Chapter 39: The Shame of Kongtong

Everyone in the martial arts arena focused their attention on the two people on the "ring", and the originally noisy scene suddenly became quiet. Everyone present was a martial artist, so the difference in physique between Qin San and Zhou Mu could be seen at a glance. In addition, Qin San had been famous in the martial arts world for a long time, while Zhou Mu was an unknown person.

Deng Changchuan, who was sitting next to Luo Tianjin, looked at Zhou Mu from afar and shook his head, saying, "This boy is weak and out of breath. The slightest movement will cause his blood and qi to become disordered. He tries to look calm, but this will only make his internal weakness worse. How could Kongtong Sect allow such a weak disciple to fight? It is really a loss of dignity for Sect Master Zhongli."

Luo Tianjin had a different opinion about Zhou Mu. He smiled and said, "Although this Kongtong disciple is weak, he is loyal. At least he is more loyal than the other Kongtong disciples present today. Sect Leader Zhongli will not think that he has embarrassed himself. Instead, he will be extremely pleased."

"Dad, what do you mean by this?" Luo Ningyu asked curiously.

Luo Tianjin smiled fondly at Luo Ningyu and explained softly, "Zhou Mu's martial arts can only be ranked last among these Kongtong disciples, but his courage is the best among all the disciples. You see, so many Kongtong disciples are indignant about Qin San's provocation, but why don't others fight back? Why only Zhou Mu?"

"Why?"

"Because other Kongtong disciples have secretly weighed their own weight, and they know that they are no match for Qin San even if they go on stage." Luo Tianjin said dimly, "It was when other disciples were hesitating that Zhou Mu stepped forward without hesitation, which shows that he doesn't care about the gap between himself and Qin San at all, and only wants to regain face for his master. His loyalty and courage are evident, so I said that no matter whether Zhou Mu wins or loses, Master Zhongli will be pleased because of him. Speaking of which, Kongtong Sect has had a very difficult time in recent years, and now it has reached the point of a lack of successors. Thinking back to the heyday when Master Zhuang was alive, it's a pity that things have changed and people have changed..." Luo Tianjin's last two sentences were quite regretful.

On the ring, Qin San was surprised by Zhou Mu's appearance. Zhou Mu standing in front of him was as thin as a child, which made Qin San not interested in fighting at all. Qin San narrowed his eyes and looked down at Zhou Mu, saying with a smile: "Boy, this is not the place for you to practice boxing. Get out of here before you get into trouble! Get up here with someone decent."

In response to Qin San's ridicule, Zhou Mu's face was as gloomy as water, his eyes were full of coldness, and he shouted angrily: "Qin San, don't be so arrogant. The Kongtong disciples can be defeated, but they will never admit defeat. Make a move!"

After saying that, Zhou Mu drew out his sword, with the three-foot-long blade pointed directly at Qin San, showing his determination to never retreat and his courage to fight to the death.

Qin San looked at Zhou Mu as if he were an idiot, and said contemptuously: "Boy, you dare to come up to fight when you can't even hold the sword steadily? Didn't your master teach you how to write the word 'death'? Get out of here, I'm afraid I might lose control of my strength and beat you to death, hehe..."

"Stop talking nonsense!" Zhou Mu shouted coldly, "If you have the guts, defeat me first!"

Before Zhou Mu finished speaking, he had already jumped up lightly and rushed towards Qin San. At the same time, the sword in his hand stabbed straight towards Qin San's chest. The arena composed of nine large tables was actually not very big. Zhou Mu only took four or five steps to get in front of Qin San.

On the other hand, Qin San's face was full of disdain. He showed no intention of dodging Zhou Mu's sword. He still stood there like an iron tower, holding the Lieyang Sword.

"Why don't you hide..."

Zhou Mu was surprised at the unprepared Qin San, and then he instinctively turned the sword in his hand to avoid Qin San's chest. The sword, shining with cold light, stabbed out along the gap under Qin San's armpit. Zhou Mu managed to resolve the killing move he had used.

"Lost!" Seeing this, Luo Tianjin couldn't help but sighed, "Zhou Mu Taishou didn't dare to hurt Qin San's life according to the rules. I'm afraid Qin San has seen through this."

Sure enough, just as Zhou Mu moved his sword and moved his body closer to Qin San, the motionless Qin San suddenly raised his foot and kicked Zhou Mu's lower abdomen mercilessly, with such force that Zhou Mu was kicked out.

He took three or four steps back, until his left foot stepped on the edge of the table and he almost fell down. Then he endured the pain and struggled forward, barely able to steady himself.

"Cough...cough..."

Zhou Mu's internal organs churned after being kicked by Qin San, and his lower abdomen felt like it was on fire. He stood on the edge of the ring and couldn't help coughing up blood. His face became paler and his heavy breathing became more and more rapid. It was obvious that Zhou Mu was almost unable to hold on after just one kick.

"Despicable!" Zhongli Wanying couldn't help but yelled angrily, "Senior Brother Zhou knew the rules and didn't want to hurt Qin San, but Qin San took the opportunity to attack. It's really despicable!"

"Alas!" Zhongli Mu could only let out a bitter sigh in response to Zhou Mu's womanizing kindness.

Zhou Mu had lived in seclusion in his sect for many years due to his frail health, and had never really fought with anyone. Therefore, this kick made Zhou Mu feel the true meaning of "rude" for the first time in his life.

Everyone around the martial arts arena showed regret, but Qin San on the ring did not intend to give Zhou Mu any chance to breathe. After kicking him away, he sneered and then leaped up from the sky like a tiger pouncing on its prey, rushing straight at Zhou Mu. In mid-air, the Fiery Sun Blade in his hand came down like splitting a mountain and splitting a rock, accompanied by a sharp and piercing sound of breaking through the air, and the Fiery Sun Blade chopped straight at Zhou Mu's crown. Zhou Mu could not bear to kill Qin San, but Qin San was merciless to Zhou Mu.

Seeing this, Zhou Mu was horrified. Regardless of the severe pain in his lower abdomen, he hurriedly held the sword across his head with both hands, trying to block Qin San's sword.

"Keng!"

Qin San's Fiery Sun Blade smashed heavily on the sword, instantly bending it and causing Zhou Mu to spit out blood again.

With a painful groan, Zhou Mu bent his knees and then knelt heavily on the table with a bang.

In an instant, the four legs of the table under Zhou Mu broke instantly, and Qin San flew back to the center of the ring with a light tap of his feet, while Zhou Mu fell to the ground along with the suddenly collapsed tabletop. The tabletop was shattered into pieces, but Zhou Mu was still kneeling on the two broken tabletops, his body motionless.

"Mu'er!" "Senior Brother Zhou!"

Seeing this scene, Madam Zhuang, Zhongli Wanying and a group of Kongtong disciples all looked worried.

"Brother Zhou, how are you?" Zhongli Wanying stood at the sidelines and asked anxiously, "We all know you have tried your best, come on down!"

At this moment, Zhou Mu's body was trembling slightly, his empty eyes were full of horror, and there was even a trace of sweat or tears in the corner of his eyes.

After a moment, he seemed to be awakened by Zhongli Wanying's voice. He first looked up at Qin San who was calm on the ring, and then slowly turned his head to look at Zhongli Mu in the distance with a complicated expression. His lips trembled violently for a long time, but no sound came out of his throat.

"It may not be a bad thing to let Mu'er go through this." Zhongli Mu looked at Zhou Mu deeply and said calmly, "The dangers of the martial arts world are definitely not an exaggeration. If he doesn't experience this kind of thing himself, he will never know how cruel the real martial arts world is. Sitting in a well and watching the world from a sect all day long can only make him arrogant."

"Brother Zhou, the winner has been decided, you can go down now." Qin Da on the sidelines urged impatiently.

“Thank you for giving in.” Qin San bowed and sneered at Zhou Mu, which made Zhou Mu’s blood boil again and a trace of blood flowed from the corner of his mouth.

Liu Xunyi stared at Zhou Mu on the field with a frown on his face. When he saw a patch of blood beneath Zhou Mu's knees, he was startled and blurted out subconsciously, "I'm afraid he can't walk anymore. Let's send someone to carry him!"

Liu Xunyi's words seemed to have caught Luo Tianjin's attention. He slowly turned his head and looked at Liu Xunyi suspiciously. Liu Xunyi was stunned and quickly forced an awkward smile towards Luo Tianjin. The two of them looked away immediately, and before Liu Xunyi could explain her identity, Luo Tianjin had already turned his head away. Looking at his calm appearance, it seemed that he had no intention of embarrassing Liu Xunyi.

Gradually, Zhongli Mu also realized that something was wrong and hurriedly sent his disciples to carry Zhou Mu down. The place where Zhou Mu had just knelt was now stained with blood. Everything was just as Liu Xunyi expected. Zhou Mu's knees had been broken by Qin San's knife.

"Zhou Mu doesn't seem to have a chance to fight back."

"The two of them are not at the same level at all. The gap is too big."

"Alas, it's a blessing that Mr. Qin San didn't take Zhou Mu's life!"

"Is it true that Kongtong Sect is out of experts?"

……

For a moment, the sidelines were filled with whispers, and it was obvious that the previous competition had greatly shocked everyone. At the same time, it also forced those young disciples who were eager to try to reconsider their decision. After all, Zhou Mu had already taught them with blood that this competition was not as easy as they thought.

"Hehe..." Seeing that the winner had been decided, Lu Tingxiang privately ordered someone to replace the broken table with a new one, then stood up and said with a smile, "Brother Qin's unstoppable momentum opened our eyes, while brother Zhou was careless in guarding and unfortunately lost out. Now that the winner has been decided, who else wants to go on stage and compete with Third Master Qin?" Lu Tingxiang's words were meant to save some face for Zhou Mu and Kongtong Sect.

“Hurry up, hurry up!” Qin San scratched his head with his hands, looking impatient, and said, “That one just now wasn’t satisfying enough, hurry up and bring something that can satisfy me. Hehe…”

"Qin San, please don't go too far. I, Xun Zaishan from Kongtong, am willing to avenge Junior Brother Zhou!"

After that, another person from Kongtong Sect flew out. This person was much stronger than the thin Zhou Mu. As soon as Xun Zaishan stepped onto the ring, he drew his sword and rushed forward without saying a word, which showed how angry he was at Qin San.

Qin San sneered and swung his sword to meet Xun Zaishan. Although Xun Zaishan's martial arts was much stronger than Zhou Mu's, he was still far from qualified to be Qin San's opponent. The two of them fought for less than twenty rounds of swordsmanship when Qin San chopped on the tip of Xun Zaishan's sword, pressing the sharp blade deeply into Xun Zaishan's shoulder. If Xun Zaishan had not dodged in time, his entire arm would have been cut off by his own sword.

Xun Zaishan was shocked, and Qin San suddenly used a move of Black Tiger Heart-Digging with his left fist. Xun Zaishan felt a tightness in his chest, and then his eyes went dark and he fainted. Qin San took advantage of the situation and grabbed Xun Zaishan's waist and lifted him up, lifting him high above his head with one arm. After "showing" him around, Qin San's strong arm suddenly swung forward, and the fainted Xun Zaishan was thrown off the ring like a dead dog, and fell heavily into the martial arts field.

Qin San's move caused an uproar among the crowd. The four great families sent out a fierce master like Qin San right from the start, clearly wanting to seize the initiative and crush the momentum of the six major sects.

With the precedents of Zhou Mu and Xun Zaishan, no ordinary disciple from the six major sects dared to challenge for battle. After all, when fighting against a fierce master like Qin San, winning or losing is not important, but whether or not one can survive is the most important thing. One had his legs broken, and the other nearly had his arm chopped off. Who else would dare to face his sharp edge easily?

Seeing Qin San's arrogant look, the disciples from the six major sects were all gritting their teeth in anger. However, since Qin San had defeated two people in a row and was in high spirits, and his attacks were ruthless and merciless, no one was willing to go on stage to challenge him for a while.

Everyone was whispering to each other. Lu Tingxiang seemed quite satisfied with this scene. In his eye contact with Qin Da, Tang Ren, Teng Cang, Song Yu and others, a hint of pride emerged. After all, the most troublesome Kongtong Sect had now sent two people, and both of them were defeated miserably. This meant that the Kongtong Sect was no longer eligible to compete for the Jingfenghuayu Tu today.

Before Lu Tingxiang could ask again, Shaolin Sect's Yuankong suddenly stood up, and in front of everyone's surprised gaze, he clasped his hands together and said slowly: "It's a sin, it's a sin, benefactor Qin has killed too many people, if you dare to go on the battlefield again, there will inevitably be casualties. There is a monk in my temple who is good at Zen, and I am willing to learn from you all the skills of benefactor Qin!"

……

(End of this chapter)