The moment the matchup was announced, the entire courtyard fell silent for an instant. Then an uproar erupted, more heated than any before!
Chen Hu was a seasoned fighter in the middle stage of the seventh level of the Body Tempering Realm. In the Chore Servant Courtyard, he was also notorious for his viciousness.
Zhou Xuan, on the other hand, was a good-for-nothing who had only just scraped past the qualifying line for the fifth level of the Body Tempering Realm.
This wasn't an even match at all. It was a one-sided slaughter!
Everyone could see that Chief Steward Wang had arranged it on purpose!
Chen Hu himself was taken aback, then his face lit up with delight.
He looked at Chief Steward Wang, his eyes brimming with gratitude.
To him, this was practically a victory handed to him on a platter by Chief Steward Wang—a deliberate chance to help him get ahead!
And the servants who had been humiliated by Zhou Xuan's performance in the morning's test, especially those who hadn't even reached the seventh level of the Body Tempering Realm,
were now so excited their faces had turned red, as if they were the ones about to step into the ring.
"Hahaha, here it comes! The real show's finally starting!"
"Senior Brother Chen Hu, beat him to a pulp! Don't let him surrender too easily!"
"Right! Break his arms and legs! Let him see that even if a good-for-nothing gets lucky, he's still a good-for-nothing!"
One servant, eliminated that morning and seething with resentment, shouted at the top of his lungs, "Senior Brother Chen Hu! If you cripple him and leave him bedridden for the rest of his life, I'll treat you to a meal!"
"Count me in! I'll treat you too!"
"And me!"
The waves of malice surged toward Zhou Xuan like a storm of tangible blades.
They didn't accept Zhou Xuan. Worse, they envied him. They couldn't wait to see the former laughingstock knocked back down to his old self—or even worse!
Faced with the roars of provocation and curses crashing around him like a storm-tossed sea, Zhou Xuan walked into the ring without expression.
He didn't even bother to spare those people a sidelong glance.
They were nothing but trash, fit only to bark from below the stage.
"Kid, you're lucky. Chief Steward Wang's made an exception and given you a chance."
Chen Hu rolled his neck, his bones cracking. He looked Zhou Xuan up and down as though he were a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
"But your luck ends here."
"Don't blame your senior brother for being ruthless. Blame yourself for showing off!"
Before the words had even left his mouth, Chen Hu stamped hard on the ground. Like a fierce tiger charging down a mountain, he lunged at Zhou Xuan with a savage gust of wind!
He had no intention of testing the waters. His very first move was a killing blow!
His fist shot straight for Zhou Xuan's face. He was clearly aiming to cripple him with one strike—or even kill him outright!
Zhou Xuan's pupils narrowed slightly. He seemed to stagger backward in panic, his body pitching back in an ungainly way as he narrowly dodged the punch.
He looked utterly cowed by his opponent's force, at a loss for what to do.
"Hmph! Can you do anything but dodge?"
When his first attack missed, a vicious grin flickered across Chen Hu's face, and his assault grew even more ferocious.
Fists, feet, elbows, and knees rained down on Zhou Xuan like a storm.
And Zhou Xuan was like a tiny boat tossed about in the tempest, struggling to fend off each blow, teetering on the brink of disaster.
Every block looked forced; every dodge was a clumsy scramble.
Several times, the wind of Chen Hu's fists swept past Zhou Xuan's cheek or ribs. It looked as though he might be struck at any moment and crumple to the ground.
Cheers and laughter rose and fell from the crowd below.
"Hahaha, look at him cowering! Wasn't he putting on a big show earlier?"
"Any second now! Give him three more moves and he'll be flat on his face!"
But ten rounds passed.
Zhou Xuan was still struggling to hold on.
Then twenty rounds passed.
Zhou Xuan was panting like an ox, his face pale and his whole body drenched in sweat, as though he were about to collapse from exhaustion at any moment. But damn it, he still wouldn't go down!
The jeering below gradually quieted. Everyone stared wide-eyed, their faces full of confusion.
This wasn't how it was supposed to go!
Why wasn't this like they'd imagined?
By rights, someone at the seventh level of the Body Tempering Realm fighting someone at the fifth should settle things in three punches and two kicks.
So how had they fought for so long without Zhou Xuan taking a single hit, even though he looked so battered?
"What's Senior Brother Chen Hu doing? Is he holding back?"
"No way! Look at him—he looks like he wants to swallow Zhou Xuan whole. How could he be holding back?"
"Then how is Zhou Xuan taking so much punishment?"
No one could make sense of it.
And the most frustrated and furious person there was Chen Hu himself!
He felt like he was fighting an impossibly slippery loach!
Zhou Xuan clearly looked like he was at his limit. Every breath sounded like air wheezing through a broken bellows, and every step seemed weighted with lead.
Yet somehow, every attack Chen Hu was sure would land got dodged in some utterly bizarre, incredibly awkward way!
That helpless feeling of punching into cotton was driving him mad!
"Good-for-nothing! Can you do anything but dodge? If you've got the guts, meet my fist with yours!"
Chen Hu's eyes were bloodshot with rage. He roared and attacked with even less regard for the consequences.
"Hah... I can't..."
Zhou Xuan dodged clumsily, gasping between words. He looked as if he would stop breathing the very next second.
But when Chen Hu swung another heavy punch, convinced he'd finally caught Zhou Xuan in a moment of weakness,
Zhou Xuan seemed to trip over his own feet. He stumbled just enough to avoid the fist, then weakly pushed at Chen Hu.
The push was soft and feeble, but it landed right as Chen Hu's attack had run its course. Chen Hu stumbled and nearly fell.
This frustrating scene played out again and again.
Zhou Xuan was like a man on the verge of drowning. Each time he sank beneath the surface for the last time, he somehow struggled back up, took a breath, then kept hanging on, half-dead.
That feeling finally burned away the last of Chen Hu's reason and stamina.
"I'll kill you!"
Chen Hu went completely berserk. He poured every last bit of his qi and blood into his right leg, then swept it out with all his might in a vicious kick!
But once rage and frustration clouded his mind, all the experience he'd built up through years of fighting became worthless.
The attack he'd thrown everything into left a ridiculously obvious opening.
A cold glint flashed through Zhou Xuan's eyes and vanished.
He still looked as though he were about to drop dead from exhaustion. His foot happened to stumble again, and he fell backward, landing on the ground.
Chen Hu's earth-shattering kick had gone too far, and with its target gone, he lost control of his entire center of gravity.
"Ah!"
He let out a strange cry and spun around twice. Then his eyes rolled back as all the energy in his body was completely drained.
He pitched forward onto the ground and lay there panting heavily, unable to move even a finger.
He'd exhausted himself into a heap.
The entire courtyard fell deathly silent.
Everyone stared at the dramatic scene, dumbstruck.
Just then, Zhou Xuan, who had only just fallen, struggled to get back up.
He braced himself with one hand, his body swaying as though he'd spent his very last ounce of strength.
Then his foot slipped. He pitched forward helplessly and landed heavily on Chen Hu, who had just fallen.
Crack!
A sharp, teeth-grinding snap suddenly rang out across the silent courtyard!
Zhou Xuan had landed squarely on Chen Hu's arm, which he had stretched out to brace himself against the ground!
"Ah!"
Chen Hu's pig-slaughtering scream instantly tore through the skies above the Chore Servant Courtyard.
Chief Steward Wang slowly set down his teacup and stood, announcing the result no one dared believe.
"Zhou Xuan, wins!"
His fat face betrayed no emotion, but inwardly he sneered.
Putting on an act? Keep it up, you little bastard!
A mere fifth-level Body Tempering cultivator had worn down a seasoned fighter in the middle stage of the seventh level—and accidentally crushed his arm?
This kid's stamina, cunning, and precise control over his strength had already gone far beyond the bounds of the Body Tempering Realm!
A fortuitous encounter!
This was an absolutely heaven-defying fortuitous encounter!
Chief Steward Wang looked at Zhou Xuan, unable to suppress the greed in his eyes any longer.
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