In the few days leading up to the Dragon Boat Festival, a rumor suddenly spread through Luoyang's jianghu, where powerful clans and factions had gathered in force. It claimed that "Flying Eagle" Qu Ao had suffered another defeat—and a truly, truly, truly crushing one.
With just one palm strike!
Word was that after that single strike, "Flying Eagle" Qu Ao and the hundred-odd battle-hardened Tiele martial arts experts he had personally brought from Tiele—all handpicked from among the best—had been sent flying by a great grandmaster who had only recently risen to prominence in the jianghu over the past two years: Annie, the "Savage Bear," one of the world's Four Great Grandmasters. They had all plunged into a tributary of the Luo River, and not a sound had been heard from them since.
Some said they were all dead. Aside from a few bodies washed up on the banks, the rest had sunk to the riverbed, where turtles and scavenging fish and shrimp had eaten them. They were no longer anywhere in this world.
But others claimed to have seen "Flying Eagle" Qu Ao escape the grandmaster's grasp once again by sheer luck. He had fled in disgrace with a few retainers who had also been lucky enough to survive being swept into the river. Presumably, he had already returned to Tiele to recover from his injuries.
Whatever the truth, once the news spread, the heroes of Luoyang agreed on only two things:
First, shortly before the Dragon Boat Festival, Annie, the "Savage Bear," one of the world's Four Great Grandmasters, had arrived in Luoyang, adding a huge new uncertainty to the coming contest for the Heirloom Seal and Yang Gong's Treasure!
Second, after defeating Yuwen Huaji and "Universe in the Sleeve" Du Fuwei with a single palm strike each,