บท 21: The Third Test – Free Sparring
“A bet?”
“Yes. A bet. If you want me to participate in the third test, let us make a bet! Are you brave enough to do that?”
……….?
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to trick you into doing anything immoral! Zheng-Fu quickly assured Tian-Qi when he saw her concerned face…
“Fine! If it’s nothing immoral, I’ll make a bet with you!”
“Great! The winner can ask for anything at all from the loser, but it mustn’t be anything immoral. That’s our bet!”
“Deal!”
When Tian-Qi agreed to make a bet with Zheng-Fu, she stood up and walked away from the test venue. The adults in the area took turns, looking at one another, and smiled reluctantly because it was strange to hear kids talking to each other that way…
“Let’s go home, Zheng-Fu! Your mother must be worried by now.”
“Yes, father!”
“If you please, come to our house to enjoy the meal together.”
“I’m afraid we can’t. My son and I have to take care of something. Please go ahead without us.” Hai-Gu raised his hand in a bid to excuse himself from the invitation immediately. He needed to split to do an errand…
“We can’t join you as well. We need to go back to our station to monitor things around the estate. Let’s do it next time, shall we?” Tong-Tieng and Tong-Lang also excused themselves to do their duties as Monitors of the clan…
“Well, please do as you must. But if you have some spare time, come to our house anytime, would you? I’d like to pay you gratitude for helping my son.” Kong-Shi could not keep the two Monitors occupied when he realized that they must return to their duties…
“Of course!”
“Please excuse us!”
Within no time, the test venue was empty as everyone left for their places. The news about Zheng-Fu could last six shichens long in the mind test was scattered throughout the clan so quickly. He had now turned from a freak to a genius of the clan that everyone admired. However, Lao-Chu and Dong-Chu were not everyone. They were not very happy with this new change…
Squeak!
Clomp!
“Welcome home, my dearests!”
When Tang-Ling heard the door’s sound, she believed that it was her husband and her son, so she rushed to the door to greet them. She was correct. It was Kong-Shi and Zheng-Fu at the door, standing smiling there…
“Mother!”
When Tang-Ling saw Zheng-Fu, she could not wait to run to him and hug him with all her heart, feeling delighted and proud of her son. She never thought that her son would come this far. She thought that her son would end up being either a Zhuàngyuán or a state officer, who would never have a chance to tap into the martial arts world…
However, he finally could practice himself to enter the martial arts realm. Although she did not understand how her son could manage to achieve this much, she felt glad for and with him…
“Mother, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?” Zheng-Fu asked when he saw his mother’s teary eyes…
“Nothing. It was just some dust in my eyes, dear. Let’s have something to eat. I’ve prepared many yummy dishes for you, including your favorites.”
“Hoo-ray!”
“Our son’s growing up. He’s eight years old now. And since there’ll be a competition among the clans in three years, he’ll be deemed to be the hope of our clan to win the competition, so…”
“I know, dear husband. For a martial artist, he can never be free from fighting. If he chose to enter that world, I can’t do anything to hold him back.”
“Good!”
The family started to enjoy the meal. They had a great time eating and chatting. And right before the meal was over, Zheng-Fu excused himself to his room to adjust his Qi energy that he absorbed from the mind dimension earlier…
It was already something that made everyone jealous of Zheng-Fu to go from the higher-level of the sixth level of the Qi Gathering stage to the seventh level. But now he also had a chance to absorb more Qi energy from the mind dimension continually for another three extra shichens. This sent his energy level to the higher-level of the seventh level. It meant that he needed one more extra level to help him break through further…
Right now, what he needed to do was to balance his Qi energy and take a rest as much as he could because he had a competition tomorrow. He did not think that the free sparring with other young participants would be a problem, but something unexpected would be the things that he was worried about…
The next morning finally arrived. Everyone gathered at the test courtyard to watch the young participants in the third test. The winner of this year’s test will receive five lower-leveled Qi energy stones, plus Body-Strengthening Ginseng. The rewards made everyone even more excited about this year’s competition. As for opinions towards Zheng-Fu, everyone knew that his Qi energy level was very high, but they also thought that Zheng-Fu had not gained a lot of fighting skills because they believed that he spent most of the time in the past years studying to become a Zhuàngyuán.
It seemed like everyone heard that Zheng-Fu just went to pick out some fighting skill manuals last month, so the young participants felt like they were not afraid to fight with him. However, some were still concerned about his high Qi energy level though…
“Are you ready, Zheng-Fu, son? If you wish to change your mind…”
“I’ve made a bet with Tian-Qi, so I must go.”
“All right. I wish you the best of luck then. If you feel like you can’t go on, just stop.”
“Yes, father!”
The two of them rushed to leave their house and headed towards the test venue. The test venue had now been turned into many free sparring stages overnight...
“Good morning, Kong-Shi!” Hai-Gu greeted Kong-Shi as he saw Kong-Shi and Zheng-Fu approach the venue…
“Likewise, Hai-Gu!”
“Please accept my respect, uncle Kong-Shi.”
“Hello, Hai-Gang!”
More and more people arrived at the venue, including Lao-Chu and other elders. Tong-Tieng and Tong-Lang were already there. The last person to arrive at the venue was Mo-Zi. He was usually the last one to arrive at any clan’s events…
“Attention, please. We’re going to start the third test of this year’s young martial arts competition to seek the strongest young martial artist. We all know what kind of rewards the winner’s going to receive, so let’s not go over that. There’ll be 16 out of 19 participants in this fighting test.” The mediator announced the commencement of the third test…
“It looks like three participants refused to join the third test?”
“They were probably the servants’ children.”
The young three participants who decided to not join the third test did not want to fight. They were happy enough just to join this year’s test. So, they gave up their rights to the free sparing round.
“The free sparring will be divided into two groups. There’ll be four free sparring pairs in each group. The winners of both groups will be paired in the final round. Then we’ll have the ultimate winner from there. All participants please come down to the courtyard to draw lots, so you know your opponent.”
The rest of the young participants approached the courtyard to draw lots. They now knew who their fighting partners were. Then the mediator announced…
“The free sparring detail will be posted for everyone to check. We will start the first free sparring in half a shichen. All participants can take some time to prepare themselves. Any participants who can make their opponents fall off the stage or say that they want to give up would be the winner. That’s the rule. And of course, all participants must not intend to take their opponents’ lives!”
After the rules of the third test had been explained, everyone walked to where they were supposed to station. The young participants still had half a shichen to get ready. There would be judges involved in this free sparring round…
At one of the corners next to the free sparring courtyard…
“Take this pill! I got it from my friend. It’ll help boost your body and energy by two folds. Your energy and your body strength will be increased instantly after you take it, so use it when it’s really necessary.”
“Yes, father!”
Lao-Chu secretly slipped a supplemental pill to Dong-Chu before the free sparring began because he was not sure what was going to happen. He wanted to make sure that his son had the advantage over his opponent, especially if that person was Zheng-Fu. He did not really know if Zheng-Fu possessed any kind of fighting skills…
“I must win in this competition, father. I won’t let you down.”
“Don’t beat yourself too much! If you can’t take it, just give in!”
“Give in? No way! I’m not going to give in to that boy!”
“All right!”
‘There must be something that that boy’s hiding. He makes me want to see more of him.’ Mo-Zi actually thought that Zheng-Fu had something extra hidden in him, but he did not know what it was. Time continued to go forward. Every participant finished warming themselves up. Zheng-Fu’s first free sparring opponent was a boy with a huge body. He thought that the boy could not be only eight years old…
“Hahaha! Even though your energy level was higher than mine, you don’t have any fighting skills. So, I, Da-Lun, will surely be able to take you down.” The boy with a huge body laughed and bragged about his body strength. He was confident that he could defeat Zheng-Fu…
“We’ll see if you can do that!” Zheng-Fu did not really pay attention to the boy’s words, so he just pretended to make a casual comment back…
“The first round of the third test has begun! Zheng-Fu and Da-Lun, please come to the fighting venue.” The mediator announced the commencement of the third test. Both Zheng-Fu and his opponent walked up to the stage in accordance with the mediator’s announcement. The same thing happened at other fighting stages…
“I think you should surrender now, you tiny boy!” Da-Lun said to Zheng-Fu with a very fierce gaze…
“Just get it over with. Don’t waste your saliva any longer!”
“You! Fine! I’ll give you what you deserve.”
“Just remember! Make sure to fight hard enough to know who’s the winner. Don’t get too rough! Get it?”
“Yes, sir!”
“Begin!”
As soon as the mediator told them to start the fight, Da-Lun charged Zheng-Fu with his fighting skill immediately. He did not want to waste the time any longer. He wanted to end the fight quickly…
“Yah!”
“The first skill of the “Iron Staff”!”
[Striking Staff]
Whoosh!
All eyes were on Zheng-Fu and Da-Lun. Everyone wanted to know how Zheng-Fu was going to react and which fighting skill he would use to counter Da-Lun’s attack…
Bam!
Da-Lun’s staff was all of a sudden halted. It could not move forward any longer after it clashed with something invisible…
“What was that fighting skill? It seemed to be invisible…”
“That looked like a Belt Sword skill, but the patterns…”
Everyone at the test courtyard felt suspicious about Zheng-Fu’s fighting skill. Some of the people there felt like they had practiced the same skill before, but they also felt like the movement patterns were not exactly what they knew. These patterns seemed to produce a more powerful result. So, they were not sure if they really knew the fighting skill…
“That was a Belt Sword skill!” Lao-Chu exclaimed with shock when he saw the fighting technique that Zheng-Fu used…
“That’s correct. That was a Belt Sword skill!” Tong-Lang confirmed immediately…
“But how come the movement patterns were not exactly like the ones in the manual?”
“I won’t be able to answer you that. You have to ask him yourself.” Tong-Lang used the opportunity to tease Lao-Chu…
“Snort!”
Lao-Chu almost choked after hearing that from Tong-Lang. Even though he was so curious to know about the skill, he would not go ask Zheng-Fu because he was the great elder. He would not demean himself that way…
“The boy’s not bad at all. Your son’s superb, Elder Kong-Shi.” Mo-Zi who was quiet all along turned to Kong-Shi to compliment Zheng-Fu…
“You’re being too kind, the leader of the clan. He still needs a lot more experience. He’s not that superb, sir.”
“I really do think that he is. He can actually challenge Qi-Er to want to thrive. I really have to thank him for that.”
“Yes, sir!”
Kong-Shi did not know how to feel about Mo-Zi’s words because it sounded like he had some kind of a hidden agenda there. So, Kong-Shi only nodded and gave a dry smile back…
Back at the free sparring stage…
“That wasn’t all I got! I just wanted to check your reaction. I’m going to really give my all this time. Be prepared!”
“Yah!”
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