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Chapter 411: Preliminaries

As if on cue, a taunting voice appeared behind him, “‘Midnight Hunt’ Han Zhou, huh? Your fame is well-deserved!”

Shocked, Han Zhou immediately crouched down and dashed away in the opposite direction at top speed. At the same time, he sent a number of Midnight Hunts spiraling toward the voice and yelled, “Erupt!”

The Midnight Hunts exploded, and needles scattered everywhere like a storm. Of course, a small number were flying in Han Zhou’s direction as well. The warrior was ready for this, however. Surrounding himself in a cyclone of force and spinning like a top, he reflected the needles flying his way back to Ye Qing. A fair number of bricks and tiles were caught up in the rush of energy as well. They were all streaking toward Ye Qing at the strength and speed of a hidden weapon.

For a time, a black storm ravaged the rooftop. Over half of the structure collapsed due to how powerful the counterattack was. By the time it finally subsided, the whole place was in tatters, and massive cracks and tiny pinholes littered nearly every brick and tile.

Despite this, Han Zhou looked as white as a sheet. It was because a bluish black hand was gripping his shoulder and freezing him in place.

Behind him, Ye Qing asked with a small smile on his face, “Are we still fighting?”

The warrior let out a bitter laugh and shook his head. “I… surrender!”

Han Zhou was only a middle-stage Spirit Purifier, so he knew from the start that he was probably going to lose this battle. However, he didn’t expect the gap between them to be so huge. He never found the real Ye Qing from the start until the end.

“As expected of the Qing Emperor Junior. You have my deepest respect,” Han Zhou sighed.

“You flatter me, Brother Han. It was a good fight!” Ye Qing relinquished his grip and saluted the warrior just as politely.

After Han Zhou surrendered the fight, a flash of golden light teleported them away from the platform.

Back on the ground, those who hadn’t been called to fight yet were all watching Ye Qing with deep wariness and apprehension.

“He’s plenty strong already, but his movement art is quite outstanding as well.”

Zhang Tiancheng said with a severe expression, “The intel I collected stated that Ye Qing is a cultivator of the Burning Wind and an expert of the fist arts. He also possessed a powerful body and a Spirit Purification stage martial art that had something to do with the hellfire of the Buddhists. Combined with an outstanding movement art, one might say that he has no weaknesses at all. He’s a formidable foe.”

“Do you think you can beat him, Brother Yang?”

Yang Zhao was silent for a moment. “I’m not sure. As you say, he is not a foe to be underestimated.”

“Big brother, Ye Qing seems ridiculously strong!”

Standing on the opposite side, two disheveled-looking men who were dressed in rags were also staring at Ye Qing with equal wariness and apprehension. They were none other than Zhao Lan and Zhao Lu of the Ragged Villa, and they were both powerful late-stage Spirit Purifiers.

“Yeah. He won’t be easy to beat.” Zhao Lan nodded in agreement.

“Do you think you can beat him, big brother?” Zhao Lu asked.

Zhao Lan replied, “I won’t know until I fight him myself, but we are not weaklings, are we?”

Zhao Lu nodded and smiled confidently. “Yeah. This is our chance to spread our fame across the jianghu… It’s a shame that Han Zhou was so useless that Ye Qing defeated him with just his movement art though. Otherwise, I would feel more confident about our chances.”

Zhou Lan smiled. “Yeah. Speaking of which, we should watch Jian Wusheng’s fight now. He’s a formidable foe as well.”

Yang Zhao, Zhang Tiancheng, Zhou Lu and Zhao Lan weren’t the only ones gossiping about Ye Qing’s performance. A lot of people were commenting on the fight as well.

Hao Zhou wasn’t actually weak. It was Ye Qing who surpassed everyone’s expectations. Han Zhou was fairly famous in Tian Yong, and many formidable foes had perished under his Midnight Hunt. However, Han Zhou wasn’t able to harm a hair on his person at all. Of course they couldn’t help but be astonished by it.

Ye Qing’s fight only took less than a minute, so a lot of people were still fighting when he emerged. He scanned the other platforms and saw a couple of familiar faces—or more accurately, people he decided was worth paying attention to in this Hidden Dragon Meet.

In fact, most of his information came from Gao Ningan. As a local snake and a member of the Pacification Bureau, Gao Ningan naturally had his own network. Some of the major gambling dens in Tian Yong also possessed a lot of intel on the contestants, but they were mostly superficial such as their names, backgrounds, origins and more. Gao Ningan’s information was more valuable, however. He knew their martial origins, their habits, their preferred methods and more.

This was why he was able to defeat Han Zhou so quickly. It was a classic case of knowing one’s enemy well enough that one didn’t fear the outcome of a hundred battles.

Out of all the matches that were happening on the platforms, three were of particular note to Ye Qing. They were Jian Wusheng, Wen Xiaonuan, and Wine’s fights.

Jian Wusheng was fighting against a late-stage Spirit Purifier called Xu Songgao. He was a disciple of the Iron Sword Sect and a swordsman as well. But unlike Jian Wusheng, whose fighting style was bloodthirsty and focused on sword qi, Xu Songgao’s was basic, old-fashioned, and heavy. His iron sword was nothing special as well.

However, just because his sword style was simple didn’t mean that it was weak. After all, all swords began from the basics. Jian Wusheng’s sword was vicious and deadly, but Xu Songgao was always able to neutralize them with basic but effective blocks, parries, and counterattacks.

It looked like they were locked in a stalemate, but those with a discerning eye could tell that Xu Songgao was the one at a disadvantage. It was because Jian Wusheng was the one who was doing most of the attacking.

No one could hold a defense forever, and offense was almost always better than defense. As expected, after a brief stalemate, Jian Wusheng abruptly let out a shout and lifted his sword like he would split a river in half. His fearsome sword qi and sword intent didn’t just blow through Xu Songgao’s defense, but also sent him flying through the air. Even the street they were fighting at was cut in half by the sword qi.

After that, Jian Wusheng rushed forward and thrust his sword at Xu Songgao with unrelenting determination. The buildings to his sides were either corroded by his sword intent or sliced into fine dust by his sword qi, and the ground was cracked like an ongoing earthquake.

No I, no you, no life, and no death. That was the kind of sword intent Jian Wusheng cultivated. Such was his power that the thrust shredded the web of sword qi Xu Songgao had set up before he was sent flying and hit the flat side of his blade.

DING!

An invisible storm of sword qi absolutely shredded the street and all of the buildings within the affected area. Inside the eye of the storm, Jian Wusheng withdrew his sword a few breaths later and said, “Well fought.”

“Cough! Cough…” Xu Songgao coughed out a mouthful of blood and a gust of sword qi as soon as he opened his mouth. When he finally recovered, he saluted Jian Wusheng and replied, “Thank you for showing me mercy, Brother Jian.”

Xu Songgao looked dejected as a matter of course. The spectators looked sympathetic as well. Despite his defeat, Xu Songgao was undoubtedly a powerful swordsman. If he hadn’t run into Jian Wusheng on his very first battle, he absolutely could’ve placed better. It was just how life rolled sometimes.

His efforts weren’t futile though. His performance had caught the eye of some bigshots.

Although Jian Wusheng and Xu Songgao’s fight had ended almost as quickly as Ye Qing’s, it was way more interesting and satisfying to watch. Everyone including Ye Qing himself enjoyed the fight a lot.

Next to Jian Wusheng and Xu Songgao’s platform, Wen Xiaonuan was fighting against a man named Shi Lei. Their fight was the opposite of interesting with some horror elements mixed in it. Wen Xiaonuan was hanging her head and looking depressed as usual, but the depression didn’t affect just her. Before Shi Lei could so much lift a finger, he became depressed as well and lost the will to fight completely. It allowed Wen Xiaonuan to walk up to him and knock him out of the platform with a single palm strike.

The truly entertaining match where both sides were evenly-matched was the one happening on platform number 8, the battle between Wine and Eat.

Wine was Wine of Wine, Sex, Wealth and Popularity, and Eat was Eat of Eat, Drink, Fuck and Gamble.

Their real names were known to no one but themselves. Everyone called them Wine and Eat.

In fact, Wine, Sex, Wealth and Popularity and Eat, Drink, Fuck and Gamble shared a relationship with each other. It was said that Wine, Sex, Wealth and Popularity’s master and Eat, Drink, Fuck and Gamble’s masters used to be senior brothers until they turned against each other over a woman. As a result, their disciples were hostile toward one another as well, which was why Wine and Eat were going at it with red hot killing intent.

Wine was a sloppy, sleepy-looking, rosacea-faced man in his forties, and his astral qi was created from wine. Constantly surrounded by a pocket of alcoholic vapor, a single inhale was enough to knock someone who was weak to alcohol unconscious.

You would think that Eat was a fatty who was broader than a barn’s side, but no, he was thin, tall, and frail-looking. It looked like a gentle breeze could knock him to the ground.

In reality, Eat was carrying a black pan that was bigger than him and swinging it around with such force the spectators could almost feel the gale it produced. Giving off a delicious aroma, roasted chickens, roasted ducks, roasted goose and more food flew out of the pan from time to time.

When the food hit the wine and alcoholic vapor surrounding Wine, they would explode and scatter all over the place. It was so anime that Ye Qing and many others thought it looked more like a culinary exchange than an actual fight. A lot of people felt hungry just watching the fight.

Near the end of the fight, Wine decided to use his signature martial art, the Drunken Fist. His attacks became wholly unpredictable, and his movements were unstable at best. He looked like a drunkard, but one who could beat someone into a pulp with his fists.

Eat also unveiled his trump card, the Gluttonous Palm, and swiped the air in front of him wildly. The way he fought resembled a hungry ghost who was grabbing every food he could lay his hands on.

The fist art was strange, and the palm art was stranger. There was no denying their power, however. The section of the forest they were fighting in were swiftly flattened by the sheer ferocity of their attacks.

It was a difficult fight, and both men suffered serious injuries. In the end, it was Wine who stole the win with a surprise wine arrow from the mouth.

The rest of the matches weren’t all that interesting, but thankfully, they all ended relatively quickly. It was time for the second group to start their fights.

As it turned out, the second group’s matches were far more entertaining than the first. Xu Rulin, Luo Zhan, Chu Renhe, Tou Jiao, Chen Shaoyu and Yang Zhao were all fighting.

Out of all of the fights, Xu Rulin and Tou Jiao’s fight was the most entertaining. They were both polearm wielders, and their techniques were quite the sight to behold. As expected of the Three-Headed Hydra, his Eighteen Forms of Mad Hydra turned his astral qi into countless hydras. They were as deadly as they were fearsome.

Xu Rulin’s spear techniques lacked the tyranny or forcefulness of the Eighteen Forms of Mad Hydra, but it did have an unparalleled amount of bloodthirst. It was also simple and deadly effective like what you might expect from a soldier on the battlefield.

Moreover, Xu Rulin was no ordinary soldier. He was a border soldier who possessed a kind of tenacity, bravery, and determination that most jianghu warriors lacked. At first, You Jiao was able to go even with Xu Rulin, but as both men accrued more and more injuries, Xu Rulin’s inner violence was slowly brought out into the open. His eyes turned bloodshot, and his attacks grew increasingly aggressive as he traded wound for wound, life for life.

Unable to hold, Tou Jiao was pushed back repeatedly until he finally took a spear thrust to the chest. The battle ended with a surrender, though it could’ve easily been a death if Tou Jiao hadn’t surrendered quickly.

Luo Zhan, Chu Renhe, Chen Shaoyu and Yang Zhao won their matches one-sidedly.