Simply Trading

Especially since Qin Feng was supposed to give up gracefully, when he was challenged later on. That is, if the Snow Swallow Palace deigned to take a hand. Or was that decision going to be in Xu Yanzhi"s hands?

Qin Feng found himself gazing at the girl in the green robe then, as he wondered about his chances. Could he not manage to take one of her blows? And give up thereafter? That should be sufficient, wouldn"t it? To allow himself a bit of pride?

A loud yell from the Arena just then, however, drew his eyes back to the fight.

It turned out that it was Du Yan shouting as he charged at his opponent, with his twin maces flashing in a horizontal move, that was aimed directly at both sides of the Golden Shield man"s face.

Something that clearly did not impress him.

"Hmmph! Twin Thunders Pierces the Ears*? Did you think I would fall for such a move?"

The Golden Shield pract.i.tioner quickly threw up his sword to block one of Du Yan"s maces, and used his left hand to catch the big man"s other wrist, preventing his second mace from reaching him.

But his smirking face soon froze, as he realized that there was no lingering force, no zhenqi behind either of the two strikes that he had intercepted. He tried to step back then, but it was already too late!

That was when Du Yan leaned in close, until his face was only inches away from the man in brown and yellow. Then he opened his mouth wide, and shouted!

The huge roar that blasted out from the middle of the Arena was enough to deafen all who were seated within the first three rows of the fighting stage. And those who were of lesser cultivation states promptly fell down on their knees, vomiting up their breakfast.

Even Li Changhai, Lin Liushui and Qin Feng were among the affected. Although it was clear, from the way that his head reeled, that the youngest of the lot was the one who suffered the most ill effects from the big man"s move.

By the time that his vision had cleared, and he was able to hear again, he caught a s.n.a.t.c.h of the shouting that was being delivered by an irate Du Chenyong:

"... you to learn something like this? I thought you would follow me, and practice the One Needle Sees Blood** version! Do you know what kind of trouble you"ve caused? How many were injured by that one move? Take a look yourself!

"See? Even your brother Qin Feng had almost lost consciousness!"
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By then, Qin Feng had already recovered his sight and his hearing fully. Although the latter was a little painful, when someone shouted. So it seemed likely that he would have to channel his qi for a few more times, before the pain would abate completely.

"Why are you bothered about that? Did you take a good look at the other side? I had deafened half of the disciples that they have brought here, haven"t I? That should give us an advantage, in the next fight."

Du Yan spoke softly, and more slowly than he usually did. And Qin Feng could sense that his voice was a little hoa.r.s.e. Not surprising, after a move like that.

"What was that called? How come I didn"t know that you had something like that?" asked Lin Liushui, before anyone else could do so, "What else have you been hiding from me? I was so worried when you were playing with him, with all those half-hearted blows."

"Well, I would be wasting my strength, wouldn"t I? If I kept bashing him to no purpose like that. The Golden Shield is very effective against pure strength moves like my usual mace strikes, so I had to lure him in close, so that he would not be able to escape my Lion"s Roar move.

"Oh, and that one is called One Cry Awes Everyone***."

"Well, I am sure that you have completely awed everyone!" grunted Li Changhai, as he stuck a finger in his ear and checked for bleeding, "You almost deafened all of our own side as well! And gave up Qin Feng"s disguise! No one will believe that he is a hidden master, now that you"ve almost stunned him unconscious."

"Ah! Yes. I ... er ... forgot about that. But no need to worry! I mean, you are going to win your fight, aren"t you? That should give us three wins, so there will be no need for Brother Qin to step onto the stage later."

Lin Liushui lifted his White-Bone Fan, and looked as if he was going to clout Du Yan over the head with it. But he thought better of it, glancing at Du Chenyong. It was a bit of an obvious insult, if he did that to the man"s son right in front of him like that. So he simply sighed, and made a gesture at the Second Ducal Prince.

"He"s right. The only way that we can get out of this safely is if you win, and win beautifully. By that, I mean taking out the enemy just like I did. I would use Brother Yan"s fight as an example, but permanently destroying someone"s hearing might be one of those grudge-forming things that you should avoid.

"It"s alright for Brother Du, since they are already clearly enemies for having designs on his woman. But you might want to take it easy, like just breaking an arm or a leg."

"Or cutting one off! That works too. I"m sure that a powerful military organisation like the Iron Spears Troop will have lots of alchemical remedies that can recover that! If not, then too bad for the fool!"

Lin Liushui shook his head at Du Yan"s interruption, and gestured at Li Changhai again, to make certain that he had the Second Ducal Prince"s attention. It seemed he wasn"t taking any chances, since almost everyone had their hearing slightly impaired.

"Don"t listen our idiot Brother Yan here. Break bones but no severing limbs. That"s a little too much. Don"t forget that you still have to uphold the good reputation of your father"s Duchy. So you will still have to win. Beautifully. You have to win beautifully."

Qin Feng snorted as he listened to Lin Liushui, and shook his head when the Second Ducal Prince turned to face him. From the look on his face, it seemed that Li Changhai was asking him for advice. So he offered it up, without hesitation:

"Who cares if it is beautiful or not, so long as you win? If you are in real danger, do not hesitate to kill. Who cares if they make trouble later? In fact, given who you are, you should be the one threatening them! Are they the only ones with powerful fathers? You should announce your name, and proudly. Just like Brother Lin did earlier, before they started.

"Or you might want to use a more military style, given how you are dressed."

* * *

*双雷灌耳

**一针见血

***一鸣惊人