of all levels a chance to understand.
When Zhou Heng arrived, the area around the platform was already buzzing with voices, people standing everywhere, all excitedly watching the competition on the platform.
Accompanying him were Bai Jingtian and Bai Yuejian.
The two of them had come along to broaden their horizons.
Zhou Heng looked up at the platform and noticed two Ninth Rank Warriors clashing their moves with a dazzling display, but most were flashy without substance, somewhat dull and tedious.
Thus, he shifted his gaze, planning to see if there were any masters among the crowd below the platform.
And where was that top fifty expert rumored to appear at the competition? Although Zhou Heng was now forty-second on the rankings, he had yet to spar with anyone in the top fifty, inevitably feeling some regret and itchiness in his hands.
He hoped that this time, he would get his wish.
“Str, do you want to go on the stage?” Bai Jingtian asked in a low voice. “Not for now,” Zhou Heng replied with a slight shake of his head, smiling, “Let’s watch the others first.”
Most of the high-level experts were still observing, with those on the platform mostly being Ninth Grade martial artists. Even if he went up now, he might not encounter any real masters.
A pure crushing match would be uninteresting.
“Eh, brother, isn’t that person from the Li family, Li Zhe?”
At that moment, Bai Yuejian suddenly spoke up, pointing to a shadowy figure trying to slink away in the distance, saying, “He seemed to be heading this way just now, but after seeing us, he immediately turned his head and left.” Huh, really Li Zhe?” Bai Jingtian looked at the retreating figure, recognizing his back, and asked with curiosity, “Why does he look like he’s afraid of something, why does he want to avoid us?”
“Hehe, he must be afraid of big brother,” Bai Yuejian said with a sweet smile, “Didn’t you say before, brother? Li Zhe didn’t believe that our family is sheltering a master. But then, two days ago, big brother’s identity became known to everyone; surely he also heard about it.”
Ah? Bai Jingtian scratched his head, looking curiously at Bai Yuejian, and laughed, “What exactly is in that little head of yours, how come you can think of so many things I can’t?”
“Because brother, you’re slow!” Bai Yuejian giggled, then looked up at Zhou Heng and asked, “Big brother, do you think what I just said is right?” Right, but also not right,” Zhou Heng smiled and replied, “If that person is really Li Zhe, then he indeed wants to avoid me out of wariness, but he wasn’t just casually coming this way.
He came here intentionally to scout out the situation, or perhaps to finally confirm whether the ‘master’ standing behind Jingtian is really me or not.” “Sir, are you suggesting that Li Zhe and his uncle have already arrived and are actually targeting us, and now he’s here to confirm the situation?” Bai Jingtian immediately became alert upon hearing this.
It should be around that,” Zhou Heng said with a light smile, his gaze following the direction where Li Zhe disappeared into the crowd, “Actually, I’m rather hoping that his uncle has some strength.”
Ah? Why?” Bai Jingtian asked in confusion.
Let’s not make this martial arts tournament too boring,” Zhou Heng smiled and said.
But I think, as long as Li Zhe’s uncle is in his right mind, he probably wouldn’t actively challenge you, sir,” Bai Jingtian said with a smile.
“That’s not necessarily the case,” Zhou Heng chuckled.
On the other side of the crowd.
Lt Zhe pushed through the throng and came to a middle-aged man who appeared to be in his forties or fifties.
This middle-aged man was extremely burly, at least nine feet tall, with a tiger’s back and bear’s waist, incredibly robust. He was dressed in black attire which was stretched tight by his bulging, sinewy muscles.
What caught the most attention was the giant sword in his hand.
The width of the giant sword was over a foot with a thickness of an inch, and it was as tall as a man. The entire blade was a dark black, shimmering with a metallic shine as if it was an incredibly heavy and enormous ruler crafted to resemble a sword.
This person was none other than Li Zhe’s uncle, the strongest of the Li family from Yuanhe Prefecture City, a mighty Seventh Rank Warrior who had stepped onto the Martial Path by the age of fifty.
Li Tonghe.
“Uncle, I’ve checked; that person is indeed Zhou Heng,” Li Zhe said with a face filled with indignation and unwillingness. “That Bai Jingtian really has dumb luck, to have a powerhouse like Zhou Heng stand guard for his family!” Li Zhe was quite arrogant, but he wasn’t foolish. From the details of Zhou Heng’s battle records described on the rankings, one could see that Zhou Heng’s strength was incredibly formidable, far beyond any ordinary Seventh Rank Warrior’s comparison.
Though his uncle was not weak, when compared to Zhou Heng, there probably was a gap indeed.
However, these weren’t words that one could simply blurt out.
His uncle, despite being strong, might have trained too vigorously in the martial ways, becoming single-minded in thought – stubborn, illogical, and never willing to concede defeat.
If he were to directly say that he might not be Zhou Heng’s match, and that it would be best to avoid confronting Zhou Heng, it might well have the opposite effect.
He needed to find a more tactful way to warn him.
“I’ve looked over that Zhou Heng’s battle records, and he’s indeed a formidable powerhouse, a genius,” Li Tonghe laughed and said, “But what I’m best at is beating up these so-called geniuses!”
Upon hearing this, Li Zhe immediately panicked inside and quickly said, “Uncle, your real opponent should be the top fifty experts on the rankings, not someone like Zhou Heng who’s not worth your concern.”
Hmm?” Li Tonghe glanced at Li Zhe, sneered, and said, “Little brat, do you think I can’t see your thoughts? Can’t tell that you think I’m not a match for Zhou Heng?”
“Ah? No, not at all!” Li Zhe hurriedly shook his head.
“Stop pretending, I’ve watched you grow up, kid. I know what you’re about to do by the way you clench your butt!” Li Tonghe laughed and said, “Just relax…”
Li Zhe felt a sudden relief at these words, but then he heard the next sentence…
“Zhou Heng with his skinny arms and legs is definitely not my match!” Li Tonghe declared, and without waiting for Li Zhe to speak, he carried his fearsome giant sword towards the platform.
This, this… This is bad!” Li Zhe’s mouth hung open, not expecting things to spiral out of control so quickly.
Bang!!
With his unbelievably heavy and massive sword, Li Tonghe swatted away two waves of people in just a few strokes, standing in the center of the stage like an invincible demon god, drawing gasps of amazement from the crowd below.
Suddenly, he gripped the fierce giant sword with one hand, pointed in a direction, and bellowed, “Zhou Heng, my nephew thinks I’m not your match, dare you come up and fight me?”