Chapter 289: Chapter 169: All the Ones Picked Out Are My Own Men

Since Lu Yuan had already made his promise, there was no going back on his word.

He would have to accept every single challenge from the people below the stage.

If he lost, it would just mean paying out some silver taels.

’Our Zhao Mansion has money to burn,’ he thought. ’We can afford to be willful.’

However, none of the Jinyi Guard in the crowd intended to challenge Lu Yuan.

A mere ten taels of silver was nothing to them.

If they wanted money, they had plenty of ways to get it.

In the crowd, Households of a Thousand Jiang Huai crossed his arms, watching the show with an amused smirk.

’This is the perfect chance to probe Lu Yuan’s strength,’ Jiang Huai thought. ’I’ll have something to report to the Court.’

Jiang Huai had been ninety percent certain the mission would succeed, but he hadn’t expected all of his men to pass the assessment.

Especially the third round, which they had essentially passed by doing nothing at all.

Not only did they get a free pass, but now they could even gather intelligence.

Their original mission was to investigate Lu Yuan anyway.

Now, it seemed he had searched high and low to no avail, only to stumble upon it by pure chance.

And here was Lu Yuan, willingly exposing his own strength.

Lu Yuan walked onto the dueling ground.

He made an inviting gesture to the first Traveler who had stepped forward to challenge him.

The burly man didn’t stand on ceremony, leaping directly onto the dueling ground.

Seeing that Lu Yuan wasn’t carrying a weapon, the burly man forcefully plunged his own sword into the ground.

This ground, you see, had been specially paved by men hired by the Mansion Guard just a short while ago.

While not as strong as modern concrete, it was still rock-hard.

Lu Yuan himself had supervised and approved the quality—after all, in his previous life, he had been a certified Class-2 construction engineer.

’If this big guy pulls his sword out of the ground and finds he’s blunted the tip, I wonder if he’ll regret it.’

Lu Yuan had no intention of making the first move.

The burly man didn’t care whether he might become this person’s subordinate in the future.

He charged forward, throwing a punch.

Lu Yuan stood still. "Too slow, too slow."

Planting his feet firmly, he chose to meet the punch head-on with one of his own.

Seeing that Lu Yuan didn’t dodge, the burly man was secretly delighted, thinking he could take him down with a single blow.

He specialized in unarmed combat, after all.

The thick calluses on the back of his hands were proof enough of that.

THUD!

The two fists collided with a dull thud, sending a ripple of air outward.

The last person to trade blows with Lu Yuan like this had been Gu Gaoxu.

’Another one who wants to trade punches? Can’t they come up with something new?’

Lu Yuan could feel that this all-out strike was even more powerful than Gu Gaoxu’s.

Even so, Lu Yuan stood his ground, steady as a mountain.

The burly man, on the other hand, was stunned. He felt as if his fist had slammed into a thick wall and been repelled.

If he had actually hit a wall, it would have at least shed some plaster, yet Lu Yuan hadn’t retreated a single step.

The burly man clutched his right hand with his left; the pain was intense.

With that one punch, the man knew he was no match for Lu Yuan.

This was how it sometimes was between experts; a single move could decide victory or defeat.

The burly man didn’t press the issue. He cupped his fist and said, "I surrender. I’m willing to be eliminated."

Seeing the man’s straightforward nature, Lu Yuan asked, "What is your name?"

"Fifth Brother Liu!" the burly man replied. He then pulled his sword from the ground and prepared to leave the stage, making no attempt to curry favor.

’So what if I’m eliminated? It’s no big deal.’

Lu Yuan said nothing more.

The spectators below were baffled. This was the same guy who had been clamoring to challenge Lu Yuan.

And after just one punch, he was also the one to surrender!

The crowd erupted in comments about the brief fight.

"That guy was all talk! All show and no go!" 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Yeah, I’d say he’s a total scrub!"

The crowd roared with laughter, interspersed with a few whistles.

The burly man ignored them, shuffling off to the side in embarrassment.

He wanted to see if any of the subsequent challengers had what it took to defeat Lu Yuan.

A Spirit Binder vaulted into the arena and, without a word, began to shake the Spirit Capturing Device in his hands.

Lu Yuan noted his clumsy movements and had no intention of waiting for him to summon his Xingzi.

Taking advantage of the man’s wind-up time, Lu Yuan zipped in front of him and drove a fist into his stomach.

The punch wasn’t powerful, but it was enough to make the man collapse, unable to get back up.

The poor Spirit Binder was beaten to the ground before he could even call forth his Xingzi.

He knelt on the ground, clutching his stomach and whimpering. A grown man, carrying on like that with no shame.

It wasn’t entirely unfair. If you want to walk the path of a Spirit Binder, you must shorten your summoning time as much as possible.

Spirit Binders rely on their Xingzi and rarely train their own bodies.

You can’t very well tell an opponent before a fight, "Hold on! Give me a minute!"

Lu Yuan’s punch was simply meant to point out this very weakness.

The onlookers no longer dared to underestimate Lu Yuan.

Based on that swift dash alone, few people present could likely match his speed.

Lu Yuan was using a Martial Arts technique from a Secret Manual he had been practicing. It was not much different from the Ripple Step, and this was a good chance to test the results of his training.

You could say Lu Yuan had used a cheap trick just now.

Treating a Spirit Binder that way had sparked the collective outrage of the other Spirit Binders.

Naturally, some of them refused to accept this and felt they had to defend the honor of all Spirit Binders.

This was especially true for the older, more stubborn-minded Spirit Binders, who were particularly indignant.

After an older Spirit Binder took the stage, he summoned his Xingzi in just a few short seconds.

In the previous two rounds, this elder Spirit Binder had not revealed this particular Xingzi.

He couldn’t bear to see his fellow practitioner get knocked to the ground by Lu Yuan before even summoning a Xingzi.

He felt that such an act was a slap in the face to all Spirit Binders. It was as if he could feel the sole of Lu Yuan’s shoe smacking him across his own cheek.