HEAVEN SWORD DRAGON SABRE Book 2 of 2

A Gentleman Is Vulnerable To Deceit Part 1

Gradually, the noise around the field died down. The old monk from Damo Hall who sat behind Kong Zhi stood up and said, "We have agreed to the rules set by the heroes to govern our martial art competition today. Saber and spear, fists and legs, do not have eyes. Death will not be discussed further, alive and well will be the Heaven's fate. Whichever school, sect, clan or society has the strongest martial art, will have control over Xie Xun and the Tulong Saber."

Zhang Wuji frowned slightly. He thought, "It seems like this monk is afraid the battle will not be fierce enough, the enmity among schools will not be deep enough. Don't they have mercy as displayed by Shen Seng like Kong Jian and Kong Wen anymore?"

The crowd further agreed that as soon as one had defeated two opponents in a row, one must be given an opportunity to rest. Other than that, there was not much difference than the previously agreed rule.

Immediately some people went down the field and called out their challenges, which were answered at once. A moment later, there were six people fighting in three pairs.

Zhao Min had learned the essence of each unique skill belonging to the Six Major Sects' masters when she detained them in the Wan An Temple. Although her comprehension was still shallow, her knowledge and experience were not ordinary at all. Standing in between Zhang Wuji and Fan Yao, they discussed the martial arts of those six people. She made predictions on who would win and who would lose. Surprisingly, her analysis was very clear and logical.

About the time needed to drink a cup of tea later, among the three pairs, two had reached conclusion, and only one pair was still engaged in a fierce battle. Two more people immediately went down the field to challenge the victors. Hence, it was still six people fought in three pairs. The newcomers were using weapons, so their opponents also unsheathed their weapons. As the competition proceeded this way, it was only natural that eight or nine fights out of ten were decided with some shedding of blood.

Zhang Wuji mused, "This way, the friendship between each clan and sect will definitely suffer some damage. As soon as one school defeats another, although nobody loses his life or suffer injury, the loser will unavoidably try to retaliate in the future. I will be greatly surprised if this event will not breed an enormous disaster in which everybody kills each other."

In the meantime, the Beggar Clan's Zhi Fa Zhanglao's palm hacked down on the short elder of Huashan Pai that the latter spurted blood from his mouth. The tall elder of Huashan Pai cursed, "Stinky Beggar! Rotten Beggar!" while jumping out to challenge the Beggar Clan's Zhi Fa Zhanglao.

The short elder quickly grabbed his arm and said in low voice, "Shidi [younger martial brother], you are not his match. We'll have to swallow this defeat for the time being."

The tall elder angrily said, "I don't care, I must fight him!" Although his mouth said those words, deep down in his heart he realized that his Shixiong's [martial brother] martial art skill was comparable to his own; their energy cultivation was identical. If Shixiong was beaten, then he had no chance of victory. As he was being pulled by his senior, his mouth did not stop shouting abusive words, but his feet actually moved toward their wooden shelter.

After that, Zhi Fa Zhanglao scored another victory over the Sect Leader of the 'Mei Hua Dao' [Plum Blossom Blade]. Since he had defeated two people in a row, amidst the thunderous applause from the Beggar Clan crowd, he returned to their shelter, feeling very pleased with himself.

And thus, one come the other go, the competition in the field had been going on for more than four hours. The red glowing sun was slowly moving to the west. The martial art skill of the people going down into the battle was increasingly higher. At first, a lot of people were having lofty aspirations; their hearts were filled with desire to show off their skills in this general assembly of the world heroes. However after seeing other people's martial art skills, and only then did they realize that they were no more than a frog in the well. Without ascending the Mount Tai, one would not know the vastness of the earth. Therefore, they did not dare to enter the competition.