Chapter 280 Next, Please!
“Are you the mysterious man who went viral online?” Elder Yi asked with a smile as he looked at Fang Qiu.
“What do you think?” Fang Qiu answered calmly.
He neither acknowledged nor denied that statement.
Then, he turned away and walked onto the arena.
He sat down cross-legged on the right side of the arena and quietly waited for the gathering to begin.
Elder Yi did not probe further when he saw how coolly Fang Qiu had responded.
He thought for a moment before he went to a corner, dug out his phone, and made a call.
“Lao Yi?” the person on the other end of the line said.
“Lao Zhou, it’s me,” Elder Yi said and asked, “where are you right now? Have you left Jiangjing?”
“I’ve just wrapped up my affairs here, so I intend to leave tonight,” Lao Zhou replied.
“Great,” Elder Yi was thrilled and quickly added, “don’t leave tonight and make your way over to my place as soon as possible.”
“What’s the matter?” Lao Zhou said wryly. “Old friend, you’ve made me wait in vain for the past two months. Have you not given up hope yet? Are you prepared for me to finish your good wine and tea if you ask me to extend my stay by a few days?”
“I’m only asking you to stay for the night. Do you really think that you’d be able to wipe out my supplies even if you drink nothing but wine and tea the entire night?” Elder Yi said with a laugh.
“Oh?” Lao Zhou quickly caught on and asked, “are you saying that he has returned?”
“Yes!” Elder Yi immediately nodded and said, “the person I was telling you about has returned. He’s currently standing on the arena and is accepting challengers. This is a rare opportunity that might never present itself again, so you better hurry.”
“Very well,” Lao Zhou’s voice went up slightly and said, “I’ll be right there.”
The sky gradually turned dark.
The gathering officially began at 8 PM.
The host went up the stage, and his gaze swept across the crowd before he turned to Fang Qiu and bowed. “Today, Senior John Doe has graced us with his presence to accept everyone’s challenge. I’m sure everyone has been eagerly waiting for the gathering to start, right?”
Everyone nodded eagerly.
“It is indeed our honor to have Senior John Doe here today. Thus, I’ll stop rambling on now and give the stage back to the challengers,” the host said. “May the first challenger step up.”
Then, a tall and skinny young man immediately jumped onto the arena.
“Senior, please give me some guidance,” he said as he saluted Fang Qiu with both hands clasped. Then, he bowed and immediately took on an attacking stance.
“Martial arts level?” Fang Qiu nodded.
Then, he lowered his strength to martial artist level and said, “Come on.”
As soon as he spoke, the young man’s feet moved as flexibly as a snake, and his arms moved around nimbly as he rapidly approached Fang Qiu.
His attacking movements were constantly changing.
He rushed up to Fang Qiu, and his figure flashed as he feinted a punch. Then, he raised his left leg and kicked hard at Fang Qiu’s waist.
“Smack!”
There was a loud crack.
Just when everyone assumed that the young man’s kick was about to hit its target, they saw the mysterious man raise his hand and gently tap it against the young man’s calf. He instantly pushed the young man’s leg aside and also rapidly pushed his other hand forward.
The young man was rendered completely helpless against him.
He was immediately sent flying.
He was defeated!
Almost instantaneously, the first challenger crashed to the ground and almost fell off the arena.
More importantly, Fang Qiu had defeated him in one move!
The audience was astonished.
The eyes of those who were witnessing the mysterious man for the first time shone brightly because they had seen the legendary mysterious ma and also bore witness to his legendary abilities.
He had defeated his opponent who was as strong as he was in a single move.
How could they remain calm when they had witnessed something that they had previously thought was an impossible feat?
Even those who had seen the mysterious man in action before and those who had seen him on more than one occasion were completely stunned.
Their impression of the mysterious man was that he would not finish his opponent off so quickly, no matter who he was up against. Instead, he would usually exchange several blows with his opponent first and quickly learn all his opponent’s attacks and tactics before using them against his opponent.
This seemed to have become the mysterious man’s trademark.
Thus, they were both confused and shocked by how decisive Fang Qiu had been today.
On the arena.
“I, I... admit defeat,” the young man said miserably as he rose to his feet. He didn’t know whether he should continue.
He felt as though he had suffered a tremendous loss.
He had fought so hard for the chance to be the first challenger and even had the great fortune of being present at the gathering when the mysterious man had arrived, but he was defeated even before he could finish his first move. Thus, he felt incredibly embarrassed.
“There’s no need for you to leave,” Fang Qiu said as he looked around, as though he had sensed the young man’s embarrassment. “Next, please.”
Everyone froze in surprise. Then, the next challenger stepped onto the arena.
“Feel free to attack me together!” Fang Qiu said.
Soon, the match began.
The challengers exchanged glances and secretly figured out a plan before they moved in unison and charged toward Fang Qiu.
They looked as though they were linked tightly together.
They suddenly moved in unison and immediately changed positions just before they reached Fang Qiu and sandwiched Fang Qiu between them.
The first challenger stopped trying to feint but instead threw a fast punch at Fang Qiu’s back. He tried to use the other challenger as a distraction tactic and hoped that he could land a punch while Fang Qiu’s attention was diverted.
On the other hand, the second challenger attacked from the front with both his hands and feet.
He sent one punch toward Fang Qiu’s hand while his right leg aimed straight for Fang Qiu’s nether regions.
Everyone in the audience frowned as they watched this scene.
They didn’t frown because of where the second challenger was aiming for with his foot since everyone knew that martial arts were originally meant to kill.
Thus, the true spirit of martial arts was not as perfect as it seemed, and it was even a little bloodthirsty. This move was merely a move that was looked down upon because it was too obvious and extremely hard to pull off.
There were many other moves that were more brutal than this kick.
Everyone frowned because Fang Qiu had lowered his strength to match his opponents’ but he was now facing off against two challengers of peer-level strength. Moreover, one of the challengers had even used the nether-region kick, so it would not be easy for Fang Qiu to emerge unscathed.
Was the mysterious man about to be defeated?
Everyone wondered curiously.
Then, Fang Qiu made his move.
He raised his left leg and dodged the nether-region kick. At the same time, when he bent backward to avoid the punch that was aimed at his head, he also dodged the attack that came at him from behind. Then, he assumed the drunken fist stance and sent his fists flying.
It only took one punch.
This punch seemed nonchalant and weak, but the moment it landed against the first challenger, the impact caused the first challenger to move several steps backward. Then, his knees gave way, and he fell.
At the same time, Fang Qiu jumped up and kicked out with his right leg mid-air.
The second challenger turned pale in fright. However, his torso was very close to Fang Qiu because of how he had been attacking earlier, so it was too late for him to change his stance. He could only look on helplessly as Fang Qiu’s leg landed on his chest.
“Boom!”
There was a muffled banging sound as powerful strength burst forth from Fang Qiu’s leg that immediately sent the second challenger flying.
The audience’s eyes widened, and they looked at him incredulously.
What an incredible match!
They were impressed with Fang Qiu’s moves but they were even more impressed by his reaction speed. He managed to grasp the essence of both his opponents’ attacks just before their attacks hit their target and immediately adjusted his body to dodge the attacks with perfect precision while sending out attacks of his own that his opponents simply could not avoid.
His nimbleness and incredible reaction speed shook everyone to their core.
No one was able to do what Fang Qiu had just pulled off!
Not even Elder Yi!
He defeated two opponents in a single move.
The audience cheered loudly.
“Next!” Fang Qiu said.
The third challenger immediately jumped onto the arena.
This time, the three challengers did not attack immediately, but rather, they huddled together for a discussion and only launched their attack after they had decided on an attacking plan.
All three of them surrounded Fang Qiu and attacked. They chose to each attack Fang Qiu from a different angle, just as the first two challengers had done earlier.
They attempted to use each other as a diversion tactic in order to successfully attack Fang Qiu.
Unfortunately, Fang Qiu didn’t plan on giving them the opportunity to attack him.
All three of them attacked him in unison from three different angles but Fang Qiu only faced off against one opponent. After he defeated the first opponent in one move, he immediately attacked the next opponent who was the closest to him in terms of proximity.
After all, these three challengers did not know each other ahead of time. Even if they knew each other, they did not coordinate their attacks and lacked tacit understanding, and thus, Fang Qiu used this against them and destroyed their tactics one at a time.
“Next!” Fang Qiu said after he defeated all three opponents.
The next person took the stage.
This time, there were more than three opponents which had been the ideal number of opponents to encircle Fang Qiu. Since Fang Qiu had defeated three opponents so effortlessly earlier, the four challengers decided not to attack him in unison but instead, they would attack him separately.
This would mean that Fang Qiu would not be able to deduce the pattern behind their attacks, and naturally, he would not be able to defeat them as easily as he had done earlier.
To their surprise, Fang Qiu decided to initiate the attack and quickly defeated all four of them consecutively.
The audience cheered wildly as they watched this scene.
He had started with one challenger, and now he was facing off against four people, and yet, he had managed to defeat them all in a single move.
Moreover, Fang Qiu had even lowered his strength to match his opponents’.
“This isn’t enough,” Fang Qiu muttered. He frowned as he looked at the four challengers he had defeated.
He had already lowered his strength, but he was still able to defeat them with ease. If he could defeat them all within a single move, how would he be able to use this as a form of training?
He frowned at the thought of that and said, “I want to fight ten challengers at once!”
The moment he spoke, the audience went wild.
“Ten?”
“He’s really decisive and cool, as expected of Senior John Doe!”
“Isn’t he just so cool now that he’s facing off against 10 challengers without even increasing his strength?”
The audience couldn’t wait to see what would happen next, and they chattered excitedly amongst themselves.
On the arena.
Fang Qiu looked deep in thought, and his brows were knitted into a frown.
These four opponents did not even pose a challenge to him, and it seemed like a warm-up. He felt as though he hadn’t done anything, but a conjecture was niggling at him.
He wanted to test his theory to prove why the old master had asked him to gain experience through fighting!