Urban Martial Saint

On the mountain, Ye Qing had long noticed Nalan Tianyu descending and knew something was wrong, so he immediately started running down the mountain. Halfway down, he just happened to see Nalan Tianyu beating Du Feng, which ignited a fiery anger in Ye Qing's heart. He shouted loudly, "Nalan Tianyu, don't touch him! Do you dare to fight me?"

Hearing Ye Qing's voice, Nalan Tianyu shivered. Although he was stronger than Du Feng, he was no match for Ye Qing. If Ye Qing got down there, wouldn't he be in danger?

Nalan Tianyu didn't dare to be the slightest bit negligent, delivering two more heavy blows to Du Feng, who finally couldn't withstand it, spitting out a mouthful of blood and suffering an internal injury.

"Useless!" Nalan Tianyu cursed, seeing that Du Feng had no strength left to resist. He then reached out and began searching Du Feng's clothes.

Du Feng's chest and abdomen hurt so much that he couldn't even muster the strength to resist. He could only futilely use his hands to block Nalan Tianyu. However, this obstruction was to no avail, and before long, Nalan Tianyu found the Wooden Plaque on Du Feng.

"Giv... give it back..." Du Feng trembled as he shouted, reaching to grab the end of the Wooden Plaque, but he couldn't snatch it back.

"Die already!" Nalan Tianyu yelled as he kicked Du Feng's chest again with considerable force, directly breaking several of Du Feng's ribs.

Suffering this severe injury, Du Feng finally couldn't hold on and slowly released his grip. Nalan Tianyu looked carefully at the Wooden Plaque in his hand, confirming it was the winning plaque, and rejoiced, quickly running outwards.

At this moment, Ye Qing happened to run down the mountain. However, he was still a step too late and could not possibly catch up to Nalan Tianyu.

"Sorry, Ye, I'm leaving first!" Nalan Tianyu stood at the exit, shaking the Wooden Plaque in his hand triumphantly at Ye Qing and laughed, "Thanks for the Wooden Plaque!"

Seeing Du Feng constantly vomiting blood, Ye Qing was almost bursting with rage. He gritted his teeth looking at Nalan Tianyu and said in a low voice, "Nalan Tianyu, don't let me catch you!"

"If you have the guts, come out!" Nalan Tianyu replied with a cold laugh. He was now standing outside the exit. If Ye Qing chased him outside, it would mean voluntarily admitting defeat and losing the qualification to continue in the martial arts competition.

Ye Qing was so angry that he gritted his teeth, but he really couldn't go out because he had to win this competition; otherwise, Shen Qingyi would have to marry someone else. With Shen Qingyi's character, she certainly wouldn't comply, and Ye Qing didn't want anything to happen to her because of this matter.

Ye Qing helped Du Feng up, pressing a few acupoints to relieve his pain, and asked in a low voice, "Du Feng, how do you feel?"

Du Feng was almost fainting just now, but after Ye Qing pressed a few acupoints, he finally regained some clarity. Seeing Ye Qing, he gave a bitter smile and said in a low voice, "Ye, I… I was afraid you wouldn't find another Wooden Plaque, so I waited for you at the foot of the mountain to give you this one. But I… I was too useless and let Nalan Tianyu snatch it away. Ye, I… I'm really sorry..."

At that moment, Ye Qing understood why Du Feng was sitting at the foot of the mountain without leaving; he was waiting for him to come down. This warmed Ye Qing's heart even more; Du Feng was truly a man of loyalty!

"Don't worry, I can definitely get through this round!" Ye Qing patted Du Feng on the shoulder and said firmly, "Wait here for me; I'll find another Wooden Plaque for you so we can both get through this round together."

"No need." Du Feng quickly shook his head, grabbing Ye Qing's clothes, "Ye, I'm already satisfied to have passed the first round. In my current state, continuing to compete is meaningless. I might as well just withdraw now. First, you will have a better chance, and second, you won't worry so much about ****. If it weren't for me, you would have already passed this round. Ye, I don't want to hold you back anymore!"

Hearing Du Feng's words, Ye Qing also felt a surge of emotion in his heart. He nodded slowly and said, "Then let me escort you out."

"No need, I can walk out myself." Du Feng smiled and said, "Ye, hurry back up the mountain. I see Li has great ability; he might also find a Wooden Plaque. You absolutely can't lose to Wan Yan Ming. Otherwise, you'll have no chance!"

"I know!" Ye Qing nodded slowly and didn't stay there any longer, turning around and choosing a different path, running straight up the mountain.

Prince Nalan, on seeing his grandson pass the second test, was overjoyed. Although this round seemed quite disgraceful, passing it was what mattered most to him, regardless of the methods used.

"Li Qianqiu has already collected four map fragments, which means his hope of piecing together a complete map is growing bigger. Wan Yan has also acquired three map fragments, but you, Ye, have only one. What makes you think you can win this round?" Prince Nalan murmured, sneering.

Atop the mountain, Shen Tianjun was also nervously watching Ye Qing. Standing at the highest point, he had the clearest view of the situation. Given the current circumstances, Ye Qing's chances of winning seemed slim. Unless Ye Qing was as unscrupulous as Nalan Tianyu, robbing others for their wooden plaques at the foot of the mountain, it would be very difficult for him to win. The key issue was that Wan Yan and Li Qianqiu's skills were not inferior to Ye Qing's; even if he tried to rob them, he might not succeed. Could it be that Ye Qing would be eliminated in this second round?

Shen Tianjun originally let Ye Qing enter this competition with the hope that he would win, thus appeasing Shen Qingyi. Now, it seemed that if Ye Qing got eliminated in the second round, what would happen next? If someone else was chosen in the end, there was no way Shen Qingyi would marry. If he were to cancel the competition, it would be even more troublesome, leaving him in a difficult position. He could only hope for a miracle for Ye Qing to get a wooden plaque before Li Qianqiu and Wan Yan. However, this seemed practically impossible.

Although anxious in his heart, Shen Tianjun kept a close watch on Ye Qing. He initially thought Ye Qing would slowly search for map fragments along the way, but to his surprise, Ye Qing moved swiftly atop the mountain, seemingly purposefully headed somewhere without even observing his surroundings.

After observing for a while, Shen Tianjun realized that Ye Qing had only stopped at four places during his run. At these places, Ye Qing began to search very carefully, as if looking for wooden plaques. This left Shen Tianjun astonished—Ye Qing wasn't even looking for the map but headed straight for the wooden plaques. On such a massive mountain, it was like searching for a needle in a haystack.

During Ye Qing's search, Li Qianqiu found another map fragment and was piecing together the map on the spot.

Shen Tianjun's heart was on edge. If Li Qianqiu assembled a complete map, he would be able to find a wooden plaque for sure. If that happened, only one plaque would be left, making Ye Qing's chance even slimmer.

At that time, Ye Qing, still swiftly running, purposefully searching certain spots, causing Shen Tianjun's confusion, finally arrived by a pile of white stones and stopped there.

Seeing Ye Qing stop there, everyone on the mountain widened their eyes, even someone like Shen Tianjun couldn't help but feel a little excited. Because there was indeed a wooden plaque hidden by that pile of white stones!

"Search, search, it's right there!" Shen Tianjun yelled out loud in his heart, really afraid Ye Qing would miss the spot.

In fact, Ye Qing didn't miss it and began searching meticulously by the pile of white stones. Seeing this, Shen Tianjun felt a burst of joy inside; the others were even more stunned. Without finding the map, how did Ye Qing know to search by that white stone pile?

Although the wooden plaque was well-hidden, once the area was carefully verified, finding it was fairly easy. Ye Qing found the wooden plaque within less than three minutes of searching by the white stone pile.

Upon seeing Ye Qing retrieve the wooden plaque, Shen Tianjun let out a long sigh of relief. This was it, Ye Qing finally managed to pass this round.

However, this brought about a big question. Without a map, how did Ye Qing know the wooden plaque was hidden near that pile of white stones?

Not only was Shen Tianjun puzzled, everyone on the mountain had this question, because nobody knew how Ye Qing managed it. Many even frowned, growing suspicious, wondering if Ye Qing was cheating.

Having obtained the wooden plaque, Ye Qing immediately descended the mountain, leaving the competition area. Handing the plaque to Shen Da, Ye Qing was deemed to have passed the second round, with Shen Da shouting the news atop the mountain.

Up on the mountain, Wan Yan was concentrating intensely on searching for map fragments. Suddenly hearing that Ye Qing also passed the second round, he became instantly nervous. Out of three wooden plaques, now two had been claimed, leaving only one. Whether or not he could pass this second round had become extremely uncertain!

"That bastard Ye Qing, he's lucky!" Wan Yan gritted his teeth, looking at the three map fragments in his hand, stubbornly saying, "Damn it, with three map fragments I still can't piece together a complete map, where the hell am I supposed to find that last wooden plaque?"

Grumbling a few curses, Wan Yan glanced around him again, murmuring, "I wonder what Li Qianqiu's current status is. If he gets the last wooden plaque first, I'm doomed to lose. No, if Nalan Tianyu can pass, there's no reason I can't. I have to change my approach; this blind searching won't work!"

With that thought, Wan Yan immediately stopped, turning to look down the mountain, a glint flashing in his eyes. He suddenly turned around, running straight down the mountain, no longer intending to search for the last wooden plaque. He even discarded the three map fragments he had painstakingly found.