The Legend of the Condor Heroes: From Being Expelled from Peach Blossom Island

Chapter 353 Blatant Partiality

At noon, the arena competition began. The Emperor of Xia, sitting on the high platform to the north, remained seated, silently picking up his teacup without even raising his eyes. Meanwhile, the King of Qi, standing beside him, stood up, walked to the front of the platform, and spoke.

"The martial arts competition is about to begin, but His Majesty has decided that the previous rules were too boring, so the rules for this tournament will be slightly modified."

Upon hearing this, Princess Yuzhu and the others were all taken aback. The rules had been set long ago, and they had made arrangements in advance. How could they have changed them at the last minute without any prior notice?

Wu Chengyu immediately observed the people on the other two arenas and found that they were sitting still with smiles on their faces, not even whispering to each other. It was obvious that they knew in advance. This change made Wu Chengyu feel that something was wrong. It seemed that Yangwu Hall had been set up.

The original rule was that, assuming their own commanders would not fight first, each of the three major associations would send one person to the arena to challenge each other.

On the Yangwu Association side, if someone from the Ronghua Association challenges them, Wu Chengyu will fight, while on the Tieyi Association side, the challenger will be Wu Qianyu.

Meanwhile, when Wu Chengyu and Wu Qianyu challenged each other, they were targeting their respective goals. After four rounds, Yangwu Hall would definitely have the upper hand.

Since Ronghua Guild Hall no longer has the Fire-Worker Monk, the headless ghost Ma Bengang who is the main general is obviously a level below. When this main general goes into battle, if Wu Chengyu can't defeat him, it can be handed over to Wu Qianyu. The chances of winning are still not small.

As for the final battle, it will be between Princess Yuzhu, the strongest member of their side, and Weiming Tieyu. Wu Chengyu doesn't know what trump cards Princess Yuzhu has, but she seems confident.

This style of fighting relies on which side has the stronger fighter, which basically ensures relative fairness, giving Yangwu Martial Arts Hall a significant advantage.

However, with the rules being changed on the spot, and given that the First Prince is secretly supporting the Iron Wing Club to prevent Yipintang from falling into Princess Yuzhu's hands, everything is now uncertain.

As expected, the new rules announced by King Qi immediately left Princess Yuzhu's side in a dilemma.

"His Majesty has decided that the three major associations will draw lots to determine the order of the challenges. The association that is drawn will then decide to challenge either of the other two major associations."

The top fighters from each guild will then compete, defeating all the opposing guild's top fighters. The guild that emerges victorious will then challenge a third guild. The guild that ultimately triumphs will be the winner of this tournament.

Good heavens, Wu Chengyu immediately understood the purpose of this rule change: to take unfairness to the extreme. The guilds that first clashed would have to fight to the death, and then they would have to face a third party who was waiting in ambush.

If the two opposing clubs join forces, Yangwu Club will inevitably be targeted. Based on the strength of the opposing clubs, if Ronghua Club wins the right to challenge, it will definitely seek out Yangwu Club.

Yangwu Guild must have exhausted a lot of energy to defeat their opponent. If they were to turn around and challenge Tieyi Guild, which is at 100% strength and has Weiming Tieyu, the number one young master of Xixia, in charge, Yangwu Guild would normally lose.

If Yangwu Hall wins the right to challenge, even if they challenge Tieyi Hall first, and Princess Yuzhu does indeed defeat Weiming Tieyu in the end, they will still have to fight a third battle.

The best outcome would be for the Iron Wings Guild to win the challenge. They certainly wouldn't fight the Ronghua Guild head-on. After the Ronghua Guild members conceded defeat, they would then challenge the Yangwu Guild. In this way, neither side would suffer losses, and it would still be a fair fight.

But if that's the outcome, there's no point in changing the rules. Wu Chengyu is absolutely certain that the draw will be rigged.

Such blatant favoritism, without even pretending, must be driven by someone behind the scenes. This person is definitely not the eldest prince. The one truly capable of doing all this is the Western Xia emperor sitting calmly on the high platform to the north.

Sure enough, those who make the rules are always the most shameless, because the person in charge of drawing lots was also the emperor. Someone carried a tray to the emperor with three upside-down wooden plaques on it.

The Western Xia emperor didn't even lift his eyelids. It was like flipping a plaque at night to decide which concubine would serve him, but he had long lost interest. He was just going through the motions, randomly picking one without even looking at it. The Prince of Qi stepped forward and raised the wooden plaque to announce it.

"The Ronghua Club has been awarded the right to challenge. You will have the time it takes to drink a cup of tea to decide which club you want to challenge."

"Father, this is not fair!" Princess Yuzhu, who was usually very calm, was furious at this moment. She jumped down from the high platform in a few steps and ran to the high platform on the north side to argue with the Emperor of Western Xia. However, it was clear that although the Emperor of Western Xia tried to persuade her with kind words, he was unwilling to change the rules of the competition.

Wu Chengyu used his extraordinary hearing to overhear the conversation between the father and daughter.

“Yuzhu, I told you not to get involved in this matter, but you disobeyed your father. Since that’s the case, if you want to get Yipintang, it depends on your ability. I can only guarantee you that as long as you win, Yipintang will still be yours.”

But if you lose, you must marry early and become a dutiful princess, no longer involved in court affairs.

Wu Chengyu didn't want to hear any more. It was clear that the Western Xia emperor's intention today was to prevent Princess Yuzhu's side from winning. At the same time, he was extremely dissatisfied with Princess Yuzhu's involvement in the struggle for the throne and her assistance to the Third Prince. Therefore, he would rather openly favor her than allow Princess Yuzhu to win.

So the Third Prince has no advantage at all. Recalling what Chen He said before, the Third Prince is supported by his maternal relatives. Since ancient times, emperors have been most wary of their maternal relatives. So this should be the reason why the Western Xia emperor is causing trouble this time.

However, Wu Chengyu was not familiar with the current political situation and various factions in Western Xia. He felt that the emperor's actions today were not so simple. After all, as the emperor, if he wanted to play the game of raising poisonous insects, he should not have shown such obvious bias when facing the princes vying for the throne. The targeting was too strong.

Not long after, Princess Yuzhu returned to her own high platform with an angry expression: "This time, Father Emperor clearly doesn't want us to win, but I insist on winning. Otherwise, how can I live up to my mentor's expectations? The secret in Yipintang is very important to my mentor, and we cannot afford to lose it."

Suddenly, Wu Chengyu realized that the old monster was a member of the royal family, over a hundred years old and of extremely high seniority. If Yipintang really had something she needed, she could have just asked the emperor for it. Why go through all this trouble?

It seems that the old monster and the royal family are not of one mind. The Western Xia emperor is wary of the old monster, while Princess Yuzhu is biased towards the old monster. This should be the real reason why the Western Xia emperor is dissatisfied with her.

However, Princess Yuzhu was clearly unaware of this; she was still indignantly complaining about her father's unfairness and favoritism towards other princes.

But what does all this have to do with Wu Chengyu? He doesn't want to get involved in the conflict between the Western Xia royal family and that old monster, but at this point, he has no choice but to go along with it.

Wu Qianyu, who was standing nearby, said, "Even so, we are not without a chance of winning, Senior Sister. It won't be so easy for them to use Ronghua Hall to wear down our strength."

His words reminded Princess Yuzhu, who immediately turned to look at Wu Chengyu.

“Brother Nie, the people from Ronghua Guild are not that skilled in martial arts. Even our master thinks your skills are quite good, as she did when you fought us before. So, if you can take down all the people from Ronghua Guild, and then leave the people from Tieyi Guild to me and my junior brother, our chances of winning will still be there.”

"Don't worry, if you achieve great merit, your master will reward you handsomely. I will implore him to let you enter his martial arts arsenal and choose a truly divine skill. What do you think?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Chengyu was secretly delighted. The old monster's armory must contain the inheritance of Li Qiushui and Wu Xingyun from the Xiaoyao Sect. This was also his true purpose in coming to Xixia. As long as he knew the location of the armory, all his plans could be realized.

So, he really has to help the Yangwu Association win this victory today.

Just then, three drumbeats were heard from the side. When the drumming stopped, King Qi was seen asking from the high platform, "Ronghua Guild Hall, who do you wish to challenge?"

On the opposite high platform, Liu Tie, the one who wielded the power to suppress the three mountains, lightly jumped down from the arena, clasped his hands, and shouted: "Reporting to Your Majesty and His Highness Prince Qi, our guild is challenging the Yangwu Guild."

He then turned to look at Princess Yuzhu's group, but his eyes were fixed on Wu Chengyu, and said, "I wonder which expert from the Yangwu Guild would be willing to offer some guidance?"

All eyes were on Wu Chengyu, which meant everyone knew that he was the first person from Yangwu Guild to fight. Wu Chengyu was a little helpless. He also knew that it could only be him. He had long been considered cannon fodder by everyone.

Wu Chengyu used his lightness skill to leap into the arena, gave a slight bow, and didn't bother with any words. Among all the experts who were going to fight today, this Zhen Sanshan had the lowest martial arts skills, and was even more of a cannon fodder than him. He was indeed not worth wasting words on.

Liu Tie had long, slender arms, and his forearms and fists were wrapped in layers of cloth strips covered with iron filings that gleamed in the sunlight. His fists resembled those of the ancient Muay Thai style, and anyone who got involved would be left in a bloody mess.

Seeing Wu Chengyu's slight disdain, Liu Tie roared and charged at Wu Chengyu, swinging his arms. He used the Tiger-Taming Fist, the most common fist technique in the Northwest, but he had studied this fist technique for twenty years, cultivating internal strength from external skills. His fists whistled and were quite powerful.

Clang clang! Wu Chengyu didn't say a word at the start. He used the "Wind Blows Through Grass" technique from the Gale Leg Style, his toes pointing at multiple acupoints on his opponent's arms. His leg speed was extremely fast, and his acupoints were extremely accurate. He knew that Liu Tie would have no chance to resist.

Next, Liu Tie's arms will probably be useless, and then Wu Chengyu only needs to give him a light kick to end his life, without much effort.

With a few clanging sounds, Wu Chengyu's expression changed, and he quickly retreated a few steps.

In the exchange of blows, Liu Tie's strength was far inferior to Wu Chengyu's, and he was forced back several steps. The strips of cloth wrapped around his arms were shattered by the force, and he was also numb from Wu Chengyu's powerful kicks, making it almost impossible for him to lift his arms. But in this exchange, it was actually Wu Chengyu who suffered the loss.

After the strips of cloth on his arms came off, two blue steel arm guards were revealed on his forearms. The arm guards were covered with many spikes. In addition, there was a black knuckle duster on each of his fists, and the protrusions of the knuckle dusters were also very sharp.

Wu Chengyu hadn't used his full strength just now, and Liu Tie was no match for him, but all the attacks were actually blocked by the arm guards and brass knuckles. Wu Chengyu was caught off guard and got hit.

(End of this chapter)