Starting with a beautiful woman's private doctor

Wherever Master Ding walked, the crowd automatically parted to both sides.

Those young men who were just moments ago smoking and swearing were now standing ramrod straight, not daring to smoke anymore, and quickly throwing their cigarettes on the ground and stomping them out.

Li Erdan and Zhang Laosan both fell off their horses. They stood side by side and respectfully bowed to Master Ding.

Master Ding walked to the main seat in the middle of the room, sat down, glanced around at everyone present, and nodded.

Then came the sounding of gongs and drums, the exploding of firecrackers, and the ceremony of offering incense to the Dragon King Temple.

After the excitement subsided, the entire venue fell silent once more.

Just as Master Ding was about to announce the official start of the horse racing event, Zhang Laosan suddenly took a step forward.

"Master Ding, Li Erdan and I just discussed it. Horse racing and equestrian skills are all fancy tricks. In the end, it all comes down to who has the stronger fist. How about..."

He chuckled. "Let's get straight to the point. Skip the fancy stuff and go straight for a fight. And it'll be a one-on-one contest, with the top horse going head-to-head."

"Whoever wins will have the final say, what do you think?"

Dingye held his pipe and looked at Zhang Laosan.

Zhang Laosan felt a little uneasy under that gaze, and the smile on his face unconsciously stiffened slightly.

Li Erdan, who wasn't being looked at, said, "Yeah, Master Ding, anyway, all those other things are, to put it nicely, icing on the cake, but to put it bluntly, a waste of time!"

Master Ding said calmly, "What, do you two think you've grown to the point where you can change the rules at will?"

"No, no, I wouldn't dare."

Li Erdan quickly chimed in, "I just feel that there are too many tricks in previous years. It's impossible to tell who's the best after comparing them for a long time. A one-on-one fight is the fairest. Whoever has the stronger fist gets to decide."

"Of course, if you feel it's inappropriate, we can stick to the old rules. After all, you decided on this horse racing event, so you have the final say. However—"

He abruptly changed the subject, his tone still cheerful, but every word was barbed: "You're getting old. Let the young people handle their own affairs, don't you think?"

Ding Ye didn't answer. He put the pipe back in his mouth, took a puff, and slowly exhaled smoke from his nostrils.

Just then, the outside helper from the epileptic man behind Li Erdan suddenly spoke up.

He took a step forward, stood at the front of his line, and said in an extremely impatient tone, "Why bother talking so much to this old man? In the end, no matter where you are, might makes right."

As soon as he finished speaking, the big man behind Zhang Laosan stepped forward. He was one of Zhao Zhenhai's men. "That's right. If you old geezer are not convinced, you can come down and compete with us yourself."

The shores of Longquan Lake were deathly silent.

The vendors stopped hawking their wares, the young man holding the ring toss forgot to throw it, and even the drumming of the acrobatic troupe in the distance stopped for a moment.

All eyes were fixed on the two foreign players, and then turned to Master Ding, who was sitting in the main seat.

Li Erdan and Zhang Laosan stood still, their faces showing no surprise.

These words were something they had tacitly approved of.

Silence is the best option now; we just need to wait and see how Master Ding responds.

Grandpa Ding took the pipe out of his mouth and tapped it lightly on the armrest of the chair. Ashes fell in a soft rustling sound, clearly audible in the silence.

"Since friends from the county and the Black Dragon Society want to test the skills of this old man, I might as well give it a try."

Upon realizing their identities had been revealed, the two were taken aback for a moment, and then bowed to each other.

One of Yang Dianfeng's henchmen stepped forward, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and said in a rough voice, "Hei Xin Hu Sang Biao, one of Boss Yang's men."

Zhao Zhenhai's men also announced their names, "Jia Zidan, the Four-Legged Serpent, under the command of the North Sea Dragon King, I'll go first!"

Before Jia Zidan could finish speaking, he had already darted out.

He was tall and thin, and when he moved, it seemed as if there were no bones between his shoulders and hips.

He leaned forward, his feet sliding quickly across the ground, his arms one in front of the other.

His fingers were clenched into a snake's head shape, the fingertips trembling slightly, as he thrust them straight towards Master Ding's throat.

Snake Fist emphasizes coiling, drilling, and thrusting. The strikes are not in a straight line; the hand changes direction continuously in the air. One second it is aimed at the throat, and the next second it has already circled around to the side of the neck.

The onlookers only saw his arm flicker in the air, leaving a few afterimages, but they couldn't tell where it would actually land.

Dingye stood still, his left hand still holding a pipe.

Jia Zidan's snake head was less than three inches from his face when Dingye's heel spun slightly, causing his upper body to shift half a foot to the left, and the snake head slid past his collar.

Jia Zidan's attack missed, and he flipped his wrist inward, turning his five fingers from the snake's head to its tail, sweeping towards Ding Ye's temple.

This change of move was extremely fast, with no pause between the thrust and the sweep.

Dingye raised his right hand and gently tapped his wrist with the tobacco pipe handle.

It wasn't very powerful, but the point of impact was extremely precise, hitting the tendon junction above the wrist crease.

Jia Zidan felt a numbness in his entire arm, and the snake's tail broke apart halfway through its sweep, causing him to stagger backward.

He shook his numb wrist, and his eyes changed.

He hadn't used his full strength in those two moves, assuming the old man was only capable in his youth and now was just an empty shell with experience.

But that light tap just now was perfectly timed, with the right force, the right spot, and the right moment. A second earlier and it would have missed; a second later and he would have already struck his temple.

Jia Zidan took a deep breath, lowered his upper body, and almost touched the ground with his legs coiled like a snake.

Both hands strike simultaneously from both sides, one above and one below, targeting the throat above and the dantian below—a deadly move from the Snake Fist style—"Double Snakes Emerging from the Cave."

This move is not a feint; both attacks are real. No matter which way the opponent defends, the other way will succeed.

Ding Ye didn't defend himself, but instead took a step forward.

He stepped directly into the gap between Jia Zidan's legs with his left foot, his knee slightly bent inward, pushing Jia Zidan's lower body legs apart by an inch.

At the same time, he leaned forward, his right hand holding the pipe handle and pressing it against Jia Zidan's right wrist joint, while his left hand, palm facing out, pressed lightly against Jia Zidan's left shoulder socket.

Jia Zidan's entire upper body was pressed down by the force, and his legs were pinned to the ground by Ding Ye's knees, making him feel as if he were nailed to the ground.

He gritted his teeth and tried to break free, but Dingye's knee buckled inward by another half inch.

Jia Zidan felt a tingling and numb sensation in his inner thigh, and his lower body completely lost its balance. He leaned back and fell to the ground.

"Thank you for your concession."

Dingye withdrew his foot and put the pipe back in his mouth.

Jia Zidan sat on the ground, his face turning red and white in turns.

He had practiced Snake Fist for so many years and had never been defeated by this method before.

It's not about head-on confrontation, but about responding to each move and countering it, with every point of attack being preemptively blocked.

There's a feeling that even before he makes a move, his opponent already knows where he's going to strike next!