Chapter 260.3: Release the Footage, Shock the World! (III)

Three months passed in the blink of an eye, and the Extreme Martial Dao Grand Tournament finally arrived.

By then, the capital of the Jade Dragon Kingdom had become a gathering place for unusual figures from all over the world. Some were renowned fighters, some possessed strange and highly specialized skills, and others had reputations that bordered on the legendary. Most had come to compete for the billion-gold prize, though foreign intelligence agents had inevitably slipped into the city as well.

When the tournament finally commenced, attention from around the world converged on the Jade Dragon Kingdom. Its broadcasts quickly rose to the top of the ratings, leaving every other program far behind. And the sheer size of the audience made it clear just how much interest the tournament had generated.

Lu Yuan, however, did not appear at the beginning. With far too many challengers, the tournament first required the participants to compete among themselves. Only the final ten would earn the right to challenge Lu Yuan directly.[1]

The preliminary rounds lasted an entire month before the ten finalists were finally decided. But fortunately, the competitors were unique enough to maintain viewership the entire month.

These people had come from different countries, different fighting traditions, and vastly different backgrounds, bringing all manner of bizarre techniques and unusual techniques into the arena. The variety made the matches entertaining enough to keep audiences watching throughout the month.

By the time the final ten challengers were decided, viewership had climbed to yet another record because everyone was excited to finally see the man who had started all of this: the founder of the Extreme Martial Dao, Lu Yuan.

At the largest Extreme Martial Dao Center in the capital, Senior Sister Xiang visited Lu Changsheng to report the final results.

"Master, the top ten challengers have been decided," said Senior Sister Xiang. "Which one would you like to face first?"

Lu Changsheng shook his head. "There's no need to choose. Have all ten challenge me together tomorrow."

Senior Sister Xiang stared at him in surprise. "All ten together?"

"Yes, all ten together," said Lu Changsheng flatly. "I don't have the patience to deal with them one at a time, and defeating all ten at once will also make a greater impression."

Lu Changsheng had never cared about proving himself against these challengers individually. Everything he had done so far, from releasing the videos to organizing the Grand Tournament and putting up a billion in gold, had been designed to make the entire world pay attention to the Extreme Martial Dao.

"When people see the ten strongest challengers in the tournament come at me together and still fail, there will be far fewer doubts about what the Extreme Martial Dao can achieve," continued Lu Changsheng. "Once the match is over, we'll release the training methods to the public for free."

Everything was working as he had planned. If he demonstrated its power before an audience of millions and then immediately gave everyone access to its training methods, countless people would naturally want to try it for themselves.

"Yes, Master," said Senior Sister Xiang. "I'll make the arrangements now."

After Senior Sister Xiang left, Lu Changsheng summoned his Status Panel.

[Status Panel]

Host: Lu Yuan

Extreme Martial Dao: Third Growth (52%)

It had been about five months since he broke through to Third Growth, and his progress had reached fifty-two percent. This worked out to roughly ten percent per month, and that was with him increasing the electric voltage used in his training and consuming large quantities of powerful tonics every day.

Despite all that, he knew his progress was slowing down. If the decline were to continue, he wouldn't be able to maintain ten percent a month much longer.

Fifty-two percent. Getting there, but still a few months from getting Third Growth to one hundred percent. More importantly, I have about a year left until the three-year deadline. I have to condense the Martial Dao by then.

Lu Changsheng could already sense that this secret world was approaching that point. A rudimentary form of the Martial Dao had emerged, proving that everything he had done so far was working. He was close to completing the Martial Dao, and tomorrow was crucial to determine whether the preparations he had been working towards all this time were enough.

The next day, tens of thousands of spectators packed the arena hosting the Extreme Martial Dao Grand Tournament, while countless more watched the broadcast from around the world.

The moment Lu Changsheng appeared, excitement swept through the stands.

"He's here! Lu Yuan, the founder of the Extreme Martial Dao!"

"He looks exactly like he did in the videos! He's so young."

"I heard he only created the Extreme Martial Dao two years ago. Back then, he was knocked out in the first round of a martial arts tournament and nearly beaten to death."

"And now, just two years later, he's become one of the most famous people in the world. Is the Extreme Martial Dao really that powerful?"

"We're about to find out."

By now, Lu Changsheng's accomplishments were known around the world. He was the founder of the Extreme Martial Dao Stream, the man who had killed Hong Chuan, the King of the Century. He was impervious to blades, could catch bullets barehanded, and could walk away unharmed from explosions.

Lu Changsheng walked toward the center of the arena. Facing him stood the top ten finalists; their expressions were serious, but beneath that caution was unmistakable eagerness.

Each of them wanted to be chosen to fight Lu Yuan first, as the reward could only be claimed once. Whoever defeated Lu Yuan first would take everything, and the tournament would effectively end the moment he lost. Hence, strength alone wouldn't be enough to win the fortune. They also needed the luck of being the first person Lu Yuan chose to fight.

Lu Changsheng swept his gaze across the ten finalists before him. "All ten of you, come at me together."

His words dropped the entire arena into dead silence.

After a while, someone finally spoke, "Did I hear that correctly? Lu Yuan wants to fight all ten at once?"

"You heard right. That's exactly what he said."

"Has he lost his mind? These ten fought through an entire month of matches to get here. Every one of them has something dangerous up their sleeve. Take the Bomb Maniac, for one. No one knows where he gets his explosives, but you simply can't defend against them. Every opponent he's faced has been blown to pieces without exception."

"And that short man dressed in black? Who knows how many guns he's carrying? I've seen him control twelve firearms at once with wires. It's ridiculous. Fight someone like that, and you'll be riddled with bullets before you can even get close."

"Then there's the woman. She carries all kinds of chemical reagents and mixes them into poisons and other concoctions on the spot. You could be dead before you even realized she'd done anything."

Everyone felt that Lu Yuan was acting too recklessly. Any one of the finalists was dangerous enough alone. Facing all ten simultaneously seemed less like confidence and more like suicide.

Lu Changsheng paid no attention to the noise around him. He stood calmly in the center of the arena with his hands behind his back.

"What are you waiting for?" he asked. "Come at me together."

The ten finalists exchanged looks, but none moved.

One of them finally voiced the problem. "If all ten of us attack together and you die, who gets the one billion reward?"

"Exactly. Do we split it ten ways?"

"I'm not splitting anything. I came here for the entire billion."

Lu Changsheng immediately realized that they were not afraid to fight him together. They simply did not want to divide the prize.

He sighed. "If you kill me, each of you will receive one billion in gold."

The ten finalists froze. That meant ten billion in total.

Money was never a problem. The Extreme Martial Dao Center could easily afford it, and Lu Changsheng simply did not care about it. If he really died here, his attempt to condense the Martial Dao in this secret world would have failed anyway. He would return to the Sacred Region, and whatever wealth that remained behind would be meaningless to him.

Of course, not that he was ever going to lose. He had already reached transcendence, and although these people wielded unusual weapons and methods, none of them posed a genuine threat.

"Fine," one of the finalists finally said. "Then we'll fight together."

With the matter of the reward settled, the others no longer objected. They stepped forward as one, eyes glinting with something close to hunger. And Lu Changsheng could sense that not a single one of them should be underestimated.

One of them had already begun attacking before the match officially started. The woman carrying the chemical reagents had been subtly mixing something while the others argued over the prize money.

Her movements were careful enough that an ordinary person would never have noticed her.

Lu Changsheng noticed, of course, but he simply did not care. After reaching Third Growth, his body had become immune to more than blades and bullets; poison held no power over it either. So, whatever she was preparing, he had no reason to stop her—it was all futile anyway.

One of the finalists looked at the host. "Can we begin?"

"Yes," the host called.

The host had barely finished answering when one of the ten finalists revealed a cruel grin and shouted, "Explode!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The explosion tore through the air, and flames rolled over Lu Changsheng in an instant.

1. Strange... I thought he could just take them all himself? ☜