Jia Zhengliang, who had pushed himself to this point, was practically at the end of his rope.
Though it looked like he was merely controlling flying daggers, the sheer force packed into Jiang Chen's punches required brute Qi just to withstand.
If even a fraction less Qi was outputted, the flying daggers would be blasted far away.
Should any opening appear and allow the old man to seize the opportunity to break through, relying solely on the three protective flying daggers would undoubtedly result in injury.
If one of those punches landed on his body, a trip to the ICU would be a high probability.
"So sinister!"
The rubble kicked up alongside the dust not only required constant dodging, but also completely obstructed vision.
Accelerating the orbit of the flying daggers was his only option.
Unfortunately, it proved useless against Jiang Chen, who was fighting as if his life depended on it.
Seemingly familiar with the trajectory of the flying daggers, Jiang Chen finally found the exact moment to deploy Earth Shrinking into Inches, appearing directly behind Jia Zhengliang.
His fists rained down with the fury of a storm.
Just as anticipated, the three protective flying daggers couldn't hold out at all; Jia Zhengliang brushed past a punch and went flying backward.
"You've worn this old man out completely. Keep fighting me and I'll start playing dirty, you hear?"
Acting was far more exhausting than a real fight; with these old bones of his, he really shouldn't fight in front of crowds next time—it just wasn't worth it.
"I concede. Do whatever you want with me—kill me or carve me up."
Having conceded, Jia Zhengliang actually felt a great deal lighter, sprawling out flat on the ground in the shape of a giant "X".
The spectators, who had watched the entire match from start to finish, broke into heated discussions.
"He lost. As expected, the older they get, the craftier they become—turning the tables by seizing a chance right at the absolute limit."
"Speak for yourself. When we get old, trash is still trash; it has nothing to do with age."
"What a pity. Jia Zhengliang should have had a chance to be the dark horse."
Things having reached this point, everyone tacitly assumed Jia Zhengliang's revenge mission had failed. After fighting for so long, even if the match hadn't officially started, he simply had no strength left.
"Don't worry, I won't kill you or carve you up. Just help me run a tiny little test."
Seeing Jiang Chen wear that exact same smile he had sported when accepting his challenge, Jia Zhengliang instantly felt a chill in his heart, hands and feet frantically scrambling backward.
Pressing the Tanzhong acupoint on Jia Zhengliang's chest to immobilize him, Jiang Chen prepared to drag him away when the system options popped up.
[Option 1: Protect the privacy of the test volunteer and take him to a remote location to perform the procedure. Reward: Jia Zhengliang Favorability +10]
[Option 2: Begin right here and now. The art of restrictive seals should not be viewed through tinted glasses; it is all in the name of learning! Reward: Simplify the Cinnabar Mole procedure—one stroke of the brush, and the final design is complete.]
[Option 3: Public execution, starting by hanging him from the mountain gate to let ordinary people witness the capital of a dark-skinned Qi practitioner. Reward: Tank Sugar Mummy Contacts List]
Very good, very good—one option makes you a perverter of men, the other a pimp. What a fine set of choices the system cooked up.
At first glance, one might have thought Option 3 would actually provide a literal tank, and he had almost blurted it out.
Turns out it was a human tank—the kind you have to press "F" to interact with. F***!
"Sorry about this, little dark skin!"
He muttered these words to Jia Zhengliang before ripping off his lower-body protective gear.
"What are you doing? Mom, help me, ahhhhh!!!"
The sudden draft brought tears to Jia Zhengliang's eyes. This was right in front of everyone!
There were at least several hundred people in the audience seats. If something actually happened here, how could he ever show his face again? He might as well just be dead.
"Stop yelling, it's useless!"
To avoid disturbing the public, Jiang Chen used the newly stripped armor to tie his hands, shoving the smaller piece of protective gear right back into his mouth.
His ears instantly felt relieved; being elderly, he already suffered from mild tinnitus.
"S-Senior, isn't this a bit inappropriate?"
The Taoist priest acting as referee was dumbfounded. Did he really have to play it on such a massive scale?
The Grandmaster had said as long as he didn't kill him, anything went—but was this kind of situation supposed to be acceptable or not?
"Shameless old man. As for what Dad said about apprenticing to him, I'd better rethink it."
Feng Shayan's line of sight was blocked right by Jiang Chen's back, but that didn't stop her from guessing what Jiang Chen was up to.
Quite a few people in the audience even whipped out their mobile phones, frantically typing away to notify their friends to come watch the good show.
"Huh? What's inappropriate about this?"
He was merely drawing a restrictive seal, so why was everyone covering their eyes with their hands while still peeking through the gaps?
Seeing that Jia Zhengliang was still wriggling around, Jiang Chen had no choice but to knock him out cold with a strike.
Manifesting his Qi into a long writing brush, Jiang Chen began to paint from a distance.
Zhang Huaiyi had probably drawn it by hand—well, that was his own biological grandson after all. That wouldn't do for them; doing it by hand would constitute sexual harassment.
However, distance meant a higher chance of error. Even with intensive training for a month relying on the whirlpool bloodline, his first attempt failed.
The failed Qi failed to form the technique and automatically dissipated, forcing him to start over from scratch.
The audience seats fell utterly silent at this sight, and some people were already beginning to regret not starting their video recordings earlier.
A restriction technique was not something ordinary people ever got the chance to witness, let alone watching it being drawn bit by bit right before their eyes.
Calling it a live tutorial would not be an exaggeration in the slightest.
Caring little for their reactions, Jiang Chen poured his complete focus into the task.
Stroke by stroke, thirty minutes passed until it was finally finished.
The Qi circulated autonomously within the technique, signifying that the restriction was established.
Clap, clap, clap, clap—
Applause rang out endlessly, not only congratulating Jiang Chen on his success, but also encouraging him for such a selfless spirit.
Though very few people actually understood what was happening, and nobody had a complete video recording of it.
Still, if anyone managed to step into the path of restriction techniques through this in the future, they would have to pay respect to Jiang Chen as their founding teacher.
None of this crossed Jiang Chen's mind; he only knew that his reward had been successfully credited.
Next time, even if he drew an elephant or a monkey up there, he could simply claim it was a Cinnabar Mole.
Jia Zhengliang slowly drifted back to consciousness, the bindings on his mouth and hands having already been undone.
Looking at everyone in the audience seats who had wide eyes and were standing up, he felt his whole world turn pitch black.
"Wait, why doesn't it hurt at all?"
He glanced down at his own bronze-colored skin, and right below that was the restrictive seal with Qi flowing through it.
"??? No, wait! Old man, you might as well just hack me to death—why must you wrong me so?"
Jia Zhengliang had never seen a Cinnabar Mole before, but with Qi existing in a spot like that, what man wouldn't be terrified?
"Are you sure? It's just a Cinnabar Mole. It only triggers when a woman with malicious intent tries to get close to you—commonly known as a true love detector. You'd rather die than have it?"
Jiang Chen offered an explanation. Of course, he conveniently omitted details like how getting aroused or taking matters into your own hands would cause pain—that wasn't important.
"It actually sounds... no, wait! Couldn't you have chosen a different spot?!"
Even though he was still a virgin, he had just been thoroughly exposed to so many people. How was he supposed to live from now on? Sob, sob.
If his mother found out, she would definitely beat him to death.
"Change spots? What if you woke up and started running around and kicked the bucket? Staying right here is much better—saves me from taking the blame and having my reputation ruined."
"So my reputation doesn't count, then?!"
"I'm your elder, I say what goes. I have no desire to be branded with some title like 'Exterminator of Families'."
Faced with such an unreasonable old man, Jia Zhengliang had no other recourse than to weep.
Silently straightening his clothes and informing the referee that he wouldn't be participating in the subsequent matches, he dialed his home number and walked off.
He might as well go test whether the village chief's daughter, Zhaodi, had genuine feelings for him or not.
The city was full of bad people—he was never coming back here again! Sob, sob!
Jia Zhengliang's journey in the Luotian Dajiao came to an abrupt close before it even truly began, leaving behind nothing more than a lonely, desolate figure for the Outsiders to watch.
...
As for the culprit Jiang Chen, he had already finished texting the Old Celestial Master to claim credit, and now he was dusting off his backside, ready to head somewhere else to watch a good show.
"Elder Jiang, hold on a moment. I have an important matter to discuss."
Feng Shayan leaped down from the spectator stands, blocking Jiang Chen's path.