Chapter 253: Accept Defeat
On the other hand, his opponent seemed to be unable to react. He actually s.p.a.ced out for a while and gave his opponent a perfect opportunity. He hurriedly raised the sword in his hand to block, but this sword was still too long for his body.
Before he could adjust his angle, the thin man’s short rod had already brushed past the side of his sword like an agile snake and was close to his body. The short rod hit the kid’s chest solidly, causing him to take a few steps back with a m.u.f.fled sound.
He looked up at his opponent with an angry expression. “You cheated and ambushed me!”
After succeeding in his attack, the brat retreated and stared at his opponent cautiously. He said very calmly, “You were the one who was distracted first!”
“You’re indeed a wild kid. You don’t have any upbringing at all. I saw that you hadn’t attacked for a long time and gave you some time to breathe. Only then did I look elsewhere. However, I didn’t expect you to ambush me and win by luck!”
The boy held his chest and looked at his opponent with a pale face. He had never expected this kid to be so despicable. He had actually launched a sneak attack in just a short while. He was really despicable. From time to time, his gaze would shift to the side, as if he was looking at the other corner.
Li Yuanqing’s gaze also landed on the corner and he quietly looked at the man standing there.
Everyone below the stage looked at the arena in surprise. All of them were extremely depressed.
“What’s going on? Didn’t that kid win for sure? Why did he lose for no reason? Sigh, this brat is really disappointing. He’s really too stupid to lose!”
They complained gloomily while obediently handing over the bet they had just placed. The group of people came here to watch the two children compete. They were in the mood to care because they had placed their bets.
One of the people surrounding Li Yuanqing suddenly sensed something and looked at him maliciously. “I say, why don’t you know the rules? What does the compet.i.tion between the two children on the stage have to do with you? How can you help?”
The others came back to their senses and immediately surrounded Li Yuanqing and the others, looking at them with hostility.
Li Yuanqing looked at them indifferently and replied, “If what I said is help, then you guys have been chattering below for a long time. There is no lack of obscenities, making the child on the stage unable to focus. Are you helping the other party again?”
“You!”
“You’re so glib!”
Seeing that they could not win, they began to criticize. “That’s a normal discussion. There are two children on this stage. Anyone with a discerning eye can tell that the child on the left is much stronger. The child on the right is weak. How can he win?”
Li Yuanqing pointed at the child on the stage and said, “But hasn’t this child already won?”
“Those are all despicable methods!”
“That’s right. It’s just a trick.”
Li Yuanqing asked again, “In that case, you won’t use such methods during the battle and give your lives to others for nothing?”
The child who had fallen to the ground stood up and pointed at the skinny kid opposite him with a red face. “I’ll give you another match! If you win, it’s your win!”
“Get down!”
A loud shout from below the stage frightened the child. His face, which had just turned red, turned pale again. He looked at the man below the stage indignantly.
“Father, I didn’t lose. He only won me by playing tricks!”
The man was tall and his face was filled with a stern expression. Not to mention a child, even an eight-foot-tall burly man would be frightened by this person’s appearance.
The man ordered in an unquestionable tone, “This young master has already made it very clear just now. If you’re so distracted on the battlefield, your life will be given to others for nothing.”
“But Father…!”
“Come down, you disgrace!”
With that, the man turned around and left, leaving the child alone with no intention of interfering.
The child turned to look at Li Yuanqing, his eyes filled with hatred and grievance. “It’s all your fault. If you hadn’t been spouting nonsense below, I wouldn’t have lost! It’s all your fault!”
He threw these two sentences down and hurriedly ran away, leaving the people below the stage chattering.
The skinny child standing in the arena finally heaved a sigh of relief. He looked at Li Yuanqing gratefully and walked down the stage to him.
“If not for your reminder just now, I wouldn’t have reacted. Thank you, Young Master!”
He carefully stared at the unhappy crowd and bowed deeply to Li Yuanqing. He was already filled with grat.i.tude that someone could speak up for him among the onlookers. He had been preparing for that strike for a long time, waiting for his opponent to make a mistake.
Although the other party was indeed in a daze just now, the outcome was still very good.
Li Yuanqing lifted the child up and said to him in admiration, “You don’t have to thank me. You’re already prepared.”
His motive for saying that was not to give pointers, but to help this child strengthen his confidence. This child was so timid because he did not have confidence.
When the onlookers saw that the matter had been settled, they felt bored and dispersed. As they walked, they muttered.
“Today is really unlucky. I lost the ten spirit stones I won just like that.”
“I knew you couldn’t trust these brats. I wanted to rely on them to earn some extra money. I didn’t expect to lose so badly.”
“Come on, everyone says that one has to admit defeat. Why aren’t you guys willing to admit it at all?”
Those who won were gloating at the side and showing off to everyone.
Not long after, everyone forgot that Hall Master w.a.n.g was here and was not in the mood to continue teasing him. There was almost no one left beside the arena.
The child hesitated at the side for a long time and stood rooted to the ground in a daze. No one knew what he was thinking.
“Young Master Li, let’s go somewhere else to take a look. I didn’t expect my reputation to be bad and implicate you.”
Hall Master w.a.n.g looked at Li Yuanqing guiltily. He had indeed spoken rudely some time ago and had offended many people. He could understand why everyone hated him.
However, saying this in front of Li Yuanqing lowered the quality of the entire Rong City. It was really inappropriate to leave a bad impression in Young Master Li’s heart. He was filled with guilt and wanted to apologize, but Li Yuanqing’s attention did not seem to be on him at all. Instead, his eyes never left the child in front of him.
Hall Master w.a.n.g was still muttering. “Young Master Li, in my opinion, we should go somewhere else to take a look. Perhaps we can find an arena in that high-level training room to play.There still have many VIPs inside. What do you think?”
Li Yuanqing did not hear a single word from Hall Master w.a.n.g. He walked straight towards the boy. He patted the boy’s shoulder gently. Only then did the boy react and look back at Li Yuanqing in confusion.
“Young Master, do you have any orders?”
Li Yuanqing smiled and shook his head. “Where do you live and who is your teacher?”
Hall Master w.a.n.g followed at the side, not knowing what Li Yuanqing was doing.
The little boy felt that Li Yuanqing was a good person, so he replied obediently, “I live on this mountain. I don’t have a teacher.”
“No teacher?”
The little boy scratched his head in embarra.s.sment, as if this was his fault. “Young Master, I’m not talented. The masters think that I don’t have any future, so they’re unwilling to take me in as their disciple.”
Li Yuanqing looked at Hall Master w.a.n.g and asked, “Didn’t City Lord Ye say that he would let all the children in Rong City obtain cultivation resources? Why doesn’t this child have any guidance?”
Hall Master w.a.n.g replied, “Young Master, actually, the cultivation resources in Rong City are very limited. The City Lord can only try her best to provide for her old subordinates. As for the original humans in Rong City, they are barely provided. There are indeed many gaps.”
“That means they did not care about these people anymore.”
“Of course we have to care. Moreover, the City Lord is quite generous to them. They can go to the City Lord Manor every year to collect two spirit stones. This is already the limit of what the City Lord can do.”
Hall Master w.a.n.g felt a little wronged to be scolded like this and continued to explain.
“Actually, you can’t blame the City Lord. It’s mainly because the parents of these children were all subordinates of the demons back then. Many of them were cruelly killed by the demons. It’s already a blessing in disguise that a child without parents can have these spirit stones and survive.”
The child also heard the reproach in Li Yuanqing’s words and hurriedly defended the City Lord. “Young Master, don’t blame the City Lord. The City Lord has already done her best for us. We have many children here who were helped by the City Lord.”
Li Yuanqing looked at him and asked, “Then why did you argue with that little guy just now?”
The child pouted aggrievedly, looking like he was about to cry. “I was digging for spiritual herbs on the mountain and found a rare lingzhi gra.s.s. However, he insisted that the lingzhi gra.s.s was his and wanted to take it away. The two of us argued and came here.”
“I see. Then do you think this lingzhi gra.s.s belongs to him?”
The little boy hesitated for a long time and pursed his lips. “But I spent a lot of effort digging it out. How would I know that someone would put it there for no reason?”
Hall Master w.a.n.g watched from the side and clicked his tongue. He said regretfully, “There are many children like this in the city. Their lives are indeed a little tough.”
Li Yuanqing stretched out a hand and placed it in front of him. “I wonder if you can show me that Lingzhi Gra.s.s?”
The little boy lowered his head and reached into his arms indignantly. He took out a small cloth bag and placed it in Li Yuanqing’s hand.
Li Yuanqing opened the cloth bag and saw a very small lingzhi gra.s.s lying quietly inside. It could only be considered the size of a toddler.
These two children had fought over this thing just now.
Li Yuanqing looked at it carefully for a while and said to the child, “I think this lingzhi gra.s.s is very tender and its roots are shorter. It should be a plant planted by someone else. It doesn’t look like it grew on the mountain.”
Hearing Li Yuanqing’s words, the child’s tears flowed down. He turned around and wanted to run. “Since it’s his, Young Master, just return it to him for me!”
Hall Master w.a.n.g looked at Li Yuanqing and scratched his head. He did not know what Li Yuanqing was planning.
“Young Master Li, what do you mean? Since the outcome of the compet.i.tion has already been decided, there’s no problem with him owning the lingzhi gra.s.s. Why do you have to s.n.a.t.c.h it from him? This child is already pitiful enough.”
Li Yuanqing did not answer his question and only asked, “Do you know where the father and son lived just now?”
Hall Master w.a.n.g replied, “I know about that. I have some impressions of the Yang father and son. Yang Tianqi’s temper is very bad. He didn’t have the ability back then and had lost, and now, he’s venting his bad temper on his son. His requirements for his son are extremely strict, and he often reprimands him strictly.”
“That’s easy. Where do the two of them live?”
“They’re living on the mountain. I’ll give you a token. You can find it.”
Hall Master w.a.n.g took out a small empty token and engraved the traces of the path inside before handing it to Li Yuanqing. However, after carving it, he felt that something was wrong. “Young Master Li, we’re already here. Can’t I just bring you over? Why do you have to go through so much trouble?”
“I’ll have to trouble you to make a long run to find that child and bring him to the residence of the Yang father and son. I’ll wait for you there first.”
Li Yuanqing took the lead and went up the mountain. Although Hall Master w.a.n.g did not know what Young Master Li was up to, he did not dare to neglect his orders. Initially, his impression was already bad. Now, it was time to show off.
“What kind of logic is this?”
Hall Master w.a.n.g could not figure out what Young Master Li was thinking. In any case, it was not something he could figure out, so he quickly chased after the child.
Li Yuanqing took the map given by Hall Master w.a.n.g and went up the mountain. He chose the path on it and found this house.
Yang Tianqi was quite capable. The father and son’s cave abode was located halfway up the mountain. He could be considered someone with some status here.
Li Yuanqing was blocked by the restriction of the cave abode, but it also reminded the master inside that there were guests outside.
Not long after, someone walked out of the fog and arrived in front of Li Yuanqing. It was the man he had seen outside the arena just now.
The man looked at Li Yuanqing strangely, not knowing why he had come looking for him.
“And you are?”