106 Chapter 1264: In the Ring 1 (1/2)
”It's Qian Xu's Three Arts of Assassination!”
”There should at least a hundred people who die from those three moves of his every year…”
”That can't be helped. His daggers are fast and vicious, making them extremely hard to guard against. Opponents of the same cultivation realm barely stand a chance against him!”
”That newcomer is a goner!”
…
The crowd remarked calmly as they watched the two daggers whizzing for Zhang Xuan.
While it was true that Qian Xu's strength was nothing compared to the Conqueror of Hundred, Hong Yang, he was still a famous figure in the underground black market.
He was renowned for the seemingly endless daggers he had on him, as well as his vicious Three Arts of Assassination. With just his superior mastery over those two things, he had been able to claim countless lives over the years.
Yet, that arrogant newcomer dared to provoke him head-on, inciting Qian Xu to use his strongest moves. With this, the guillotine had already been raised upon that newcomer's head.
With such thoughts in mind, the eyes of the crowd swiftly turned to the newcomer. Even as the two daggers were swiftly approaching him, the newcomer did not turn around at all, as if he was unaware of the threat right behind him.
Watching the sight, the scar-faced young man immediately spoke up anxiously, wanting to remind the newcomer. However, before he could say a word, the vision before him suddenly blurred.
He could not say for sure what exactly happened—it might have just been a figment of his imagination—but it seemed like the newcomer's foot had shot up to strike the daggers.
Wu!
In the next instant, the daggers abruptly turned around and flew back at a speed much faster from before.
Pu he!
”What?” Astonished, before Qian Xu could even react, the daggers had already plunged into his wrists.
Hu!
The sheer momentum of the daggers sent Qian Xu flying all the way back until his wrists were firmly pinned onto the wall by the daggers, forming a cross. Qian Xu struggled with all his might, but he found that the daggers were simply too firmly lodged into the wall, such that he could not free himself.
”What in the world…”
”With just a slight kick, not only did he neutralize Qian Xu's daggers, he even returned it to Qian Xu and pinned him against the wall? Just how powerful can that newcomer be?”
”That newcomer is really no ordinary figure? Will the black market find itself another Conqueror of Ten soon?”
”It's still too early to say, but with just that hand, that newcomer should have no trouble winning seven to eight matches!”
…
Watching as Qian Xu howled in agony on the wall, the crowd felt their hair standing on end.
Although that brief encounter was not sufficient for them to analyze how powerful the newcomer was, the fact that he was able to subdue Qian Xu so easily was more than enough to say that he was not an opponent to be underestimated.
Perhaps, he could very well be crowned the next Conqueror of Ten.
”Interesting.”
By the corner, Hong Yang took a glance at the departing back of the newcomer before closing his eyes once more.
The counterattack that the newcomer had launched earlier might have seemed impressive, but to him, it was truly nothing at all.
Even if he could not subdue Qian Xu with a single punch, all he would have to do was smash another one in.
…
The ring was not too big, and its perimeter had been secured by a unique formation, forming something similar to a cage. Once a challenger entered the ring, he would not be able to escape until the end of the battle.
”Sign this Life-and-Death Contract first.”
Before Zhang Xuan could step into the ring, a member of the Ring of Death's staff standing in front of the ring passed a parchment over to him.
Zhang Xuan lowered his head to swiftly browse through the contract before sealing it with a droplet of his blood. Following which, as if some kind of seal around him had been released, he heard thunderous cheers from the surrounding crowd.
Raising his head, he saw that the spectator stand was fully filled with roughly five to six hundred people. There were people from all walks of life, be it male or female, old or young. Every single one of them had eyes that were crimson from the irrepressible excitement within them.
It seems like the thrill of watching a life-and-death battle really does appeal to many. Above that, from spectating this kind of duel, they can also gain some insights into battle as well, Zhang Xuan thought.
In life-and-death battles, cultivators would be pushed to their very limits, forcing them to show their strongest hands for survival. Such intense battles could be beneficial in providing inspiration to other cultivators as to how they could further refine their fighting prowess.
Perhaps, this might even have been the biggest reason the black market was able to grow to such a massive scale.
By the time Zhang Xuan stepped onto the stage, a young man was already standing on the opposite side with his hands wrapped around his chest. Nonchalance and loftiness could be seen in his eyes, as if this battle was nothing more than a show for him.
The young man seemed to be the opponent for this round, Meng Fuxing.
”Alright, let's not waste our time dawdling over here and end it quickly.” Taking a rough calculation of the current time, Zhang Xuan noted that he did not have much time before the auction started. Unwilling to waste even a second, he stretched his back lazily before clasping his fist. ”Pardon me.”
Hu!
In the blink of an eye, Zhang Xuan's figure suddenly materialized right before the young man, and his arm darted forward to strike the latter.
The strength behind this move was not too strong, but the young man felt as if a massive net was closing in on him, preventing him from escaping at all.
Not expecting Zhang Xuan to make a move against him so abruptly, the young man widened his eyes in shock. ”You… I am not…”
He immediately attempted to sidestep to dodge the attack, but to his horror, he found himself unable to move properly, as if he was standing in marshland.
Pah!
Zhang Xuan's palm connected with the young man's face, and a crisp echo resounded throughout the ring. Before the young man could speak, he had already collapsed on the ground, knocked out.
He had thought it through prior to entering the ring. Since he could not intentionally let him opponent off, he would just have to knock the other party out.
A knock out could also be considered incapacitated, so naturally, the match would have to be judged as his victory.
After knocking out the young man, Zhang Xuan waited for a long moment, but no one declared the results of the duel. Perplexed, he placed his hands behind his back and asked, ”I should have won for the first match, right?”
Still silence.
Confused, Zhang Xuan took a look at his surroundings. To his bewilderment, the crowd from before had fallen completely silent, and their excited expressions had been replaced with flabbergasted ones instead.
Zhang Jiuxiao was also amid the crowd, and his palm was slapped onto his face. He kept trying to shout something, but due to the various impeding formations between them, Zhang Xuan was unable to hear a word at all.
”What's wrong?” Seeing that the crowd was reacting in a manner contrary to what he had expected, Zhang Xuan was bewildered. Just as he was about to speak, the formation to the ring suddenly opened up, and another young man walked in. Upon seeing the fainted person on the ground, he widened his eyes in astonishment.
”Are you my second opponent?”
In order to become the Conqueror of Ten, one had to defeat ten opponents consecutively. In Zhang Xuan's view, the young man who had just entered was likely his second opponent.