Qin Feng sneered in disgust at the cowardly bunch but made no effort to stop them from leaving.
Right around then, the manager who went off to make arrangements for their match returned, only to realise that Xin Jiasheng, one of the fighters, had vanished.
It was not just him that had disappeared but the rest of his goons too, leaving Qin Feng standing by himself in the middle of the hall.
The manager who was famous for sucking up to members of the Xin family wore a troubled look on his face. He looked over at Qin Feng in contempt. “Where’s Young Master Xin?”
“He ran off!” replied Qin Feng.
The manager couldn’t understand why the young master would do such a thing. Though, it did not take long for him to come up with a plausible explanation using his imagination. “Is it because of your crappy stats? You’re scared out of your wits right now, I presume? I bet you pulled out of the fight with Young Master Xin at the last minute.”
“Hoho!”
Qin Feng ignored the manager’s disrespectful words. Since he was already here, why not fight a few matches before leaving?
Qin Feng had been running short on liquid assets recently, so with his abilities, he should be able to get a sizable amount of reward by the end of the day.
With this in mind, Qin Feng submitted his application.
Ding-Dong!
[Your battle number has been logged into the combat pit. Currently selecting an opponent fighter!]
Since the manager had completed the arrangements for their match, an empty stage had been reserved and was ready to be used. Coincidentally, an opponent was matched with Qin Feng not too long after he put forth his submission for a new match.
[Your class is F6-tier. Ability rating, Hero-class. Your opponent is also an F6-tier participant with four consecutive wins. Your enemy’s battle number is XXXX. Each victory will grant you 1 point. Reward for the first match is set at 5,000 yuan. Your assigned stage, number three!]
The reward was mediocre. In fact, it might even result in a net loss for Qin Feng. He still had to pay for occupying the stage. No matter how long or how short their match was, the participants still had to fork out 10,000 yuan for using it.
Even if Qin Feng were to win the match, he would face a loss of 5,000 yuan.
Leaving the great hall, Qin Feng, with Bai Li trailing behind, walked over to stage number three. Perhaps because of the special treatment of Xin Jiasheng by the manager, the first ten stages were the type that was twenty meters wide.
Qin Feng did not have to wait long for his opponent to arrive.
He was a burly-looking man with a grim look on his face. Clutched in his veiny hand was a giant axe that shone with a purple hue under the arena’s lighting.
Just a glance was enough for Qin Feng to deduce that his opponent was an ancient warrior who engaged in parallel training.
However, his opponent’s raw strength remained unknown. Still, Qin Feng took note of the fact that the man already had four consecutive wins under his belt. One more victory and he would be able to challenge higher tier fighters and thus, reap greater rewards!
Too bad, his opponent of today was Qin Feng.
“Engaging!”
“After you!”
Qin Feng unveiled his own blend of ancient warrior combat tactics.
With just a few swift steps, he dodged a wide-arcing attack of his opponent.
Qin Feng’s speed in the ring was exceptional, owing to his absorption ability, which boosted all of his stats equally.
Dodging the attack, Qin Feng went straight for his opponent’s exposed sides.
Raising his hand, a fist then travelled through the air with such speed that a sonic boom could be heard as it barrelled toward the opponent’s waist.
The sudden attack startled the man, who underestimated how nimble of a fighter Qin Feng was. He quickly withdrew his arm and, drawing out his internal strength, he focused on increasing his own speed. In just a split-second, the face of his giant axe came down to block the attack.
Clang!
The axe that was struck by Qin Feng’s fist rang out like a metallic drum. The formidable internal strength of both fighters clashed, resulting in ripples forming around the area of impact.
The burly man could physically feel a massive wave of energy surge into him through his axe, almost overwhelming him. His hands, which could not withstand the entire force from the impact tossed aside the axe.
“Such a powerful force!”
“C’mon, let’s go again!” Qin Feng said with a slight grin.
After crushing a series of rookies for the past few days, he had finally stumbled upon an opponent that could take all of his force, an opponent that was worthy of his powers. The opponent, Qin Feng, started releasing, bit by bit, the powers contained within his body.
He was desperately thirsting for some exercise to warm-up his body.
It soon became clear after the battle had started, that the match was entirely a one-sided fight. Qin Feng threw ten or more punches, all of which were taken without resistance by the man.
Qin Feng had not even reached twenty moves when the man was beaten out of breath.
“I give up!” He shouted.
He knew that Qin Feng held back his punches. If not for that, he would have been dead after the first blow. Still, if he had allowed the match to continue, even the softened blows could result in internal injuries that might potentially cause his death.
As such, it was a wise choice to tap out. The man could only take this loss as a sign of him having a bad day.
[Congratulations on your victory. You can pay ten thousand yuan to continue reserving this stage for the next thirty minutes. Would you like to continue with a new fighter?]
Without any hesitation, Qin Feng accepted.
Ding-Dong!
[Your battle number has been logged into the combat pit. Currently selecting an opponent fighter!]
Although the combat pit was a popular spot in Chengyang, it did not mean that anyone on the streets was eligible to participate in fights at the arena. Qin Feng still had to wait for an opponent that possessed strength that was on par with his.
It was then that the manager’s call got through to Xin Jiasheng.
“Young Master Xin, the brat that you wanted to teach a lesson to is now on stage. Would you like me to teach him a lesson?”
As the manager was not present when the incident unfolded, he thought that Qin Feng was the one who backed out of the challenge and that Young Master Xin saw no meaning in fighting such a “weak” challenger. Now that the brat was on stage, the manager thought that this was the perfect chance to show how dedicated he was to Xin Jiasheng.
Xin Jiasheng was already in his vehicle, ready to head home when the call came. Hearing what the manager had said, his nose wrinkled out of anger.
He was not exactly going to walk away from the challenge and forget about the whole matter as if it did not happen. No, he was just performing a tactical retreat which would allow him time to coordinate a plan using his family’s power in order to fight Qin Feng from the shadows.
It did not, however, cross his mind that Qin Feng would have the balls to not run, but stay on and fight more matches in the combat pit.
This alone inflicted the greatest damage to Xin Jiasheng’s pride.
Within the span of a second, feelings of humiliation and rage swelled up in his heart.
‘However, a new opportunity has finally presented itself!’ thought Xin Jiasheng.
‘Since you’re so adamant on staying there, then don’t even think of leaving this place alive.’
“Find someone, make sure he’s dead by today! Don’t let him leave the stage alive! I’m coming back! Arrange a private observation room for me!”
“No problem! Enjoy the show, Young Master Xin!”
After saying that, the manager shifted his focus onto Qin Feng. A new plan floated into his mind. This time, he would arrange for a higher tier fighter to face off with Qin Feng, one that was powerful enough to kill him with a single blow!
By then, a new fighter had been selected by the system as Qin Feng’s opponent. Looking up at who this opponent was, the manager’s jaw dropped.
“What the hell!? Why was he matched with Zhang Tian!?”
This Zhang Tian man was a freak for fighting. He was a frequent visitor of the colosseum as a participant, which was why his face was so familiar to the manager.
However, for Qin Feng to face off with Zhang Tian, that must mean that the brat was an F6-tier aptitude user!
“This man’s an F6-tier user?” The manager doubted his own eyes. The situation was not as simple as he had initially thought. As such, he quickly checked Qin Feng’s battle number.
From what was displayed, Qin Feng’s abilities reached the tier of F6 and it did not just end there. All his stats from the machine’s analysis were Hero-class and above, which caused the manager to break out in a cold sweat.
What was he supposed to do now?
He had just guaranteed to Xin Jiasheng that this brat would be dead by the end of the day. He definitely did not expect Qin Feng to turn out to be such a strong fighter.
The manager had definitely screwed up big time.
Gritting his teeth, the manager hurriedly dialled up a handful of veteran fighters of the colosseum.
“Big K, I need you to fight a match at the combat pit. I’ll make sure that you’re well-compensated after this!”
“Door God[1], you resting today? There’s this pretty good fighter that I need you to take care of!”
“Rat man, hurry up and come over to the combat pit!”
A series of phone calls had successfully summoned veteran fighters to the arena. Some of them liked fighting just for the sake of it while some enjoyed the challenge of triumphing over a worthy opponent.
Only after hanging up the final phone call could the manager sigh in relief.
[1] Door God is a reference to Menshen, divine protectors in Chinese mythology. Look it up on Wikipedia, there’s a pretty interesting story behind it.