Volume 2 – Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 8: Real Military Poise
In this chaotic time and place, almost all of those who held seats of power had slaughtered their way out from mountains of corpses and seas of blood relying on their own abilities. On this abandoned continent, there was no room of survival whatsoever for those incompetent wealthy hedonistic youths.
Once Instructor Liu moved, the dignitaries that were watching the fight were instantly hooked. This was a killing technique from the battlefield!
Compared to him, those two bloody fights earlier were just mere street brawls, all brawn with no brains. In comparison, the techniques of the assassins were highly deadly, but were lacking in confrontational ability. They were completely unable to demonstrate them on the stage.
But Qianye was of a different style. He was extremely agile, constantly changing positions around Instructor Liu so quickly that it made others dizzy. But out of ten of his moves, about seven or eight of them were feints. Added to the fact that Qianye’s silhouette possessed such beauty, they couldn’t help but wonder which family his particular brand of martial arts had come from. It was so mesmerizing that not to mention those powers, but even the audience couldn’t help but think of it as being an extremely flowery display of martial arts.
Instructor Liu’s fighting style should, by right, have been the most adept at curbing Qianye’s insubstantial fighting style, but what the audience couldn’t have predicted was that the two of them were extremely evenly matched in strength. The battle turned into a stalemate.
Although it was a virtual combat system, his strength was the complete strength of a rank one Fighter. As Instructor Liu fought, his forehead gradually wet with sweat.
Qianye could be said to have a hundred flaws, but every single time Instructor Liu tried to catch one of these, he would inexplicably fail. Once or twice could be written off as coincidence, but this many times, if he still hadn’t realized that something was wrong, then he wouldn’t have been fit to be called “instructor.”
Instructor Liu’s face darkened, Qianye was evidently an expert that was worth his full effort to deal with. Suddenly blowing a long whistle, his face became incomparably calm, and his breathing slowed, as if he was preparing for a long, drawn-out fight.
Instructor Liu’s solemnity made the audience clamor with excitement as he seriously assessed Qianye.
In a box seat, a certain big shot quietly said, “There’s more to Qianye than it seems.”
A youth that was sitting in another box seat heard it and turned to laugh. “Are you afraid that Liu Zifan would lose? He’s the current combat instructor on active duty, you know?”
“An identity doesn’t mean anything.”
The youth playfully pondered, looking at Qianye, and then said, “I favor Liu Zifan, to the contrary. Want to make a bet with us?”
That big shot whose face was obscured entirely in the shadow mulled it over, and then nodded. “Alright.”
The youth gave a smirk. “A small bet is boring. How about this, let’s make the stakes one hundred imperial gold coins?”
“Just as you said, a small bet is boring. Other than one hundred imperial gold coins, I want that ‘Blackfang’ you’ve got, how about that?”
Killing intent flashed through the youth’s eyes, and then slowly faded. He said blandly, “If you’re willing to bet your ‘Igniter’ as well, then I’m fine.”
“That’s that, then.”
The two box seats quieted down, the two sides no longer talking as they concentrated on observing the battle.
The battle had already gone on for fifteen minutes but neither side looked like they were winning. Both parties’ foreheads were sweating, but their movements were just as they were earlier, and it looked like they could continue fighting like this for an hour or two without an issue.
After activating the first origin node, the condition of one’s body would see a massive increase and their physical strength would far outstrip commoners’. In one prolonged battle, a rank one Fighter could often consecutively slaughter several dozen common soldiers and still have enough energy left to continue battling.
Liu Zifan still had that clean and practiced military style, while Qianye was still as flashy as ever, just that he had started to reduce the number of silly leaping actions.
The audience’s cheering had subsided, but nobody had lost their patience.
This was practically an exhibition match in fighting technique and many people were secretly trying to figure out and learn the fighting techniques of the two, with some success. Even the little tricks that Qianye was using would have great value in a real fight.
But Tiger Yan was somewhat unsettled. He suddenly turned around, saying something to his subordinate, and that subordinate immediately left, returning a short while later with a woman in hand.
The woman was young and pretty, and she possessed a certain wildness of character. Even in Blackflow City she was considered one of the greatest beauties. Her face was pale after being forcibly pulled into the area and then to Tiger Yan’s side.
Tiger Yan suddenly raised his voice, calling out, “Kid! You’re called Qianye, right? Take a good look at this woman! She seems related to you!”
Qianye turned to look, and was struck dumb for an instant. Min’er was right beside Tiger Yan. She didn’t usually leave Lighthouse Town, so how was she here?
But in this moment of distraction, Qianye’s movements slowed a tiny bit, and Liu Zifan instantly grasped the opportunity, sweeping his leg across Qianye’s thighs. Qianye staggered and Liu Zifan instantly grasped at the chance to unleash a flurry of vicious attacks. Qianye took a series of punches, and the two of them separated.
A few slightly red regions began to show on Qianye’s virtual body, and that was a sign of damage. If the damage reached the point where it was fully red, then it would be rendered unusable. If it was the brain, the chest, or the lower half of the body that was red, then it would be judged to be an instant loss.
Sir Zhao’s face became extremely ugly. Standing up abruptly, he called out, “Tiger Yan, are you this shameless? You want to play dirty?”
Tiger Yan laughed, spreading his hands. “But I didn’t force that kid to lose! Qianye, did you hear that? Fight brutally, fight to the death! Fight! Haha!”
As he laughed, Tiger Yan stood up, and pulling out a short blade, he stuck it into Min’er’s collar, and forcefully pulled down! With a ripping noise, Min’er’s blouse had been completely torn open. Tiger Yan pulled off her blouse with a tug, letting her entire upper body be exposed.
Min’er hugged herself, covering as much as she could, but she was slapped instead.
“Who let you cover up? You’re just a whore. Since you’ve already taken the cash, why are you still pretending to be some f*cking innocent? Put your hands down!” Tiger Yan yelled in anger.
Min’er’s face was pale and half of her face rapidly swelled, blood flowing out of the corner of her mouth. Shaking, she put down her hands, letting the entire audience look at her body willfully.
From the arena came the sound of several dull exchanges of blows, and Qianye’s virtual warrior body had two areas that were on the verge of being completely red. The edge of Qianye’s actual body’s mouth had also swollen, and begun to bleed. The feedback of the force field was, after all, the force of a true rank one Fighter.
Seeing this, Tiger Yan gave a maniacal smile, poking the knife into Min’er’s beltline, hoarsely calling out, “You guys want to see something exciting? This whore ain’t cheap, she’s a silver a night!”
That price was expensive even for Blackflow City. Min’er had an extraordinary figure, and commanded an equally extraordinary price. Already, many members of the audience was catcalling and hooting, and wolf-whistling as well.
Sir Zhao’s face went livid. After giving Min’er a death glare, he turned to Tiger Yan. “Good, very good! I’ll concede your ruthlessness. After this, you’d better watch out!”
Tiger Yan gave Sir Zhao the middle finger, laughing maniacally. “After losing this round, what right would you even have to contest me? If I don’t exterminate you, it’ll already be magnanimous!”
In the box seat, that youth gave a faint smile. “Tiger Yan’s really shameless! So, if you feel that it’s really unfair, then I’ll get someone to take the girl away, and have them re-fight this, how about that?”
The man coolly replied, “It’s alright. If a single woman could sway his heart, then he wouldn’t be worth me placing such a heavy bet on.”
“Is that so? Then we’ll continue watching.” The youth quietly sat back down.
In the arena, Qianye easily dodged Instructor Liu’s pounce, and as the two side swapped positions, he suddenly looked at Tiger Yan. “So, I heard you placed a really big bet.”
Qianye’s voice was incredibly calm, piercing through the raucous crowd to enter Tiger Yan’s ear, causing him to feel a mysterious chill in his heart.
Tiger Yan immediate jumped up, and he yelled. “So what!? Daddy here can afford to lose it!”
The corner of Qianye’s mouth twitched upwards into something that could be said to be a smile. “Is that so? Then lose!”
In the arena, Qianye suddenly retreated, and then shifting from extremely quick movements, he instantly stilled!
Liu Zifan’s heart suddenly gave off an intense warning sign, the feeling of being stared at by a hungry wolf! Under the influence of his opponent’s killing intent, he couldn’t hold back his own intent any further, and with a wild roar, he pounced ferociously toward Qianye!
Qianye gave off an equally low growl, and drawing power from his core, he, for the first time, didn’t dodge, instead meeting his opponent head on! The two of them collided without a shred of flowery tricks and their attacks smashed toward each other like a storm!
With the sound of a boom, the whole audience stood up, and even the youth in the box seat was shocked into silence, involuntarily standing up and rushing forward to the windowsill to watch the battle.
At this very moment, Qianye and Liu Zifan were tightly glued together, and both sides’ attacks were exactly the same, with exactly the same style. Punches, knee strikes, elbow smashes, every single one of them was executed with lethal force, seeking the other’s life!
What Qianye was using was exactly the same as Liu Zifan’s military martial art, but every strike he threw was faster, and in a few strikes, he destroyed Liu Zifan’s posture, smashing into his range, and his left elbow smashed three times into Liu Zifan’s chest like lightning!
Thud, thud, thud!
The sound of the three strikes was almost completely blended into a single long boom.
Qianye’s first strike had already caused Liu Zifan’s chest to become completely red, the second caused his torso to become completely red, and the third elbow strike completely blew apart Liu Zifan’s virtual fighter!
The youth in the box seat clapped both his hands on the windowsill, involuntarily crying out, “What an impressive military combat art! This kid’s an expert!”
Even he had lost his cool. The audience, comparatively, was even more shocked, now completely silent. But after this instant of silence, they burst into a roar that echoed across the whole arena, exclaiming out one after another!
In the circular control platform, Liu Zifan’s face flushed with red, and he suddenly spurted out a large mouthful of blood! Although he had the ability of a rank two Fighter, the force of the feedback was still equal to the full strength of a rank one Fighter. He took three hits in a row to the chest. Even if he were physically stronger, he still could not take such an attack. Therefore, he was grievously injured on the spot.
Qianye remained calm. Even his gaze was steady without a single ripple, except when he looked at the fresh blood on the arena, which would cause an imperceptible bloody light to flash in the depths of his eyes.
At this point, he let down both of his arms, both legs still slightly apart, maintaining the exact same military posture as Liu Zifan. Turning to face Tiger Yan, he mildly said, “Did you enjoy losing?”
Tiger Yan was momentarily stunned, completely unable to respond.
This time’s failure to him was simply too costly. Merely to invite Liu Zifan to the arena, the amount he’d paid and the contacts he’d mobilized were almost as costly as the bet itself.
Tiger Yan had lost a whole five years’ worth of income! After this loss, he was already unable to maintain his position in his old haunt in Dongxin Town. Without an exit strategy, Sir Zhao’s men would soon come knocking on his door. Even if Sir Zhao didn’t, there would naturally be other ambitious powers who were looking to make a move.
In those two box seats that were side by side, the man who was constantly in the shadows laughed. “It seems that my eyes aren’t bad!”
chinachu Notice:
I know I stated that I was going to China with mommychu to visit grannychu and was hoping to return sometime June or so, but mommychu struck again, pushing our flight to June 1st. My trip to China is also now extended from June to the middle of July. Due to this trip, the planned double daily month releases for MEN will now be even more delayed. They WILL still come out after my trip though! Any regular chapters for every one of our series will still be coming out when I’m there (MEN 7, ATG 7, SR *TBD by Patreon*). I will try my best to get them out according to schedule, but if any chapters are missed due to chinachu problems, all of them will be made up when I get home.
I know some people do not read the chapter posts in their haste to read the chapter so I’ll be leaving this message at the bottom of each chapter as a reminder!
