The next day, early morning,
Jiang Liu woke up from his meditation, washed up, ate breakfast, chatted for a while, and then left the gate of Ascension Tower with Murong Yin, heading towards Hundred Flowers Street. Cuier and a manager of Ascension Tower followed behind them.
We encountered more and more people along the way, all of them talking about it.
"There's another martial arts competition to watch today!"
"What competition? Wasn't yesterday's competition over?"
"Yesterday's was initiated by Xiahou Yi! Today's was initiated by Jia Lou of the Lotus Sect!"
"Jia Lou? You mean Jia Lou, the one whose fiancée was stolen?"
"You know about this too?"
"Who doesn't know? This story originated from the Plum Blossom Sect."
"Haha! This Lotus Sect is really interesting. People say you shouldn't wash your dirty linen in public, but they're like this, they want the whole of Yunzhou to know!"
"Who says it isn't! By the way, how is this martial arts competition related to this?"
"I heard that Jia Lou went to challenge the grandson-in-law of the Feng Family, which is why this martial arts competition happened. How come you didn't hear about it? Then what are you doing here?"
"I saw a lot of people running here, so I came to check it out! Where did this news come from?"
"Who else could it be? Wasn't it spread by the Lotus Sect itself?"
"Jia Lou probably wanted to save face by doing this."
"Trying to save face, aren't you afraid of losing even more and becoming even more humiliated?"
"Do you think Jia Lou is stupid? Would he challenge someone if he wasn't confident? Jia Lou is Core Disciple of the Lotus Sect! How could his strength be lacking?"
"Besides, this challenge is against an unknown nobody! How could he lose?"
"That's true! Then let's wait and see!"
"I'd like to see where Jia Lou will put his face after he loses."
Haha! Me too!
Before long, Jiang Liu, Murong Yin, and the others arrived at the Hundred Flowers Arena with the crowd.
This Hundred Flowers Street is similar to the Wine Blossom Street in Wind City, but the street here is wider and seems to be a bit longer.
There was a ring set up in the middle of the street. This ring was usually used to resolve conflicts between drunk people who caused trouble. It wasn't a formal fighting ring.
Perhaps Jia Lou was greedy for the large number of people here? That way, if he won, he could quickly wash away the ridicule he had been made of.
Jiang Liu saw that Jia Lou and the others had arrived and were standing on the other side.
The person next to Jia Lou saw Jiang Liu arrive and immediately gave Jia Lou a push Jia Lou looked up, saw Jiang Liu, and immediately jumped onto the stage.
With high spirits, he said to Jiang Liu, "Now that you're here, let's begin!"
Jiang Liu said to Jia Lou, "Don't rush, let's cash out the bet first!"
Jia Lou nodded, then turned to his senior brother and said, "Senior Brother Zhang, could you please give the beast core to the manager of the Ascension Tower?"
Senior Brother Zhang nodded, took out a cloth bag, and handed the bag full of beast cores to the steward of Ascension Tower who had come with Murong Yin.
The steward took the bag, opened it, counted the contents, and then nodded to Jiang Liu.
Upon seeing this, Jiang Liu immediately stepped onto the arena without hesitation and stood calmly and composed.
Immediately, an uproar erupted from the audience. This was the person who was going to challenge Jia Lou? He wasn't that great, was he? Why did the Feng Family choose him instead of Jia Lou?
Cuier shouted loudly, "Young master, defeat him!"
Murong Yin glared at Cuier, and seeing that she didn't react, he simply twisted Cuier's ear, and Cuier finally calmed down.
Those around them were completely baffled. Why was the person from the Ascension Tower calling the man upstairs "son-in-law"? Wasn't he engaged to the Feng Family?
Before long, a murmur of whispers spread throughout the surrounding area.
Jiang Liu didn't care about the commotion below; he just kept looking at Jia Lou.
Upon seeing Jiang Liu approach, Jia Lou immediately clasped his hands in a fist salute and said, "Please enlighten me!"
Jiang Liu returned the greeting with his hands clasped in a fist salute.
Seeing that Jiang Liu had returned the greeting, Jia Lou immediately stepped forward, drew the long sword hanging at his waist, channeled his vital energy into the sword, and launched an attack on Jiang Liu with a move called "Plum Blossom Probe".
Jiang Liu moved with Elusive Shadows, dodging the attack in a flash, then unleashed a punch that sent Jia Lou flying into the air. Jiang Liu then lightly kicked out, sending Jia Lou flying off the stage.
Jiang Liu had no interest in wasting time on this match that was like playing with children. He knocked Jia Lou unconscious with an Exploding Fist and then gently kicked him off the stage, which was more than enough.
After all, the two didn't have any deep-seated hatred, and it wouldn't be appropriate to kill him in front of everyone. Jiang Liu then turned and left the arena, leading Murong Yin and the others away.
The spectators below the stage were dumbfounded. This was too exaggerated. Jia Lou was a Seventh Grade expert after all!
Forget about fighting back, he couldn't even withstand a single move from the opponent. With this level of strength, how dare he challenge them? What's wrong with him?
Luckily, they were magnanimous and showed mercy, otherwise I might have lost my life!
Jiang Liu's name spread like wildfire throughout Hundred Flowers Street.
Jia Lou, meanwhile, followed his fellow disciples back to the Lotus Sect's headquarters in a disheveled state, not daring to lift his head the entire way.
Cuier chattered incessantly as she circled around Jiang Liu, saying, "Young Master is so amazing! That kick was so cool!" She then stared at Jiang Liu like a lovesick fool.
Murong Yin, annoyed, shoved Cuier back to his side. He then scolded her, "What kind of behavior is this? If you keep acting like this, I'll abandon you!"
Cuier immediately wilted and silently followed them back to Ascension Tower.
After returning to Ascension Tower, Jiang Liu went straight to the backyard. Before entering, the manager of Ascension Tower handed Jiang Liu the bag containing the beast cores. Jiang Liu took it and thanked him. The manager replied that it was no trouble and left.
Jiang Liu, carrying a cloth bag, led the way to the backyard, with Cuier quickly following. Murong Yin, on the other hand, headed towards the top of the Ascension Tower.
Jiang Liu returned to his room, took out the beast core, and began to absorb and cultivate. Immediately, a rich energy was drawn out from the beast core. Jiang Liu had not experienced such a rich energy cultivation speed for almost a month.
He immediately began to absorb the energy comfortably, holding a beast core in each hand to cultivate.
It was only then that the story of Jiang Liu's duel on Hundred Flowers Street officially spread among the various factions, because according to reports from those who witnessed the battle, Jiang Liu possessed at least the strength of a ninth-rank expert; otherwise, he could not have defeated Jia Lou so easily.
Jiang Liu looked to be at most twenty years old. For such a young ninth-rank expert, his potential was considerable. Moreover, his actual combat strength was so formidable.
Immediately, many forces turned their attention to the Ascension Tower, wanting to find out the origin of this Jiang Liu.
In the council hall of the Feng Family, after listening to the steward's report, Feng Boxing pondered for a moment and said, "I never expected that my younger brother would find such a good grandson-in-law! Send someone to Ascension Tower to contact Jiang Liu and see if he has any ideas about representing the Feng Family in the battle."
"Yes, sir!" the steward said and left the council hall.
Feng Boxing's gaze was deep. Thinking of how disappointing his grandson was, while his younger brother's grandson-in-law was so outstanding, he couldn't help but sigh inwardly.