Wuxia: Starting Off With 60 Years of Inner Strength

Chapter 54: Chapter 54: Get Down Here

Shopkeeper Wan’s gaze soon softened, and he even raised his cup toward Jiang Ran.

Jiang Ran also smiled, raised his cup in acknowledgment, and then settled in to watch the contest on the stage.

Time flowed by, second by second.

The man who had started things off to draw out the true experts had long since been knocked off the stage.

One fighter left the stage as another took their place. Now, standing spiritedly on the platform was a man in his thirties.

This man was a master of the sword, known to the Jianghu People as ’Flying Stream Sword’ Fei Qingbo.

The Flying Stream Jade Breaking Sword Skill he wielded was truly exquisite.

He had now fought and won seven consecutive matches.

He flicked his sword with a finger. The blade seemed to tap gently, yet it held the force of a mountain.

His opponent struggled to withstand the blow, but was inevitably sent tumbling off the stage.

Scrambling to his feet, the man looked around before cupping his fist.

"Impressive!"

"You fought well."

Fei Qingbo said, flipping his longsword to rest behind his back. He smiled faintly.

"Which other hero wishes to grace the stage and offer their guidance?"

The tournament had reached a point where most contenders had been weeded out.

Thus, after Fei Qingbo spoke, the arena fell silent for a time.

After a long moment, a booming laugh suddenly echoed from all around.

The sound seemed to come from every direction. The faces of everyone present changed as they immediately scanned their surroundings.

On the walls of the Wan Mansion, six figures had appeared at some unknown point!

The six were a motley crew of varying heights and builds, each holding a different weapon.

The man in the center had bristling red hair. He was bare-chested, revealing ferocious tattoos that covered his entire torso.

The weapon in his hand was odd—a heavy, pitch-black spear.

"What a fine meeting of clowns!

"I wonder if you, you clown, can take a single blow from my spear!"

The man let out a great laugh. As he finished speaking, he raised the heavy spear high with one hand, lifted a leg, and with all his might, hurled it forward.

WHOOSH—VRRRRRR!

The air cracked and split. The great spear shot forward like a meteor, carrying such immense force that even those not in its path felt their eardrums thrum violently just from the sound of its passage.

Those in the arena with weaker Inner Strength found their ears bleeding and their footing unsteady just from the sound alone.

The massive spear flew straight for Fei Qingbo on the high platform.

Fei Qingbo’s face fell. His feet danced, shifting his position as he executed one sword form after another.

His body and sword moved as one, building momentum. As his inner breath circulated, threads of Sword Intent began to condense.

A faint sound, like a rushing river, could be heard. With a flick of Fei Qingbo’s wrist, the tip of his blade shot out to meet the great spear, moving like a torrent that had traveled a thousand miles!

The Sword Qi met the spear in mid-air. The black weapon, wrapped in layers of Gang Qi, shuddered for a moment, its advance halted.

But in the next instant, Fei Qingbo’s expression changed drastically. Blood poured from his seven orifices as the Sword Qi disintegrated. Immediately after, the longsword in his hand shattered into pieces.

The next moment, the black spear broke through the last of the resistance and struck Fei Qingbo with a sickening THUD.

Fei Qingbo was sent flying. He tumbled off the stage and crashed through three tables before finally coming to a stop, lying motionless on the ground.

At the same time, a deafening BOOM! rang out.

The high platform had been shattered by the spear’s impact. Amid the rubble, the heavy spear stood embedded in the ground at an angle, its metal glinting with a bone-chilling light.

A figure flashed. The red-haired man from before landed on one foot atop the heavy spear. He looked down at Fei Qingbo and roared with laughter.

"Not bad. You’re not just a pretty face after all.

"This Cold Iron Double-bladed Spear of mine weighs one hundred and seventy jin. An ordinary person wouldn’t just be unable to catch it; they’d be dead or maimed from a single touch.

"The fact that you could take that blow means you’re something of a hero yourself.

"Guess this ’hero gathering’ isn’t a complete joke after all."

"You..."

Although Fei Qingbo wasn’t dead, he was gravely wounded. He pointed a trembling finger at the man, but after speaking a single word, he coughed up a spray of blood, unable to say more.

At the same time, some in the crowd had recognized the intruders.

"Feiyun Stronghold’s second-in-command, the ’Red-haired Vajra’ Zuo Kuangge!"

"The Government Office has a three-thousand-tael bounty on his head!!"

"It’s not just him! There’s the third-in-command, the ’Carefree Immortal’ Jade Mountain People."

"The fourth-in-command, ’Blood Vulture’ Huang Hai; the fifth, ’Thousand-Hand Yama’ Sun Dashan; the sixth, ’Red Snake’ Guan Miaomiao; and the seventh, ’Thousand-Mile Flying Flower’ Hua Wushang."

"They... they’re all here!!"

In an instant, the once-calm hero gathering erupted into chaos.

The storyteller, who had been lulled into a stupor by the fights on stage, was now wide awake. He licked the tip of his writing brush and began to scribe furiously.

Rong Lie, the Gang Leader of the Three-Part Gang, also saw his expression shift, growing more solemn.

The remaining five leaders exchanged a look and leaped into the air.

Each using their Lightweight Technique, they began stepping on the heads of the Jianghu People below as they rushed toward the center of the arena, laughing wildly all the way, showing complete disregard for everyone...

...until a sharp bark of "Get down here!" was heard, followed by a yelp of "Ouch!"

Only then did the crowd realize that something had gone wrong.

They focused their gaze on the arena. The Red-haired Vajra Zuo Kuangge was still standing on his Cold Iron Double-bladed Spear.

Four other figures now stood beside him...

Jade Mountain People was dressed in white, holding a folding fan.

Sun Dashan was completely shrouded in a black robe, his sinister form obscured within its depths.

He was the only one who hadn’t stepped on the heads of the crowd.

Guan Miaomiao stood with her hands tucked into her long sleeves. Her face was somewhat pale, and the elaborate ornaments in her hair trembled unceasingly.

Hua Wushang casually leaned on a single-edged saber. He was handsome and stylish in a set of pink robes, his amorous eyes constantly roving over the female martial artists in the crowd.

After the crowd looked them over, they immediately realized... one was missing!

People immediately craned their necks to look. It wasn’t hard to find him... The intruders had each come from a different direction.

Following that line of sight, they saw a young man by a round table, gripping someone’s ankle. With a dark expression, he asked:

"Were you trying to step on my head?"

This young man was none other than Jiang Ran!

And the one whose ankle he held was the fourth-in-command of Feiyun Stronghold, the Blood Vulture, Huang Hai.

Hearing Jiang Ran’s words, the faces of everyone in the arena turned strange.

They could already picture it: Blood Vulture Huang Hai, just like the other leaders, had used his Lightweight Technique to arrogantly step on the heads of the assembled heroes, intending to intimidate them.

But as a result, a hand had shot out of nowhere, grabbed his ankle, uttered the words "Get down here!", and plucked him right out of the air.

The turn of events was so sudden and unexpected that even the Blood Vulture had let out a surprised "Ouch!" as he was caught off guard.

By the time he came to his senses, he was already face-down on the ground...

Many in the crowd exchanged bewildered glances.

Huang Hai, on the other hand, wanted to die from the sheer humiliation!

He had been utterly disgraced for no good reason.

He couldn’t stop himself from glaring back at Jiang Ran with a sinister look. Without even bothering to wipe the blood from his nose, he slapped the ground with one hand, using the force to launch himself into a spin. He broke free of Jiang Ran’s grip, his feet now wreathed in a fierce Gang Qi as he aimed two heart-piercing kicks straight at Jiang Ran’s chest.