Chapter 129

When the group arrived at the competition venue the next day, they found the tournament at a standstill. Sixteen men had already withdrawn from the competition. What a joke! They had been forced to sign death waivers; the consensus among the martial artists was simple: they had come for a tournament, but if it meant risking their lives, what was the point of competing? Looking at this so-called competition, what should have been a platform for fair play and the exchange of martial arts skills had been turned upside down by the preposterous requirement of a death waiver. It was no longer a display of strength or an exchange of experience; it had morphed into a cruel gamble where life was the stake. This was a far cry from the friendly spirit of exchange that had originally been intended. It was a desecration of the martial arts spirit! It was as if an academic seminar meant to foster friendship and mutual progress had suddenly turned into a fight to the death, stripped of its original purpose and value.