"What are you talking about? You want to take on the Guardian Dharma King? Are you joking? Besides, as an outsider, what authority do you have to participate in this competition?"
The elder guarding the arena, Wu Si, holding a silver sword, barked coldly, his eyes filled with doubt as he looked at Xiao Yunlong.
"Is this enough?" Xiao Yunlong snorted coldly and directly revealed the Southern King's Seal.
Wu Si narrowed his eyes and said, "Xiao Yunlong, even if you were the King of the Northern Territory before and possess some martial arts cultivation, do you know how strong that Guardian Dharma King of the Brahma Kingdom is? He is a true expert of the Kaiqiao realm, a congenital powerhouse. Even we might not be able to defeat him. Do you think you can?"
"Even if you had been cultivating since you were in the womb, you would absolutely not be his opponent!"
Xiao Yunlong was too lazy to waste more words with him and turned to look at the Southern King.
Lu Zhengtong immediately understood and said, "Let the Northern King Xiao fight the Guardian Dharma King of the Brahma Kingdom. It is decided. The two Guardian Elders of the Brahma Kingdom will be fought by the two senior guardians!"
"We have no problem fighting the Guardian Elders, but what if this fellow surnamed Xiao loses in the end?" Wu Si snorted heavily.
As one of the Four Great Guardian Elders of the Southern Territory, Wu Si held a position of supreme respect and authority. Even the King of the Southern Territory treated him with courtesy. This was why Wu Si was so arrogant and did not take Xiao Yunlong seriously at all.
King Nan, Lu Zhengtong, said, "Putting aside whether Northern King Xiao can win, the competition is best two out of three. If the two senior guardians win the first two matches, then we will have won, and the last match will not need to be fought!"
"Indeed, that makes sense. King Nan, your words suddenly reminded me of the ancient story of Tian Ji's horse racing, where one uses their inferior horses to compete against the opponent's fastest horses. This is truly a good strategy!" said the guardian elder Meng San, who held a saber.
Even Meng San, this guardian elder who supported the Southern King, still did not think highly of Xiao Yunlong. He even directly regarded Xiao Yunlong as an inferior horse, while considering themselves as noble and superior horses.
Xiao Yunlong smiled, too lazy to bother with these self-important individuals.
"In that case, the two senior guardians must ensure victory in the first two matches. This competition concerns the reputation of our Southern Territory and even the entire Dragon Country. We absolutely cannot afford to lose!" said Yue Bucheng and Miao Rencheng.
"I naturally have no problem. I can guarantee with one hundred percent certainty that I will absolutely not lose to that Guardian Elder!" Wu Si said confidently.
"I have no problem either!" Meng San snorted coldly.
"Very good, then it's settled. We will head to the martial arts training grounds now. Deputy Officer Zhou, please escort the people from the Brahma Kingdom there!"
King Nan, Lu Zhengtong, said and immediately strode towards the left. Everyone followed closely, and they soon arrived at the Southern King's Palace training grounds. At this time, the people from the Brahma Kingdom also arrived.
When the participating personnel and their order were announced, the two Guardian Elders of the Brahma Kingdom instantly turned their gaze to Xiao Yunlong, their eyes revealing a sense of vigilance.
"The Southern Territory camp is letting such a young boy fight the Dharma King. Is this boy some kind of peerless master?" one Guardian Elder asked.
"I can't tell. Although his aura is not bad, it's just so-so. He's not worth worrying about!" the other Guardian Elder replied.
At this moment, the tall Guardian Dharma King, holding a Zen staff, grinned coldly and said, "They don't know that my hearing is astonishing. I heard their conversation just now. It turns out they want to imitate the ancient Dragon Country's Tian Ji's horse racing!"
"Tian Ji's horse racing? Is there any special meaning or trick to this?" the two Guardian Elders immediately asked.
"What trick is there!" the Guardian Dharma King grinned mockingly and continued, "This idiom means they want to use their worst and most inferior horse to fight me, thereby easing the pressure on the first two fighters!"
"So that's how it is, which means this fellow named Xiao Yunlong is actually the worst and most inferior!" one Guardian Elder said.
"Exactly!"
The Guardian Dharma King sneered triumphantly and then snorted, "I have to say these fellows from the Southern Territory camp have some tricks, but unfortunately, not many. They think this way they can win the first two rounds, but they don't realize that this will instead lead them into our trap!"
"The Dharma King is absolutely right. To use their Dragon Country's words, this is called 'cleverness defeating itself.' This competition, we are bound to win!"
The two Guardian Elders also couldn't help but sneer triumphantly, as if victory was already beckoning them.
Soon, the competition began. According to the predetermined order, Meng San was the first to take the stage. He lightly tapped his feet and soared like a swallow onto the arena.
Then, a Guardian Elder from the Brahma Kingdom also leaped up like a dry land spring, finally landing steadily on the arena with a thud.
"According to the competition rules, there are no restrictions on the moves, weapons, or techniques used by both sides. Hidden weapons and poisons are also allowed, until the opponent concedes. If they do not concede, the opponent may kill them unconditionally. Do you have any objections?"
The Guardian Dharma King of the Brahma Kingdom spoke coldly at this moment. His voice was loud and clear, audible to almost everyone in the inner city of the Southern Territory camp.
However, because this was the Southern King's Palace, ordinary soldiers could not enter to watch. Fortunately, there was live camera broadcasting nearby, projected throughout the camp, allowing everyone inside the camp to see.
"These Brahma Kingdom dogs are too arrogant and presumptuous. We must teach them a good lesson!"
"That's right, we must defeat them and let them know the might of our Southern Territory camp, and let them come arrogantly and leave in disgrace!"
Many soldiers of the Southern Territory camp were looking up at the recently projected big screen, and everyone was discussing.
"We have no objections. Let's begin!" King Nan, Lu Zhengtong, said coldly.
Then, on the arena, Meng San and the Guardian Elder of the Brahma Kingdom exchanged glances. A powerful aura erupted from both of them, and a gust of wind immediately swept across the arena.
Both of them were quasi-innate true qi experts with one foot in the congenital Kaiqiao realm, and their martial combat power was extremely strong.
Suddenly, with a clang!
Meng San drew his saber and slashed out.
Saber energy, like surging waves, instantly swept towards the opponent.
The opposing Guardian Elder, however, clapped his hands repeatedly, and waves of palm strikes rushed out like mountains and seas, colliding with the saber energy and dissipating into nothingness.
In the first exchange, both sides were evenly matched.
Seeing this, Meng San leaped high into the air and slashed down again.
Although the Guardian Elder of the Brahma Kingdom did not use a weapon, his palm techniques were incredibly exquisite. His bizarre palm strikes once again broke Meng San's moves.
In an instant, the two had exchanged no less than a hundred moves, yet neither could do anything to the other.
"Looking at this, they are likely to fight to a draw!" Deputy Officer Zhou Yun suddenly sighed.
Xiao Yunlong heard this and gave him a meaningful look. To be honest, given the current combat situation, without extraordinary martial arts knowledge and superb experience, it would be impossible to reach such a conclusion so quickly.
Among those present, besides Xiao Yunlong, only Zhou Yun could see this. From this, it was evident that Zhou Yun was not simple, at least not as ordinary and simple as he appeared on the surface.
"It seems this Zhou Yun deliberately concealed his martial arts cultivation. It's truly surprising!"
Xiao Yunlong lamented inwardly, but outwardly, he remained calm, quickly shifting his gaze back to the arena to avoid Zhou Yun noticing anything unusual.
Just then, on the arena, Meng San suddenly chopped the opponent's shoulder with his saber, but his chest was also struck by the opponent's palm.
Meng San staggered backward, while the Guardian Elder's arms drooped.
"Good heavens, I didn't expect your saber techniques to be so sharp that you could wound me. However, our martial arts cultivation levels are similar, and neither of us can do anything to the other. But this is a competition, not a fight to the death. If we continue fighting, both of us might die. How about we call it a draw? What do you say?"
The Guardian Elder of the Brahma Kingdom gritted his teeth and asked.
Meng San became troubled. If he fought to a draw this time, and if the second match also ended in a draw, then the third match would be a guaranteed loss. If that happened, the Southern Territory camp would surely lose today.
Suddenly, gritting his teeth, Meng San was about to shake his head and reject the offer. He thought that even if it meant his death, he had to win this round.
However, at this moment, Xiao Yunlong suddenly spoke, "Meng San, step down!"
Meng San was stunned and didn't know how to react.
Xiao Yunlong once again revealed the Southern King's Seal and said word by word, "This is an order. Step down immediately!"
Although King Nan, Lu Zhengtong, couldn't quite understand, he said, "Senior Meng San, since he has revealed the Southern King's Seal, you should step down."
"But..."
"No 'buts'!" Xiao Yunlong snorted heavily.
Although everyone present didn't understand why Xiao Yunlong was so insistent on doing this, only he himself understood. As long as Meng San fought to a draw in this match, the Southern Territory camp would not lose the competition with the Brahma Kingdom today!
Because in the final match, Xiao Yunlong was absolutely confident of winning!