Brother Bastard… lost already?
We focused all our attention on either Jia Yunfeng’s fight with Xiang Batian or Su Xiao and Ye Luo. We completely forgot about Brother Bastard, so we didn’t even notice him get into the ring. But he actually lost to an ordinary Qilin Guard, and without a sound at that?!
Boss Shen widened her small mouth. Her face was completely pale. She never imagined Brother Bastard could be so embarrassing.
What she had planned was for Tang Ye to exhaust Long Zaitian. Tang Ye too was astonished. He looked at the ugly back and grumbled: “That bastard deserves a beating……”
Wow… I never thought Tang Ye cursed.
Eunuch Nan made an announcement, bringing us back to reality.
“Victor, Qilin Guards’ Zhao Qi. Next bout, Qilin Guards’ Long Zaitian versus Liu Shan Men’s Tang Ye!”
When he announced Brother Bastard’s defeat, he also announced the next bout.
The emperor looked at Shen Yiren’s pale face silently. The relaxing atmosphere now turned oppressive.
The orange prince reacted as if he remembered something, chuckled and said: I heard that Liu Shan Men’s men were all capable fighters, and had always been the leader of the three offices of the imperial court. How did their captain end up losing to an insignificant Qilin Guard? How strange~.” The Qilin Guard that defeated Song Ou was just an Yi-rank warrior. After defeating Song Ou, he quietly left the ring. He didn’t show any special reactions, making him look all the more masterful.
Lots of people were surprised. With Liu Shan Men and the Qilin Guards matched up, and the dark-horse guard pulling off a big stunt like that, even if he were to lose all his matches thereafter, he’d still be guaranteed rewards and riches. That explains why he wasted no time heading back to enjoy his victory.
Shen Yiren didn’t seem to hear anything said. She was expressionless. However, everybody knew that the proud Shen Yiren definitely wasn’t feeling good.
The emperor bluntly said: “Tang Ye, Tang Yanling, a descendent of the Bei Hai’s Ming Jing Palace. The martial arts passed down to him are not to be underestimated, and surpassed the previous generation and his teachers. In just a few years, he mastered tens of styles, and is considered a never-before-seen talent of the North in the martial world. I truly believe what they say after his victory over Tie Hanyi.” He then shifted his eyes to Ye Luo who was fighting Su Xiao.
“That child in the ring isn’t very skilled. But he is a descendant of the Su family, so he must hold a strong resolve for sure. You spent quite a bit of effort to recruit the two of them, didn’t you? So many talented individuals put in effort for a single individual, and yet he embarrassed himself. His defeat has made their efforts go to waste.”
The emperor spoke bluntly like he was talking about someone else the entire time. He then said to Shen Yiren directly: “Child, is it worth it for Song Ou?”
“……”
After a moment of silence, Shen Yiren replied: “It was my fault for not thinking it through properly, not the fault of the contestant. Please continue watching, your majesty. We, Liu Shan Men will not let you down.”
Seeing her insistence, the emperor had nothing left to say. He just shook his head.
On the ring on this side.
“My, my, my, one cannot overcome the fate the heavens have in place for them.” Long Zaitian looked at Brother Bastard’s defeat and came over shuffling his feet like a happy-go-lucky guy. He held his treasured Wen Zhengming fan in his hand and fanned himself. He loudly ridiculed: “What just happened? Did your leader just get defeated? Look at these embarrassing morons from Liu Shan Men, wahahahahaha.”
The Qilin Guards who stayed quiet all day burst out in laughter loudly with Long Zaitian.
“……”
“Alright, move aside brothers. We can’t embarrass ourselves like that. Hahaha.”
Long Zaitian laughed and somersaulted into the ring. Before he left, he scoffed as us, but it wasn’t too clear what he sound. It was something like “Watch daddy’s performance”. I had no choice but to take out a piece of melon skin and flick it towards his knee……
“Oh! Motherfucking son of a bitch!!”
After the cursing, there was a thud sound. It sounded like somebody’s head crashing onto the ring.
“Oh? What just happened? Did your leader just slip on dog shit on the way up to the ring? Hahahaha.”
The crowd laughed than they did the entire day.
Alright, while the crowd is busy laughing at Long Zaitian, I need to come up with a plan with Tang Ye.
I looked at Boss Shen.
She looked in terrible shape. Her face was compleely pale. She had waited and prepared for a long time for this imperial martial arts tournament to demonstrate Liu Shan Men’s competence in front of the emperor and revive their image. She was now sitting next to the emperor as she watched Liu Sha Men’s captain get dropped. You could imagine how bad she felt. Not only was she humiliated, she was also in despair.
I need to do something.
I grabbed Tang Ye who was getting into the ring and called him back: “Change of plans, Tang Ye.”
The situation has completely changed. We had four of us before. The original plan was for me to lose my first fight, it was a question mark for Su Xiao and Tang Ye, and Song Ou was supposed to win. Then Song Ou was supposed to go on to beat Long Zaitian or have Tang Ye deliberately lose to him. That way, Brother Bastard would make it into the top-eight without any effort. At least that would give the emperor reason to show us favour.
But Song Ou lost, Tang Ye might not win, I’m going to throw my match, Su Xiao… well, he’ll be lucky to be alive. We originally had the advantage, but it looks like we’re all about to lose this round. No wonder Boss Shen looked like she was sinking in despair.
“What’s wrong, big bro?”
I quietly said to Tang Ye: “Listen in, Tang Ye, there’s a change in plans. Our original plan was to have you exhaust Long Zaitian enough for our captain to win. But it looks like our captain is out now, so your mission has changed. You need to beat Long Zaitian.”
Tang Ye asked with puzzlement: “Why? Won’t we be fine if you win in the end, big bro?”
“……”
Right, I haven’t told him my plans for myself.
“I can’t participate in this contest, and I… have always kept a low profile, rarely showing my cards. So I beg you, please beat Long Zaitian.”
Damn it! The whole entire plan has become complex because of Brother Bastard.
Tang Ye muttered: “Big bro, that’s Long Zaitia, one of the seventeen hidden dragons we’re talking about. Do you think I’ll win?”
“If you’re willing to give your best…” I looked at Tang Ye’s eyes and bluntly said: “Look, even if you lose before you get to give everything you’ve got against me, don’t blindly run into a dead-end. If you hold back and lose against an opponent you could beat, wouldn’t it all be for naught?”
“……”
“He’s your opponent, figure it out for yourself.”
Tang Ye went silent, turned around and walked a few steps. He dropped into the ring in a suave manner, and stood opposite to Long Zaitian. However, he squinted and didn’t say anything.
“……”
Long Zaitian laughed and said: “We’ve exchanged blows several times since that day. It looks like you’ve improved, Brother Tang. Not even Tie Hanyi can match you now.”
“……”
“Kid, I’m your senior at the end of the day. Is that any way to treat your senior?”
Tang Ye closed his eyes for a while before slowly re-opening them. He shot him an intense glare: “…… The next thing I’m going to say will be, your ass is too dirty, I don’t want to kick it. Give me your head instead.”
Tang Ye made a hand gesture for him to come at him.
A big fight is about to start!