The Curtain Falls

Boom! The entire martial academy erupted into commotion once more.

Liang Bo, who had risen to fame through his exquisite saber techniques, had defeated Sima Kai, the young expert from Ruyang Prince's Residence, in their match without relying on his saber arts at all—using nothing but his fists and feet. The result left everyone utterly incredulous!

If the previous battle could still be explained as Sima Kai being too careless, allowing his opponent to seize a flaw and defeat him in one stroke, then their exchange just now clearly could not be blamed on carelessness. Liang Bo's hand-to-hand combat skills truly were stronger than Sima Kai's!

"Liang Bo, well done!" Zhao Zhao, Zhao Wu, and the others had long since leaped to their feet and shouted wildly. Their excited expressions made it seem as though they themselves had won.

"Ugh, he actually lost!" The martial artists who had originally supported Sima Kai were now bitterly disappointed. Especially those who had placed bets at the gambling houses on Sima Kai's victory—they were cursing loudly, filled with resentment toward him.

At the examiners' seats, Ma Wen looked at the Limitless Sword Sect representative with a smile. "Brother Liu, it seems I won our wager."

"Consider yourself lucky that you managed to recruit Liang Bo into the True Martial Sect!" the Limitless Sword Sect representative said helplessly, shaking his head.

The Purple Sun Temple representative wore a gloomy expression, with a trace of envy in his gaze toward Ma Wen. Liang Bo's talent was simply too formidable. At such a young age, it was already impressive enough that his saber skills were so strong, yet now even his hand-to-hand combat was this powerful. Given time, he would surely become a powerhouse in his own right!

Unfortunately, such a genius had not joined Purple Sun Temple, but had instead chosen the True Martial Sect. What a pity!

On the spacious challenge platform, Liang Bo stood with his hands behind his back and smiled. "I told you that you were too weak, but you wouldn't believe me. You insisted on fighting another round. Are you convinced now?"

Sima Kai stared fixedly at Liang Bo, his heart seeming to drip blood. "Impossible. I can't have lost! Your martial skill was clearly only an ordinary martial skill, while the one I used was a high-grade Human-rank martial skill. How could I possibly lose to you?"

Liang Bo shook his head. "There is no such thing as an invincible martial skill in this world, only invincible people! Your martial skill was decent enough, but it's a pity that you are just too weak. Enough idle chatter—hurry up and bring me the one million taels of silver. Don't make me wait too long!"

"You...!" Sima Kai nearly fainted from anger.

One hundred thousand taels of silver was an enormous sum even for him. He might even have to borrow money everywhere before he could pay it off.

As for refusing to pay? The consequences would only be worse. When he and Liang Bo had signed their agreement that day, they had invited quite a few senior experts to serve as witnesses. Moreover, news of their wager had long since spread. If he dared to default, he would never be able to hold his head up outside again. Even Ruyang Prince's Residence behind him could not afford such disgrace.

Pfft! At the thought of having to pay the staggering sum of one hundred thousand taels of silver, Sima Kai could not help spitting out another mouthful of blood.

Liang Bo secretly laughed when he saw that. He had already defeated his opponent earlier. As long as he refused to yield, the chief examiner would have declared him the winner. But why had he agreed to give Sima Kai another chance to fight? Did anyone really think he wanted to make his opponent concede wholeheartedly?

No, that was obviously impossible!

Liang Bo could not care less whether Sima Kai accepted the result. His purpose was actually very simple. He had won the previous battle too easily and had not inflicted serious enough injuries on Sima Kai, so he wanted another match in order to find an opportunity to cripple him badly. That way, Sima Kai's strength would be greatly diminished, preventing him from achieving a good result in this arena competition and entering top sects such as the True Martial Sect.

It could be said that Liang Bo's move was intended to cut off Sima Kai's future entirely!

His goal had clearly been achieved. Seeing Sima Kai so seriously injured, the martial artists ranked below him all had their eyes shining as they prepared to challenge him.

Sure enough, the martial artist ranked fifth challenged Sima Kai next. Seriously injured as he was, Sima Kai could not fend him off at all, and his ranking fell to fifth place.

Immediately afterward, the martial artists ranked sixth, seventh, all the way through sixteenth challenged him in succession, sending his ranking plummeting all the way down.

By the time his final ranking stabilized, he had already fallen to thirty-first place!

This year, the three major sects—the True Martial Sect, Limitless Sword Sect, and Purple Sun Temple—were recruiting only sixteen disciples in total!

In other words, Sima Kai no longer had any hope of entering the three major powers. He could only join a second-rate faction, which would directly affect his future prospects!

Liang Bo, on the other hand, had already been famous for his exquisite saber skills, and now even his fist techniques proved to be so powerful. For a time, every martial artist present unanimously acknowledged him as number one. No one was foolish enough to challenge him.

At last, only when the sun set did the arena competition come to an end.

Liang Bo took first place through absolute strength; Chen Feng took second, while a youth named Liu Qi took third place. Su Yan, who had originally ranked third, was squeezed down into fourth.

As for Sima Kai, he was in a miserable state. At first, he had managed to hold onto a place within the top fifty, but by afternoon, the Spirit-Exploding Pill began to lose its effect and triggered a backlash, worsening his injuries further. His ranking continued to fall, all the way to seventy-first place.

There was no helping it. Liang Bo had injured him too severely, and afterward he had been challenged one after another, causing his wounds to worsen without end. The fact that he could still preserve this ranking in the end was already quite impressive.

The chief examiner announced loudly, "All right, the final rankings are out. Now, in order of ranking, choose the sect you wish to join! Liang Bo, you first!"

"I choose to join the True Martial Sect!" Liang Bo answered immediately.

"Chen Feng, what about you?" The chief examiner looked toward Chen Feng, who ranked second.

"I also choose the True Martial Sect!"

Liang Bo froze for a moment and looked at Chen Feng. Chen Feng looked back at him and gave him a slight nod.

Liang Bo smiled. It seemed that he and this plump youth would be fellow disciples from now on?

Next, Liu Qi, who ranked third, practiced the sword, so he chose to join the Limitless Sword Sect. Su Yan, who ranked fourth, however, made a choice that surprised everyone—she actually chose to join the military.

After that, two more martial artists chose to join the True Martial Sect: Lu Hua, ranked seventh, and Jiang Xiaoman, ranked eleventh. With that, all four of the True Martial Sect's recruitment slots for this year had been filled.

Purple Sun Temple and Limitless Sword Sect soon filled their quotas as well. By the time it was Sima Kai's turn at seventy-first place, only a few of the lowest-ranked sects among the thirty-six remaining, such as the Golden Blade Sect and Floating Cloud Pavilion, were left for him to choose from.

With his strength, he had originally stood a strong chance of entering one of the three major sects, such as the True Martial Sect. Yet now he had fallen to this state. It was truly a great tragedy—like someone who could have attended Tsinghua or Peking University but ultimately ended up at an ordinary first-tier university.

Of course, he could choose to give up, but he was already eighteen this year and would be nineteen next year. Only martial artists under eighteen were permitted to participate in the martial academy grand competition.

In other words, he did not even have a chance to "repeat a year"!

In the end, Sima Kai gritted his teeth and decided to join the Mystic Origin Sect, which was relatively strong among the remaining sects.