I Can See Your Combat Power

Chapter 777: Chapter 71: Longxi Financial Group

Almost all of the people from Longxi could hear the suppressed cheers from within the bamboo forest, but the expressions on their faces can only be described as ashen.

It was as if a master boxer gifted in physical arts stepped into the ring for a martial duel, only for the referee to announce that the bout could only be fought with swords. If this wasn’t a targeted move, what was!?

Cui Haoran felt as if ten thousand imaginary creatures were galloping wild inside him, but after glancing at the Grandmaster in the bamboo pavilion, he dared not make a peep. He simply turned his head and carefully observed Tang Luo’s expression.

But on the contrary to the ups and downs of emotions within the Longxi team members, their “targeted” Captain Tang Luo appeared unbothered, his expression unchanged. Even after hearing that private fights were forbidden in the bamboo forest, there was not the slightest ripple on his face. He led his three team members towards the bamboo house.

It was while passing the bamboo pavilion that he cast a few extra glances at the middle-aged scholar who was seated across the white-haired, thick-eyebrowed Grandmaster, drinking tea. Perhaps sensing Tang Luo’s gaze, the middle-aged scholar turned his head, nodded towards Tang Luo, his eyes, full of the calmness of one who has seen the vicissitudes of life, imbued with an amiable smile. Upon seeing this, Tang Luo immediately saluted him in response.

What was a simple greeting resonated bizarrely in the eyes of the other three Longxi team members. They watched as their Captain Tang Luo examined the vacant seat opposite the white-haired Grandmaster while passing by the bamboo pavilion and even saluted him, their faces akin to those who have seen a ghost.

“Captain, what are you doing?” Cui Haoran quietly tugged at the hem of Tang Luo’s robe and asked in a whisper.

“???” Tang Luo turned his head in confusion and said, “I was just paying my respects to an elder from Martial Saint Mountain.”

“But…Master Wei is over there.” Cui Haoran carefully pointed in the direction of another seat.

“Not Master Wei, another elder.” replied Tang Luo. Looking at his teammates’ shocked faces, he paused, then turned to double-check if the middle-aged scholar-looking Grandmaster was still there. He turned back and asked curiously, “Aren’t you guys going to salute?”

Aside from you, Captain, who else would dare disrespect a Grandmaster like this?

The three were looking helplessly at the empty seat opposite Master Wei, shaking their heads. Even though they had seen Tang Luo in battle, and knew that he might be able to save his own life from a Grandmaster, they were certainly not capable of that. A Grandmaster killing them would be like squashing an ant, how could a jackal dare to mess with a lion? This was the oppression of hierarchical difference in life.

The expression on Cui Haoran’s face was so grim it seemed he was about to burst into tears. He pleaded in a whisper, “Captain, I know you are upset because of Master Wei’s bias earlier, but we are still in Martial Saint Mountain territory, so for our sake, please restrain yourself.”

After looking at Li Xuanba, who looked as though he had just lost his father, and Cui Haoran with a face full of worry, Tang Luo finally understood. In other words, these two couldn’t see the middle-aged scholar sitting across from Master Wei, could they!?

Looking at Xiao Ziyu, Tang Luo observed that since the beginning of their conversation, he had constantly been eyeing the seat of the middle-aged scholar. However, after looking for a long time, he found nothing, and could only shrug helplessly at Tang Luo.

Tang Luo knitted his brows, “Well…it’s okay. Let’s go to the bamboo house to exchange for jade coins.” Instead of lingering on the matter of the middle-aged scholar, he walked directly toward the bamboo house.

Seeing the captain no longer taunting the Grandmaster, the three members of the Longxi team happily followed, their faces filled with relief as if they had escaped from death.

It was probably only a stunningly brilliant person like their captain who could dare to disrespect a Grandmaster like this- anyone else would have likely been hung from a bamboo pole by now…

Once the group from Longxi had moved away, the white-haired Grandmaster in the bamboo pavilion, who was sharing a laugh with the middle-aged scholar, asked, “This man disgraced Dao Child of Qilin Mountain. What do you think, Brother Chen?”

Remembering the firm gaze, Chen Menglu praised, “Such an age and such perception, truly remarkable.”

“If Brother Chen can praise him like this, it seems this lad has a promising future. It appears the Tang Clan of Longxi have got a promising future too.”

“Brother Wei, you flatter me.”

The bamboo house where you can exchange jade coins was located in front of the not far away mountain wall. By the time the Longxi group had arrived, many people had already completed their exchange. And Tang Luo, from the quiet exchanges in the small groups, managed to hear a lot of useful information.

Each badge could be exchanged for ten jade coins. But the purpose of these jade coins remained untold by the attendant in charge of the exchange. They simply stated that the quantity of jade coins was related to the final ranking of the second round, urging the competitors to get as many jade coins as possible.

Since the Grandmaster said that there should be no private fights in the bamboo forest, many people started placing their focus on exchanges, especially Xiang Loulan, the son of the Xiang Family from Chaochang City.

Perhaps the Xiang Family, being a subsidiary of the Yun Clan, indeed had a bonus for commercial capabilities. Xiang Loulan had already persuaded several competitors with only a few dozen coins to give up their coins. And in just a little while, it started to take effect.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

After seeing the actions of Xiang Loulan, Liu Chenxing of the Liu Clan of Chuanyuan, and Mutaiying of the Mu Family of Mubai, also started to follow suit. As the top noble families in Longzhou, their family’s deep roots weren’t inferior to any sect. Even though all the attendees were the prodigies of the noble families, how much power and resources could they possibly possess at such a young age? Since they had no hope of winning the championship, some jade coins could be exchanged for real benefits. Besides a few obstinate sons from noble families, most were willing to make the exchange, even if it meant forming a good bond with the sons of these families.

Hearing the movement in the bamboo forest, Tang Luo and his three team members approached the exchange booth, placed the package with the badges on the table, one big and three small.

The attendant glanced at Tang Luo. Although this bunch of badges didn’t hold much value anymore, he still dutifully opened the largest bag and carefully counted them one by one.

“One, two, three… ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine… hmm?”

He shook the opened bag, it only contained ninety-nine badges. Looking at Tang Luo in amazement, the attendant asked, “Did Young Master Tang lose a badge?”

“This is the exact amount. You just have to exchange them for jade coins and put them into the bag.” Tang Luo shook his head with a smile and replied to the attendant.

Xiao Ziyu, who was exchanging coins at the next table, rubbed his nose and felt a little guilty. Originally, Tang Luo should have been able to get a hundred badges smoothly. However, on the first day, he had used too much force and injured the champion of the second ring. This resulted in a slight defect in Tang Luo’s record, eventually only obtaining ninety-nine badges, leaving a glimmer of hope for those who follow.

After the four of them exchanged all their badges for jade coins, the Longxi team suddenly became the richest jade coin group in the bamboo forest. On the white leaderboard, Tang Luo with 990 coins stood at the top, Xiao Ziyu with 350 coins ranked fourth. Even the 210 coins of Cui Haoran and 190 coins of Li Xuanba were among the top twenty.

Just after the Longxi team had completed their exchange, and before the jade coins in their hands had a chance to get warm, a suave young nobleman, shaking his folding fan, approached with a big smile, “Greetings, Young Masters Tang, Xiao, Cui, and Li. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Xiang Loulan from the Xiang Family of Chaochang.”