Author: 哔哔 (Bi Bi) / Jin Gang Quan

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 26

Huo Fenghua sat down and was handed a wooden tag with a number on it. It was his number. He casually hung it around his neck, when he suddenly heard an uproar ripple through the whole tournament ground. He looked up and saw that the city lord, Pan Yan, and his daughter Pan Zishu had appeared on the second floor viewing terrace at the front.

Pan Yan was lean and solid. Though he wasn’t young anymore, his eyes were still sharp, and he was full of energy. Pan Zishu wore a veil, so her face couldn’t be seen clearly, but her skin was snow-white and her figure slender. She ought to be a stunning beauty.

Huo Fenghua couldn’t help standing up, wanting to get a better look at Pan Zishu. In an instant, another idea formed in his mind. If Pan Zishu really was a great beauty, why didn’t he simply go along with it and use Shao Feijie’s support to marry her?

If he did that, he’d have the city lord of Zhuyue City as his father-in-law, and a gorgeous woman like Pan Zishu as his wife. Then he could dig in his heels and refuse to follow Shao Feijie in restoring the kingdom. Could Shao Feijie really just seize him and drag him away? That would be far better than being at Shao Feijie’s mercy and unable to escape.

With that thought, the unease that had been haunting him finally settled. He sat back down and suddenly laughed.

A few people beside him were looking at him. He found it odd and glanced around, only to realize everyone else had hung their number tags on their chairs, and he was the only one wearing it around his neck. He quickly took it off and hung it on the left armrest of his chair.

When he looked up again, Huo Fenghua vaguely felt Pan Zishu was looking in their direction, amusement in her eyes. He didn’t know if it was his imagination, but he lifted his chin and smiled back at her.

After waiting a little longer, the marriage competition officially began.

There were three platforms in the center of the arena. Each round called up six people. The numbers were split into three pairs, and each pair fought. The loser left, and the winner stepped down to prepare for the next round, then another pair went up to fight.

Huo Fenghua sat below and watched, his heart pounding. Every participant seemed highly skilled. If he went up with his pitiful, half-baked tricks, he figured he wouldn’t last even two exchanges.

Of course, there were weaker ones too. When they ran into real experts, the match ended in two or three moves. They retreated, and the next pair quickly filled in.

After half an hour, Huo Fenghua heard his number called. He stood, took off his cloak, and went up by the steps beside the platform. His entrance lacked a bit of swagger. He knew plenty of people simply leapt up onto the stage, but the platform was high, and he was afraid he wouldn’t make it and would embarrass himself, so using the stairs felt safer.

In the end, his opponent went to the edge and tried to leap up, but came up just short, tripped at the lip, and pitched forward.

Laughter burst out all around. Huo Fenghua felt secondhand humiliation for the man too, thinking, why would you even do that?

They faced each other, cupped their fists in greeting, and took their stances.

Huo Fenghua always set his stance beautifully, but the moment they traded blows, his weakness showed. They went back and forth for more than ten exchanges, and he suddenly realized his opponent was just as mediocre as himself.

And that man liked to roar low in his throat whenever he attacked, sounding terrifying, but his moves were clumsy, his strength lacking, and his reactions slow. After more than twenty exchanges, the man backed up to the edge of the platform, tangled his own feet, and fell off.

The referee immediately declared Huo Fenghua the winner.

Huo Fenghua looked dazed and confused. He lifted a hand and waved, then went down, still not understanding how he’d just won his first match.

The second match would be the next day.

That night, Huo Fenghua asked Wen Heyi whether his opponent had been arranged in advance, since he’d been so weak. Wen Heyi only smiled and told him to guess.

Huo Fenghua was convinced something was fishy about this whole tournament. Maybe Pan Yan really had been persuaded by Shao Feijie and was taking the chance to marry his daughter off to him. If so, then he could probably win tomorrow’s match with his eyes closed.

The next day, Huo Fenghua climbed onto the platform full of confidence. This time his opponent was an elderly man with hair already gone white.

In the viewing seats, people were murmuring to each other. Huo Fenghua couldn’t help turning his head toward the second-floor terrace again. He kept feeling Pan Zishu was looking this way.

He turned back and saluted the old man.

Yesterday, that old man had looked vigorous. He’d fought dozens of exchanges and defeated his opponent. Today, though, he looked sickly and listless. Either he hadn’t rested well, or he’d suddenly come down with an acute illness at this critical moment.

Huo Fenghua couldn’t help finding it a little funny. He raised a starting posture and was just about to strike when someone suddenly shouted, “Hold it!”

The noisy arena fell instantly silent. With that shout, a tall, slender figure leapt lightly from the spectator stands. In a nimble flip, he landed on the very platform Huo Fenghua was on.

The arena steward pointed at him and bellowed, “Who are you? Why are you barging onto the platform?”

Who was he? Huo Fenghua, in shock, stumbled backward again and again. The man was Feng Tianzong.

The Feng Tianzong he’d seen yesterday hadn’t been an illusion at all. Somehow, he’d slipped away from the garrison in Xichou and chased him all the way to Zhuyue City.

Feng Tianzong had taken off his armor and changed into a brown cloth outfit, but his presence was undiminished. He seized Huo Fenghua’s wrist and called out, “City Lord, wait. This man’s identity is fraudulent. He shouldn’t be allowed to continue competing.”

The steward hesitated and didn’t dare decide on his own. He looked up toward the city lord’s stand.

The entire arena had gone quiet, and Feng Tianzong’s voice carried clearly to Pan Yan.

Huo Fenghua immediately whispered urgently, “General, you can’t joke about this.”

Feng Tianzong didn’t even look at him, only letting his lips curve faintly.

Pan Yan stood and walked to the edge of the terrace, looking down at Feng Tianzong. He murmured something to a servant at his side, and the servant shouted, “Who are you, sir? If this man isn’t Huo Fengnian, then who is he?”

Feng Tianzong tightened his grip on Huo Fenghua’s wrist and lifted his chin. “I am Feng Tianzong, the Great General of Donglin’s Expedition Army. This man is not Xichou’s eldest prince Huo Fengnian. He is the male concubine of my household, named Huo Fenghua.”

The moment he said it, the arena erupted. Spectators, and even contestants still fighting on the platforms, began murmuring. Even Pan Zishu could no longer sit still. She stood and went to Pan Yan’s side, looking in their direction.

Cold sweat poured down Huo Fenghua’s forehead. He shouted, “This man is spewing nonsense. None of it is true. City Lord, you mustn’t believe him! Huo Fenghua is my younger brother, a hostage in Donglin. We’re simply twins, and we look alike!”

Pan Yan’s brows knit tightly as he murmured some instructions to his servant.

The servant shouted, “General Feng, you claim this man is your male concubine Huo Fenghua. Do you have proof?”

Feng Tianzong smiled slightly. “Of course.” Before the words had even finished leaving his mouth, he yanked Huo Fenghua into his arms, pressing chest to chest. With his other hand, he tore open the cloth at Huo Fenghua’s left lower back, exposing a phoenix-shaped brand. “Among Donglin nobility, wives and concubines must bear the husband’s household brand on the lower back. City Lord, you may have someone inspect it closely. Is that not the phoenix mark of my Feng family on his waist?”

Huo Fenghua froze. He instinctively reached to touch his lower back, but Feng Tianzong caught his wrist and murmured into his ear, “Behave and you’ll suffer less. Don’t move.”

Pan Yan sent someone down to examine the mark on Huo Fenghua’s lower back.

Up in the viewing stands, Shao Feijie’s expression was hard as stone. He gripped the Blood Drinking Saber at his waist and looked ready to leap onto the platform, but Wen Heyi stopped him. “If you go now, it won’t change anything. Pan Yan will definitely hold you to account over this. We should leave Zhuyue City as soon as possible.”

Shao Feijie slowly loosened his grip on the saber hilt and replied coldly, “We leave.”

Meanwhile, Pan Yan’s servant had come down onto the platform and bent to examine the brand carefully. He suddenly let out a soft “Eh?” and said, “Why is there another one?”

The torn edge of the cloth on the right revealed a reddish trace. He hooked the fabric aside to look and found there was another brand there too.

Hearing that, Feng Tianzong lowered his gaze. He saw a poplar-leaf-shaped brand on Huo Fenghua’s right lower back. His expression turned icy. He clamped down on Huo Fenghua’s wrist so hard that Huo Fenghua couldn’t help crying out in pain.

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