Xiao Bing did not know that he was being targeted . But even if he knew, he did not give a fig about it .
The matches in the afternoon soon began . The moment Xiao Bing sat down, his spirit was lifted by the first match . More specifically, it was lifted by someone in the first group .
The first group contained only two men: one seemed tall, gallant and over 40, while the other was short and thin and not even over 1 . 5 meters high, which was a sharp contrast to the man beside him . He had a droopy mustache under his nose . His shifty eyes easily made others dislike him . But from the momentum this man was giving off, Xiao Bing could feel that the other men could not beat the thin man . He even believed that this short man might have even reached the Transforming Strength Stage .
A man of Transforming Strength could be taken as a master of martial arts . Yet this man was very sordid and even wanted to be the princess’s bodyguard .
Then the two began introducing themselves after they went onto the stage . The tall man said, “I’m Taro, a swordsman from Shizuoka . ”
The short man grinned, “My name is Nakamura Jiro . I’m a tramp who is good with sabers .
Taro’s face changed instantly after he heard his foe’s name . The crowd exchanged whispers as well . Xiao Bing did not know who this Nakamura Jiro was . But he heard two men beside him discussing in low voices, “So he is Nakamura Jiro . I heard that he keeps challenging others and he would brutally chop off his opponents’ hands and legs each time . I have never expected that he was so short . ”
“Keep your voice down . Don’t let him hear you . He’s quite an intolerant man . ”
Taro seemed very stern . He stared at his foe and said, “So you are Nakamura Jiro . ”
Nakamura Jiro smiled, “I’m good with sabers and so are you . But you are not as good as I am . Do you know why?”
“Why?”
“Because you have only one blade, while I have three . ”
It was not until now that Xiao Bing noticed the three blades on Jiro’s back . They were lined and not very long, which was perfect for his height . Xiao Bing had never met someone who used three sabers in combats, so he decided to pay greater attention to it .
Chang Guchuan, who was on the judge’s stand, exclaimed, “He mastered the legendary triple-sabered swordplay!”
Jonin Sasaki, who was sitting near him, asked, “What is that? You are Feng XIII’s excellent student . You must be very experienced . So can you tell us about it?”
Staring at Jiro, Chang Guchuan said, “It’s a martial art skill that has been lost for many years . Yet he seems to have mastered it . Maybe he was taught by a certain expert or he just learned it by himself . Allegedly, anyone who has mastered it, can wield three sabers skillfully . He’s probably invincible among his peers . ”
What Chuang Guchuan said meant that Jiro was invincible among masters of Transforming-strength, which was the stage Jiro was at now . However, Chang Guchuan had just become an innate master . No matter how skillful Jiro was, he would not be able to defeat Chang Guchuan . After all, his strength and speed were both absolutely inferior to Chang Guchuan’s .
However, someone invincible among the masters of Transforming Strength was the at top of masters . He would be reverently greeted wherever he went . Even the two judges sitting beside Chang Guchuan were perhaps not as powerful as Jiro .
The steward of Princess house cast Jiro an extra look and him, unable to tell this man’s attitude . “One will win this match if his opponent is unable to fight or yields . Once the winner is decided, the fight should come to a stop . Now let the fight begin . ”
The sturdy man gritted, bellowed and delivered a sweeping saber first . He plunged towards Jiro, as fast as lightning .
Nakamura Jiro smiled viciously and moved in an instant . Their body switched positions . Then two wounds appeared on Taro’s chest, both cuts deep to the bones . Jiro withdrew his swords . He merely used two of his swords to defeat Taro . Taro spat out of a mouthful of blood and slumped to the ground, his eyes opened wide and his body twitched .
The Karate master on the Judges’ Stand sighed, “Take him away . He’s already beyond help .
The crowd gasped . Indeed this man was as brutal as the stories about him .
Nakamura Jiro grinned . He cast a sweeping glance of the crowd and said in a hollow voice, “Sorry . I only know how to kill instead of sparring…”
The spectators were rendered speechless . This man killed his foe in an instant . But no one dared to raise any questions . Because he did not break any rules and the moment Taro was defeated, he was already dead .
The steward walked onto the stage and declared the winner, with a stony face .
There was no sound of cheering, but a lot of ongoing discussions . They all seemed to dread this man .
Xiao Bing was starting to have a headache . He found this mission of his becoming more and more difficult, as Jiro appeared . Xiao Bing was absolutely stronger than him . However, he could not show his true might, which meant that he could not let them know that he had reached the level of the innate . Otherwise it would arouse suspicion . It would be strange for an innate master to compete for a position to be with the princess .
Especially in Country R, a small region, the existence of an innate master was rare . All of them were treated very respectfully . And most of them were usually too arrogant to be a princess’s guard . But they might be willing to protect the King .
But the most important part was that the one who just died had not been strong enough to make Jiro show his real strength . Otherwise Xiao Bing might have found Jiro’s weaknesses .
The following candidates were also masters of Transforming-strength . One was almost the same age as Xiao Bing . A 27-year-old master of Transforming-strength could be considered a talent of martial arts . Xiao Bing thought that it was not wise to underestimate these people from Country R . Though they were less populated, their land was not short of prodigies . The other was a man who was about 40 .
It seemed that this Princess Nami was truly attractive . Otherwise there would not have been so many competitors, who were so eager to be her bodyguard .
Soon it was Xiao Bing’s turn . Xiao Bing walked into the fighting pit and stated his name . He decided to end it within 10 movements, because his opponent was really weak . But if it were not because Xiao Bing did not want to show all his powers, he could have finished off his opponent within three movements .
There were only 6 or 7 matches left after Xiao Bing finished his . After these matches were done . the slots for the top 80 was finalized . The steward walked to the pit and began announcing the names of the winners . Then he announced the matches for the next day . The matches for tomorrow morning would decide the slots for the top 40, and the matches in the afternoon would decide the top 20 . And the matches would only become more and more intense .
The candidates and spectators began leaving . Almost all of the spectators found the fun worth the price . Some even had other reasons for coming here–they wanted to collect talents . There were some candidates that might not be able to make it to the end . But that did not mean that they were less powerful than their opponents . Some organizations needed them, and they would try to win their favor .
The power Xiao Bing showed in the first round was not surprising . So few people were interested in him, which was something he was happy with . He surmised that the masters who seemed to be at Transforming Strength would not be bothered tonight . But they would definitely say yes to these men, because the match was not over for them . It was still possible for them to be the champion .
Xiao Bing left the fighting pit and grabbed a bite in a nearby snack bar . Then he went out, trying to find his car to return to the hotel . Suddenly he found over ten men sauntering towards him . The man in the front was at Osaka Mingdao’s service .
Actually Xiao Bing was not surprised . He had predicted that he would be bothered for two possible reasons . One was that a certain candidate wanted to eliminate his rival discreetly . But Xiao Bing deemed this possibility very small as Xiao Bing had not shown his true power in the day . The other possible reason was that he had offended someone in Sakura Hall last night .
The ones who went to that club to have fun were usually the upper class who held great power and wealth . It was normal for them to be vengeful, after they were humiliated by Xiao Bing . Besides, Osaka Yangzi hated his guts… Xiao Bing was told that this man’s father was in charge of the most part of the docks in Kyoto . Xiao Bing believed that whoever could do that must have many capable men at his service, and was respected by both the government and the gangs .
And Xiao Bing did not even want to guess, because he asked directly . “So tell me, who sent you here?” .
The one in the middle stepped forward and looked at Xiao Bing . “Indeed Mr . Qingmu is a haughty man . I assume you know Osaka Yangzi?”
“Oh, of course . I know him . Didn’t he crawl between my legs last night?”
Right after he said those words, these men were completely infuriated .
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