Chapter 494 – Gathered
Big Dipper’s central assembly hall.
Although the sun was blazing, an endless stream of guests entered the hall.
At the bright red carpet, well-known upper-class personages descended from luxury cars, one after another, and slowly walked into the assembly hall. Big Dipper’s assembly hall was very lively today; it was even livelier than when the city’s fighting competition was held.
“Quite a small number of people.”
Seated inside the limousine, Shi Feng swept a glance at the assembly hall’s surroundings, noticing that the people who came to watch the competition were all well-known characters in Jin Hai City; there was not a single commoner present at all.
Logically speaking, by holding the competition this time, Big Dipper should be promoting itself to increase its popularity. In order to recover from its downward spiral, it would definitely want to widely publicize the competition this time around.
Internal force experts were rare, and exchanges between internal force experts were even rarer. Countless people wished to feast their eyes on such a fight.
However, when Shi Feng looked at the scene before him, it did not seem as if Big Dipper had done any promotion at all. Otherwise, the venue would’ve been completely swamped with people.
“Mister Shi Feng, it is like this: the other master wishes to hold this competition in private; he does not wish it to be known by everyone in the world. Hence, the company has not made any attempt to promote the competition, and has only invited a few well-known figures. But even so, that master was not happy about it. If Chairman Xiao had not offered sufficient compensation, the number of people attending this match might be less than half the current head count,” Liang Jing said as she looked at Shi Feng, her lips curled up in a mesmerizing smile. Charmingly, she continued, “If Mister Shi Feng thinks that this event is too small, after this competition is over, we can definitely arrange for your name to be known by all in Jin Hai City.”
As the Head Assistant of Big Dipper’s Chairman, observing another person’s every mood was Liang Jing’s specialty. After seeing Lu Zhihong’s respectful performance before, even if she was a fool, she would have realized that Shi Feng was not as simple as he appeared to be.
With such a great achievement at such a young age, Shi Feng would definitely become a dragon among men. If she could narrow the distance in their relationship slightly, the familiarity would be of tremendous help to her future.
Naturally, she could not pass up this opportunity sitting before her right now.
“That person sure likes to keep a low profile, but it’s fine. I don’t like being watched by too many people, either,” Shi Feng laughed.
Originally, Shi Feng had no intention of making himself famous; he wanted to develop himself while maintaining a low profile. If not for the fifteen bottles of S-rank Nutrient Fluids and five virtual gaming cabins, he really would not participate in this competition.
Soon, Shi Feng followed Liang Jing to the backstage of the assembly hall to rest there as he quietly awaited the start of the competition.
—
At this moment, the competition hall inside Big Dipper’s assembly hall was already packed with people. Every one of these attendees held considerable status in Jin Hai City. Plenty of well-known figures from other cities had also turned up this time around. Meanwhile, seated inside the VIP room on the second floor were the few titans of Jin Hai City.
At this moment, Xiao Yu was entertaining these VIPs.
If Shi Feng were present in this room, he would definitely discover a lot of people he was familiar with here.
Seated in the center of the room was none other than Jin Hai University’s Headmaster and Chairman, Xu Wenqing. Seated beside him were Zhao Jianhua of the Zhao Group, Master Chen Wu of Jin Hai City’s number one dojo, and many more high-profile characters of Jin Hai City.
“Little Xiao, you’ve surely given me a big surprise this time. You were actually able to invite two martial arts masters to conduct a competition with each other. This is a first for our Jin Hai City,” Xu Wenqing said as he stroked his white beard. A little excited, he said, “I wonder if you can introduce me to the two masters you’ve invited this time around?”
The other VIPs promptly nodded their heads at Xu Wenqing’s words.
In this day and age, fighting competitions were the most popular event in the world. The status of martial arts masters was naturally extraordinary, more so that of internal force experts. Normally, one could not see such experts in an ordinary city like Jin Hai City. Even high-profile characters like the VIPs present would not be able to easily meet such experts.
“Old Man Xu, you must be joking. How could I possibly be able to invite two masters to conduct a competition with each other? The two of them just happened to want to compare notes with each other, so they allowed me to arrange this competition,” Xiao Yu said, laughing. Currently, his heart was filled with an indescribable sense of joy. “The two masters are currently resting and preparing for the competition later. It would not be convenient to invite them over right now, but I’ll definitely arrange for a meeting afterwards.”
“I hear that the two masters competing this time are very young. Is that true?” Xu Wenqing asked curiously.
“Yes, the two of them are indeed very young. Both haven’t even reached the age of thirty yet.” Xiao Yu nodded, then added proudly, “In particular, Master Chen Wu has also met the master that we’ve specially invited this time. Although he is only twenty-seven years old, his strength is very frightening. He has already defeated several well-known masters. During this period, I heard that he is planning to join the qualifiers for an international fighting competition, and that he has a high chance of obtaining a good result.”
“Indeed, that Master Lei Bao is really a prodigy. I’ve compared notes with him before. Unfortunately, I was easily subdued in just a few moves. Now that Master Lei Bao has undergone over a year of intense training, his current strength should be even more frightening. When I met him before, I even felt chills running through my body.” Chen Wu nodded as he sighed in admiration.
Lei Bao was definitely the most powerful internal force expert he had met. A martial arts prodigy. In the future, it was highly possible that Lei Bao would become a martial arts grandmaster. At that time, Lei Bao would probably be able to defeat him easily even without using internal force. If Lei Bao used internal force, instead of just losing the match, he might even lose his life in a single move.
Everyone found it inconceivable when they heard that Jin Hai City’s famous fighting champion, Chen Wu, had been easily defeated, and that this had happened over a year ago.
Not a single person present did not know who Chen Wu was. He was a character known by all in Jin Hai City.
In his early days, Chen Wu had fought many martial arts masters. Although he was defeated in those exchanges, the martial arts masters that fought him also did not have easy victories. One could say that Chen Wu was a martial arts expert who was very close to becoming a master. Hence, everyone in Jin Hai City referred to Chen Wu as Master Chen.
Currently, Chen Wu was still of a relatively young age, and he maintained his strength at its peak. Logically speaking, he should have already taken half a step into the ranks of masters. Yet, he only managed to last several moves against the martial arts master named Lei Bao. One could just imagine how powerful Lei Bao was.
“Oh? There’s actually such a talented character. Little Xiao, you must introduce him to me after the competition. Although this decrepit old man has spectated international fighting competitions before, never once have I had the opportunity to chat with such a master.” Xu Wenqing’s eyes glowed with anticipation upon hearing Chen Wu’s words.
Seated at the back of the room, Zhao Ruoxi, who had come along with Zhao Jianhua, revealed an expression of worry as she listened to the conversation.
What to do? Zhao Ruoxi’s heart was in distress.
Although she believed that Shi Feng was very amazing as well, compared to the martial arts prodigy Lei Bao that everyone was talking about, whether it was in terms of strength or experience, Shi Feng should be quite inferior to Lei Bao.
If Lei Bao did not hold back during the competition, it would definitely end in tragedy…
Time passed little by little. Very quickly, the arranged time for the competition arrived, and the excitement inside the assembly hall reached the boiling point.
This was the first time a competition between martial arts masters would be held in Jin Hai City. Usually, such competitions could only be seen on the international stage. Meanwhile, the majority of the people present here today had only ever watched an international competition through TV broadcasts; they never had the chance to personally witness such competitions.
Just as the crowd was wondering what kind of people the two masters were, white smoke started emerging from the two passages leading to the arena. Meanwhile, the two people who had walked out from the white smoke were none other than the two protagonists of today’s event.
Lei Bao and Shi Feng.
When the audience personally saw the true appearance of the two masters, every single one of them was rendered speechless. They never expected the two masters to be so young. In particular, when the spectators inside the VIP room saw Shi Feng, they were all shocked.
“Shi Feng? Why is he here?” Xu Wenqing rubbed his eyes. For a second there, he even thought his eyes had gone blurry.
