Chapter 72: The pinnacle of Zhao Tiezhu’s life
Matches in the vast wilderness did not have many rules. The way it proceeded was simple; a person will stay on the stage and he would be attacked by others in a one to one fashion. Whoever had the capability, could go up.
Eventually when no one went up on stage, then the person standing in the arena would win a spot. He would then be able to take a wooden board that symbolized his victory.
Although such a system might sound chaotic, where it was possible two similarly-matched warriors might have a brutal match, or by tag-teaming the warrior hoarding the stage till he ran out of energy, but the people of the warrior preparation camp did not bother to think too deeply into that. Simple and rough was their style.
Originally, neither Yao Yuan nor Lian Chengyu could be bothered with this meaningless matches. Yao Yuan had given Zhao Tiezhu the authority to decide on the rules, but for a boor like Zhao Tiezhu, was it possible for him to come up with reasonable and fair rules? If the rules were too complicated, the people competing wouldn’t understand.
When the match began, Zhao Tiezhu was first on the stage!
He was unable to reel in his patience, for he had waited long for this opportunity where he could display his hidden strength.
The arena was ten feet wide. Zhao Tiezhu stood in the middle of the arena and began making poses to showcase his muscles, “Come! Who wants to spar with me?”
Zhao Tiezhu began shouting. Likewise, the onlookers began shouting too.
They did not expect that it would begin with an expert duel. Zhao Tiezhu was famous, together with his high profile way of doing things, everyone knew that Zhao Tiezhu was one of the top ten experts in the warrior preparation camp.
“Hehe, Brother Zhao, I’ll spar against you!” A strong man jumped into the arena. His surname was Sun, and was of average strength in the warrior preparation camp. He was not Zhao Tiezhu’s match, but he was on good terms with Zhao Tiezhu. He was a pal who could share in the meat with Zhao Tiezhu on the occasional successful hunt.
He could tell that Zhao Tiezhu wanted to demonstrate, so he had went on stage to complement him.
The people of the warrior preparation camp had trained together for a long period, so all of them knew each other’s standing. They knew that Sun knew he would not be within the top nine spots, so he might as well give Zhao Tiezhu a favor.
“Haha, good, Brother Sun, come on!” Sun and Zhao Tiezhu both had aggressive attitudes. In the arena of the vast wilderness, there was no messy etiquette. The match began once you came into the arena!
Since everyone was watching, the both of them fought with their best.
The members of the warrior preparation camp indeed had large strength. As for fighting skills and techniques, then that was too much. Their sparring was similar to a Hong Kong action film, where the motions were slow, punches always landed and out of nowhere, they would grab each other in a twist.
Sun was not Zhao Tiezhu’s match even before his power had increased. Hence, in a few rounds, Zhao Tiezhu had grabbed his waist, pinning him down in the arena.
The two had fought without any style for as they fought, they realized all the fist techniques and stances they had learned before were not easy to use. In the end, grabbing each other and rolling on the ground was most pragmatic!
Whoever had the greater strength won.
This was also the logic of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. In the popular mixed-martial arts competitions like the UFC in America, the person who was able to twist the arm or crush the other party’s neck would obtain victory, albeit the awkward looking moves.
“Good!” The audience shouted. Although Zhao Tiezhu’s movements were not elegant, but to the people of the Lian tribal clan where they would be excited to see wrestling, this was great pleasure to the eyes.
After Sun, another person went up on stage to spar with Zhao Tiezhu but also lost to him.
After two matches, Zhao Tiezhu status was even better for the more he fought, the more courage he gained.
“Haha, who else is coming up?” shouted Zhao Tiezhu glowing. It was as if he had drank a jar of rice wine.
The people could tell that Zhao Tiezhu would obtain one of those warrior spots today.
“Brother Zhao, let me have a shot with you,” a man jumped up the stage and said with a low muffled voice.
When this person went on-stage, it immediately drew cheers.
“It’s Zhang Dali! Zhang Dali was naturally born strong. At fifteen, he could lift a 200 lb rock weight. It’s unknown how strong Zhang Dali is now!”
In the Lian tribal clan, the names of the leading members of the warrior preparation camp were also widely known.
When Zhang Da Li could lift 200 lbs of rock weights at fifteen, he had became famous in the Lian tribal clan.
There was a high chance Zhang Dali would be among the nine selected ones.
With Zhang Dali and Zhao Tiezhu, this match of strong versus the strong caused the crowd to erupt.
“Dali, haha, good! I’ve long wanted to spar with you, come!” Zhao Tiezhu eyes lit up. A year ago, he was weaker than Zhang Dali by a bit, but this year he had a substantial change in his strength. He had been yearning to find a strong opponent to test his strength out!
Zhang Dali leaped onto the stage and was separated from Zhao Tiezhu by three yards. Without any etiquette, they rushed towards each other with a roar.
Both men were stout, so it was as if two bulls charging towards each other.
“Peng!” Zhao Tiezhu and Zhang Dali collided into each other without any gaudy display. People could hear the sounds of flesh and bond colliding, scaring them white.
Such a collision if it directed onto their bodies would have broken their borns.
The battle between Zhao Tiezhu and Zhang Dali was obviously much more aggressive than Sun’s battle from before.
Both men’s strength were at about seven hundred pounds more than twice a tier one male. Such a disparity in strength ensured that even if a dozen tier one men attacked Zhao Tiezhu, Zhao Tiezhu would still be able to easily down them.
“Tiezhu well played!” In the crowd, Lian Cuihua was shouting at the top of her voice. As she had recently been roped in by Lian Chengyu to do some “job”, she had been close with Zhao Tiezhu, and soon they were an item.
Thinking of the Zhao Tiezhu’s vigorous prowess from the previous night, Lian Cuihua could not help feeling a lustful desire.
Hearing the people cheer and with Lian Cuihua’s support, Zhao Tiezhu seemed to gain some inexplicable strength and began lashing out a storm. But, Dali did not wish to be outdone; with his huge strength, he still had a big advantage.
The essence of a typical fight among the members of warrior preparation camp was a battle of strength. This was also why lifting stone rollers was their leading performance and the way to gain bragging rights.
After wrestling on the ground for a long time, Zhao Tiezhu finally managed to suppress Zhang Dali. He was held down and could no longer move.
The main reason why Zhao Tiezhu was able to suppress Zhang Dali was due to him eating lots of herbs causing his fitness to increase along with prolonged stamina.
He had won this match due to his stamina!
Zhang Dali had been suppressed till he was a bit asphyxiated. He did not understand how Zhao Tiezhu was able to be like a tireless bull, how did he have an inexpendable amount of energy?
It has to be said that although the average member of the warrior preparation camp had great strength, their arms would still be sore after lifting a 500 lb stone roller eight times. It was not easy to be like Zhao Tiezhu, who become stronger the more he fought.
Zhang Dali gasped for air as he asked, “You…you can’t have broken through to the Vigor realm, have you?”
“Hahaha, almost!” Zhao Tiezhu began to brag. Most of the members of the preparation camp were in the Valiant realm, and Zhao Tiezhu was far from the Vigor realm. How could it be easy to be at the stage of Breaths in like a Snake, Out like an Arrow?
Zhao Tiezhu just had a bit more endurance for if he had stayed in a poor place like the Lian tribal clan, he might never ever be able to break through to the Vigor realm.
The surrounding commoners knew what the Vigor realm meant. After all, the Kingdom’s selection had been known for a long time, and Lian Chengyu had long announced what was the Purple Blood realm.
Under the false information by the ruling class of the Lian tribal clan, the people had all believed that Lian Chengyu had entered the Purple Blood realm. To the ignorant commoners, they felt that the Purple Blood realm was as powerful as a deity in Heaven.
If Zhao Tiezhu was said to be a bull, then Lian Chengyu was a terrifying desolate beast. The gap between them was heaven and earth.
The more they felt Lian Chengyu’s strength, the more hope they had that Lian Chengyu would bring them into the city. At the same time, they felt that by following Lian Chengyu, it would be an honor to become a servant under him. In this chaotic world, people did not think about freedom. To those who could not fill their stomachs, freedom was an extravagance and a joke. All they wanted was to follow a good master, and to be satisfied with a meal.
“Hahaha!” Zhao Tiezhu broke into a laughter. He was very pleased with the present scene. He also knew that there was no way he would be able to pass the Kingdom’s selection, but to be able to show off, Zhao Tiezhu felt like he had reached the pinnacle of his life.