The cheers from the grandstands rolled like waves crashing against stone.
"Yuan Qiong! Yuan Qiong!"
"Finally! Let him crush those arrogant bastards from Lingyin!"
"He's one of the five exempted seeds, two-star Upper Elite! Who can even touch him in Fengyue?"
"Come on, Yuan Qiong! Beat those pigs bloody!"
Yuan Qiong stood at the edge of the ring, letting the sound wash over him.
His chest rose and fell with slow, deliberate breaths. The corners of his mouth curved upward. He had waited for this moment ever since he first heard the name Fang Tian, ever since that outsider had dared to speak of Fengyue City as if it were some backwater province beneath his notice.
He stepped fully onto the white stone platform. The sunlight caught the faint metallic sheen of the bracers on his forearms. Then he looked down.
Fang Tian was already there.
