Fish Frying

Seven days passed in a flash.

Zhou Ming wore a white training outfit, his hair fastened with a jade hairpin.

Accompanied by the two beauties, he stepped out of the courtyard and headed for the Martial Examination grounds.

The examination grounds had been set up in the central plaza of Qing Prefecture City's main street.

In the Martial Examination Grand Competition, strength reigned supreme!

Five fighting platforms stood tall in the plaza.

Arena matches!

The rules were simple: take the stage and defend it.

One-on-one, with no rest time. The more opponents one defeated, the higher one ranked.

Simple and brutal.

At this moment.

Aside from the five platforms erected in the center, viewing stands had been set up around the entire plaza.

Seated upon them were the great clans and nobles of Qing Prefecture City, along with elders from martial academies and escort agencies who had accompanied their juniors to take part in the Martial Examination.

Before the examination competition had even begun, these people sat above, chatting among themselves.

"Old Li, I heard your granddaughter came back? Why didn't you bring her around so the youngsters could get acquainted?" an elderly man in a gold velvet robe asked with a smile.

The old man called Old Li wore a dragon-patterned robe. After taking a sip of tea, he said mildly, "That little girl's talent isn't high enough for her to stay in the Imperial City. She slipped out and ran all over the place. Even after returning to the prefectural city, she didn't come home. I can't even see her. She spends all day in her little courtyard, busy entertaining her friends."

"Haha, my grandson said one of her friends is a Sixth Rank and still quite young. Aren't you afraid she'll get carried off?"

"When heaven wants rain, and a mother wants to remarry, what can you do? So long as his character isn't bad, Sixth Rank it is. As long as Mu'er likes him, that's enough."

At that moment, a man dressed in fine silks behind them said calmly, "Elder Li Hongwu, he's no ordinary Sixth Rank. He's a monstrous genius blessed by heaven with exceptional bones."

The two old men turned to look at the man at the same time.

Li Hongwu frowned and asked, "Huang Muheng, are you sure? Don't go shooting your mouth off. Be careful, or this old man will spank your backside into blossom right here."

The old man in the gold velvet robe smiled as well. "You brat, have nothing better to do? You actually had the leisure to come watch the Martial Examination. You must know something about that Sixth Rank, then. Where's he from?"

Huang Muheng shrugged. "My Brother Zhou has Jade Bone throughout his entire body. If that isn't heaven-bestowed bone structure, what is?"

The two old men withdrew their gazes and exchanged a look, each reading the profound meaning in the other's eyes.

Meanwhile, Huang Muheng craned his neck and looked around, searching for his Brother Zhou.

Very soon, the resounding clang of bronze gongs spread through the plaza.

A Martial Artist with saber and sword hanging at his waist leaped onto the central platform.

"The Qing Prefecture Martial Examination Grand Competition begins!"

"The rules: defend the platform! There is no limit to the number of times one may take the stage."

"The number of victories determines the ranking. Those who lose may not challenge again."

"Take the stage now!"

The words had barely fallen.

Zhou Ming's figure appeared on the central platform in an instant.

The entire plaza fell silent at once.

All eyes landed on him.

There was no other reason—the examiner who had announced the start of the Martial Examination Grand Competition had not even stepped down yet.

Facing the examiner beside him, Zhou Ming did not spare him so much as a glance.

He clasped his hands in salute and declared loudly, "I am Zhou Yuxi, from Jinzhou. I invite all the geniuses of Qing Prefecture to battle!"

The entire plaza erupted into an uproar at those words!

"This man is outrageously arrogant!"

"What is he trying to do?"

"Are you stupid? Didn't he make it clear? He wants to take on all of Qing Prefecture's geniuses by himself."

The great clans seated on the viewing stands began discussing it as well.

"This Jinzhou Martial Artist came to Qing Prefecture to take part in the Martial Examination?"

"There doesn't seem to be any rule forbidding people from crossing prefectures to participate in the Martial Examination."

"He said the words. Now let's see whether his strength matches his wild boasting."

"Heh, just a clown hopping on a beam. There are so many people here. Defending the platform is a battle of wheels to begin with—they'll wear him to death."

Below the central platform.

Li Mu watched Zhou Ming on the platform, who had completely abandoned his usual style.

She hugged Jiang Jiang's arm. "Jiang Jiang, what do I do? He seems kind of handsome. I think I like him a little."

Jiang Jiang smiled. "What? Didn't you say three-legged toads were hard to find, but two-legged stinking men came by the bushel? And now you already like him?"

Li Mu shot her a glare and said in a low voice, "Just the tiniest bit. If he wants to be my man, he's still a little lacking."

Jiang Jiang inwardly relaxed.

You little minx.

You scared me to death.

She looked toward Zhou Ming on the platform.

The young man was high-spirited and full of vigor.

Zhou Ming looked at the restless Martial Artists below the platform and called out again, "What? Could it be that among the geniuses of an entire prefecture, not one dares to fight?"

"Arrogant! I'll fight you!"

A figure leaped onto the platform and slapped a palm toward Zhou Ming.

By then, the examiner had already left the platform and stood quietly below.

Watching the palm strike toward him, Zhou Ming's jade-like right hand moved after yet arrived first.

Their palms collided.

With a bang, the man was sent flying and crashed below the platform, his arm bent at an unnatural angle.

"Such vicious attacks! I'll fight you!"

Another man leaped onto the platform.

Clad in a Jade Garment, Zhou Ming shifted his feet and closed in, slamming into the man's chest.

The man was sent flying straight away, tumbling off the platform and coughing up blood.

Zhou Ming stood on the platform and looked down below.

"Send someone who can actually fight."

The entire plaza was deathly quiet.

The two men who had gone up were no weaklings.

Both were Seventh Rank.

"Haha! Brother Zhou, well done! Taking on a whole prefecture by yourself—how impressive!"

Huang Muheng on the viewing stand raised a thumbs-up toward the platform and laughed loudly.

Following the sound, Zhou Ming looked over and pointed at Huang Muheng. "Brother Huang, come down and have some fun?"

Huang Muheng shook his head.

He was not stupid. They were both Sixth Rank; exchanging a few moves for fun was fine, but if they really fought, he would definitely lose.

At that moment, the Martial Artists participating in the competition below the platform began discussing among themselves.

"Who has Jinzhou's Earth-Rank Martial Ranking? Check where this man is ranked."

"I checked already. This person isn't on the ranking at all."

"How is that possible? With his strength, he can't even make the ranking?"

"Is Jinzhou's ranking really that competitive?"

"No, his name isn't even in the top hundred."

Standing on the platform, Zhou Ming listened to their words below and sneered. "What's so interesting about a ranking? Just because I'm not on it means my strength is poor?"

The crowd below instantly fell silent.

Seeing this, Zhou Ming swept his gaze around and said calmly, "I am at Peak Sixth Rank, and my Heavenly Cycle Aperture Perfection is complete. Does anyone still wish to come forward and try?"

The moment those words came out, an uproar broke out below.

"Is this man sick? Instead of challenging the Martial Ranking, he came to compete in the prefectural Martial Examination."

"Is he poisoned or something? He wants to show off in front of everyone, doesn't he?"

"Damn it, he obviously came here to fry fish."

After a moment, Zhou Ming looked at the examiner and asked, "Brother, what do we do about this?"

The examiner froze.

He truly had never encountered this before. What decent person came to bully the weak?

With that level of strength, why not just enter the Martial Ranking challenge matches?

Just as he was thinking, his ear twitched.

Zhou Ming instantly sensed an almost imperceptible tremor of blood energy.

"Voice Transmission?"

Not long afterward, the examiner stepped onto the platform and looked at the Martial Artists below.

"Since none of you are willing to fight, then he shall take first place in this Qing Prefecture Martial Examination. Does anyone object?"

Seeing that no one below spoke up, he turned to Zhou Ming. "All right, you're first. Once the rankings are announced, I'll send someone to pick you up for the Six-Prefecture Grand Tournament."

Zhou Ming nodded and slowly stepped down from the platform.

After leaving the crowd, Li Mu came forward and wrapped her arms around his arm, saying with feigned annoyance, "You're actually Sixth Rank, and your Circulatory Acupoints are complete too! Why didn't you tell me?"

Feeling the soft, warm embrace around his arm, Zhou Ming savored it for a moment before smoothly slipping his arm free. Smiling, he said, "You can't blame me for that. Jiang Jiang asked me in front of you that day. Didn't I say so?"

Jiang Jiang rolled her eyes at Zhou Ming's subtle movement. "How did it feel?"

Zhou Ming's old face flushed red. "Indescribable."