"It's you?"
Du Fei arrived at the Chinese medicine clinic and found someone waiting for him.
And the person waiting was Fang Chao.
How did this guy find this place? Du Fei was full of questions.
"Don't misunderstand, I wasn't investigating you. It's just that I had something to discuss with you, so… for families like ours who practice martial arts, it's quite easy to obtain information about someone."
Fang Chao hadn't paid attention before, but hearing Du Fei's question, he felt it was a bit impolite to come without greeting him.
Du Fei understood after hearing Fang Chao's explanation.
Indeed, even though martial arts families were restricted by the authorities, they still possessed abilities that seemed supernatural to ordinary people.
This was precisely why Fang Chao could spend hundreds of millions on the Nine Revolutions Celestial Pearl bracelet without batting an eyelid.
In his words, money was merely a number to martial arts families.
Most, to exaggerate, all martial arts families had their own external agents who managed numerous businesses for them. The annual revenue from these industries was astronomical.
Cultivation required money for everything, so the expenses of every martial arts family were also incredibly high.
"Since you're a guest, please sit. I'll pour you some tea."
Although Du Fei was initially surprised that Fang Chao had found his clinic without a word, since he was already here, and Fang Chao had told him so much about martial artists before, he invited the other man to sit and went to pour him some tea.
Soon, Du Fei returned.
"Thank you."
Taking the tea from Du Fei, Fang Chao took a sip and then put it down.
Du Fei said, "Go ahead, what do you need me for?"
"How did you know I needed you for something?" Fang Chao chuckled after asking. "That's right, we only met once before. If I come uninvited now, it's naturally for a reason."
"Actually, the thing is…"
When Fang Chao explained his purpose, Du Fei looked at him with utter astonishment, even thinking he had misheard.
"What? You want me to go with you to watch a bare-knuckle fight?"
Du Fei never expected that Fang Chao would actually invite him to watch an underground bare-knuckle fight.
Logically, he and Fang Chao weren't close; they had only met once.
Even if Fang Chao was interested in watching such a violent competition, he shouldn't have approached him.
Seeing Du Fei's expression, Fang Chao quickly guessed what he was thinking.
"Do you think I'm strange? We've only met once, and yet I've come uninvited and made such a request."
Fang Chao directly stated his reason, seeing Du Fei's surprised face.
It turned out that due to his upbringing in a martial arts family, he had no time to make friends since childhood, spending most of his time cultivating.
However, as he grew up, his peers from other martial arts families who he interacted with would mock his physique, saying that as a practitioner of martial arts, he shouldn't be so overweight.
Over time, Fang Chao became estranged from his peers in other martial arts families.
At the auction, although they had only interacted once, Fang Chao felt that Du Fei was easygoing and a rogue cultivator, unlike the other people from martial arts families who spoke so harshly.
Therefore, when Fang Chao wanted to watch an underground bare-knuckle fight, Du Fei was the first person he thought of.
So, he was actually Fang Chao's first choice, Du Fei mused.
"Uh, I won't blame you if you refuse."
Fang Chao said this, but inwardly he hoped Du Fei would agree.
Du Fei considered for a moment and finally nodded in agreement.
Upon hearing Du Fei's agreement, Fang Chao was overjoyed.
"The underground bare-knuckle fight is in two days. I'll come pick you up then."
Fang Chao arranged the time with Du Fei in advance.
...
The underground bare-knuckle fight Fang Chao took Du Fei to was in a county on the outskirts of Rong City.
This place was considered a lawless zone, hence the prevalence of many gray industries, including this underground bare-knuckle fight.
"The reason I'm interested in this underground bare-knuckle fight is that although I come from a martial arts family, I've never had any experience fighting others. So, I want to experience it up close."
Upon arriving at the venue, Fang Chao explained to Du Fei why he wanted to watch the underground bare-knuckle fight.
Hearing Fang Chao's words, Du Fei thought about it. Strictly speaking, the only person he had fought who had cultivation was Xue Shou, but there was a significant gap between them, so the fight was one-sided.
As they were talking, Fang Chao led Du Fei to the entrance of an underground parking lot.
At the entrance, Fang Chao paid the money, and the guard let them pass.
"We got in so easily? They didn't question our identities?"
Du Fei was still somewhat incredulous at how easily they had entered.
These underground bare-knuckle fights were illegal. By rights, shouldn't they conduct strict identity checks on participants?
Fang Chao smiled and said that since this was a lawless zone, no one would restrict underground bare-knuckle fights, as long as they paid sufficient taxes.
Du Fei was truly enlightened.
However, it wasn't enough to just pay to watch the underground fight.
What they had just paid for was merely the entry ticket. To actually watch the match, they needed to buy seating tickets.
There were four types of seating tickets: zones A, B, C, and D. Zone D was the cheapest and farthest away.
Zone A was naturally the closest and the most expensive.
For a super-rich individual like Fang Chao, he unhesitatingly bought two seats in Zone A.
Underground bare-knuckle fighting had developed over many years and had formed a commercial scale.
In the two-story underground space where Du Fei and Fang Chao were, the second basement level was where the underground fights were held, while the first basement level had various goods for sale.
The most common items were naturally alcoholic beverages and soft drinks. In addition, one could even purchase female companions for the evening.
If you came to watch an underground fight alone and felt lonely, and wanted someone to accompany you, as long as you could afford it, there were beauties of all shapes and sizes, with pure or charming looks.
Additionally, of course, there was gambling, which is common in all sports.
The gambling here was also quite elaborate. Besides the basic win or lose bets, you could even buy a photo with the winner or hire them as your bodyguard.
Of course, the prices were also astonishing.
Du Fei and Fang Chao walked and looked around, then arrived at the second basement level, the actual venue for the underground bare-knuckle fights.