Chapter 545

At this moment, Xu Tian was looking down at his phone, replying to work emails because he felt bored. He only looked up when he caught his own name, and seeing the helpless expression on Lu Feifan's face, he asked in surprise, "What's wrong?"

"Don't play dumb with me. It's the team leaders' turn to go on stage and spar. I drew you, so let's go up and have a match right now!"

Xu Tian quickly saved the email he was half-finished editing and then put his phone away.

"When did I ever say I wanted to go on stage to spar?"

He had previously promised Tang Bingyan that he wouldn't go on stage to fight casually. Furthermore, Gu Beicheng had told him earlier that the team leaders didn't need to go on stage. Now that the Lu family was going back on their word, he didn't want to pay them any mind.

Lu Feifan rubbed his hands together somewhat irritably and asked in a gruff voice, "Xu Tian, are you looking down on me?"

Xu Tian replied indifferently, "I never said that."

"Then what do you mean by this? There was a rule earlier that after the three families' contestants finished their matches, it would be the team leaders' turn. You are the Tang family's team leader; how can you not go on stage?"

Xu Tian frowned slightly, and after a moment, he replied perfunctorily, "I know my own strength is lacking, so I'd better not make a fool of myself."

Seeing Xu Tian's attitude, Lu Feifan became even more furious: "Xu Tian, you coward! Everyone came to participate in the arena tournament today for the purpose of sparring. Even if you go on stage and lose, no one will mock you, but you're acting like a turtle hiding its head, not even daring to compete. You are simply a disgrace to the Tang family!"

The others around them heard Xu Tian's refusal, and their expressions became somewhat subtle.

Although some guests didn't dare to speak loudly, they pointed at Xu Tian and complained in low voices: "What kind of team leader did the Tang family find? He doesn't even dare to go on stage?"

"You don't know the half of it. Although he has no ability, he knows how to please the head of the Tang family. Don't you know? He's just a pretty boy with no background, yet he managed to get Tang Bingyan to take him to a banquet and reveal his identity. Maybe in two years, if he gets 'promoted,' he'll really be able to get a marriage certificate and become the Tang family's live-in son-in-law."

"Has the head of the Tang family lost her mind? How could she take a fancy to such a useless pretty boy?"

"I was really looking forward to the duel between the team leaders, but I didn't expect the Tang family to send a coward who doesn't even dare to go on stage. What a mood killer!"

"It's no wonder Young Master Lu is so angry. He carefully prepared for this arena tournament, only to encounter this kind of good-for-nothing who relies on flattering women to get ahead. Who wouldn't be annoyed?"

Gu Beicheng was also somewhat surprised to see this situation. He had originally wanted Lu Feifan and Xu Tian to fight; given Lu Feifan's personality, he definitely wouldn't go easy on Xu Tian, and he could easily make Xu Tian the laughingstock of the three great families without any effort. However, he hadn't expected Xu Tian to be even more spineless than he had imagined, not even daring to go on stage.

However, Gu Beicheng didn't care whether Xu Tian dared to go on stage or not; as long as he could make him lose face in public, his goal would be achieved.

Seeing that the expressions of the people around them were not very good, Gu Beicheng stepped in to smooth things over: "Sparring is based on voluntary participation. Feifan, since Mr. Xu doesn't want to compete, let's not force him."

Gu Beicheng's words made the guests present look at Xu Tian with even more disdain.

The six Tang family secret guards had originally prepared themselves mentally. They naturally had self-awareness and didn't harbor delusions that Xu Tian could beat Lu Feifan, but they hadn't expected Xu Tian to be so cowardly that he wouldn't even dare to go on stage. Forfeiting was even more shameful than being defeated.

They had truly lost all face by coming to participate in this arena tournament, making their Tang family the laughingstock among the noble families. Moreover, they wouldn't know how to explain this to the Tang family's elders and high-level members when they returned.

Zhao Qing, the strongest among them, couldn't help but walk to the spectator area and say to Xu Tian in a low voice: "Mr. Xu, if you forfeit directly, I'm afraid it will damage the Tang family's reputation. Even if you lose the match on stage, you can still stand tall and walk off with dignity. To be so scared that you don't even dare to go on stage before the match has even started is truly contrary to the way of a martial artist."

Xu Tian raised his eyes to look at Zhao Qing standing in front of him, then shook his head: "I wasn't interested in this arena tournament to begin with, and furthermore, the previous rule was that team leaders didn't have to go on stage, so I have even less intention of going up."

Zhao Qing had originally tried to persuade him with kind words, but he hadn't expected Xu Tian to remain stubborn, determined to be a coward. He clenched his fists in anger, but as a secret guard, he didn't dare to vent his anger on Xu Tian, who was a favorite of the family head, so he could only swallow his anger and retreat back into the ranks.

The Lu family disciples saw Zhao Qing's frustrated expression and gloated: "Actually, it's better that your team leader doesn't go on stage. It wouldn't be anything glorious if he went up and got beaten up by our young master."

His words caused the martial artists around them to burst into laughter.

This sound was so harsh and unpleasant to the ears of Zhao Qing and the others. The six of them stood stiffly in place, not even daring to look up and face the disdainful gazes of those people.

It was too shameful!

They had lost the match, and on top of that, they had a useless team leader who didn't dare to go on stage and forfeited directly. They were afraid they would never have a chance to turn things around in the future.

Lu Tian Feng, as the host, saw that Xu Tian was determined not to go on the arena, so he also shook his head helplessly, sighed lightly, and said: "Sparring is indeed based on the principle of voluntary participation. Since Mr. Xu doesn't want to go on stage, our Lu family won't force him."

After all, with Iverson, Ms. An, and other distinguished guests present, Lu Tian Feng couldn't make things too difficult for a junior like Xu Tian.

With him stepping in, the others stopped insisting, and the sounds of mockery suddenly quieted down.

Lu Tian Feng coughed lightly and looked at Lu Feifan and Gu Beicheng: "Feifan, then you and Beicheng go on stage and spar. The winner among you can receive guidance from the fighting master Iverson."

Lu Feifan was somewhat unconvinced; he didn't want to let Xu Tian get away with it so easily. But since his father had spoken, he couldn't refute him. He could only glare at Xu Tian with disdain and say sarcastically: "Forget it, I'm afraid it would be an unfair victory to fight a match against such a piece of trash. Beicheng, let's go on stage and trade a few moves!"

Gu Beicheng swept a calm glance at Xu Tian, then turned and walked toward the arena.

Soon, the two of them were standing on the arena.

This duel was much more worth watching than the one between Lu Feifan and Xu Tian. After all, everyone present felt that Xu Tian was a layman, and the scene of an expert bullying a layman was truly somewhat boring.

But the duel between Lu Feifan and Gu Beicheng was a competition between experts.

Both the Lu family and the Gu family were martial arts families, and both were famous from a young age, hailed as genius martial artists. Everyone present was already somewhat impatient to know the result of who would win and who would lose between these two.

After Gu Beicheng stood steady on the arena, he cupped his hands toward Lu Feifan, his tone still as gentle as an older brother's: "Feifan, let's begin."

Lu Feifan flexed his wrists and said, full of fighting spirit.

"Come on, Brother Beicheng, I've long wanted to have a good fight with you!"