Martial Hall Exchange Tournament

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Crackle, crackle.

Fireworks filled the sky, celebrating the imminent opening of the annual Martial Hall Exchange Tournament.

Jinning Martial Arts Hall.

The streets were packed with people as Chen Xu blended into the crowd and headed toward registration.

"Hello. Are you registering as an individual, or under the name of a martial arts hall?"

"A martial arts hall. Chen Martial Arts Academy."

"Alright, we are verifying your identity. Please wait a moment."

The registration staff began working on the computer.

"So it's Hall Master Chen."

The curve of the staff member's smile immediately widened.

After a brief observation, Chen Xu realized that he could distinguish status levels entirely by the staff member's professional smile.

Ordinary individual registrants: expression rigid, maintaining a stern look.

Individual Martial Artists with some fame: a smile that did not reach the eyes.

Masters of small martial arts halls: a faint smile.

Those nearing the level of the top ten martial arts halls: a smile.

The top ten martial arts halls: smiling warmly, with the professional customer-service voice unlocked.

Based on the extent of her smile, Chen Xu's status in her eyes was probably somewhere between the second and third categories—a martial arts hall on the brink of collapse.

"You're registering for the hall master competition, correct?" A trace of disdain flashed through the staff member's eyes. This was the first time in all her years of work that she had seen a martial arts hall with not a single student.

Chen Xu nodded slightly and lowered his head to look at the contract the staff member handed over.

"Please carefully read the terms above. Once you sign, we will not be responsible for anything that happens to you in the ring."

Chen Xu picked up the paper, glanced over the densely packed clauses, and signed his name with a flourish.

"Hall Master Chen, please proceed to the contestants' waiting area and wait for the preliminaries to begin.

"The student preliminaries are currently underway. If you would like to watch, you may head over there as well."

The staff member handed him a contestant badge. It served both as proof of identity and as free admission for watching the matches.

Chen Xu stuffed the badge into his pocket and squeezed out of the crowd.

"Huh, is that Brother Chen?" Lin Qi's sharp eyes immediately spotted Chen Xu, who stood a head taller than most people.

He kept waving his arm at Chen Xu.

"Brother Chen?" The black-haired girl with shoulder-length hair pushed up her glasses, a thick book tucked under her other arm.

"He's the hall master who took the martial arts hall assessment with Brother Lin. Since he came here, he must have passed the assessment that day." Yan Jiajia swept her gaze across the other five lively young girls beside Lin Qi, her expression turning slightly solemn.

If she was not careful, there would be another rival around Brother Lin. Fortunately, Brother Lin seemed terribly slow when it came to anything other than Martial Dao, but she still needed to feel a sense of urgency.

"So it's Hall Master Lin. Are these all students from your hall here for the tournament?" Chen Xu asked with a faint smile, cupping his hands.

"Brother Chen, there's no need to be so formal. Just call me Lin Qi." Lin Qi scratched his head. His gaze swept over the graceful girls beside him before landing on the brown-haired girl with short hair. "Only Xin is my disciple."

"Hello, I'm Li Xin, the chief disciple of Inquiry Martial Arts Hall." The girl introduced herself generously.

"The others heard that I was competing in the tournament and came to cheer me on."

As soon as Lin Qi finished speaking, the girl to Lin Xue's left lowered her head and said, "Who said I came for you? I only heard the tournament was starting and came to look around."

Her small feet scuffed back and forth against the ground, while the braids on either side of her head swayed gently.

"Ah, but when I called you, you clearly looked really hap—mmph..." Before Lin Qi could finish, the girl covered his mouth with her hand.

"I wasn't!"

After catching his breath, Lin Qi seemed to notice something and looked puzzled. "Brother Chen, did your disciples go take part in the preliminaries?"

Since they had met, there had not been a single follower behind Brother Chen. He found it rather strange. Even his newly opened martial arts hall had managed to recruit disciples, so how could Brother Chen's hall possibly have no one at all?

"My martial arts hall consists of only myself." Chen Xu did not seem embarrassed in the slightest as he openly stated something others found unbelievable.

The subtle gazes of passersby immediately shifted away from the row of graceful girls. You opened a martial arts hall but could not recruit even one disciple? Were you here to make people laugh?

"Pfft." The girl who had just covered Lin Qi's mouth could not help laughing, revealing two small canine teeth.

"Su Muqiu!" Lin Qi's voice rose. "Brother Chen is just... just..."

The innocent, hot-blooded youth scratched his head anxiously, trying hard to smooth things over.

In his panic, Lin Qi finally came up with a solution: changing the subject.

"Brother Chen, you registered for the martial arts hall master tournament too, right? Hahaha, hahaha."

"Yes." The moment Chen Xu spoke, low laughter rose from the surrounding crowd.

"Your martial arts hall is in that state and you still entered?" Someone, seemingly believing they were well hidden in the crowd, sneered sarcastically.

As Chen Xu's attributes improved, his dynamic vision and hearing had also received varying degrees of enhancement. The instant the voice rang out, he locked onto a certain man in the crowd.

The crowd's vision blurred. Chen Xu grabbed the lewd-looking man by the collar and lifted him off the ground.

"What did you say? Chen didn't hear you clearly. Could you repeat that?"

The lewd-looking man kicked wildly, both hands clutching the arm Chen Xu used to lift him. Yet that hand felt like an iron clamp, impossible to budge.

"I... what did I say? This is a public place. You can't act recklessly." The man's eyes were filled with panic. He had never expected a casual bit of trash talk to get him caught.

A flicker of fear crossed his face. He had grown accustomed to mouthing off online without ever facing consequences, forgetting that this was reality, without a keyboard or screen.

Lin Qi seemed to snap out of a dream. A hint of solemnity entered his gaze as he looked at Chen Xu. Brother Chen had moved too quickly; he had not reacted at all.

He felt somewhat guilty, believing that his careless words had caused this chain of events.

"Brother Chen, although he was in the wrong first, as martial artists, we cannot use Martial Dao against ordinary people."

He bowed deeply to Chen Xu. "Please put him down. If anyone is to blame, blame me. I caused all of this."

"What did you do wrong, Brother?" Lin Xue jogged over, trying to make Lin Qi straighten up.

Her brother was simply too kind. This matter had nothing to do with him, yet he insisted on taking it upon himself.

Her peripheral vision swept over Chen Xu and the lewd-looking man. The problem had been with those two from the beginning.

"One opened a martial arts hall but could not recruit a single disciple, so he deserves to be mocked. The other spoke without thinking, so getting dragged out is deeply satisfying."

No matter the world, there would always be people who enjoyed watching the show. Seeing a conflict break out, they asked what had happened, then immediately gathered around to spectate.

Once the crowd gathered, the scene quickly caught the organizers' attention. There were conflicts at the martial arts hall tournament every year, and they were already used to it. They swiftly dispatched people to handle the matter.