ADAPTED FROM THE WEBCOMIC YI REN ZHI XIA
THIS IS A WORK OF FICTION
ALL ACTIONS AND ABILITIES PERFORMED SHOULD NOT BE IMITATED
Nan.
What?
FENG SHAYAN, JIA ZHENGLIANG
The first match,
Feng Shayan versus Jia Zhengliang.
Contestants, please enter the arena.
Hello, son?
Mom, you sure have great timing.
Why did you choose to call me now?
Have you eaten? Don't just eat meat, okay?
I eat fruit and vegetables every day.
-I don't just eat meat. -Hey.
You have to eat a balanced diet.
-A balanced diet, okay? -What?
-Okay. -Don't just eat meat.
-I don't. -And remember.
Never use the hotel's toothbrushes. They're unhygienic.
I didn't use them.
Mom, it feels like you think
I can't survive without you.
-I'm just worried. -Hey.
What? What did you say?
Can we start now?
Let's end this quickly.
I'll show Dad my true capability.
You've never been so far away in your life.
-I'm worried. -I can survive.
What about your meals?
You're wasting my time.
Can we start now?
Do you want to kill me?
You can punch me, but don't break my phone.
Do you know that my mother will overthink things
if I hang up on her?
She'll think I'm hurt or hiding things from her.
She thinks the worst
whenever I'm not by her side.
This…
Give me your phone.
Come on.
Are you insane?
Who brings a phone into a fight?
I do!
My mom will think I'm hurt if I don't answer her call.
Well, forget it.
Can anyone lend me their phone?
Kid,
here.
Thank you.
Catch.
Thank you, sir.
Don't mention it.
Mom.
My son, why did you hang up?
-Why is he on the phone again? -Why is he on the phone again?
-Are you in a match? -Yes.
Don't get yourself hurt, okay?
You must be careful.
Stop nagging. My opponent is waiting for me.
Will the match begin soon?
Yes.
Is the opponent strong?
It's a girl. She's hard to deal with.
Is she pretty?
Pass the phone to her.
Maybe I can get you a wife.
No way.
I'm not a kid. Don't do that.
Son, be a good boy.
I'm not two years old. I'm over 20 now.
-It's a chance. -Fine.
Hurry. Pass it to her.
Hurry up!
Hey, my mother needs to speak with you.
Are they dating now?
Hello, girl.
I'm Liangliang's mother.
Hello, ma'am.
Do you have a boyfriend?
What do you think about my son?
I know he's not obedient.
Yes. Boys mature much later than girls.
He might still be in his rebellious phase.
That's right.
But my son is excellent in other aspects.
Consider him, okay?
Visit the Jia Village
when the match is over, okay?
Okay, ma'am.
Your mother told me to all-out destroy you
so you can head home earlier.
Am I even your biological son?
I'm finally out of the village for once.
My son, be a good boy.
Let the lady win.
Show her your gentlemanly demeanor.
Win her heart and bring her home.
All right, I got it.
-I know. Bye. -Remember, don't use your full strength!
Can we begin now?
It's time for you to admit defeat after wasting so much time.
Your matchmaking partner is still waiting for you.
I can't just return home like this.
My next match
will be against Feng Baobao.
I have to avenge my brother.
If you truly wish to seek revenge against Feng Baobao,
you should try your best instead.
These two are quite hard to deal with.
But it's not like I don't stand a chance.
Ms. Bao.
Can you truly do that in secret
without leaving any trace?
I've done this plenty of times.
You don't need to worry.
I'm sorry for the trouble, then.
Although it's a little unkind,
we should let Taoist Wang stay in the pit for some time.
Leave it to me.
Let's go.
Aren't you watching the match?
The winner will be up against you.
I'm fine with either of them.
Neither can defeat me anyway.
I'm going to find Wang Ye.
Indeed.
You're no longer young, but your parents dictate everything.
You don't look cool enough.
Having a capable parent
is an easy way to live.
After all, they're more capable than you and I.
Is there something wrong with taking the path they laid for you?
You should listen to your mother.
As for Feng Baobao,
I'll deal with her for you.
Ms. Feng,
I truly don't wish to injure a girl like you.
For a girl,
you're already amazing
for being able to injure me to this extent.
Feng Baobao awaits in the next match.
I have to confront her myself.
I've already told you before.
Feng Baobao is my prey. Don't steal her from me!
This lady is awesome.
It seems like my sister is serious about fighting Jia Zhengliang.
I've never seen her being this serious before.
Ms. Feng, you're truly amazing.
It's my first time using all 12 flying knives
in a one-on-one match.
It seems like you don't intend to listen to your mother
and head home, do you?
I was talking about useless stuff just now.
I was sloppy.
I'm sorry.
I was sloppy too.
I'm sorry.
Do you wish to hurt me
with my own knife?
Shayan,
that's enough.
Your dad has already spoken.
Hurry and admit defeat.
Admit defeat?
It's too early for that.
Dad, this time, I won't listen to you.
I will never admit defeat.
This match alone
is worth the ticket price!
It's full offense versus full defense.
They're using their full strength.
What a satisfying match!
It feels like both of them
are betting on everything they have
to avoid defeat.
It seems
that the match won't end
unless one of them falls.
Shayan!
Look at how worried your dad is.
Just admit defeat.
This is my match.
I make the call here.
Shall we continue?
Bring it on.
She's expanding her qi aura to such a wide area.
This should allow her
to detect my knives' trajectories better
within the range.
If so, let's give it a try.
Like a patina,
I'm coating all my flying knives with a special qi.
At this moment,
my Deity-Slaying Knives
have close to zero friction.
My next technique
might not be suitable for sparring.
Cut the crap.
UNIVERSE ENIGMA
Shayan!
And the Jia boy! Listen to me!
Stop right now!
What happened just now?
Shayan!
They…
They fell at the same time.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Seven.
Eight.
Nine.
You should've listened to your mother
and gone home.
You didn't listen to your dad either.
Say, who will win the match
if we keep this up?
Why are you doing this?
Even if you defeat me,
you won't be fit to fight in the next match.
Even so, I'm still the winner.
The winner is
Feng Shayan.
I see.
So that's the case.
I thought you dispersed your qi
to detect my knives' trajectories.
So I was wrong.
Actually, you can bridge space, right?
My flying knives were extremely fast in the end.
But you didn't dodge them.
Some of the knives
went through the space you bridged
and attacked me instead.
The space where your palm was touching
was the entrance of such space.
You can form a space at will
within the qi aura you dispersed.
After that, you appeared together with the knives
and injured me.
Am I right?
It seems like you didn't get beaten up for nothing.
That's the power of my Universe Enigma.
However, I was just lucky.
Your flying knives were extremely fast.
I didn't expect you to go easy on me.
I don't understand it at all.
I just feel
like I can't bear to hurt you.
Do you wish to hurt me
with my own knife?
Stop right there!
God, please help me!
Cut the crap!
You've wasted all of Zhuge Qing's efforts!
-What trickery have you used? -Stop right there!
RECORDING
Zhang Chulan, the situation has changed.
Wang Ye is being pursued by other people.
Should I bury all of them?
RECORDING
Stop running!
Where did he go?
Where's that fool?
He's such a fast runner!
Over there!
Stop running!
Gosh!
What kind of martial arts do they practice?
They have such great stamina.
They pursued me for half a day.
It's finally quiet now.
Shayan, I'm here to visit you.
Xingtong?
What are you doing here?
Is Mount Longhu this tight on resources?
Are you two sharing a room?
Ms. Feng, are you okay?
Mr. Feng, don't just stand around.
Go and wash the fruits I brought for her.
How about this? I'll wash them.
What fruit do you want?
Ask him.
Mom, listen.
When I used all 12 of my Deity-Slaying Knives,
the Feng girl was flustered.
But of course, you know
that your son does cherish fine ladies.
How could I injure her?
You know me.
So…
Of course, I admitted defeat
in the end.
She's a girl after all.
Everyone is busy now.
I'll hang up first.
Forget it. Just ignore him.
No, don't. I was just bragging to her.
If not, my mom will be worried.
Let me do it.
Are you feeling better now, Shayan?
Dad, I'm much better.
Both Xingtong and Chulan are here.
I've almost recovered fully.
I'm fine.
Chairman Feng,
Mr. Feng won the match beautifully today.
I was just lucky.
Zang Long's prediction of Xingtong's success odds
is higher than Zhang Lingyu's now.
His odds of winning the contest are high now.
Everyone thought that I was a master when I used Dispatch of Detained Spirits.
But in reality,
I didn't collect that many powerful Q spirits.
I have to return Mr. Liu's spirit
in a few days.
Chairman Feng, are you sure this is okay?
The world is at peace now.
No one would attempt such lawless behaviors
besides Sinister Pleasure.
I permitted Xingtong to use Dispatch of Detained Spirits.
Mr. Lu also used his Infinite Heavenly Talisman.
In this era,
there's no need to hide the Eight Supremes.
Anyway,
Xingtong, you did a great job today.
Thank you, Dad.
Chulan,
are you confident about tomorrow's match?
Wang Ye
defeated Zhuge Qing flawlessly.
Chairman Feng, I suddenly remember that I have something to do.
Let me make a phone call.
The Huangyang shoulder pole Is soft and flexible
Sisters and brothers
Carrying the rice grains to Liuzhou
Ms. Bao, how is your progress?
Are you done?
Look at the time.
Don't worry.
I promise that you won't see him tomorrow.
Did you dig that pit for me?
You shouldn't bury people alive.
Let's talk this over, okay?
Why are you pouring water into the pit?
Once the ratio of water to mud reaches a certain number,
the mud will stick to the body completely.
It'll be very comfortable.
Besides, watery mud like this
will produce a suction force
that can strip you of your weird power.
It's called Tai Chi, right?
Anyway, you won't be able to escape.
You're something else.
Not really. I'm just used to doing this.
I'll adjust the height
and make sure your head is visible.
What a drag.
It seems like I'll need to escape by using my skills.
Gather my qi.
Chaos Golden--
I'm sorry about that.
I ate too much radish.
Chaos Golden Space Rip.
What's going on?
It felt weird for a second.
Come on, sisters
Let's go to Liuzhou
Gen, burrow like the earth dragon.
This is bad. He ran away.
Boulder Toss!
Thanks, miss.
I learned a lot from you.
18 Formidable Ways.
What?
What kind of martial art is that?
Chaos Golden Space Rip doesn't work on her.
Boulder Toss can't trap her either.
Who exactly is this jinx?
This girl is so hard to shake off!
Qian, diversion.
Dazzling Flowers!
That doesn't work either!
This wouldn't have happened if I had stayed on the mountain!
What a shame that I only have one of these lifesavers left!
Incense of Diversion!
This will surely work, right?
Chief Celestial Taoist is here to spectate the match
because Zhang Chulan is his grand-disciple.
Of all the matches to spectate,
you two
chose to spectate this one.
Is it because someone is jealous of Qimen Manipulation
used by that young Taoist from Mount Wudang?
This is nothing to be embarrassed about.
Forget about the people here.
Everyone who is here at the Outsider Martial Arts Contest
is jealous of him.
If Zhang Chulan
did inherit his grandfather's Qi Apotheosis,
that means this will be a match
between two of the Eight Supremes.
Wang Ye of Mount Wudang,
please enter the arena immediately.
Wang Ye, enter the arena immediately if you hear this.
Zhuge Qing, that Taoist spent so much effort to defeat you.
But now, he's forfeiting to Zhang Chulan.
He won because he is better than me.
Now, he is free to decide whether he wants to win or lose here.
Where's Baobao?
Xu San,
do you still not get it?
Look at that shady look on Zhang Chulan's face.
I'm sure Ms. Bao is doing her work now.
Ms. Bao is amazing indeed.
Wang Ye is absent from the match.
The winner is…
Incense of Diversion, dispel!
Are you still at it?
Ma'am,
don't you have anything else on your mind besides burying me alive?
Look at where you are!
The contestant is here.
Miss,
please leave the arena.
Zhang Chulan, I messed it up.
Ms. Bao, that's fine.
Leave the rest to me.
At first, I thought
she was another one of Zhuge Qing's fangirls.
But something felt off about her.
Later on, I realized
that she was wearing NDT's uniform, just like you.
So she's your hired thug.
Zhang Chulan, good for you.
Coward,
you're pretty good at this.
Wang Ye,
we can delay this match.
Just tell us what you have encountered.
Celestial Taoist Mansion will uphold justice for you.
I'm fine.
Let's resume the match.
All right.
Begin the match.
Get me some food.
I've been running all night.
I'm starving.
I haven't had any steamed buns in days.
Did you get knocked in the head?
Look at where you are.
If you don't wish to pursue the matter,
begin the match.
You can talk later.
We're competing.
The contest doesn't state that we have to compete by fighting.
We're Taoists, not warriors.
Can't I just engage him
in an eating contest?
Fine, Chief Celestial Taoist.
I'll head back and tell Grandmaster
that Mount Wudang's disciples can't get any food at Mount Longhu.
Rongshan.
Stop arguing with that mushroom head.
Are there any buns? Feed him to death.
Don't let him complain to his grandmaster about me.
-Yes, Chief Celestial Taoist. -Okay.
I'm sorry for the trouble.
Prepare the same
for Zhang Chulan as well.
Don't just stand there.
Eat.
If not, I'll kill you in one blow.
All right.
Baobao, this is rare.
I never expected you to fail.
Even Baobao can't deal with him.
Zhang Chulan is in trouble this time.
Baobao,
what's on your mind?
I need to improve my workflow.
I have to prevent my victims from utilizing their qi
after knocking them out.
Then I'll bury them.
Enough.
Stop thinking about burying people.
Go and get changed.
Taoist Wang, you haven't told me
why you came to Mount Longhu.
Enhance Hearing.
Good question.
As for the reason I came here,
I cannot explain it to you in just a few sentences.
Zhang Chulan,
do you know what divination is?
I don't.
Let me tell you the basic concept for now.
The past cannot be changed.
However, the future can be changed.
In reality,
even the best sorcerer
cannot see the past.
They can only predict a few future possibilities.
Even so, it's intolerable by the course of nature.
So divination alone
is not beneficial to sorcerers themselves.
And the damage it will cause
depends on how much the world will be changed
by the information obtained through divination.
For example, if I predict the number of the next jackpot prize,
the damage will be minuscule
because it only changes the candidate
of another potential upstart.
However, before this,
I made a divination
about this contest and you
when I was on Mount Wudang.
I almost died from getting a vague picture
regarding your future.
Actually, whatever happens to you all has nothing to do with me.
No matter how terrible the world ends up,
I can keep myself and my family safe.
That's why I shouldn't be here.
But why did I come here?
There are two main reasons.
First, my absence would severely affect
Chief Celestial Taoist's and his sect's reputation.
I respect Chief Celestial Taoist.
I don't want that.
Second,
I came here
to provide you with an extra choice.
A choice for you to give up.
Give up?
Do you want me to give up on inheriting Tianshidu?
That's not it.
It doesn't matter
what happens in the contest.
The choice I'm providing you with
is the choice to give up on seeking the truth.
That way, you will get what you most desire.
Taoist Wang, stop joking.
What's bad about seeking the truth?
That's exactly what I most desire.
You do desire the truth.
But you also desire to have a car, a house, and a wife.
It's justifiable that you desire all of these.
However, once you fulfill one of your desires,
you will proceed to pursue the next.
So it's not a case of unfulfilled desires.
It's a case of having too many desires to pursue.
That's the reason
people forget what they most desire.
The thing that I'm talking about
is something you desire but cannot attain.
But once you attain it,
you're willing to give up everything else for its sake.
That is what is worth being called your greatest desire.
You're just pretentious.
We're strangers.
I don't need you
to tell me my greatest desire!
Face it with genuineness,
and you shall obtain enlightenment.
Approach it with genuineness,
and inner peace shall be achieved.
Taoist Wang,
what is that?
The Peace Mantra.
"Inner peace shall be achieved"?
That's great.
It sounds simple enough.
But it cannot be achieved that easily.
So you have to give up something else
in order to attain it.
I think I get the gist of what you're saying.
You're saying
that if I continue my investigation,
the world might develop
in a bad direction.
Taoist Wang,
I'm sure I'm not the only factor in this chaotic future, right?
We're not related by any means.
You wouldn't get involved
in this mess for my sake.
Wang Ye.
Do you know me?
This is related to another concept.
I call it the weight of fate.
This world is moving every second.
The sum of all individual changes
represents the change of the world.
A fossilized stone changed the world.
By consuming these preserved vegetables,
I'm also a part of the changes that occur in the world.
However, individual changes
affect the change of the world differently.
Some people rack their brains their whole lives
but can't achieve anything.
Some people turn the world upside down
from a single thought.
That's the ratio of the weight of fate.
And you, Zhang Chulan,
hold a high ratio of that weight.
Your choice
will change the fates of many people.
Let's assume what you said was true.
Taoist Wang, I have a question for you.
You could've stayed out of this entirely.
However, you chose to persuade me.
Does that mean you also didn't choose the fate that is best for you?
Don't touch it!
Remember to stop the man I was.
Do not let him find out the truth.
That's right.
I don't need to divine anything to know.
This doesn't benefit me in any way.
Wang Ye, beat him up!
We're not here to see you chat!
-Beat him up! -Beat him up!
They came all the way here just to have a meal and chat.
Zhuge Qing, you actually lost to this freak.
It's more than just me.
What do you mean?
Marquis's Qimen lost.
-Beat him up! -Beat him up!
I can't eat anymore.
What do you think?
Zhang Chulan,
can you make your decision now?
Ms. Bao,
you gave me
the warmth of a family that I never had.
Grandpa!
GRANDFATHER ZHANG XILIN
Ms. Bao, it will be fine.
You will have what I have too.
Chulan,
by participating in the Outsider Martial Arts Contest,
you can help Wu
to find her past.
I'll entrust Wu
to you now.
You should stop eating
when you're full.
Out of all the choices,
why did you choose the worst one?
It is what I want to do.
Whatever the outcome is,
I will bear the responsibility alone.
Do you know what responsibility it is?
Do you think you can bear it?
I'm not just doing this
for my own sake.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry for letting you down,
Taoist Wang.
You're too courteous.
I'm here to provide you with a choice,
not to make the choice for you.
Wang Ye,
where are you going?
Don't you see his empty plate?
He has already won.