A Card In Hand

Chapter 19: Cheating?

The assistant referee briefly explained the rules of the competition.

In short, killing the opponent was forbidden; all other tactics were fair game, so participants were encouraged to use any skills they possessed.

“Begin!”

With the command from the assistant referee, a wild, power-packed punch, whistling through the air, hurled towards Li Ao.

With a combat power of 213, he was fearless.

In his eyes, Li Ao, merely a verbose member of a minor branch of the Iron Clan Family with a combat power not even reaching a hundred, was insignificant.

Such strength held no value in the arena of martial combat.

“You weakling, kneel before me!”

Wild’s talent, the Stone Hand, could enlarge his arms to immense size and hardness, increasing his attack power by more than five times.

With such a powerful talent to back him up, Wild believed that defeating his opponent would be a matter of one punch.

As long as it connected.

No matter where it hit.

The result would be the same.

Victory!

Li Ao seemed to have never seen such a powerful punch, retreating step by step.

Wild was secretly thrilled, thinking this boy truly was a rookie, only good at talking, not even knowing how to dodge sideways, just retreating straight back.

How long could you back up in this tiny arena?

Idiot!

He advanced step by step, swinging his giant fists, not giving Li Ao any chance to escape to the sides.

Finally.

The edge of the arena was reached.

Li Ao retreated to the very corner of the arena, with nowhere left to go.

One of his heels was already off the platform,

Only his toes,

Barely remained on the surface.

“Run, run, keep running! If you dare, why don’t you try to crawl through my legs like a dog? Come on, I’ll give you a chance to show off your dog-crawling escape skills!”

Wild burst into raucous laughter, confident of his victory. His only regret was that this slippery kid might be forced to jump off the arena, depriving him of the satisfaction of landing a punch.

The match had just begun, and there was plenty of time.

Thus, Wild was not in a hurry to attack.

Instead, he relentlessly taunted Li Ao.

He hoped Li Ao would swing a punch in a fit of rage, allowing him to showcase his prowess in front of Ling Long and Yue Sha.

Fuxi wasn’t paying attention to Li Ao; he didn’t realize his younger cousin was in trouble. He was completely captivated by Huo Mei, who had just won her match on Arena No. 2 and was blowing fiery kisses to her supporters, leaving him no time to focus on this side.

However, Tie Zheng, who had just stepped onto Arena No. 5, took a moment to glance back.

Seeing Li Ao pushed to the very edge of the arena, on the brink of defeat, he couldn’t help but shake his head.

Li Ao might have undergone rigorous training and possessed decent combat skills, but his physique was far inferior to his opponent’s, and without activating his talent, the suppression from the summon inhibitor caused him to lose his Stone Body Protection.

It was difficult for him to withstand the attacks from a burly opponent like Wild.

Tie Zheng withdrew his gaze, no longer allowing himself to be distracted, as he faced a formidable opponent from the Frost Wolf Clan—Cang Yue.

This was an extremely challenging adversary.

Tie Zheng was not confident that he could defeat him within the limited duration of the match.

In the martial arts combat, each group stage match was only five minutes long. Defeating Cang Yue of the Frost Wolf Clan in such a short time was practically impossible.

“Iron Clan, Shangjing Tie Zheng,” Tie Zheng took a deep breath, raised his fists, and clasped them before his chest as a respectful greeting to his opponent.

“Frost Wolf Clan, Shangjing Cang Yue,” Cang Yue snorted lightly.

He too was aware of what kind of opponent Tie Zheng was.

Departing from his usual unruly arrogance.

His golden-silver demonic eyes shone brightly.

His fighting spirit was boiling.

On the leftmost side of the Trial Plaza, Platform Number 1, Li Ao, cornered by his opponent Wild with no escape, suddenly smiled.

As Wild swung his heavy fists intending to force Li Ao to bow his head, Li Ao swiftly kicked at Wild’s groin.

Wild’s face twisted in agony, and all the wrinkles on his old face gathered together… Li Ao’s kick, agilely retracted to pivot, and at the same time, his other foot spun up in a high kick, striking precisely at Wild’s now defenseless jaw.

Wild’s eyes rolled back, and his throat’s scream was cut off by the powerful kick to the jaw, turning into a muffled rumble in his chest.

Li Ao slowly retracted his right leg and lightly leaped into the air.

As light as a swallow.

Leaping into the mid-air.

He gracefully performed three somersaults and landed back at the center of the platform.

Behind him, Wild stood dazedly, his body frozen in the previous punching motion.

“You…” the assistant referee was about to ask Wild if he could continue, but before he could speak, Wild had already fallen like a tree being chopped down, crashing to the ground.

His body tipped over at the edge of the platform.

His overly forward-leaning body couldn’t support the fall, continuing downwards until it crashed onto the ground with a loud thud.

When the assistant referee rushed over to turn him over for a closer examination, he found Wild with his eyes rolled back, frothing at the mouth uncontrollably, having been unconscious for quite some time.

Li Ao slowly walked over from the platform.

Standing on the platform.

Looking down.

He inquired with a smile to the assistant referee holding Wild: “He fell out of the ring, according to the rules, that should mean I win, right?”

The assistant referee was perplexed. Wild had a combat power of 213; how could he fall from a single strike?

His opponent, Li Ao, hadn’t even registered a combat power over a hundred, nor had he activated any talents.

Were those two kicks really that powerful?

Something was odd!

Could it be that this kid named Li Ao secretly cheated?

Of course, without evidence, he dared not voice such a claim.

The Iron Clan was not to be trifled with; if a clan’s youth were to lose, it would still be fine, but now that he had won, to arbitrarily declare a cheating offense and invalidate the results would surely cause an uproar.

The assistant referee thought it over.

For safety’s sake.

He dared not make a hasty judgment.

Otherwise, he alone would bear the blame.

Therefore, he said, “I cannot make a clear judgment on this match at the moment. I will submit it to Supervisor Chang Chi for the final decision!”

“Tsk!”

Ling Long scoffed coldly: “A referee with poor eyesight, that’s truly a wonder!”

“What did you say?” the assistant referee was visibly annoyed.

“You’re just a newcomer here to watch the spectacle, and you dare to question me?”

“With a single kick, the young man split Wild’s chin—a clearly visible injury. Are you sure you didn’t notice?”

Ling Long felt that the assistant referee was somewhat blind.

Just because someone is from a lesser branch of the Iron Clan Family, does that make them weak?

Can’t someone prefer to hide their strength?

If someone from a lesser branch wins, does it mean they cheated?

You’re not visually impaired; you’re biased against their background.

If it were someone from the main lineage of the Iron Clan, would you dare make such a call?

“It really is…”

The assistant referee, touching Wild’s foamy and rather disgusting chin, discovered indeed a severely split injury.

It seemed that the kick was truly powerful, and even Wild, with a combat power of 213 and a strong and robust physique, couldn’t withstand it.

“Is it clear now?”

Li Ao was not upset at all, patiently waiting for the final judgment.

“You should thank this lady for her righteous words!”

Ling Long claimed the credit.

“Are you thinking of my silly bear?”

Li Ao laughed upon hearing this.

“A Black Iron-level silly bear, is it really that important to you?”

Ling Long couldn’t understand. “I’m not asking for nothing; I’m offering to exchange it for a Bronze-level Iron Armor Bear!”

“It’s not important at all,” Li Ao shook his head.

“Then I’ll exchange the Iron Armor Bear with you.” This time, Ling Long added an incentive: “I’ll even throw in a Bronze-level Wind Eagle, so you’ll have a flying war beast!”

“No,” Li Ao still shook his head.

“Why?” Ling Long was utterly baffled.

“Because I’m a good person, and someone as kind-hearted as me couldn’t possibly watch you make a bad deal!”

Even Li Ao didn’t believe his own excuse.

“Ling Long sister, let’s just go,” the timid Yue Sha suggested, tugging at Ling Long’s sleeve, clearly afraid of Li Ao.

“He’s going to fight Prince Jinxi next, and I want to see him get beaten into a pig’s head!” Ling Long snorted.

“I’m afraid I’m going to disappoint you,” Li Ao said with a smile.