Chapter 408: The Monarch's Order Issued, The Challenge Successfully Conquered

The aura of a Great Martialist is ethereal; whether it exists or not makes a world of difference to a high-level martial master.

In a single exchange, the Tiger Elder Gongye Wei was utterly routed, buried directly into the ruins.

A tidal wave of gasps erupted all around; no one could believe the scene unfolding before their eyes.

They had expected a match of equal strength, perhaps even a battle of three hundred rounds to determine the victor, but who would have thought...

To decide the outcome in a single round—that was simply too fast.

"Old slippery fox, you sure know how to read the situation!"

Zhou You was the only one on the scene who knew the inside story; he had manipulated the Fist Intent Puppet to strike, and the feedback of force was solid and real.

Gongye Wei had lost on purpose; he hadn't even exerted his true strength, simply going with the flow to accept defeat.

The old fellow had no intention of winning, nor did he even want to fight; he was just going through the motions.

The question was, how could he bring himself to do it? "Cough, cough, cough, your strength is extraordinary, Gongye Wei admits defeat."

Gongye Wei was helped up from the ruins; although he was covered in dust and looked quite disheveled, his presence remained undiminished.

Zhou You narrowed his eyes; the other party was deliberately currying favor with him—what exactly was his goal?

Soon, the answer was revealed...

"By order of the Monarch, the outcome of today's challenge is decided. Order all parties to disperse; do not continue to gather and cause trouble."

A rider galloped over, waving a command flag in the air, and everyone's gaze was instantly drawn to it.

This command flag carried a tremendous, demonic power; everyone who saw it instinctively lowered their heads to pay respects, their expressions solemn.

The Monarch, the true master of the Fucheng region, was also the supreme Hereditary Marquis of the local area.

Su Cheng and Gongliang City were both small places, their status akin to the capillaries of a human body, of little importance.

However, Fucheng was different; while it might not be an artery or vein, it was still a very important transportation node.

Therefore, unlike small cities, Fucheng was guarded by a Hereditary Marquis.

A Hereditary Marquis generally came from the ranks of the great clans, and after being enfeoffed by an Enfeoffed Monarch, possessed the blessing of the state's Divine Artifacts, allowing them to preside over the military, civil, and political affairs of a region, command the great clans and the Monarch's Guards, and wield supreme power.

The thirteen cities under Fucheng's jurisdiction, including Su Cheng and Gongliang City, theoretically all honored this Monarch as their sovereign.

It could be said that within Fucheng, the Monarch was the heavens—the supreme, absolute heavens.

No one could have imagined that a martial arts challenge between martial artists would actually alarm the Monarch into intervening personally.

Bo Xiaolin's heart turned to ash; with the Monarch having spoken, any struggle was useless. From this moment on, this martial arts hall no longer belonged to him.

Even the hall masters of the same faction ceased their movements.

On this land, while it was not impossible to find people who dared to defy the Monarch's orders, they were not among them.

With the Monarch's word, the property of the Xiaolin Martial Arts Hall now belonged to Zhou You without dispute.

Victory, they had finally won! In this instant, the martial artists around Zhou You felt as if the clouds had parted to reveal the sun; it had not been easy.

Zhou You looked at the patterns on the command flag; they were unmistakably Seal Script, the twisted strokes ultimately outlining an ancient character.

"Zhu!"

The Monarch's surname was Zhu; there was no doubt that the great clan he hailed from was the Zhu clan.

If the Monarch had not spoken, the end of this challenge would have been nowhere in sight; Zhou You owed him a favor.

Hmm? Zhou You thought of Gongye Wei's 'defeat' earlier and suddenly realized—could this old fellow have foreseen this all along?

After the Fist Intent Puppet appeared, the wind of this challenge had changed.

As a high-level martial master, Gongye Wei might not necessarily be able to fight, but his ability to observe the shifting winds was absolutely top-notch. He must have guessed something, which was why he intentionally lost. This decision was undoubtedly cold-blooded, abandoning the Xiaolin Martial Arts Hall that had viewed him as its final hope.

Suddenly, Zhou You seemed to have guessed the reason.

The Fist Intent Puppet was originally a high-level martial master with a solid foundation, later shattered in spirit and essence by the punch of a Great Martialist, and then infused with the Essence Energy of a Great Martialist to be controlled like a puppet.

The energy driving his body was entirely blood-Qi transformed from the Great Martialist's Essence Energy, so it naturally carried a trace of the Great Martialist's omen.

The so-called Great Martialist omen was a trace of aura similar to that of a Great Martialist inherent to a high-level martial master, representing a high probability of a future breakthrough.

In this way, the value of the Fist Intent Puppet was quite significant.

The situation in Fucheng was complex, but the status of a Great Martialist was extremely important, truly pivotal.

The hall masters of the Tiger Fist made no further moves, instead cupping their hands to bid farewell one after another, clearly not wanting to interfere in this matter any longer.

The removal of the Xiaolin Martial Arts Hall was a foregone conclusion; no one could save it!

"Zhou You, you won."

Bo Xiaolin seemed to have aged several decades; he turned around and struck the plaque of the Xiaolin Martial Arts Hall down with a single punch.

Carrying the plaque, he left all alone. The remaining martial arts hall and all the items inside now had a new owner: the winner of the challenge, Zhou You.

"Master..."

With Bo Xiaolin having left of his own accord, the Apprentices and Disciples of the hall were suddenly anxious and uneasy. What were they to do? The Apprentices who had joined the hall had done so to learn boxing for self-protection and to rely on a powerful backer, but now that backer had fallen.

Some older, more experienced Apprentices and Disciples had flickering gazes; the hall was still a hall, merely under a new name, and the new owner was the even more powerful Zhou You, who also had a high-level martial master backing him.

The new hall would have an even more promising future; staying behind wouldn't be a bad thing! People always knew how to weigh the pros and cons and avoid harm. After a brief commotion, the hall quickly quieted down.

"Master, I want to go with you!"

A few Apprentices and Disciples packed their luggage and hurried to catch up with Bo Xiaolin's pace.

However, ninety-nine percent of the followers remained where they were, with no intention of following, which was quite awkward.

The scene of people leaving and the tea going cold was playing out in reality.

At the end of the day, the nature of a martial arts hall was a place to pay money to learn boxing; unless they were trusted disciples, the vast majority of Apprentices had no close relationship with the hall master, so there was no such thing as loyalty.

"Master, what should be done with these people?"

Qi Qingdi looked at the followers left behind in the hall and asked Zhou You for instructions on how to handle them.

According to his thinking, these were all Bo Xiaolin's people; keeping them would do more harm than good, so it would be better to drive them all away.

Since they had already conquered one martial arts hall, they should recruit their own students from scratch and cultivate disciples and followers they could trust.

In any case, they had the Zhou Family Village base; if there were no students in the city, they could simply return to the village to recruit, as there were plenty of young men in these chaotic times who wanted to learn martial arts.

"Keep them all!"

Zhou You nodded, "A three-month probationary period; weed out those just idling their time away and keep the truly capable ones."

Since he had accepted this martial arts hall, he would not be concerned with tricks like harboring loyalty to a former master or feigning obedience; he had plenty of methods to digest all the resources of the Xiaolin Martial Arts Hall.

These Apprentices were all children of good families in the city, with hundreds or thousands of families behind them, which held extraordinary significance.

"Also, the two Disciples who fought earlier were heavily injured but are not yet dead; they are lying in the backyard recovering, and Bo Xiaolin did not take them with him."

"The corpses of the two outside reinforcements are also placed in the corner of the courtyard; how should they be dealt with?"

Bo Xiaolin surrendered the martial arts hall and left in a sorry state, taking only the martial arts hall's plaque and unable to care for anything else, leaving behind a mess for Zhou You to handle.

(End of this chapter)