Chapter 122. Color Dragon
The person who came up was a black-clad man with a small and agile build and sharp, vicious eyes, unlike Murong Bing.
Strangely, daggers and short blades were hanging all over the front and back of his chest.
A strange expression appeared on Murong Bing's face when he saw him.
It was like the kind of face one would make after swatting away a fly stuck to one's head, only for it to stick again to the back of one's head.
"So, we meet again here, Four-Armed Flying Dagger."
Although he could not compare to Murong Bing, Four-Armed Flying Dagger Duanmu Gu was a fairly well-known rising expert in Liaoning Province.
However, the reason Murong Bing frowned was not simply because he was a local expert from the same region.
"That's right, Young Master Murong. It's truly a pleasure to meet you again like this after three years."
At the words "three years," Murong Bing's face twisted into an even more foul expression than before.
"That incident back then was an accident."
"... Did I say anything?"
In truth, Duanmu Gu had an old grudge against Murong Bing.
His younger sister had dated Murong Bing and then been abandoned.
It did not end there—unable to endure the shock of the breakup, she ultimately took her own life.
Because of that, Duanmu Gu had gone to the Murong Family to meet Murong Bing, only to be beaten until he was covered in dust and dragged out like a dog.
That had happened three years ago.
From just that brief exchange, the crowd could easily tell that something had happened between the two.
The arena became noisy once again.
"Four-Armed Flying Dagger! Stay strong!"
"Brother Danmok! To hell with the Murong Family—smash him to pieces!"
At the cheers of the crowd, Murong Bing's face twisted even further.
He had come up to look good in front of Namgung Hye, but only ended up showing an even worse side of himself.
On top of that, it even looked like the entire Murong Family had become something like a public enemy of the martial world.
He even started to think that even if he won the tournament, he wouldn't hear anything good about it.
He had tried to show off and ended up gaining nothing.
Murong Bing's gaze as he looked at Duanmu Gu grew cold.
"You will regret this."
"Hahaha... Are you saying you're going to kill me or something? That would be even better. If I die, it means I can make you get disqualified."
[-. Anyone who kills their opponent will be immediately disqualified. You must hold back.]
Duanmu Gu's words were referring exactly to this newly added rule.
Murong Bing's sharp eyes grew even sharper.
"This young master does not speak empty words."
With that, he charged toward Duanmu Gu like lightning.
Duanmu Gu had already guessed that Murong Bing would launch a surprise attack, so he swiftly drew five flying daggers from his bosom in a single motion and hurled them at Murong Bing.
Kkagang-!
Murong Bing's sword moved as if shaking off a net, knocking all the flying daggers to the ground in an instant.
It was the Murong Family's proud Heavenly Net Sword Art.
Swae-aek-!
Keeping that momentum, Murong Bing continued to rush forward.
"...!"
Startled, Duanmu Gu retreated rapidly.
Compared to the Murong Bing he had faced three years ago, the current Murong Bing was much faster.
He had expected improvement, but not to this extent.
For three years, he had ground his teeth and endured, throwing flying daggers and throwing flying daggers again, thinking of his sister's smiling face.
And yet—
In a single exchange, he had already fallen into a disadvantage...
Duanmu Gu did not give up. He kept retreating and continued to throw flying daggers.
Even so, he could not completely shake off Murong Bing, who was closing in rapidly.
Retreating and charging forward were fundamentally incomparable in speed.
And with such a clear gap in their martial arts, there was no need to say more.
Murong Bing brought his sword down.
Kkagagang!
By the nature of the Heavenly Net Sword Art, the moment the sword collides with the flying daggers, a dense wall of qi naturally forms along the sword path.
The gusts of qi leaking through the gaps in the wall of qi mercilessly tore the skin of Duanmu Gu's face and shoulders.
"Keuk!"
Duanmu Gu swallowed a groan and dropped to one knee.
He tried to block with the short blades he hurriedly drew, but it was not enough.
In just one exchange. Perhaps in a single breath.
Duanmu Gu had already been defeated.
The cheering crowd fell silent in an instant.
The Nine Dragons' skill, witnessed with their own eyes, was far beyond what they had imagined.
They had thought "maybe," but as expected, the wall between the Murong Family and the Nine Dragons was high.
Some of those who had jeered at Murong Bing earlier and met his eyes were even leaving the arena.
Pubeobeok-!
"Kraah!"
A one-sided beating began.
Having seized the momentum, Murong Bing beat Duanmu Gu's entire body, who had lost his senses, without mercy.
He did not even swing the sword he was holding.
Using only kicks—no, just a wild barrage of kicks—he drove Duanmu Gu into a corner.
Whenever his legs lightly swept across the arena, bruises bloomed on Duanmu Gu's body, and streams of blood spurted from his mouth.
Watching this from the roof, Ha Seon-hyang frowned.
"It looks like the fight is already over... That's too much."
As she said, the fight was no longer really a fight, but no one stepped in.
That was because Duanmu Gu had not declared surrender.
Even to Dong Bong-su, this fight was no longer worth watching.
As Ha Seon-hyang said, the fight was already over.
He swept his eyes over the distance that the Super True Energy Field could not reach and went to look again for the madmen he had seen on the first day.
Zhong Zhihang, the unknown strongmen, and Yeon Yeong-ha.
None of them were in sight.
They were probably all fighting their preliminaries in other arenas.
That was when it happened.
Pubeobeok-!
With a loud noise, Duanmu Gu's face was completely smashed into the arena floor.
He had lost consciousness.
The blood he had spilled had already completely dyed one side of the arena.
It was easy to see how badly he had been beaten.
Even if he was not dead, he would have to rest quietly for several months before he could recover.
Perhaps...
He might never recover.
Wooooaaah-!
A cheer that shook the sky poured out.
But...
It was not from here.
It was from outside Muhwa Gate and from the Inner Hall side.
It seemed that someone else had also crushed their opponent with overwhelming force.
But here, despite being an overwhelming fight, it was quiet.
No one wanted it, but... a fight that had ended as foretold.
It was the powerless revenge of one without strength.
No one who witnessed it could cheer.
Namgung Hye watched for a moment, then went up onto the arena, checked on Duanmu Gu, called over a member of the Martial World Protection Unit, and had him carried to the Pill Room.
Then, as a matter of form, she told Murong Bing that he had gone too far, and returned to the spectators' seats.
The tournament had to continue.
Even if people died.
Murong Bing was still standing on the arena, and he still looked angry.
Some bug had rushed at him and made his ears noisy, and that must have irritated him quite a bit.
The next person to step onto the arena probably would not have a good time either.
Ha Seon-hyang looked around at the crowd, shook her head, and looked at Dong Bong-su.
"It doesn't look like there's any need to wait any longer, right?"
What she meant was that no one would step forward for the next one shikgyeong.
Dong Bong-su also quietly looked over the crowd a bit more and agreed.
"It seems that way."
There were very few young experts here who were above Murong Bing.
Even those were only about evenly matched with him.
The only ones who could definitely suppress Murong Bing were—
Namgung Hye, who had just stepped up to the arena over there to ring the bell, and—
"But when are you going to step onto the arena, Young Hero Dong... huh?!"
Before Ha Seon-hyang could finish her question, Dong Bong-su answered not with words, but with action.
He had already kicked off and left the roof, flying toward the arena.
The timing was so perfect that everyone in the arena focused their gaze on Dong Bong-su at once.
It was as if he alone now occupied this arena.
"Huh? That guy is already stepping in...! Then that means!"
Does it mean he can suppress Murong Bing?
Tting... ra...
Namgung Hye caught the bell just as it was about to ring and stopped it.
The sound stopped with it, and the decision of the first finalist was also postponed.
Since a new challenger had appeared, there was no need for the bell.
Not until one of the two on the arena fell.
'Alright, now show me a match worthy of the first finalist of the All-Under-Heaven Youth Martial Arts Tournament. And also...'
Show me that you, along with Zhong Zhihang, are another variable in this tournament.
Namgung Hye put the bell back into her bosom and returned to the spectators' seats.
An inexplicable smile was on her face.
On the other hand, Murong Bing's expression twisted slightly.
Beating Duanmu Gu so brutally just now had been partly to make sure he would never cling to him again, but more than that, he was sick of meaningless matches.
Anyway, aside from himself, none of the top contenders—Three Stars, Five Phoenixes, and Nine Dragons—or participants from the great sects would appear in the preliminaries.
Then all that remained were the countless trash fighters scattered throughout the martial world.
Why bother discussing the merits of martial arts with such people?
Wasn't it pointless no matter how you looked at it?
On top of that, his original goal—showing off his martial arts in front of Namgung Hye—had also become meaningless.
He had been jeered at, and had even been warned for going too far.
At this point, there was nothing to be gained from these preliminary matches.
No, he had only suffered losses.
And now, this thin, fragile-looking Dong Bong-su had stepped onto the arena.
Murong Bing was in a very bad mood.
'A bastard not even worth dog shit dares to act up? I'll make you piss and shit yourself within one dakyung.'
Color Dragon Murong Bing greeted Dong Bong-su with a polite facade and a cruel smile he could not hide.
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