The victor becomes king; the vanquished the bandit!
And only the victors live on in people's memories.
But right now, Li Er actually wanted him to be the one to face Wu He-Rong first. Just so he could sap Wu He-Rong's strength and prepare the stage for Ye Fan's entrance.
He was the inheritor of the Taiji Fist and the headmaster of a school. And yet, they had relegated him to the role of foil for some youngster.
He would have to exert all of his strength in the fight and then give away the prize to someone else. To a person like Xing He, such a humiliation was too much to bear.
"That's right, brother. Have you gotten the order mixed up?"
"My teacher is a revered figure in the wushu community. Everyone out there knows who he is. What worth does this brat have? How could you ask my teacher to act as his foil?"
Finally, Li Xue-Qi lost her patience and lashed out at her brother in a fit of righteous fury.
"Shut your mouth!"
"You silly girl! Your behaviour is getting more and more outrageous! How dare you call Mr. Chu a brat?"
"Do you know? If Mr. Chu wants to, he can kill you as easily as he kills a chicken!"
Li Er blew his top as well and rebuked his sister angrily.
"Don't open your mouth again unless you want me to kick you out."
"I allowed you to attend this banquet because I wanted you to gain some experience. You are not here to cause trouble!"
Li Er's anger overwhelmed Li Xue-Qi completely.
Her face turned pale and she dared not speak another word. But, inwardly, she was still disdainful of Ye Fan.
She could not understand why her brother was treating a youngster her age with such respect. What merits did he have?
No matter how powerful he was, there was no way he could be stronger than her teacher.
After all, wushu was not something that could be mastered overnight. To unleash its full power, one would need to keep training over a long period of time.
Even if this Mr. Chu had started learning martial arts in his mother's womb, it was still impossible for him to accumulate more training time than her teacher.
After rebuking his sister, Li Er turned to Xing He again and said placatingly: "Headmaster Xing He, I know you are a revered person in the pugilistic community. But this decision was made by Chen Ao of Jiangdong, Lei San of Jingzhou and the other leaders of our province. So I hope you will act magnanimously and place the interests of Jiangdong above yourself. Please do not make things difficult for me."
Li Er spoke heavily as he tried to persuade Xing He.
But the elderly Taiji master was not one to give up easily. He stood up and said coldly, "Alright. Master Er, I will not make things difficult for you.”
"Since the leaders of Jiangdong do not believe in me, then let me have a duel with this young man today."
"How about it, young man? Do you dare to accept my challenge?"
"If I lose, I am willing to become your foil!”
"But if you lose, you will give up your place in the finale to someone more worthy."
Xing He's voice was vigorous and, as he stared at Ye Fan, his aura turned intimidating. At this moment, the zeal to do battle was evident on the old man's
face.
"Well~" Li Er found himself hesitating.
Undoubtedly, Xing He's challenge fit in exactly with Li Er's wishes.
The Jiangdong leaders had suddenly added Xing He's name to the lineup because they were worried that Wu He-Rong might be too strong an opponent for Ye Fan.
After all, from the very beginning, they had only seen Ye Fan in action once. Therefore they were still unsure if his victory then had been due to luck or ability.
Now that Xing He had issued his challenge, would it not be a good opportunity to gauge Ye Fan's ability?
And so, Li Er turned to Ye Fan and whispered: ''Mr. Chu, headmaster Xing He is determined to fight you. What do you want to do?"
Ye Fan did not reply right away. He took a sip of tea and chuckled. "Headmaster Xing He, you are a successor of the Taiji Fist, a wushu grandmaster and the headmaster of a martial art school. To an ordinary person, these titles are certainly impressive."
"But these things that you take pride in are just fool's gold to me. Your martial art style only looks strong on the outside but is feeble on the inside. You may be able to use it to scare people, but it is completely useless in a real fight."
"I bet you can't even take a single punch from the Boxing King, Huo Dun. As for your proposed duel with me, do you think you are worthy enough?"
"What insolence!"
"You arrogant brat!"
After Ye Fan had spoken, Xing He flew into a rage right away and a look of great anger came over his face.
He stood up from his seat and started to scream furiously at Ye Fan.
"What an arrogant brat!"
"I am fool's gold, am I?"
"I am feeble on the inside, am I?"
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