Chapter 200 - 106: My Man Is Getting Bullied, and You Want Me to Drink Congee?

Chapter 200: Chapter 106: My Man Is Getting Bullied, and You Want Me to Drink Congee?

Zhao Qian was very accommodating, having his servants clear out a prime viewing area for Zhao Ci by the Martial Arts Arena.

They really didn’t want to see Zhao Ci.

Although the Imperial Clan Court had found no evidence of poisoning, they were dead certain that if Zhao Ci wasn’t responsible for their stomach problems, they’d eat their hats.

The cautionary tale of Zhao Yong was still fresh in their minds.

Zhao Ci’s reputation was already in tatters.

But there was nothing they could do. Without evidence, they couldn’t press charges, so even the Imperial Clan Court was powerless against Zhao Ci.

’Whatever, let him have his own seat,’ they thought. ’The ball is still in our court.’

As long as they could stay far away from Zhao Ci, it would be fine. That way, he wouldn’t try anything on the people from Prince Lie’s Mansion.

Seeing Zhao Ci happily accept their suggestion and take a seat in the elegant booth below, the group let out a long, collective sigh of relief.

But while they were happy...

...someone else was not.

Zhao Ci’s new seat was situated right between the other two mansions’ delegations.

"Well, what a coincidence!"

Zhao Ci cupped his hands to his left and right. "Brother Huang, Zhao Xie, long time no see!"

Zhao Yong: "..."

Zhao Xie: "..."

The two of them tacitly turned their heads away, wanting nothing to do with Zhao Ci.

After all, they had no idea how Zhao Ci pulled off his dirty tricks. For safety’s sake, they weren’t willing to even make eye contact with him—not in a million years.

Zhu Li took a moment to process the scene. "Boss, I still get the feeling you’re not very popular."

"That’s because your understanding of popularity is flawed!"

Zhao Ci gave her a look of profound disappointment. "Do you think being ’popular’ just means you can laugh and joke with everyone? My smiles are reserved for those close to me, like you.

As for your rivals, making them both respect and fear you—that’s the true path to power.

Look at Zhao Qian, see how much he respects us. And then look at these people, see how much they fear us."

It was a revelation for Zhu Li. She looked at him with newfound admiration. "You really are something else!"

Zhao Yong: "..."

Zhao Xie: "..."

The two of them were fuming. They glared up at the high platform. ’That Zhao Qian... he didn’t want to sit with Zhao Ci, so he dumped him on us, did he?’

Zhao Qian cleared his throat twice. "Since everyone has arrived, let the competition begin. First up: Feng Tianxi versus Tan Yu!"

The moment his voice fell, Tan Yu leaped down and swiftly summoned his three Corpse Puppets.

Feng Tianxi, on the other hand, entered with his White-haired Wolf King in tow. Neither man nor beast seemed in high spirits, as the wolf’s jaws were currently immobilized by a steel plate.

After all, Zhao Ci had dealt with the two of them differently. Since Tan Yu needed to control his Corpse Puppets himself, Zhao Ci had merely scattered his True Qi.

But Feng Tianxi and the Wolf King were separate entities. To neutralize their combat strength, Zhao Ci had broken both their jaws.

The Wolf King’s Fangs and claws were once peerlessly sharp; now, only its claws remained, drastically reducing its combat effectiveness.

Nevertheless, the crowd below was quite excited.

After all, both of them were considered top-tier contenders in this residence competition.

Everyone held their breath in anticipation, waiting for the two to clash.

But just then, they heard a voice mutter.

"Why does this feel like a victims’ support group meeting?"

SWOOSH!

SWOOSH!

SWOOSH!

Countless gazes landed on Zhu Li.

Zhu Li glared back at them fiercely. "Am I wrong?"

Everyone: "..."

’She... kind of has a point.’

They turned their gazes back to the Martial Arts Arena.

Only, the excitement from before had vanished.

True, these two were undoubtedly rare masters, but the thought that Zhao Ci had beaten them both into submission made the duel feel... odd. It was impossible to get excited about it.

The duel began quickly, with both sides displaying immense strength from the start. In the end, although the Wolf King was still seriously injured, its coordination with Feng Tianxi allowed them to narrowly defeat Tan Yu.

It was a spectacular fight.

But the atmosphere just wouldn’t liven up.

It took several more matches before the initial buzz began to return.

Zhao Ci and Zhu Li, however, refrained from stirring up any more trouble, simply leaning back in their chairs and comfortably watching the matches.

After all, they had already done everything they could. The two of them were completely relaxed.

As they focused on the competition, they had to admit, the three mansions truly had a wealth of masters.

If Zhao Ci didn’t have his Harmony Realm Imperial Extreme True Qi—which was like a perpetual motion machine—in addition to his flawless foundational spear techniques, even with a First-Grade Flesh Soul, he wouldn’t have been able to win every match. He might have even lost several.

This was especially true of Zhuge Xiao’s Qimen Array. From an outsider’s perspective, you couldn’t see anything. All you could see was his opponent running around in a panic and screaming.

According to Zhu Li, experiencing Zhuge Xiao’s power from a victim’s point of view was terrifying. Within the range of his influence, directions were skewed and the five elements were thrown into disarray.

There were only two ways to break the array.

First, one could be an expert in Arrays themselves and weaken Zhuge Xiao’s influence.

Second, one could use overwhelming power to shatter the array by force.

But people who could achieve either of those were few and far between.

The one who surprised Zhao Ci the most, however, was actually Zhao Yong. His Swordsmanship had reached a level where he could look down on all other geniuses his age. Furthermore, his Flesh Soul and meridians were forged to be exceptionally tough, allowing him to unleash all sorts of terrifying killing blows.

Zhao Ci even suspected that if Zhao Yong had fought him to the death that day, and if he himself hadn’t gone all out, his chances of winning wouldn’t have been more than seventy percent.

Prince Lie’s Mansion also had its share of powerful brutes whose martial techniques were already second nature to them. For their age, this was an astonishing level of achievement in the entire Great Yu.

These people couldn’t be underestimated in the slightest, not even the ones who had performed poorly.

This was because every cultivation method had a different growth curve. While his own method was undoubtedly the strongest in the Physical Body Realm, there was bound to be a lull in his progress afterward.

Some people’s methods, like Zhu Li’s—who cultivated fire-attribute True Qi from the very beginning—would likely allow them to open their powerful Second Divine Treasure in a very short time after breaking through the Physical Body Realm.