Bring Sect Leader Lu's Goose Here

Pang Miaosong was so furious that her face turned iron-blue, and her eyes stabbed at Lu Bei like knives. Relying on his thick skin, he took it all without flinching and raised a hand in invitation.

Just then, booming laughter rang out, and a tower-like figure leaped onto the arena platform.

A rough, bearded old bruiser with a bear-like build, the sort whose fists could support a person—that was exactly the type he was.

"Who might you be?"

"Hanyue Sect, Du Jinglan."

"What? You're Sect Master Du?"

Lu Bei was stunned. Pointing at Pang Miaosong, whose face at the edge of the arena had turned black as the bottom of a pot, he asked in confusion, "If you're Sect Master Du, then who is she?"

"She is Sect Master Pang of the Shuiyue Sect. If we're talking about broad-mindedness, Sect Master Pang falls a little short of me. You mistook her for someone else." Du Jinglan spoke with confidence.

Those words from a top-tier steel-straight man made the seated Pang Miaosong tremble with rage. She warned herself not to stoop to arguing with a reckless brute, but the more she thought about it, the angrier she became. With a crack, she crushed her chair.

"Are you sure?" Lu Bei asked, astonished.

"Absolutely!"

"I don't believe you. Unless we compare right here." Lu Bei shook his head repeatedly. He was a man who clung to reason; without evidence, it was hard to convince him.

"Then let's compare. What's so difficult about that?"

Du Jinglan chuckled and shrugged off his shirt, revealing a body of astonishing, outrageously sculpted muscle. His dancing pectorals suddenly tensed, and purple qi poured out in an instant, making Lu Bei's expression change drastically.

He glanced at Pang Miaosong, let his gaze linger on the heavy artillery for several seconds, then compared it with Du Jinglan's. With an apologetic look, he said, "Not bad. Yours is bigger. You really are Sect Master Du. I mistook her for you just now."

"..." xN

The summit of Four Scenery Peaks fell deathly silent. Everyone stared dumbfoundedly at Lu Bei, who had said something so shocking, unable for a moment to tell whether he was truly stupid or merely pretending.

The female cultivators of the Shuiyue Sect were the exception. Each one was bristling with killing intent, their knife-sharp gazes pelting Lu Bei like rain.

Lu Bei felt very helpless. It wasn't what he wanted either, but that was how pulling aggro worked: when dealing taunting damage, it had to be fatal.

Looked at from another angle, he truly lived up to his reputation. He had won the people's hearts the moment he appeared, not only firmly attracting the attention of every young lady present but also capturing the heart of an older sister, who was determined to drag him along even in death.

"I've heard that Sect Leader Lu possesses extraordinary talent and has already achieved Foundation Establishment at such a young age. I've come especially to seek your guidance." Du Jinglan was brimming with fighting spirit as he strode toward Lu Bei.

"I wouldn't dare claim extraordinary talent. I was merely a little luckier than other people."

Lu Bei casually loosened his hands and feet, speaking plainly and honestly. "As for achieving Foundation Establishment at a young age, it's all right, I suppose. Doesn't everyone do it this way?"

"..." xN

The taunt meter was maxed out. The spectators' gazes changed along with it, and their shouts surged like waves. They all cheered Du Jinglan on, urging him to crush the demon of Sanqing Peak and restore a clear sky to Nine Bamboo Mountain.

Du Jinglan was oblivious to the support around him. Locking his eyes on Lu Bei, he said eagerly, like a hunter who had spotted his prey, "Sect Leader Lu, I'll make the first move."

As a fanatic for lifting weights, Du Jinglan belonged to the body-cultivator lineage. He was full of energy and extremely combative, but the Nine Bamboo Mountain faction had only two Foundation Establishment cultivators. Yang Fuliu was famous for not moving if he could avoid it.

It was like that saying: bullying weaklings was satisfying for a while, but afterward came nothing but emptiness. Du Jinglan had been holding it in for a long time. Now that he faced Lu Bei, whose cultivation realm matched his own, he could endure no longer. After hurriedly exchanging two polite words, he raised his hand and slammed a fist forward.

The instant he attacked, all the blood qi in his body erupted. As he exerted his strength, the green bricks beneath his feet shattered. His heavy fist cut a path ahead, and a fierce current of air roared down in rolling waves.

The brocade banners beside the arena were pulled taut by the force. Violent gales burst apart, and all the melon-eating spectators in front scattered and retreated. Several unlucky fools who were still cheering were stuffed full of the gale, gulping it down with a howl until their bellies were full.

The spectators who witnessed this scene were roused to great excitement. The demon might rise a foot, but the Dao rose ten; the demon's rampage was only temporary after all. Look—the fist of justice had descended to punish him.

"What a physique!"

Lu Bei faced the incoming fist head-on. His robe snapped in the wind as he stepped forward and bent his body, then shouted and swung his fist upward.

The confidence the Demon Slaying Scripture gave him meant that, among people of the same realm, he trusted himself to crush one opponent, two opponents, even a pair. Even if Du Jinglan specialized in body cultivation, Lu Bei had no fear of meeting him head-on.

Boom!!

The two fists collided. A massive wave of air surged in every direction, and the violent wind instantly drowned out the shouts around the arena. Everyone's faces went pale, feeling as though a heavy hammer had smashed their heads. Their ears rang, and several lower-level cultivators, having stood too close, had their blood and qi thrown into turmoil. They bent over and displayed that day's lunch menu to everyone.

"What's going on? Is he a body cultivator too?"

"He's incredible. He's a rotten person, but he really is incredible."

"Look! Sect Master Du was knocked back!"

On the arena, the instant their fists collided, Du Jinglan could not withstand the tremendous force crashing into him. Wide-eyed and tongue-tied, he retreated four or five steps before finally stopping.

Lu Bei remained in position, sliding three steps backward, and looked at Du Jinglan with a strange expression.

Not bad. That was some strength!

That exaggerated power far exceeded that of other Foundation Establishment cultivators, making him think of the players who suppressed their levels in the early game, frantically pouring points into their basic attributes until corpses lay strewn outside Novice Village.

Fortunately, it wasn't a problem. With the Demon Slaying Scripture's double allocation of points, Lu Bei didn't panic even when he encountered level-suppressing players. He shook out his aching fist and took several strides to arrive in front of Du Jinglan.

Lowering his waist,

stretching,

clenching his fist,

swinging his arm.

With 90 points of strength and 68 points of speed bolstering him, Lu Bei brought the essence of Lv5 Eight-Arm Fist into play. As afterimages of his arms danced, they transformed the void into reality, as if he truly possessed eight arms.

The pressure of the fists bore down on him. Du Jinglan's eyes reddened as the blood qi within him surged explosively. His blood flowed like a great river, his heartbeat boomed like a colossal drum, and he raised both fists to strike upward.

Bang bang bang----

On the arena, fierce winds howled and fist shadows stretched without end.

The air began to ripple like a rising tide. Explosions of airflow came one wave after another, shrieking like the cries of ghosts and forcing the melon-eating spectators to retreat again and again.

Du Jinglan was a step slower. His fists grew heavier and heavier, while Lu Bei was completely unaffected. He hammered Du Jinglan's fists back head-on, and the lingering force of his blows swept through everything like a withered forest before winter, leaving one sunken fist mark after another across Du Jinglan's chest, shoulders, abdomen, and arms.

Boom!!

Violent currents of air visibly billowed outward. Lu Bei withdrew his fist and exhaled, facing Du Jinglan, who had fought until his tendons and bones ached numb and his muscles twitched nonstop.

Lu Bei respected him as a true man and had avoided Du Jinglan's face when throwing his punches. Thus, although Du Jinglan looked miserable, he was not too disheveled. As for the superficial muscle pain, after resting for ten days or half a month, he would be lively again and able to return to lifting weights.

"Sect Leader Lu is a body cultivator? What fist technique do you practice?"

Du Jinglan asked uncertainly. If that were truly the case, he would visit Lu Bei every day from then on and work out together with him.

"No."

Lu Bei shook his head slightly. "My fists and feet are average. My blade technique is decent."

"So that's how it is..."

Du Jinglan smiled bitterly. Cultivation was like that. Some people casually practiced a little and rose high above others, while some people exhausted themselves and could only just manage to look up at them.

Fortunately, although he had suffered a crushing defeat today, trading blows flesh against flesh had been exhilarating.

"Comfortable."

Du Jinglan shouted, his muscles quivering all over as he charged at Lu Bei with a savage smile.

"Good!"

Lu Bei narrowed his eyes slightly. He would set aside the other peaks of Nine Bamboo Mountain for now, but he had remembered Du Jinglan of the Hanyue Sect on Eight Goose Peaks. He was a real character.

The skill Dark Tide activated.

Charge + Critical Hit!

Lu Bei swung a fist, and the bluestone ground beneath his feet suddenly shattered, countless cracks spreading outward.

Even though Du Jinglan had been prepared, the force of this punch still far exceeded his imagination. The instant they came into contact, his whole body seemed to come apart, and he wobbled through the air and flew off the arena.

Bang!

His three-hundred-pound body sank deep into the earth beside the arena. Behind him lay the utterly silent martial field of the Emei Sect. The expressions of the three guest sect masters nearest the arena shifted between light and dark. Du Jinglan, whose cultivation realm was the highest, had lost so cleanly that if they went up, they likely wouldn't even be able to salvage the last shred of their dignity.

Ding Lei looked utterly bereft. Seeing that the three sect masters remained motionless, he knew the outcome was decided: no one in Nine Bamboo Mountain could help him anymore.

He raised a hand and summoned a disciple, then sighed. "Go. Bring Sect Leader Lu's goose here."

"Three sect masters, Lu was fortunate enough to defeat Sect Master Du by a narrow margin. Who's next?" Seeing that no one spoke, Lu Bei took the initiative to challenge them.

"Sect Leader Lu, you're joking. The Dingwang Sect is an alchemy sect and isn't skilled in martial combat. I only came here to join the fun; I had no intention of determining superiority on the arena." Sect Master Liu Ao of the Dingwang Sect smiled humbly.

"The Feixue Sect is the same." Sect Master Lin Hong indicated that he was also only there to join the fun and had no intention of getting involved in the conflict between Sanqing Peak and Four Scenery Peaks.

Pang Miaosong kept a dark expression and said nothing. Lu Bei had mocked her relentlessly the moment he came up, leaving her with the least face in the entire arena. If she admitted defeat outright now, losing face would not matter, but the Shuiyue Sect would be reduced completely to a laughingstock of the Nine Bamboo Mountain faction.

Pang Miaosong gritted her teeth, rose, and walked toward the arena. "Shuiyue Sect, Pang Miaosong. I've come to seek Sect Leader Lu's guidance."

Lu Bei clasped his fists, his apology overflowing. "Sect Master Pang, my apologies. I was blind just now and mistook you for someone else. I meant nothing by it. Sect Master Pang is broad-minded—uh, magnanimous enough to... In short, you're a person of great tolerance. Please don't take it to heart."

Pang Miaosong: "..."

Lu Bei: "..."

Heaven knows, he truly hadn't been taunting her this time. It was the idiom's fault.