"It's hard to say who will win the championship, but as a Dragon Country citizen and Vice President of the Dragon Country Martial Arts Association, I'm definitely optimistic about Ma Baoshuai," Ma Benguo said with a smile at the camera.
"Good heavens, how shameless can this old guy be? Ma Baoshuai's amateur skills can defeat Gou Sheng Wenshan?"
"Exactly, no wonder Dragon Country martial arts are so bad now, it's because the management is rotten!"
"I've seen it. I don't believe Ma Benguo could have bribed Gou Sheng Yiwu's disciple."
Many Dragon Country viewers watching the livestream shook their heads helplessly after hearing Ma Benguo's statement. This was because Ma Benguo was truly unscrupulous; he had resorted to such despicable and base tactics to pave the way for his son's ascent.
After the preliminary preparations, today's finals officially commenced. Both contestants stepped onto the stage simultaneously.
"Brother Baoshuai is so handsome, I want to marry him!"
"Exactly, he's so manly! Brother Baoshuai can definitely knock that Japanese guy down with one punch!"
"Yeah, look at Brother Baoshuai's muscles, they're several times bigger than that Japanese guy's."
At this moment, a group of showily made-up female spectators, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, were screaming loudly.
"The match begins!"
As the referee's command rang out, the two fighters quickly entered a combat stance. Ma Baoshuai immediately clasped his fists and charged towards Gou Sheng Wenshan. However, before he could even get close, he was kicked flying by the latter, crashing heavily against a pillar at the edge of the ring.
"Holy cow, amazing!"
"How did he even make it to the finals with such skill?"
"Ma Baoshuai has completely disgraced our Dragon Country martial arts."
When the audience saw Ma Baoshuai being kicked away by Gou Sheng Wenshan in less than five seconds, they all shook their heads in resignation and sighed.
"Well done! Dragon Country martial arts are indeed not as good as they were twenty years ago!"
At this moment, Gou Sheng Yiwu, watching the livestream in his martial arts hall, couldn't help but show a triumphant smile. He had originally thought that twenty years would bring significant progress to Dragon Country martial arts, with at least a few strong young practitioners emerging. However, he was surprised to find that these young martial artists from Dragon Country were so easily defeated. Although the match had just begun, he could already see the vast difference in skill between Ma Baoshuai and Gou Sheng Wenshan. The gap between them was like a stream compared to a mighty river. Gou Sheng Wenshan could have easily finished the opponent with just ten percent of his strength.
...
"Baoshuai, get up quickly, don't disgrace me!"
Ma Benguo, sitting in the judge's seat, felt a jolt in his heart when he saw Ma Baoshuai being kicked flying. Looking at Ma Baoshuai lying on the edge of the ring, Ma Benguo inwardly urged him on.
The female fans who had been cheering for Ma Baoshuai were now stunned. They hadn't expected their idol to be so weak.
After a long while, Ma Baoshuai slowly got up from the ground.
"I knew my idol wouldn't fall like this!"
"Exactly, Brother Baoshuai is so resilient!"
"We love you, Brother Baoshuai, hurry up and defeat him!"
When the group of female fans saw Ma Baoshuai get up, they immediately became excited again, shouting loudly.
However, Ma Baoshuai seemed to have no intention of continuing. He raised his hand and said, "I... I surrender!"
"???"
"No way? That trash?"
"Come on, if you don't know martial arts, don't come and disgust us. You're surrendering to a Japanese guy?"
"Speechless, utterly speechless. Is this young master serious?"
The audience was almost spitting blood with anger at Ma Baoshuai's action. This was too pathetic! He surrendered after just one round? And his opponent was Japanese! Could a Dragon Country man do such a thing? Decades ago, Japan invaded Dragon Country, and countless ancestors were brutally murdered by the Japanese invaders. The historical enmity should be etched in the hearts of every Dragon Country citizen. Yet today, in the finals of the Dragon Country Youth Martial Arts Competition, a Dragon Countryman had turned into a coward and surrendered directly? What was the difference between such a person and a traitor?
...
"Baoshuai, you..."
When Ma Benguo heard Ma Baoshuai surrender, he was caught completely off guard. He never expected Ma Baoshuai to surrender so quickly, in the first round.
"Baoshuai, come back, don't surrender!"
Seeing Ma Baoshuai about to walk off the stage, Ma Benguo shouted at him. He no longer cared if anyone was watching him.
"Dad, I can't win!"
Hearing his father shout, Ma Baoshuai replied with a mournful expression.
"This is hilarious, what a disgrace!"
"I suggest investigating Ma Benguo to see if he deliberately rigged this competition."
"Speechless, truly speechless. He's really bringing shame to our Dragon Country!"
At this moment, many spectators at the venue were deeply disappointed by today's match. They had expected Ma Baoshuai to persevere even if he couldn't win. But they never imagined this guy would surrender after taking just one kick. For the people of Dragon Country, this was a great humiliation. No one could accept the outcome of surrendering directly to Japan. Even if he was beaten to the point of being unable to get up, at least he would have lost with dignity.
"Is this how weak Dragon Country's martial arts are? Calling this martial arts is an insult. It's more like calisthenics!"
Gou Sheng Wenshan said with a look of amusement and disdain. He never expected that the so-called elite who had reached the finals in Dragon Country would surrender after just one kick from him. The atmosphere at the venue instantly ignited after Gou Sheng Wenshan's taunt.
"Ma Baoshuai!" "Idiot!"
"Ma Baoshuai!" "Idiot!"
...
The jeers from the audience towards Ma Baoshuai rose in a chorus, leaving Ma Baoshuai standing there in a daze.
"I came to Dragon Country to find someone named Wang Shu. It seems there's no need for that now!" Gou Sheng Wenshan said again.
"Wang Shu? Which Wang Shu? That name sounds so familiar."
"Wang Shu, is there anyone in the martial arts world named Wang Shu? It can't be that singer Wang Shu, can it?"
"Quick, search if there's a Wang Shu who knows martial arts."
When the crowd heard the name Wang Shu from Gou Sheng Wenshan, they immediately perked up. They began searching for the Wang Shu mentioned by Gou Sheng Wenshan.
"Holy crap, guys, go check out foreign websites! Wang Shu actually knows martial arts!"
Before long, a netizen said in the livestream chat.
"What? Let me take a look!"
"Could it be the Wang Shu I know?"
Instantly, many people headed to foreign websites to search. They soon found videos of Wang Shu beating up Muay Thai experts and easily defeating Gou Sheng Ichiro.
"Damn, this is unbelievable! Wang Shu has been hiding his abilities so deeply!"
"I never expected Brother Wang Shu to be a martial arts master. I thought he was only good at singing and songwriting."
"I'm kneeling, my knees have voluntarily knelt. This is too damn strong!"
"I strongly suggest Wang Shu step forward and challenge Gou Sheng Wenshan to show him that Dragon Country martial arts also have capable individuals!"
After watching Wang Shu's videos, the netizens couldn't stop marveling. Some even re-uploaded the videos to Weibo and added keywords like Wang Shu.
"Is this real? Brother Wang Shu's martial arts are this powerful?"
"This seems to be re-uploaded from a foreign website, so it should be real. After all, the movements are so fast, it would be difficult to fake."
"Love it, love it. As expected of Wang Shu, not only talented but also a martial arts master!"
Many of Wang Shu's fans in the country quickly saw the videos and expressed their surprise.
Meanwhile, at the Dragon Country Youth Martial Arts Competition venue, Gou Sheng Wenshan accepted his trophy.
"Mr. Wenshan, did you come to Dragon Country just for this competition?" a reporter asked.
"I came to find someone for a duel! Wang Shu, if you don't come out and duel me, then I will tell the whole world that Dragon Country's martial arts are garbage!" Gou Sheng Wenshan said directly to the media cameras in his not-so-fluent Chinese.
After the award ceremony and photo session, Ma Benguo and Ma Baoshuai hastily left through the back door, their heads hanging low. They knew that if they were caught, they would be drowned in spit.
"Dad, I'm the runner-up, is this really necessary?" Ma Baoshuai asked with a frown on the way out.
"You're so naive. If you hadn't left, you would have been beaten to death by now. We're no different from traitors," Ma Benguo said to Ma Baoshuai with a tone of regret.
...
"Alright, you performed well today. You can go back and rest," Wang Shu said to Jiang Jianjia in his office at Dragon Island Film City.
"Finally, it's over. I'm exhausted today!" Jiang Jianjia stretched and said. She then took out her phone to browse Weibo as usual.
"Wang Shu, look at Weibo, you're trending again!" As soon as Jiang Jianjia opened Weibo, she saw a trending topic about Wang Shu.
"Hmm? What am I trending for? Could it be my relationship has been exposed?" Wang Shu's heart sank. Could it be that the paparazzi had captured something between him and Xu Yunshang? After all, he hadn't done anything worthy of trending recently. After much thought, Wang Shu felt that only the exposure of his relationship would be enough to trend; he couldn't think of anything else.
"Let me see!" Wang Shu snatched Jiang Jianjia's phone and looked at it intently.