(Not So) Friendly Sparr (4)

"Oh! You?" Long Ming spoke with amusement as he recognized the face of the man who had climbed onto the arena.

He was a young man with a slightly above average face, wearing an ordinary black suit. On his face there was a frown of seriousness and pride, like someone who is always ready to fight, and his furrowed eyebrows highlighted his expression even more. It was Fei Lu.

"I thought only one young master per family was invited," Long Ming commented curiously as he observed his surroundings for Fei Ling. in a few seconds he found him, sitting at the same table as He Jun who, at this moment, had already returned to his chair.

"Each family receives two invitations, actually," Lin Che answered Long Ming's question.

"Ah! Of course", he didn't dwell much on this subject and returned his gaze to Fei Lu.

"Why do you want to fight me? I don't think we have any grudges, and we've only interacted once," Long Ming asked. He was quite puzzled as to why Fei Lu had decided to challenge him, after all, they hadn't had any proper contact until now.

Of course, there was a possibility that it was just because Fei Lu was impressed with how he easily defeated He Jun, but Long Ming didn't think that it could be just because of that.

"Since you made a bet with that guy, I also want to make a bet with you," Fei Lu stated in an authoritative and proud manner, completely disdaining He Jun.

"And what do you want, exactly? This pendant?" Long Ming asked after a brief thought, then took out the jade pendant from the spatial ring, hidden by his sleeve.

"That's right, I want this pendant," Fei Lu was momentarily surprised when he noticed the pendant in Long Ming's hands, and in a period of tenths of a second, he seemed to have been relieved when he noticed the integrity of the pendant. This relief did not go unnoticed by Long Ming, who narrowed his eyes slightly as he contemplated the reason for this relief.

After all these days, he ended up forgetting about this pendant and didn't even remove it from the space ring, however, when he noticed Fei Lu's expression he thought he should take this matter more seriously.

'I should analyze it when I return to the Wu residence,' Long Ming decided internally, now even more interested in that pendant.

"That's right, I want this pendant. In exchange I can give you anything if I lose it."

Long Ming's eyes widened at this statement, but he found it even more interesting when he realized how confident Fei Lu was of his victory, to the point that he didn't mind betting anything.

'Even your love?' Long Ming thought mockingly, but remained quiet as he mulled over this bet. He began analyzing Fei Lu, watching him closely for anything that might appear valuable.

After almost ten seconds, to the point where everyone started to feel uncomfortable with his silence, he finally noticed a ring on Fei Lu's left hand. From a distance it looked like an ordinary iron ring, but his intuition told him that it was the most valuable thing Fei Lu had at the moment.

With a mischievous and mischievous smile, he then stated, "alright, I want this iron ring of yours", in the next moment, a small commotion occurred in that place.

Fei Lu's ring didn't look like anything special, and it was something that should be worth a silver coin at most. On the other hand, although it was a pendant without much apparent use, it was still a pendant made of jade, so it should be worth several silver coins, if not a gold coin. So this was a bet that, seen by others, it seemed like only Long Ming would lose. Some even thought that this was a result of his arrogance and pride, however, Fei Lu did not have this same thought.

"This ring? What's so special about it that you want it? I feel like this would be an unfavorable bet for you, Long Ming," Fei Lu said, somewhat nervously and as imperceptible droplets of sweat began to form. in your face.

Perhaps the others, being far away, didn't realize how nervous Fei Lu looked at that moment, but to Long Ming this was a tacit confirmation that he had chosen the right thing.

"Maybe, but I bought this pendant on a whim, so I don't mind losing it on another whim. Besides, I'd be exchanging something with only aesthetic value for something with only aesthetic value. So, anyway, None of us would lose out, don't you think?" Long Ming said with a sly smile on his face.

'Long Ming, who are you really?' Fei Lu thought, his frown even deeper and body even more tense. If he knew Long Ming's true thoughts, it was likely that Fei Lu would faint from shock, realizing that he was only doing this on (partly) pure whim.

"...okay, I accept," Fei Lu finally said, after some contemplation.

"Sir Lin Che, could you put away the betting objects for now?" Long Ming asked, as he looked at Lin Che, who was in the middle of the two, near the center of the arena.

"Of course," with these words, the two handed the pendant and ring to Lin Che and went to the ends of the arena.

"Let me start this time," Lin Che stated, and the two nodded in agreement.

"3... 2... 1... Begin!" At the same instant, Long Ming took a step forward and charged towards Fei Lu. His opponent had the same thought so they collided in the center of the arena.

Long Ming punched Fei Lu in the face, but he dodged it easily, and counterattacked with a blow to the stomach. Long Ming retreated slightly, and took a series of steps to quickly arrive at Fei Lu's rear and prepared to strike him with his fist.

Fei Lu turned around and was about to dodge a punch from Long Ming, however, at this moment, he realized that the blow went straight through him.

'Uh?', Fei Lu was momentarily confused by this as he didn't expect that Long Ming's strike wouldn't reach him, but he quickly took advantage of this to advance towards him. Unfortunately for him, Long Ming instantly rotated his entire body and, before two tenths of a second had passed, struck him with a roundhouse kick.

Fei Lu hurriedly tried to retreat, but he was too slow, and was forced to defend himself using his arms. The force of the kick surprised Fei Lu, and he felt a slight pain in his forearms from defending.

Soon after, Fei Lu hurriedly advanced towards Long Ming and threw an extremely fast punch.

In a tenth of a second, the blow landed on Long Ming's stomach and made him suppress a small cry of pain as he retreated several steps. At the same time, a relatively loud noise sounded due to the impact, as if it was a hammer striking a piece of metal.

"So you're also at the half-step stage, huh?" Long Ming spoke with surprise, but his impassive expression made him think this was a logical possibility.

"That's right. I suggest you give up. Even though we're at the same stage, my foundation is much more solid, and there's no way you can beat me," Fei Lu arrogantly stated.

Long Ming remained quiet and continued to watch him.

After a second of observation, Long Ming moved forward. He took several large, arrhythmic steps, making it difficult to know exactly where he was going, despite this, a second later he was already facing Fei Lu and struck his face.

Fei Lu slightly rotated his body and prepared to strike Long Ming's belly. However, at this moment, Long Ming took a step forward and quickly arrived at Fei Lu's sides, then, in sequence, he swept towards her feet. Fei Lu didn't have time to retreat and had one of his legs slightly raised because of it.

Long Ming took advantage of this gap and began to deliver a series of blows towards Fei Lu. Despite this, Fei Lu still had a solid defense and parried most of his blows, however, even so, some blows hit his face and chest, causing him some discomfort.

Long Ming's movements were extremely agile and quick, as well as extremely unpredictable, so Fei Lu was not sure when he would perform a kick, a punch, or whether his movement was a feint. Due to all this, he had to focus almost completely on defense, too concentrated on it to be able to look for any gaps or openings in Long Ming's stance.

After a few seconds, which seemed like an eternity to Fei Lu, however, he finally noticed a gap in Long Ming's posture, after he had performed a strike and forgotten to protect his belly area. Hurriedly, Fei Lu took advantage of this and prepared to attack him using a Qi-reinforced strike.

'Uh?' Long Ming realized this, but his reaction was too slow, and a tenth of a second later, he felt an extremely strong impact on his belly.

"Urgh," he suppressed some cries of pain and took a few steps back. Fei Lu, however, didn't want to let him retreat and advanced, continuing to throw a sequence of punches. Fei Lu's punches were fast and powerful, as if each punch was a hammer blow, despite this, Long Ming felt no difficulty in continuing to dodge, as they were extremely predictable and simple.

Right and left, right and left, following this logic, Fei Lu continued delivering several blows towards Long Ming's face, chest and belly, not allowing him to regain any distance, much less counterattack.

Despite this, Long Ming did not become anxious, and through his footwork, he continued dodging each of the blows, not allowing any of them to even touch his clothes.

'Despite his strength and speed, he is not a difficult opponent,' Long Ming thought as he calmly observed his opponent's efforts. His expression remained impassive, as if Fei Lu did not present any threat, however, despite this, the parts hit by Fei Lu still hurt considerably, preventing him from treating Fei Lu lightly.

Several seconds passed, and Fei Lu began to feel panting and frustrated, realizing that none of his blows managed to affect Long Ming.

'He wishes to tire me!' The moment he realized this, he stopped attacking so frantically, and at the same instant, Long Ming prepared to attack him.

When Long Ming raised his arm and seemed about to strike, Fei Lu smiled inwardly and quickly mobilized half of his Qi to one of his feet and the other half to his hands. Then, in the next moment, he boosted himself through his Qi-strengthened foot and quickly threw a punch using his Qi-strengthened fist.

Fei Lu was only able to see a small figure as he traveled at an atypical speed for him, and soon after he was able to hear an extremely loud noise of breaking air, however...

'Oh? Where is he?!', Fei Lu realized too late as he noticed that, in front of him, there was nothing but wind and the gazes of those spectators. Long Ming was no longer in front of him!

He quickly turned around, only to see a kick hurtling towards his face. Instinctively he raised his arms to defend himself, however, at the same moment, Long Ming lowered his leg and quickly kicked his stomach.

Fei Lu's expression distorted when he felt a strong pain coming from his belly, however, he did not let this pain interfere with his reasoning and held Long Ming's leg, preventing him from readjusting his posture. Then, Fei Lu used his Qi again to strengthen his fist and threw a punch towards Long Ming's face.

Long Ming twisted his neck in time, but the blow still grazed him, causing a small scratch on his cheek. Right after dodging, Long Ming turned his body and raised his other leg, kicking Fei Lu.

His kick was extremely fast, and Fei Lu was unable to react as the kick hit his chest, causing him to momentarily lose his breath and let go of Long Ming's leg. At the same time, Long Ming twisted his body on the ground, supporting himself with his arms, and kicked Fei Lu again, landing another kick on his opponent's stomach.

Soon after, Long Ming readjusted his posture and, using his last Qi reserves, leapt towards Fei Lu. Before Fei Lu could react, Long Ming delivered a powerful knee to his chin, almost knocking him out and causing him to retreat several steps.

The moment Long Ming landed on the ground, he turned towards Fei Lu and prepared to carry out another attack.

However, at the exact moment he was about to strike him, he noticed a kind of light inside Fei Lu. Instinctively, Long Ming crouched down, and to his surprise, in the next instant Fei Lu had performed an extremely powerful strike using Qi.

'Does he still have Qi?', Long Ming thought in surprise, then moved forward and, taking advantage of the gap left by Fei Lu's blow, struck his waist and then another blow to his face.

Fei Lu seemed to have been angered upon receiving both blows, and in the next moment, he mobilized his Qi again to attack him. This time, he carried out a series of strikes, all so fast that Long Ming had to rely solely on his intuition and instincts to defend himself.

A blow, another blow, and finally a third blow. Long Ming managed to dodge the first blows, however, his awkward posture made him unable to dodge the third blow in time, which hit him square in the ribs.

'Urgh', Long Ming groaned slightly due to the pain of the blow, but, in an act of anger, he then struck Fei Lu on the chin, using all his strength.

"Gah!" Fei Lu felt his consciousness fade after this blow, however, Long Ming didn't stop and punched his temple and finally kicked him in the area of ​​his liver.

After all these blows, as well as the previous blows, and due to the accumulated fatigue, Fei Lu fell to the ground and began to mumble due to the pain.

"tsc, what's the need for such strong blows?" Long Ming questioned in an irritated tone, after spitting a considerable amount of blood onto the ground.

Being a friendly sparring partner, Long Ming did not fight extremely seriously (as he mainly fights to kill), however, after these last blows, Long Ming realized that Fei Lu was really willing to leave him extremely injured, mainly because he was utilizing Qi in your every strike.

In Long Ming's fight with He Jun, for example, even though it ended quickly, Long Ming had not used extremely powerful blows, so much so that He Jun was able to leave the arena without difficulty. However, during his fight with Fei Lu, he noticed that his opponent had no intention of going so easy on him.

Of course, he didn't think this was necessarily wrong, however, Long Ming is used to sparring partners that, even if they have strong blows, it is not to the point of incapacitating his opponent. Because, as a mercenary, it becomes extremely important to maintain good physical integrity.

"I won, correct?" Long Ming then asked Lin Che.

"Yes, you won… Ahem, as the winner of this bet, you have won this iron ring!" Lin Che said, after recovering from the intensity of this fight. Long Ming just nodded in agreement, and after taking the ring and pendant, he returned to his seat. As he left the arena, he could hear some applause and praise, which made him smile slightly.