Chapter 63 Ferocious

The massive hanging screen on the high ceiling did not pause for a moment due to the death or injury of the fighters.

The fighters' avatars began to flash and update once again.

Among all the contenders, Xu Hu was severely wounded and on the verge of death, having been eliminated prematurely.

Valerio was thoroughly dead, his corpse hauled away callously by the staff members.

The bloodstains on the ring were also scrubbed completely clean once more.

Among the remaining fighters, very few had yet to make their debut in the opening round.

Finally, the screen came to a complete halt.

Du Youbang versus Fang Changjing.

Broadsword versus Nine-Section Steel Whip.

Du Youbang raised his eyes, his expression largely devoid of emotion, yet his gaze was brimming with killing intent.

The scarlet centipede tattoo sprawling across his face seemed to slowly crawl along with the subtle twitch of his facial muscles, radiating an aura of intense ferocity from his entire being.

As a former triad boss and dual-flower red pole, Du Youbang possessed an unshakeable ruthlessness, his very bones steeped in a chilling murderous intent.

In his previous bouts in the ring, he had predominantly chosen weapons for combat.

And as for his opponents, almost without exception, every single one of them had died in the ring.

It was precisely because of this that Du Youbang had earned the nickname "Butcher."

Inside the arena, his performance was so terrifyingly savage that it struck dread into the hearts of his opponents; his strikes were delivered with the sole intent of dealing a fatal blow.

He treated human life with utter disregard.

Even on the top-floor fighting arena of the Fusheng Building, his actions made quite a few people feel somewhat uneasy.

Of course, just as Park Jung-shin's elegant fighting style fascinated a large group of wealthy female patrons, Du Youbang's vicious and resolute combat style likewise captivated a faction of spectators who held an extreme adoration for violence.

Therefore, when Du Youbang took the stage, a rather loud roar of cheers erupted from the audience seating outside.

Du Youbang's weapon was a broadsword, also known as a pudao or bo knife.

The origin of this weapon traced back to the Song Dynasty, a time when the imperial court strictly controlled all kinds of weaponry, prompting the broadsword to gradually become popular among the common people.

Because the broadsword skirted the rules and managed by a stroke of luck to escape being classified among the strictly regulated items of that era, it saw widespread popularity.

Initially, the broadsword was merely an agricultural tool fitted with a wooden shaft.

This way, during busy farming seasons, it could be detached for agricultural work, and should an unexpected emergency arise, it could be reattached immediately for defense.

It cleverly bypassed the imperial restrictions on weaponry.

As time passed, the development of the broadsword gradually became standardized, finding applications in military strategy, armed forces, and many other fields.

Generally speaking, a broadsword was about one and a half meters in length.

The blade and the hilt were roughly similar in proportion, though the blade was usually slightly shorter than the hilt.

However, Du Youbang's broadsword had clearly undergone special modification, reaching a rare length of roughly two meters.

The hilt alone measured one meter and twenty centimeters, while the blade itself spanned about eighty centimeters.

Rather than a conventional broadsword, it bore a closer resemblance to the crescent-handled sabre among long-handled sabres.

Its overall design leaned more toward the cinematic depiction of a broadsword: the blade was narrow, sharp, with an upturned tip and a wide body.

The hilt of the broadsword was crafted from top-tier mahogany, coated with a layer of black lacquer, over which a coiled coiling dragon was outlined in blood-red paint.

The entire broadsword could only be described as formidable and domineering.

In stark contrast, Fang Changjing wore an expression of extreme distress.

The nine-section steel whip was his signature weapon, measuring around one meter and sixty centimeters in length.

Despite being called a nine-section steel whip, it actually consisted of eight body sections, plus one head section and one tail section, making it ten sections in reality.

Its entire structure was made of steel, with the sections linked together by ring-shaped closures.

The reason Fang Changjing looked so grim was that in several consecutive matches, the winning side predominantly wielded weapons exceeding two meters in length.

Much like Liu Yunxing's Miao Dao earlier, the nine-section steel whip stood no chance of gaining the slightest advantage at such a distance.

Yet, unlike the Miao Dao—which, even at a disadvantage in length, still posed a massive threat if supplemented by superior technique—the nine-section steel whip belonged to the category of unorthodox weapons, or even concealed weapons. If it failed to leverage distance to establish an advantage,

the wielder could only pray that the opponent was unfamiliar with the fighting style of the nine-section whip.

Tonight's arena fights featured long weapons that grew increasingly exaggerated, and every single one of them had won.

Conversely, the conventional short blades and swords that were common on ordinary days had a remarkably sparse appearance this time around.

The match began.

Fang Changjing gripped the handle of the nine-section steel whip, looped the long chain around his wrist, and gripped it again further down at the third section.

He chose to make the first move. With a sharp clatter, the steel whip lashed out with a crisp sound, stabbing straight toward Du Youbang's face.

Yet Du Youbang neither dodged nor evaded; he violently swung his broadsword, the blade's glare cascading from top to bottom, instantly flashing a streak of chilling cold light!

Fang Changjing did not dare to trade blows evenly; if that blade landed solidly on him, he feared he would be disemboweled!

He hastily stepped back, whipping and flicking the steel whip like a winding, darting silver serpent that instantly coiled around the body of the broadsword and the joint of the hilt.

A fierce look flashed across Fang Changjing's brow. He twisted the wrist gripping the whip handle and pulled back with immense force,

intending to rip Du Youbang's lethal weapon right out of his hands!

However, Du Youbang possessed exceptional combat experience. Instead of engaging in a stubborn tug-of-war, he abruptly let go and thrust the broadsword forward with a powerful shove of his arm.

The sharp, upturned tip shot forward, catching Fang Changjing completely off guard.

Appalled, Fang Changjing lunged to the side to evade.

But Du Youbang had already closed the distance in two strides, gripping the hilt of the broadsword as the muscles in his arms bulged, and forcefully jerked the weapon back.

As Fang Changjing dodged, he failed to react in time and was dragged stumbling forward by the momentum.

The whip handle he had been tightly gripping was also torn from his grasp and sent flying away.

Swinging the broadsword, Du Youbang dragged the long nine-section steel whip along with it, tracing a chilling arc through the air as it slashed directly toward Fang Changjing's neck.

Before Fang Changjing could steady his footing, he could only raise his head in a pathetic panic, terror flooding his eyes as he roared at the top of his lungs: "I surrender!!!"

Yet the chilling blade did not halt, cleaving straight into Fang Changjing's neck.

Bright red blood gushed forth!

The scene was incomparably gruesome!

However, Du Youbang had slightly poor luck; the broadsword missed the intervertebral disc and struck the vertebra instead.

Coupled with the obstruction of the nine-section steel whip, the blade failed to sever the head entirely, getting stuck midway through Fang Changjing's neck.

Still, this made things rather cruel for Fang Changjing.

The spectacle unfolding in the arena was truly terrifying.
Unlike Song Ren's exquisite throat-slitting executed with a golden-inlaid tiger-head spear,

Du Youbang's domineering and ferocious killing aura undoubtedly appeared far more spine-chilling, radiating a savagery embedded deep within his bones.

He pulled the broadsword free, drawing out a massive wave of horrifying blood.

With a cold glare, he flicked away the nine-section steel whip entangled around the blade.

Du Youbang sneered down at Fang Changjing's corpse:

"What's the use of surrendering? This is a life-or-death arena."

"Did you really take me for a living Buddha?"