The martial arts club’s training hall was massive, housing two fighting rings alongside an equipment area, a lounge, and a shower area.
When Lin Jian followed Xu Hang and Xu Dongping inside, there were already quite a few people present.
Mostly young, they numbered around twenty.
“Xu, who’s the big shot coming to challenge our club?
Don’t they know we have two provincial Sanda champions here today?”
Someone in the crowd shouted, and everyone erupted into laughter.
Naturally, their gazes swept over Lin Jian repeatedly.
Why was a security guard here?
A guard coming to challenge the club?
What a joke.
Lin Jian could tell that these people were all with Xu Hang.
The other group—the martial artists from Shandong—hadn’t arrived yet.
“That’s him, that’s him!
His name is Lin Jian.
He got expelled from the sports academy half a month ago.
He was in Class Two, Class of ’18, Martial Arts.”
Xu Dongping knew Lin Jian’s background inside and out.
The sports academy offered many different disciplines, and Traditional Martial Arts was one of them.
However, nowadays, martial arts mostly appeared on stage in the form of performances.
The decline of martial arts was an undeniable fact.
In the Huaxia traditional martial arts world, factions and lineage were heavily emphasized.
Many factions had extremely high standards for their successors, which resulted in many true martial arts masters ultimately having no disciples to pass on their legacy.
In truth, Lin Jian only joined the academy’s martial arts class for employment prospects.
When the class was recruiting, they claimed that graduates might have a chance to enter the police academy, easily pass the exam for auxiliary police, or even become physical education teachers.
Because of this, Lin Jian, whose academic grades had always been less than ideal, had coasted through the sports academy for four and a half years.
Having enrolled in junior high, he had just drifted along ever since.
Hearing Xu Dongping’s words, the crowd was astonished.
Being expelled from the sports academy meant he must have committed a massive mistake; otherwise, they wouldn’t have kicked him out so easily.
“Alright, Dongping, go to my room and get the contract,” Xu Hang said, waving his hand to gesture for his brother to fetch the documents.
Challenging a martial arts club wasn’t something settled by mere words; a formal contract had to be signed.
In ancient times, this kind of challenge was a life-and-death arena.
Fists and feet had no eyes, meaning there was a high probability of someone getting killed.
Of course, in modern times, no one was going to die, but the relevant contracts still had to be signed.
Otherwise, if you got beaten up and later tried to extort money, there would be no way to reason with you.
Once the contract was signed, getting beaten meant getting beaten—no consequences for the victor.
Xu Hang had wanted to teach this little Demon King from the sports academy a lesson for a long time.
For one, this brat had beaten his younger brother, Xu Dongping.
Secondly, the kid had been incredibly arrogant at the academy over the past few years.
Rumor had it that he was notoriously ruthless in fights, though he did possess genuine skill.
This little Demon King belonged to the type of people with exceptionally high talent for martial arts, and relying on his abilities, he acted as if he were above the law.
Today, seizing this opportunity, Xu Hang could finally put him in his place.
However, while a large group of people stood behind Xu Hang, Lin Jian had no one backing him.
Xu Dongping brought out the contract.
They had prepared for these types of club challenge contracts long ago, so Xu Hang simply pushed the document in front of Lin Jian.
“Read it carefully.
Sign it if you agree; forget it if you don’t.”
Lin Jian picked it up and quickly skimmed through it.
There were no hidden clauses in the contract.
It was nothing more than a division of liability—if someone got hurt, they couldn’t extort the other party.
Furthermore, it framed the event as a sparring match between martial arts enthusiasts, not a brawl.
“Alright, no problem.” Lin Jian picked up the pen to sign.
However, right at that moment, Xu Dongping snatched the pen away.
Smiling without reaching his eyes, he said, “Lin Jian, shouldn’t we put a wager on this?
It’s boring without a prize.”
“Yeah, we need a wager!”
“Exactly.
When Elder Ren gets here later, there’ll be a wager for his match too.”
“There’s no motivation to fight without a prize!”
The people behind Xu Hang continued to jeer, loving the drama and eager to see things escalate.
“What kind of wager do you want?” Lin Jian sneered.
“Simple.
If you lose, do you dare kneel and kowtow?
Kowtow to me three times and call me ‘Grandpa’ three times.” Xu Dongping gritted his teeth, his eyes brimming with malicious intent.
Logically speaking, the two were from the same graduating class.
Even if they weren’t in the exact same homeroom, they were still classmates.
Although they had fought in school, could one even call it practicing martial arts without fighting?
Thus, they shouldn’t have harbored such deep hatred for each other.
Yet Xu Dongping’s resentment ran deep, clearly showing he was an extremely vindictive and jealous petty man.
“Sure.
If I lose, I’ll kneel, kowtow three times, and call you ‘Grandpa’ three times.
But what if you lose?” Surprisingly, Lin Jian managed to maintain his composure and rationality.
However, flames were already flickering in his eyes—flames of fury.
“If we lose?
Then you can name any condition you want,” Xu Dongping said, seemingly making the decision on behalf of his brother.
Lin Jian looked at Xu Hang, his gaze implying that since Xu Hang was the club owner, his younger brother’s words didn’t count.
“Dongping’s words count.
We can write up a supplementary contract for it.” Xu Hang was a wolf in sheep’s clothing, still maintaining a friendly smile.
Lin Jian pondered for a moment.
“Fine, I don’t need you to kneel.
If I win, give me five hundred thousand.”
Making someone kneel and call him ‘Grandpa’ was an act of petty emotion—far too meaningless.
If they were going to place a wager, naturally, it had to involve the most practical benefits.
Otherwise, what was the point of a wager?
If they lost, they had to pay five hundred thousand?
And if Lin Jian lost, he only had to kowtow three times?
There was no way his three kowtows were equivalent to half a million!
“Let’s be fair.” Xu Hang shook his head.
“Dongping asking you to kowtow was just a joke.
You two are classmates; he wouldn’t actually make you kneel.
So, how about we both wager five hundred thousand?”
After all, Xu Hang had been mingling in society for many years and knew that his brother’s demand was far too degrading to his own character.
If Xu Dongping’s other classmates found out about this, they would criticize his moral character.
Making a classmate kneel and call him ‘Grandpa’—who would dare associate with someone like that in the future?
Therefore, it was better to switch it entirely to money!
Lin Jian shrugged.
“I don’t have five hundred thousand.”
“That’s easy to solve.
Write an IOU.” Xu Hang didn’t seem afraid of Lin Jian defaulting on the debt.
Smiling, he said, “If you lose, just sign a debt contract.
You can pay it off slowly in the future.”
“I won’t be able to pay it.” Lin Jian thought for a moment.
“How about this: you put up the money, and I’ll put up my hand.”
As he spoke, he suddenly slammed his left hand onto the table with a loud SMACK.
“If I lose, chop off my left hand.
If I even frown when it happens, I’ll take your last name!”
GASP!
In an instant, the entire training hall fell dead silent; one could hear a pin drop.
How old was this kid?
Was he even twenty?
But wasn’t he way too ruthless?
Wagering a hand for five hundred thousand.
He was an absolute madman.
“I don’t want your hand.” Xu Hang shook his head again.
“A five-hundred-thousand debt contract.
If you can fight, we fight.
If not, then forget it.”
He was starting to lose interest in playing with this kid because he sensed that this brat was far more ruthless than he was.
Offending a young man who dared to be so vicious toward himself might not end well.
“Lin Jian, are you afraid of losing?
If you are, stop trying to challenge the club and get the hell out of here,” Xu Dongping cursed.
Lin Jian shot Xu Dongping a cold glare.
“Fine.
Then let’s sign the supplementary contract.
If I lose, I’ll write you an IOU for five hundred thousand!”
“Great!”
The two parties immediately signed the original contract, then hand-wrote a supplementary contract and signed that as well.
Just as both sides finished signing the documents, a disciple reported from outside the door, “Elder Ren and his group are here.”
A group of people walked into the martial arts club.
Leading them was an old man dressed in a black martial arts uniform, accompanied by six or seven attendants.
It was the famous traditional martial arts master from Shandong, the respected senior Ren Chunyu—the leading authority of Xingyi Boxing!