Seven-City Martial Arts Tournament Officially Begins

In an instant, all the uniformed officers were left dumbfounded.

Ryan Ling, without the slightest hesitation, swung his blade again right in front of everyone, slashing straight at the Little Blades Gang boss.

With a sickening crunch, the boss's skull split open—the Little Blades Gang boss's head was cleaved clean in two, and he collapsed instantly to the ground.

"You, you..." Captain Leo Liu was stunned, as if this wasn't how the script was supposed to go.

"Stop stammering. If you don't get lost now, you'll be the next to die!" Ryan Ling sneered coldly, his blood-soaked blade pointing at Captain Leo Liu again.

At that moment, Captain Leo Liu didn't dare say another word. His face turned deathly pale, and he snatched up his severed arm and fled as if he'd seen a ghost.

Ryan Ling snorted coldly and stabbed his blade into the Welcome Grove stone stele by the roadside. He shouted harshly, "Wuzhou people, listen up! If you dare play tricks in front of me again, this is what happens. Anyone who's not afraid of dying, feel free to try!"

As soon as Ryan Ling finished speaking, all the lurking figures in the surrounding bushes instantly retreated—no one dared come near these murder-crazed lunatics.

A few hours later, in a golden luxury private room at Warlark Pavilion—Wuzhou's famous restaurant—several of Wuzhou's elite families and leaders gathered: the Dai brothers Walter and Harvey, Qiu family head Qiu Tiexin (both sworn enemies of Ryan Ling), Wuzhou Martial Arts Association president Darren Deng, and representatives of the Ouyang, Mo, Xiao, and Tiger clans. Nearly everyone at the table represented Wuzhou's martial core.

"Damn it, what are we waiting for? Those Harbor City bastards actually dare to act up right on our doorstep—why bother with the tournament? Let's just wipe them out now, it's only fair!" Clearly, the Welcome Grove incident had provoked Walter Dai again.

"That's right, these bastards are way too arrogant. Wuzhou's the birthplace of martial arts in East River State—who dares cause trouble on our turf during the tournament? These Harbor City scum can't be tolerated. Why wait for the tournament? Let's kill them now!" Qiu Tiexin, whose son was killed by Ryan Ling, naturally agreed.

But after the two finished, the others stayed silent, all eyes turning to President Darren Deng—a skinny man in his fifties who clearly commanded high respect among martial artists.

"Cough, cough!" After about four or five minutes, Darren Deng puffed out a mouthful of smoke, coughed heavily, and said, "Why are you two so impatient? You really think now's the right time to kill them? Brainless!"

Darren Deng glared fiercely at Qiu Tiexin and said, "You actually ordered the Little Blades Gang to block them at the highway, smashed Ryan Ling's sister's stall, and beat people up. If it were you, what would you do? You even tried to force them to kneel when entering the city—no wonder Ryan Ling killed people!"

After Darren Deng finished, Qiu Tiexin snorted and lowered his head, silent. Walter Dai's face flushed red, and he said nothing.

Mo Da, the Divine Abacus, who was best at smoothing things over, quickly smiled and said, "Enough. If we're going for big revenge, let's not play petty tricks. If we're going to fight, let's do it openly—Darren Deng already has a plan. Do you really think only you two could get Nate Ye involved? It had to be Darren Deng making the arrangements!"

Mo Da's words stunned Walter Dai, Harvey Dai, and Qiu Tiexin. The three had visited Nate Ye a few days earlier, but Nate's temper was strange—he'd agreed to join the tournament, but when Qiu Tiexin rashly mentioned killing Ryan Ling on stage for a big reward, Nate immediately flipped out and demanded to withdraw.

This left the three of them completely dumbfounded, and in the end they had no choice but to return home in defeat.

Seeing the three of them stunned, Mo Da respectfully glanced at Darren Deng and said, "Alright, just leave it to Darren Deng. He's already settled things with Nate Ye—the tournament is on. Most importantly, Darren and Logan Long, Hall Master of the Mystery Hall, have made all the arrangements. This time in the Seven-City Martial Arts Tournament, except for Harbor City, the other six cities are under our control. So, which do you think is better: assassinating them by shady means and being condemned by the martial world, or crushing them openly in the arena, reigniting Wuzhou's martial spirit and utterly smashing Harbor City?"

Hearing this arrangement, Walter Dai and the others nodded repeatedly, while the other families saluted Darren Deng. Clearly, Wuzhou's real power players had already set up a thorough trap, just waiting for Ryan Ling and his team to walk right into it.

"Now do you all understand? Small impatience ruins big plans—don't mess up the overall situation, got it?" Darren Deng snorted at the visibly shaken representatives, feeling especially smug inside.

"President Deng is wise—we'll follow your lead!" everyone responded in unison.

Time flew by. After two days' rest at the Harbor City Guild Hall in Wuzhou, the long-awaited Seven-City Martial Arts Tournament finally opened. This was East River State's grand martial arts festival. East River is divided into Jiangbei and Jiangnan, and this tournament is called Jiangnan's Number One Tournament. Not only do elite fighters from each city and county compete, but the audience is packed with provincial and city bigwigs.

Anyone who places in the tournament and gets noticed will lay a strong foundation for their future. Some martial artists are recruited as guest elders on the spot, or even directly enter national departments as important officials. Of course, this is also when the Azure Dragon Society scouts for new talent every year, so many fighters are determined to risk everything and shine in the arena.

This time, the tournament is still held at Wuzhou's largest stadium. The 100,000-seat Wuzhou Stadium was packed with 300,000 to 400,000 people—an unprecedented crowd. Not only were the seven cities' elite families and forces present, but many prominent Jiangbei families and even provincial capital groups came. The stands and walkways were packed black with people.

The rules for this tournament are simple: city teams face off, each of the seven cities picks opponents to spar with, and whoever wins the most matches is champion. The rules are almost unlimited—life and death are left to fate, making this a legal fight to the death, and thus highly compelling.

"Looks like all the other teams are here—why isn't the Harbor City team here yet?"

"That's right, maybe they're just too scared to show up."

"Very possible. Did you see? This year Wuzhou has top prodigy Nate Ye leading the team, and the other cities are packed with experts too. But look at Harbor City—aside from their captain Ryan Ling, who supposedly has some tricks, the rest are just a patchwork squad, basically here to get slaughtered!"

"Exactly. Honestly, it'd be smartest for that kind of team to just forfeit and withdraw early. Bottom-feeders will always be bottom-feeders—if they want to rise up, maybe wait for the next century!"

Right then, some Wuzhou spectators started shouting, their innate arrogance on full display.

Up on the main VIP platform, the Dai and Qiu families were starting to get anxious. If Harbor City really didn't show, all their careful plotting would be wasted with no one to humiliate.

But just then, a huge procession of people in suits came marching in, escorted by military and police at the exits. Four to five hundred people swept in, and as they formed up, a powerful voice rang out over the stadium.

"Harbor City battle team, present!"

As soon as the words were spoken, Ryan Ling, Warren Yuan, Lin Zhan and the others swaggered in, each dressed to the nines like celebrities making their grand entrance. Instantly, all the media cameras swung to capture the scene—even the stadium's giant LED screen flashed with their images.

"Seven-City Martial Arts Tournament—we're here!"