Capital City.
CCMAU.
Ling Yiyi was quite young at 20 years old. She was short, her diminutive stature making her seem younger than she was.
At this moment, Ling Yiyi’s expression was stone cold as she gripped her phone so tight it shattered to pieces.
“Han Xu and I are in a relationship?”
“A battle of avengement?”
Ling Yiyi ground her teeth hard. They dared to sully her reputation? Don’t let her find out who it was that had done it; she would definitely beat them up terribly!
After her phone was effectively ground into a fine powder, Ling Yiyi turned a threatening glare toward Han Xu, who was at the back looking around, and said, full of doubt, “Did you spread the rumor yourself, Han Xu?”
Han Xu felt so wronged. ‘Do you think my brain’s full of s*it?
‘You’re a violent maniac. I would rather date Li Ran than you!’
“Senior Ling, did you really think I would?” Han Xu said, helpless.
Ling Yiyi suddenly exploded in anger. She slammed her hand on the table, fuming. “Are you looking down on me? Am I that ugly? I’m crowned as the ‘Prettiest Girl in the Martial Arts Industry’, didn’t you see it?”
Han Xu rolled his eyes up to the skies!
‘What the f*ck, you really believed that?!
‘I’m only explaining that I didn’t do that. Why are you being so emotional?’
Han Xu was helpless, but he could only lower his gaze toward the ground, counting ants–the only thing he could do when he was inferior to the other.
Li Hansong, sitting at the head of the table, found his head hurting too. There was Qin Fengqing from MCMAU who stirred up trouble every day for Zhang Yu.
There was a rebel in CCMAU too.
That rebel was Ling Yiyi.
Li Hansong rapped his knuckles on the table, not giving her the chance to elaborate. He said, “Yiyi, are you confident in winning?”
Ling Yiyi said, nonchalantly, “Do you really think Fang Ping is a match for me? Even Qin Fengqing couldn’t defeat me before his breakthrough; that was why he chose to break through before coming here to challenge me.
“Fang Ping is still inadequate where he is now. He was injured in his fight against Yu Chen. I watched the recording. His style is weak and feeble. He had only beat Yu Chen by the skin of his teeth relying on his more long-lasting Vitality.
“I’ve only bothered with him because you all paid attention to him. Chen Qiufeng and Guo Xuan will be back soon.
“After they return, I’ll defeat them–this is the kind of battle I chase after.
“Those military martial artists in the generation before ours might not compare to their peers working in martial arts universities, but for the young, it’s not the same case: they’ve experienced more than us, killed more enemies than us. They’re the real strong opponents.”
Li Hansong still opted to go on, after a moment of thought. “You can’t be careless. Fang Ping’s the future leader of MCMAU.
“After Zhang Yu and Qin Fengqing’s generation graduates, those such as Xie Lei might not be able to suppress him.
“MCMAU’s Old Grandmaster Zhang had just met his demise in the Catacombs. Now MCMAU probably wants to look for someone to bolster their reputation. You’re the ideal candidate.
“A school’s reputation depends on the performance of its students, after all.
“We will enter senior year soon. How long can we stay on campus?
“Also, the middle-ranked students cannot represent the entire student population; it’s the lower-ranked students who can. Do you understand what I mean?
“More of the students graduate while in the lower ranks... So. Although your defeat would not mean that CCMAU’s lower-ranked students as a whole are inferior to MCMAU’s, we’ll find it difficult to face the school authorities if we get defeated by MCMAU twice in a row.
“The first time was during the National Championship...”
Han Xu looked embarrassed standing beside them. He had led the National Championship team that had lost against MCMAU twice, and Fang Ping had not even contributed too much to that. They had completely embarrassed themselves.
CCMAU had to transfer 10% of their government subsidy to MCMAU starting from the next semester.
This was not a small amount!
Although no one had said anything in the aftermath of their disastrous defeat, that did not mean that they had had no qualms with that.
Ling Yiyi was slightly unhappy with that allegation. She curled her lip. “I’ll definitely win this time. You just see, I’ll crush that guy! I heard that the guy likes to hit girls. This time I’ll let him know that girls are not that easy to beat!”
And then Ling Yiyi asked, “When the heck is he going to arrive?”
Someone entered just at that moment.
“President, the invitation from MCMAU’s Fang Ping has arrived!”
“Invitation?” Li Hansong raised a brow. “He abides by the rules, it seems. I heard that he had just shown up to Yunmeng Military School and Eternal Sun Village unannounced...”
“He’s scared of us, duh!”
Ling Yiyi sneered. “He’s afraid that CCMAU will mob him. CCMAU is different from his other stops. Dare he show up without warning here?”
Li Hansong did not overthink the motive behind Fang Ping’s actions. It was true that CCMAU was different.
CCMAU housed quite a lot of powerhouses. There were almost 20 Peak Rank-3 martial artists in CCMAU, and eight of them were in the top 100 rankings.
Fighting all of them consecutively would be more than enough to wind him up good.
If he came across Ling Yiyi then, she would definitely succeed in killing him.
As Li Hansong pictured the image in his mind, Ling Yiyi had already taken the invitation into her hands and opened it. She said distastefully, wrinkling her brow at the invitation’s contents, “Coward. He doesn’t even dare to come here. He’s asking me to meet him at Happy Valley!”
Han Xu said strangely, hearing her words, “Happy Valley? So many people go to and fro from there. It isn’t convenient, is it?”
“Who knows what he’s thinking. He’ll regret it when he’s pummeled to the floor in front of so many people.”
Ling Yiyi did not dwell on it for too long. It was the same to her wherever the other had chosen; she did not need to rely on the geographical layout of the battle arena to win.
None of them figured out why Fang Ping chose Happy Valley.
There were loads of places in the capital for that particular purpose, and Happy Valley was not one of them.
“Did he say when?”
“The morning of the 25th.” Ling Yiyi scanned the invitation once.
Li Hansong said, “We’ll all go, and we’ll call some instructors too, in case MCMAU tricks us.”
“They wouldn’t stoop so low, would they?”
“We have to prepare in case that happens. MCMAU is in dire need of proving itself and defeating one of the CCMAU prodigies is the best way to do so.
“You should know what it means, that a student unbeatable by all other Rank-3 martial artists came from MCMAU.
“The freshmen have not registered themselves here yet. If the public gets the impression that CCMAU students are inferior to MCMAU’s, some of the genius prospective students might turn to MCMAU instead, and MCMAU will definitely take all of them in.”
“Then I’ll have to be more vigilant...”
...
The CCMAU people had overthought everything.
Fang Ping had chosen Happy Valley because the other party had offered him an outrageous sum of 15 million!
Of course, they had made a simple request... They asked if they could station some of their employees holding the company’s banners at the periphery of the arena when Fang Ping and his opponent duked it out. They would not be asked to stand too near the martial artists; they could stand far away if that was what Fang Ping wanted.
Fang Ping did not reject that request.
He must satisfy his clients’ requests–as long as they did not hinder the battle itself.
The Beihe Vacation Area had offered him 5 million.
Fang Ping had asked for 8 million yuan from the Hope Corporation to hold the previous battle in front of the Hope Hotel, and they did not refuse.
Happy Valley offered him 15 million. The money he earned from the three locations was a total of 28 million yuan.
Fang Ping was considering shutting down his company.
Challenging other people while taking up some advertisements by the side earned him more money at a faster pace.
...
Fang Ping arrived in Capital City on the 24th.
Someone had come to seek him out as soon as he checked in to the hotel.
They were Fu Changding and Tang Songting, both Capital City natives.
In his room, Fu Changding lamented, “You’re progressing too fast. You can even challenge Ling Yiyi now. She’s extremely strong. My grandfather told me that she’s extremely high up there among Rank-3 martial artists in terms of power; she could probably best those two military powerhouses as well.”
“Your grandfather?”
Fang Ping then recounted that Fu Changding’s grandfather seemed to be an instructor teaching in CCMAU. The head of some department, even.
Fu Changding laughed. “This match between you two is the focus of attention from the instructors from both schools despite their alleged inaction.
“My grandfather will spectate the match too as a representative of CCMAU.
“A Peak Rank-3 martial artist would already be the strongest among the strongest in any average martial arts university. Same in those universities in the Eight School Alliance.
“In MCMAU and CCMAU both, Peak Rank-3 martial artists who got into the ranking–like you, for example–are not inferior to any Rank-4 martial artist at all. You might garner more attention, too.
“Would the instructors not pay any attention to this battle?”
Fu Changding continued with a question. “If you defeat Ling Yiyi this time, will you break through to Rank-4?”
Fang Ping thought for a while before replying, “It’s still up in the air. It depends on what happens then, I guess. If I don’t manage to succeed in combining seven consecutive slashes into one, I won’t choose to break through. I’ll continue my journey. There are still the two from the Military Department left.
“If I succeed, it doesn’t matter if I challenge them.
“At least I know that they can’t best me.
“Being invincible doesn’t mean bullying the weak or winning against them no matter what. If I defeat Ling Yiyi with a massive advantage, the ranking would have to be renewed again.
“If I succeed, the first place would be mine.”
Tang Songting asked curiously from the side, “Can you do it now?”
“No.”
“Then, why...”
Tang Songting was confused. ‘Then, why are you so confident that you can do it during a match?’
Fang Ping did not mind his confusion. He laughed. “If I believe that I can do it, then I definitely will. If I don’t believe in myself, there’s no way I can achieve this goal.”
“You’re really confident!”
Fu Changding laughed. He then said, “Right. Chen Yunxi will also come tomorrow. We’ll cheer for you tomorrow. Don’t ruin MCMAU’s rep!”
“She’s coming?”
Fang Ping froze for a second. Fu Changding explained, “She lives in Jingnan, which is quite near to Capital City. This is an away battle for you, too, so we definitely have to cheer for you!
“Plus, an anonymous source spread rumors saying that this is a battle of avengement.
“Yunxi told me that her granddad heard about it. Vice-chancellor Chen has only one granddaughter, and that’s why he’s extremely furious. He might show up just to check if someone was gossiping about his granddaughter.
“Rumor was that a reporter spread them. Vice-chancellor Chen can’t possibly confront him deliberately, but he’ll definitely give the reporter a good ol’ whacking if he comes across him.”
Fang Ping gulped. ‘This rumor is not my doing. It’s Liu Dali who embellished it and spread it with who knows how.’
Now that a Grandmaster was after Liu Dali, should he inform Liu Dali, ask him to flee the scene?
Liu Dali would be fine if he did not come across the Grandmaster.
Grandmasters were all busy. They had no time to chase after people worldwide.
If Liu Dali came across the man, though...
Fang Ping dared not imagine how Liu Dali would end up being.
Right, if the guy ratted Fang Ping out to the Grandmaster after being captured, would he be chased after by the overprotective Grandmaster?
“I have to tell Liu Dali to flee... Or disguise himself and find a place to hide.”
Fang Ping chatted with the other two with such thoughts in his head. The other two did not stay for long, luckily.
Fang Ping had to fight against Ling Yiyi the next day. It was best if he rested well and prepared for the battle.
...
At the same time, the location of Fang Ping and Ling Yiyi’s battle was announced on the Internet.
“A battle for the number one position among all Rank-3 martial arts university students!”
Although the position they were vying for was not first place of all Rank-3 martial artists, it was still attractive to the public, as with all battles between first and second place (Ling Yiyi was first on the student ranking, and Fang Ping second. Qin Fengqing had broken through to Rank-4).
Add in all the versions of the motives behind said battle–romance, hatred, grudges left unsettled (including the one grudge between CCMAU and MCMAU)–and it was suddenly given more profound meaning.
The Internet was already alight with discourse before they had even traded moves.
The battle between them was called the Battle Between the North and the South, the Battle Between Male Martial Artists and Female Martial Artists, or the Battle Between CCMAU and MCMAU...
The two Rank-3 martial artists were suddenly made to be representatives of the entire martial arts field.
The battle was hyped up more and more.
Fang Ping and Ling Yiyi, too, became more famous with that.
...
Fang Ping was still focused on earning money, but he still fully understood that the victor and the loser of a battle were treated differently.
He remained in the spotlight just because he had defeated his previous opponents.
Those who had lost to him, people like Jiese and Yu Chen, still commanded attention but at a much smaller degree; they had failed to retain the majority of the attention given to them when they had faded away from their peak.
If he lost to Ling Yiyi, the loss would not only be a blow laid on him as an individual but would also take the spotlight away from him. He would also suffer a monetary loss.
Following his consecutive victories, Distance Ltd was quickening the planning process for its future expansion nationwide.
If Fang Ping had lost, not only would his reputation suffer a hit, the expansion of his company would be affected too. His reputation would not be the only thing he would lose if that had happened; his wealth would be affected as well. Wealth meant strength. If he had lost, the progress of his martial prowess would be severely hampered two-fold.
After Fu Changding and Tang Songting left, Fang Ping concentrated and took a look at his stats.
Wealth: 47000000
Vitality: 1250cal (1279cal+)
Mentality: 540Hz (565Hz+)
Bones honed: 126 bones (100%), 51 bones (90%+), 29 bones (30%+)
“I have only managed to unite six consecutive slashes by now. I might not be able to best Ling Yiyi. Looks like I’ll have to upgrade myself before I can win against her.
“I’ll need 51 million Wealth points to hone all 51 of the bones making up my torso.
“I don’t plan to replenish my Vitality during tomorrow’s battle, but I have to reserve enough to replenish it once just in case. That means I have to reserve 2 million Wealth points at least.
“53 million in total. I’m 6 million short...”
At that thought, Fang Ping was reminded of someone, whom he immediately called with his mobile phone.
“Liu Dali, where is my portion of the profits you made from the video broadcasting website?”
“Ah?”
“Quit the b*llshit. Where’s the money? I watched the videos. They combined have a few hundred million views at least. That means that I’ll get several ten million yuan...”
“Brother, they don’t settle the fees so fast. The website gets their portion too... And... And, the data might not be accurate, you know? Some of the few hundred million views might have been added on by the website itself...”
“Ask them to give you the money now. Take the videos down if they don’t want to. Also, say, how much do you think we can get?”
“After the website and I take some, you’ll get... 5 million bucks at most...”
“Give me 10 million. Don’t lie to me! How much can the website take for itself? I didn’t even ask for an advertising fee from them after I’ve contributed so much to the site’s increased traffic...”
“I really don’t get this much. Really!” Liu Dali whined incessantly. How unfortunate he was to have met this person!
Fang Ping threatened, “Don’t lie to me. I tell you, a few Grandmasters were after you, and I stopped them in their tracks. If you don’t want to be pummeled into meat sauce by those Grandmasters, consider what you say carefully!”
“Grandmasters?”
Liu Dali was completely stunned. ‘Why were those Grandmasters after me? I didn’t do anything to provoke them!’
“Chen Yunxi’s grandfather is a Grandmaster. I didn’t ask you to use her in your lies, but then you embellished every detail. You have to shoulder the aftermath of your actions.
“Also, I asked you to focus on the rivalry between students, but you made it all about this ‘Battle Between the North and the South’. There are hundreds of Grandmasters between the two factions. Think, how much sh*t have you put yourself into?
“Everyone hasn’t sought you out yet because they haven’t started to give a sh*t about you. Think. What if I let something slip...”
“Boss Fang!”
Liu Dali was so distraught. He wailed, “I was promoting you! If I die, you...”
“I’ll be fine. My mentor is almost a Grandmaster, and some of her family members are Grandmasters too. I have someone to cover me, so they naturally won’t come after me. Who should they go after, you say?
“One who has background and one who has none. Who will die?”
Liu Dali had a complete breakdown. He yowled, “I don’t want the money. I’ll give you all of it! There’s only 8 million. Boss Fang, stop screwing me over, can you!”
Fang Ping laughed at that. “Whatever, I’m not that kind of person. I can’t not give you your portion of the profits when I said I would, can I? I’ll take 6.5 million, and you take the rest. Don’t be modest.”
“Thank you!”
Liu Dali managed to get the words out from behind his gritted teeth. When Fang Ping asked him to transfer the money over, he did not dally. A few moments after the call, he transferred 6.5 million to him.
Fang Ping finally got the Wealth points he needed.
...
At the same time.
Liu Dali, in the hotel room downstairs, humphed. “Did he really think that he could scare me? Grandmasters coming after me? He thought I was stupid!
“Grandmasters won’t bother to come after this Rank-3 martial artist!
“Giving him 6.5 million out of the 15 million I earned is me doing right by him. And he really thought that I would be afraid!”
Liu Dali’s face lit up with glee. There was another important match the next day. The video recording would make him a pretty penny.
That young man Fang Ping was no match for him no matter how cunning he was. Did he really think that Liu Dali would never lie to him when he did not make him sign a contract and check his accounts? When everything got bungled up, he could just flee after shooting the video. What could the kid do? Chase after him for such a small amount of money?