Chapter 114: Challenge

Boom, Boom, Boom!

Li Pin's Fist Intent instilled fear in Gu Haoran's heart, causing him to take four consecutive steps backward. The horror on his face could be seen clearly by everyone.

The fans, who had been cheering Gu Haoran on a few moments ago, had rapidly become much quieter. The voices screaming "You're so amazing, Brother" had almost gone mute.

The host quickly tried to maintain order and began, "Master Li, the competition is already over. Please do not disrupt the award ceremony."

However, Li Pin didn't even spare him a look. He kept his gaze fixated on Gu Haoran. "Answer me!"

Gu Haoran was shocked and conflicted. "Li Pin, you...."

In the end, Gu Haoran couldn't handle looking Li Pin in the eye and dodged his intimidating gaze.

He knew very well that Li Pin's victory over Zhou Chaoguang wasn't a result of the latter holding back. In fact... It could be said that he accomplished the double kill of both Han Li and Zhou Chaoguang while bearing the pressure from the former.

Such capability...

Gu Haoran didn’t think he could do the same at the moment. However, he believed that with enough time to grow and complete the Aura Cultivation phase, he would be able to achieve the same feat. This was contingent upon catching his opponent off guard and having adequately prepared for the attack.

However, Li Pin's subsequent killing of Qiu Chufeng and Qiu Chuyun.... wasn't a feat that could be simply replicated through the reliance on time.

Li Pin took a step forward. "Look at me!"

Li Pin activated his Fist Intent, his disposition seething.

Gu Haoran was scared and took another three steps back.

What a display....

the crowd thought in unison.

People with a keen eye could tell who was first in place in this year's intermediate category in Jiang Province!

Chi Xingyu was on the stage as well. Suddenly, he heard Lin Yuzhi's voice ring out through the earpiece.

—Chi Xingyu! What are you waiting for?! Don't let him ruin things!

Hearing Lin Yuzhi's chiding, this deputy chairman quickly sobered up and began to rebuke Li Pin sternly, "Li Pin, what do you want!? Are you trying to mess up the order in the martial competition!? It's not your place to act so audaciously in such an important international event! Step down! Otherwise, don't blame me for being merciless!"

"Chi Xingyu, Chairman Chi, since you, the martial society's chairman, are here, why don't you help by offering me an explanation? Faced with slander, as a martial artist, what rights am I entitled to?" Li Pin asked.

"Slander...? What slander?" responded Chi Xingyu.

At this moment, the reporter that Gu Haoran had intimidated earlier seemed to have received new information and stood up again. "A martial artist who hasn't even reached the Aura Cultivation phase claims he can win against Grandmaster Li. Gu Haoran clearly wants to use Grandmaster Li's reputation as a stepping stone for his rise. What is that if not slander?"

The reporter was shivering ever so slightly. However, it was unclear whether that was due to fear or excitement at having the chance to possess exclusive news. "Grandmaster Li, the Five Elements Sect said that you chose to withdraw from the competition because of dirty tricks the hosts pulled. Is that true?"

After saying that, the reporter looked at Chi Xingyu, who seemed on the verge of making a move, and quickly added, "Just a moment ago, we connected to the live broadcast signal of the capital's Summit of Legends. Our program's signals are connected to the Summit of Legends' live scene. Chairman Chi, what do you have to say about Grandmaster Li not being able to get into the top ten despite being a grandmaster?"

Hearing that, Chi Xingyu was astounded. "Summit of Legends!"

Summit of Legends was an extremely popular television program in Taibai. The main objective of this show was to help make a buzz for the upcoming national competition.

They would collect materials from the award presentation ceremonies from the respective provinces and broadcast the scenes during the promotional period for the national competition, aiming to spark conversations and generate interest.

The interest in this show was second only to the national competition's official live broadcast.

This reporter had somehow gotten the channel to connect to the live broadcast for the Summit of Legends! If they were to forcibly chase off Li Pin and this reporter at this moment, it would tremendously impact the Jiang Province Martial Society!

As the deputy chairman, he would have to be held responsible. Even Lin Yuzhi wouldn't be able to get away scot-free.

With this having escalated to this point, Chi Xingyu froze and didn't dare to do anything. He could only passively wait for Lin Yuzhi to give him a new order.

"The truth doesn't matter," said Li Pin, his voice resounding. "When it comes to martial artists, it's very easy to determine who's strong and who's weak! We just need to fight it out. The strong will triumph and the weak will fall."

After saying that, Li Pin beckoned at Gu Haoran. "Come."

Gu Haoran was both shocked and enraged. "I..."

The shock was due to Li Pin's sudden appearance at the martial competition's venue. The fury was due to Li Pin mercilessly trying to humiliate him, the supposed number one in Jiang Province. Li Pin was trying to grind him into the dust.

Ever since Gu Haoran had started practicing martial arts, he had been flattered and fawned over by others. Some people even said that he had the makings of a Martial Saint. Yet, Li Pin didn't know any better and didn't show him any respect at all.

However, even with all that rage, Gu Haoran didn't dare take action against Li Pin. He knew very well that Li Pin had done much more than simply kill Zhou Chaoguang; that was only what the public knew. He, Gu Haoran, knew that Li Pin had subsequently killed the Solar Vermillion Sect Master, Qiu Chufeng, and the Vice Sect Master, Qiu Chuyun.

Gu Haoran did find it unreal that Li Pin had managed to kill Qiu Chufeng, but this could be attributed to Qiu Chufeng's old age. Maybe Qiu Chufeng had grown so old that he hadn't been able to maintain his Internal Aura Force cultivation.

However, even with that said, Li Pin was still undoubtedly strong.

Even though he was enraged and found this hard to accept, he could only say, "I had a very intense fight with Zhou Yuanfie yesterday over the champion title. I'm not in my optimal condition at the moment...."

"Then both of you can come at me together," Li Pin said directly.

Upon hearing that, Zhou Yuanfie stepped forth and said coldly, "What did you just say, Li Pin? You want to challenge both of us together? To want to deal with us single- handedly is—"

"No."

Before Zhou Yuanfei could finish his sentence, Li Pin interrupted him.

"The martial competition requires every contestant to have a one-on-one fight with all nine other participants. The person with the highest win rate will be crowned the champion. Since I want to prove that I'm the number one in Jiang Province, the two of you won't be enough. So..."

His eyes swept past Gu Haoran and Zhou Yuanfei to land on Jiang Zhenhai and the other participants, all the way to Gao Liushui and Jiang Qushan, who were ranked in ninth and tenth place respectively.

Li Pin put a hand out and said, "All ten of you can come at me together."

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

The moment he said these, all ten of them, including Gu Haoran, Zhou Yuanfei, and even Jiang Zhenhai, became furious.

It was true that Jiang Zhenhai was fearful of Li Pin. He had even lost the courage to take a swing at Li Pin back then.

However...

That was only when he was taking Li Pin in a one-on-one match.

Jiang Zhenhai was nicknamed Dragonfist. He had struck out Aura Force before as well.

His Aura Force might not be as good as Gu Haoran's stable Aura Force strikes, but if the two of them were to work together, he believed they'd be able to take on ordinary Aura Cultivation martial artists.

And if they were to add on the other eight experts, including Zhou Yuanfei, Gao Liushui, and Jiang Qushan, there'd be ten of them. In this confined space, where movement was restricted, it wouldn't matter if they had to take on an Aura Cultivation martial artist. With them ten joining hands, they wouldn't even need to fear if they had to take on a Martial Saint!

Two fists are no match for four hands.

Irregular punches kill the old master. [1]

These sayings didn't appear without reason.

"

Hahahaha!

" At this moment, Gu Haoran, who felt cornered and was both shocked and enraged by Li Pin's pushiness, laughed out loud. "Li Pin, you're too audacious! Do you really think that I'm afraid of you? I am just too exhausted after the fight I had with Zhou Yuanfei yesterday, so I wasn't able to guarantee that I'd be able to win against you.

"I didn't expect you to be so arrogant, thinking you could challenge us ten single-handedly! Alright! We'll grant you your wish!"

The others heard what Gu Haoran said. Moreover, from what Li Pin had said, it was clear that he didn't care about them in the least.

Given that none of them had the confidence to defeat him one-on-one, all of them chimed in.

"Li Pin, I admit you're strong enough to compete for first, but if you think that you can look down on us just because of this, then you're dead wrong!"

"People bring disasters upon themselves when they are too arrogant. Li Pin, you haven't even taken first place yet you're already so arrogant. What, will you look down on every single martial artist in Jiang Province if you take first place? How are you any different from demons?! Today, I'll join forces with the other martial brothers and teach you a lesson!"

All these Core Formation martial artists sounded very righteous. They clearly put themselves on the side of justice.

"Then..." Li Pin tilted his head, "what are you guys still waiting for?"

As soon as Li Pin's words fell, Force erupted from under his feet and his Blood Core instantly exploded.

His majestic qi and blood exploded together with a horrifying pernicious aura. It was as if a deeply slumbering ancient ferocious god had suddenly awakened.

As he took large strides forward, seething Fist Intent exploded, sending out sound waves that shook people's souls.

"What are you guys waiting for? Planning on playing a game of rock-paper-scissors to decide who goes first?"

Sensing the terrifying pernicious aura coming from Li Pin as he pounced to attack, Gu Haoran was shocked and his scalp turned numb.

However, there was no backing out for them now.

Even though he had a strong urge to turn and flee, he suppressed this urge and instead erupted his Blood Core to push himself to his strongest condition. "Since he has a death wish, let's fulfill his wish! Everyone, let's take him on together!"

With a low bellow, he struck out Fist Force like a towering mountain. It fell with impressive might as if it would cause mountains to crumble and the earth to crack.

From this alone, it was apparent that the fist art he learned was definitely not weak. At the very least, it was a Martial Saint legacy that could condense Fist Intent.

However, unfortunately, Gu Haoran's mastery of the fist art fell short. In the blink of an eye, Gu Haoran's Aura Force crumbled under Li Pin's attack.

The punch that carried the might of a towering mountain was trampled and shattered by the ancient ferocious god that Li Pin's Fist Intent had manifested.

As the fist forces met, Aura Forces radiated.

The sounds of booms reverberated as qi explosions took place.

After receiving this one punch, the muscles, tendons, bones, and skin in Gu Haoran's arm trembled rapidly and then tore open in the next second. The penetrating power passed through his arm and entered his body, causing him to fly back at almost the same speed he had pounced forth at.

Roar!

A dragon roar sounded almost the same instant Li Pin crushed Gu Haoran's Aura Force. There vaguely seemed to be a figure riding the clouds and pouncing forth.

At the same time, the void space tremored on the other side as powerful Core Force came crashing down like a strong hammer or a raging thunderstorm that tore through the forests and clouds.

Jiang Zhenhai and Zhou Yuanfei took the opportunity to attack Li Pin from both sides, cutting off his retreat path.

Dragonfist, Dragon Reign.

Cloud Crest, Forest Drill.

Despite being attacked by two top-notch Core Formation martial artists who could even be considered Aura Force martial artists, Li Pin didn't retreat a step. He took huge strides and headed straight for Gu Haoran.

Just before Jiang Zhenhai and Zhou Yuanfei came into contact with Li Pin, the phantom image of a ferocious beast seemed to manifest behind him.

This ferocious beast had a snake body with nine heads. It gave off an overwhelming pernicious aura.

The moment it manifested, its nine heads almost came engulfing at almost the same time.

Eight Enormities True Fire Force, Xiangliu! One strike nine variations!

1. A Chinese saying that has the meaning of irregular and reckless actions achieving unexpected results. ☜