Unparalleled Duo
Chapter 44 - 44 30 s - Unresolved

44: 30 chapters – Unresolved 44: 30 chapters – Unresolved The duel had just begun when Ge Shi suddenly leapt forward, shaking his spearhead through the air, accompanied by a gust of wind.

Zheng Mukai had barely drawn his sword before he saw the spear already upon him.

He had to urgently kick and sidestep to evade the sharp edge of the enemy.

However, Ge Shi’s “Scorpion Tail Spear” was not about wide swings and big movements; it prized agility and unpredictable changes.

Its moves were soft, swift, clever, troublesome… endlessly variable.

Seeing Zheng Mukai dodge to his right, Ge Shi sneered, for this was playing right into his hands.

The very next second, Ge Shi flicked his wrist, launching an immediate follow-up attack.

The shaft of the spear twisted like a scorpion’s tail, under his control switching from vertical to diagonal, lashing towards Zheng Mukai’s chest.

Red tassels burst forth like a rainbow piercing the clouds.

The sword’s radiance burst forth like thunder supporting the sky.

The “Kaifeng Three-Armed Sword” was indeed not an empty reputation…

Seeing his opponent not bother with testing attacks and drawing first blood with such a vicious move, Zheng Mukai also felt a nameless fury rise within him.

In that instant, he adjusted his stance and executed a move called “Heavenly King Bearing the Pagoda,” parrying with his sword and, with a breath of energy from his dantian, forcefully resisted the spear’s brilliance.

It wasn’t over yet.

At this moment, Ge Shi changed his move a second time.

His spear move was spent, and he had just landed, barely steadying himself, which presented the perfect opportunity for Zheng Mukai to switch from defense to offense.

He wouldn’t miss this chance.

The next second, Zheng Mukai gathered his inner strength.

His sword’s edge flashed out, and with a skillful move called “Three Geese Crossing,” he thrust lightning-fast at Ge Shi’s waist, abdomen, and ribs – three critical points.

Ge Shi’s form was still unsettled, unable to see the attack coming, but thankfully his acute hearing allowed him to sense the direction of the sword wind.

He tapped the ground with his toes and executed a move called “Reversing the Heavenly Movement.”

As the saying goes… with a twirl, one passes through a storm, while half the spear’s arc sweeps aside.

Ge Shi handled it well, defending cleanly against the sword moves and retreating two steps to regather his stance.

After exchanging these few moves, both felt a cold sweat in their hearts — before the start of their bout, they both believed they had at least a seventy percent chance of winning, but now they both felt that it had dropped to fifty percent.

However, once they had stepped into the arena, there was no turning back from this matter.

They both understood: in the martial world, sometimes defeat can be worse than death…

After a breath, Zheng Mukai and Ge Shi locked eyes and resumed their fight.

Shadows crossed, and the spear clashed against the sword.

Meanwhile…

“Brother Huang, what do you think about the situation now?” Sun Yixie, having already closed the bets, joined Huang Donglai at a higher vantage point, looking with interest at the duel on the distant stage.

“It’s hard to say…” Huang Donglai’s tone had changed somewhat from the assertive one before the fight began, “This Zheng Mukai seems fiercer than I imagined.”

“Ha… Are you going to change your prediction then?” Seeing Huang Donglai wavering, Sun Yixie began to stir the pot with malicious intent.

“I’m not necessarily changing it; it mainly depends on whether Ge Shi will make a mistake or not,” Huang Donglai still hedged, “As long as he doesn’t slip up, he still has the advantage and won’t lose.”

While he had yet to finish speaking, on the stage, Ge Shi and Zheng Mukai had just executed a move called “Diverging Paths Amidst Wind and Snow”.

At the end of the move, both revealed weaknesses, forcing them to compensate with their left hands.

The two matched left palm against left palm, the edges of their palms meeting, competing in inner strength.

And under this bout of contesting inner strength…

Zheng Mukai discovered something — Ge Shi’s left shoulder had a weak point.

This weakness was a result of Ge Shi’s training in the Scorpion Tail Spear’s ultimate move, “Scorpion Tail Flaming Lotus”; the move was incredibly powerful with attacks coming from surprisingly unique angles.

However, the sole problem was that it required using his left shoulder and neck as a pivot.

Ge Shi only realized after mastering the move that the area around his Jianjing acupoint experienced some stagnation of blood flow, causing the meridians to narrow and obstructing the smooth flow of his inner strength.

But as long as he didn’t use that move, the condition would not worsen, nor would it affect his use of other moves.

But…

as luck would have it, he had just contested inner strength with his left hand, in a specific posture.

If it were a low-class practitioner, they wouldn’t have noticed anything after such a contest; had Zheng Mukai only faced a few moves from Ge Shi, he probably wouldn’t have noticed anything either; but by now, Zheng Mukai had exchanged dozens of moves with Ge Shi and had basically grasped his power level, so if he couldn’t see it by now, that would have meant all his training was in vain.

“Hmph…” Discovering his opponent’s weak point, Zheng Mukai let out a cold laugh.

Ge Shi also saw that smile and vaguely realized something, but he still clung to a slim hope, thinking the other might just be bluffing.

The two faced off once more, but from this moment on, the tide of the battle had changed profoundly.

Ge Shi’s heart was troubled, and his moves began to lean towards defense unconsciously, while Zheng Mukai’s sword strikes became even more fierce, his attacks repeatedly targeting Ge Shi’s left side.

As the saying goes, I retreat as the enemy advances; diminishing one to lengthen the other.

Soon, Zheng Mukai gained a clear upper hand, leaving Ge Shi with only the capability to parry.

“Hey, this doesn’t look right,” said Huang Donglai, who had begun to see the signs of Ge Shi’s impending defeat and couldn’t help commenting, “What’s going on?

How come Ge Shi suddenly can’t fight anymore?”

“Hahaha!” Sun Yixie, standing beside him, laughed gleefully, “‘Six-four open’?

Aha?

Brother Huang, you really backed the right horse, didn’t you?”

“What the hell does this have to do with me?” retorted Huang Donglai, “It’s their own problem.

I just analyzed the situation based on what I saw at the time.”

While they talked, some who had bet on Ge Shi could no longer contain themselves and began shouting for “refunds!” and “return of bets!”

“Damn it, refund what!” Sun Yixie heard this and immediately leaped up to curse at those people, “Have you ever heard of getting a refund after placing a bet in a gambling house?

Who the hell forced you to bet?

Can’t you understand ‘bets are final; no refunds’?

Go ask the brothers who bet on Zheng Mukai if they’ll let you refund.

Shout one more time, why don’t you?

You think I won’t come down there and beat the crap out of you?”

Brother Sun had seen plenty of gambling riffraff in the fish markets.

He had his own way of handling them; brandishing a trident, he directly pointed at their noses and out-yelled them.

His voice was louder and presence more intimidating.

After a few retorts, the others lost their nerve…

if someone was stubborn and kept shouting, Sun Yixie would surely charge down and drag them out for a beating to make an example of them.

This was Brother Sun’s experience: when running a betting pool, what’s most important was to control the scene.

If even one troublemaker was not suppressed, it would lead to an endless stream of others, so it was necessary to nip these troublemakers in the bud.

Bang—

On the other hand, on the stage, the duel was nearing its conclusion.

Zheng Mukai was growing stronger as the battle progressed, and Ge Shi was running out of steam; accompanied by a resonant metallic sound, Ge Shi’s left arm went numb and the spear in his hand was jolted out of his grip by the sword’s energy.

On that side…

Sword Rain Wanes the Spear Tide, Three-Armed Cuts the Scorpion Tail.

Nevertheless, Ge Shi did not give up.

He knew that Zheng Mukai wouldn’t just say “I’ll yield” and allow him to step off the stage with some dignity.

The look on Zheng Mukai’s face said it all — he intended to fight until Ge Shi kneeled to beg for mercy, or to beat him to death.

Ge Shi would not beg for his life and lose face — a slight to his own reputation was a small matter, but staining the honor of Huaian’s Heroic Gate was a bigger problem.

So for Ge Shi, there were only two ways to leave the ring today: to win, or to die.

Finally, at the moment his weapon slipped from his grip, Ge Shi no longer feared defeat and chose to risk everything in one final gambit.

He utterly disregarded his exposed vulnerabilities, leaped swiftly after his spear, and while in mid-air executed a move called “Wind Rotating Clouds Rolling,” securing the spear in his hand once again, and swept out in a counterattack with an outstretched waist.

Zheng Mukai, too, remained cool as he moved his sword like a dragon and snake, combining slicing with blocking, matching attack with attack.

In the intertwined flashes of sword and spear, Ge Shi finally unleashed his ultimate technique: he channeled True Qi into his right arm, stood with feet apart, flung the spear over his shoulder, pivoted on his left shoulder’s Jianjing acupoint—jerk, sway, lunge—his spearhead erupting out like a scorpion tail, the tassel transforming into a flaming red lotus bursting fuming.

This attack was sudden, fierce, and deviously cunning.

Whether one could find a way to counter such a deadly technique in a flash did not depend on how well you trained your moves, but on reaction, experience, and natural talent.

Zheng Mukai still had plenty of vigor, but he was already leaning forward, his sword striking out in a horizontal and upwards motion… This was an instinctual response, and a testament to his natural martial talent.

He should have won this duel today.

Because after this move, he would suffer a minor wound, but Ge Shi would completely lose the ability to continue fighting.

But this move showed that Ge Shi’s martial arts talent was above his; if this duel had occurred two years later, he feared his chances of winning would only be thirty percent.

But there were no what-ifs in this world, at least not at this moment.

Zheng Mukai and Ge Shi both knew that as Zheng Mukai responded, he had already secured victory.

Unexpectedly, just as victory and defeat were about to be determined…

Whoosh—

A shadow like a gust of black wind suddenly killed its way onto the scene.

The newcomer stood at over six feet tall (merely a figure of speech to describe his height), clad in black and with a covered face.

He was a large man, but his speed was actually superior even to Zheng and Ge.

The onlookers watched as this man leaped directly from the crowd onto the stage in a single bound, landing with the force of thunder, positioning himself precisely at the intersection of the clashing spear and sword.

With his left hand’s tiger’s mouth gripping the spear and his right hand’s two fingers pinching the sword, he stopped both of their half-executed moves and unreleased inner strength in their tracks.

At this, everyone from the surrounding spectators to the duelists themselves were stunned.

Never mind the display of Qinggong the man had shown upon entering the stage; just the way he simultaneously stalled and smoothed the movements of both hands was enough to show that his martial arts far surpassed both Zheng and Ge, and made their prior combat seem like mere street performance.

“Gentlemen, please step forward.

I have something to say…” Then he spoke; his deep and hoarse voice may have been deliberately disguised.

Zheng Mukai and Ge Shi had no choice but to comply.

It was clear at a glance that the newcomer was a first-class master, and when they were “invited” to step forward, how could they not give face?

That would just be seeking discomfort for themselves.

After a breath’s pause, the man in black loosened his grip, allowing them to take back their weapons and quell their intentions to fight, both moving forward a step.

Then, no one knew what the man in black whispered to them, but it caused their faces to change expressions.

After speaking, the man in black stepped back two paces and said, “Gentlemen, please be wise,” then left just as he came, leaping away and disappearing into the distance.

Leaving Zheng Mukai and Ge Shi somewhat awkwardly remaining on the stage.

After a while, the younger Ge Shi was the first to bow with his spear, glancing sideways and somewhat reluctantly said to Zheng Mukai, “Mr.

Zheng, please forgive my lack of awareness.

I have offended you today.”

Seeing a way out, Zheng Mukai also responded with a forced smile, “Ha… Misunderstandings…

all misunderstandings.

I am a crude man, I hope Brother Ge will forgive me.”

After exchanging these pleasantries, they did not explain anything to the crowd but simply got off the stage, talked to the local guard about tearing up the life-and-death agreements, and then each went on his way.

All that was left was a crowd of confused spectators who didn’t grasp the situation and two announcers at the betting booth who wanted to curse out loud.

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