Chapter 71 Fighting Methods

Hu Ma was quite surprised the first time Erguotou told him about the rules of the Blood Food Gang's duels.

This was completely different from what he had imagined. How did it resemble a display of ferocity and courage?

Each side would send ten people, set a time and place, and then agree to meet here. In each round, the two sides would each send one person, drawing lots to decide who would call out the challenge first.

When it was their turn, someone from their side would step forward and call out the challenge, speaking politely and inviting someone from the other side to come up. They would do one thing and then ask the other side to do one, and the two sides would compete round after round until one side couldn't keep up or couldn't endure any longer, at which point they would lose.

The round that the Red Lantern Society lost was precisely because of a shousui ren (守歲人, night watchman).

That person was the manager of Gou'er Mountain, had been in the Red Lantern Society for seven or eight years, and was a well-known shousui ren.

In terms of reputation, he was even stronger than Wu Hong, the manager of Qing Stone Town.

His skills were greater than his opponent's, and because it was the Red Lantern Society's turn to call out the challenge, he was the one to present the first difficult problem. Originally, they were sure to win this round.

But unexpectedly, he first carried a jar of blood wine onto the stage and invited the people from the other side, "It's cold at night, I brought a jar of wine for you gentlemen to warm up. I wonder if anyone is in the mood to come up and have a drink with me, and have a good chat."

The wine in his jar was mixed with Black Tai Sui (黑太歲), extremely poisonous.

One of the Qingyi Gang's members came up, and the two sat down. He first took a big gulp and offered it to the other person.

The Qingyi Gang member knew how potent it was, took the jar, and didn't move for a long time. In the end, he hardened his heart and drank it down as well, his face turning green instantly. He didn't say a word for a long time.

Everyone watched nervously. If the Qingyi Gang member fell, they would win this round. But unexpectedly, after a long silence, the other person actually managed to withstand the fierce toxicity, but it was clear that he had lost half his life.

The manager of Gou'er Mountain was surprised, recognizing that the other person was also a shousui ren, but he didn't panic.

He had taken medicine to neutralize the toxicity of the wine beforehand, so the backlash he suffered was much lighter than the other person's. This gave him a great advantage.

The other person's face was already black, but he still smiled and said, "With wine but no food, it's not a proper feast!"

"Someone, heat up a pot of oil, I'll fry some meatballs for my brother to eat."

"..."

As he spoke, someone brought up a pot of oil, and another person brought up a basin of batter.

He scooped out clumps of batter from the basin and threw them into the oil pot, frying them until they were charred yellow. Then he rolled up his sleeves, reached in, picked them up one by one, and placed them on the plate in front of the Gou'er Mountain manager, inviting him to eat them as a snack with the wine.

At this point, the Gou'er Mountain manager still didn't take him seriously.

For shousui ren, those who had entered the path, picking money from the oil pot was their signature skill.

He simply glanced at it with a smile and said, "Radish filling? I like meat."

As he spoke, he directly performed a stunt, drawing his knife and chopping off his own arm, throwing it into the oil pot.

Those who didn't know what was going on were already pale with fright.

But unexpectedly, this was his special skill, his trump card.

Although he had not yet entered the fu (府, mansion) realm, he had been stuck at the shousui deng jie (守歲登階, ascending steps of night watch) realm for a very long time, and his cultivation was extremely deep. He had already learned the skill of detaching his limbs.

If his own limbs were chopped off, of course he wouldn't be able to grow them back. But he could detach an arm from other people, or from someone who had just died, and graft it onto himself. Then, he could use a secret art to bring it back to life, and it would be the same as his own.

Therefore, he said that he could detach not just an arm, but even both legs, and he was sure that the other person couldn't compete.

But he didn't expect that when the other person saw this, he only frowned slightly, borrowed a knife, and said with a smile, "I'll chip in a little too."

With a clench of his teeth, he also chopped off an arm and threw it into the oil pot.

The Gou'er Mountain manager knew at a glance that this person had not practiced the skill of detaching limbs, because his bone stubs were fresh. This meant that although this person had also revived his limbs, now that he had lost an arm, it was lost forever, and he could forget about growing it back.

More importantly, by adding this arm, he was just matching the bet, and he still had to raise the stakes.

Was a shousui ren going to give up both arms?

Even if he did, he still had his legs waiting. Let's see how long he could last.

But just as he was thinking this, the other person had already spoken with a smile, his face pale but still talking and laughing freely, "Originally, I should add another dish, but just two arms aren't enough to share..."

"Since you've made a move, I have to provide a dish, and I can't let you criticize me. How about I fry a couple of lanterns, and we'll each have one!"

As he spoke, he raised his knife again, gouged out both of his own eyes, and threw them into the oil pot.

"Swish!"

Looking at the other person's bloody, empty eye sockets, even the old manager of Gou'er Mountain's expression changed drastically.

His skills had not yet reached the point of refining his eyes, and even if they had, he only knew how to detach limbs, not how to replace eyes.

He couldn't compete with this move. He was calm on the surface, but he was already feeling some pressure in his heart.

Just at this moment, the person who had thrown two eyes into the oil pot was still smiling and saying, "Please, brother..."

"I can't see right now, so I'm counting on you to bring the dish over."

"..."

So the Gou'er Mountain manager hardened his heart and laughed loudly, "You're right, I haven't been attentive enough."

"If you can't see, then let's drink the soup, and you'll be able to feel where the dish is."

"I'll drink half the pot first!"

"..."

As he spoke, he stretched out his single hand, picked up the oil pot that was being scorched by the flames, brought it to his mouth, and gulped it down.

The hot oil splashed in with blood, making a sizzling sound, showing how high the temperature was. But relying on his refined internal organs, he stubbornly drank half the pot down, and then he placed the oil pot back on the fire in front of him, smiling and saying, "I left half the soup, so you can't say I'm too greedy."

"You can't possibly miss such a big pot, or should I help you bring it to your mouth?"

"So, please..."

"..."

Seeing this move, everyone on the Red Lantern Society side cheered, knowing that they were sure to win this round.

The other shousui ren clearly had inferior cultivation compared to the Gou'er Mountain manager, and was only relying on a burst of ferocity to endure. But with half a pot of hot oil in his stomach, he couldn't possibly endure it with just ferocity. It looked like the Gou'er Mountain manager could directly declare that they had won this round.

But unexpectedly, just as the other person's face was looking ugly and he was about to admit defeat, the Gou'er Mountain manager slowly spoke, and before he could finish the last sentence, he suddenly fell from his chair.

The people next to him exclaimed and rushed onto the stage, only to find that he was already dead.

Although he had refined his internal organs, he had clearly exhausted his limits and couldn't withstand half a pot of hot oil.

"It was just that little bit more..."

When Manager Xu talked about this, he was still shaking his head and sighing, "If he had just endured a little longer, the other person would have admitted defeat."

"Everyone could see that the person from the other side didn't dare to drink."

"But precisely because of that moment of distraction, Old Manager Yang fell to the ground."

"One died, one lived, and neither of them could say anything else. We lost this round that we were sure to win."

"..."

"..."

"What kind of demons and monsters are these?"

Although Hu Ma had heard Erguotou mention it, he didn't have these details. He felt his scalp tingling when he heard it.

What was this called fighting methods?

This was simply gambling with your life...

Manager Yang of Gou'er Mountain lost, and his life was gone. Didn't that offering from the Qingyi Gang also lose an arm and two eyes?

Moreover, he had endured that jar of Black Tai Sui wine, and his body might already have problems. It was hard to say whether he could recover. So, the two people who went on stage, one died and one was seriously disabled, and neither side benefited...

...No wonder Erguotou was so happy when he heard that Diguashao was coming.

If he hadn't run away, he might have run away as soon as he heard he had to go on such a stage.

"If that's the case..."

Hu Ma hurriedly said, "Then how could it be the turn of us newcomers?"

"Isn't it better to find those who are capable, since every item is fought with one's own special skills?"

"..."

"If you think that way, you still don't understand the trick."

Manager Xu waved his hand and sighed, "The difficulty of this fighting method lies in the rules of calling out the challenge."

"The two sides take turns calling out the challenge. Whoever calls out the challenge first gets to set the rules first, and naturally, the person setting the rules will first come up with a question that is beneficial to themselves. If the other person can't keep up, they lose the first round."

"So, when we fight, those who take the initiative to call out the challenge will find someone reliable with special skills, and strive to make the other person lie down or admit defeat in one round."

"As for when we're passive... it doesn't matter who we find."

"Either we send up a younger, more energetic person to show some ferocity and see if they can endure it."

"Or we admit defeat."

"..."

"Hehe, there's no such thing as admitting defeat."

At this time, Yang Gong took over the conversation and said, "If you go on stage, you can fail to meet the challenge, but you can't refuse to accept it."

"For example, if the other person brings a jar of poisonous wine, you can drink the poisonous wine and then lie down because you can't endure it. But if you don't drink it and directly admit defeat..."

"...How would the Maiden be satisfied? Even the brothers in the association would look down on you!"

"..."

Hu Ma understood when he heard this.

This kind of fighting method, to put it bluntly, whether you win or lose, the only thing that's too embarrassing is to be a coward.

This is also why all the selected managers are facing a formidable enemy, ready to lose their lives.

After all, going up once could easily cripple you.

"No wonder Erguotou was so happy when he heard that Diguashao was coming..."

But in this bizarre and terrifying narration, Hu Ma combined the information he knew and suddenly realized a key point in this kind of fighting method: "Calling out the challenge, calling out the challenge is the most important thing. If you know the other person's challenge in advance, you can win."

"Master Zheng Xiang is here..."

Just as he was thinking about this question, a cheerful voice suddenly rang out outside the door.

(End of Chapter)