The next day, Fang Qiu continued to play in the Western Wetland and even took many photos.
In fact, he had been secretly observing the whole Western Wetland all day. It was not until the evening, when he was sure that the turtle was no longer restless, no longer appeared, and no longer had the impulse to go ashore, that he was relieved.
At seven o’clock in the evening, after all the tourists and staff had left the Western Wetland, a group of dark shadows came from all directions.
At the center of the wetland, there were people standing on a gazebo for visitors to rest, on the tops of boats in the river, on the surrounding islands, and on the road ridges, though it was still an hour before the fight began.
…
The audience had to come ahead of time to get their seats and get ready for the fight because the competition had attracted too much attention.
Half an hour later came the sound of a flute, accompanied by a splash of water.
“Woo…”
The crowd turned to look at the source.
The White-dressed Man sat in the bow of a boat, playing the flute and coming slowly.
This scene immediately caused many people to secretly ridicule, especially those who were in the race for the Heaven Treasure yesterday.
They snorted about it.
“He’s pretending again!”
The White-dressed Man was completely unaware of the crowd’s curses.
When he had finished playing, he came right into the center of the crowd. Immediately, he held fist salute, smiled, and said, “Thank you for coming, everybody. I’m not going to let you down.”
In theory, such words were bound to elicit some echoes and applause.
But as a result, when the White-dressed Man finished, no one responded.
The atmosphere went awkward.
“Hmph.”
Embarrassed, the White-dressed Man snorted and stopped talking. Instead, he closed his eyes, adjusted, and prepared for battle.
People around were whispering.
Of course, it was to discuss the mysterious man John Doe’s strength.
As they had been waiting to seven forty-five, the mysterious man John Doe still did not appear.
It would be eight in a quarter of an hour.
Why hadn’t John Doe come yet?
Everyone began to whisper.
The White-dressed Man was wearing a sneer.
For him, whether the mysterious man John Doe came or not, the latter was bound to lose!
However, because of the Heaven Treasure and the Earth Treasure, the White-dressed Man hoped that John Doe could come.
Soon, five minutes passed.
It was seven fifty.
While everyone was waiting, footsteps came from a distance.
A short distance away, a figure in a black hooded coat, carrying a few fried steamed buns, was seen coming along the road between ponds, marshes, and lakes.
On careful look, the crowd saw that the man was wearing a hat on his hooded coat, and that his head was very low, so his face was completely covered. Besides, it was already dark, and no one could see his face clearly.
“Here he comes.”
“Is he the mysterious man John Doe?”
“He has no grace!”
“I never thought a great expert should be so ungracious! I wish I could have his power. What a waste of his ability!”
The crowd murmured.
The White-dressed Man, sitting on the top of a boat in the lake, almost vomitted blood when he saw Fang Qiu.
In his opinion, this guy was so disrespectful.
How could anyone come into a fight so badly dressed?
The most abominable was that he even took a few steamed buns, as if to say, “I am very busy. I didn’t even get to eat because I had a fight appointment with you. We’d better get this over with quickly. Don’t waste my time.”
What was more, the White-dressed Man had fame and prestige in Jianghu.
How could he bear to be treated with such disrespect?
The White-dressed Man was furious inside.
However, as he had been in Jianghu for a long time, he calmed down as soon as possible. So he was not out of his mind because of anger. Besides, while holding back his anger, he quickly adjusted.
“Why can’t I see his face?”
“Me neither.”
“He is really a mysterious man. He’s very mysterious. It’s just that he’s not dressed properly, is it?”
Amid the chatter, Fang Qiu got closer and asked, “How many minutes are left before eight?”
“10 minutes!” someone answered.
“Thank you.”
Fang Qiu nodded and looked around for a vacant spot around him. Then he opened the bag he was carrying, took the fried steamed buns out, and began to help himself to them.
What he was doing left everyone speechless.
He looked really bleak, like a tramp who had managed to beg for a bun and then squatted on a street corner, trembling and eating it.
Ten minutes later, it was eight o’clock sharp.
Fang Qiu just finished eating the buns, crumpled the bag, and held it in his palm.
“It’s time, and you’re full. Ready to go to hell!”
In the boat in the lake, the White-dressed Man stood up, waved his flute, and pointed at Fang Qiu.
“Wait a minute.”
Fang Qiu raised his right hand.
Everyone paused, and so did the White-dressed Man.
No one knew what he was going to do.
And after yelling, Fang Qiu pulled a tissue out of his pants pocket and wiped his mouth. Then he pulled the mask out of his jacket pocket and put it on.
After that, he threw the tissue and the bag carrying buns into a nearby garbage can.
“Hic…”
He belched and said, “All right, let’s begin.”
The crowd was struck dumb at what he did.
What the hell was this?
The White-dressed Man on the boat narrowed his eyes and looked cold.
“Humph!”
After a cold snort, the White-dressed Man began, “Before starting, I want to see the Heaven Treasure and the Earth Treasure.”
As he spoke, he moved his right hand and drew a large box out of the boat. Then, in front of everyone, he opened the box.
There were stacks of cash in the box, five million in total.
“What about the Heaven Treasure and the Earth Treasure?” asked the White-dressed Man.
“No need to look. You don’t get a chance to touch them anyway,” Fang Qiu responded in a cool voice.
“Hmph.”
With a gloomy face, the White-dressed Man gave a cold snort and said, “You’ll see how powerful I am.”
“Go ahead. Don’t talk nonsense.”
Fang Qiu started to move his feet.
He stepped straight on the water and rushed at the White-dressed Man.
“You’re courting death.”
The White-dressed Man narrowed his eyes and flipped his wrist. The flute in his hand made a graceful curve in midair and came close to his mouth.
“Woo…”
Deep and solemn notes of the flute rang out.
As poetic as his name was, the White-dressed Man’s weapon was a flute.
“Bang!”
With the sound of the flute, the sound waves, driven by internal Qi, spread out in all directions, centered on him.
As they shot at Fang Qiu, the sound waves made a big splash on the lake!
“Sonic Technique?”
Fang Qiu’s heart leaped.
To a layman, the Sonic Technique might be mysterious and magical, but the discerning person knew that it was just ordinary kung fu.
It was only that other kinds of kung fu were to impel internal Qi to burst out through hands and feet, while the Sonic Technique was to impel internal Qi to burst out through music.
The only difference between the two was the length of their attack.
Because of sound waves, the attack distance of the Sonic Technique was naturally longer; and the other kung fu that used hands and feet could also burst out the internal Qi, but the attack distance was inferior to that of the sound wave.
“Bang, bang, bang…”
Like secret weapons, the sound waves kept coming at Fang Qiu, one after the other, at extremely fast speed.
The average person couldn’t keep up with the speed of sound at all.
In that case, Fang Qiu could only turn around and race on the water. He circled around the White-dressed Man’s boat. As he raced to avoid the sonic attacks, he inched closer to the White-dressed Man as well.
However, as Fang Qiu approached the boat, the latter, who had been sitting on top of the boat, suddenly moved.
When he jumped from the top of the boat, he threw the box loaded with five million yuan on the bank, and then kicked the boat. The boat was kicked over and crashed into Fang Qiu.
Meanwhile, Fang Qiu’s feet hit the water and stopped.
The White-dressed Man immediately stepped back on the water. He paused on the lotus leaves five meters away, still playing his flute wildly.
“Swish, swish, swish…”
The sound waves were like knives.
Even those watching the fight around them could see that every time the White-dressed Man played a tune, a sound wave as sharp as a blade, shot out from the front of his body, sweeping toward Fang Qiu as if ten thousand arrows were firing at him.
And right now, the boat rolling through the air was hurtling toward Fang Qiu.
Behind that boat, out of Fang Qiu’s line of sight, a sea of sonic blades had descended.
“Too powerful!”
“The White-dressed Man’s Sonic Technique is so powerful that the sound waves can even be materialized.”
“Too bad, the mysterious man’s going to suffer.”
“The White-dressed Man is so sly. He never fought the mysterious man at close range. He not only uses the long-range attacks of the Sonic Technique against his opponent but also used the prepared boat to scheme against John Doe.”
“It is not sly. The Sonic Technique is a kind of kung fu with long-range attacks. Who will rush to the front of the opponent and start a close combat when he performs the Sonic Technique? What’s more, for the fight between martial arts practitioners, all the external things can be helpful. This boat is like a weapon. It is John Doe who didn’t notice it. How can you blame the White-dressed Man?”
As the crowd talked about it while watching the battle, part of the people could not help but get nervous about the mysterious man John Doe.
It was because the situation at hand was really a little dangerous.
“Master!”
He Gaoming clenched his fists in the crowd. He believed that his master would not be easily defeated. Even if he was trapped by the White-dressed Man, the mysterious man wouldn’t fall so easily!
There were buzzing sounds from the battlefield.
The boat rolled around wildly in midair and shot towards Fang Qiu.
But after a while, it was still rolling.
At this point, everyone felt that something was wrong.
The boat should have hit John Doe. Even if it didn’t hurt John Doe, it should be kicked by him. Why did it keep flipping in midair?
While everyone was wondering, the boat, which had been flipping all the time in the air, suddenly seemed to have eyes. Under the great impetus, it directly hit the White-dressed Man in the distance.
“Rat-a-tat…”
“Crack!”
The incoming sound waves hit the boat mercilessly, shattering the wooden boat and causing many holes.
“It’s him! It’s him!”
The crowd around the lake started.
As the boat moved forward, they got a clear view of what was behind it—Fang Qiu had actually controlled the boat. While using the wooden boat to resist the sound waves, he rushed at the White-dressed Man with great force, stepping on the water at full speed.
