Urban Martial Saint

Upon seeing Wan Yan Ming like this, Prince Wan Yan immediately frowned. No one knows a son better than his father; as Wan Yan Ming's father, he understood exactly what Wan Yan Ming was thinking. He definitely wanted to hide here and seize that wooden plaque from Li Qianqiu, ensuring unparalleled success. Moreover, he wouldn't have to exhaust himself searching for it; why not take the easy route?

Wan Yan Ming's idea wasn't bad, but the critical issue was that he had targeted the wrong person. Firstly, since Helian Tiehua dared to let Li Qianqiu participate in this marriage selection, it showed Helian's great confidence in Li Qianqiu, who must have some extraordinary skills. Furthermore, Helian wasn't initially prepared to succeed in the marriage selection; his main focus was the Gold Silk Armor. Now, if Wan Yan Ming truly robbed Li Qianqiu of the wooden plaque, he would surely end up with a feud with Helian Tiehua. Most critically, there was no benefit to them in doing so, and he certainly didn't want to see such a situation.

Despite his deep worry, there was nothing he could do at the moment. Standing there, he obviously couldn't open his mouth to remind his son, as it would be a grave taboo. All he could do now was watch helplessly as his son prepared to ambush Li Qianqiu.

Li Qianqiu wandered around the mountain for a while and found the three remaining fragments of maps left by Wan Yan Ming, finally assembling two maps. Continuing the search, he indeed found a wooden plaque in one of the places, finally bringing out the third plaque.

Seeing that Li Qianqiu finally found a wooden plaque, Helian Tiehua let out a long breath of relief. With Nalan Tianyu and Ye Qing succeeding one after another, he was quite anxious, fearing Li Qianqiu might fail this second challenge. However, now, Li Qianqiu's performance was excellent; he had even obtained this third wooden plaque, which meant he had passed the second challenge.

Seeing Wan Yan Ming, who was hiding in the trees waiting at the foot of the mountain, Helian Tiehua flashed a trace of disdain on his face, snorted coldly, and didn't even take Wan Yan Ming seriously.

Li Qianqiu, holding the wooden plaque, was walking down the mountain path. As luck would have it, he happened to pass by the tree where Wan Yan Ming was hiding.

Seeing Li Qianqiu coming down, Wan Yan Ming grew excited. He knew Li Qianqiu must have found the wooden plaque, which was why he came down. Now was the best time to seize it.

Wan Yan Ming was very confident in his own strength. Among the eight people, aside from Ye Qing and Bei Shisan, he didn't take the others seriously at all. So, seeing Li Qianqiu approaching, he immediately let out a loud shout and jumped down from the tree, lunging directly at Li Qianqiu. Just before landing, he suddenly turned his hand into a fist and delivered eight punches in succession to block all possible retreat routes for Li Qianqiu.

Wan Yan Ming's move carried a hint of ambush and was executed with full force. Even if it were Ye Qing or Bei Shisan being ambushed like this, they would certainly be thrown into disarray. The best strategy would be to retreat and dodge. In fact, Wan Yan Ming had also left a follow-up move; as long as Li Qianqiu retreated, he had even more potent moves waiting for him.

However, to his surprise, Li Qianqiu didn't retreat or dodge; he just stood his ground, taking the eight punches head-on.

The eight punches landed squarely on Li Qianqiu, yet he stood there as if nothing happened, without the slightest movement. This left Wan Yan Ming in disbelief—ordinarily, anyone hit by those eight punches would have been seriously injured, so why was Li Qianqiu perfectly fine?

While he was still in shock, Wan Yan Ming suddenly felt a sharp, unbearable pain in the back of his fingers, causing him to let out a low cry. Upon closer inspection, his fingers were swollen, as if they had been beaten, which looked quite alarming.

"What... What's going on?" Wan Yan Ming's eyes widened. He had been fine descending the mountain just moments ago, so why was he swollen now?

Li Qianqiu cast a glance at Wan Yan Ming, slightly furrowing his brows, and said in a deep voice, "You want to steal my wooden plaque?"

"Nonsense, why else would I be here?" Wan Yan Ming replied coldly. "I advise you to hand over the wooden plaque quickly, or I won't be polite!"

Li Qianqiu slowly shook his head and said, "I advise you not to try to take my things."

"Shut up!" Wan Yan Ming shouted, ignoring the searing pain in his fingers, and lunged again at Li Qianqiu, delivering a flurry of punches and kicks.

Li Qianqiu remained still, taking Wan Yan Ming's blows without any movement. He seemed unbothered, while Wan Yan Ming found his own hands and feet swelling, his legs too aching in waves, not knowing what exactly was happening.

Wan Yan Ming's attacks were quite fierce, but how could he have anticipated that Li Qianqiu would withstand so many blows and be perfectly fine?

"Why... why aren't you fighting back?" Wan Yan Ming asked, eyes wide, speaking in a low voice: "How can you take so many hits without any problems?"

"I have already fought back," Li Qianqiu replied calmly.

"Fought back?" Wan Yan Ming looked around and then back to Li Qianqiu, asking, "What nonsense are you talking about?"

"Believe it or not!" Li Qianqiu said, taking a step forward. "Otherwise, let me through—you're not going to take my things!"

"Nonsense!" Wan Yan Ming shouted again, rushing at Li Qianqiu once more, clearly intent on a desperate fight.

"Stop fighting! Stop fighting!"

A frantic voice suddenly came from the distant mountain, and it was Prince Wan Yan speaking. He waved to Wan Yan Ming and shouted loudly, "Withdraw, withdraw. He practices General Helian's Thirteen Protectors' Horizontal Golden Bell Shield. The harder you hit him, the harder the force rebounds. Hitting him is no different from hitting yourself. If you continue like this, you'll be ruined."

Prince Wan Yan originally didn't dare to shout, but he couldn't hold back anymore because he was well aware of what the consequences would be if the fight continued.

Hearing his father's words, Wan Yan Ming was dumbfounded. No wonder no matter how they exchanged blows, Li Qianqiu wasn't affected. Instead, the force was all rebounded from Li Qianqiu's Thirteen Protectors' Horizontal Golden Bell Shield and directly onto his hands and feet. No wonder his fingers suddenly swelled and his legs and feet hurt badly; this was the reason.

Wan Yan Ming had been quite confident in his own skills previously, but now he was like an eggplant hit by frost, wilting right away. Li Qianqiu's ability and his own were simply not on the same level. If this fight truly continued, he would indeed end up completely crippled as his father said!

"Li, I didn't mean to steal your things, I just got a little eager and wanted to spar with you." Wan Yan Ming laughed awkwardly and stepped aside, saying, "Li, you go ahead."

Li Qianqiu didn't speak, he just walked past Wan Yan Ming and left the field with the wooden plaque. Now all three wooden plaques were out, and Wan Yan Ming, unable to get a plaque, was directly eliminated.

Seeing that the second match was over, the elders on the mountain immediately rushed down. Everyone had seen clearly what had happened just now. Actually, many people had their doubts, and the biggest doubt was about Ye Qing.

"Sworn brother, you didn't disappoint me!" Shijia was at the foot of the mountain, excitedly walking over to put his arm around Ye Qing's shoulder, laughing heartily, "You've passed the second test, one step closer to winning the beauty. How about it, want me, big brother, to do a fortune for you and see if the third test is easy?"

Ye Qing awkwardly said, "Master, can't you be more serious?"

"Come on, am I not serious enough?" Shijia rolled his eyes and said, "I haven't had a chicken leg in a long time, and look at my clothes, washed only half a year ago. These shoes were washed last year, and this head, I shaved it myself half a month ago. Everything's like new, am I not serious enough?"

Looking at Shijia's oil-stained appearance, Ye Qing finally shook his head and said, "Forget it, forget it, just pretend I said nothing."

Shijia said, "Hey, how could that be? Since you spoke, how could I pretend you didn't? Saying means saying, not saying means not saying, they can't be confused. There's no reason for you to say it, and I say you didn't. And you didn't say it, but I take it as you said. Everyone should be reasonable, you said it, so it definitely means you said it, can't pretend you didn't!"

"..." Ye Qing stared at Shijia for a while, "Is every monk as chatty as you? Even Tang Seng wasn't as chatty, was he?"

"How can this be called chatty? This is called wisdom, the wisdom of Buddha!" Shijia said, "Every word I say is valuable advice. Remember my words, it'll be good for you!"

Ye Qing quickly waved his hand, "Alright, it's the biggest help if you don't mess with me!"

"When did I ever mess with you?" Shijia protested.

Ye Qing immediately said, "Last time in the Capital, you left me and Zi Yu in that hotel and ran off with Joyous Monk. Do you remember that?"

Shijia said, "Uh, you mean that? How can that be considered messing with you? I was taking you two to see the world. Besides, no one did anything to you two, you both were fine, what's the point of dwelling on past matters."

"I never intended to broaden my horizons, just don't mess with me in the future." Ye Qing said.

Shijia said, "I said, I didn't mess with you, and I definitely won't in the future. If you don't believe me, I can do a fortune for you now to show you my real skill!"

Ye Qing quickly shook his head, "No, no, save your energy to find out where Zi Yu went, that would be the most practical."

Shijia immediately turned around, "Then just assume I'm useless!"

"Hey!" Ye Qing's eyes widened, "You can divine everything else, why won't you divine Zi Yu's matters for me?"