The First Venerable of the Prosperous Age

After watching Lu Xiaosan turn into a white light, He Lai breathed a sigh of relief, "Next, it's very simple."

He dragged his battered body to his feet, only to see flames soaring into the sky behind him. The once lush green forest had now turned into a vast sea of ​​fire.

The trees crackled and popped as they burned, and the air was thick with the smell of burnt wood and blood.

Crane stood still for a moment, and then saw a bare-chested man carrying a knife slowly emerge from the fire forest.

The man pulled out the arrows from his back one by one, and said without even frowning, "Hero, this battle is inevitable for us."

"Then whose hero are you? And for whom are you fighting?"

Raymond paused for a moment upon hearing this, but finally said firmly, "Let's go."

The two stepped forward, and Helai smashed them head-on with the spiked club he had conjured.

Raymond, unable to withstand the attack with his single blade, flew through a large swath of fiery trees behind him. He Lai, using his crimson aura for protection, seized the opportunity to charge in.

Flames flew across the forest as two figures, one in red and one in blue, fought fiercely.

Simply exchanging martial arts techniques was far from enough; the two unleashed their full power. The ferocious blue lion and the ruthless blue snake were turning the entire fiery forest upside down.

The fierce lion and the serpent fought for a good hour, until the crane, its body glowing red, flew into the air and fired several giant arrows at the forest below with its longbow.

With a loud "boom," a blue figure flew out of the forest.

Raymond, holding a knife in one hand and a giant, burning tree in the other, was howling as he charged toward the crane in the air.

"Barbarian!" Crane changed to using two meteor hammers to fight back.

However, in Raymond's hands, the burning giant tree was both wide-ranging and fierce, and was extremely domineering. Helai could only fight and retreat in the air, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

In contrast, Raymond's offensive-focused fighting style caused his fiery tree to be gradually chipped away by his giant hammer, and his fierce and domineering momentum quickly weakened.

Seeing this, Raymond hurled the remaining half of the fire tree at Helai, and at the same time charged in with his sword.

Helai blocked with the dragon shield from Xinhua and with the long spear in his other hand to block the sword.

Initially, Raymond used his impeccable speed and strength to launch a fierce attack, putting considerable pressure and trouble on Tsurugi.

But Tsurugi knew that in a battle where they knew each other inside and out, the final decision would not be based on whose moves were more sophisticated, nor on a brief display of bravery, but on whose perseverance and determination were stronger.

Initially, Tsuru deliberately yielded, allowing Raymond to maintain the upper hand with his overwhelming power and successfully take control of the situation.

However, the intensity of the struggle was simply too high, and after an hour, the two gradually reached a stalemate.

About half an hour later, He Lai, who had been on the defensive for a long time, finally turned the tables and launched an offensive.

Taking advantage of Raymond's momentary lapse in concentration, he suddenly struck Raymond with his spear, knocking his sword away. At the same time, he raised his shield and charged forward, plunging Raymond into the forest.

A perfectly straight vertical line was drawn in the sky filled with flames.

With a deafening roar, the charred wood beneath their feet was completely destroyed, creating a massive crater in the center of the desolate landscape engulfed by flames.

As the thick smoke dissipated, He Lai and Raymond were still wrestling.

After such a long and fierce battle, both of them were exhausted and covered in wounds. They no longer possessed the astonishing speed and power they had at the beginning.

The scene at this moment resembled two ordinary martial artists, panting heavily as they fought.

They took turns throwing punches and attacks, enduring each other's blows for quite some time.

Gradually, even standing up became extremely difficult for the two of them.

At that moment, Raymond saw that He Lai was standing unsteadily, having taken several punches from him. He mustered all his strength to stand firm and launched a sweeping leg kick to take He Lai down.

The kick landed on the broken leg of the crane.

He Laique remained standing, because he had gotten used to standing on one leg during this time.

Raymond, half-lying on the ground, was startled. "How can you still do this?" Just as he got up, Helai, like a ferocious snake awakened from hibernation, suddenly hooked Raymond, who was still not on his feet, and knocked him to the ground.

He Lai then slammed into him and began punching him in the face.

One punch, two punches, three punches… Blood quickly splattered all over He Lai's fists. And…

Raymond's expression changed from initial anger and resentment to a helpless blankness.

Helai slowly withdrew his fist and sat down next to Raymond, breathing heavily.

The intense battle had exhausted both of them. Raymond collapsed to the ground, barely breathing, and said, "Congratulations... you... ah, I'm still afraid of you this year. You won." His voice was extremely faint, but one could still hear the deep resentment and indignation in it.

“Yeah…you guys…you were just a little short…” Tsuru patted Raymond on the shoulder and laughed.

Raymond chuckled self-deprecatingly, "Just a little bit more..."

Raymond suddenly became agitated, "Why? Clearly... my talent far surpasses yours, I'm younger, and my physical strength should be superior, so why can't I defeat you..."

He Lai, panting heavily, smiled smugly. "Chosen one, your... physical talent is truly unprecedented and unparalleled... I am far inferior to you in these aspects... But I have only one advantage over you, and that is enough..."

"what?"

"I will always work harder than you."

Raymond was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, then laughed and said, "Impossible...impossible...Apart from eating and sleeping, I've been disciplined for the competition every single moment, preparing to...defeat you...day after day, year after year!"

He Lai smiled slightly, "A sky full of stars, streets completely deserted..."

"what is that?"

“Back then, you were still sleeping with Wei Shanshan in your arms, how would you know any of this? You just need to understand that when it comes to hard work, you will never be able to beat me…” He Lai laughed.

He Lai sighed again, looking up, "If there's always someone who has to win between you and me, why can't that person be me..."

“Well… that’s only for this time,” Raymond said, somewhat indignantly.

He Lai smiled and looked at him, "What exactly are you afraid of? Are you afraid of the decisive battle in Qiantang? After all, if you win, you will be facing your hometown and old friends."

Raymond's eyes widened in disbelief. "Me?!"

"I hope you can think this through. Who are you fighting for?" Tsurugi said this before struggling to his feet. Raymond, who was gradually turning into white light, was left lying on the ground, deep in thought.

Seeing this, the three eunuchs cried out in unison, "There will be no miracle!"

He Lai, panting heavily, looked up at the sky. His armor was already shattered, and most of his red dragon face had faded.

He reverted to his usual down-on-his-luck fisherman persona, but his heroic spirit was even stronger than before.

"when!"

With a resounding clang, Shangyang Sect advanced to the finals…

When Lu Xiaosan woke up, he found himself in a dark little room.

He lay in bed, his entire body covered in wounds that had been treated and bandaged.

He looked around the room. "Nobody here?"

He nodded immediately. "After I turned into white light, I was teleported back. Were all these wounds on my body bandaged by people sent by the imperial court? Ah, that must be it. They couldn't stand the smell on me and all ran away. So what about the other contestants? Who won in the end?"

Lu Xiaosan struggled to sit up in bed and barely moved his body when he suddenly heard someone outside the door laugh and say, "Oh, sir, what brings you here?"

"Go in and search!" someone shouted.

"Absolutely not, sir! Contestants are not allowed to be disturbed while they are recovering from their injuries. Besides, he smells so bad, you..." The speaker groaned and seemed to collapse.

"Who is it? They love me so much!" Lu Xiaosan shouted towards the door.

With a bang, the door opened, and two rows of eunuchs entered with their heads bowed. They immediately stood on either side. The last to enter was an old eunuch with his hands on his hips, who were the daytime eunuchs Ke and Wang.

The two eunuchs were about to start scolding Lu Xiaosan when they inhaled a strong stench. They quickly covered their noses and waved to the other eunuchs.

"Who are you... umm." The other eunuchs pinched their noses and stepped forward, rolling Lu Xiaosan back into the quilt and throwing him into a corner. Only then did the smell in the room improve slightly.

Taking advantage of the lull, the two eunuchs covered their mouths and pointed at Lu Xiaosan, hissing, "You brat, do you know your crime!"

"What crime did I commit? Did I cut off your testicles?"

The two eunuchs angrily shouted, "How dare you! You know perfectly well what you did on the field!"

Lu Xiaosan couldn't help but gasp, "Could it be that Shangyang Sect lost because of me, this burden?"

At this point, the two eunuchs became even angrier, gritting their teeth and cursing, "It's all because of you... that Xuanwu Gate... that..."

Seeing their expressions, Lu Xiaosan couldn't help but be overjoyed, "It's... Xuanwu Sect lost! Hahaha, Helai, carrying such a burden as me, managed to reverse the situation against the three of them. This is truly the greatest miracle in the world!"

The two eunuchs were so angry their chests felt like they were about to explode, but they still suppressed their rage and said sternly, "You little brat who betrayed us in the face of battle, if you want to live, hand over the portion of the silver that will be your reward after winning the championship, understand?"

The two eunuchs had lost big gambling and were filled with rage they couldn't vent. Since they couldn't afford to offend the other contestants, they could only try to sabotage Lu Xiaosan, the easy target, to recoup some of their losses.

But Lu Xiaosan was full of questions. "No, what are you hermaphrodites so sour about? Did you not get properly castrated? Come on, I'll find you a vicious dog to help you gnaw off the rest."

"Great! Great!" a eunuch suddenly exclaimed with delight.

To everyone's surprise, the two fathers glared angrily, made effeminate gestures with their fingers, and shouted, "Slap him! Give him a good beating!"

"Yes!" A group of eunuchs rushed forward.

With a "bang!", the door opened.

A beautiful young woman dressed in black and veiled walked in. When she saw Lu Xiaosan on the bed and the eunuchs, she couldn't help but frown.

"You wretch! Who let you in? Do you know who we are?" the two eunuchs roared, about to step forward and berate and gesture at him.

The father-in-law's hand was stretched out in the air when it was quickly grabbed by the girl.

With a gentle flick of the girl's wrist, the old man spun in the air, screamed, and collapsed to the ground.

"Kneel, Eunuch!" The other eunuchs immediately rushed towards the girl.

After a one-sided and overwhelming battle, the girl leaped over the eunuchs lying on the ground and walked up to Lu Xiaosan.

"Hey! Where's Little Golden Retriever? Who told you to leave your post?" Lu Xiaosan shouted at the girl.

The girl slowly removed her mask, revealing her serene face.

But the smell in the room was so overpowering that she rolled her eyes and put her mask back on.

"Brother Lu!" A cheerful girl wearing a mask skipped and hopped into the door. Judging from her voice, it was Wen Ying.

Seeing her walk up to him, Lu Xiaosan's joyful face instantly froze. "Huh? Little Golden Hair, why are you wearing... Ning Konglou's mask?"

"Because we can't let anyone know we snuck in, and these masks are everywhere in the audience, so I just grabbed one and put it on," Wen Ying said with a smile.

She glanced down at Lu Xiaosan's injuries again. "Hmm, the wound is bandaged quite well. Look at the technique... Hmm... which girl bandaged you?"

Lu Xiaosan couldn't see her expression through the mask, but hearing her relaxed tone, he said, "I...I don't know either?"

Wen Ying snorted and turned away.

Seeing this, Lu Xiaosan quickly changed the subject, "I...we should leave here as soon as possible."