Chapter 452 The dust has settled
"Ren Wuya is 'A'!"

What you fear will come true. At this moment, Luo Tianjin's heart was full of mixed feelings. He felt that fate was playing tricks on him and the world was unpredictable. He didn't know what to do for a moment.

When Xu Qingnian proposed the method of drawing lots, Luo Tianjin was overjoyed. However, he unexpectedly drew Ren Wuya. The joy in his heart disappeared in an instant, and was replaced by a bitter feeling of not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Seeing Luo Tianjin's absent-minded trance, Ren Wuya suddenly understood everything. His eyes darkened and he let out a sigh.

"Everyone, please show your signature."

Suddenly, Xu Qingnian's loud voice rang out on the stage, quieting the bustling scene.

"Jin drew 'B'." Jin Fuyu was the first to raise the paper sign in his hand high and show it in all directions one by one.

"My name is the same as Master Jinwu, also 'Yi'." Yuwen Xiu unfolded the paper sign and cast a malicious and provocative look at Jin Fuyu.

"Lord Luo, Palace Master Ren, Saint Master Yun, Young Hero Wu! I wonder what lot each of you drew?"

As Xu Qingnian continued to ask, Luo Tianjin, feeling heavy-hearted, hesitated again and again before reluctantly showing his lot and answering absentmindedly, "Luo drew 'A'!"

"Humph!"

Before he finished speaking, Yun Zhuiyue, who was full of expectations, suddenly showed disappointment and quickly unfolded his paper sign, and a big "B" appeared on the paper.

"Luo Tianjin, you'd better advance successfully and don't let me down!"

Facing Yun Zhuiyue's provocation, Luo Tianjin turned a blind eye and turned a deaf ear. He looked at Ren Wuya, whose face was uncertain, with complicated eyes, and an indescribable tangle emerged between his brows.

Xu Qingnian nodded slightly, then turned to Ren Wuya and asked, "Palace Master Ren, I wonder what you drew..."

At this moment, everyone in the audience's heart was in their throat. They pricked up their ears, widened their eyes, and paid close attention to every move and every word on the stage. They were so nervous that they didn't even dare to breathe.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Ren Wuya's eyelids twitched slightly, and then he slowly spread out the paper sign that was tightly clenched in his palm.

At the same time, Xu Qingnian, Jin Fuyu, Yuwen Xiu, Yun Zhuiyue and others subconsciously took a few steps closer to Ren Wuya, all wanting to take a quick look.

"hiss!"

A cry of surprise from the sword-fighting arena made the hearts of the people around suddenly tighten.

When Xu Qingnian, Jin Fuyu and others slowly turned around and looked at Luo Tianjin with strange eyes, Luo Tianjin clenched his fists, suppressed the depression in his heart, and finally revealed a disheartened smile.

"Lord Luo, the opponent you drew is..."

"No problem!" Luo Tianjin pretended to be calm and forced a smile, "It is a great blessing in my life to be able to spar with the Lord of Jade Dragon Palace."

"what?"

Xu Qingnian was stunned, then waved his hands repeatedly and said, "Lord Luo has misunderstood. What I meant is that the person who drew the same lot as you is Young Master Wu Shuang!"

“Wu…Wu Shuang?”

Hearing this, Luo Tianjin was shocked, and then looked at Ren Wuya with surprise.

Ren Wuya showed his paper sign expressionlessly, on which was clearly written the word "B".

Seeing this, Luo Tianjin's mind went blank, and he was puzzled: "This...what's going on? I just saw that Ren Wuya drew 'A', why did it suddenly become 'C'? And the person who originally drew 'C' was..."

Thinking of this, Luo Tianjin suddenly turned his head and cast his deep eyes straight at Wu Shuang. Seeing that he was still calm and composed, he was even more confused: "Wu Shuang knew that his opponent was not Jin Fuyu, so he must have read the lot early and couldn't have not known that he drew 'C'. In this way, it is impossible for Ren Wuya to switch the lot without anyone noticing... However, after Ren Wuya showed the lot, Wu Shuang turned a blind eye and didn't shout or make a fuss. Why is that?"

After thinking about it, Luo Tianjin only thought of two possibilities.

First, he made a mistake. Ren Wuya drew "C" instead of "A" at the beginning.

Secondly, it was not Ren Wuya who cheated, but Wu Shuang who took the initiative to exchange paper signatures with Ren Wuya.

The interesting thing is that in Luo Tianjin’s mind, both possibilities are nonsense and are impossible to happen.

Firstly, he was a martial arts expert with amazing eyesight. The characters "甲" and "丙" were very different, so how could he have made a mistake?
Secondly, Luo Tianjin and Wu Shuang have no relatives or friends and have never met each other. Why did Wu Shuang exchange paper signatures with Ren Wuya, and why did he take the risk to help him?
In fact, if Wu Shuang was unwilling to cooperate, it would be impossible for Ren Wuya to "replace the prince with a cat" in front of everyone.

As if disturbed by Luo Tianjin's gaze, Wu Shuang slowly turned his head and met his eyes. At the same time, he unfolded the paper in his hand, showing a large "A" character, and jokingly said: "Lord Luo, please go easy on me later."

Wu Shuang's move made Luo Tianjin even more troubled and puzzled.

"In the order of A, B, and C, the competition will begin with Palace Master Luo and Young Master Wu."

Before everyone could come to their senses, Xu Qingnian's voice sounded again, smiling and saying, "Then it's Master Jinwu and Master Yuwen, and finally Master Yunsheng and Master Ren. According to the rules, each of them can choose five friends from the martial arts world to come on stage to help. If all six lose, they will be considered eliminated."

Feeling the increasingly hot atmosphere coming from all directions, Xu Qingnian turned to look at Luo Tianjin and Wu Shuang, and said seriously: "Please come in, both of you!"

"I have no sect or school, and no friends to help me. I have to do it all by myself."

Wu Shuang was eager to try, his eyes full of excitement.

"As expected, heroes emerge from youth."

Xu Qingnian praised him and then turned his inquiring gaze to Luo Tianjin.

"When Luo takes action, it is a bit like bullying the weak." Luo Tianjin stared at Wu Shuang without looking away, and said lightly, "I will let someone else take the stage to see the top move of the Dragon Elephant Ranking."

"Alright!" Xu Qingnian did not comment, waved his hand and pointed to the field, and said with a smile, "In that case, except for Young Master Wu, the others please go to the sidelines and rest."

Jin Fuyu, Yun Zhuiyue and others kept looking at Luo Tianjin and Wu Shuang with strange eyes. They couldn't believe that Luo Tianjin's luck was so good that he could draw Wu Shuang so easily.

But Xu Qingnian was on the sword arena as a witness, and all the heroes around witnessed it. Even if they had many doubts in their hearts, they could not rashly ask questions, so as not to give people a chance to criticize them and leave a bad reputation of "making trouble for no reason". Under the guidance of Xu Qingnian, Jin Fuyu and others walked to the sidelines one after another. When Luo Tianjin and Wu Shuang passed by, he couldn't help but be curious and blurted out subconsciously: "Why are you helping me?"

"When you are in the underworld, either you help me or I help you. What's so strange about that?"

Faced with Luo Tianjin's sudden question, Wu Shuang was not at all surprised. Instead, he answered fluently as if he had been prepared.

Just these one sentence made Luo Tianjin's eyes change suddenly, and he was more convinced that Wu Shuang did it on purpose.

Amid the noise, Wu Shuang was the only one left on the sword-fighting arena, standing proudly, neither humble nor arrogant.

The other few people retreated to the sidelines and sat down, and surrounded by their disciples, they discussed countermeasures.

Right now, neither Jin Fu Yu nor Yun Zhui Yue were interested in the drawing of lots anymore. Instead, they were concentrating on studying their opponents and thinking about how to win the first round.

"Master, we are the first one."

"No matter how powerful Wu Shuang is, he is only one person. It is better to send Second Master Xie to the battlefield and cut the Gordian knot."

"It's a rare blessing from God that the Palace Master won a great victory and picked Wu Shuang, which means he will advance easily."

"That's right! The most urgent task is to preserve our strength as much as possible and never let Wu Shuang consume too much of us. Only in this way can we maintain a greater chance of winning in the second round."

……

Seeing Luo Tianjin step down from the stage, Xie Xuan, Jiang Yiwei and others stood up to greet him and spoke out their ideas at once.

"There is no dispute about promotion, but we need to consider carefully who to send to fight Wu Shuang."

Luo Tianjin did not tell everyone about the strangeness of the drawing of lots, because he was worried that if everyone knew that Wu Shuang was secretly helping him, they would subconsciously treat him as one of their own and relax their vigilance, which would lead to excessive joy and tragedy, and turn victory into defeat.

Although Luo Tianjin didn't know Wu Shuang, he had decades of experience in identifying people and talents. His intuition told him that Wu Shuang was unruly, cynical, straightforward, and unpredictable.

After all, changing signatures does not mean surrender.

What's more, is Wu Shuang an enemy or a friend? What is his intention? Luo Tianjin knows nothing about it. In order to avoid falling into a trap, he must be cautious and take every step carefully.

Therefore, the safest way is to treat Wu Shuang as an enemy and discuss everything after the competition.

Luo Tianjin looked around at everyone and said thoughtfully, "Unless it is absolutely necessary, Xie Xuan cannot go on stage easily."

"Does the Palace Master have a suitable candidate in mind?"

"Don't be too weak, or you will destroy your own prestige." Luo Tianjin said, "Wu Shuang has been occupying the first place on the Dragon Elephant Ranking for many years. He must have his extraordinary qualities. You must not underestimate him."

"Liu Xunyi has fought with this man before, so why not send him to test Wu Shuang's strength, so that we can see his methods clearly." Jiang Yiwei suggested.

Hearing this, Liu Xunyi's face became a little stiff, but Luo Tianjin directly rejected it and said: "Xunyi is not suitable to fight today. I have other arrangements for him."

"This……"

"Murong Bai, Deng Quan." Suddenly, Luo Tianjin's expression changed and he asked seriously, "Which of you two is willing to go meet Wu Shuang?"

"I go!"

Murong Bai and Deng Quan said in unison, without any hesitation.

Luo Tianjin nodded with satisfaction, then turned his inquiring gaze to Xie Xuan and said hesitantly: "Brother Xie, in your opinion..."

"This..." Xie Xuan frowned slightly, and then under the expectant gaze of Murong Bai and Deng Quan, he analyzed, "Liu Xunyi said that Wu Shuang's weapon is a pair of swords. An inch longer is an inch stronger, an inch shorter is an inch more dangerous. In my opinion, Murong Bai's silver spear is more suitable than Deng Quan's mandarin duck ring to deal with the double swords."

Deng Quan's face changed, and he said in a hurry: "My mandarin duck ring can attack the enemy from ten feet away, and can defend myself within half an inch. In terms of length, it is even longer than his seven-foot silver spear."

"Brother Deng, what you said is wrong!"

Murong Bai stabbed his silver spear into the ground, which immediately made a clanging sound. He said proudly, "Although the flying ring is far away, once it is out of my hand, it is like a kite with a broken string, or a rootless duckweed, which is difficult to control. My silver spear is different. It can be retracted and released freely, and it changes rapidly. It is more suitable for dealing with his double swords."

"Brother Murong, you..."

"All right!"

Without waiting for Deng Quan to argue, Luo Tianjin suddenly shouted and waved his hand, saying, "I have made up my mind. I will send Murong Bai to fight Wu Shuang."

"Thank you, Lord Palace Master, for your support!" Murong Bai showed a look of joy on his face and quickly accepted the order.

Xie Xuan warned: "No matter who wins or who loses, don't bring shame to your family!"

"rest assured!"

A bloodthirsty grin appeared on Murong Bai's lips, and he gently pushed the gun barrel with his right hand. The silver spear leaped into the air like a lightning dragon and shot straight towards the sword-fighting arena.

It happened in a flash. Murong Bai stomped his foot and soared into the sky. In the blink of an eye, he was above the silver spear. Then he stepped on the spear with both feet and flew several feet.

"Keng!"

He fell to the ground with a loud bang, and the seven-foot silver spear stood on the sword-discussing platform. The extremely hard bluestone suddenly cracked. At the same time, a strong and fiery fighting spirit burst out from Murong Bai's eyes.

"Murong Bai from Xianwang Mansion has come to learn from your Excellency's skills!"

……

(End of this chapter)