The words of the Ritual Eunuch silenced the entire Martial Arts Arena.
Then it erupted into an uproar.
But the question on everyone’s mind was, how could Chen Yuyun, the sixth grandmaster of the Martial World, with his robust physique, profound Inner Strength, and standout presence among the younger generation, suddenly die so unexpectedly?
All eyes instinctively turned to Yuwen Hua.
Yuwen Hua, a brash and arrogant scion of a general’s family, was, after all, just a twenty-three-year-old young man. As expected, his first, unconscious glance was toward his uncle.
He instinctively believed it was his uncle who had Chen Yuyun killed to secure his victory.
But he immediately dismissed the thought.
He had been planning to beat Chen Yuyun half to death in their fight.
And then concede defeat.
Almost instantly, Yuwen Hua felt a tingling of his scalp, while Yuwen Lie, knitting his brows, turned to Emperor Chen and took the initiative, "Someone is trying to harm Ying Country, to sow discord between Chen Country and Ying Country, Your Majesty."
"This battle, Hua’er has lost."
Emperor Chen’s expression was calm.
Yuwen Lie had never seen such cold and indifferent eyes.
The Emperor of Ying’s gaze was always passionate, always forceful, and not ice-cold . Emperor Chen replied, "General need not worry, Chen and Ying are both major powers of the Central Plains, forever bound in friendship."
Then he looked toward the stage and calmly rose to his feet.
Yuwen Lie felt a powerful surge of True Qi emanating from Emperor Chen.
Which was then suppressed.
Yuwen Lie guessed that the deceased Chen Yuyun must have had more than just an ordinary identity; only then would it cause the Emperor of Great Chen, a cultivator of imperial techniques, such a moment’s lapse, as even at this level, a ripple of Inner Qi was felt. This indicated that beneath that seemingly calm face, a tempest raged.
"Before the national grand ceremony, the felon who committed this crime shall be dealt with by the City Captain and other officials."
"Since Chen Yuyun failed to make it here for the battle, the first fight, Yuwen Hua wins."
"The grand ceremony’s martial competition is a national event. It cannot be halted due to a single person’s death. Today’s matter will be handled by the officials. People of Great Chen, be attentive to your own safety when outside."
"The grand ceremony’s martial competition will not stop; we will proceed to the second fight."
Emperor Chen calmly sat down, sipped his tea, his eyes indifferent.
He continued to converse casually with the Seventh Prince, the Prince of Ying, and others.
The Ritual Eunuch returned to Emperor Chen’s side, observing him appearing as usual. Even his breathing and facial expressions showed no change, only revealing an undisguised displeasure pertaining to the disturbance caused by the criminal. Besides that, there was no more turmoil.
The Ritual Eunuch felt a bone-piercing coldness.
Xue Daoyong was shocked, while Tantai Xianming felt a creeping sense of wrongness at the bottom of his heart.
The others were also stunned for a long time.
Zhou Liuying lost in thought: "Chen Yuyun... has died?"
Although he did not like that cold individual, he also did not expect him to die. For some reason, he found it hard to feel happy about it. Ye Buyi looked towards Li Guanyi and said, "Next up, it’s your turn against Geshu Yin."
Zhou Liuying came back to his senses:
"Buyi, you just mentioned that the last battle would surely be a great victory for our Chen Country."
"Now, doesn’t it mean that our leader is bound to win?"
Ye Buyi shook his head, his voice slow, "No..."
"It should be that the Imperial Family is bound to win; now that Chen Yuyun, of the imperial lineage, has died."
"That means that, in the end, those two will spare no effort to defeat Mr. Li."
Zhou Liuying, puzzled, asked, "Why?"
Ye Buyi fell silent, then said:
"Because it subtly conveys to the people a message—that the opponents fear the Imperial Family, hence they assassinated a member. Without the warriors from the Imperial Family, our Great Chen would only rank second or third."
"In this way, Mr. Li losing would be more beneficial to the royal family than winning."
Zhou Liuying stared, speechless. He sighed, "I don’t understand, it’s too complicated."
Ye Buyi replied, "This is court politics."
"Life and death, victory and defeat, are all for the royal family."
Yuwen Hua descended from the arena, and everything seemed to resume as usual. The common people quickly started an angry discussion about the conspiracy behind Chen Yuyun’s sudden death, before rapidly moving on, eagerly awaiting the upcoming battles.
Li Guanyi and Ye Buyi, along with Zhou Liuying and others, exchanged greetings, picked up the Battle Halberd, and stepped onto the arena.
Geshu Yin was ordered by the Seventh Prince to win.
"To improve relations with Chen Country, now that Chen Yuyun, the face that Chen itself was preparing, is gone, we need to give back that honor to Chen Country."
Geshu Yin, a loyal and brave Martial Artist, simply silently followed the prince’s will, for having witnessed Li Guanyi’s battle formations in the arena, he opted this time for a heavy battle axe that required both hands to grip, with an edge sharp enough to easily cleave through both warhorse and Armor.
It was a more primitive and simple, yet heavy and dominant, Weapon compared to the Battle Halberds of the Central Plains.
Tu Shengyuan, a Guest Elder at The World’s First Building, holding a bamboo slip and carving knife, said, "Geshu Yin, in the battle against Tuyuhun, along with the Turkic Seven Kings, made notable achievements. Born into the Turkic nobility, he is not yet at his peak."
"He is equipped with Captain Level Iron Futu armor."
"Donning such Heavy Armor, man and horse outfitted could nearly reach ten thousand pounds, swinging the battle axe in a Charge, he is simply unmatched. Such combat in the Martial World is not his forte."
"But he has also trained his Body Refinement."
"The warrior practices from the grasslands are connected to the primitive shamanistic teachings, focusing on physical strength and utilizing the Qi Mechanism as a secondary aid. His Martial Arts techniques are wide and powerful. He is the same type of Martial Artist as Li Guan, who previously defeated the Little Sword Saint, Xu Huixiang, not in skill but in Mental State."