War God

Among warriors, schemes, dirty tricks, surprise moves, and hidden attacks were all fair game. No one would call it despicable to strike someone by surprise.

But he'd never seen anyone make a thousand spectators the butt of a joke just to seize the initiative.

"Shameless!"

"Despicable!"

"Underhanded scoundrel!"

Waves of jeers roared down, accompanied by shouts as silver coins, water bottles, lunch boxes, and even rouge pouches and jewelry cases rained from above.

Gao Pan was overwhelmed with grief and indignation. A stampede of mud horses galloped through his heart. He wanted to howl at the heavens. He wasn't angry that Xu Yi had ambushed him; he resented that Xu Yi had hogged all the chance to show off, without leaving him even a sliver.

But Xu Yi only cared about winning. He couldn't care less what anyone else thought. Having seized the initiative with one move, he pressed his advantage with every move, striking straight at Gao Pan's weak points.

Gao Pan truly deserved his reputation as a fighter who had fought eight consecutive matches in the ring. Though caught off guard, he responded swiftly, focusing entirely on defense—and managed to hold firm without leaving a single opening.

"You despicable bastard! How dare you ambush me? I'll make sure you die a horrible death!"

After catching his breath, Gao Pan launched into a tirade.

But Xu Yi had nerves of steel. How could a few words distract him? The thunderous curses from the stands might as well have been cheers spurring him on. He simply focused on hammering Gao Pan with his fists.

Gao Pan kept cursing for a while. When his opponent didn't respond at all and the attacks only grew faster, he flew into a rage and roared, "So you just want to see who's stronger? Don't think I'm afraid of you!"

Gao Pan was strong and powerfully built. In sheer size, he was almost twice Xu Yi's size—a physique that usually marked a strength-type fighter among warriors. Gao Pan was the undisputed king of them.

He had fought eight matches in the ring. In only three had he actually used his silver spear. In the other five, he had relied on nothing but his fists, beating his opponents to a pulp.

Gao Pan's words were clearly carried by the sound-gathering array to every spectator. Another huge wave of cheers surged through the arena, as countless people roared, "Beat him to death! Beat him to death..."

One voice called, and ten thousand answered. Gao Pan was ecstatic. He raised one arm to protect his face, then stopped blocking with the other, freeing it for a strike.

Boom!

Xu Yi's fist landed squarely on Gao Pan's chest. The powerful blow made his breastplate ring with a piercing clang, while a flash of green Qi flickered across Gao Pan's face. His body didn't even falter.

Xu Yi silently cursed his luck. He realized Gao Pan's golden armor was no ordinary item, and his heart sank.

"Runt, you think you can hurt me? Die!"

Gao Pan bellowed. His massive fist rippled the air. "Armor Breaking Fist!"

The punch was fearsome. Xu Yi didn't dare take it head-on, twisting his body to dodge.

Boom!

The vicious fist slammed into the floor, forged from refined Heavy Iron steel, and left a shallow dent.

The whole arena erupted in thunderous cheers!

Pleased with himself for forcing Xu Yi back, Gao Pan didn't stop moving. He dashed toward the silver spear.

He had taken fewer than two steps when Xu Yi blocked his path again, those hateful fists coming straight at him.

After exchanging blows for a while, Gao Pan took another hit from Xu Yi, then unleashed a mighty Armor Breaking Fist to force him back and sprinted for the silver spear once more.

But no matter how hard he tried, he never made it more than two steps before Xu Yi was on him again.

Gao Pan was utterly frustrated. He had never seen such a shameless fighting style. The stands were in an uproar, too, with people cursing, "That Yi fellow has no shame!"

But that Yi fellow saw nothing wrong with it. He'd rather save his life than his face.

Xu Yi's relentless entangling had stoked Gao Pan's fury, and he was growing impatient. He knew this couldn't go on. The Armor Breaking Fist was powerful, but it consumed a great deal of stamina. His opponent was astonishingly agile, and since the technique had failed to land a decisive blow, keeping this up would only exhaust him to death. His thoughts turned, and he shouted, "You son of a bitch! You want to trade punches, runt? Then let's go all the way! Whoever gives out first is a goddamn turtle!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he stopped blocking altogether. With a nimble roll of his shoulders, he drove both fists toward Xu Yi's chest and stomach.

The stands answered with even louder shouts: "Whoever gives out first is a goddamn turtle!"

"Then bring it on!"

Xu Yi also dropped his guard and drove both fists into Gao Pan's abdomen.

Thud! Thud!

Thud! Thud!

They both landed punches at the same time, then staggered apart, their bodies a few yards from each other. Gao Pan's golden armor rang out sharply, while Xu Yi's body seemed to have honed his body-tempering arts to the utmost—he stood like deadwood, silent and unmoving.

"So you came prepared, too!"

Gao Pan stared coldly at Xu Yi. A veteran of a hundred battles, he knew the strength of his own fists. No ordinary body-tempering technique could withstand them, so he concluded that Xu Yi must also be wearing a precious suit of armor.

Instead of worrying, Gao Pan was delighted. He had figured out Xu Yi's strategy: rely on his agility and protective armor to stay close and brawl, then seize victory amid the chaos.

This wasn't Gao Pan's preferred fighting style, but his opponent was remarkably agile and had resorted to trickery, knocking the silver spear from his hand right at the start. Now Gao had no choice but to fight on Xu Yi's terms.

But that Yi fellow was still too inexperienced. He didn't understand that no amount of schemes and dirty tricks could make up for a gap in strength.

Wasn't this just a contest over whose armor was tougher and whose fists were harder? There was no way an Alchemy Hall low-grade magic robe worth two thousand gold pieces would lose to that Yi fellow's fists.

As for their fists, Gao Pan refused to believe anyone at the Body Tempering Peak could beat him.

All these calculations flashed through Gao Pan's mind in an instant. As soon as he'd made up his mind, he charged first.

Xu Yi neither dodged nor retreated, and the two were locked in a brawl once more.

At first, both still guarded themselves and even tried to catch the other in the unarmored face. But after a few exchanges, they abandoned the idea of sneak attacks and focused entirely on trading blows.

They threw hundreds of punches in a row, neither dodging nor retreating, simply meeting each other head-on—fist against fist, or fist against flesh.

Both completely abandoned technique, making it a pure contest of strength and will. This ferocious fighting style completely overturned the spectators' expectations.

In past arena matches, regardless of the fighters' levels, the combatants had always traded spear and sword blows, with flashy techniques appearing one after another. Never before had they seen anything like this, with every punch landing solidly, as if two savage gods were battling. The sight made their blood surge.

The cheering never let up for even a moment. Before long, the whole arena was chanting in unison, "Long live Gao, the War God!"

It was no wonder the spectators overwhelmingly backed Gao Pan. For one thing, his odds of winning had been countless times higher than Xu Yi's from the start. For another, Xu Yi's shameless ambush had cost him the last of his support. Even the young ladies who had initially liked his handsome looks had switched sides en masse.

The battle raged like fire, and the cheers surged like a tide. Golden sunlight fell upon Gao Pan's towering figure, setting his golden armor ablaze and making him look ever more like a war god descended into the mortal world.

But who could have known how terrified and anxious Gao, the War God, truly felt deep down?

If he could, he would have roared at the stands, "War God your mother!" He desperately wanted to abandon this fighting style, but the damned, clueless idiots in the stands had boxed him into it. He couldn't back out even if he wanted to.