“Then hurry up.”

The young man knew that he could push Sancheng Huang into a corner.

“One more bowl, owner!” Sancheng Huang immediately said to the owner.

Soon, a hot, aromatic bowl of noodles arrived in front of him. Piled on top of the bunched up noodles were a few pieces of pork half the size of a finger thick, with equal amounts of lean meat and fat. Spring onions floated on top of the clear broth, and just watching it alone made Sancheng Huang salivate.

He immediately took the bowl, picked up a slice of meat, and put it into his mouth, then took his time savoring it. Once he exhaled in satisfaction, he started slurping up the noodles happily.

After this bowl, he ordered another, then another.

As the bowls piled up, the young man lost his patience. “Can’t you order everything at once? Why are you insisting on ordering them one by one?”

“Please be patient. I have no idea how many bowls I’ll eat. If I ordered them beforehand, they’d get cold, and the taste wouldn’t be so good anymore,” Sancheng Huang answered.

“Fine. Just hurry up.”

Sancheng Huang ate for more than two hours, and the bowls stacked up in a tall pile on the table.

The waitress had actually come to the table a few times to remove one pile only for another to form.

The young man kept drumming his fingers against the table, and impatience was practically oozing out of his face.

Finally, with a thud, Sancheng Huang put down another empty bowl and rubbed his still flat belly before letting out a long, warm exhale.

“That feels great. I never expected to eat authentic noodles with pork in Jibei Road.”

“Are you done? If you are, then start talking!” the young man snapped coldly.

“Sorry for the wait. Terribly sorry.” Sancheng Huang bowed a little to him and wiped his mouth with a napkin. Then, he straightened his back and said, “Just now, Mr. Guanchi of Ferris Wheel came to ask me whether I came here to fight Mr. Chen.”

“And what did you say?” The young man straightened his back.

“Why, the truth, of course. I did come here to challenge Mr. Chen!” Sancheng Huang replied.

“And? What did Ferris Wheel say? What are they going to do?” The young man stared at his face.

“He asked me whether I need them to issue a challenge letter for me. They also offered to provide me with benefits, but I told them that it wasn’t necessary.”

The young man waited for a while. When he saw that Sancheng Huang wasn’t going to say anything else, he gave him an incredulous look. “That’s it?”

“That’s it. It might not be the exact words, but that was the general gist of the conversation. I don’t think there’s any need for me to hide anything, anyway. Though I suppose I can’t do anything to show that I was telling the truth if you don’t believe me.” Sancheng Huang hummed.

The young man stared at him long and hard before standing up and leaving the restaurant.

When Sancheng Huang saw that the young man hadn’t generously paid for his meal, he grumbled under his breath and beckoned the owner over. “The bill, please.”

The owner was a short, tiny old man in his fifties. He trotted over and bowed to Sancheng Huang. “The other man who sat with you already paid for you, Sir.”

“He did?” Sancheng Huang turned around and bowed to him too. “Then, I want a bowl of soup.”

“Of course. One moment, please.”

***

Sun Rao had been waiting outside. He had wanted to leave the young man behind, but they were partners right now, and the department had paired them up. So, just like when he had led Chen Chuan, he couldn’t leave the young man behind, but walk into the restaurant too. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

He had been wary at first, but the situation seemed to be fine. The two didn’t get into an argument.

When the young man walked to the door, he sighed in relief and whispered, “Do you have any idea just how much danger you were in?”

The young man gave him the stink eye. “You’re too tense. He has a clear goal for coming here. Before completing his goal, he won’t do anything to us.”

“Even so, you shouldn’t put yourself in danger,” Sun Rao said sternly.

The young man continued forward for a bit before turning his head around. “If I didn’t have the courage to face a strong opponent, I wouldn’t be able to climb to greater heights. Training alone is useless. If you regard yourself as weaker than your opponent, you won’t be able to surpass them.”

“The only thing I know is that if you get killed today, then your future is no more,” Sun Rao said grimly.

“Then, he’d have to die with me. If we’re both dead, in some way or another, we’re equals.” The young man huffed and went back to the armored car.

Sun Rao ran after him. “What did you ask him?”

The young man turned on his Realm Pass. “Let me use your channel, Senior Sun. I need to report this to the department.”

Sun Rao stared at him for a bit before giving him the authorization. Then, the young man sent his conversation with Sancheng Huang to the department. After Guanchi Kang left, there was no longer any domain interference, so he had recorded the conversation.

Soon, someone came to verify the information. Sun Rao confirmed it as the second witness. “Yes. Wei Yuji got the information.”

The Resolution Department had their own theories as to why Sancheng Huang had come to Central City. Now that they got confirmation, they immediately told Ni Qianqian to update Chen Chuan so that he would get ready. They also sent more people to monitor Sancheng Huang.

Ni Qianqian gave Chen Chuan the general rundown before checking a message from the department. “Word about Sancheng Huang coming to challenge you has spread through the martial arts circle, even though he has only just arrived. Ferris Wheel must be behind this.”

Chen Chuan understood what they were doing. They were trying to push him to the front lines so that he couldn’t run.

Ni Qianqian scoffed. “It’s a useless trick. Ignore them.”

They were no longer in the old era. No one was going to get criticized for not answering to a duel. Even if they did, they lived in an era of information overload. Give it a few days, and practically no one would remember it.

Chen Chuan considered this for a moment before asking, “Does the department have a way to contact Sancheng Huang?”

“You want to find him?” Ni Qianqian asked.

Chen Chuan nodded and smiled. “Since he came to find me, I might as well set a date with him. Honestly, I look forward to fighting him.”

Ni Qianqian was a martial artist herself and could understand what Chen Chuan was thinking. Instead of waiting for Sancheng Huang to come to him, it was better to find him. This would intimidate the enemy, and Ni Qianqian was confident in Chen Chuan’s fighting abilities.

“You’ve made up your mind, then? Alright. One moment,” she said.

Then, Chen Chuan received Sancheng Huang’s contact signal. His profile picture was that of a man with a straw hat covering his face as he lay with his limbs spread akimbo on the beach. After taking a look at the profile picture, he contacted the man. To his slight surprise, the call went through, and a lazy voice answered. “Sancheng Huang speaking. May I know your name?”

“Mr. Sancheng? I’m Chen Chuan.”

“Mr. Chen, hello!” Sancheng Huang perked up.

“I heard that you came here to challenge me to a duel,” Chen Chuan stated.

“Yes. That’s the plan. By the way, this has nothing to do with my junior brother. My master sent him out on a mission. Even though he failed, he performed his duty. As for me, I graduated a long time ago, and the school never asked me for help. I’m here solely because of my own decision,” Sancheng Huang said.

“Regardless of why you came here, I really do want to fight you,” Chen Chuan said in a relaxed tone.

“You do as well?” Sancheng Huang became even more excited. “Shall we set a time and date for our duel?”

“Where would you like to fight?” Chen Chuan asked.

“I’ve only just arrived in Central City, so I’m not familiar with it, but I saw a pretty deserted place just now and think it’d be perfect for a duel.”

Then, in an earnest and serious voice, he said, “The Strange God Temple at Greenpeak Hill.”

“Greenpeak Hill, huh?” Chen Chuan nodded. “You’ve only just arrived in Central City. Why don’t you rest first? If it’s alright with you, shall we have our duel in the morning on the day after tomorrow?”

“Sure. Thanks for being so considerate. I’m really grateful. I’ll wait for you on Greenpeak Hill in the morning on the day after tomorrow,” Sancheng Huang said.

“I’ll be there before 9 a.m..”

Chen Chuan sent the time of the duel to the department and returned to his training room.

Setting up the duel didn’t put him in a bad mood. Instead, he looked forward to it, since Sancheng Huang came from Fierce Wave School, which meant he had accomplishments in mental training. Chen Chuan could use the fight to train his mind.

Two days passed in the blink of an eye. On the twenty-sixth of March, Chen Chuan put on his martial arts uniform, grabbed the Frost King Saber, and drove to Greenpeak Hill.

He had never been there before, but he had heard of it.

One of the martial artists on Rhinoceros’ Horn was a disciple from the Strange God Temple, so Wei Wusheng had killed him and everyone in the temple, including the abbot.

Since the temple no longer had a successor, the municipal government took over the land. It was far from the downtown area, in a rural corner of the city, so it was currently in a semi-abandoned state.

After parking his car at the foot of the hill, Chen Chuan cast a glance at the broken fence at the entrance, then stepped out and walked up the stairs.

It had only been a short while since the place was abandoned, so aside from being covered in dead leaves and dust, the stairs and all the facilities were in good condition. When he reached the top and stepped on the square, he saw that Sancheng Huang had already arrived.

The man wore a traditional white robe typical of islanders. His hair was combed neatly into a topknot, and he had a saber with a black sheath strapped to his waist, which gave him a somber air.

Chen Chuan took a moment to observe him. Sancheng Huang’s mental foundation was clearly more solid and restrained than Jiancheng Sheng’s, which was to be expected.

Fierce Wave School disciples were chosen at a young age. If they couldn’t develop into mature martial artists or were unfit, they were expelled right away. Sancheng Huang appeared to be around ten years older than Jiancheng Sheng, so it only made sense for him to be stronger.

Chen Chuan walked over in a relaxed manner and stopped in front of Sancheng Huang. The man bowed to him seriously. “Mr. Chen, well met.”

Chen Chuan gave him a fist-and-palm salute. “I’m here for the duel, Mr. Sancheng.”