Chapter 954: One Fist
He knew Xuan Yuan Po.
Xuan Yuan Po was also somewhat surprised, because he recognized this minor official.
A few days earlier in the small tavern, this minor official had gotten thoroughly drunk and said many venomous things to him.
Seeing Xuan Yuan Po, the minor official was quite startled and asked, “What are you, a brat, doing here?”
Xuan Yuan Po pointed at the register on the table and said, “They said I need to register my name here.”
The minor official was stunned for a moment before reacting, asking, “You want to participate in the Celestial Selection?”
Xuan Yuan Po said, “Yes.”
The minor official burst into laughter, mocking him, “A cripple like you wants to marry Her Highness the Princess?”
Xuan Yuan Po said, “I never thought about marrying Her Highness, but I will participate in the Celestial Selection.”
With a contemptuous expression, the minor official said, “I think you’re just looking to die.”
There weren’t many contestants at this arena, and Xuan Yuan Po’s massive, striking figure had already drawn some attention. Now, hearing the minor official’s laughter and ridicule, even more people looked over. Song Town was a small place where it was easy to run into acquaintances. Among the onlookers, a few regulars from the tavern quickly came over. Upon learning Xuan Yuan Po’s intentions, they were shocked and urged him to abandon the idea immediately.
“Are you out of your mind? This isn’t a joke!”
“Haven’t you heard? The Western Wilderness Dao Hall didn’t send a single priest this time! The arenas near the Upper City have court and Elder Council medical officers watching, but what about here? If you get hurt, no one will treat you. If the bleeding doesn’t stop, you’ll really die!”
“Even if people mock you daily, why risk your life just to prove something?”
Xuan Yuan Po remained silent, not responding to their concern. Seeing this, the tavern regulars said nothing more.
The minor official sneered at him, “If you insist on throwing your life away, go ahead. Just don’t cry too pathetically on the stage.”
Xuan Yuan Po picked up the ink brush, wrote his name and relevant information in the register, and tied a cloth strip around his right wrist.
As time passed, it finally became his turn to step onto the arena.
The onlookers around the arena asked each other about his background.
A clerk from a gambling house, recalling the earlier scene, squeezed over to the table and asked the official, “Should we pay attention to him?”
The minor official sneered, “He’s just a dishwasher who brags about having been to the capital, thinking he’s someone special.”
One of the tavern regulars who had tried to stop Xuan Yuan Po said from the side, “He really has been to the capital.”
The minor official, angered by the rebuttal, flushed red and shouted, “So what? Even if he was impressive before, now he’s nothing but a waste!”
The cool morning breeze scattered Song Town’s cooking smoke and warm mist, also stirring the cloth strips tied around the contestants’ wrists.
Xuan Yuan Po’s build was large, but his opponent was even more imposing.
The burly middle-aged man glanced at Xuan Yuan Po’s withered right arm, which resembled a tree branch, and a look of contempt flashed in his eyes. “I pity you for meeting me right from the start,” he said.
With those words, accompanied by a series of very clear cracking sounds, his body grew even larger, like a small mountain casting a shadow over the arena.
Seeing this, the crowd around the arena was shocked. Why would someone from the Xiang Clan come here?
No matter the era, the Xiang Clan was one of the top three clans among the demon race. Even the most ordinary member possessed unimaginable divine strength.
Logically, such a clan scion should have gone to the arenas near the Imperial Palace or the Celestial Keep, not to a small place like Song Town.
The Li Clan steward responsible for judging the arena squinted slightly and quickly figured out the reason.
The supervisor from the Elder Council had his eyes closed, as if sleeping, clearly aware of this in advance.
The demon court official, sensing the powerful aura emanating from the Xiang Clan youth, raised an eyebrow slightly. With this level of strength, combined with the Xiang Clan’s secret techniques, if he trained well for two years, he should be qualified to become a Red River Demon Guard. Yet he came to Song Town to compete today—clearly, he had bigger ambitions.
Thinking this, the demon court official’s gaze toward Xuan Yuan Po grew more complex.
He hadn’t heard the earlier arguments below the arena and didn’t know the background of this calm-looking bear clan youth. He only felt that, despite having a crippled arm, the boy had the courage to participate in the Celestial Selection—truly commendable. But to encounter an unbeatable opponent right from the start was a pity.
Xuan Yuan Po didn’t know what the demon court official was thinking, and even if he did, he wouldn’t care.
Just as he heard his opponent’s words and didn’t care, it was still early morning, and this was only the first match. If he wanted to reach the Imperial Palace, he still had a long way to go and many fights ahead. Just as he had chosen Song Town’s arena to save time, he needed to conserve it now.
So, without saying a word to his opponent, and without waiting quietly like a true expert for the other to make the first move, he walked straight toward him. His steps seemed a bit hurried, which, to the onlookers, appeared flustered.
The contempt in the Xiang Clan youth’s eyes deepened.
Xuan Yuan Po raised his fist and struck forward.
His right arm was withered, its sleeve flapping wildly in the morning breeze.
He struck with his left fist.
His fist looked utterly unremarkable—straight and plain, the angle ordinary, nothing resembling a technique, as if he were just flailing wildly.
The Xiang Clan youth hadn’t expected him to attack without any warning. Anger flashed in his eyes, and with a deep roar, he punched back as well.
The Xiang Clan youth, massive as a mountain, had a fist as large as a boulder falling from a peak.
The giant fist tore through the air, bringing a howling gale with fragments of starlight hidden within, a truly spectacular sight.
In comparison, Xuan Yuan Po’s fist was so ordinary it held no presence at all.
The two fists drew closer, and as they were about to meet, the contrast became even starker.
The Xiang Clan youth’s giant fist made Xuan Yuan Po’s fist look pitiful.
Some onlookers, imagining the gruesome scene to come, couldn’t bear to watch and turned their heads away.
Xuan Yuan Po didn’t turn his head, didn’t even blink. He remained as steady, or rather, as wooden as ever.
Was he stunned stupid by the opponent’s fist momentum, or was he too dull to react?
Some in the crowd below thought this.
The minor official stood up from behind his table, staring at the arena with malicious anticipation.
The demon court official kept his eyes fixed on the scene. He was certain Xuan Yuan Po wasn’t stunned or slow to react, because his breathing hadn’t faltered.
So he couldn’t understand why, clearly outmatched in strength, Xuan Yuan Po made no other move but continued to punch forward.
If not absolute confidence, then was it pride and dignity?
The demon court official thought this, and began to admire Xuan Yuan Po’s courage.
Under gazes filled with malice, cruelty, reluctance, or pity,
Xuan Yuan Po’s fist finally met the Xiang Clan youth’s fist.
From the outside, the two fists were vastly different in size.
When they collided, it looked like a small pebble hitting a boulder.
Considering the difference in their power, it was more like an egg smashing into a boulder.
A soft sound rang out on the arena.
*Pop*—it really did sound like an egg breaking.
But astonishingly, Xuan Yuan Po’s fist didn’t shatter, nor was it flung into the sky like a pebble struck by a boulder.
His fist pressed tightly against the Xiang Clan youth’s fist.
Though it looked so small, it was incredibly steady.
Countless soft sounds followed in rapid succession, then gradually grew clearer and more ear-splitting.
*Crack! Crack!*
Like the cliff that had broken off yesterday.
*Boom!*
Like that cliff falling into the Red River, stirring up towering waves.
A surge of air erupted on the arena, turning into a fierce gale that howled and kicked up clouds of dust.
A look of utter terror flashed in the Xiang Clan youth’s eyes as he let out a pained, despairing howl.
The howling gale abruptly vanished, leaving only a faint breeze swirling around the arena, stirring Xuan Yuan Po’s empty sleeve before settling on the Xiang Clan youth.
The mountain-like, burly figure gradually shrank in that seemingly gentle wind, then collapsed.
The Xiang Clan youth slumped onto the arena, his right arm hanging limp and powerless, blood seeping from beneath his sleeve.
The soft *pop* earlier and the subsequent cracking sounds had all been the noise of breaking bones.
When his fist met Xuan Yuan Po’s, the first to touch were his fingers.
So his finger bones broke.
Then his wrist bones broke.
Next, his arm bones broke.
Finally, even his shoulder bones broke.
His face was deathly pale, his eyes filled with terror, and the area beneath him was soaked—whether with sweat, blood, or something else was unclear.
Xuan Yuan Po withdrew his fist, not attacking again.
Seeing this, the Xiang Clan youth knew he had survived. The terror in his eyes turned to bewilderment, then gradually faded.
In the realm of strength, where he prided himself most, he had been utterly defeated without a word to say.
He couldn’t even muster the thought of revenge, because the power Xuan Yuan Po had displayed was too immense, too unbelievable.
This unimaginable gap had crushed his body, his will to fight, and even his spirit.
He began to vomit uncontrollably, spilling all his breakfast onto the arena, a foul smell spreading.
Neither the Li Clan steward on the arena nor the two supervising officials seemed to notice the stench.
The ordinary clerks and onlookers around the arena were equally stunned into silence.
Who was this bear clan youth?
How could that seemingly plain, unremarkable fist possess such terrifying power?
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