In the afternoon, the quarter-finals of the Martial Arts tournament officially began. On the arena, the host enthusiastically announced with a microphone, “I’ve kept everyone waiting for a long time. Now, the World Martial Arts Tournament—which was last held five years ago—is finally about to begin. This is the 21st Martial Arts Tournament. The top eight contestants have been chosen from the various martial artists that came from all over the world after having already contested in the qualifiers earlier this morning!”
The martial arts arena was more than 30 meters long and wide and was paved with special stone slabs. There was a green lawn between the martial arts arena and the perimeter wall; the staff members were stationed here to maintain the order of the tournament.
The venue of the tournament had three sides facing the crowd and was blocked by a small brick wall, separating the tournament’s martial arts platform from the audience. In the middle was a wide martial arts arena, and behind the martial arts platform was a high wall. There was only one entrance, leading directly to the martial arts hall, which was only accessible to the contestants and staff members.
“In the first match, Goku from the Turtle School will fight against Nam from a village in the south! The contestant Goku is the disciple of the famous Master Roshi, while contestant Nam has overcome many difficulties on the way and entered the top eight…”
The host introduced both sides to the crowd. As the host announced the start of the competition, the packed crowd immediately became lively with excitement. Everyone swarmed to their seats, such that not even a drop of water could trickle through the surrounding area of the tournament venue.
A blond little girl holding a balloon stared blankly at the crowd. She wanted to squeeze in to watch the competition, but how could she compete with the enthusiasm of adults? She couldn’t squeeze her way in for a long time, and could only stand behind, staring in confusion at everyone; she had “unhappiness” written all over her face. She hesitated for a long time, before turning around and leaving.
On the other side, Bulma and Oolong struggled to squeeze to the front of the spectators’ stand, while Xiaya and Xiling stared at the people around them. Immediately, a powerful pressure spread out from Xiaya. The crowd in front of them consciously got out of the way, creating a spacious path. Seeing that, Bulma and others were stunned.
“I don’t like a crowded environment!” Xiaya chuckled; the oppressive power of his consciousness deterred the people around them from getting near.
Bulma opened her mouth and said in amazement, “Incredible.”
The blond little girl had not gone far. When she saw the path in front suddenly become empty, she ran over happily, but when she got near, she bumped into an invisible Ki wall which had suddenly appeared, causing her to fall to the ground in a sorry state.
Her mouth began to twitch as she almost cried out.
“Oh dear, how careless… are you hurt?” Myers looked back and saw that a little girl had fallen to the ground; she pushed away Xiaya, helped the little girl up and brought her to the front seat.
“Thank you, sister!” The little girl nodded and shouted excitedly as she could watch the tournament.
Thump!
The gong suddenly rang loudly as the host struck the sledgehammer several times on its surface. The competition has officially begun.
The Indian-looking Nam participated in the martial arts tournament in order to win the prize money of 500,000 yuan in order to improve the living environment in his hometown. So, he went to the competition with the belief that he would definitely win.
On the martial arts arena, Nam assumed an offensive and defensive stance just as the match began. He tried to gauge the strength of his opponent as his opponent assumed a pose. Nam then took the initiative to launch an attack; he leaned his body forward and fiercely attacked. He—like a sharp arrow shooting out, or like a fast storm—instantly arrived before Goku and kicked.
Goku crooked his head as he looked at Nam, and his body swayed as he suddenly jumped seven or eight meters high into the sky, avoiding Nam’s attack. Then, Goku rushed back down with incredible speed and struck towards Nam.
Nam did not expect Goku to be so fast, so his movements couldn’t help but slow down. He had fallen to a disadvantage from such a simple attack, and had no choice but dodge to the side for the time being.
Bang!
Goku’s palm hit the ground and made a muffled sound. The stone slabs of the martial arts arena slightly loosened and several cracks appeared.
Nam was shocked. He had researched the previous martial arts tournament and thought that it would be a breeze to win the championship in this present competition. However, just in the first match of the quarter-finals, he met such a strong opponent, so he had no choice but to be careful.
Kacha!
After Goku landed on the ground, he then immediately turned around with one hand, suddenly changing direction, and just like a gust of wind, he disappeared. A powerful wind swept the sand upwards, and the audience had no choice but to close their eyes.
“Kakarrot is much stronger than that Nam… There is no suspense in this match,” Xiling narrowed her eyes and said with certainty. In the half year, Goku’s skills had risen a lot, but it was still not enough in Xiling’s eyes.
Myers smacked her mouth and said, “If he can’t even win this kind of match, then Kakarrot is useless.”
Xiling and Myers got into a heated argument as if they were masters of martial arts. Listening to them, Bulma rolled her eyes and mused, ‘Are they really martial artists?’
While they were arguing, the situation in the arena changed rapidly.
Bang!
Before the audience could react, Nam’s body was sent flying high by Goku’s whirlwind attack—like a kite with a cut string, and then, it flew out of the martial arts arena and fell on the lawn outside.
The audience below the stage saw Nam flying out of the arena and were stunned. They did not react for a while. However, after a while, they came back to themselves and erupted with enthusiastic applause.
“Contestant Nam has fallen out of the arena, therefore, contestant Goku has won!”
The first match was over in just a few seconds, and the audience was still unable to digest this outcome. At this time, Master Roshi—dressed as Jackie Chun—found Nam at the back of the arena. After clearly understanding his situation, he gave Nam a Hoi-Poi Capsule to store water and told him to go back and solve the drought problem in his hometown.
“Next will be the match between Yamcha and Chiaotzu!” The host announced.
This was another battle with a great disparity in strength between both sides.
Although Yamcha had painstakingly trained for half a year and increased his strength by leaps and bounds, his opponent was Chiaotzu. Even if Chiaotzu did not use his superpower, Yamcha was still not his opponent. After all, Chiaotzu had been training with Tien Shinhan for so many years and had also trained under the guidance of Korin. His strength had long surpassed that of his peers.
When the host announced the start of the second match, both Yamcha and Chiaotzu went to the martial arts arena and then stood on either side of the martial arts arena.
At the start of the battle, Yamcha and Chiaotzu broke out in a fierce battle. Both sides exchanged blows without stopping, with afterimages continuously flashing on the arena. Many of their movements had already exceeded the limit of what ordinary humans could see with the naked eyes. Fighting with punches and kicks really gave the audience a feeling of hearty content.
“Hey!”
Yamcha and Chiaotzu launched attacks, and their palms collided, producing a loud sound!
Bang!
The stone slabs under their feet suddenly broke, and the force made the shattered stones bounce up, flying off in all directions. A whirlwind gushed out from the place where their palms had hit, a violent gust of wind rising.
Yamcha was surprisingly sent flying backward, and after he spun a few times in the air, both of his hands touched the ground. He again quickly bounced up, and like a fast and violent cheetah, he swooped down towards Chiaotzu and engaged in a new round of battle. At this time, Chiaotzu, however, seemed to be floating in the air, not affected by gravity.
It was the Sky Hovering Art of the Crane School!
“Wow, contestant Chiaotzu is unexpectedly floating in the sky, and this is not a trick! They deserved to be called world-class contestants, both of them are extremely outstanding!”
The host was holding a microphone and leaning on the edge of the martial arts arena. Due to the fierce battle on the arena, a whirlwind was raised, causing the host to have no choice but to stay far away from the center of the battle.
“Who the hell is this short guy? To think that he can float in midair… is it a superpower?”
Yamcha’s face was covered in sweat as he stared at Chiaotzu in midair with a grave expression. Because Chiaotzu was seven or eight meters above the ground, Yamcha’s usual attack methods suddenly became ineffective.
“If I go on like this, the hope of winning will continue to decrease. It seems that I have to use my signature attack!”
Yamcha’s eyebrows gathered into a bunch, as he wiped the sweat from his face. His whole body was on alert, his eyes flashing with a radiance.
“Take my signature attack, Wolf Fang Fist!”
Yamcha gave a loud shout, and his whole body erupted with a terrifying aura.
His eyes flashed with a cold light as if he was a lone wolf from the wilderness, and a ruthless bloodthirsty aura stormed towards Chiaotzu.
Bang!
Yamcha forcefully stamped on the ground with one foot and violently trembled, before shooting out like a pebble from a slingshot, quickly reaching the same height as Chiaotzu.
“Take my attack!” Yamcha shouted coldly. His five fingers bent into a claw-like a ravenous wolf as he quickly and ruthlessly hit towards Chiaotzu’s vitals.