The burly man defeated, the little胖子 rested for a while and began to fight the second one.
In less than an hour, the little胖子 had knocked down the remaining three people on the stage.
Long Xiao observed that the little胖子's strength was at most at the intermediate Earth realm. The reason he could win was by leveraging his short stature.
When the little胖子 came down, Zheng Dongyang asked, "Hu Lei, how many percent sure are you of winning against this little胖子?"
"One hundred percent, he is no match for me," Long Xiao said calmly.
Seeing Long Xiao's confident demeanor, Zheng Dongyang felt annoyed. If Long Xiao hadn't been introduced by him and hadn't performed well, he would have taught him a lesson long ago.
Zheng Dongyang believed that a martial artist should be humble and not complacent. No matter how high their strength, they should not be careless. Being one hundred percent sure of winning was too arrogant.
The second stage winner was Chen Meijia. She lost after only two matches. The winner of her group was Mei Xiaotian.
Entering the finals meant at least a fourth-place finish.
During lunch, Mei Xiaotian became the center of attention. Lu Xin repeatedly encouraged Mei Xiaotian to fight well tomorrow and strive for a top-three finish. Zheng Dongyang was in a bad mood, thinking that if Long Xiao were here, he would surely win first place. He wondered if this Hu Lei was any good.
Long Xiao sat there, drinking and eating meat with Xiao Ming, appearing oblivious to the others. In Xiao Ming's eyes, in a competition of this level, as long as Long Xiao wanted the championship, no one could take it from him.
While others were discussing the morning's matches, Ming Tianya arrived with Xue Lianming.
"Brother Hu, my master has come to see you," Xue Lianming said, walking up to Long Xiao.
Seeing Ming Tianya arrive, Long Xiao quickly stood up. Everyone else also stood up.
"Hu Lei, what percentage of confidence do you have in winning the championship?" Ming Tianya asked.
Long Xiao smiled and said, "Eighty to ninety percent. If there are no accidents, first place should be mine."
Everyone present, except Xiao Ming, harbored dissatisfaction towards Long Xiao.
"Having confidence is a good thing, but you still need to be careful. Your opponent is Zhu Kai. He has a strong defensive martial arts style, making him difficult to fight."
Long Xiao remained nonchalant and said, "It's fine. I have a special method to deal with defensive styles. Zhu Kai is easy to handle."
"Hu Lei, win first place tomorrow, and then we'll talk."
Long Xiao nodded and said, "Okay, Chairman Ming, I'll follow you from now on."
The others present didn't know that Long Xiao had agreed to join the Martial Alliance and didn't understand the meaning of his words. They wondered why Hu Lei wanted to follow Ming Tianya.
Others wanted to speak with Ming Tianya, but he only smiled and nodded at a few chairmen, didn't even speak to them, and then bid farewell to Long Xiao and left.
"What's so great about him? He's just hitched himself to the chairman as a patron. Otherwise, he wouldn't even qualify to be a vice-chairman," Lu Xin muttered after sitting down.
Another chairman whispered, "Chairman Lu, be careful. Walls have ears. Some words might not sound good if they reach the chairman's ears."
"The chairman might not even be alive. He hasn't appeared for five years."
From the conversation of several chairmen, Long Xiao realized that the old man in a wheelchair in the village on the northern outskirts of Beijing was the chairman of the Martial Alliance.
"Chairman Zheng, is the strength of the Martial Alliance's supreme chairman very high?" Long Xiao asked.
Zheng Dongyang nodded and said, "Yes, very high. If he's still alive, he should have already reached the Heaven realm."
"Of course, he's alive," Xiao Ming said casually.
"How do you know he's alive?" Jiang Qiao, sitting next to Xiao Ming, asked.
Jiang Qiao was a stunning beauty, dressed in a Miao ethnic costume, with a hot figure. No one had any reason to refuse her question.
"I saw him a few days ago. The old, uh, the old gentleman was feeling a bit unwell, which is why he didn't come today."
Jiang Qiao chuckled, "You seem to know our chairman very well, even knowing he was feeling unwell and that's why he didn't come."
"How could someone at the peak of the Earth realm, infinitely close to the Heaven realm, be unwell? Xiao Ming, you're bragging," Lu Xin said with a smile.
Xiao Ming glared at Lu Xin displeasedly and said, "I, Xiao Ming, never lie."
Long Xiao asked, "Chairman Lu, is the Martial Alliance chairman really close to the Heaven realm?"
Lu Xin nodded and said, "Yes, the chairman's strength is definitely close to the Heaven realm. He once fought against the heavenly physician Long Xiaotian. Long Xiaotian was at the initial stage of the Heaven realm, and they fought to a draw."
In China, the highest level normally seen was the Great Perfection of the Earth realm.
As for the Heaven realm, those were legendary figures.
It was said that among the older generation of the five great families, there were Heaven realm experts. They had gone into seclusion to preserve their lives, and no one knew if they were still alive.
After lunch, the first stage winner in the afternoon was a tall, leggy beauty. Dressed in training attire, she stood in the center of the stage, looking heroic and spirited.
Long Xiao's draw was in the first group. Seeing the beautiful stage winner, Xiao Ming nudged Long Xiao and said, "Brother, go up, it's a beauty."
Long Xiao shook his head and said, "Let them fight first. I'm too lazy to make a move. I'll go up and beat the last one later."
Lei Zhen, sitting behind Long Xiao, said, "If you don't go, I will."
Lei Zhen stood up and walked to the center of the stage. The beautiful stage winner looked at Lei Zhen and said, "Lei Zhen, you dare to come up again."
"I couldn't beat you last year, but that doesn't mean I can't beat you this year."
The beautiful stage winner chuckled, "It's been a year, your tongue has become more eloquent. I wonder if your strength has improved."
When the referee announced the start, Lei Zhen showed no mercy and lunged forward with a punch.
Lei Zhen's punches whistled through the air. The beautiful stage winner dodged several punches and then swept him off his feet with a side kick.
Once they started fighting, the difference in strength became obvious. Although Lei Zhen's speed was not slow, he was still far inferior to the beautiful stage winner.
"What kind of leg technique is that?" Long Xiao asked, watching with interest.
"Her name is Li Yufei. It's the Nine-Route Tan Leg technique from Northeast China. She has mastered the Nine-Route Tan Leg to perfection. Her strength should be at the intermediate Earth realm."
After Zheng Dongyang's introduction, Long Xiao nodded slightly and said, "Her strength is no lower than Mei Xiaotian's, but she hasn't fully unleashed the true power of her leg technique."
"You understand the Nine-Route Tan Leg?" Chen Meijia asked.
Long Xiao shook his head and said, "Not yet. After they finish fighting, I'll go up last and see if I can use the Nine-Route Tan Leg to defeat her."
The *Dragon Scripture* contained a vast amount of basic training methods for beginner martial arts. Long Xiao flipped through it, gaining a deep understanding of punching, palm techniques, leg techniques, movement techniques, and footwork.
The foundations of various martial arts styles that have been passed down were all detailed in the *Dragon Scripture*.
With his existing foundation, and by watching the stage winner use the Nine-Route Tan Leg in combat, by the time Li Yufei defeated her third opponent, Long Xiao had basically mastered the Nine-Route Tan Leg, only needing practical combat experience to refine any flaws.
It was Long Xiao's turn to fight. The referee looked at Long Xiao, and Zheng Dongyang and the others also looked at him.
Long Xiao stood up, stretched, rubbed his eyes, and swayed as if he had just woken up, walking towards the stage.
Li Yufei looked at Long Xiao with a strange expression. From his appearance, Long Xiao didn't seem to be very strong, but she felt a sense of danger, as if a ferocious beast were approaching.