Chapter 147 How Would I Dare?

Enraged by Nanlu Tianzi's words, Beihua Wanlei had issued him a direct challenge in front everyone present!

Now, how would Nanlu Tianzi react?

All eyes turned towards Lu Tianzi, who now had an indifferent look on his face.

"What do you think you are doing?" Elder Xingmeng's anxious voice sounded out in his head. "Don't you dare accept his challenge! Hurry up and apologise!"

Likewise, City Lord Nanlan looked at him with worry in his eyes. In fact, City Lord Nanlan was the one who reminded Elder Xingmeng to rein in Nanlu Tianzi in the first place!

Lu Tianzi smirked, and then raised both of his hands in a surrendering posture.

"Please spare me, young master Beihua Wanlei! How would I dare to accept your challenge?" Lu Tianzi's voice even contained a hint of fear, a complete contrast to his confident tone from before.

This sudden change yet again set off a wave of confusion.

But before Beihua Wanlei could react, Lu Tianzi quickly continued. "Even though the battle royal went without injuries, I already got myself into such trouble. Who knows what would happen to me if I accidentally injure the avatar of the Lightning Crow Sect this time?"

"What?!" Beihua Wanlei's eyes widened in rage. At this point, this guy still intends to keep screwing with him?

Bang-!

Sect Master Leiba slammed his palm on the arm rest of his chair, drawing everyone's attention to him.

With his eyes still fixed on Lu Tianzi, he spoke with an extremely chilling tone. "City Lord Nanlan, is this your answer?"

"No, Sect Master Leiba! This is definitely not what he agreed to do!" City Lord Nanlan hurried shook his head before turning to Lu Tianzi. "Nanlu Tianzi, hurry up and take back what you just said! And apologise to Beihua Wanlei immediately!"

"If City Lord says so," Lu Tianzi shrugged before taking a short bow towards Beihua Wanlei. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier, so please allow me to take back my words. It seems that even though I am worried about the consequences, the seniors on my side don't want to see me backing down from your challenge. Name your terms then."

"Nanlu Tianzi!" Elder Xingmeng shot up from his seat. "Are you really going to be this obstinate? Do you really believe that I will not drive you out from the Nine Suns Sect?"

"Drive me out from the Nine Suns Sect?" Lu Tianzi's eyes narrowed at Elder Xingmeng.

As an Elder of the sect, Elder Xingmeng truly did possess the authority to expel wayward sect members.

But even so, Lu Tianzi never expected Elder Xingmeng to threaten him with such a matter.

At this moment, a suppressed laughter drew away their attention.

"Hahahahaha!" Beihua Wanlei laughed out in disbelief. "This is so absurd that even after seeing with my own eyes, I truly can't believe this is happening. A mere Intermediate Essence Condensation realm martial artist actually dares to act so arrogantly in my Lightning Crow Sect? Did your lucky victory at the Scarlet Moon Heroes Meet get to your head? But no matter what, you will not be leaving today. You asked me to name my terms? Well then, I want a fight to the death! Between you and I, there will only be one person who walks out of the Lightning Crow Sect alive!"

"Wanlei!" Sect Master Leiba frowned.

"Let me be, Sect Master," Beihua Wanlei eyed Lu Tianzi with obvious killing intent. "If I don't kill this brat today, I will never be able to answer to myself!"

"I am fine with a fight to the death, but I don't think you have the right to represent yourself?" Lu Tianzi taunted. "After all, aren't you the avatar of the Lightning Crow Sect? If I kill you, there is no way that I am leaving here alive either."

All eyes turned towards Sect Master Leiba.

What Lu Tianzi said was right. Even if he won, it was unlikely that the Lightning Crow Sect would allow him to walk free.

If there was someone who could provide an assurance of that, it would be Sect Master Leiba.

But before Sect Master Leiba could speak, a gentle voice sounded out in the silent front hall.

"Nanlu Tianzi, I can be your witness," Formation Master Beimu spoke up. "With me here, nobody would dare to go after you if you win. Furthermore, Sect Master Leiba is a respectable figure in the Scarlet Moon City, so you don't have to worry about the Lightning Crow Sect going against the agreement either. Am I right, Sect Master Leiba?"

Sect Master Leiba frowned.

As expected, having the Beimu Clan present ended up giving him problems.

When asked in such a manner, what else could he do other than nod?

"If Nanlu Tianzi wins in a clean manner, no one is to go after him in the future," Sect Master Leiba gave the order with a sigh.

One might think that they could still go after Nanlu Tianzi in secret, but it was not that simple.

Trust was a very important factor in relationships, including the relationships between influences.

After giving his word in front of every single influence that was affiliated to the Lightning Crow Sect, if they were to renege on their promise, then the respect that everyone held for the Lightning Crow Sect would plummet instantly.

As long as one of them got wind of the news, there was a chance that the news would spread. And with this many influences present, it would be difficult to act without alerting any one of them.

At that point in time, many of these influences might even choose to side with other more trustworthy influences for fear of being backstabbed by the Lightning Crow Sect in the future.

On top of that, there was even the Beimu Clan watching over the entire situation. And Beihua Wanlei was even the one who issued the challenge in the first place!

Therefore, now that Sect Master Leiba had given his word, even if Beihua Wanlei were to lose, it was almost certain that the Lightning Crow Sect would have to accept the result as it was.

It could be said that Sect Master Leiba's initial decision to invite representatives from this many different influences was now coming back to bite him in the ass!

But even so, Sect Master Leiba was not too worried.

After all, the odds were on Beihua Wanlei's side.

Back then, Beihua Wanlei only lost because he was sneaked up on by Nanlu Tianzi, and then ganged up upon by Beimu Fei. That was by no means a true display of his strength.

After which, Nanlu Tianzi went on to win the entire thing, but other than the mysterious defeat of Beiqian Ming, Nanlu Tianzi had shown nothing that showed his superiority to any of the Four Stars.

As for Beiqian Ming's instant defeat, Nanlu Tianzi had likely gotten lucky and managed to do something that struck at his weakness. Otherwise, it simply made no sense that Nanlu Tianzi would struggle so hard against Fourth Prince Mosha.

In that case, Beihua Wanlei was still at an advantage in this fight!

City Lord Nanlan helplessly slumped into his seat. At this point, he no longer had any power to stop the events that were about to happen.

Since that was the case, he could only hope that Elder Xingmeng would be able to appease Sect Master Nanhui of the Nine Suns Sect when he eventually finds out about this matter…

"And now you have nothing to worry about," Beihua Wanlei sneered in contempt. "So what is it going to be? Are you going to man up and fight? Or are you going to come up with yet another excuse?"

"Since Sect Master Leiba has given his word, then I have nothing else to say," Lu Tianzi smirked. "We can start anytime!"

"I see you finally gave up on escaping. Good, follow me!" Beihua Wanlei stepped out from his seat and stomped out of the front hall.

Lu Tianzi did not hesitate, immediately following Beihua Wanlei's lead.

Despite their curiosity, the guests present did not follow along.

Instead, they turned to look at Sect Master Leiba. After all, this was still the territory of the Lightning Crow Sect.

Lu Tianzi's case was slightly special, but it would be rude of them to just leave the front hall and enter the depths of the territory along with the two youngsters.

Sensing everyone's eyes on him, Sect Master Leiba shot a chilling side glance at City Lord Nanlan before standing up to face the audience. "Now that things have come to this, let's all go watch the fight."

***

The best way for martial artists to test their techniques was through actual battles.

Thus, every martial influence had their own designated fighting grounds, and the Lightning Crow Sect was no exception.

It was a square platform that measured a hundred metres on each side.

Right now, Lu Tianzi and Beihua Wanlei were standing on opposite ends of the battle platform, staring down each other from a distance.

Surrounding the battle platform were the countless guests that Sect Master Leiba had invited to the Lightning Crow Sect today, as well as those whom he did not invite but still showed up.

"Before everyone's presence, this is going to be a battle to the death between Beihua Wanlei of the Lightning Crow Sect and Nanlu Tianzi of the Nine Suns Sect." Formation Master Beimu announced. "Beihua Wanlei, I ask you one last time. Do you agree to a fight to the death?"

"I agree!" Beihua Wanlei replied.

"Then Nanlu Tianzi, I ask you one last time. Do you agree to a fight to the death?" Formation Master Beimu asked once more. "This is your last chance to back down."

"I agree," Lu Tianzi nodded towards Formation Master Beimu, reassuring her of his decision.

City Lord Nanlan and Elder Xingmeng sighed helplessly, while Nanlan Qianbing felt a strange sense of conflict in her heart for reasons that even she did not understand.

"In that case, under the eyes of everyone present, I announce that this will be a fight to the death between Beihua Wanlei and Nanlu Tianzi." Formation Master Beimu said. "Now, let the fight begin."

Beihua Wanlei swiped his spatial ring, and instantly donned his treasure gauntlets.

Cackle-!

Huge bolts of electricity flashed around his gauntlets.

With both his hands now armed with heavily charged gauntlets, Beihua Wanlei charged forth towards Lu Tianzi.

By now, Lu Tianzi already had a weapon in each of his hands, a sword in the right and a sabre in the left.

Watching Beihua Wanlei approach, Lu Tianzi readied himself for the impact.

"Die!" Beihua Wanlei thrust his right arm forward, aiming straight for Lu Tianzi's neck.

At this moment, the treasure gauntlet on Beihua Wanlei's right hand glowed with an intense yellow light, causing World Origin Energy in the surroundings to churn wildly.

Lu Tianzi narrowed his eyes.

This was the exact same inscription skill that Beihua Wanlei had used against him back then!

By repeating his actions, was it a challenge from Beihua Wanlei?

If that was the case, then Lu Tianzi would gladly accept. After all, he came out on top the other time, and had nothing to lose here.

Since Beihua Wanlei was arrogant enough to repeat his moves, Lu Tianzi wanted to see just what Beihua Wanlei had prepared against him!

Lu Tianzi poured his Slaughter Essence energy into the Torrential Sabre, activating the Astral Way Inscription before slashing out to meet Beihua Wanlei's attack.

Bang-!

Once again, the clash of inscription skills sent out a shockwave in all directions.

But that was not important.

The important part came immediately after, when Lu Tianzi pierced forward with his Sword of Ivory Rock.

Howling Wraith Sword!

Beihua Wanlei's eyes glazed over.

Back then during the Scarlet Moon Heroes Meet, this was the exact same exchange of moves that had led up to Lu Tianzi taking down Beihua Wanlei.

The audiences all watched closely, not wanting to miss what happened next.

If Beihua Wanlei fell to this set of technique for the second time, then it would no longer be as simple as being removed from the fight.

This time, he would also be losing his life!

But at this moment, a previously inconspicuous looking pendant that had been hanging around Beihua Wanlei's neck suddenly let out an intense yellow light.

And with the emergence of this strange light, Beihua Wanlei's eyes quickly returned into focus.

"Your tricks won't work against me anymore!" Beihua Wanlei grabbed out with his free left hand, trying to catch Lu Tianzi's sword thrust.

Beihua Wanlei actually made preparations for the fight?

Lu Tianzi frowned.

Did Beihua Wanlei already forsee that they would end up settling matters through battle?

Despite his thoughts, Lu Tianzi still followed through with his sword strike.

After all, the Howling Wraith Sword was not only about its illusory aspect, and had a decent offensive power as well!

Screech-!

The sound of metal grating against metal sounded out as the Sword of Ivory Rock cut against the treasure gauntlet that was tightly gripping onto it.

Yet even with Beihua Wanlei's attempt to grab hold of the sword, it only slowed down the force of the sword thrust, and did not manage to stop it entirely.

The tip of the Sword of Ivory Rock continued piercing ahead, until it finally came into contact with Beihua Wanlei's torso.

Ding-!

At this moment, rather than drawing blood, a loud metallic sound chimed out.

Beihua Wanlei had worn a set of treasure armour underneath his clothes!

"I said your tricks won't work against me anymore!" Beihua Wanlei sneered.

Beihua Wanlei quickly released his grip on Lu Tianzi's sword, thrusting his left palm forward.

Lu Tianzi was caught by surprise by this sudden development.

Right as the Sword of Ivory Rock was about to make contact with Beihua Wanlei's body, Lu Tianzi had gotten slightly careless, thinking that he had already managed to come out on top in this exchange.

It was a split second of complacency formed from beating the opponent previously, and this resulted in an opening that Beihua Wanlei immediately caught onto.

Now that the current distance between them had reduced, along with how Lu Tianzi had just attacked with both of his weapons, there was simply no way left for Lu Tianzi to stop this palm strike.

Just like that, Beihua Wanlei's palm slammed mercilessly into Lu Tianzi's chest!