One person: Senior brother Zhang Zhiwei, the Celestial Master begged me to descend the mountain.

The training ground was bustling with noise.

The huge circular stands were already packed.

Besides the contestants, many celebrities from all walks of life, as well as ordinary tourists, were invited to the event and craned their necks, eagerly anticipating the upcoming duel.

The center of the field for Group B, White Tiger.

The referee, a Taoist priest, held the roster in his hand, the veins on his forehead throbbing.

He took a deep breath, gathered his strength, and roared for the third time at the dark tunnel for the contestants:

"Zhang Chu!!!"

"Zhang Chu enters!!!"

The sound echoed through the training ground, causing the surrounding flags to flutter loudly.

However, the entrance to the passage remained quiet, without a single soul in sight.

The only sound was the whistling of the wind blowing through the empty passage.

In the stands, the audience began to stir.

"What's going on? They've shouted that three times already!"

"Could it be that he was so scared he wet his pants and ran away at the last minute?"

"He's definitely scared! I heard this group is full of tough guys, that sweeping Taoist priest was probably just there to make up the numbers, and now he regrets it!"

"Tch, what a waste of everyone's time. If you're too scared to come, you should have just given up earlier!"

A cacophony of boos, whistles, and curses rose and fell, like a pot of boiling water.

In the center of the field.

Zhao Dalong, Li San, and Wang Ergou, who had been waiting for a long time, stood in a triangular formation, their faces so gloomy they could drip water.

Zhao Dalong crossed his arms, his large, fan-like hands so stiff that his knuckles were turning white.

He stared intently at the dark entrance to the passage, his back teeth grinding together.

"Damn it, this kid..."

Zhao Dalong squeezed out a sentence through gritted teeth:

"How dare they make us wait this long."

Li San, who was playing with throwing knives nearby, toyed with the willow-leaf knife in his hand, his eyes sinister:

"Hmph, I think he knows his own limitations and doesn't dare to show his face."

"He acted all serious in the woods, but when it really comes down to it, he's just a coward."

Wang Ergou cracked his ankles and spat impatiently.

"Referee! Stop shouting! Just declare it a loss!"

"What right does this piece of trash, who has no sense of time, have to participate in the Luo Tian Grand Ceremony?"

Just as the referee sighed and raised his right hand to announce the result.

rustling...

A series of slow, drawn-out footsteps finally emerged from the dark passage.

The sound of cloth shoes rubbing against the ground was particularly jarring in this noisy environment.

The noise subsided slightly, and everyone's attention turned to that direction.

At the boundary between sunlight and shadow, a foot stepped out.

Next came a slightly hunched figure.

Zhang Taichu was still wearing that faded Taoist robe, which even had several patches.

He had one hand in his pocket, and the other hand...

He was holding a half-eaten sesame seed cake.

"Hmm...this sesame smells quite nice."

As Zhang Taichu walked, he took a bite of the sesame seed cake in his hand, his cheeks bulging out and moving with each chew.

A few sesame seeds fell from the corner of his mouth and stuck to his collar.

Under the watchful eyes of thousands of people, he slowly strolled to the center of the field.

Then, he raised his head and looked around blankly.

"What are you shouting for?"

Zhang Taichu swallowed the sesame seed cake in his mouth with difficulty, and muttered something in dissatisfaction:

"They can't even let me eat breakfast in peace."

Quiet.

The entire room fell into a deathly silence.

Followed by.

A more intense hissing erupted, like a landslide or a tsunami.

"Holy crap! He's eating a sesame seed cake?!"

"Are they here for a competition or a picnic?"

"Too arrogant! They have no respect for their opponents!"

"This is incredibly disrespectful to the Luo Tian Grand Ceremony! How could the Celestial Master's Mansion send someone like this? It's an insult to civilization!"

The high point of the stands.

Zhang Lingyu, dressed in white and exuding an ethereal aura, was standing by the railing.

Upon seeing this, his handsome eyebrows furrowed tightly, and a hint of anger flashed in his eyes.

"Nonsense..."

Zhang Lingyu rebuked in a low voice:

"To be so improperly dressed and to eat in public on such a solemn occasion is utterly disgraceful!"

In another corner.

Wang Ye, who was huddled at the back of the crowd, saw the sesame seed cake in Zhang Taichu's hand and his lips twitched violently twice.

He instinctively buried his head between his knees and covered his ears tightly with both hands.

"It's all over, it's all over..."

Wang Ye murmured to himself, his voice trembling slightly:

"Now that we're full... it's time to really get started."

Off the field.

Zhang Chulan was leaning on the railing, excitedly waving his fists, completely ignoring the glares from those around him:

"Go Zhang Chu! Crush them! Let them know what the anger of a good-for-nothing is like!"

Feng Baobao, standing next to her, was still carrying a shovel—although she was stopped by security guards for a long time when entering, she insisted that it was a personal accessory.

At that moment, her empty eyes were fixed on the sesame seed cake in Zhang Taichu's hand, and she slurped her saliva:

"That sesame seed cake looks delicious."

In the center of the field.

Zhao Dalong and his two companions were furious when they saw Zhang Taichu, who was still intently picking at sesame seeds.

What is this?

What is this?!

The three of them were quite prominent figures in the martial arts world, yet at this moment, they were being completely ignored by a mere sweeping Taoist priest!

"Okay, okay..."

Zhao Dalong laughed in extreme anger, his face turning purplish-red from the blood rushing to his cheeks.

"Kid, you've got guts."

"I was originally thinking of sparing your breath and letting you crawl down."

"Now it seems... there's no need for that!"

Li San gripped the throwing knife tightly, his fingertips turning white from the force, his eyes as cold and sinister as a venomous snake.

"Since you want to eat it, then go to the underworld and enjoy it slowly!"

Wang Ergou went even further, squatting slightly with both legs down, adopting the starting stance of Tan Tui (a style of Chinese martial arts), his bones cracking and popping.

The three of them exchanged a glance.

There was no verbal communication.

But at this moment, the anger of being humiliated brought them to an astonishing understanding.

What one-on-one?

What kind of江湖 (jianghu) rules?

Fuck it!

Now, they only want to do one thing—

Tear this pretentious bastard in front of me to shreds!

"Let's do it!"

Zhao Dalong roared.

boom!

A wave of earthy yellow Qi erupted from his body in an instant.

He was like a cannonball, and the ground beneath his feet shattered with a deafening roar.

"Liaodong Iron Palm - Inauguration Ceremony!"

The enormous hand, now completely bluish-black, swirled with a suffocatingly malevolent wind as it hurtled straight toward Zhang Taichu's face.

Almost at the same time.

"Go to hell!"

Li San flicked his wrist.

call out!call out!call out!

Three beams of cold light shot out in a triangular shape, sealing off Zhang Taichu's throat, heart, and genitals.

Those were poisoned throwing knives, tracing eerie arcs through the air.

Wang Ergou's figure moved so fast that only a blur remained.

His legs, like two steel whips, swept towards Zhang Taichu's waist with a whistling sound.

"Twelve-Road Tan Leg - Breaking the Mountain!"

These three unleashed their deadly attacks without holding back!

The top, middle, and bottom lanes are completely blocked!

Their seamless teamwork and fierce offensive even drew gasps from many spectators in the stands.

"Holy crap! Are these three serious?"

"This is murder!"

"We're doomed! That Taoist priest can't escape!"

A terrifying surge of energy rippled through the area, stirring up clouds of dust.

Zhang Taichu, at the eye of the storm, had his tattered Taoist robe fluttering in the wind.

however.

Faced with this siege that could instantly kill an ordinary superhuman.

Zhang Taichu acted as if he hadn't seen it.

He remained standing in the same spot, without even lifting his eyelids.

He stuffed the last bite of the sesame seed cake into his mouth.

I chewed it twice.

Gudong.

He swallowed it.

"belch--"

A loud burp rang out clearly in the somber atmosphere.

Zhang Taichu licked the sesame seeds from the corner of his mouth, still somewhat unsatisfied.

then.

He slowly raised his right hand.

There was no earth-shattering burst of Qi.

There were no dazzling magical lights or shadows.

I couldn't even feel any fluctuation of power.

He simply waved his hand lightly at the empty space in front of him.

Snapped!

A crisp, clear sound exploded in the air above the training ground.

Zhao Dalong's iron palm, which was less than three inches from Zhang Taichu's nose, froze.

Li San's three throwing knives, which were about to pierce Zhang Taichu's skin, stopped.

Wang Ergou's sweeping steel leg was also frozen in mid-air.

Followed by.

An indescribable, terrifying repulsive force erupted without warning in front of the three of them!

It was like an invisible wall of air being slammed down by an unseen hand.

There was no contact.

They didn't even touch the hem of Zhang Taichu's clothes.

The three experts, who were aggressive and full of killing intent just a second ago, instantly changed their expressions from ferocious to extremely terrified and distorted.

The muscles in their cheeks twitched violently, as if they were enduring some enormous impact.

puff!puff!puff!

Three mouthfuls of blood, mixed with shattered teeth, gushed from the mouths of the three men simultaneously.

Whoosh—!

The three of them flew backward in perfect unison at a speed ten times faster than when they rushed towards them!

They traced three long parabolas in the air, flying dozens of meters before flying directly out of the ring's range.

then.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three loud bangs overlapped.

The thick bluestone wall at the edge of the training ground trembled violently.

Everyone stared wide-eyed at the wall.

When the smoke and dust cleared.

hiss--

A chorus of gasps filled the air.

On the hard bluestone wall, three large, human-shaped indentations were visible.

Zhao Dalong, Li San, and Wang Ergou were like three murals, deeply embedded in the wall.

The kind that you can't even pry off.

Their limbs hung limply at their sides, their heads tilted to one side; they had already fainted.

In the center of the field.

Zhang Taichu withdrew his right hand.

He looked down at his palms, seemingly disgusted by the dust on them, and patted them lightly twice.

Snap, snap.

The faint clapping sounded particularly jarring in the deathly silent training ground.

"Next."

Zhang Taichu yawned and turned to look at the referee:

"Who else?"