Chapter 725: It’s A Small World

After a simple dinner, the three then rushed to the underground fighting match. Han Qingwu did not want her sister to learn that she was partic.i.p.ating in it, so she shut down her phone directly.

“How many matches are going to be held in the finals?” Tang Xiu, who sat back in his seat and glanced at Han Qingwu.

“Two matches in total, the first being one semifinal and the other one to determine the champion,” said Han Qingwu.

“Be careful in the match, and just throw in the towel if you see that you’re no match for the opponent,” said Tang Xiu with a nod. “It’s not worth to lose your life just because of a trivial arena fight.”

“I know.”

Though Han Qingwu replied like that, she secretly made up her mind to not lose the match even if she had to risk her life. She could not let Tang Xiu see her in contempt.

Ji Mu, who was driving, was surprised, “Is Miss Han partic.i.p.ating in the underground fighting match, and you’re also one of the top four powerhouses from the thousands of contenders in the entire country in this event?”

“Yeah!” Answered Han Qingwu casually with an indifferent expression.

Ji Mu was slightly taken aback. The moment he first saw Han Qingwu, he thought that she was a delicate and weak young woman. The thought that she actually had a dreadful strength hidden beneath her tender appearance had never crossed his mind at all. Nonetheless, when he recalled Tang Xiu’s ident.i.ty, as well as why he came to personally accompany her, Ji Mu felt relaxed as it was very likely that she was also a cultivator.

Upon realizing it, Ji Mu suddenly felt that he just made a wise and correct decision today, and he could obtain many unexpected benefits if he could maintain a good relations.h.i.+p with Tang Xiu.

Moreover, Tang Xiu had promised to bestow him a great gift when he got married.

Ji Mu was wondering what great gift was it, and suddenly had a burning wish inside and looked forward to it.

The Emerald Resort was located in the Southern suburbs of Changxi City in a spot that was surrounded by hills and waters—a dreamlike landscape that was decorated with countless lanterns. The resort was very large and also employed an absolute privacy policy, and did not receive ordinary guests. One must obtain a recommendation from two members if they wanted to have a vacation in this place, while they were also required to have at least 20-million-yuan net worth in wealth.

“The security here is quite good,” lamented Tang Xiu, observing through the gla.s.s when the car drove toward the entrance of the Emerald Resort.

More than 40 robust security guards dressed in black suits were directing the arriving vehicles in a systematic order, where the guests who had pa.s.sed the security checks were then guided to board a viewing car to the inside. While in the dark, there were at least a dozens of experts who were good at concealment and quietly observed their every movement.

Tang Xiu estimated that if he brought Mo Awu and the other eleven men and tried to enter this place forcefully, he would likely have to spend some time and strength to get inside. Suddenly, his expression moved and looked slightly stunned, since he saw that Mo Au had appeared outside the door.

“Let’s get off!” Tang Xiu touched Han Qingwu and directly opened the door.

Soon after, the four arrived in the front entrance guarded dozens of stocky men wearing Chinese tunics. An energetic white-haired old man then greeted them with a light smile, “Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen, please show me your identification.”

Han Qingwu took out a black card and lightly said, “I’m a partic.i.p.ant of tonight’s event, and they are my friends.”

The white-haired old man stared blankly, surprised. He did not expect that there would be such an elegant and beautiful woman among the top four of the national underground fighting match. After scanning the black card and finding that it was genuine, he immediately said, “You are indeed a partic.i.p.ant, but you can only take up to two people according to the rules of the underground fighting arena.”

“I brought my own card.” Ji Mu took out a gold card and lightly said.

The white-haired old man smiled faintly and said, “The Ji Family’s Young Master is a gold card member of our Emerald Resort, so you naturally can enter. The four of you, please get on the viewing car, it will take you to the arena.”

The Emerald Resort boasted a large area, and the viewing car crossed nearly half of it in a circle before stopping in front of a three-story villa about seven-plus minutes later. At the entrance in front, dozens of beautiful girls with slouching and long hairs and donned in white formal dresses were waiting in an orderly line.

One of them walked out of the line and quickly came to the front of the three, saying, “Good evening and welcome to the Emerald Resorts, three honored guests. I’m Xiaoying, may I ask whether the three of you would like to watch the fighting match?”

“Yes!” Tang Xiu nodded.

“Then, please come with me!” Xiaoying smiled.

Under her guidance, the three entered the villa’s hall straight to the elevator. Inside, Xiaoying pressed the bas.e.m.e.nt b.u.t.ton and the elevator then dropped down for more than 20 meters. As it stopped and the door was opened, Xioaying smilingly said, “The underground fighting arena is here, and is quite s.p.a.cious with a built-in arena and auditorium. Three honored guests, please follow me. I’ll take you to the viewing booth a.s.signed to you, and then I’ll lead you to the auditorium.”

“I’m not here to watch, but as a partic.i.p.ant,” said Han Qingwu. “The organizers should have notified you ahead of time.”

“You’re a contender?”

Xiaoying was shocked and looked at Han Qingwu with a serious expression. After seeing Han Qingwu take out the black card, she immediately said, “h.e.l.lo Miss, I’ll immediately escort you to the backstage. Our supervisor has long been waiting there.”

After that, she turned and said to Tang Xiu and Ji Mu, “Two gentlemen, could you please wait a minute? I’ll immediately come back to escort you after sending this lady.”

“Okay.” Tang Xiu nodded. His eyes then rested on Han Qingwu and he hesitated a bit before saying, “Remember what I told you. Just admit defeat if you can’t win. You haven’t practiced for a long time, so it’s not shameful even if you lose. Alright. I’ll gift you something when you return if you lose, but I won’t gift you anything if you win.”

Han Qingwu stared at Tang Xiu, speechless and dumbfounded. Following that, she immediately rolled her eyes and snappily said, “You just want me to lose? Like exchanging it with a gift when I lose and nothing if I win?”

After she reacted, however, she immediately realized Tang Xiu’s intention. He was afraid that she would risk her life and go all out to fight her opponents in the arena, hence he deliberately mentioning the gifts.

This… was his way of showing his care and concern toward her.

Han Qingwu then left with Xiaoying with a warm heart. She decided that she must win the compet.i.tion tonight regardless of how hard it was, and then win the champions.h.i.+p in the final.

At present, dozens of people were already in the auditorium. In the last row, a plump man with a glossy face and a cigar in his mouth was talking with a thin middle-aged man beside him.

“I’m not bragging, Xuecheng! Even if I can’t be the champion, securing second place would be easy for me if I were to partic.i.p.ate in this underground fighting arena. Don’t look at me as a fatty, my body is fast and flexible!”

“Can you not blow this up, Fatty Li? Maybe I could still believe you a bit if you said it dozens of years ago. But now… Hahaha. Anyways, I heard you went to Shuanqing’s Star City last year to have a duel with Chen Zhizhong, right? What was the result? Didn’t you get punched by him till your teeth broke? Buddy, many of our friends were laughing at you.”

“Darn s.h.i.+t! Who the h.e.l.l run his cheap mouth? G.o.ddammit! Good news goes on crutches while ill news flies apace. If Chen Zhizhong hadn’t had a good master, I would have… Bah, let’s stop talking about this topic. Just thinking about it gives a bellyful of chagrin.”

“You still feel chagrined about that? I thought you only got a scratched skin! Anyhow, you said that Chen Zhizhong has a good master, who is it?”

“You wanna know?”

“Yep!”

“Heh, I won’t tell you. You dare to laugh at me, Li Laoshan. You’re doomed.”

“Holy heaven…”

Amidst their chat, Li Laoshan’s self-satisfied expression suddenly froze as his obese body rapidly stood, and under the dumbfounded eyes of his buddy, he dashed fast toward Hall’s entrance.

“What the… Fatty Li’s body is full of fat, literally. Yet he so swift and flexible?” The thin middle-aged man gulped down and muttered in disbelief.

When Li Laoshan was a dozen meters away from Tang Xiu, he waved his big palm-leaf fan and shouted, “Yo, Brother Tang, come here! HAHAHA…. It’s really a small word. We, Brothers, are really fated!”

Tang Xiu heard the call and immediately could not help laughing upon seeing that it was Li Laoshan. He forgot that this fella was also a martial artist and that this underground fighting arena was something he would be really interested about.

“It’s been a few months since the last time I met you, Brother Li, but you gained weight again?”

Li Laoshan and Tang Xiu exchanged a big hug. After releasing him, the former laughed loudly and said, “Can’t help it, really! Your old brother is always drinking cold water all around. Can’t do nothing about it. My old waist luckily still works well, though. Else I wouldn’t have dared to drink cold water anymore.”

Ugh… Tang Xiu was at a loss whether he had to cry or laugh and rolled his eyes at him. What was this about his old waist still working well? Just be a living eunuch if it doesn’t work well anymore.

Li Laoshan then glanced at Ji Mu beside Tang Xiu and said with a smile, “Eh, is this your friend, Brother Tang?”

“Yeah, he’s Ji Mu, a young man from the Ji Family here in Changxi.” Tang Xiu nodded. “Ji Mu, this is Li Laoshan, Brother Li.”

“How do you do, Brother Li,” greeted Ji Mu hastily.

“The Ji Family’s boy, eh? Good, good.” Li Laoshan smiled. “Anyways, that Ji Chunlei from your family has a bit of friends.h.i.+p with me. We had a sparring about 20 years ago. Later on, we joined hands to fight someone else, hence becoming friends through fists.”

Ji Chunlei? Ji Mu was shaken inside. Isn’t it my father?

At this time, he looked highly at Li Laoshan’s ident.i.ty. It must be noted that even though his father was an easy-going man on the surface, he was proud to the bones, and Li Laoshan’s ident.i.ty was anything but normal for being able to befriend him.

Nearby.

After having escorted Han Qingwu, Xiaoying came back and asked, “Two gentlemen, would you like me to escort you to your seat first so you can chat more comfortably?”

Li Laoshan glanced at the number in Tang Xiu’s hand. He then took it and gave it back to Xiaoying. “Mine is the 128th. Help arrange to change his seat next to me.”

“About this…” Xiaoying hesitated, but eventually nodded, taking Tang Xiu and Ji Mu’s seat cards and quickly ran to the outside.

Li Laoshan hugged Tang Xiu’s shoulder and enthusiastically brought him and Ji Mu to the back row, and then introduced his friend to Tang Xiu.

The man’s name was Chu Xuecheng, the Boss of the Beigong Group, the leader of the machinery industry in the Northern Region. Though the man had wealth comparable to Li Laoshan’s, he always conducted himself in a low-key manner in society.