Chapter 926: Zhang Ye steps into battle!
Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
At the Martial Arts Conference.
The Eight Trigrams School got seated in the outermost area that was reserved for them. Rao Aimin led her juniors over and immediately closed her eyes in a composed manner, as though she was already getting ready for the upcoming duel. The Eight Trigrams Palm's disciples did not disturb her.
Everyone was well aware of the intention of today's gathering, therefore the focus right now was all on the Eight Trigrams School, with lot of people casting glances at them every now and again. Secondary to that, they were also very curious about the legendary grandmaster of the Chinese martial arts world that was Rao Aimin. The Zhou Family Style's disciples and masters were particularly staring at her more frostiness and hatred in their eyes. They did not intend to avoid giving death glares to the Eight Trigrams Palm's disciples. Some of the Zhou Family Style's masters were carrying old battle injuries which preceded yesterday's events and were clearly dealt to them by Rao Aimin—the Zhou Family Style's training halls and schools all over the country had been challenged and defeated by Rao Aimin in the past half a year!
The performances continued.
Next was the Wudang Sect's turn.
Followed by the Qingcheng Sect 1 .
Followed by South Wudang.
Then the Xingyi Fist Sect.
Afterwards was a small sect called the Flying Door Sect.
And so on.
Finally, it was time for the finale performance by the Zhou Family Style School.
An hour later, the performances ended.
An organizer from the National Martial Arts Association walked into the fight ring and raised the microphone to his lips and said, "Thank you to all the various sects and schools for their wonderful displays. Next, we will officially begin the next segment, the free sparring rounds. As per previous years, the match will be decided by individual skill, but do remember not to take it overboard. The matches will be held in ten separate sections, and the challenger can nominate any opponent they wish to duel. But the person being challenged may choose to decline the challenge. All matches will be refereed by the professionals from the National Martial Arts Association."
It was finally time for the key segment!
When they heard that, everyone's spirits at the venue were jolted!
This segment had been a standard event in every year's conference. Most grudges and disputes between the martial schools, or personal grievances, were usually settled in this setting. With so many martial sects existing in the Chinese martial arts world, it was impossible that they would be wholly united. There were in fact countless disagreements between them. Naturally, they would need a setting to resolve those issues as the Chinese martial arts world did not allow any large-scale vicious battles to take place between the martial schools. After all, they lived in a governed society. Of course, there were also other reasons for taking part in the duels. For example, for the newcomers to the Chinese martial arts world who were aiming to shoot to fame, this stage was naturally the best way to do it. In addition, for those expert martial artists who believed in their own strength, this was the best place for them to make their name known!
Right as the announcement ended, someone stood up.
It was someone from South Wudang!
That middle-aged expert stood up and gave a fist and palm salute. "I am South Wudang's Liu Qing, and I would like to challenge the deputy leader of the Wudang Sect, He Yanqing. Would Deputy Leader He like to accept my challenge?"
The Wudang Sect's deputy leader sneered, "I've long since been waiting for you!"
That person from South Wudang swept an arm out. "Please!"
"Please!" The Wudang Sect's deputy leader entered the ring.
The grudge between the Wudang Sect and South Wudang was long-standing. At each annual Martial Arts Conference, they would always challenge each other, so no one was surprised.
In the audience, other people gradually began standing up as well.
"As the Qingcheng Sect's Li Xiaonian, I challenge the eminent monks of the Shaolin Monastery to be my opponent!"
"Who do you want to challenge?"
"Any one of them!"
"What big talk. Then let this old monk take you on!"
"Please!"
"Please don't be too hard on me!"
...
"I am the non-affiliate, Cao Liwei. Would you dare to take me on, Zhou Yunian?"
"Haha, why would I not dare?"
"Then bring it on!"
"Let's do this!"
"We must definitely decide on a victor today!"
...
"I'm just a newcomer of the non-affiliates, giving a challenge to any heroes here. Would anyone like to give me some pointers?"
"I'll do it!"
"Thank you for your guidance."
"You're welcome. I won't hold back."
"Sure!"
"Please!"
...
In the blink of an eye, nine of the ten sections divided for the matches were occupied. There was one section still empty. No one said anything for the time being.
A while later.
Someone finally said something.
Zhang Ye could sense someone in the crowd not far away glaring at him. He raised his eyes to look over and noticed a familiar figure.
It was the Zhou Family's Fourth Bro Zhou!
He saw Fourth Bro Zhou's provocative eyes staring at him. "Non-affiliate Chen Zhen, dare you exchange a couple blows with me?" After going back yesterday, Fourth Bro Zhou contemplated the sequence of events of last night. He knew clearly that he had only said about three sentences in the lead-up, but why did that end up with so many people getting involved in a brawl? It was clearly that non-affiliate named Chen Zhen who incited the situation. That mouth was so venomous that he could change something from black to white. After getting lectured by a senior of the Zhou Family, Fourth Bro Zhou's anger was all pent-up. As a result, he pointed straight at Chen Zhen who he deemed to be the leader of the non-affiliates and small sects for last night.
The small sects and non-affiliates were stunned at this.
Liu Yiquan's expression changed slightly as he quickly said, "Bro Chen, this Fourth Bro Zhou might not be the most skilled amongst this generation of the Zhou Family Style's disciples, but he's still an above average expert!"
Li Quanneng immediately added, "Be careful!"
He Badao also said worriedly, "Don't go if you can't do it!"
Everyone had seen Zhang Ye's martial arts skills yesterday and were not too optimistic about his chances.
But who could have expected that Zhang Ye would simply give a smile and say, "I've already been identified in person by name. It wouldn't make sense if I didn't go up then, right? Fourth Bro Zhou was such a bully last night, trying to scam us non-affiliates and the small sects. But after meeting with our resistance last night, he even has the cheek to come and challenge me today? Should I not stick my neck out? If I don't accept the challenge, wouldn't that make him even more arrogant in the future?! Wouldn't that be telling him that we're scared? I must fight him in this match today! Even if I cannot beat him, I will take him on and take a chunk out of him! I cannot sacrifice the dignity of the small sects and us non-affiliates! We cannot let the large sects think that we're easily pushed around!"
When the people around him heard that, they started cheering in support!
These words of Zhang Ye's whipped everyone up into a frenzy, seemingly elevating his status even further!
"Well said!"
"Bro Chen! Nicely put!"
"Fuck, that's right!"
"Yeah, we aren't going to be pushed around easily!"
"For our dignity! Fuck!"
"Bro Chen, do well!"
"Go for it!"
"Fucking kill that Fourth Bro Zhou!"
"Fucking kill that shameless man!"
"Fucking kill the despicable villain that bullies the weak and fears the strong!"
"If you're so good, challenge me instead! Bullying a newcomer like Bro Chen doesn't make you better!"
"Fuck! Shameless!"
Listening to the shouting from over there, Fourth Bro Zhou nearly fainted from anger. Fuck your grandpas! What the hell did I say? All I did was ask if he dared to exchange a couple blows with me! What was all that about me being a shameless man coming out of nowhere? What was all that about me being a despicable villain about? Chen, you're too goddamn wicked! That mouth of yours is simply so venomous that it is leaking with pus! I will make sure that you leave on a stretcher today! Otherwise I won't be called Fourth Bro Zhou!
Fourth Bro Zhou was extremely angry!
The Zhou Family Style School's disciples were also supporting him in full force!
"Fourth Senior Bro, you can do it!"
"Get him!"
"That Chen Zhen is ridiculously infuriating!"
Fourth Bro Zhou and Zhang Ye both came forward and walked up into the fight ring. This wasn't some fighting platform that was set up with a wooden frame, but a demarcated area measuring 10 by 10 meters within the main fight ring.
The organizer's referee allowed the two of them into the area and said, "To reiterate, don't take it overboard. We just need decide on a victor."
Fourth Bro Zhou nodded while nursing his hatred.
Zhang Ye said, "Understood."
The referee asked, "Do either of you need any weapons? If you do, you may choose something."
Fourth Bro Zhou looked at Zhang Ye and said, "I need one, how about you?"
Zhang Ye nonchalantly replied, "Then I'll use something too."
The referee pointed. "The weapons are over there."
The weapons on the rack were all blunted.
Fourth Bro Zhou had already chosen something as he went over to grab a sword. He gave it a few swings then switched to a different one that he was more satisfied with. He carried the sword back to the dueling area.
However, Zhang Ye did not head over to the weapons rack. Under the watchful eyes of the referee and everyone else, he looked around until he spotted something. With a glint in his eyes, he walked away to a spot over 20 meters away, to a corner of the hilltop where he picked up a brick. Satisfied, he turned around and headed back to the fight area.
The referee was startled. "That will be your weapon?"
Zhang Ye nodded. "Yes."
The referee was dumbfounded. "Are you sure of your choice?"
"I am sure," Zhang Ye responded.
Fourth Bro Zhou's eyelids constantly twitched from anger. He felt extremely insulted.
But the small sects and non-affiliates did not seem bothered by this. They had already witnessed Bro Chen Zhen's brick techniques last night, so they knew his main mode of attack…kinda followed this approach.
"Go, Chen Zhan!"
"Go, Chen Zhen!"
"Bro Chen, you can do it!"
A lot of people were cheering on Zhang Ye!
Some of the other duels had already began and a lot of the others had their attention on the other nine areas. With the sudden cheering over on this side, all of their attention turned here. When they saw one of the participants holding a brick in the fight area, many of these martial artists' jaws dropped!
What sort of weapon is that?
My god, why is it a brick?
The Eight Trigrams School also looked over at this moment!
"Chen Zhen?" spoke one of the junior sisters.
Fifth Senior Sister Song Jiao said in astonishment, "That is Chen Zhen?"
Sixth Senior Brother Xu Fan was stunned. "Damn, he's really using a brick?"
The ninth disciple, Zhao Yunlong, was speechless.
One of the junior brothers exclaimed, "Is that really going to be his weapon?"
Song Jiao asked, "Junior Bro, is it him?"
Lu Yuhu was in a sort of daze. "I guess so."
"What's the matter?" Song Jiao wondered.
Lu Yuhu said with some suspiciousness, "It's nothing much, but I find that guy wearing the sunglasses kinda familiar. I might be wrong, though."
Rao Aimin still had her eyes closed and was not bothered by all these little distractions.
In the ring, the duel was about to begin.
The referee asked, "Are you both ready?"
Fourth Bro Zhou stared hard at Zhang Ye and said, "I'm ready!"
Zhang Ye said calmly, "I'm ready too."
"Alright then." The referee raised his hand, then swooped it down. "Begin!"
With that, the referee immediately retreated to the edge.
According to the rules of the Chinese martial arts world, Fourth Bro Zhou gripped the sword handle, blade down, and gave a fist and palm salute. "Fight hard!"
Opposite him, Zhang Ye returned with a slight fist and palm salute. "Fight hard."
But sometimes, it only took an instant to decide the outcome between winning and losing!
Right after they finished speaking, Fourth Bro Zhou flipped his sword upright. But before he could even grip it properly, he was shocked to discover that a reddish object was already flying at him!
It was a brick!
Zhang Ye had shamelessly given this attack a pompous name. He bellowed, "Take my Brick Descending from the Heavens!"
This attack was just a simple one, and Fourth Bro Zhou thought that he could dodge it. After all, when one had reached the level of an expert, their reaction speed and agility were at an elevated state. Let alone a brick, even if it were against a hidden weapons expert, in the readiness of a combat situation, Fourth Bro Zhou was still confident that he could dodge a throwing knife. But just as he was leaning aside to dodge the attack, he realized that he was wrong!
He could not dodge it at all!
The brick was approaching too quickly!
It was so fast that he thought he heard the whistling of the wind as the brick traveled at high speed and hit him right in the face. Fourth Bro Zhou could only avoid it to the point that the bridge of his nose would not get hit. He slightly turned his head but the brick still smashed hard into the left side of his face!
"Ah!" Fourth Bro Zhou screamed in pain. His left face was momentarily depressed inward and his entire body tilted as he fell down to the floor on his sides!
Many people were watching in shock!
This!
What kind of speed is that?
What kind of strength is that?
"You're using a hidden weapon!" Fourth Bro Zhou shouted angrily and started to rise to his feet to fight.
But before he could stand up, a shadow of a punch was already approaching his face!
Thump! It landed on Fourth Bro Zhou's face again!
The force was so great that Fourth Bro Zhou's entire person twisted as he was thrown to the ground. With a heavy crash, he banged against the floor. Just listening to that sound alone showed how strong that punch was!
The bruised and swollen-faced Fourth Bro Zhou was knocked nearly unconscious!
With a brick and a single punch, he had already lost all of his fighting spirit!
Zhang Ye did not even use a single kung fu move and only depended on the basic physical qualities of his body! Chinese martial arts were just like that. It was nothing like in the novels or the movies, where fights of a thousand rounds happened without much of a fuss. That was basically impossible, since a hundred rounds already sounded close to impossible, and that was even speaking in the context of a duel between experts. Most dueling matches in the ring were basically decided after a few punches or kicks, so how could there be a fight lasting several hundred rounds?
The referee was stunned. Everything had happened so quickly that he only managed to react just now. He hurriedly rushed over and shouted, "Stop, stop fighting!" Then he looked at Fourth Bro Zhou lying on the floor before he announced, "The winner: Chen Zhen from the non-affiliates!"
The Zhou Family Style School's disciples were furious!
Meanwhile, those from the small sects and non-affiliates all raised their arms and started cheering!
"Great!"
"Great fight!"
"Good punching!"
"Good brick technique!"
"Old Bro Chen's brick technique has improved!"
"Kill that shameless man!"
"Beat up that despicable villain!"
"Hahaha, how enjoyable! Good fight!"
"The villain will definitely get what he deserves!"
Liu Yiquan, Liu Yizhang, Liu Yiquan, and a few other people whom Zhang Ye had gotten close to were cheering the loudest!
Chenchen looked at Zhang Ye in disbelief, as though in disbelief at how Zhang Ye could have gotten so strong all of a sudden!
Amid everyone's cheers, Zhang Ye gave a fist and palm salute in gratitude as he came out of the ring while laughing. "Thank you, thank you. I got lucky that the thieving bastard did not succeed!"
"Bro Chen, great showing!"
"That felt so good!"
"The thieving bastard will definitely lose!"
"Evil will never prevail against good!"
When Fourth Bro Zhou, who was lying on the floor, heard that, he almost vomited blood. He was so angry that he didn't know what he could say. Clearly, that Chen fellow had resorted to a sneak attack! He even shamelessly threw a hidden weapon to hit his face!
But as it stands?
Why am I the despicable one?
And shameless?
And I'm even called a thieving bastard now?
Fuck your grandma!
Do you people still have any shame!?