“Fighting…”
Wang Er’s surprise at this moment was even greater than that of the two gatekeepers earlier.
What was this situation?
Was the lord having a new hobby of seeking abuse?
Or was it because of long-term bullying of ordinary people and women, resulting in a mistaken perception of his own strength?
Wang Er wanted to advise Wei Changtian not to humiliate himself, but thinking of the warning earlier, he swallowed his words.
Forget it, it was estimated that no one in the Mirror Guard Agency would dare to take action, and at most, he could find two actors to go up and satisfy the lord’s performance desire.
…
The Martial Arts Hall was the only place in the Mirror Guard Agency that was related to “entertainment”.
The hall had eighteen arenas, where anyone could go up and exchange a few moves with others, or use the excuse of “sparring” to settle personal grudges.
However, of course, they couldn’t severely injure or kill each other.
At this moment, among the eighteen rings, seventeen of them had people engaging in a back-and-forth battle, but only the second ring had a single person standing alone, looking somewhat embarrassed.
Although no one was willing to go up and fight this person, the crowd below was still surrounding the ring, eager to watch.
“How did Wei Gongzi get here?”
“Who knows? Maybe he’s tired of playing with girls and wants to play with men now.”
“Why isn’t anyone going up to challenge him?”
“Challenge him? Are you kidding? You’d be asking to get killed!”
“Impossible! I think he’s just a hollow shell, and even if you can’t beat him, he wouldn’t resort to killing, right…?”
“Are you stupid or what?”
“Huh? What do you mean, brother? Please enlighten me.”
“If someone like you were to be put in a storyteller’s mouth, you’d be dead in three sentences, that’s all. Just listen carefully… “
“Ah! So that’s how it is…”
Listening to the whispers from the crowd below, Wei Changtian’s face on the ring grew increasingly unnatural.
Even with his thick skin, being surrounded by people staring at him like a monkey wasn’t a pleasant feeling!
But he had already shouted out several times, and still, no one was willing to come up.
What could he do?
He couldn’t exactly force people to come up with a knife, could he?
Wei Changtian was anxious on the ring, while Wang Er’s heart was even more anxious below, clutching a handful of silver coins, ready to hire a few “actors” to come up and perform.
Just as he was searching for suitable candidates, a sudden commotion broke out in the crowd, and a man with a star-shaped eyebrow and a sword-like gaze pushed through the crowd, leaped onto the ring, and landed elegantly.
This man wore a black tiger-embroidered uniform, with a golden-hilted dragon-patterned knife at his left waist and a cyan jade pendant at his right, engraved with the character “inner”.
He stood upright, bowed to Wei Changtian, and spoke in a voice that was neither humble nor arrogant.
“Inner Guard Fan Hong of the Suspended Mirror Agency, at your service, Wei Gongzi!”
Seeing that someone had finally come up, Wei Changtian was initially delighted, but when he saw the patterns embroidered on Fan Hong’s uniform, his face suddenly fell.
Three-clawed dragon, four-patterned tiger.
This Fan Hong was a hundred-household officer!
Of course, Wei Changtian didn’t fear his official position; after all, even if a “same-know” from the Suspended Mirror Agency, who was the second-in-command, came, they would still have to give him some face. Moreover, this was just a small official of the sixth rank.
What he was worried about was Fan Hong’s actual strength.
As an inner guard and hundred-household officer, his martial prowess was undoubtedly exceptional.
He, a newcomer to the bronze rank, was matched against a white gold opponent; who could withstand that?
He had initially thought of progressing gradually, but since the other party had already come up, he could only grit his teeth and take the beating.
Thinking this, Wei Changtian no longer hesitated, cupped his hands in a polite gesture, and spoke.
“Lord Fan.”
“No need to be so polite, Gongzi can call me by my name.”
Fan Hong asked calmly, “Do you want to compare fists and feet only, or can we borrow inner strength?”
Wei Changtian didn’t think twice, responding directly, “I don’t care about those; just treat me as a mortal enemy.”
“Whoa!”
The crowd below erupted into a hubbub, and Fan Hong also looked somewhat surprised.
“Gongzi, this might be a bit unwise.”
“There’s nothing unwise about it.”
Wei Changtian waved his hand: “Just don’t let me get too severely injured, that’s all.”
“……I understand, don’t worry, Young Master.”
Fan Hong gazed deeply at Wei Changtian, saying no more, and put down the dragon-patterned sword. He then raised his hands, palms facing each other, and assumed a starting stance.
“Sixth rank, Fan Hong, please.”
“……”
Wei Changtian took a deep breath, his expression suddenly turning solemn.
He hadn’t learned any techniques, so he simply raised his fists, one in front and one behind, at chest level, adopting the most primitive human fighting stance.
“Seventh rank, Wei Changtian.”
The sunlight streaming through the window stretched the shadows of the two men.
Seeing that they were actually going to fight, the onlookers were surprised.
“Fan Baohu is fearless of authority, a true role model for our generation!”
“Wei Gongzi’s previous remark was quite impressive.”
“This fight is a sure win.”
“What kind of stance is Wei Gongzi using? I’ve never seen it before.”
“You should go to the countryside and watch villagers fight to understand.”
“……”
The crowd was abuzz with discussion, and after a moment, Fan Hong on the stage finally made a move.
He took a step forward, his right palm shooting straight at Wei Changtian’s face, while his left foot subtly stored energy, waiting to launch a second attack as soon as his palm was blocked.
In reality, this was a very ordinary probing technique. Anybody who had practiced martial arts for a year or two should be able to easily counter it.
However, Fan Hong, despite holding back, still overestimated Wei Changtian’s combat abilities.
The awkward posture, the slightly panicked eyes, the disordered footsteps…
Just as a palm infused with powerful inner energy was about to land, Wei Changtian finally reacted, preparing to dodge, and his movement was still very slow.
Judging from this development, Fan Hong wouldn’t need any follow-up moves; this one palm could directly knock Wei Changtian to the ground.
Everyone present was a martial artist and could see the outcome.
Except for Wang Er, who was already preparing to rush onto the stage, the others had a schadenfreude expression, ready to watch Wei Changtian’s humiliation.
But just as the situation was about to unfold, the scene suddenly took a drastic turn.
The palm that should have slapped Wei Changtian’s face suddenly shifted slightly to the side by an imperceptible angle, barely grazing his ear.
Moreover, Fan Hong’s left foot, which had been storing energy, abandoned its attack and instead took a small step forward, inexplicably offering his chest to Wei Changtian’s stationary fist.
“Bang!”
After a dull thud, the two men clashed.
Wei Changtian was still standing there, dumbfounded, while Fan Hong had already fallen to one knee, his face contorted in “pain”.
“Cough! Unchanging, responding to all changes… Young Master, good skills!”
“I lost!”
? ? ?
Did I win?
No, what did I do to win?
Wei Changtian looked back at Fan Hong’s terrible acting, suddenly understanding.
Good guy, it turns out you were just pretending to be arrogant and unyielding?!
And what’s with “unchanging, responding to all changes”?!
You’re really struggling to flatter me!
“Sigh!”
The audience below was in an uproar, but Fan Hong didn’t seem to notice, and just as he was about to approach and say a few more words, he suddenly heard Wei Changtian’s icy cold tone utter a single word.
“Scram!”
Fan Hong was instantly terrified: “Young Master Wei, I…”
“I said, scram!”
“…”
Fan Hong’s Adam’s apple rolled, but in the end, he didn’t dare say another word, hanging his head in shame as he walked down from the stage and quickly escaped from the martial arts hall, clearly afraid of being ridiculed by his colleagues.
“Hahaha! I’m laughing!”
“This is utterly shameful!”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk, how did Fan Baihu manage to rise to fame so quickly? This is the gap between us!”
“…”
From noble mtl dot come
As the audience erupted into laughter, Fan Hong had already slinked away, but the onlookers didn’t disperse, all waiting to see how Wei Changtian would wrap things up.
In their eyes, this devilish idol would probably lose interest and turn to leave.
However, the development of events once again defied everyone’s expectations.
Wei Changtian, still standing on the stage, remained silent for a while before suddenly lifting his head and shouting in a loud, clear voice:
“From today on, I will hold a challenge every day at 2 pm!”
“Regardless of who you are, what realm you’re in, or what your identity is, you can all come up and challenge me!”
“Whoever defeats me will receive 50 silver taels as a reward, and it will be considered a great achievement!”
“I will not take revenge! I will not make empty promises!”
“Second Brother Wang!”
“Lord, Lord Wei, I’m…”
“Go find a wooden board and inscribe what I just said on it!”
“On the day I win 100 matches, that’s when this promise will be fulfilled!”