Descendants of the False Gods

Chapter 039: Life in the Imperial Capital (17)

This time, it was Lu Bing who spoke first, “Sorry, did Xiao Qi get hurt?”

Qi Jia quickly stood up, straightened his body, and said, “It’s fine, it’s fine. Is my sister really that strong?”

“No, not at all. It’s just that the captain and the others taught me this yesterday. If you’re not confident, don’t kick too high—it’s easy to leave an opening,” Lu Bing blushed in response.

“Thank you, Senior Sister.” Qi Jia quickly returned to his team, feeling embarrassed for losing so quickly.

The special team competition was coming to an end. The last little guy stepped up and said, “I’m Peng Pai, challenging Senior Liu Xiong.”

Liu Xiong, the chubby one, was not happy. He had been looked down upon by a group of little kids. Since the battle in the West City, it seemed like anyone could look down on him.

Among the five of them, Liu Xiong thought his martial skills weren’t the worst. Although he hadn’t officially fought Lu Bing, he was at least better than Xiao Yi. In the same year, he was considered outstanding. He didn’t expect to be the last one left for someone to challenge today.

He needed to win in front of everyone to redeem himself, to show he hadn’t been looked down upon. He wanted to regain his dignity.

Without showing any expression, Liu Xiong walked to Peng Pai’s side, took a bow stance, and let his hands hang relaxed by his sides. His posture didn’t reveal if he was about to attack or defend.

Peng Pai knew these seniors wouldn’t make the first move, so he stood with his legs apart, both fists raised in front of his chest, preparing for an attack.

Xiao Xiong extended his right hand and gestured to Peng Pai, challenging him with a wink: “Come on!” Then he slapped his thighs and shifted his weight, rocking his body forward and backward.

Peng Pai bent forward, swaying his fists, and cautiously took two small steps forward. Suddenly, he threw a jab at Xiao Xiong.

Xiao Xiong carefully observed the distance, leaning back to dodge the punch. He made a slight adjustment with his feet, narrowing his stance to allow for easier movement.

Peng Pai kept shifting his position, trying to control the distance, aiming to maintain a range that allowed for quick transitions between attack and defense.

Peng Pai missed his punch, then tried again with another punch, and then another, sometimes following with a swinging punch.

Xiao Xiong kept adjusting the distance, dodging Peng Pai’s punches with his constantly shifting weight. His hands either hung loosely by his sides or rested on his thighs. From the beginning of the match, they hadn’t made any direct contact.

As everyone thought Xiao Xiong was intentionally playing with his opponent, Xiao Xiong suddenly closed the gap when Peng Pai threw a left jab.

Xiao Xiong quickly stepped forward, launching himself to Peng Pai’s left side just before the left jab could be retracted. He locked Peng Pai’s upper arm and left shoulder with his left arm, using his body momentum to pull Peng Pai’s upper body to the left. With his left leg now supporting Peng Pai’s lower body, he shouted, “Little brother, lie down!”

Peng Pai tried to adjust his weight, but with both his upper and lower body locked, he couldn’t move and was helplessly forced to fall to the left.

When Peng Pai was about to fall, Xiao Xiong crossed his legs and retracted his left leg, extending his right leg to rest his ankle under Peng Pai’s head, preventing a head injury.

Xiao Xiong finally released the frustration that had been building up, grabbed Peng Pai’s arm, and helped him up, saying proudly, “Little brother, are you convinced?”

Peng Pai, blushing, nodded repeatedly.

Both returned to their respective teams, and Lu Yu turned to the referee to announce their surrender.

Lan shot a sharp glare at Xiao Xiong, but Xiao Xiong was on a high, responding to Lan’s expression with a silly grin.

Lan was helpless. Xiao Xiong had started with a bow stance, dodged the whole time, and only used one arm for offense—he was showing off.

The special team match officially ended. The performance of Team “Lan” left both the team members and the spectators with a fresh understanding of their strength.

Many students had only heard rumors about the ‘West City’ event—some admired, some were suspicious, and others dismissed it as made-up. However, among the spectators, one person knew exactly what Lan’s previous abilities were—Tong Meng.

The battle from a year ago was his biggest shame. As a noble, who had the advantages in age, physical ability, and education, he had been defeated by a commoner who had just started training in martial arts. It was a thorn in his heart.

His family was a military aristocracy, and while they didn’t despise commoners, he couldn’t accept the idea that his resources and conditions could still allow for such a failure.

He spent the past year diligently practicing, hoping for a chance to avenge his defeat.

When the team match started, he heard the teacher call out “Lan” and saw the “little junior” he had been longing to fight. He knew this was his opportunity.

Tong Meng came today specifically to assess Lan’s current strength.

Lan easily defeated his opponent using skillful techniques, but Tong Meng couldn’t figure out the extent of Lan’s abilities, which made him feel disappointed.

Still, Tong Meng was confident. He believed that after a year of hard work, he would easily defeat Lan and wash away his shame.

“Little monkey, make sure we draw them tomorrow. I want to fight them,” Tong Meng said impatiently.

The “little monkey” was the short guy who caused trouble a year ago. His name was Pi Dong, and he had been close friends with Tong Meng since childhood. He wasn’t concerned about his past embarrassment because he had caused many such incidents and liked causing trouble. However, he didn’t take it too seriously.

Pi Dong proudly said, “Bro, we’ll probably have a bye tomorrow. Even though the match isn’t over, the team match today lasted at least seven to eight minutes. We finished ours in two minutes. No one else can do better than that.”

“What? A bye? Why? How come I didn’t know?” Tong Meng asked in surprise.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah?”

“Didn’t you read the rules?”

“Boss, you didn’t know?”

Tong Meng’s team murmured. He turned around with a dark expression, muttering, “Why did you finish so fast? Didn’t I tell you to go easy? You make things too obvious! Why am I stuck with teammates like you, a bunch of fools?”

“No, Boss, didn’t you say, ‘Attack with all your might, take them down, don’t give them a chance to breathe?!’” one of the teammates quietly complained.

Pi Dong quickly caught up with Tong Meng, signaling to the others to stay quiet.

Tong Meng’s team kept muttering in soft voices, knowing better than to speak up too loudly, as their leader was too powerful.

Tong Meng wasn’t really blaming his teammates. He was just upset with himself for not paying attention to the rules. He had wasted an opportunity and hoped Lan’s team would have a smooth journey so they could finally face off.

Luo left early to watch the individual weapon matches.

The injury rate in the weapon matches was high, and Luo didn’t dare to ignore them. He could only try to gather as much information as possible on the opponents’ actual combat skills.

Lan stayed with his team to watch the last match of the team competition’s preliminaries and chatted with Xiao Xiong a bit.

Over the years, Xiao Xiong had proven he wasn’t someone to be messed with. His mouth was always running, and he seemed to stir up trouble wherever he went.

As they walked down the street, Lan, Luo, and Xiao Yi barely heard a thing, while Xiao Xiong could turn every little event into a major commotion.

Fortunately, Xiao Xiong was a kind-hearted guy, always willing to help others. So far, all the troubles he’d caused were justified, and the team always helped him out.

The next two matches were between upperclassmen and juniors. Although there were some good exchanges, their overall strength wasn’t very high—on the same level as Xiao Xiong at best.

The team competition had officially ended, and the students who participated and watched began to leave.

Lan and his team went around the competition area before finding Luo.

What caught everyone’s attention wasn’t the match, nor Luo, but the injured students being treated on the sidelines.

“Wow! Is the weapon match really this dangerous? Glad I didn’t sign up, or I might be lying in bed for a few days right now!” Xiao Xiong exclaimed.

A familiar student nearby chimed in, “The ones treated here are the lucky ones. Each weapon match has sent several out on stretchers, and they won’t get up for at least a month. See that bloodstain over there? It’s from the last match, still not cleaned up.”

“Good thing I kept my head clear and didn’t sign up,” Xiao Xiong said wisely.

“You’re right! Hearing ‘arena’ and ‘open competition’ gets the blood pumping,” the talkative student added, a perfect match for Xiao Xiong.

Lan directly gave Xiao Xiong a playful smack on the head, “So you think your second brother wasn’t clear-headed, or just too fired up?”

“No, no, no! They can’t compare to second brother. He’s brave and skilled, fighting for the honor of the academy!” the chubby boy quickly explained, worried his boss would latch onto his mistake.

The talkative student, however, wasn’t deterred, “My friend’s just the same, headstrong, fighting for the academy and personal glory, risking it all.”

Lan, too, was concerned and regretted picking the boxing match first, putting his brother in danger.

Luo, though, reassured them with confidence, “As long as the protection is proper and the response is cautious, even if there are injuries, they won’t be severe. Don’t worry.”

“You don’t need to worry. Your friend is very skilled, and his response is excellent. He has a high chance of winning. After a few more clashes, the opponent will likely give up,” Luo added, trying to comfort the talkative student.

Sure enough, after a few “bangs” from the wooden weapons, the swordsman blocked his opponent’s saber and brought his own sword up to the opponent’s neck.

The referee blew the whistle and declared, “Match 69, He Kai wins!”

After the match ended, some students began to leave.

“The team competition is over? Let’s go too!” Luo suggested, wanting to leave before anyone worried too much about him.

Lan had no objections to his brother’s suggestion, and the team members weren’t interested in watching anything too intense.

Though the match had ended gentlemanly, the injuries on the sidelines and the bloodstains still served as a reminder of how intense the weapon matches could get.

As they left the arena, Li Xin suddenly mentioned returning the leather armor to Lu Bing since it was banned for use in the boxing matches.

Since the team competition was also in boxing form, the armor wasn’t needed at all.

Lu Bing refused, saying it was just a memento from her first competition, and her family didn’t mind giving a few pieces away.

Although leather armor wasn’t cheap, for a military noble family, it was an expendable resource.

Every year, their guards would wear and tear multiple pieces during patrols, hunting, or training. Lu Bing didn’t waste money, so giving away a few pieces was no big deal.

It was just like earlier when the nobles celebrated their victory in the cafeteria on the second floor; they could easily buy ten or more pieces of leather armor.

Hou Ting also advised Li Xin and the others not to return them. They had already been modified to fit their sizes, and no one would wear them again anyway. It was easier to just buy new ones if necessary.

Lan and Luo didn’t fuss about it. They considered it a debt to repay later rather than returning ill-fitting armor.

The rest of the way, the group chatted about martial arts and magic. After accompanying Lu Bing and Hou Ting back to their rooms, the group dispersed.