Chaotic Times and Disasters: I Hunt Down Martial Arts Masters and Become a God

...

On the second day of the semi-finals, the martial arts academy's arena was packed with people.

The news of An Sheng's return had already spread throughout the entire martial arts academy—this senior brother had been fighting against the Gu cultivators in the south for more than half a year, and had killed countless people with his gun. Now that he had returned, the first thing he did was to avenge his junior brothers and sisters.

The elite class disciples had secured the best spots early on, while the ordinary class disciples crowded into the aisles. Song Zhiwen and Su Xue from the Confucianism and Taoism branch had also arrived, and even several medicine apprentices from the Medicine Taoism branch were peering over the wall.

Pei Qing sat in the first row, and Han Duo sat next to him, the splint on his wrist still in place.

As An Sheng walked in from the entrance of the training ground, the crowd automatically parted to make way for him.

He carried a twelve-foot-long silver spear in his hand, the silver paint on the shaft mottled, and a thin blood groove on the tip.

An Sheng was dressed in a simple gray outfit, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing his two lean and strong arms.

When Fu Qing arrived, Yu Fu followed behind him, holding a bag of freshly roasted chestnuts in his hands, peeling them as he walked.

As he stepped onto the ring, An Sheng was watching him. Their eyes met on the ring, and An Sheng nodded slightly. Fu Qing also nodded.

The referee is Fan Zheng.

The veteran stood by the ring, expressionless, and read out the rules:

No one may be killed. A player who concedes defeat or is knocked out of the ring loses. There are no restrictions on weapons or moves.

He glanced at An Sheng, then at Fu Qing.

"start!"

An Sheng held his silver spear horizontally in front of him, clasped his hands in a salute to Fu Qing, and

"Brother Fu, I am An Sheng, at the seventh level of the Meridian Opening Realm, three realms above you. However, since you were able to kill Helian Yunshan, who was at the sixth level of the Meridian Opening Realm, you must not be weaker than me. Today, let's stop our sparring when we've reached our goal, and I will not take your life."

"Brother An, you're too kind."

Seeing that the other party was very polite, Fu Qing also clasped his hands in return, saying, "Please."

An Sheng flicked his spear, and the tip thrust out.

His marksmanship was not as expansive as Helian Yunshan's; each shot was steady and precise, the tip of his spear carrying the killing intent honed on the southern battlefield.

The first shot was aimed straight at Fu Qing's chest. Fu Qing dodged to the side and swung his sword at the gun barrel, but An Sheng flipped his wrist and the gun barrel slid off the blade.

This move deflected most of Fu Qing's sword force. The spear shaft flipped along the blade to dissipate the force before sweeping horizontally, forcing Fu Qing to take a step back.

Yu Fu, watching from below the stage, gasped in astonishment, forgetting even to peel the chestnuts in his hand.

"The Python Turns Over is the strongest defensive technique of the An family's gun skills. It can deflect most of the opponent's force within half a breath. Few people of the same generation can break through this move with a single strike. Brother Fu's strike had at least half of its force deflected, and the remaining force could not harm An Sheng at all."

A student from the elite class next to him rolled his eyes at him, "Are you giving an explanation here? Whose side are you on anyway?!"

Yu Fu chuckled, "Of course it's my brother Fu, but their fight was so good I couldn't help but commentate."

The two had already exchanged more than a dozen blows on the stage.

An Sheng's marksmanship was steady yet ruthless, with each shot holding back its power, leaving Fu Qing no chance to seize an opening and counterattack.

Fu Qing slashed several times, but each slash was deflected by the silver spear. The python flipped over and neutralized his heavy blows three times in a row. The silver paint on the spear shaft was scratched with several white marks by the blade, but the spear's momentum remained stable.

The two fought fiercely on the ring for nearly fifteen minutes, leaving the ring riddled with knife marks and bullet holes.

An Sheng is the strongest opponent Fu Qing has encountered since he embarked on the path of martial arts—more composed than Helian Yunshan, more experienced than Han Duo, and more troublesome than any opponent he had defeated on the stage before.

Fu Qing wanted to use his combo technique to kill An Sheng in one go, but An Sheng was prepared and didn't give him a chance to combo. Every time he tried to connect several strikes, An Sheng would use a python flip to deflect the force and interrupt the combo rhythm, and then create distance.

Moreover, knives are inherently at a length disadvantage against spears. If An Sheng doesn't engage in a head-on confrontation, he can only keep getting closer and being forced back by the spear tip.

He had more and more cuts on his body. His left shoulder was slashed by the tip of a spear, his right rib was stabbed, and a bloody hole was pierced in his thigh by the tip of a spear.

AXA is also having a tough time.

Although Fu Qing's blades were not connected, each strike was incredibly heavy, and every time he parried, he felt his arm go numb from the impact.

He was at the seventh level of the Meridian Opening Realm, and his strength should have overwhelmed that of a fourth-level Meridian Opening Realm cultivator. However, the sword strike of the person in front of him was so heavy that it was not something a fourth-level Meridian Opening Realm cultivator could produce.

He didn't know that Fu Qing had two bonus attributes, otherwise he would probably be furious!

...

In the fortieth round, An Sheng suddenly took several steps back after disarming the longsword, creating distance with his spear tip lowered, leaving his center wide open.

Pei Qing, gripping his fan, nervously stood up from below the stage.

coming soon!

Fu Qing did indeed chase after him, cutting into An Sheng's inner circle in one step. An Sheng suddenly jumped up, stepped on Fu Qing's knife, flipped upwards again, and stabbed Fu Qing in the chest with his spear in mid-air!

"Dragon Turns Around!" Yu Fu suddenly stood up, scattering the chestnuts in his hand all over the ground.

Fu Qing's pupils contracted sharply. With nowhere to dodge, he simply turned to the side to avoid a vital spot on his chest, and the spear tip pierced through his left shoulder.

Blood gushed from his back, eliciting gasps from the audience.

Just when An Sheng thought victory was in his grasp, Fu Qing gripped the gun barrel tightly with his left hand, preventing the gun tip from being pulled out of his shoulder. An Sheng tried to pull the gun out but couldn't, and couldn't retreat either. A look of astonishment flashed across his face.

In that instant, Fu Qing released his grip and lunged forward, letting the spear pierce through his shoulder, while his right hand held the cold iron blade across An Sheng's neck.

The blade was icy cold.

The area around the arena was completely silent, and everyone in the audience stood up.

Pei Qing's folding fan fell to the ground with a "thud," and Fan Zheng's vermilion brush hung in mid-air.

Yu Fu, clutching half a peeled chestnut, gaped with a mouth wide enough to fit a fist, exclaimed, "My God, we've taken down Dragon Turnaround!"

An Sheng silently looked down at the knife at his neck, then looked up into Fu Qing's eyes and slowly spoke.

"If it's a contest of marksmanship and knife skills in the ring, you can't beat me, but if it's a fight to the death on the battlefield—I'll be the one who dies most of the time."

Fu Qing sheathed his knife, took a step back, and pulled the gun barrel from his left shoulder. Blood gushed from the wound, but he remained expressionless as he clasped his hands in a fist salute to An Sheng.

"Brother An, I admire your marksmanship."

An Sheng returned the salute with clasped hands, his expression complex as he looked at the bloody hole in Fu Qing's shoulder.

"Your swordsmanship is simple and direct, with no unnecessary movements. This is a killing skill honed on the battlefield!"

"If I'm not mistaken, you deliberately used your shoulder to catch my Dragon Turn attack just now. You planned this way to break the deadlock from the very beginning. You were gambling with your life that I wouldn't be able to stop my gun in time."

"If you dare to risk your life to fight someone at the seventh level of the Meridian Opening Realm, I am no match for you."

He reached out and pulled Fu Qing up from the ground. "Brother Fu, go and treat your injuries. We can spar another day."

An Sheng waved to Pei Qing in the audience, signaling him to come over. Pei Qing shrank back, trying to avoid him, but was pushed by someone next to him before he reluctantly stepped forward, head down.

"I apologize to Brother Fu!"

Pei Qing suddenly looked up, his eyes wide as if he wanted to say something, but An Sheng glared at him sideways.

"Brother Fu is magnanimous; otherwise, that blow would have broken your wrist, and you would be crippled!"

Pei Qing's eyelids twitched, and he lowered his head, speaking softly, "I'm sorry, Junior Brother Fu!"

"Call me senior brother!"

Fu Qing chuckled lightly, "It's alright, Young Master Pei is older than me, so it doesn't matter if he calls me junior brother."

An Sheng laughed, patted Pei Qing on the head, and carried him away.

"Practice your skills more and cause less trouble."

...

Fu Qing turned and walked off the stage. Su Wen was already standing by the stage waiting, holding a bandage and silver needles in her hand. She didn't say anything when she saw the gunshot wound on his shoulder that was still bleeding. She just pressed the bandage firmly on the wound.

Fu Qing gasped in pain.

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!"

Su Wen remained expressionless. "It's impressive that you still feel pain."

Although he said that, he actually lightened his grip on the medicated patch a little.

Yu Fu squeezed through the crowd, looking up at Fu Qing with an expression of adoration.

"My god! That knife you just used was fucking awesome! You risked your life for it, right under An Jialong's gun as he turned around. From now on, I'm a follower!"

He then stuffed the whole bag of chestnuts into Fu Qing's hand.

"These chestnuts, roasted by my family's chef, are to help you recover!"

Fu Qing took the chestnuts and said "Thanks" to the enthusiastic chubby boy.

Yu Fu grinned, his round face puffing up into a ball.

...