CHAPTER 459: CHAPTER 459 THE TRUTH

Li Ming collapsed, unconscious.

The entire crowd was frozen stiff.

Ye Chong, who had been jeering at Xu Ke with gusto, was dumbfounded.

Qin Jinghuan, who had watched Li Ming’s blood run, was stunned.

Qian Jun, who had just stood up intending to spar with Sikong Mao, was petrified.

And the most comical of all was Jin Hankang; his mouth, which had nearly split open with laughter, was now frozen solid.

What on earth was going on?

Even as Xu Ke sat down on the edge of the platform to rest, supported by Yuan Shang, the crowd still hadn’t snapped out of it.

Wasn’t Xu Ke the one who was hit? Why was it Li Ming who ended up unconscious, his Dantian pierced by Silver Needles? What the hell had just happened?

As Xu Ke was helped down, he looked toward Jin Hankang, his face pale and weak. "Elder Jin, you can announce the result now!"

Jin Hankang clenched his teeth, glaring at Xu Ke. "You, you..." He couldn’t believe it. Why did Xu Ke, who should have lost, win instead?

"Announce it," Xu Ke said indifferently.

As if throwing in the towel, Jin Hankang snorted coldly, turned his back, and refused to announce the winner.

Mo Yunchang had no choice but to take the microphone. "The victor is Xu Ke!"

But even after his announcement, the arena remained dead silent. They found it hard to believe what had just happened right before their very eyes.

"Go check on Li Ming’s condition."

The first to react was Qian Jun, who immediately ordered Zhao Xiangping and Su Ximing to go up and check on him. Qian Jun’s face was ashen, and his cheeks burned with shame.

He had been so certain Xu Ke would lose that he’d already stood up. And what was the result? Was he now supposed to go collect his subordinate’s corpse?

Zhao Xiangping immediately ran to Li Ming’s side to check his condition.

But Xu Ke, sitting on the edge of the platform and resting, just smiled faintly. "No need to check. His Dantian is ruined."

Zhao Xiangping’s face darkened instantly.

Su Ximing, arriving right behind him, yelled angrily, "What’s it to you? Shut your mouth!" He then sneered, "You think your Dantian isn’t ruined?"

He had seen with his own eyes Li Ming’s fist connect with Xu Ke’s Dantian. It was well known that because the Dantian had to store True Qi, it couldn’t be tempered through physical conditioning, making it the most vulnerable part of a Martial Artist—even more so than the groin. That is why some Martial Artists could develop an "iron groin," but none could develop an "iron Dantian." Even their boss wouldn’t dare to block a punch with his Dantian.

Xu Ke, however, had taken the hit. If he wasn’t dead, his Dantian was surely ruined!

Yet Xu Ke just smiled. "How do you know my Dantian is ruined?"

He had indeed taken a punch from Li Ming. But as for whether it hit his Dantian, well, Xu Ke couldn’t make any guarantees to Su Ximing and the others.

"Don’t bother with him. He’s just playing mind games; this guy is finished!" Zhao Xiangping told Su Ximing not to argue with Xu Ke, his own expression awful.

He had just confirmed that Li Ming was, indeed, ruined.

That made two people ruined at Xu Ke’s hands! These were young geniuses meticulously selected by Wong Ting, talents who could have dominated any city. And just like that, two of them were casually eliminated... The losses were devastating!

"Take Li Ming back," Su Ximing said grimly, bending down. The two of them then carried Li Ming away.

By now, the spectator area had finally come back to life. The people were like ants on a hot pan, whispering and discussing the events fervently. They were all on their feet, craning their necks to see if Xu Ke was truly crippled or not. Moreover, they didn’t understand how Xu Ke had managed to turn defeat into victory... It was simply miraculous!

Unfortunately, Xu Ke was busy with something else at the moment.

"Vice Alliance Leader Yuan, do me a favor."

"What?" Yuan Shang was taken aback.

"Have someone collect all the hidden weapons from the platform. I want them." Xu Ke coveted the quality of Li Ming’s arsenal.

But Yuan Shang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. "What do you want those for? The Martial Alliance Treasury has a much better batch of Gale Darts. We can go get them once you’ve recovered."

Seeing that better ones were available, Xu Ke let the matter drop, no longer fixated on the hidden weapons on the platform. After all, he was only one person and could only carry so many hidden weapons.

Now that better ones were available, there was naturally no need for the inferior ones!

At that moment, Chen Xiong also approached and whispered, "Xu Ke, how are you?"

"I’m fine," Xu Ke smiled.

"Really?" Yuan Shang was skeptical.

"Really!" Xu Ke nodded firmly.

But just then, Chen Xiong suddenly said, "We of Tianhai forfeit this afternoon’s match."

The afternoon match was against Qian Jun. They couldn’t let him fight!

Xu Ke’s eyes widened. "No way! I have to fight."

He’d gone so far as to forcefully reverse his True Qi to make himself vomit blood for a more realistic performance, and now they wanted to forfeit? Wouldn’t that mean he’d bled for nothing?

"How can you fight in this state?" Yuan Shang scolded angrily. "Don’t take the risk!"

"Vice Alliance Leader Yuan is right," Chen Xiong nodded. "Besides, our original goal was only to place in the top three. You’ve already achieved that."

"Listen to me," Xu Ke said hurriedly. "I really can defeat Qian Jun, trust me. I swear I won’t gamble with my life. If I see I can’t win, I’ll surrender."

Chen Xiong and Yuan Shang shook their heads in unison. "No."

"Qian Jun is much stronger than you think," Chen Xiong added. "He won’t give you a chance to surrender."

Seeing this, Xu Ke grew frustrated and suddenly said, "Do you remember that act I put on when the Ye and Huang Families kidnapped me? The trick where I feigned death?"

"If I can’t win this afternoon, I’ll just feign death to concede the match. How about that?" he proposed. "Once I’m ’dead,’ surely you two can find a way to stop Qian Jun from desecrating my ’corpse,’ right?"

He could only try to bluff his way through.

"This..." Hearing Xu Ke’s proposal, the two men hesitated.

"If you forfeit the match for me, do you really want me to be unable to hold my head high in front of Wong Ting for the rest of my life? I want to fight this battle so I can face Qi Fu without shame. Retreating without a fight... a man’s pride would be gone!" Xu Ke continued his earnest plea, this time appealing to their sense of a man’s lifelong dignity.

Seeing this, Yuan Shang and Chen Xiong finally sighed. "Alright..."

"Then I’ll go inform the match officials," Yuan Shang conceded.

Xu Ke nodded with a broad smile. "That’ll do!"

"But you have to promise, your life comes first. If things go south, surrender immediately," Yuan Shang stressed, still shaken by the earlier events.

Xu Ke nodded seriously.

Then, Yuan Shang hesitated again. "I want to ask you something..."

"What?" Xu Ke was startled.

Yuan Shang voiced the question that was on everyone’s mind. "When exactly did you plant so many Silver Needles in Li Ming’s Dantian? How did you turn defeat into victory?"

At this, Xu Ke smiled. His peripheral vision caught someone eavesdropping not far away, so he deliberately raised his voice.

"It’s like this... I have a secret technique involving hidden weapons. When Li Ming’s Silver Needles rained down, it looked like I was dodging, but I was actually stealing some of them.

"Then, when he closed in, I took his punch as an opportunity to plant those same needles in his Dantian.

"After that, his defeat was guaranteed!"