Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The Arena.
The audience below the stage was shocked. Onstage, Fang Ping rested his eyes for a moment before he opened them again and then said, “Continue!”
Zhou Yan’s gaze flickered as she spoke gruffly. “You don’t want to rest for a while?”
“I’ve already booked my ticket!”
Upon hearing Fang Ping’s words, as a fair judge, Zhou Yuan did not attempt to advise him again. Instead, she turned to the two people standing by the battle stage. “Do the two of you still want to challenge him?”
The two people below the stage no longer looked as confident as they had previously. As the doctor and the Martial Arts Society members moved past them once again while carrying Zhang Guowei’s corpse, their gazes grew dark.
After a while, one of them sighed softly. “I surrender. From today onwards, I’ll train contentedly. Rank-1 is good, Rank-2 is also fine. Martial arts…
“Maybe… It isn’t suited for me…”
The last few words were almost inaudible.
He was scared, afraid!
They were both Rank-1s, he was at Peak Rank-1 while Fang Ping had just entered Rank-1.
However, since Fang Ping had killed two Peak Rank-1 martial artists in a row, he dared not step on stage.
Having spoken, the person turned and left.
After he had left, only one person remained at the bottom of the stage.
The last person was not a boy but a girl.
At this point, the girl looked a little hesitant. She turned slightly to take a glance at Liu Yongwen before she gritted her teeth, preparing to step onto the stage.
Below the stage, Liu Yongwen said, “Forget about it. Surrender!”
“Yongwen!”
The girl seemed unwilling. She said with gritted teeth, “I can do it!”
Liu Yongwen shook his head as he looked at Fang Ping. “She surrenders.”
“Yongwen…”
There was clearly something going on between the girl and Liu Yongwen. It was hard to tell whether it was relief or regret that was shown in her gaze as she turned her head to look at Fang Ping. She said resentfully, “If it wasn’t for the fact that weapons aren’t allowed today…”
Fang Ping replied coldly, “Stop with all the nonsense. If you want to fight then step onto the stage. Let’s see if I can kill you!”
“You!”
“How can someone like you be considered a martial artist! There’s no chatter on the battle stage. If you want to fight, then fight. If you don’t want to fight then admit defeat!
“If you disagree then step onto the stage. I’ve used up a large portion of my Vitality, so maybe I won’t kill you!”
“Asshole… I…”
“Enough!”
Liu Yongwen shouted lightly as Zhang Guoru said with a frown, “Qi Wei, that’s enough. If you surrender, come down!”
For a martial artist, the biggest taboo was to be lacking in strength while having a mouth that would not quit.
The saying that talking big could get one killed was built on the basis of strength after all.
Qin Fengqing could say anything he wanted to because not many people could kill him. Furthermore, those who could kill him still would not choose to.
In contrast, Qi Wei’s opponent was Fang Ping, someone who had just reached Rank-1 not too long ago. However, despite that, he had managed to kill two Peak Rank-1 martial artists. No matter how stubborn Qi Wei was, she could not hide from the fact that she had to surrender as she could not face him in a match.
Qi Wei’s face was gloomy as she lowered her head. She walked out of the arena without saying anything else.
Did she still dare challenge him?
Maybe not!
If Liu Yongwen had strongly requested her to, with her life on the line, she might have fought with all she had. However, Liu Yongwen had surrendered for her. With the vigor she had in her heart relinquished, she knew that if she stepped onto the stage, the probability that she would be killed was very high!
With the two remaining challengers gone, naturally, it was the end of the so-called “friendly battle”.
Liu Yongwen gazed profoundly at Fang Ping as he stood up. “When one’s techniques are not as good as one’s opponent, then the loss is justified.
“Be that as it may, in the beginning, my brother was just as talented as you. My family had high hopes for him. Their expectations of him were higher than their expectations of me. They had hoped that he would graduate at Rank-4.
“Yet till this day, his wound has not healed. He couldn’t even maintain being a Peak Rank-1. His Vitality dropped, falling to the level of a new Rank-1.
“Graduating at Rank-2 will be hard for him, let alone Rank-4. He might stay at Rank-1 forever…
As he spoke, Liu Yongwen gave a self-deprecating laugh. “I have no other meaning behind my words. I just wanted to let you know that in a martial arts battle, there is no right or wrong. There is only strength!
“If Wang Jinyang could cripple my younger brother, I can find someone to cripple you!
“Of course, there is one condition, being that there are rules. Under circumstances that the rules allow, I’d gladly let you experience what my brother felt.
“At present, your strength is worthy of those at Peak Rank-1. Therefore, let’s just forget about today’s business.
“Wait till you’re at Rank-3… Then we’ll talk!”
As the sound of his words dropped, all of a sudden, someone entered the arena. That person called out loudly, “There’s no need to wait until he’s a Rank-3. I’m also a Rank-3. Liu Yongwen, I challenge you!”
Bang…
In the arena, a low banging sound was heard.
“It’s you!”
“Wang Jinyang!”
“You actually dare enter MCMAU!”
“…”
There was an immediate flurry of activity in the arena as the students that had been brought by Liu Yongwen glared at Wang Jinyang in anger.
Standing by the doors of the arena, Wang Jinyang looked as indifferent as usual. He said mildly, “Liu Yongwen, do you accept my challenge?”
“You!”
“Do you dare accept!”
Wang Jinyang continued calmly, “Come up to the stage. If I don’t kill you in 3 moves, I’ll kneel in front of MCMAU’s school gates for a month in acknowledgment that I lost to someone of the same level in MCMAU!”
“Wang Jinyang!”
An instructor called out coldly, “This is MCMAU, not NMAU!”
Wang Jinyang’s gaze shifted to the instructor who had spoken. He continued in the same calm tone, “In 3 days, I’ll definitely achieve a breakthrough. In a month, you can challenge me, but you’ll be responsible for your own life and death!”
“Arrogance!”
The Rank-4 instructor was furious!
“A stubborn mouth won’t kill anyone!
“You dare look down on MCMAU!”
“I don’t look down on anyone, but I’m also not afraid of anyone! I’ve sacrificed more than any of you to have gotten to where I am today!”
Wang Jinyang spoke calmly, “Now, at the strength of Rank-3, I challenge a fellow Rank-3 in MCMAU! Do you accept or not?”
“Arrogant bastard!”
“Accept the challenge, let a Peak Rank-3 martial artist battle him!”
“…”
Some of the people were full of righteous anger while some of them were full of indignation.
There was a change in the look on Liu Yongwen’s face. However, he did not say a word.
There were also a few instructors frowning heavily, but no one said anything.
Wang Jinyang who was at Peak Rank-3 had previously disappeared for a period of time. Everyone thought that he was undergoing closed-door training to achieve a Rank-4 breakthrough.
Who knew that he had not yet broken through. Instead, he showed up at Magic City.
Wang Jinyang was at Peak Rank-3, just half a step away from the strength of a Rank-4. There were students in MCMAU that were in similar situations, but were they a good match for Wang Jinyang?
Sweeping through those in Rank-1 could be seen as just simple fun.
On the other hand, those in Rank-3 were elite students. If Wang Jinyang were to defeat all of them, MCMAU would heavily lose face. Perhaps after that, they would come to face truly big troubles!
Seeing the lack of response in the audience, Wang Jinyang was not disappointed. However, he did not feel proud as well. He continued indifferently, “Since none of you are up for the challenge, I won’t force any of you!
“Nevertheless, I am who I am, and other people are other people!
“Fang Ping is a student of MCMAU and not NMAU. For MCMAU to treat a new student like this, are these the ways of a famous university?”
“Wang Jinyang, it was a fair battle. Fang Ping accepted it himself!” Liu Yongwen said with furrowed brows.
Wang Jinyang turned his head toward him. “Fine, then this time let’s forget about it. But as long as there are others in the future, then I will ask for a fair battle as well!
“Now, I’m at the level of Rank-3, but none of you are willing to accept my challenge!
“Once I enter Rank-4, I will avoid battles until I reach Peak Rank-4. Only after that will I come back to the gates of MCMAU. I would like to see if it’s also fair if I kill all your Rank-4 students?”
“Jerk!”
Zhang Guoru scolded angrily. “You really think there’s no one here at MCMAU!”
“Then let’s fight!”
Wang Jinyang called out suddenly, “Today, I, Wang Jinyang, challenge the Rank-3 students of MCMAU. No challengers will be rejected!
“You really think I don’t dare kill your MCMAU students!”
“You…”
“Shut up!”
Lu Fengrou, who had previously been silent, yelled angrily and glanced fiercely at Zhang Guoru!
Wang Jinyang had swept through the Rank-3 martial artists of the northern lands. Even several vice presidents of the Martial Arts Society of Capital City Martial Arts University had been defeated by him. How could they fight?
In Capital City, Wang Jinyang had not dealt any killing blows.
Today, if he were to deal killing blows at MCMAU, it seemed like the blood of Rank-3 level students would splatter all over MCMAU.
Zhang Guoru’s face was flushed red, but he did not open his mouth again.
Wang Jinyang ignored him and looked at Fang Ping who was onstage. “Next time, if you feel like there are any dangerous battles, you can reject them!
“My business has nothing to do with you!
“Don’t worry about retaliation. Just wait till I’m Rank-4. If MCMAU tries to pull something like this again, I’ll kill all of MCMAU’s Rank-4 students!
“When I’m Rank-5, I’ll kill all of MCMAU’s Rank-5 students!”
Despite the arrogance in his words, Wang Jinyang said them as if they were only natural. He left the instructors looking extremely embarrassed.
Lu Fengrou furrowed her brows slightly as she spoke, “Wang Jinyang. First, let’s not bring up the fact that Fang Ping is my student. Naturally, I’ll take care of him.
“Let’s just talk about you. Do you really think that no one of the same rank could beat you?”
“Let’s try it out, then I’ll know!”
“Indeed you are very confident. As expected of the Martial Arts University Alliance’s shit-stirrer.”
Lu Fengrou laughed. “As a martial artist, accepting challenges is a very normal thing…”
“I don’t care about that!”
Wang Jinyang interrupted her. “Fang Ping’s life or death doesn’t concern me. Whether or not he accepts challenges also has nothing to do with me!
“But that is his own path, and I’ve not come to influence him!
“MCMAU using my business to coerce him is just not right!
“My business is something that I, Wang Jinyang, will take responsibility for. If there’s anyone who’s unsatisfied or unwilling, then feel free to come find me. If there’s a next time, I’ll definitely fulfill my promises!”
Lu Fengrou nodded slightly. “Indeed, your words are not wrong. After all, this nonsense was started by a bunch of trash whose Vitality and Mentality had been worn out by you.
“None of the true elites of MCMAU would do such a thing.
“Qin Fengqing, Xie Lei, Zhou Yan… Among these people, none of them hold a grudge against Fang Ping because they have their own pride.”
Wang Jinyang said coolly, “They also don’t have the guts!”
Standing at the side, the corner of Zhou Yan’s mouth convulsed as she mumbled, “You speak of it like as if we’re all afraid of you.”
Wang Jinyang heard this line. He turned to her and said, “You can accept my challenge!”
“You’re insane…”
Zhou Yan said huffily, “Stop being so arrogant. This is MCMAU’s Martial Arts Society! Who let you in here?”
“Me!”
At that moment, a lazy voice was heard.
Carrying a saber, Qin Fengqing walked in leisurely as he let out a yawn. “I happened to see him at the train station, so I invited him to come take a look around MCMAU. I didn’t think I’d get to see such a good show.
“As I said earlier, stop fussing over such useless things.
“It’s not like the moron’s dead, he’s still alive. If you want to kill him then challenge him directly. What’s with all this pretense!
“I can’t defeat him either. If not, I would’ve challenged him long ago…”
Right then, Fang Ping who hadn’t said a single word suddenly called out in a small voice, “Brother Wang, Qin Fengqing also said he’d wait till I’m Rank-3 to challenge me…”
The corner of Qin Fengqing’s mouth twitched as he nagged. “I… I was just saying that!”
Wang Jinyang shot a glance at him but did not say anything. Finally, he looked at Liu Yongwen who had an awful look on his face. “You’re a Rank-3, but if you don’t want to accept my challenge now, that’s fine. Don’t think that once I reach Rank-4, I won’t have a way to deal with you!
“Your father is also at Rank-4. If there’s a next time, I’ll have a battle to the death with your father!”
“Wang Jinyang!”
Liu Yongwen’s face was so cloudy it could rain. No longer as eloquent as he was earlier, he gritted his teeth. “If it weren’t for the fact that…”
“If it weren’t for the fact that what? If it weren’t for the fact that I had a Grandmaster accompanying me, your father would have laid his hands on me long ago?”
Wang Jinyang laughed coldly. “That’s because I have value! Compared to you people, I, Wang Jinyang, am worth more. You’ll just have to deal with it!”
After throwing out his words, Wang Jinyang turned to leave. He said as he left, “I won’t be leaving Magic City for the next few days. Those of you who are rank 3 can come find me regardless of location; be it MCMAU or anywhere else!
“In 3 days, I’ll no longer accept challenges from those who are Rank-3. Unless of course, anyone wants to die, then you’re free to drop by!”
…
Just like that, Old Wang left. However, Fang Ping sighed endlessly.
‘He stole the show!
‘In my first match, I killed 2 Peak Rank-1 martial artists. It was a glorifying moment.’
The moment Old Wang arrived in his high-handed manner, even Lu Fengrou had forgotten about him. Not to mention, he was her student. Instead, she had stared at Old Wang the whole time.
Prior to this, Zhao Xuemei and Yang Xiaoman were looking at him with a little bit of fear and admiration. However, once Old Wang came, it seemed like the two maidens had forgotten that Fang Ping was still onstage.
“What’s up with that?”
Fang Ping muttered, though he still felt a little relieved.
He never thought that Wang Jinyang would arrive at that moment. Moreover, with such unmatched strength, wanting to challenge all of MCMAU’s Rank-3 martial artists.
Even the Rank-4 instructors didn’t make a sound upon Wang Jinyang’s declaration of challenge in a month’s time. That was his breakthrough in 3 days.
Wang Jinyang had earned his reputation through fighting!
As a Rank-1, he swept through Magic City; as a Rank-3, he swept through the northern lands!
Even though he was just about to enter Rank-4, were the instructors of the same rank a match for him?
Those in the Rank-4 level were considered people of importance!
If they were capable, they could be the commander of any city. In such a situation, they could once again challenge martial artists to battles of life and death. However, not everyone had such boldness.
With Wang Jinyang gone, Qin Fengqing smiled and left as well.
Zhou Yan watched as the two “Gods of Plague” left, throwing out a curse. That idiot Qin Fengqing must have had some water in his brain. He had brought Wang Jinyang into the Martial Arts Society!
Initially, her thoughts were on Fang Ping standing on the battle stage. However, with what had just happened, she was not thinking about Fang Ping anymore.
Killing two Peak Rank-1 martial artists was indeed a bit of a bother.
Still, it had been their own decision to challenge Fang Ping. It was a relay match against him, and yet they were killed. Hence, they deserved it.
When they got back, they could just report them as training deaths. It was not too big of a problem.
The crucial issue was that Wang Jinyang was about to level up to Rank-4, and their own president had been in closed-door training the whole time. Were the two of them going to have a match?
If anything happened, if any one of those young, middle-ranked martial artists died, it would be more shameful than a hundred Rank-1 martial artists dying.
Everyone’s thoughts were no longer on the arena. Hence, Liu Yongwen and his gang of people took the opportunity to beat a hasty retreat, leaving without a word.
The other instructors also left quickly, and none of them were talking about Fang Ping anymore.
…
After a while.
Outside the Martial Arts Society.
Fang Ping asked in a low voice, “Instructor, what should I do next?”
“You?”
Lu Fengrou said huffily, “Don’t you have a train to catch this afternoon? Go home, what else can you do!
“Going home at this time is good too. It’s your first time killing someone, right?”
“Uh-huh.”
“You performed well, but your heart must surely be unsettled. Go home and be with your family, and let yourself process it for a while. Once you’re used to it, it’ll all be fine.
“When your holiday ends, come find me again. I’ll arrange something.”
“Then, Wang Jinyang…”
“Him?”
Lu Fengrou thought for a moment and then said, “He’s got a bit of a platform now. The bottom 3 ranks are fine, but once one enters the middle 3 ranks, one can be considered a person of importance.
“The kid’s plans aren’t small. Having come to Magic City now means that there’s a high possibility he’s looking for an opportunity to prepare to breakthrough to the middle 3 ranks.
“Once he reaches the middle 3 ranks, if he’s unwilling, there won’t be many people who could use him as a pawn.”
“Coming back to this…”
Lu Fengrou glanced at Fang Ping and said in a slightly disgusted tone, “You two are only separated by a year, right? The difference is too large. The MCMAU students he pressured didn’t dare open their mouths. You needed to go so far as to manipulate mere Rank-1 martial artists?”
Fang Ping stared dumbfoundedly as he thought, ‘Am I being scorned? Criticized?’
‘I just entered a martial arts university, and I defeated as well as killed two Peak Rank-1 martial artists. I’m the actual main character!’