Chapter 10

Unlike the closed and confidential nature of the civil examination, the martial examination has always been open to outsiders. Moreover, this year's final was attended by Qin Yi, the son of Qin Wanjun, the top master in the army, and the unknown Liu Jun of Qinzhou who made it all the way to the final. The duel between the favorite to win and the dark horse attracted great attention from all major forces in the court.

　　Compared to Qin Yi's solemnity, Pang Jun was quite relaxed, because he knew that Qin Yi's martial arts were not mysterious, but rather moderate and peaceful, similar to his father. Every move was like a textbook, using open strategies and the kingly way to crush the enemy. If he faced the enemy head-on, even if he won, it would be very difficult, and he would need to react on the spot and achieve a surprise victory. Just watch the fight. With this idea in mind, he even asked Sun Chenggao to buy him 1,000 taels of gold in the gambling house as pocket money.

　　At this time, Pang Jun was already standing in the arena, looking at the people around him. He saw Yue'er's petite figure in the crowd and saw her waving at him. He smiled and nodded, then looked at his opponent seriously.

　　Qin Yi didn't expect Pang Jun to be so relaxed. He said to Pang Jun, "What others said is right. Brother Liu is indeed an extraordinary person. He was so relaxed in the finals. Do you think Qin is not as good as you, or are you just putting pressure on me?"

　　Pang Jun shook his head and said, "I have understood Brother Qin's martial arts. Fighting is like using troops, both the strange and the orthodox are complementary. Brother Qin has surpassed ordinary people in the 'orthodox' aspect. You don't care about unorthodox methods. You only use your own strength to crush your opponent. This kind of opponent is the most difficult to deal with. The less you try to cheat, the fewer flaws you have. This is not good news for someone like me who can find the opponent's loopholes on the spot."

　　Qin Yi said: "Oh? I didn't expect that Brother Liu's vision was so high. Thank you for the compliment, but I still don't understand why Brother Liu is so relaxed?"

　　Pang Jun spread his hands and said in a straightforward manner: "It's difficult to deal with him, but it's the most comfortable to fight with such an opponent. There's no need to think about his conspiracy or tricks. As long as we have a good fight, it's fine. Why should we be nervous? Are we afraid that we will forget our moves?"

　　Qin Yi was stunned for a moment, then laughed: "Hahahaha, Brother Liu is really a wonderful person. No matter what the result of today's competition is, Qin has decided to make you his friend. Come on."

　　Pang Jun bowed and said, "Please come in, Brother Qin." After that, the two of them got ready and the duel was about to begin.

　　What was surprising was that both sides changed their previous use of weapons and used bare hands at the same time. They moved in an arc through the dust of the martial arts field and attacked Pang Jun like an arrow.

　　Pang Jun crossed his hands to protect his chest, and was hit by Qin Yi's incredibly fast kick and slid back a few steps. Then Qin Yi took advantage of the situation and followed the figure in pursuit. People saw Pang Jun retreating again and again. Yue'er frowned nervously, and her little hands were clenched tighter and tighter. The rhythm on the field was like a surging tide in a river, almost suffocating people.

　　After a while, a wave of attack and defense ended, and both sides finally stopped. They looked at each other solemnly, with a trace of scarlet blood oozing from the corners of their mouths. Suddenly they grinned and said, "Come again!" Then the two figures leaned against each other again.

　　When Qin Yi threw a powerful punch at Pang Jun's chest, the latter slightly turned sideways and lightly stuck his right hand on Qin Yi's strong arm. Then, after gathering strength with his waist, he suddenly shook his wrist. He who had been on the defensive finally began to move. Qin Yi was pushed far away by Pang Jun's smooth push, but with extremely rich practical experience, he took advantage of the situation to roll over and kick Pang Jun's leg when he was pushed out.

　　Qin Yi still used the kingly frontal attack style, but Pang Jun, who was always known for his clever attack style, was uncharacteristically aggressive today. Apart from a few soft-hard tactics, he mostly used frontal attack styles. However, no one knew what techniques he would use to achieve a surprise victory.

　　At this time, Qin Yi took Pang Jun's punch head-on and suddenly grabbed Pang Jun's wrist, shouting angrily. Pang Jun was thrown backwards over his shoulder to the ground with a "bang". Dust flew everywhere. Most of the spectators present were frightened by this brutal beating. Yue'er even covered her mouth with her jade hand to prevent herself from shouting, but her pupils were already misty.

　　Pang Jun, who was knocked to the ground, did not give up resistance. At the moment when Qin Yi turned around to prepare for the final blow, he was already ready. He kicked his legs in the opposite direction and kicked Qin Yi in the lower abdomen, interrupting his movement. During this gap, he somersaulted, grabbed Qin Yi with both hands at the same time and threw him into the sky.

　　Before Qin Yi reached the highest point, Pang Jun had already kicked his legs hard, and his whole body shot straight towards his opponent in the air like a falcon. Qin Yi was thrown by someone and had not yet reached the top, so he could not effectively snipe Pang Jun's attack. He could only try his best to get into a defensive posture and wait for his opponent.

　　With a "bang", Pang Jun rushed into the sky and punched Qin Yi's shoulder, who failed to defend perfectly. Then he changed his fist into a claw, grabbed Qin Yi's hit shoulder and smashed it down. Qin Yi now had an opportunity for hand-to-hand combat, and punched forward, hitting Pang Jun in the ribs, then landed on his feet. With a "bang", the soil on the arena was cracked by Qin Yi's impact force.

　　After landing, Qin Yi did not start to regulate his breathing, but quickly moved to the vicinity of Pang Jun's landing point, staring at Pang Jun descending in the air, and kicked his legs hard again, using the same move that Pang Jun had used to hurt him to retaliate, and this move was even more powerful. When Pang Jun fell, that was when he was defeated.

　　But then, Pang Jun did not make Qin Yi's wish come true. His behavior even surprised everyone present: Pang Jun smiled slightly, stretched out a hand, and untied his belt! Without the restraint of the belt, the airflow when falling blew up his clothes, slightly slowing down Pang Jun's falling speed. Just like this, Qin Yi's calculated attack angle deviated a little. When he bounced to the original attack location, he was right below Pang Jun!

　　At this time, Pang Jun stepped on his injured shoulder, using the force to counter attack. With a "bang", Qin Yi's body fell to the ground, while Pang Jun fell not far from him.

　　Slowly, Qin Yi got up again and looked at Pang Jun with red eyes. He locked Pang Jun with murderous aura, as if he would suddenly explode and kill him in one blow. Pang Jun squinted at Qin Yi at this time, and was also surprised at Qin Yi's indomitable willpower. He knew that he was already at the end of his strength, and if Qin Yi fought to the death, he might not be able to withstand it.

　　However, after staring at Pang Jun for about ten breaths, Qin Yi rolled his eyes, fell to the ground with a "bang", and fainted.

　　Upon seeing this, the referee immediately announced: "Qinzhou Liu Jun wins!"

　　The moment he heard the word "victory", Pang Jun finally breathed a sigh of relief. He felt dizzy and covered his mouth with one hand. Blood seeped out from between his fingers. The blood kept flowing, soaking his white clothes bright red. Then his eyes blurred and he fell to the ground dejectedly.

　　When Pang Jun woke up, the moon was already dim. Hearing the noise on the bed, Yan Ling, who was taking a nap nearby, woke up immediately. Seeing Pang Jun wake up, the little girl was very happy: "Master, you are finally awake? I was so worried."

　　Pang Jun took a deep breath and asked as he tried to sit up, "What time is it now? How long have I slept?"

　　Yan Ling hurriedly supported him and said, "Master, don't move. It's midnight now. You have slept for two days and one night, and you are still very weak. I was worried to death when I saw you fainting yesterday. You were sent back by a young lady yesterday. She told us that you were seriously injured in the martial arts competition and needed recuperation. She also invited a very good doctor to treat you and asked us to take good care of you." The "young lady" Yan Ling mentioned should be Yue'er.

　　"Yeah, I see. What else did she say?"

　　"Well, she also said that she will continue to visit you tomorrow and will bring you some supplements. Oh, by the way, master, you haven't eaten for almost twenty hours, you must be very hungry. I have cooked porridge early. I will go to the kitchen to heat it up for you and then serve it to you. I will wake up Long'er to take care of you first." After saying that, Yan Ling hurriedly left the room.

　　After a while, Yan Long, who was still sleepy, hurriedly put on her clothes and came to Pang Jun's room. Seeing Pang Jun wake up, she was very happy and kept helping Pang Jun to get water to wash his face, wash his feet, and pour water. After a while, Yan Ling came in with a bowl of millet porridge. After the two sisters served Pang Jun the millet porridge, Pang Jun sent them all back to sleep. He sat up, practiced qigong and regulated his breathing. After the regulation, he fell asleep again.

　　The next morning, as expected, the moon arrived as promised. She arrived at the inn before the hour of Chen (7 to 9 in the morning) and went to Pang Jun's room. She saw the Linglong sisters busying themselves.

　　The day before yesterday, when she brought the unconscious Pang Jun to Yunlai Inn, she felt a little sad when she saw the Linglong sisters who were of similar age to her and equally pretty. However, Pang Jun's injuries quickly stopped her wild thoughts. After finding a doctor to treat Pang Jun, she asked the Linglong sisters to take good care of Pang Jun. Yesterday, before Pang Jun woke up, she came here and stayed for two hours.

　　Seeing Linglong and her sister so busy this morning, Yue'er knew that Pang Jun must have woken up, so she ran into the room excitedly. Seeing Pang Jun just getting dressed and looking at her in astonishment, she finally felt relieved and burst into tears of joy. She rushed forward and threw herself into Pang Jun's arms and said, "Brother Liu, you are finally awake. I have been worried for two days."

　　Pang Jun touched her head and said gently, "Thank you, Xiaoyue, thank you for worrying about me."

　　Yue'er then realized that she and Pang Jun were in close contact. She came to her senses and quickly pushed Pang Jun away, saying shyly: "Why do you call me Xiao Yue'er? How am I small?" After saying that, she put her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest.

　　Pang Jun looked at the little beauty in front of him. Yue'er had just started to develop, and like her sister Linglong, she had not even reached the age of gold hairpins, so how could she talk about growing up? So he couldn't help but laugh.

　　Seeing him like this, Yue Er punched him like raindrops: "To make you laugh, to make you laugh."

　　The two of them played around for a while, and Yue'er asked, "Brother Liu, the imperial examination is over, what are you going to do?"

　　Pang Jun said: "Stay in the capital and wait until the results are announced before making a decision."

　　"So, are you free during this period of time?" Yue'er asked.

　　"Well, I should be free, but I still have to practice in the morning at Mao time."

　　"Then, in three days, can you accompany me for an outing? I want to go to Wanlin Mountain outside the capital. I heard that the crape myrtle flowers there are blooming now. They are very beautiful. I want to go and see them."

　　Pang Jun replied: "Okay, I also want to relax, but are you sure you can come out?"

　　Yue Er nodded: "I...my father told me that I must be accompanied by guards when I go out, and I must be back before dark and not cause any trouble. Everything else is up to me."

　　"Haha, your father really dotes on you. All right, then I'll wait for you at the East Gate at 7:00 PM three days from now. Is that ok?"

　　"Okay, then we have a deal, whoever breaks the promise will be a coward!"

　　"Hahaha, I also want to see a cute little turtle like you, hahaha..."

　　"you..."

　　The laughter of the two people came out of the room and echoed in the yard...