The arena stood tall before the martial arts hall's training grounds.
This was the fixed venue for the Martial Arts Competition. The arena was one zhang high and ten zhang across, its surface paved with bluestone slabs already dyed dark red by the blood of generations of disciples.
The area beneath the arena was packed with people.
Outer-court disciples, servants, and even several inner-court disciples stood in the distance, watching.
Zhou Peng stood on the eastern side of the arena with several lackeys at his side, looking toward Li Xuan with a cold sneer.
Li Xuan stood among the servants, holding an ordinary steel saber. Zhang He and the others had pooled their money to buy it from a blacksmith's shop. It had cost two taels of silver.
"Li Xuan," Zhang He said quietly, "how about... forgetting it? Look at Zhou Peng's eyes. He clearly wants you dead."
"I know," Li Xuan said.
"Then why are you still..."
"If I don't step onto the arena, will he let me live?" Li Xuan shot back.
Zhang He was instantly rendered speechless.
"Don't worry." Li Xuan patted him on the shoulder. "I won't die."
Even Li Xuan himself did not believe those words.
But he felt he had to say something.
"Silence!"
Steward Zhao walked out onto the arena and spoke in a booming voice. "The rules for today's Martial Arts Competition are as follows: servants may challenge outer-court disciples. Win, and you advance. Lose... and life or death will be disregarded!"
The crowd below erupted in an uproar.
Life or death disregarded? This time, they were playing for real!
"First match." Steward Zhao opened the register. "The servant Li Xuan challenges the outer-court disciple Wang Mang!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a hulking man leaped onto the arena.
He stood eight chi tall, with the back of a tiger and the waist of a bear. Muscles bulged all over his body, making him look like a human-shaped savage bear.
Wang Mang.
He stared at Li Xuan below and grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth. "Boy, get up here and meet your death."
Li Xuan tightened his grip on the saber and climbed onto the arena one step at a time.
A dull ache came from the wound in his left arm.
But his steps were steady.
On the arena, the two stood facing each other.
"Wang Mang, Body Tempering third layer." Wang Mang cupped his fists, his voice rumbling like thunder.
"Li Xuan, servant." Li Xuan returned the salute.
"Begin!"
The instant Steward Zhao spoke, Wang Mang moved.
He had no intention of testing the waters. He went straight for a killing move!
Both fists shot out together, howling through the air as they aimed directly for Li Xuan's face and chest.
Fast! Ruthless!
Li Xuan twisted aside to evade them, then brought his steel saber down at an angle.
Wind Breaking Style!
The saber-light flashed like lightning, cleaving toward Wang Mang's arm.
Wang Mang neither dodged nor evaded. He took the blow with his left arm.
The blade struck his arm with the clang of metal against metal, leaving behind nothing more than a white mark.
"Hardening techniques?" someone below exclaimed.
"Not just that! Wang Mang practices the Iron Arm Technique. Both his arms are as hard as steel!"
Li Xuan's heart sank.
This is troublesome.
Wang Mang gave a feral grin. "Is that all?"
He strode forward, both fists raining down like a violent storm.
Li Xuan could only dodge.
But the arena was limited in size, and he was soon forced into a corner.
"Die!"
Wang Mang smashed a fist toward Li Xuan's temple.
If that punch landed solidly, his head would burst apart.
At the critical moment, Li Xuan twisted at the waist and slid past Wang Mang's arm, his body pressed close to it. At the same time, he swept the steel saber upward toward Wang Mang's armpit.
The armpit was the weak point of the Iron Arm Technique!
Wang Mang's expression changed, and he hurriedly retreated.
But the blade still sliced across his armpit, leaving behind a bloody gash.
"Good!"
Someone below shouted in approval.
Wang Mang lowered his head and looked at the wound. His gaze turned vicious. "You're courting death!"
He suddenly pulled a red pill from his robes and stuffed it into his mouth.
"That is..." Steward Zhao's expression changed.
But it was already too late to stop him.
Wang Mang swallowed the pill, and the skin all over his body instantly flushed red. His veins bulged, and his eyes filled with blood.
The Mad Blood Pill!
The medicine's effects had taken hold!
"Roar—!"
Wang Mang let out a howl that sounded nothing like a human voice. His entire body swelled by a full circle, his muscles rising in lumps as if they were about to burst.
His strength soared!
He took one step forward, and the bluestone slabs beneath his feet cracked apart!
"Die!"
A fist thundered toward him, the pressure of its wind choking off Li Xuan's breath.
I can't take it head-on!
Li Xuan clenched his teeth and unleashed the Wind Breaking Style with all his strength. Saber-light spread like a net as he tried to block it.
Clang, clang, clang, clang!
Seven saber strikes in a row all landed on Wang Mang's fist.
But the blade could not break through his defense at all. Instead, the impact split Li Xuan's tiger's mouth, and the steel saber nearly flew from his grasp.
"Too weak!" Wang Mang roared with laughter before throwing another punch.
This punch was faster and more ferocious!
Li Xuan could not evade it and could only use the saber's flat to block.
The steel saber was bent by the punch. Li Xuan's entire body flew backward and slammed into a pillar at the edge of the arena, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
His ribs were broken.
At least three of them.
"Li Xuan!" Zhang He roared from below.
Zhou Peng laughed, his laughter filled with satisfaction.
It was over.
Wang Mang walked over step by step, like a cat toying with a mouse. "Boy, do you have any last words?"
Li Xuan leaned against the pillar and stood up, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth.
He looked at the curved saber in his hand, then at the panel.
[Potential: 0.12]
Put it all into strength!
[Strength: 1.22→1.34]
Not enough!
It was still far from enough!
Li Xuan's eyes reddened.
To hell with it!
He drew a deep breath, mobilized the blood and qi throughout his body, and frantically circulated it along the route of the Blade Breaking Saber Technique.
The second form—Flow Severing!
He had not mastered this form at all. Forcing it might sever every meridian in his body.
But there was no time to care about that!
"Kill—!"
Li Xuan roared as his entire body shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow.
The curved saber rose high, a faint blood-colored radiance appearing across its blade.
That was the sign of burning blood and qi!
"Struggling at death's door." Wang Mang sneered and threw a punch.
Fist against saber!
A head-on collision!
Everyone thought Li Xuan was certain to die.
But at the instant fist and saber met—
Li Xuan's saber momentum changed.
It was not a slash, but a thrust!
The tip of the saber pierced precisely into the gap in Wang Mang's fist. That was the weakest point of the Iron Arm Technique!
Squish!
The tip sank into flesh and pierced straight through the back of his hand!
"Ah—!" Wang Mang screamed.
But Li Xuan did not stop.
He gripped the saber's hilt and twisted with all his strength!
The blade churned inside Wang Mang's arm, severing tendons and fracturing bone!
Wang Mang's entire body convulsed from the pain. He reached for Li Xuan's head with his other hand.
But Li Xuan was faster.
He abandoned the saber, closed the distance, and thrust the fingers of his right hand like a blade viciously into the wound beneath Wang Mang's armpit—
That spot was already injured, making its defenses weakest!
His fingers sank three inches into the flesh!
Li Xuan seized one of the bones and bent it with all his strength!
Crack!
The collarbone broke!
Wang Mang let out a shrill scream, and his entire body went limp.
Li Xuan pulled out his fingers, his hand covered in blood.
He staggered backward and leaned against the pillar, gasping heavily.
The wound in his left arm had split open, and blood gushed out.
Three ribs were broken, and every breath brought stabbing pain.
But he was still standing.
Wang Mang lay on the ground, his entire body twitching as blood foam spilled from his mouth.
The effects of the Mad Blood Pill had passed, and the backlash had arrived.
He was crippled.
The area beneath the arena fell deathly silent.
Everyone looked at Li Xuan as if they were looking at a monster.
A servant had defeated a Body Tempering third-layer disciple who had taken the Mad Blood Pill?
How was that possible?
"The victor..." Steward Zhao drew a deep breath. "Li Xuan!"
Whoosh—
The crowd below exploded.
The servants cheered, while the disciples stared in shock.
Zhou Peng's face turned livid, and his fists clenched with a crackling sound.
Useless!
Every last one of them is useless!
Li Xuan bent down and picked up the curved saber from the ground before walking off the arena one step at a time.
Every step felt like he was walking on the edge of a blade.
But his back remained ramrod straight.
When he passed by Zhou Peng, he stopped.
"Senior Brother Zhou," Li Xuan said, his voice hoarse. "Thank you for letting me win."
Those two words were like two slaps, lashing across Zhou Peng's face.
Zhou Peng's eyes brimmed with venom, but he said nothing.
Li Xuan left.
Zhang He and Wang Laoshi supported him as they headed for the clinic.
Behind them, cheers surged like a rising tide.
From that day on, the name Li Xuan spread throughout the martial arts school.
At the clinic.
Li Xuan lay on the bed while a clinic disciple set his bones.
"Three broken ribs, and the wound on your left arm has split open again. You've lost too much blood." The disciple shook his head. "You'll have to stay in bed for at least a month."
"No."
"What do you mean, no?" The disciple glared. "What else do you want? If you move again, you'll lose your life!"
Li Xuan said nothing.
He looked out the window.
Zhou Peng would never give him a month.
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