Chapter 299: The Challenge Begins, Old Grudges Seek Confrontation, Celestial Phenomena and Thunder C

Chapter 299: The Challenge Begins, Old Grudges Seek Confrontation, Celestial Phenomena and Thunder Control (4K)



"You and my master... are evenly matched?"

Zong Shi Chan looked at Li Zhaoquan, scratching his head in bewilderment.

This situation felt as absurd to her as Krillin claiming to be on par with Frieza.

How much have you had to drink?

Sch Jing looked at this tall and well-built man several times before realizing, "Ah, it's you."

A few months ago, he had taken on a commission at the Pearl Hotel, where he encountered the first Cockroach Man while working as a bodyguard for a group of second-generation heirs. Many other dojo disciples had also accepted this commission, and the man before him was one of them.

Sch Jing remembered that this man had spoken to him and even shook his hand.

"Huh? Master, you know him?"

Zong Shi Chan was even more surprised.

In her eyes, Li Zhaoquan, a disciple of the Amber Dojo, was far inferior to her own master. It was like the Monkey King pointing at one of the ten thousand heavenly soldiers and claiming to remember him...

When the heavenly soldier boasted about being on par with the Monkey King, everyone just laughed it off. But if the Monkey King himself acknowledged remembering the soldier, that held a different meaning.

Zong Shi Chan couldn't help but view Li Zhaoquan in a new light.

Unaware of how harshly the elder granddaughter of his master had judged him, Li Zhaoquan was delighted that Sch Jing actually remembered him. But he immediately felt embarrassed.

"Sch... uh, Brother Sch, long time no see."

He scratched his head and gave an awkward smile.

Sch Jing smiled and said to Zong Shi Chan, "I've worked with this Li brother before. We handled a commission together, and I had a brief encounter with him. It was a draw, so we shared the glory."

Zong Shi Chan's eyes widened in disbelief, "What? Is it true that he claims to be evenly matched with Master?"

The little girl looked at Li Zhaoquan as if seeing him for the first time, scrutinizing him closely.

Li Zhaoquan was touched that Sch Jing would give him such face, and he couldn't help but be moved.

Despite being used as a source for Sch Jing's boasting, Li Zhaoquan didn't hold it against him and even helped smooth things over... What a magnanimous heart and noble character!

Brother Sch, you're so kind!

However, although Sch Jing was willing to praise him, Li Zhaoquan didn't dare to take advantage of it. He quickly added, "At that time, Brother Sch had just started his martial arts journey and wasn't as skilled as he is now. In fact, I was the one who lost. My hand bones were fractured, but I put on a strong front and didn't show it!"

Zong Shi Chan understood, "Oh, I see. So that's how it is."

It made sense if it was during the Monkey King's early days as a small monkey.

Yin Muhu, standing nearby, spoke up, "Brother Sch, I heard that the Dragon Concealment Stream is setting up a challenge, and you're going to be the matchmaster?"

Sch Jing nodded, "I can't disobey my master's orders."

Yin Muhu's expression turned peculiar, "This Dragon King senior... he's indeed worthy of being my master's old friend."

Her words were polite, but they implied that Li Qi had gone too far.

"With Brother Sch as the opponent, many people might be left with lifelong shadows of defeat."

Yin Muhu sighed.

Sch Jing smiled, "Sister Yin, you're exaggerating. I'm not some demon. I won't use excessive force without a reason."

Yin Muhu remained silent, but she thought to herself that this wasn't about using excessive force...

Having personally experienced the terrifying gap between herself and Sch Jing, a genius who defied logical understanding, she couldn't help but feel a sense of futility in her own martial arts journey.

Even someone like her, who was considered to have exceptional talent among ordinary people and had cultivated the Vajra As-You-Wish Hand to its current level, believed that her mental fortitude was strong. However, after personally facing Sch Jing, she had fallen into a state of depression for a long time.

"By the way, Brother Sch, I saw some people just now who might require your attention."

Yin Muhu spoke in a low voice.

"What's going on?" Sch Jing asked, puzzled by her serious tone.

"I once heard my master mention the numerous enemies the Three Prodigies of Jade City had made in their youth."

Yin Muhu said, lifting her head and scanning the surroundings with her gaze, as if searching for something.

After looking for a while, she seemed to have found nothing and shook her head. She continued, "Just now, I saw several well-known figures. Their sects all originated from the enemies my master mentioned. This moving celebration banquet is hosted by Senior Li Qi. Logically, they shouldn't be here to offer congratulations."

Intrigued, Sch Jing asked, "Oh? Who are they?"

Yin Muhu recalled and replied,

"Celestial Octagram Style, Zheng Jixiang."

"Golden Wind White Rainbow Sword, Xie Yue."

"Thunder Control School, Qin Fengcong."

"These three are renowned young experts who have been famous for a long time. They are just a step away from leaping over the dragon gate. They have high reputations, and there are a few others I don't recognize, but they are likely their associates.

"The Celestial Octagram Style, Golden Wind White Rainbow Sword, and Thunder Control School had all clashed with our Master and his peers... According to Master, the main conflict lies with Elder Li Qi."

"Their presence here... It's not a good sign."

"Now we can't even find the person, and we don't know where they've gone." Yin Muhu scanned the banquet hall and frowned.

Xue Jing rubbed his chin and pondered, "Oh, I see..."

He nodded and said to Yin Muhu, "I understand. Thank you for the reminder, Yin Mei."

"What does Brother Xue plan to do?" Yin Muhu asked.

Xue Jing smiled faintly and said, "During the banquet, we should treat all guests with courtesy. There's no reason to turn people away... Perhaps they've come to turn hostility into friendship."

"If they dare to have other intentions, I can handle it."

His tone was calm and casual, as if it were small talk, but it carried a sense of composure, as if he could control everything no matter what others tried to stir up, much like an adult unconcerned with the pranks of a few children.

"Master..." Zong Shi Chan looked at him with admiration, his eyes sparkling as if they were about to shoot out stars.

...

In a hidden corner of the banquet hall, several extraordinary figures gathered around a table.

Among them was a man in his mid-twenties, with an ordinary appearance and no distinctive features. He should have been as unremarkable as a stone, but he gave off a strangely ethereal and vast feeling, like a cloud that might dissipate with the wind, not belonging in the mortal world.

He spoke in a calm tone, his voice strangely ethereal and distant, as if it were coming from far away, even though he was right in front of them:

"Have you all made your decision? Is it enough with just us few?"

A man with sharp eyebrows and hair that stood on end like a Super Saiyan frowned and said:

"How can it not be enough? Currently, only Meng Boshang from the Dragon Concealment Stream is a worthy opponent. Elder Li Qi is already a cripple, and that kid named Xue Jing, no matter how talented he is, is still just an underage child. You're not worried about him, are you?"

Someone beside him chuckled and said, "Causing a fuss after winning the U19 Championship, boasting about being above everyone else, but in the end, he's just a Youth Tournament fighter. He has some talent, but that's about it."

"Elder Li Qi, more than a decade ago, he had to slink away with his tail between his legs from the inner circle. We barely spared him then... Who would've thought that the old man still has such ambitions? He took on an exceptional disciple and even dared to show his face in the inner circle again."

"A stray dog should act like a stray dog. How dare he have the ambition to rise again."

"Our Grandmaster wanted to come personally, but considering that 'Asura Chen' and 'Vajra Zhou' might interfere due to old sentiments, he decided against it. However, we, as the younger generation, can legitimately eliminate the Dragon Concealment Stream on the arena using 'within-the-rules' methods..."

"Hmph, a person like Li Qi can never shake off his innate arrogance. He was crippled by that person, and even at his age, he still can't control his desires. After being down and out for over a decade, he finally got a good disciple and couldn't help but show off. And now he's even setting up a challenge... Haha, you're saying he should have waited another decade for this little genius to fully mature. But instead, he's attracted tigers and wolves, and now he's going to be strangled in the cradle."

"Who's going first?"

"Let Brother Xie go. Brother Xie, didn't Elder Jiao Hongyuan's Golden Wind Dojo in Qing City also get taken down by the Dragon Concealment Stream? You should avenge Elder Jiao."

"The Golden Wind White Rainbow Sword is countered by the Dragon Concealment Stream's Golden Scale Technique... That kid is young, but he does have some skills. Brother Xie might not be able to defeat him."

"I'll go." The man with the Super Saiyan-like hairstyle spoke up firmly.

Seeing him speak, the others stopped their discussion and nodded in agreement.

"Brother Fengcong's Thunder Control Technique is unparalleled in cakewalking. If you take the lead, it'll be the most stable... What about Meng Boshang after that?"

"That kid is dead. Elder Li Qi will definitely be furious and send Meng Boshang out. If he breaks the rules and doesn't fight on the arena, then we don't need to uphold martial ethics either. We can all rush him at once."

Seeing that they had the process all planned out, the ethereal man sighed and said, "All things are impermanent, and the situation may not unfold as expected."

"I have a bad feeling about this. There might be an unexpected turn of events."

Qin Fengcong's sharp eyebrows lifted like lightning, and he said, "There won't be any surprises. I'll end it all in an instant."

"Unbeknownst to them, at a table not far away, a charming and beautiful young lady twitched her ears and smiled.

"It seems something interesting is about to happen, Xue Jun," she said.

Yuga Kamisato casually held his chopsticks, savoring the delicious dishes on the table.

...

"Friends from various dojos in Qing City and esteemed guests from afar, I, Li Qi, thank you all for gracing us with your presence at the moving celebration banquet of our Dragon Concealment Dojo."

"I, an old fool, have wasted over sixty years of my life, achieving almost nothing. In my youth..."

On the podium of the banquet hall, Li Qi, seated in a wheelchair, spoke calmly into the microphone.

Sch Jing stood below the podium, his gaze sweeping across the entire banquet hall. Among the nearly two thousand guests, all martial artists, his keen intuition made them tense up involuntarily whenever his gaze passed over them, as if they were being watched by some terrifying monster, causing their hairs to stand on end.

Not many people were paying attention to Li Qi's speech; most were observing the several direct disciples of the Dragon Concealment Stream, especially Sch Jing, who had attracted the attention of over 90% of the guests.

"That's Xue Jing, the Demon King... Even a genius like Zhou Yinglin was tormented by him to the point of losing his human form."

"The U19 Champion... It's unbelievable that such a person exists in Qing City."

"It's not just about being a champion; he's the strongest champion in history. Many Master-ranked martial artists from the Inner Ring have predicted that he will definitely win the title in the future."

"Wow... Is this really someone from the Dragon Concealment Dojo? Even at the Dragon King's peak, he wouldn't have received such praise."

"Such a genius defies common sense. It's just an accident that he was born in Qing City... It's like a swan's egg falling into a duck's nest. Once the ugly duckling grows up, it immediately transforms into a swan and soars into the sky."

Many guests at the banquet whispered excitedly.

"Now, according to custom, as the Dragon Concealment Stream wishes to establish itself here, we seek the approval of our fellow martial artists. I have a disciple who is not very accomplished, but he is willing to set up an arena and act as the matchmaster, inviting all the heroes present to give him some pointers."

Li Qi spoke with a proud expression, and when he mentioned his 'unaccomplished disciple,' he winked at several old friends in the audience, making them grit their teeth in annoyance.

"This dog, after more than a decade, still acts like a dog. He's a beast!"

"I'll tear apart his wheelchair later!"

"Shameless scoundrel!"

Several elders laughed and scolded.

"Please, everyone, move outside," Li Qi gestured with his hand towards the door, and the crowd stood up, bowing to him as they headed outside.

In the square outside the arena, a large open space had already been cleared, with a square stone arena of several dozen meters in length at its center.

Sch Jing's gaze fixed on a group of guests, and a tall, long-limbed man with bare feet and no shoes noticed his stare. He smiled at Sch Jing, his intentions clearly unfriendly.

"Interesting," Sch Jing smiled and walked out the door, leaping into the air and crossing the dozens of meters with ease, landing gracefully on the arena without making a sound or stirring up any dust.

This display immediately caught the attention of the knowledgeable, who admired his exceptional lightfoot technique. Sch Jing bowed to the thousands of spectators surrounding the arena and said:

"Sch Jing of the Dragon Concealment Stream, please give me your guidance."

As soon as he finished speaking, it was as if a thunderclap sounded.

The crowd felt their ears ringing, and those with weaker cultivation even had blood trickling from their ears. When they regained their senses, they realized that a figure had appeared on the arena without them noticing.

The newcomer was tall, at least 1.9 meters, with a robust build and muscular physique. He was dressed like a martial artist, but his clothes seemed a bit small, stretched tightly, revealing a bit of his chest. His shoulder-length hair stood upright, each strand rigid. His eyebrows and eyes resembled lightning, sharp and piercing.

"Hmm? I think I know this person!"

Someone in the crowd exclaimed in surprise.

"It's Qin Fengcong from the Thunder Control School! How did he get here?"

"He's a famous expert from the Inner Ring, and he won the Juolin Summit Championship a few years ago!"

"Did anyone see how he got up there?"

"I think I saw a flash of lightning..."

On the arena, Qin Fengcong walked step by step towards Sch Jing, his lightning-like eyes unwavering. He slowly spoke:

"Qin Fengcong of the Thunder Control School, please give me your guidance..."

...

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end