Huaqing"s mood wasn"t very good now.His result in doing business this year wasn"t very well because he spent most of his time practicing martial arts.
Every person"s energy was limited, the amount of effort that he spent on doing business was indeed a bit lacking. Therefore…
He was indeed very worried that he would be successfully challenged.
Lightning sparked. 10 seconds wasn"t long, but it wasn"t very short either. But in Huaqing"s heart, it was as if ten centuries had pa.s.sed. When the sparks ended…
"PLAP—" Mu Huaqing"s portrait dimmed.
"Young Master Gaojie"s versus Young Master Mu Huaqing challenge…" The emcee took in a deep breath and said, "Succeeded!"
Mu Huaqing"s body instantly tightened and he clenched his fists tight.
He was successfully challenged.
This blow was indeed a bit hard to accept.
After all, being an Orange and Red-level Double Honorary Aristocrat, he had his own self-esteem. It wasn"t that he couldn"t accept failure, but failing in such a manner would bring disgrace to his lord too…
This was really unacceptable for Mu Huaqing!
"Hahaha, well done! Gaojie! You actually succeeded!" The people on Li Tianxing"s side all cheered! After all, challenging the people from the Jiang and Yin Families" side and succeeding was a very proud thing to them.
"Impressive! Haha, well done! I know that you can do it!"
"Press on, Gaojie, the next step is to see your marital arts aspect! You must definitely succeed again!"
The people from the Jiang and Yin Families side all sighed. After all, being successfully challenged was quite a humiliating thing.
"Oh my, Huaqing, your luck is really quite bad." While Mu Huaqing was sitting there feeling upset, a gloating voice sounded. "I remember that I had asked you to sell some of your useless estates to Hong Dali previously, but you rejected no matter what I said. Do you regret it now? Haha!"
"Boyu, you are in no position to gloat over my matter!" Although he failed, Mu Huaqing didn"t show any good face to this Honorary Aristocrat called Boyu. "Instead, you purposely sold your useless gemstone factory to Dali. Competing through this kind of despicable means, I feel ashamed for you!"
"Haha, it"s useless no matter what you say now." Boyu laughed loudly and said, "This is the advancement a.s.sessment, we only look at the result, not the process! Defeat is defeat, it doesn"t matter what you say, haha!"
Mu Huaqing clenched his fists and didn"t say anything more.
Even a sage like Quyuan would suicide from depression. If a person really had a great and compa.s.sionate heart, what problem was there in continuing to live on when disgraced by others. It would be worth living even if the person did one good deed in the time he was alive. Too many prominent figures believed that only saving thousands of people could be considered worth saving, but never considered that even saving just one person alone was also saving someone. In Buddhism, there was no difference between saving one person and saving thousands.
At this moment, the emcee continued to announce: "Young Master Gaojie has successfully challenged Young Master Mu Huaqing! Then, he will have to wait for the martial arts challenge next. If he succeeds again, Young Master Gaojie will be promoted to become an Orange and Red-level Honorary Aristocrat and Young Master Mu Huaqing will be demoted to a Red and Orange-level Honorary Aristocrat."
Hearing the emcee"s words, Mu Huaqing clenched his fist violently, silently cheering on for himself. He definitely mustn"t lose again for the martial arts challenge!
Yet, just as he was thinking about this, Mu Huaqing suddenly felt a kind gaze looking at him. He lifted his head and instantly saw Hong looking at him. Hong Dali smiled lightly and even gave him a thumbs up.
"This is…" Mu Huaqing was instantly dazed. At first, he thought that Hong Dali was mocking him, but he quickly understood. "No, Dali is probably not mocking me. According to his character, he isn"t someone who would do such a thing. Then, if he isn"t mocking me, can it be that his intention is…"
Thinking up to this point, Mu Huaqing lifted his head violently and thought, "He plans to stand up for me!? Doesn"t that mean… he already regards me as a friend!?"
It was easy for those already doing well to receive help, but not easy for people in difficulties to receive help too.
Now that Mu Huaqing had made such a shame of himself, the others were all trying hard to keep a distance from him. Instead, Hong Dali was willing to stand up for him! What kind of friends.h.i.+p was this!?
Mu Huaqing finally understood now why those people around Hong Dali had always adored him like a treasure.
Who wouldn"t be willing to be close to such a person?
Now that the challenge had ended, it was naturally time to progress on to the next step.
After the hall fell silent again, the emcee loudly shouted, "Then, we shall continue to the next stage, the compet.i.tion of the Orange and Yellow-level Double Honorary Aristocrats. For this stage, 12 Double Honorary Aristocrats will be competing against each other. The loser will stay the same while the winner will need to win again to be able to gain a chance to challenge the next level. Then, the compet.i.tion shall start now!"
Very quickly, the compet.i.tion between the 12 Orange and Yellow-level Double Honorary Aristocrats started. This time, not sure if he was lucky or unlucky, Mu Huaqing"s opponent was the person who just mocked him, Boyu!
"Hahahaha, it looks like when a person is unlucky, he will even choke on water." Boyu laughed even harder and said, "Huaqing, I shan"t be courteous then. Haha, such a fortune that is sent to my doorstep, sigh…"
Unexpectedly, the result of their duel was that Boyu"s portrait actually dimmed!
"A surprising result!" The emcee looked at the result and loudly announced. "Young Master Huaqing won on his duel with Young Master Boyu! According to the rules, for the martial arts challenge later, Young Master Boyu will compete against Young Master Gaojie instead!"
"This… How is this possible!" Boyu was completely astonished!
He had only just laughed at Huaqing, but Huaqing"s result was even higher than his won? Didn"t that mean that Gaojie"s result was even more surprising than they had thought!? Now, he needed to compete against such a terrifying opponent, didn"t this mean that he would probably lose and be demoted!?
"This shouldn"t be the case, this shouldn"t be…" Boyu completely collapsed, he had not expected such a result at all.
"Humph." Mu Huaqing should have mocked him in return, but Mu Huaqing only humphed lightly and wasn"t even interested in mocking him.
If a person wanted to succeed, he should learn to endure hards.h.i.+ps first.
Those people who started small and rose up to high positions normally had higher tenacity. There were too many outstanding people who were defeated by the difficulties they encountered. This wasn"t because they were not capable enough, but because they weren"t able to endure the sense of dejection that came with the difficulties and failures they encountered.
Therefore, it was common that geniuses normally wouldn"t be able to withstand setbacks. In turn, those geniuses who were able to climb back up after a setback normally became even more impressive than before.
And obviously, Mu Huaqing had grown from the setback that he just encountered.
Not surprisingly, Hong Dali successfully entered the second round too.
"Then, the second round shall start now!" The emcee continued.
Ten seconds later, Mu Huaqing lost the second round. As for Hong Dali, to everyone"s shock and surprise, he won again!
"Is this real? This Hong Dali actually won again? What the heck did he do? Isn"t he the legendary superprodigal!?"
"This, this isn"t possible, right? He actually won again? And he even obtained the chance to challenge the next level!?"
"I must be seeing things, this must definitely be the case. How can that superprodigal actually obtain the chance to challenge the next level…"
Of course, no matter how unwilling they were to believe it, the three people with the chance to challenge the next level had already been decided. The emcee loudly announced—
"Aristocrat.Haokuo, Orange and Yellow-level Double Honorary Aristocrat, belongs to the Li Family, male, 25-years-old."
"Aristocrat.Jianzhong, Orange and Yellow-level Double Honorary Aristocrat, belongs to the Li Family, male, 29-years-old."
When it came to the last person"s turn, the emcee actually sucked in a deep breath, and in a sound that was obviously higher by dozens of decibels, loudly said—
"Aristocrat.Dali, Orange and Yellow-level Double Honorary Aristocrat, belongs to the Jiang and Yin Families, male, 18-years-old."
If it could be said that the fact that Hong Dali gained the chance to challenge the next level caused the rest to be surprised, this time, they were not just surprised but shocked!
"G.o.d, is this true? 18!? An 18-years-old Double Honorary Aristocrat!? And he even obtained the chance to challenge the Yellow and Green-level Double Honorary Aristocrats!?"
"I must definitely be dreaming, definitely! 18-years-old! Only 18! Even if he became an Honorary Aristocrat because of his connection with the Galaxy Aristocrats, but why is his result so good?"
"That"s right, this is totally a miracle! d.a.m.n, an 18-years-old Double Honorary Aristocrat, and he even has the chance to challenge the next level. This is really…"
"I must definitely still be dreaming! Definitely!"
It was no wonder they were so shocked. It was possible that there were others who became Double Honorary Aristocrats at the age of 18 too, but at the most, they were probably just the lowest level Red and Orange-level Double Honorary Aristocrats. Of course, it was more likely that they were connected to the Galaxy Aristocrats because they wouldn"t be disqualified from being a Double Honorary Aristocrat even if they failed at the Red and Orange-level.
But this Hong Dali was not only an Orange and Yellow-level Honorary Aristocrat at the age of 18, he even obtained the right to challenge the next level! Such a character…
He must definitely be hacking, definitely!
"Okay, so next up," The emcee loudly announced, "is the time for the Orange and Yellow-level Double Honorary Aristocrats to challenge the Yellow and Green-level Double Honorary Aristocrats! May the first challenger, Young Master Haokuo, come on stage!"
As he said so, 10 portraits lit up in the center of the hall. These 10 portraits were the 10 Yellow and Green-level Double Honorary Aristocrats who partic.i.p.ated in this time"s advancement a.s.sessment.
Young Master Haokuo stood in front of the 10 portraits, touched his chin, then casually picked one of them and said, "I shall choose Young Master Yanbin."
After he made his decision, the emcee instantly announced loudly: "Then, the next is the duel between Young Master Haokuo and Young Master Yanbin."
"Challenge start!"Famous Chinese character from ancient times.