"Yo—"
Hearing what Li Fei said, Sister Hua immediately mocked him sarcastically:
"What a big mouth you have. You might not even be qualified to kneel down and make money in this fortress, and you want to make money standing up?"
"Cut the crap. Are we fighting or not?"
Li Fei looked at her with disgust.
Sister Hua's expression turned cold. In a shrill voice, she said, "Fine. Let's fight!"
"How much for one match?"
"If you can win, I'll add fifty yuan on top of the original prize money!"
"Good. Let's go."
The two settled the match in just a few words, leaving Liu San'er to watch helplessly from the side.
The four of them then headed together toward the area where the Yellow Rank Boxing Stage was located.
Every boxing stage in Qingyuan Fist Fortress was set up inside its own tent. The four of them soon arrived outside one, from within came constant shouts:
"Beat him to death!"
"Hit him, hit him, hit him!"
"Good—"
"."
Li Fei looked up. A wooden sign hung at the tent entrance, bearing the words, "Yellow Rank Stage Seven."
"Sister Hua, bringing in a newcomer?"
When the person standing guard outside the tent saw Sister Hua, he asked with a fawning grin.
"Mm. Arrange a match for me as soon as possible. These two are fighting."
Sister Hua pointed at Li Fei and the fighter she had brought.
"Sure thing. Come on in."
After entering the tent, they saw a square boxing stage standing one meter high in the very center, surrounded by a wire fence.
Two bare-chested men without any protective gear were fighting on the stage. Both had blood on their hands and faces.
Bare-knuckle fighting was completely different from fighting with gloves. Here, almost every punch drew blood!
Tiered spectator stands surrounded the stage, packed with people shouting at the top of their lungs. The smells of smoke, sweat, foot odor, and blood mingled together, making the air unbearably foul.
Li Fei and the strong man as black as a tower were first taken to the registration desk backstage. The two of them needed to register their identities.
"What's your name?"
The person holding the roster looked up and asked Li Fei.
Liu San'er hurriedly explained beside him, "Every fighter who gets onstage has to give himself a nickname. Pick one too. It'll make things easier."
"Blue-Faced Ghost."
Li Fei spoke in a low voice.
The Azure Ghoul Mask gleamed beneath the dim yellow lights.
The registrar glanced at the Azure Ghoul Mask Li Fei was wearing and said nothing. He wrote the words Blue-Faced Ghost in the roster, then filled in Liu San'er as the manager in the column behind it.
When it was time to register the black-towered strongman, the registrar's attitude became noticeably more enthusiastic.
"Black Mountain."
The black-towered strongman gave his alias.
"Put the two of them in the next match."
After registration was complete, Sister Hua spoke up.
"No problem."
The person responsible for arranging the matches immediately agreed.
They then had to wait. Liu San'er seized the time to explain the rules of the boxing stage to Li Fei:
"There are several kinds of matches here. The most common is boxing, where neither side wears any protective gear and they decide the winner with their bare hands. There are also weapon matches, where both sides use weapons to determine the victor. The most brutal is the death match, where one side has to die. The Yellow Rank Boxing Stage only allows the most common kind of boxing. There are no restrictions on the rules. The match only ends when one side voluntarily admits defeat or loses the ability to fight.
"So when you go up there later, either make your opponent lose the ability to fight and have the referee declare you the winner, or wait for your opponent to surrender. If you haven't heard the referee declare victory or your opponent admit defeat, you absolutely must not stop. Keep hitting!"
Li Fei nodded and asked,
"Can fighters place bets?"
He believed that a place like this definitely had betting. Qingyuan Fist Fortress could not possibly rely mainly on admission fees from spectators. Its main income had to come from fight betting.
Liu San'er nodded. "You can bet, but you can only bet on yourself to win."
"Good. Take it all and bet on me to win later."
Li Fei pulled out a stack of banknotes and handed them to Liu San'er.
Liu San'er took the money and counted it. There was sixty yuan in all, and he could not help being startled. "Wait, brother, you're betting this big?"
At the Yellow Rank Boxing Stage, a fighter's prize for winning a match was five to ten yuan, depending on the opponent.
Li Fei had suddenly taken out sixty yuan to bet, so he was indeed betting very heavily.
"Just take it and bet on me to win."
Li Fei said it plainly.
"All right. Be careful. If you really can't beat him, surrender."
Liu San'er shook his head and sighed.
A few minutes later, the two fighters onstage produced a winner. One of them had been beaten bloody and was lying unconscious as the referee at ringside announced the victory.
Some people in the surrounding stands cheered, while others cursed loudly.
"Everyone!"
A host climbed into the ring and shouted, "The next match is a Breaking Debut Battle between two newcomers. Let's welcome them into the ring!"
Soon, Li Fei and Black Mountain both climbed onto the stage.
The spectators did not find it particularly strange to see Li Fei wearing a mask. Quite a few fighters in Qingyuan Fist Fortress liked wearing masks or strange outfits to raise their fame.
"Standing on my left, with the nickname Blue-Faced Ghost. One look at his mask tells you how fitting it is."
"Standing on my right, with the nickname Black Mountain. Wow, with that physique, he really does look like a black mountain."
"All right, everyone has three minutes to place your bets."
Since they were both newcomers with no past records, the spectators could only judge who was stronger by their appearances.
Black Mountain's physique and steady bearing made him look reliable at a glance, so many spectators chose to bet on him.
Following Li Fei's instructions, Liu San'er bet all sixty yuan on Blue-Faced Ghost to win.
After placing the bet, for some reason, he remembered Li Fei's words about making money standing up. As if possessed, he pulled twenty yuan from his pocket and bet that Blue-Faced Ghost would win as well.
"Yo, feeling that confident, are you? Betting that much?"
Seeing the stack of tickets in Liu San'er's hand, Sister Hua sneered. "I'd like to see just how capable this newcomer you found really is!"
Liu San'er clenched the tickets in his hand and gritted his teeth without saying a word.
Three minutes later, betting ended, and the referee announced the start of the match.
"Hit him!"
"Beat him to death!"
A tremendous roar erupted from the entire arena.
Amid such an atmosphere, Black Mountain was not affected in the slightest. He stared steadily at Li Fei.
Li Fei, meanwhile, struck impatiently.
"Pfft—"
Sister Hua below the stage could not help letting out a mocking laugh. Liu San'er also looked worried, feeling that Li Fei was being too reckless.
Onstage, Li Fei drove a straight punch toward Black Mountain's chest. His opponent raised an arm to block.
Bang! With a muffled impact, Black Mountain staggered backward.
"Whoa—"
Gasps rang out through the arena.
Judging by their builds, Li Fei was a head shorter than Black Mountain and much thinner. Nobody had expected him to unleash such tremendous strength.
Li Fei stepped forward and continued punching. Black Mountain's eyes flashed with astonishment. He no longer dared to take Li Fei's punches head-on, so he nimbly slipped to the side, then reached out with both hands to seize Li Fei's arm.
He specialized in close-quarters grappling and throws. As long as he got hold of his opponent's arm, the fight had entered his domain!
The next second, Black Mountain's hands clamped firmly around Li Fei's right arm.
His eyes lit up. The move he had practiced tens of thousands of times sprang into action by instinct. He yanked Li Fei's arm forward with both hands while swiftly turning around, pressing his back against Li Fei as he prepared to execute a vicious shoulder throw.
During his usual training, Black Mountain could yank up and slam down a two-hundred-pound sandbag in a single second! The boxing stage beneath their feet was concrete. If someone were slammed hard onto such a surface, the mildest outcome would be shattered bones and snapped tendons!
Just as Black Mountain exerted his strength, Li Fei braced his left hand against Black Mountain's waist. At the same time, a powerful force surged from Li Fei's right arm, preventing Black Mountain's sudden burst of strength from budging him.
Black Mountain tried to exert himself again, but Li Fei's right hand had already twisted around and seized his wrist. He suddenly dragged it to the right, while his left hand, pressed against Black Mountain's waist, shoved with force and tripped his foot.
Bang! Black Mountain was yanked forward and fell face-first onto the ground.
He reacted quickly, immediately planting both hands on the ground and trying to push himself up.
But Li Fei's hand pressed down on his back like a mountain bearing down on him, preventing him from rising.
Then Li Fei swiftly smashed a hard elbow into the back of Black Mountain's neck.
Bang! Like an iron hammer striking the floor, Black Mountain sprawled motionless on the ground, knocked unconscious in a single blow.
Only after doing all this did Li Fei slowly rise to his feet.
After several seconds, once it was clear that Black Mountain was not moving, the referee at ringside announced the result:
"Blue-Faced Ghost wins!"