Time flew by, and five days passed, bringing them to August 1.
The international exchange tournament's matches continued. The sheer number of participants forced overall competition to soar. There were not just representatives from the Hongli Empire's various Covert Martial Arts sects, but also from two other great nations and numerous smaller countries. In particular, the many experts of the United States of Yana had garnered special attention. Due to their experience in wartime, the United States of Yana's Covert Martial Arts practitioners possessed extensive real combat experience and acted with striking ruthlessness.
Many powerful figures from the Hongli Empire's Covert Martial Arts community were defeated in turn. Among them, the most eye-opening disappointment was the Eastern Covert Martial Arts community.
There were four rising stars within the younger generation of the Eastern Covert Martial Arts community who towered over other prodigies. Each hailed from a wealthy, established Covert Martial Arts sect and served as the sect's foremost successor to lead the next era. Yet, in the course of five days, the four new stars had barely begun to dazzle when they were summarily struck down.
Fulan of the Dark Cross Sword was beaten black and blue by a plain-looking youth whose arms reached below his knees. In their final exchange, his punch landed on her sword, and the massive force knocked it from her grip. To have a swordsman's blade sent flying from their hand was both sorrowful and humiliating beyond measure.
Then there was Rolando of the Northbound Fist, who was all but driven to despair by a scarred man missing his left eye. They fought speed against speed, toughness against toughness. It was the fighting style that Rolando excelled at and cherished most, yet his specialty was decisively countered and crushed beyond any doubt.
Various other so-called child prodigies, each with a sky-high reputation, found themselves vanquished by foreign Covert Martial Arts experts. Although the Hongli Empire's Covert Martial Arts community notched quite a few victories, they were overall on the losing end. As hosts, they found themselves subtly targeted by the other two great nations and the numerous smaller countries, whose fighters were all top-tier elites.
All this left the Hongli Empire's Covert Martial Arts community all the more anxious. They reasoned that, since they could not gain the upper hand in these younger-generation matches, they at least needed to dominate at the combat artist level. They no longer held any expectation for the top-tier combat artist level; they hardly hoped to triumph against Whale King Arlington and only wished not to lose too disgracefully.
Clearly, since both the lower and the upper strata had lost ground, it was time for the mid-level elders and sect leaders across the major sects to step in. They needed to fight for the last shred of pride for the Hongli Empire's Covert Martial Arts community.
Thus all the great sects of the Hongli Empire's Covert Martial Arts community had gathered at Kafka Hall the morning before the exchange tournament resumed.
They discussed how to handle the combined onslaught. Each sect planned to summon their veteran combat artists to confront the foreign experts. There were only a few top-tier or extreme combat artists, so they would only appear at the final stage. Everyone's pressing concern was the challenge right before them.
The figures took their seats around a long rectangular conference table.
"I believe everyone here ought to stop holding back," an elderly man with white brows and hair said calmly as he stood, his face showing a dignified air. "Bring out the pillars of your respective sects. If we do not fight with everything we have, the reputation of our Hongli Empire's Covert Martial Arts community might plummet. Foreign or domestic, we have all been utterly humiliated."
"Yes, if we don't go all out, we'll be disgraced even further..."
"Aish, it was supposed to be a fine exchange tournament, so how did it come to this..."
For a time, the people around the conference table argued back and forth, each with different opinions.
At the end of the table, four figures in black cloaks sat quietly, as though the surrounding commotion had nothing to do with them. Yet more than a few gazes lingered on them with curiosity.
Numerous previously unknown experts had risen to fame during the weeklong international exchange tournament. The four dark horses before them, however, were unquestionably the most enigmatic. They had defeated opponents all along the way, employed a unique fist technique, and grew stronger the tougher their opponents became.
In the end, they had each displayed combat artist-level strength!
Where had four combat artists sprung from?
No one in the Hongli Empire's Covert Martial Arts community had ever heard of any sect called the Golem Sect possessing four combat artists at once!
Even the Soul-Breaking Sword Path, a first-rate sect in the Eastern Covert Martial Arts community for centuries, never had more than three combat artists alive in the same generation. They typically maintained that number with few deviations, yet this Golem Sect came up with four experts out of nowhere.
Moreover, each of them performed fist techniques that looked vastly dissimilar, branching into distinct specialty areas. Still, those with discerning eyes could see that the four styles, while presented differently, shared a profoundly similar core. This suggested that all four fist techniques had likely been devised by a single person, and each offered an ingenious set of strengths and advantages.
Combat had proven that their fighting power was distinctly unique!
They frequently overcame foes of similar rank, forcing them onto the defensive. They carried an unmistakable ferocity.
If a single individual had invented these four vicious fist techniques, that person had to be a fist technique master—Heck, more like a grandmaster!
After all, four distinct routes in fist techniques were like lush branches springing from one trunk, enough to found a major sect and continue the lineage. They held greater significance and mastery than even the southern jungle master who had died twenty years ago after creating the Seven-Star Fate Realms Secret Technique. After all, no matter how powerful the Seven-Star Fate Realms became, it was still just a Secret Technique.
Many gazes near the conference table fell on Odo and the others, some subtle and some quite direct. They were sorely tempted yet hesitated in the face of unfamiliarity, unsure if they should speak. At last, someone could bear it no longer.
He stood abruptly, clasped his hands ceremonially, took a deep breath, and said, "Greetings, friends of the Golem Sect. Forgive my bold question, but might there be other elders within your sect? I mean, is the fist technique grandmaster who created those Covert Martial Arts you four displayed still alive?"
His gaze shone, bearing a hint of hopeful anticipation...