“Oh? Did Marsh City only send Wu Rui here?” one of the martial artists chuckled when he realized that everyone had gathered. It was clear that he was looking down on Wu Rui.

Wu Rui ignored him and sat opposite Xiang Ning. He was silent as well. 

Everyone thought that he was arrogant. “Look at him ignoring us.”

“Hehe, looks like the martial artists in Marsh City are just weaklings. No one else came except for Wu Rui and Xiang Ning. Speaking of which, where is Xiang Ning? Did he not come?”

“Are you from Marsh City?”

“No.”

“Then are you?”

“Not me either.”

“That means that only Wu Rui is present. Looks like Xiang Ning really didn’t show up.”

“Che, don’t they realize that this is the best opportunity to approach Annot?”

“Eh, who cares? The less competition the better.”

“True.”

Xiang Ning was still messaging Fang Rou when he chuckled, “Looks like you got stronger.”

“You too.” Wu Rui crossed his chest as his sharp eyes stared at Xiang Ning. He was a bit surprised that his lifelong rival had come. Well, if I received the invitation, it should be natural that he would, too.

Xiang Ning put away his phone after sending the final message. “I can feel that you think you’re ready to fight me, but do you think I should give a chance to a loser?”

Wu Rui smiled confidently. “Yeah, I’m just a challenger, so I need to meet the bare minimum. They don’t even need to fight you. Fight me after I win against everyone here.”

“Hey, I’m the one losing out then.”

“Should I leave two for you?”

“Meh, it’s fine. Fight me at your best.” Xiang Ning waved his hands as they continued chatting.

Wu Rui stood up and looked at the rest of the martial artists. He turned towards Anran and smiled. “Miss Anran, you’re looking for the strongest martial artist here so there’s no need to do the other screening procedures. The strongest will be the one who defeats everyone here, don't you think?”

Anran was just about to announce the commencement of the screening process and was a bit offended when Wu Rui cut her off. But he was right; as long as one of them defeated everyone else, they were the strongest martial artist. There would be no need for further screening, plus, her tests were more or less the same.”

“Che, are the martial artists from Marsh City this arrogant? Do you think you’re Xiang Ning?”

Xiang Ning jolted. Why me?

“Heh.” Wu Rui didn’t answer. Instead, he slowly took out his iridium rod from his back. It was humming with power.

“You can all come at once, or would you like to fight me one-on-one?”

“Fucker! Don’t think that you can be this arrogant just because this is your city!”

“You should be like the other martial artists from Marsh City! At least they knew it was worthless to come here!”

They roared and charged at Wu Rui.

Not more than ten minutes later all five of them were already lying on the ground. Steam emanated from Wu Rui’s body when cold air contacted his body. Rather than feeling tired, Wu Rui felt an unending surge of vitality coursing through his body. One of them tried hitting him from his blind spot but he merely punched the assailant right in the face. Blood splattered on Wu Rui and he felt even stronger.

“Next.” His voice was as intimidating as a demon.

The other three martial artists were shivering in fear and tried to push each other toward Wu Rui. Anran suddenly gave out a warning. “Those who refuse to fight will be disqualified.”

“Sure… of course we’ll fight…But….” One of them suddenly glanced at Xiang Ning.

In an instant, everyone’s attention was on Xiang Ning.

Anran looked at the boy who was still typing away on his phone. He should be the one that was nominated by Lu Shiyu. His physique is average, not too tall, and not too short. I can’t really see his face, but he should be quite durable. Is he really as strong as Lu Shiyu said? Wu Rui looks stronger, but his bloodthirst is a little bit too strong.

The entire arena fell silent.

Xiang Ning didn’t even budge, but felt that the surroundings had grown quieter.

“The three of you, fight or forfeit.”

The three martial artists looked at Xiang Ning and made their decision. “We’ll fight with him!” They weren’t idiots. Wu Rui was like a mad dog in combat and a single mistake would cost them their arm and legs. While it was normal to get hurt during spars, and they could be healed with a recovery capsule, who would want to spend the money for the recovery fluid on their own accord?

Since all of them had achieved tier three before the age of eighteen, they also knew more about the world of martial artists than the rest. They could see that Wu Rui’s condition was because of his breathing technique. As long as they could stall for time, Wu Rui would return to normal.

It would take some time for Wu Rui to power up using the technique again. But as for the boy that was playing with his phone? He looked like a pushover. They could stall for time by fighting him and let Wu Rui return to normal.

“Hey, you done?” Xiang Ning asked Wu Rui without looking up.

Wu Rui shook his head. “The three of them want to fight with you,” he chuckled evilly.

“Eh, sure. Are they the final three?” Xiang Ning finally bothered to raise his head.

Fury Points +322

Fury Points +333

Fury Points +355

What the? I’m sure I haven’t said anything offensive, why are they getting mad? Xiang Ning saw the remaining three martial artists were above tier three six-star, although they looked much older than him. He guessed they were probably around eighteen years old.

“Actually, I should give you a warning, I’m just not sure whether you’d like to hear it or not....”

“Just say it quickly!”

“I think you guys should just forfeit. There’s no way you can win.”

“Fuck! How dare you look down on me!” One of them almost popped his veins. As long as Wu Rui returns to normal, we win! There’s three of us, we can win through a battle of attrition!

Just as he wanted to charge forward, his companion stopped him. “Don’t hold me back! I’m going to kill him!”

“Wait! Stop! Don’t be rash! He’s younger than us, we should give him a chance!” The other companion quickly muffled him.

“MMMMMPH!”

“You idiot! He’s Xiang Ning! Xiang Ning from Marsh City!” one of them whispered into his ear.

“HMM?!” He gasped for air as he stared at Xiang Ning with dread.

“Erm, I think that brother sitting over there should stand up soon. Look at Wu Rui’s incredible fighting spirit. You know what I mean, yes?”

Xiang Ning looked at Wu Rui and their eyes met. Sparks flew and the air in the arena grew heavy. Wu Rui had been wanting to fight Xiang Ning with his breathing technique, but he had remained seated throughout the fight. Wu Rui could only fight against the other eight contestants.

But now that Xiang Ning had stood up, his fighting spirit soared and blazed as it was ignited once again. It would be a clash between kings!

Oh damn. Wu Rui actually got stronger. Character development babyyy!! A clash between two strong fighters!!