Chapter 299

He He Lingchuan accepted his kindness with a smile. Meng Shan's last mace blow had hit his left arm, not only snapping the bone but also causing internal tremors. Even at the very last moment, Meng Shan's power had remained undiminished.

This guy was truly a difficult opponent.

Alo knew with one squeeze: "Your arm is broken!" He stuffed a pill into his mouth: "Swallow it, it helps soothe internal injuries."

Then Alo quickly helped him set the bone, apply medicine, and splint it.

The movements were skilled, but not gentle. He He Lingchuan hissed several times, unable to help but recall the gentleness when Sun Sun Fuling helped him change his dressing.

He looked down at the ring and happened to meet her eyes.

Seeing her eyes curved like crescent moons and her smile as bright as a flower, she must have won quite a bit of money, right? "Alright, alright, don't run, jump, or put pressure on the injury for the next seven days." Alo quickly finished treating him, while Meng Shan was carried away.

Alo went with the other military doctors to study Meng Shan, while He He Lingchuan slowly stepped off the ring. Along the way, the patrols and soldiers gave him thumbs-ups, scrambled to pat his shoulder, and kept praising his ability.

Meng Shan had been arrogant in the North and South Courtyards, and no one knew how many people he had annoyed. It was He He Lingchuan who had vented this pent-up anger for them.

Outside the railings of the No. 7 ring were cheering crowds, and the young ladies in particular looked at him with sparkling eyes.

This was the highlight moment belonging to the victor, and the air was filled with the scent of satisfaction.

He He Lingchuan took a deep breath; although his mouth and nose were still filled with the taste of rust, he felt refreshed.

Hu Min rushed up in three steps, waving several large gold ingots in front of him: "I'm rich, I'm rich! I'm treating everyone at Yixianglou tonight, don't fight me for it!"

He He Lingchuan stared, eyes wide: "How did you exchange it for gold so quickly?"

Hu Min pointed at the skinny man, who was also grinning from ear to ear; there was no telling which brother's bride price he had saved up for this time.

Sun Sun Fuling walked over: "You are severely injured, you can't drink for now."

"What are you talking about? Last time my leg was broken I still drank, drank..." Sun Sun Fuling narrowed her eyes, and Hu Min shivered, changing his tune instantly: "I'm a bachelor, what do I know? But we can still eat good food and meat, right? I heard Yixianglou has a new dish called 'Two Dragons Snatching the Pearl'..."

He He Lingchuan couldn't be bothered with him, only grinning at Sun Sun Fuling: "I won!" A man must keep his word.

She understood the implication of his words and, from somewhere, pulled out a mirror and held it up to him: "Look."

He He Lingchuan looked in the mirror and was startled.

Having been sent flying and scraping his face against the ground earlier, half his face was now congested and swollen, blue and purple, looking indescribably wretched and covered in mud and sand.

"Now? Are you sure?" Sun Sun Fuling suppressed a laugh: "Does your face still have any feeling?"

It was indeed numb, so he would owe it for now. He He Lingchuan sighed and asked her instead: "How much did you win?"

"Not much." She pointed at Hu Min, "Just ten times his."

"Ten..."

Sun Sun Fuling patted his arm, the uninjured one, of course: "You really didn't disappoint me!" A big bet, and she won it all back.

The skinny man came over and stuffed a slip of paper into He He Lingchuan's hand. The latter looked and saw it was an IOU for nine hundred taels of silver.

"What does this mean?"

"I couldn't make change, so I'll owe it to you for now and pay you back later!" The skinny man was sweating profusely, his face aching from grinning. In this battle, He He Lingchuan's odds had been shockingly high, and now the winnings were shockingly high too.

He took the initiative to hand several gold ingots to Xiao Captain Xiao Maoliang Maoliang, fawningly saying: "Boss Xiao, the money you won!"

He He Lingchuan: "..." So Xiao Captain Xiao Maoliang Maoliang had placed a bet too?

Xiao Captain Xiao Maoliang Maoliang shook the gold ingots at him, still expressionless: "Well done!"

He had a family to support and never refused unexpected wealth.

However, Xiao Captain Xiao Maoliang Maoliang was at least more serious than the others, remembering to ask He He Lingchuan: "You only used the Swallow Return Technique and Wave Slash just now?"

"That's right, Swallow Slash." Using these two techniques in combination could achieve miraculous results. And Swallow Slash could be further transformed into Falcon Strike, making the attacks even sharper.

That was a story for another time.

"How did you dodge his roar attack?" Meng Shan's Mountain-Shaking Roar had stunned the commoners at the edge of the ring; He He Lingchuan, who was only two feet away, had taken the full force of the frontal attack, so how could he be unaffected?

He He Lingchuan chuckled and opened his right hand, revealing two balls of cotton in his palm.

He knew Meng Shan's routine well and had stuffed his ears before getting on the ring; this kind of physical defense was the most useful.

Of course, blocking one's own hearing was a risky move, and he wouldn't necessarily dare to use it against others. Sigh, he still needed a supernatural ability to defend against this kind of invisible attack.

Xiao Captain Xiao Maoliang Maoliang was stunned, then patted his shoulder: "Not bad."

He He Lingchuan had been defeated by Meng Shan seven times and died seven times; today he had finally turned defeat into victory, and that feeling of relief and exhilaration was truly beyond words.

His thoughts were all cleared.

Do not underestimate this kind of emotion. Many practitioners are trapped by a single crushing defeat, making it difficult for their state of mind to remain clear, and they stop advancing bravely.

For him, defeating Meng Shan was a milestone victory.

After kicking away the shadow of this human-shaped violent bear, he truly felt the vastness of the world, and from now on, there were infinite possibilities.

"Not bad, it seems you have also realized your own Dao." A good saber technique can be extended infinitely, depending on how the user realizes it. Given time, Panlongcheng might have another great general, Xiao Captain Xiao Maoliang Maoliang thought with great satisfaction.

At this time, the Martial Arts Hall also sent someone to congratulate him, then pointed to the board next to the No. 7 ring and asked He He Lingchuan: "Do you want to defend the ring? You can challenge again in forty days."

These forty days were for recovering from injuries, which was quite humane.

That board was the Ring Master Leaderboard.

He He Lingchuan looked and saw that there wasn't only one ring master; there were four names on it.

Hu Min saw his confusion and explained: "Ring masters also get injured and need time to recover. Before they are defeated, their names will remain on the board. These four are the ring masters who successfully defended their rings and have yet to be defeated."

The skinny man finally finished calculating the money with others and squeezed over, his face glowing: "Unless the injuries are too severe, if someone challenges, the ring master must respond within forty days, otherwise it counts as a failed defense and they will be automatically removed from here. Also, the number of people on the Ring Master Leaderboard cannot exceed ten, otherwise, the Martial Arts Hall will match the ring masters against each other."

He He Lingchuan looked up; in that case, were the current five ring masters the result of them PK-ing each other?

The skinny man paused and added: "Broken Saber, fighting on the No. 7 ring is better than the Martial Arts Hall South Courtyard."

"Why?" He asked since he didn't know.

"Everyone knows you are a ring master, so people without real skills won't dare to come up and challenge; if you look for people to spar with in the Martial Arts Hall South Courtyard, you might not know each other's depths."

To put it bluntly, it was a matter of efficiency. The No. 7 ring master could filter out stronger opponents.

Both of them spoke the truth, so He He Lingchuan thought for a moment and agreed to become the glorious No. 7 ring master of the Martial Arts Hall.

He lacked actual combat, and dueling with experts was the fastest way.

Subsequently, the Martial Arts Hall erased Meng Shan's name, wrote "He He Lingchuan" in large red characters, and noted his status as "Patrol Guard."

On the bustling street, this was... so conspicuous; I'm afraid that by breakfast time tomorrow, half of Panlongcheng would know that a new ring master for the No. 7 ring had been born.

He He Lingchuan stroked his chin; he liked it.

After all, he was still an injured patient, so after receiving the ring master reward, he should go home to recuperate.

The front of the Martial Arts Hall was packed with people, and Sun Sun Fuling took one look and said: "Let's take the back door."

"There's a back door here?" He had come to the Martial Arts Hall to play eight times and didn't know.

"Of course there is."

The group then passed through the small path by the North Courtyard of the Martial Arts Hall and quietly exited through the small door on the northwest side.

The further north they went, the quieter the Martial Arts Hall became, as most people here had also gone to watch the martial arts competition. He He Lingchuan looked at the competition arena inside the fence, wondering if Zhong Sheng and the others would also come here to stretch their limbs?

It was indeed much quieter outside the northwest small door.

However, no sooner had He He Lingchuan stepped out than forty or fifty people surrounded them with smiling faces, some wanting to hire him as a chamber of commerce consultant with preferential treatment, others praising his youth and promising future and wanting to recruit him as a son-in-law.

There were also seven or eight young girls chattering, all coming over to express their admiration; two enthusiastic and bold ones stuffed slips of paper directly into the splint on He He Lingchuan's hand, hoping to "seek advice" from him.

He He Lingchuan glanced down; what was written on them seemed to be addresses.

Sixteen or seventeen-year-old girls, in the age of flowers, with apple-red cheeks and eyes full of spring.

He He Lingchuan's throat felt a bit dry, and he coughed twice, just about to say something, when someone released an aura, building an invisible wall of qi that instantly pushed everyone three or four feet away.

The girl closest to him nearly fell on her bottom.

The skinny man caught her and hurriedly smoothed things over: "He's an injured patient, talk later, ah, don't crowd, don't rush, he'll still be here defending the ring later!"

He He Lingchuan turned his head, wanting to see who had pushed the girl, but everyone was just watching the excitement, while Sun Sun Fuling was staring at the magpies chirping on the roof, watching them with great care.

At this time, the carriage arrived, and the group quickly got on.

Hu Min patted the coachman's shoulder: "To Yixianglou."

He He Lingchuan was startled: "Going now?"

"It'll be dark in another hour, it's not too late to go and grab a seat." Hu Min laughed, "I told Boss Xiao, he'll be there in a while. You kid performed too well today, I think joining the Da Feng Army ahead of schedule is promising."

"Really?" This was an unexpected joy, and He He Lingchuan felt refreshed, "Don't have to wait until I become a squad leader?"

"Everything has exceptions, and exceptional promotion isn't a rare thing here. You risked your life to save General General Nanke's team first, and defeated Meng Shan later; in terms of strength, you are already qualified." The carriage bumped, and Hu Min shook his head, "Of course, it's not up to me, it depends on what the higher-ups consider."

As the carriage turned the corner, Sun Sun Fuling suddenly knocked on the carriage wall: "Stop, I'm getting off here."

"Eh?"

He He Lingchuan asked her: "Not going to Yixianglou?"

"No, I have something else to do." The carriage stopped, and Sun Sun Fuling put on her veil and got off decisively, but winked at He He Lingchuan, "Don't worry, I won't renege on the debt. See you at home."

Although he couldn't see her expression, He He Lingchuan felt she was smiling.

(End of chapter)