Chen Xiao said, "If you win, I'll take back what I just said and bring people here every day to support your business. If you lose, shut this Fist Academy down and stop making spectacles of yourselves!"
Those were hardly fair terms for a match, but Mo Zhengxing had no choice.
Otherwise, they wouldn't even have a chance at a fair fight. Chen Xiao could call in the West River Gang to surround the Fist Academy the very next moment!
"Fine!"
Mo Zhengxing nodded. "We're new arrivals here, so we'll follow the host's lead. We'll do as you say, Second Boss."
With that, he nodded to Bai Jinhuan beside him.
Bai Jinhuan's expression was grave as he leaped onto the stage.
Beside Chen Xiao, the stocky man jumped straight out of the window. Before he landed, he kicked off a pillar and used the force to leap onto the stage, landing steadily to a chorus of startled cries.
"Since you've opened a venue for betting on fights, I'll place a wager on this one too,"
Chen Xiao said with a smile.
Mo Zhengxing asked, "How would you like to wager, Second Boss?"
Chen Xiao said casually, "Thirty taels of silver, even odds."
Mo Zhengxing gritted his teeth. "Fine. We'll take that bet, Second Boss!"
At a time like this, even if the other side demanded a hundred taels, he had to accept. He couldn't lose his nerve or weaken Bai Jinhuan's fighting spirit.
When experts fought, momentum and spirit mattered greatly too!
With everything settled, everyone turned to the stage.
The stocky man with unusually long arms cupped his fists to Bai Jinhuan. "Yu Cheng."
"Bai Jinhuan."
The two cupped their fists in salute, and the fight was about to erupt.
Yu Cheng moved first.
He stepped forward, his right arm snapping from the shoulder blade. His entire arm whipped out like the shaft of a whip, joints cracking explosively. His five fingers spread like an eagle's claw and struck straight for Bai Jinhuan's left ribs. The air tore with an explosive crack!
Bai Jinhuan drew his left foot back half a step, lowered his center of gravity, and bent his right knee slightly, his spine taut as a drawn bow. Yu Cheng's fingers grazed the clothing over his ribs, tearing a gash in the fabric but leaving his flesh unharmed. Bai Jinhuan pressed his right arm down with the motion, the edge of his palm chopping like an axe blade toward the inside of Yu Cheng's forearm.
Yu Cheng flung his right arm aside, evading the chop, and leaned forward. His left leg slammed against the floor, cracking the wooden boards beneath his foot. Like an ape pouncing on its prey, he swung both arms and smashed them wildly at Bai Jinhuan!
Bai Jinhuan blocked the blows while retreating to dissipate their force.
Yu Cheng seemed to be wielding two long whips, lashing the air with explosive cracks again and again. The display was staggering!
The advantage of his long arms was on full display in unarmed combat, and he soon drove Bai Jinhuan into a corner of the stage!
64: Wagered Fight
Bai Jinhuan's back pressed against a stage post. He had nowhere left to retreat.
Yu Cheng's eyes blazed. His arms smashed down, cutting through the air with a piercing shriek. Outside the stage, the torches hanging on the walls flickered in the fierce wind of his blows!
Bai Jinhuan's gaze remained calm.
He was best with a saber, not his fists and feet. From their exchange just now, he had determined that his Internal Skill cultivation surpassed his opponent's; he was only at a disadvantage in unarmed combat.
Yu Cheng's longer reach was too great an advantage. Striking from a distance, he made the fight extremely difficult for Bai Jinhuan.
As Yu Cheng closed in, Bai Jinhuan slammed his right palm against the stage post behind him. The hardwood post, as thick as a bowl, split with a crack.
Using the recoil from the strike, Bai Jinhuan shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow. Advancing instead of retreating, he crashed into Yu Cheng's embrace!
His right shoulder thrust upward like a saber's point, driving straight into Yu Cheng's chest.
Yu Cheng's chest muscles instantly tightened like an iron plate. He took the shoulder strike head-on with a muffled grunt, and his arms lashed Bai Jinhuan across the chest and back.
Two sharp cracks rang out as the blows tore his clothes, leaving two bloody welts each across Bai Jinhuan's chest and back!
Yu Cheng was driven back. Bai Jinhuan continued forward, his right hand sweeping in like a saber's edge. Fingers pressed together and fingertips angled slightly downward, he slashed diagonally upward, straight at Yu Cheng's throat.
Yu Cheng leaned back. Bai Jinhuan's fingertips grazed his Adam's apple, and a bloody line appeared in an instant. The flesh split open, and blood seeped out.
Yu Cheng roared and snapped both arms inward like a pair of giant pincers, intent on crushing Bai Jinhuan's head between them!
Bai Jinhuan couldn't retreat in time and could only raise both arms to block.
The two moved as swiftly as a hare darting and a falcon swooping, exchanging dozens of moves in the blink of an eye.
Yu Cheng moved like an old ape, his arms trailing behind him like two long whips charged with force. Combining hardness and softness, every lash cracked explosively through the air!
Bai Jinhuan's punches were broad and sweeping, as though he were wielding an invisible great saber.
He didn't match techniques with Yu Cheng. Instead, he seized every chance to meet force with force or trade injury for injury, using his advantage in Internal Skill to drive Yu Cheng back again and again.
Even so, more than a dozen bloody welts had been lashed into Bai Jinhuan's body!
In the private room on the second floor, Chen Xiao frowned slightly.
He had restricted the match to unarmed combat precisely to play to Yu Cheng's advantage.
Below the First Rate, few could gain the upper hand against Yu Cheng unarmed.
Yet he hadn't expected their opponent to be so troublesome.
Suddenly, Chen Xiao's brow smoothed, and a smile appeared on his face.
On the stage, Yu Cheng finally seized an opening and lashed his arm against Bai Jinhuan's right shoulder blade!
A crack rang out. Bai Jinhuan's whole body jolted, and his right arm instantly went limp, hanging motionless at his side.
Mo Zhengxing's expression changed drastically at the turn of events. He could almost see Bai Jinhuan's defeat.
On the stage, Yu Cheng seized the chance to press his attack, sweeping both arms horizontally.
Bai Jinhuan touched his right toe to the floor and leaned back like a willow catkin in the wind, evading Yu Cheng's sweeping arms.
But such a large evasive movement cost him his balance, and it looked as though he would be defeated the next instant.
Bai Jinhuan's back struck the ropes at the edge of the stage.
The ropes snapped taut, nearly breaking.
In the time it took a spark to fly, Bai Jinhuan used the ropes' recoil to propel himself forward. He crashed into Yu Cheng's embrace again, his left fist blasting upward!
His foot drove against the floor, his waist twisted, and his spine compressed and released like a spring, concentrating the strength of his entire body into that punch!
Yu Cheng hadn't expected Bai Jinhuan to have such a countermove. Caught off guard, he could only hastily circulate his Internal Skill and tense his muscles.
Boom!!!
The fist struck squarely beneath the left side of Yu Cheng's chest.
Yu Cheng's eyes widened. As though struck head-on by a galloping stallion, his entire body flew into the air!
His body tumbled through the air and struck the ropes around the stage. They snapped at once, and he fell off the platform.
Thud!
Yu Cheng lay sprawled on the floor, his chest heaving violently as blood continually spilled from his mouth.
A gasp swept through the entire room.
Chen Xiao crushed the walnut in his hand, staring fixedly at Bai Jinhuan on the stage.
Bai Jinhuan walked forward a few steps and stood in the center of the stage. His clothes were torn in many places, his skin was covered in bruises, and his right arm hung limply.
He looked up at Chen Xiao and pulled at the corners of his mouth. "Thank you for going easy on me!"
Chen Xiao's face darkened. He gritted his teeth and said, "Good! Your Fist Academy does have some ability. From now on, I'll be sure to bring people here every night to support your business!"
He placed particular emphasis on the last words, "support your business."
With that, he turned to leave.
"Second Boss!"
Mo Zhengxing walked slowly forward. His voice wasn't loud, but it rang through the entire room like a bell:
"Sorry for the trouble, but please settle the wager."
Chen Xiao turned, his gaze stabbing at Mo Zhengxing like a blade.
Mo Zhengxing met his gaze without a trace of fear.
"Fine!"
Chen Xiao pulled a money pouch from his robes and threw it down from the second floor.
With a bang, the pouch landed heavily on the stage.
"Let's go!"
Chen Xiao turned and walked out of the private room.
Soon after he left, four men in black came in, lifted the limp Yu Cheng, and hurried away.
Only then did Mo Zhengxing climb onto the stage and pick up the pouch himself. Then he smiled and said to everyone present, "Just a little interruption. Please forgive us. Tonight's fights will continue!"
They had all enjoyed a spectacle for free. How could they have any objections?
As for the West River Gang, they weren't afraid. However overbearing the gang was, surely it wouldn't take revenge on everyone who had come to watch the fights?
Before long, the Fist Academy was lively again.
In a room at the back of the Fist Academy, Bai Jinhuan sat bare-chested while an attendant applied medicine to his injuries.
Mo Zhengxing stood to one side, his expression grave. Only after the attendant had finished applying the medicine and withdrawn did he ask, "How bad are your injuries?"
Bai Jinhuan touched his right shoulder. "The tendons and bones are injured. It'll take at least a month of recuperation before I can use this arm normally."
Mo Zhengxing's face darkened.
The West River Gang had lost face in public tonight and would certainly not let the matter rest. Retaliation was sure to follow.
But Bai Jinhuan, the strongest fighter on their side, was already injured.
"Third Master, I'm afraid we need to make plans early. If they bring people to attack tonight, we'll have a hard time holding them off,"
Bai Jinhuan said worriedly.
Mo Zhengxing shook his head. "The customs in Xi Province are different from those back home. If the West River Gang wants to take back the Fist Academy business and run it themselves, they'll have to regain the face they lost on the stage first. So they probably won't bring people to attack us outright tonight."
Bai Jinhuan understood. "There'll be more matches?"
Mo Zhengxing nodded. "Most likely."
Bai Jinhuan sighed. "I wonder when Commander Wu will arrive?"
He was injured and could no longer fight on the stage. Even if he weren't, it would be hard for him to hold off the West River Gang's many experts alone.
The greatest source of confidence for the group holding these fights at West River Market was Wu Shuangren, a "First Rate expert."
If the West River Gang challenged them to more matches, they could only rely on Wu Shuangren.
Mo Zhengxing couldn't help recalling how Wu Shuangren had said that day that he was the strongest fighter.
Now it was time to put that to the test.
Mo Zhengxing turned to look out the window and murmured, "He should be here soon."
65: Forces at the Gates
Early the next morning, before daybreak.
West River Market was already coming to life. People came from the docks toward the market one after another, and shops along the streets opened their doors.
At the third quarter of the hour of the dragon, three people arrived outside the Fist Academy.
The man in front was about forty, dressed in a black brocade robe patterned with dark clouds and a jade belt around his waist. He didn't look like a martial wanderer. Two burly men followed behind him; judging by their builds and their steps, both were martial artists.
"Sorry for the trouble, but please announce my arrival. I am Zhang Yan of the Zhang Clan of West River County, and I have come specifically to pay a visit."
After knocking and having the door opened, Zhang Yan cupped his fists.