Martial artists can never be ultimately insulted

I turned on my phone and saw an unfamiliar number. I tapped to answer, and a hearty voice came through the receiver.

"Hey, hey, hey~ Is that Yuan Chen? Is that Yuan Chen?!"

Almost instantly upon hearing the voice, Yuan Chen knew who was making the call—Iori Kazuka, the slacker from the manga "One Victory for a Thousand Gold," which shares the same world view as Kengan Ashura.

Because Iori Ichika's jurisdiction is located in the old city area, she is considered a regular customer of Yuan Chen's store.

In fact, the restaurant is only open after 7 p.m. Due to the current situation in the old city area, Yuan Chen often only has one customer, Iori Kazuka.

She was like a dutiful NPC, returning to the restaurant after finishing her patrol mission, ordering a set meal for the evening with an ice-cold beer to relax, and even packing some leftovers to go.

According to this dereliction of duty notice, it's all Yuan Chen's fault. Before, after finishing his patrol, he could just casually deal with any 711-Eleven convenience store. But after eating at Yuan Chen's place a few times, his tastes became too picky, and he simply couldn't stand the pre-made bento boxes from the convenience store.

Yuan Chen said she found it hard to comment, and decided to just take it as a compliment on her cooking skills.

Thinking for a moment, Yuan Chen said, "It's me. What's wrong? Is there something you need?"

Iori Kazuka: "It's like this, I'm planning to arrange a get-together tonight. Are you open for business tonight? It's for three people, all my best friends!"

At this point, Iori Kazuka's voice became exceptionally greasy.

"Seriously, they're all stunning beauties! Want me to play matchmaker for you?"

"Get out of here." Yuan Chen scoffed, but he didn't think there was anything wrong with what the blatant dereliction of duty officer said. After all, even if Tenma Nozomi and Miya Kana didn't have the innate allure of Mai Shiranui or the femme fatale traits of Han Zhuli, they were still above average in terms of looks. Calling them beauties would be no problem at all.

Thinking about it, Yuan Chen asked, "Are there any special requirements? Any dietary restrictions or anything like that?"

“There are no dietary restrictions. If you have any requests…” After thinking for a moment, Iori Kazuka said, “One of them has an eye injury. If possible, could you please take a look at it?”

"Okay, I'll get ready."

With that, Yuan Chen hung up the phone and fell into a moment of thought.

Then, Yuan Chen looked at Han Zhuli beside him and said, "If you want to skip class like me, but still want to continue your studies without being disturbed by Jin Guanzhang and the others, I have a way."

"...Tell me about it?"

Han Zhuli seemed somewhat suspicious, after all... Han Zhuli knew her own strength, and the probability of her becoming famous in one battle like Yuan Chen was extremely low.

It should be noted that before Yuan Chen launched his surprise attack on the Sanyuan Society and engaged in a fierce battle with Baroque, he had already killed dozens of fully armed thugs.

If it were Yuan Chen's previous life, such intensity would be considered improper self-defense even if it was legitimate self-defense.

However, in this world where martial arts flourish, Yuan Chen's actions—whether as Yuan's disciple, Tong Ang's sworn nephew, or as someone who, despite the strain on police resources, was willing to help Interpol launch a raid against an international criminal organization and disregard the potential consequences of being hunted down and retaliated against, made Interpol willing to do everything in their power to handle all of Yuan Chen's requests.

Compared to Yuan Chen's illustrious achievements... he was merely a national champion, and even that guy Jin Jiafan was keeping an eye on him...

Although martial arts and technology are developing rapidly, there are still some martial artists who dislike and reject scholars. They would rather stay in the deep mountains and forests to cultivate themselves than engage in systematic training with scholars.

There's nothing wrong with that, because both intention and qi are special forms of energy that cannot be quantified normally.

Kim Ga-pwan was a martial artist who strongly opposed the interference of martial arts techniques in martial arts, especially since Han Joo-ri was currently undergoing a major life change. Even out of a desire to protect her, he could not allow those scholars to easily interfere with Han Joo-ri's growth and life.

"Underground fighting."

Sensing Han Zhuli's curiosity and concern, Yuan Chen said, "It's difficult to obtain similar rights through ordinary means, but it shouldn't be a problem if it's underground fighting."

Upon hearing this, Han Zhuli nodded thoughtfully.

While underground fighting might seem less appealing to ordinary people than scientific martial arts training with scholars, Kim Ka-fan is clearly no ordinary person.

Or rather, in the eyes of many martial artists, places like underground fighting arenas are the true fighting arenas for martial artists.

Without the constraints of modern combat sports and boxing, and without the excessive burdens and worries of fame, all that's needed to think about is how to defeat opponents from all over the world who possess all sorts of strange and wonderful techniques...

Especially for martial artists like Kim Ga-pong, who are rather old-fashioned in their thinking, this kind of underground fighting arena may be the place where true martial artists are tempered.

"Sounds good... Is it the same punch you threw before?"

Han Zhuli became interested and asked questions with great enthusiasm.

"Kengan... that wouldn't work."

Yuan Chen shook his head.

While the Kengan Association is indeed one of the top underground fighting arenas in the fighting world, its origins lie in internal corporate competition, which is not suitable for Han Zhuli, and more importantly...

Contract disputes between small companies have no effect on Han Zhuli, and competition for contracts with large companies such as Nogi Group and Yiwu Real Estate is not frequent.

Putting everything else aside, ever since he fought with Li Ren last time, Yuan Chen has been completely idle.

According to Sakura Ibuki, many small companies choose to concede immediately when they see a Kengan match with Sakura-sou BBQ – since Sakura-sou BBQ will auction off the contract after winning, it's better to just concede and wait for the auction, thus reducing the risk of being stuck with a losing contract.

Or to be even more straightforward, you could just have a boxing match with the auctioneer.

Although the process is a bit complicated, at least the opponents you get matched with are evenly matched... not monsters like Yuan Chen, who can easily take down Blade King Komada and Death Scythe Ivan in a one-on-two fight, and then easily defeat Superman Rin without bloodshed.

Speaking of which... I should probably check with Ibuki and see if there's any new information...

Oh right, there's no need to bother Ibuki anymore—Yuan Chen suddenly realized that Katahara Shoka and Katahara Retsudo's contact information was in his phone. He could just ask them if there were any fighters of similar strength.

While Yuan Chen was still pondering this, Han Zhuli, who was standing beside him, asked suspiciously, "If you don't go to Kengan, where else can you go? Do you have any other options?"

You'll find out then.

Yuan Chen shrugged and said, "Or we can just set one up ourselves... underground fighting doesn't require much skill."

Han Zhuli remained silent, a complex look appearing in her eyes as she gazed at Yuan Chen.

Is it because of me?

In order for me to live here in peace and continue to grow, an underground fighting arena needs to be set up for me...

Thinking about it, Han Zhuli crossed her arms and pouted somewhat unhappily.

Let's just indulge this guy for now...

Yuan Chen could sense that Han Zhuli might have misunderstood something, but he didn't have much of an intention to explain.

Although I don't know why, it might be because I'm too much of a gentleman, so more and more girls are being attracted to me in a positive way.

To prevent unnecessary friction and to allow them to better learn from each other, it was indeed more appropriate to let them resolve the issue with their fists.

While pondering, Xing said, "I'll start operating the restaurant."

Miya Kana walked along the dark road, looking at Iori Kazuka who was leading the way, with a worried expression on her face.

"Ichika, this is the territory of the Sorimachi-gumi and the Hanayama-gumi... Are you sure it's okay for us to come here so openly? If we run into them, we're doomed!"

"Hey, don't be scared. Actually, those two guys are pretty good. They're very generous people." Iori Kazuka's face didn't show any tension at all.

"Besides being scared, you should look forward to Yuan Chen's cooking skills!"

Volume 1: Chapter 133 - Pegasus Hope

Watching Iori Kazuka walk ahead and make a phone call, and then glancing at Miya Kana who was joking with Iori Kazuka, Tenma Nozomi, who was at the lowest point in her life, couldn't help but tilt her head slightly, a hint of loneliness and complexity appearing between her brows.

Rewind two hours, to an abandoned factory in the suburbs of Tokyo, amidst a cacophony of voices and shrill insults from men and women of all kinds.

"They've been playing for too long!"

"You two warm-up act losers, stop wasting my time by just standing there like that!"

"Go to hell!"

"Or just take your clothes off, damn it!"

Ignoring the commotion around him, Tenma simply stared coldly at the woman in front of him—the defeated fighter, Hebei Weiyue.

Although Hebei Weiyue was taller and heavier than him, and had even pinned him to the ground, anyone with even a slight understanding of combat could easily tell that the battle had lost all suspense—his right arm was locked, and Tianma hoped that with just a slight twist, he could break his opponent's entire arm.

Finally, feeling the pressure from her joints, Hebei Weiyue could only let out a low curse, then repeatedly slapped the ground beside her, making a slapping sound to indicate her surrender.

but……

This ingenious lock did not receive the applause it deserved.

Underground fighting is never a glamorous place. Just as the two people were lying motionless on the ground, one of them suddenly slapped the ground in surrender, and the shouts of anger from the crowd grew even more intense.

"Huh? You surrendered already?!"

"Damn it! Is this match being deliberately fixed?!"

"Both of you, die!"

"Hurry up and take it off!!"

Hearing the clamor around him, victory was already in sight. Pegasus, however, remained calm, wearing his somewhat worn-out athletic clothes.

Although Loser Fighting is not even ranked fourth among underground fighting teams, it is currently the only fighting team that can accommodate 'injured' members like Pegasus Hope.

Although the sights here are quite interesting, the scenery is beautiful and the scenery is beautiful.

But Pegasus hopes that someone can sense his strength.

but……

“You’ve been fired. Take your appearance fee and get out of here.”

A middle-aged, office-looking man with a bulbous nose waved his hand somewhat irritably toward Tianma Nozomi and her warm-up opponent, Hebei Weiyue.

Hebei Weiyue was already furious about losing the match, and now that she heard about being fired, she raised her middle finger and yelled angrily, "Damn it, this is exactly what I wanted! Who can stand playing in a match like this?!"

However, compared to the departure of Hebei Yuizuki, the departure of Tenma Nozomi seems quite unbelievable.

"Wait a minute, wasn't she the one who participated in the negative competition? Why did I get fired too?"

"Pegasus Nozomi..." Upon hearing Pegasus Nozomi's question, the man with the red nose sighed helplessly and said, "To be honest, your match was the ugliest."

"Why?!" Tenma, still unable to understand, argued, "I won all three matches! And every single one was a precise lock! Look at me, the highly anticipated rookie!!"

"Because you always play for too long! Today it even dragged on forty minutes!" the red-nosed man roared. "You're supposed to be warming up the crowd, so don't take up so much of my time!"...

After that, Pegasus couldn't remember much... Maybe because the brain didn't want its owner to suffer any more harm?

Thinking this, a gloomy look appeared on Tianma's face.

Noticing that Tenma Nozomi seemed down, Iori Kazuka, who was standing nearby, knew what had happened to her that day and said with a smile:

"Hey, Hope, cheer up! The restaurant I found today is my go-to late-night eatery! After eating there once, I don't even want to go to a convenience store anymore!"

Upon hearing Ichika's words, knowing that this guy was trying to divert his attention, Tenma Nozomi gave a slightly helpless smile and said, "I... understand."

Seeing the dejected Pegasus, Iori Kazuka and Miya Kana exchanged a glance, feeling the worry in each other's eyes, and both sighed.

Tenma Nozomi and Iori Kazuka have been friends since elementary school—although Nozomi often refers to this friendship as a tragic one.

During junior high school, Ichika and Ichika met Miya Kana, and they became a close-knit trio of friends.

In high school, Nozomi Tenma, Kazuka Iori, and Kana Mitani started training at a mixed martial arts gym near their school in an effort to lose weight. However, later on, Kana Mitani and Kazuka Iori dropped out of training for various reasons, leaving only Nozomi Tenma to continue improving her skills at the gym, laying the foundation for her entry into the world of martial arts.

When Pegasus finally accumulated enough experience to participate in large-scale team competitions...

"Who would have thought, I successfully detected retinal detachment! Hahaha!"

Having arrived at Yuan Chen's late-night diner, Pegasus Hope had barely sat down and had already downed two large glasses of draft beer before the food even arrived. He was clearly a bit tipsy, appearing unusually energetic and self-destructive.

"Just when I got my ticket to a major team competition, I lost all my opportunities~ Then I was easily fired after only three warm-up matches in an underground fighting group. So... *hiccup* Pegasus hopes to be twenty-seven years old and successfully become unemployed~ Cheers to my freedom~"

Hearing Nozomi Tenma's words, Kana Mitani, standing nearby, also looked helpless and said, "Nozomi, you can't give up on yourself~"

"Haha~ How unlucky~" Compared to Miyako Kana's worry, Iori Kazuka's attitude seemed quite frivolous:

"How about we give that fighting group a piece of our mind? Don't let their third-rate reputation fool you; they're actually loaded and make a killing with gold coins. Perfect severance pay for you!"

As soon as the voice fell, not only Tianma Xiwang and the others, but even Chunli, who was being asked by Yuan Chen to stay for dinner and to pay her respects, couldn't help but cover her face after hearing the words of Iori Ichika, this 'regular guest'.

As an Interpol officer who was upright, righteous, and true to his profession in every way, upon hearing Iori Kazuka's words, he initially only sighed at Tenma's wish for a more relaxed approach, but then suppressed a sigh and said:

“Yihua, I think you really need to go to the traffic police station for some practice…”

"No way! Those places are so boring, you can't just hit people anywhere!" Iori Kazuka said with obvious disgust.

"You can't just hit people anywhere!" Chun-Li was speechless.

Seeing that Tianma was about to finish drinking, Yuan Chen took out a plate of edamame from the refrigerator and served it to the table ahead of time.

"If you have something like this, you should have brought it out sooner!" Upon seeing Maodou, Tianma Xiwang's eyes lit up. Perhaps because he had drunk a little alcohol and was a bit tipsy, his emotions were also unusually active, and he showed a boastful attitude that was completely different from his usual silence.

"Maybe I can even have a couple more drinks~"