Li Yuanqing turned his head, trying to find any trace of the mysterious, black-robed young man.
It was at that moment he realized the young man had somehow dismissed the crowd and, under the astonished gazes of thousands of Martial Artists, appeared on the arena stage across from him.
Li Yuanqing was utterly confused by this.
The Martial Dao Grand Competition was over. He had no idea what the man intended to do by appearing on the stage now.
Of course, he didn’t even need to do anything. Officials responsible for maintaining order were already rushing over, preparing to drive the black-robed young man off the stage.
Li Yuanqing waved his hand, signaling the officials to stand down.
After looking the black-robed young man before him up and down, he asked, "Who are you? What is your business here?"
Black hair, black eyes.
The man carried himself with the air of a lone wolf.
’This must be the black-haired young man my older brother is looking for.’
’My brother has probably noticed him already. What I need to do now is test him on my brother’s behalf, to see what he’s really made of.’
The young man paid him no mind.
His own pair of pitch-black eyes stared back at Li Yuanqing, a mocking expression on his face as he spoke. "A Martial Dao tournament watched by tens of thousands, and the one who takes the crown is a Prince from the Royal Family. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would’ve thought this was just a bunch of people playing house with a child!"
Li Yuanqing’s brow furrowed.
However, before he could reply, the crowd of spectating Martial Artists could no longer hold back their anger. "The Second Prince has been open and honorable throughout the entire competition, giving his all in every fight! We all saw it with our own eyes! Who the hell do you think you are? What gives you the right to question him?"
"Second Prince, don’t waste your breath on a shady character like him! Just throw him off the stage!"
"That’s right! If you’re not convinced, you could have entered the Martial Dao tournament and defeated everyone fair and square. If you were too old to participate, then you should’ve just kept your mouth shut! Spouting all this nonsense here... you’d better watch out, or we’ll rip that mouth of yours right off!"
The crowd of Martial Artists was furious.
But the black-robed young man completely ignored them.
Acting as if he hadn’t heard a single one of their insults, he scrutinized Li Yuanqing for a long moment before a smile crept onto his face. "I also came to participate in the Martial Dao tournament. I just couldn’t be bothered to fight against a bunch of three-year-olds. You may be a three-year-old yourself, but you’re at least a little interesting. Worthy of me making a move..."
As he spoke, he took out his registration form for the Martial Dao tournament.
The registration form had two words written on it: "Lu Shang."
This proved he wasn’t lying; he had indeed come to participate. However, because he didn’t step forward when his name was first called, the announcer had already declared him eliminated.
But now this young man named Lu Shang was holding that slip of paper, preparing to skip over everyone else and directly challenge the champion, Li Yuanqing.
It was hard to say whether he was boundlessly arrogant or truly that confident in his own strength.
This was the first time in his life Li Yuanqing had been looked down upon so blatantly.
Even in the Imperial Palace, and even though he was born to a Palace Maid.
Thanks to the constant care and protection of the Empress and his older brother, Li Chang’an, he had never been so disdained.
He felt a flicker of anger in his heart.
But he didn’t take the bait. Suppressing his anger, he spoke coolly, "According to the rules, you were eliminated at the very beginning of the tournament. You no longer have the right to compete. I could have my men throw you out right now. I could even have you arrested for the crime of disrupting the order of this assembly..."
His voice paused, then turned cold. "Even knowing that, you still dare to speak to me this way?"
He was a scion of the Imperial Family, after all.
Li Yuanqing might be proper and well-behaved in front of Li Chang’an, but that didn’t mean he was a pushover.
This young man was practically jumping up to stomp on his head.
It would be truly strange if he could remain indifferent!
Lu Shang laughed—a reckless, utterly arrogant laugh. "This is why I say it’s all just a game of playing house, a charade where thousands of people play along with you... Besides, can you truly be called the champion if you haven’t defeated every opponent?"
Lu Shang’s voice paused. He swept his gaze over the surrounding Martial Artists, their faces contorted with rage, but his smile never wavered. His eyes landed back on Li Yuanqing as he continued, "How about this? If you’re scared, I can help you find some courage. If I can’t defeat you within thirty seconds, then I lose. How about it?!"
He knew this was a goad.
A very crude one, at that.
But Lu Shang employed it so perfectly, embodying that arrogance and recklessness to its fullest extent.
It was as if the people standing around him weren’t people at all, but weeds by the side of the road.
Though his words didn’t state it outright, his every action and expression were filled with thick disdain and indifference.
Even knowing he was being provoked, Li Yuanqing couldn’t help but see red. "We don’t need thirty seconds!" he roared, fuming. "We can start right now! If you lose, you will kowtow and apologize to every single Martial Artist who participated in this Martial Dao tournament!"
He had fallen for the goad.
But this was exactly what Li Chang’an had instructed him to do from the start.
—No matter who it was, if they tried to stop him from taking the crown, Li Yuanqing was to tear them to shreds without hesitation.
Although Li Yuanqing didn’t know why Li Chang’an was searching for this black-robed young man with such fanfare,
this young man was so sneaky, only resorting to such cheap tricks after all this time. It made him think that his opponent’s strength was likely not as great as he had initially anticipated.