Chapter 1330 Brother, Times Have Changed!
“Hey, Pig Head, I’m a girl. You actually don’t dare to take the initiative to attack?”
Coal Briquette tried to provoke Black Pig. Otherwise, it’d be hard to deal with this guy when he was on strict defense.
“You’re the one who is a pig head!”
Boys tended to be young and impetuous. Hence, he could not stand this kind of provocation and pounced forward again. The golden-ringed blade swung around even more wildly. “What a pity. This little pig has a good physique, but his brain is a little lacking!”
All the great teachers shook their heads. Combat intelligence was sometimes more important than one’s physical aptitude. On the other hand, although Coal Briquette’s aptitude wasn’t too good, she had continued to be in control of the situation. This was talent that couldn’t be taught.
“We might be able to win this round!”
Lu Zhiruo was happy. She didn’t expect such a situation to happen in the first match when no one had high hopes for it.
Saint Zhou’s expression became increasingly gloomy. Finally, seeing that the situation wasn’t looking good, he roared again, “Use an area-of-effect skill to force her to fight head-on!”
Black Pig was afraid of sneak attack tactics. Even if his spirit qi wouldn’t last long if he were to go all out, by not giving Coal Briquette any space to dodge, the battle could be ended quickly.
Hearing his teacher’s guidance, Black Pig let out an enraged bellow, and all the spirit qi in his body suddenly erupted. A blade qi that was over three-meters-long then burst out on his blade, gushing toward Coal Briquette like a strong gust of wind.
“What a powerful ultimate technique! This is definitely a saint-tier cultivation art!”
“It’s over! That little girl is going to lose!”
“All schemes are useless before absolute strength. It can’t be helped. No matter how high her combat intelligence is, the difference in realm and strength makes it impossible for her to unleash it.”
The great teachers sighed.
“Die!”
Seeing Coal Briquette being forced into a corner, Black Pig broke into a proud smile.
“I can’t afford to lose!”
Coal Briquette felt the chill from the sharp blade and her gaze became determined. (Teacher is very kind, so it’s all the more I shouldn’t let him down. If I were to lose, what right would Mother and my younger siblings have to continue receiving Teacher’s help?)
Coal Briquette recalled how a coal mine had collapsed when she was ten, and her father was buried in it. Half a month later, her father’s almost rotting corpse was sent back by the owner of the mine. They were also given ten silver taels as burial expenses.
This was considered a huge sum of money at the coal mines areas.
If a child laborer were to die, the compensation would depend on the owner. A kindhearted one might give five taels, and that’d be considered a lot.
“It’s worth it to use my life in exchange for my family’s happiness for the rest of their lives!”
At the thought of this, Coal Briquette didn’t hesitate anymore and pounced straight toward Black Pig. As long as he died first, it’d be considered her win, right?
“Haha, you’re courting death!”
Black Pig laughed. He felt that Coal Briquette was a trapped beast putting up a fight, just like those little pigs that had nowhere to escape to when he was going to slaughter them.
Swoosh!
His golden-ringed blade chopped off one of Coal Briquette’s arm and a tremendous amount of blood splattered out, some of them splashing onto Black Pig’s face. It blocked his vision and his attacks slowed down.
“Don’t!”
Sun Mo saw Coal Briquette’s intention and quickly stopped her.
“Ahh!”
Many in the audience screamed in fright.
Li Wanjun had wanted to stop the fight to avoid Coal Briquette from being killed. However, he held it in at the next instant. Now, a hint of admiration was flashing on his
face.
“This is bad!”
Saint Zhou suddenly shot up and bellowed, “Go on full defense! She’s coming!”
However, it was too late!
“A chance!”
Coal Briquette gritted her teeth, bearing the pain while rolling away to dodge Black Pig’s golden-ringed blade. After that, she darted to his side and stabbed her dagger into his left waist multiple times.
Pffft! Pffft!
Warm blood gushed out like flood water, splattering onto the ground.
“Ahh!”
Black Pig screamed out and swung his blade chaotically. He had lost it due to the pain.
“Hurry up and stop! The match has ended!”
Li Wanjun bellowed and appeared between Coal Briquette and Black Pig, pulling them away from each other. “Medical team! Hurry up and give them treatment!”
Swoosh!
Sun Mo jumped up onto the arena and picked up Coal Briquette’s broken arm. He then dashed up to her, trying to help her reattach
it.
“Teach… Teacher, I… I won!”
Coal Briquette smiled. Her little face that had been smoked black from coal fuels looked relaxed.
“You shouldn’t have fought so hard!”
Sun Mo didn’t expect Coal Briquette to go to such a degree either! “The first round, Wang Xiaohua…”
Li Wanjun was just about to announce that Coal Briquette and Sun Mo had won when Saint Zhou bellowed out fiercely.
“Sun Mo, you’re inhuman!” Saint Zhou was enraged. “To think that you went to such despicable means for the sake of victory, teaching a young child to risk her life to take another’s! Are you still human?”
“Saint Zhou, mind your words! I didn’t teach her that!”
Sun Mo was angry too.
“Saint Zhou, being afraid of pain is natural for any child. The fact that she can use a battle tactic of letting her arm be chopped off and making her blood block the vision of her opponent… how could this have been taught in a few months?”
Xu Chunbo spoke up in fairness.
“That’s right. You saw her battle style too. She’s a smart child and went to this degree in order to repay Sun Mo!”
“She must have been put through a lot of hardship. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have become so mature at such a young age.” “Coal mines are places where deaths are a common occurrence.”
Omne s
The other great teachers interjected too.
Sun Mo had won this round.
Eating heavenly and earthly treasures could nurture one’s physical aptitude, but battle intelligence was inborn. No one had heard of someone being able to increase their intelligence through hard work. They’d only be able to improve their memory skills at best.
Hearing this, Saint Zhou snorted and didn’t continue to pursue the matter.
He had let the anger get into his head earlier because he had lost a match that should have been a sure win.
At the sight of this scene, Saint Zhou’s son sighed helplessly. He had hinted to Black Pig in private that he’d had to win no matter what price he had to pay. However, Black Pig clearly didn’t dare to risk it with his life.
When he was stabbed by Coal Briquette at the end, he panicked. Otherwise, if he were to attack Coal Briquette, seeking to die together with her, it’d be a draw.
“Little Coal Briquette, you reminded me of your Senior Martial Sister Baiwu. In the past, she’d also risk her life like this!”
Li Ziqi teased. “And there’s no need to worry about your arm. Teacher’s Ancient Dragon Capturing Hands is very amazing. He’ll definitely be able to return it to normal.”
“Hehe, it’s a steal to have gotten a win without paying any price!”
To be able to win by just losing an arm… To Coal Briquette, it was a great steal.
There was a medical team to attend to the injured. After Li Wanjun paid some attention to their conditions, he continued to host the competition, “Can the two participants for the second match please get on the arena!?”
“Teacher!”
Bai Xiaoquan felt a little anxious.
“It’s alright! Believe in yourself!”
Sun Mo encouraged Bai Xiaoquan, patting his shoulder and then giving him a strong push on the back. “Go prove that you aren’t trash!”
As both participants were poor performers, Li Wanjun was nice to not introduce their names. Otherwise, it’d be a public execution.
“Try your best to win this round!”
Saint Zhou’s son encouraged Hu Baoyu.
“Shut up!”
Saint Zhou shouted at his son and then turned to say, “Just do your best. Don’t be too concerned about winning or losing. However, I hope that you can give yourself some pressure!”
“I understand!”
Hu Baoyu clenched his fists. He was going to learn from that Coal Briquette and went all out in this match.
After both of them went up and bowed, Hu Baoyu pounced toward Bai Xiaoquan, thrusting out his longsword.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
It looked like blooming plum blossoms.
“His sword art is alright!”
Everyone’s eyes lit up.
On the other hand, Bai Xiaoquan dodged and shook both his arms. As a result, two spirit rune handguns slid out from his sleeves and he caught them. Then, he rubbed them against his thighs to pull the trigger, raised his arms, and launched two shots.
Bang! Bang!
The sudden exploding gunshots gave Hu Baoyu a scare. However, seeing that he wasn’t hit, he felt at ease and continued to attack fiercely.
Bai Xiaoquan continued to dodge and move around Hu Baoyu as the latter attacked, occasionally shooting.
Those who knew their trade would cheer ‘fast draw[1]’.
“What is he doing?”
The audience couldn’t understand. It was because this duel seemed too different from what they were used to seeing. However, the great teachers started to discuss privately amongst themselves.
Five minutes later, Hu Baoyu suffered a kick from Bai Xiaoquan. However, the former also injured the latter’s wrist, causing him to drop the gun on the ground.
“Stop!”
Li Wanjun announced.
“Oh yeah! I’ve won!”
Hu Baoyu cheered happily.
“No, you lost!”
Li Wanjun interrupted Hu Baoyu. “If Bai Xiaoquan didn’t hold back, you’d have died over ten times!”
“You’re spouting rubbish!” Hu Baoyu became anxious. “I’m clearly alright!” “Saint Zhou, what do you think of this?”
Li Wanjun asked.
“What capabilities is it to rely on the advantage of a weapon?”
Saint Zhou argued.
“Saint Zhou, this is a fast draw.” Qin Yaoguang explained, “It refers to using handguns to perform close combats!”
“This is a far-distance weapon, right? Why didn’t he shoot from far?”
Someone felt baffled.
“There are long guns to be used for long-range attacks, but when the opponent gets close, it won’t be as useful. Therefore, we have to use a handgun!”
Qin Yaoguang explained as she jumped onto the arena. She then drew out a spirit rune handgun and kept shooting out while her body moved around.
Compared to a newbie like Bai Xiaoquan, when Qin Yaoguang performed a fast draw, it appeared elegant and dangerous. When using cold weapons, one wouldn’t be able to deal any damage if they didn’t hit their opponent’s bodies. However, it was different for handguns. Bullets were too difficult to defend against.
The great teachers’ countenances changed. They were all very experienced cultivators and it didn’t take them a lot of effort to understand how terrifying the fast draw was.
At this moment, Saint Zhou’s countenance turned grim. He wanted to argue, but his pride as a saint told him that he couldn’t find a suitable reason to do so.
This round might seem as if they were fighting to decide on the victor through the duel, but it was in fact competing on who would be able to help a poor-performing student improve. Bai Xiaoquan had learned fast draw, clearly opening up a new path for him.
In comparison, Hu Baoyu appeared very mediocre.
“Such weapons are too strong!”
Saint Zhou’s son found an excuse, pushing Bai Xiaoquan’s victory onto his choice of weapon.
“Brother, times have changed!”
Sun Mo chuckled. “The greatest meaning of weapons is to kill enemies in the most efficient way possible. Are you going to use blades and swords when you have guns to use?”
“Secondary Saint Sun, do you sell these
guns?”
“I’ll order 1,000 of them!”
“Me too! You can call whatever price you want!”
The major characters placed their orders straightaway. These things weren’t bad and could be used for self-defense.
“Saint Zhou, you’ve lost the first two matches. Do you still want to continue?”
Li Wanjun asked.
The pressure was now on Saint Zhou. He could use the third match to expunge his humiliation. However, if he were to lose this round, he’d be utterly humiliated.
“Of course!”
Saint Zhou was very upset. If only Gongsun Huiying’s match was second. But that didn’t matter anymore. He must win this round. “Huiying, I want an instant win. Are you able to do that?”
[1] To quickly draw one’s pistol and fire with the most accuracy
