All the heavens begin with the love in the courtyard.

Huo Ting'en grabbed someone with a puzzled look and asked them a question. The person excitedly handed Huo Ting'en a newspaper.

Huo Ting'en took the newspaper and was immediately furious!

That's the headline on the front page.

"Western martial arts are all trash! I'm going to challenge a hundred Western martial arts masters!"

Chen Zhen has returned as the king, making a powerful declaration to announce his comeback!

Three days later, on the Huangpu River, Chen Zhen will challenge one hundred Western martial arts masters in a life-or-death battle!

After reading the news, Huo Ting'en's eyes widened in disbelief!

He muttered to himself.

"He's insane! Insane! One against a hundred! One against a hundred!"

Over the past year, the rise of Western martial arts has been evident to everyone, and friction between Chinese and Westerners has been increasing. However, for the Chinese, the number of victories is generally small, with more losses than wins. The inherent physical disadvantages are difficult for ordinary people to overcome.

But now, a Chinese man has announced that he will challenge one hundred Western martial arts masters and decide the winner in one match. This is simply insane!

Everyone who saw this news was shocked, and in addition to shock, they also felt a long-suppressed excitement and exhilaration.

Because the one who issued the challenge was Chen Zhen!

A Chinese man who could kick a Japanese army expert to death with one kick, and a Chinese man who could force a legendary Japanese samurai master to kneel and beg for mercy with one punch, he himself is a miracle!

Everyone went crazy. The excitement of the Chinese and the anger of the Westerners completely ignited the entire Shanghai!

That man is back!

In less than a day, the news spread throughout Shanghai, and countless people flocked to both sides of the Huangpu River. Although the fight had not yet started, people were already looking forward to it!

Within the concessions, Western countries began to act swiftly, sending telegrams and making phone calls to spread the news, which quickly reached the entire world.

Countless Western martial arts masters began to gather in Shanghai, and intelligence agents from various countries quickly intervened and began to investigate.

Boss Huang is now both happy and in pain. His backers, those French guys, have summoned him three times, demanding that he reveal everything about his meeting with Chen Zhen.

Boss Huang was naturally wary and didn't dare to tell the truth. He only said that Chen Zhen sneaked into his room in the middle of the night and used threats and inducements to force him to publish such news in the newspapers and to provide him with a boat for the martial arts competition.

Boss Huang naturally knew what kind of person his boss was, so he quickly persuaded the other bosses that it didn't matter who won or lost the fight. Since Chen Zhen had approached him, it meant that the other party recognized him. In that case, they should definitely make good use of him.

So he quickly told them about his plans to sell tickets on the tournament ship and to open betting booths in various casinos!

Mr. Huang, beaming with excitement, held up one finger and said with a sly grin.

"If we handle this well, we might be able to earn this much!"

The Frenchmen trembled at the sight of Boss Huang's single finger. Their eyes lit up, and they slammed their fists on the table, roaring.

"Alright, let's do it! Anyone who dares to disrupt this competition is an enemy of us, the Gallic Roosters!"

After receiving support from his boss, Mr. Huang quickly took action. The next day, all the newspapers in Shanghai were reporting on this matter on their front pages!

In the news, Boss Huang deliberately amplified the hatred between Chinese and Westerners, stirring up emotions in countless people. For a time, everyone in Shanghai was discussing the news of Chen Zhen's battle against a hundred Westerners.

The Chinese supported Chen Zhen, and the Westerners naturally supported their own strongman. Despite the huge disparity of one to one hundred, countless Chinese still went to various gambling dens to place bets.

In order to lure those Westerners into the scheme, Mr. Huang deliberately made concessions on the odds.

If Chen Zhen loses, the odds will be 3 to 1; if Chen Zhen wins, the odds will be 5 to 1!

Almost all Westerners were tempted by the three-fold odds, because in their eyes, Chen Zhen had no chance of winning!

How can one person possibly win against a hundred?

Despite Chen Zhen's impressive strength last year, he is still just a human being; he is not God!

No one can take on a hundred!

Such high odds instantly attracted tens of thousands of bets, with some Western merchants even using large sums of money to place bets.

Such a large sum of money immediately alarmed the French backers behind Boss Huang. You see, the reason why those Westerners dared to bet so much was because they knew that the French were the forces behind Boss Huang.

With bets now amounting to hundreds of thousands or even millions, if Chen Zhen loses the match and Boss Huang goes bankrupt, those Westerners will definitely come after them.

They'll be completely finished then, having to pay millions in compensation, which they simply can't afford!

No one noticed that amidst the bustling scene, Chen Zhen had already completed his final arrangements, and even the batch of herbs had been successfully traded.

A box of US dollars, three boxes of gold, and a full five boxes of silver dollars were transported out of Jingwu School unnoticed by a horse-drawn carriage.

And this money, in the blink of an eye, went into Boss Huang's gambling den, which is why Boss Huang is so confident.

Even Chen Zhen himself placed a bet of 200,000 silver dollars with him, betting that he would win. If he won, he would pay Chen Zhen 1 million silver dollars in return!

Since even Chen Zhen himself was so confident in himself, Boss Huang impulsively raised the odds.

The reason for going to such lengths is the extremely tight schedule; there were only three days to prepare, from publishing the news in the newspapers to the actual competition.

If we don't use bigger bait, how can we attract those foreigners to place heavy bets?

It was Chen Zhen who gave him confidence, which made Boss Huang get cocky and decide to go all out!

If Chen Zhen loses this time, then Boss Huang himself will have no choice but to jump into the Huangpu River!

Everything was ready, and three days passed in the blink of an eye.

Chapter 50: Let the Fight Begin!

At a dock on the Huangpu River, the area was packed with people. In the past, the river was full of ships, but today it was empty except for a 10,000-ton ocean liner anchored in the middle of the river!

This was all arranged by the French behind Huang!

This ocean liner was acquired by the French. Of course, it would take more than one Frenchman to clear the Huangpu River of ships.

The manipulator behind this was the common will of all the Western powers.

This martial arts contest caused a far greater sensation in Shanghai than the contest with the Japanese last year. Both the scale of the contest and the number of onlookers were several times greater than last year.

Today, there are over a hundred reporters from various media outlets, and the crowd of onlookers is an even larger, seemingly endless mass.

Although the Japanese could barely be considered one of the great powers in this era, in everyone's eyes they were just East Asians like the Chinese, and couldn't compare to the powerful Western powers at all.

Besides, last year Chen Zhen represented the Jingwu School in a three-on-three match against the Japanese!

And today!

Chen Zhen single-handedly challenged one hundred Westerners!

In terms of both topicality and excitement, it far surpasses last year's competition!

Chen Zhen's provocation was, in effect, an opportunity for those Westerners.

Over the past year, the rise of Western martial arts has been impressive, but it has never been able to truly conquer Chinese martial arts schools, let alone gain the acceptance of ordinary people.

All of this originated from a Chinese man named Chen Zhen!

That man named Chen Zhen, he was a legend, a legend who dared to challenge the great powers!

Today, their Western martial arts will bring an end to the legend of China!

When Chen Zhen announced his challenge against one hundred Western martial arts masters, the group of Westerners laughed!

They didn't know who gave that Chinese man named Chen Zhen the courage to make such a bold claim and challenge a hundred Western martial arts masters!

They couldn't possibly let such an opportunity slip by!

With the added hype from Boss Huang and the French team behind him, Chen Zhen's fame has quickly spread to every corner of Shanghai.

Furthermore, if Chen Zhen loses, the odds will be tripled—a tremendous stroke of luck! This is practically a once-in-a-century opportunity to make money, and they certainly wouldn't miss it!

Merchants from all Western countries went crazy, willing to pawn even their underwear to place bets!

They weren't worried at all that Mr. Huang couldn't afford to pay out; it was just a three-fold payout. In this era, the French were still a wealthy and powerful rooster with plenty of money. They weren't worried at all that the French couldn't afford to pay out!

The huge bets, amounting to hundreds of thousands or even millions, terrified Mr. Huang and his French team. But by this point, they had no choice but to accept the bets!

As for the arena for the martial arts competition?

We've got everything sorted out!

Because Chen Zhen's boasts were so grand, those Westerners who usually liked to play tricks and schemes were unusually refrain from making any underhanded moves this time, and prepared to have a fair and square duel with Chen Zhen!

They even uncovered several of the Japanese's secret plots. This time, Chen Zhen was declaring war on Western martial arts, and the Japanese had nothing to do with it!

But the Japanese were immediately displeased. Wasn't this disrespecting our great Japanese Empire?

Given that Chen Zhen is already a mortal enemy of the Japanese, the Japanese are secretly trying to sabotage Chen Zhen's duel with the Westerners!

For example, sending agents to plant bombs on ships, and assassinating Chen Zhen, among other despicable acts!

However, Chen Zhen remained completely unharmed until the start of the duel.

The efforts of Western countries played a crucial role in this!

They will not allow anyone to disrupt this competition!

Chen Zhen is now a walking dollar bill; anyone who dares to stop them from making money is their enemy!

In a capitalist society, money really can buy anything!

Early in the morning, the banks of the river were already crowded with people who came to watch the excitement. At this moment, there was a sea of ​​people, and various vendors also came to the scene, pushing all kinds of carts and weaving through the crowd.

The crowd was buzzing with discussion and commotion. Some wealthy families had already had their servants reserve their spots, with groups of two or three friends and their servants occupying small circles on the dock.

Ordinary people, on the other hand, are not so particular. They flock to wherever there is excitement, and the sounds of laughter and chatter rise and fall among the crowd!

The truly elite circle of the wealthy, however, was different from these people. At this moment, they were being escorted by soldiers in military uniforms, boarding small boats and being transported one by one to giant oil tankers.

Each ticket was priced at five hundred silver dollars, and there were five hundred tickets in total. Those who could get these tickets were all truly important figures, each one a well-known and famous person in Shanghai.

In reality, selling tickets doesn't make much money; it only adds up to 250,000 yuan, which is negligible compared to the total betting amount of nearly 10 million yuan.

However, this ticket is a symbol of status. If you can't get this ticket in Shanghai, it means you're not qualified!

Of the 500 tickets, 300 were divided up by various foreign powers, and the remaining 200 were given away by Boss Huang to the big shots in Shanghai as a favor.

The competition was scheduled to begin at 9:00 AM. By 8:00 AM, all one hundred carefully selected Western martial arts masters had arrived, and even the guests who had bought tickets were all standing outside the barrier to watch.

These one hundred Western martial arts masters were all incredibly strong and muscular, with an average height of over 1.8 meters, and each of them looked extremely fierce!

Among these people are military combat champions, boxing champions, Western martial arts masters, and even murderers with unique skills!

These people were all true Western masters selected by the Western powers!