Chapter 34: The Hero's Game!
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“I’m not leaving!”
Su Mu plopped himself down on a tree stump outside the Panda Tribe’s territory like a sulking child and declared, “If you refuse to come back to my territory with me, then I simply won’t leave.”
“You!”
Looking at Su Mu’s youthful, spirited face, Grand Chieftain Pangu truly had no idea what to do.
Had the intruder been a dark creature, daring to behave so brazenly within the Panda Tribe’s territory, a panda warrior would have split it in two with a single sword stroke long ago.
But faced with a frail human child, Pangu could not bring himself to do such a thing.
He had no idea that Su Mu was deliberately taking advantage of the panda tribe’s honest and good-natured character.
Just as the panda chieftain was at a loss, Su Mu added, “Unless one of you can defeat my skeleton warrior, I swear I won’t leave.”
“I will!”
The instant they heard this, the battle-hungry instincts of the panda warriors were awakened. Four or five of them immediately shouted that they wanted to duel Drawblade.
“All of you, stand down!”
With a thunderous roar, Chieftain Pangu stopped his impulsive subordinates. He studied Drawblade from head to toe before saying calmly, “Your skeleton warrior should be at Diamond Rank One, correct? As luck would have it, I am also Diamond Rank One. I shall be the one to fight your skeleton warrior.”
Su Mu was delighted. He nodded at once, then kindly offered a warning. “You’d better be careful, old man. My skeleton warrior only grows stronger the longer he fights.”
“Hah. Children say the most ridiculous things. How could any warrior grow stronger through battle? A warrior’s stamina is gradually depleted during a fight. Your skeleton warrior is no exception.”
The panda chieftain smiled faintly, treating Su Mu’s warning as nothing more than idle chatter. He took up two greatswords, chose an open patch of ground, and stood ready, waiting for the skeleton warrior to attack.
“Drawblade, go. Victory is all that matters; no one is to die.”
At Su Mu’s command, the long blade in Drawblade’s hand swept out in a graceful arc and cleaved toward the panda chieftain’s head.
The panda chieftain crossed his two greatswords and charged forward to meet it.
With a thunderous boom—
The exchange was over, and the victor was decided.
The panda chieftain was sent flying more than thirty feet by a single slash from Drawblade. He crashed to the ground, while the two swords in his hands were severed in half.
With a sharp metallic ring, Drawblade returned his blade to its sheath.
The motion was impossibly cool.
Every panda warrior stood there in stunned silence.
How had Chieftain Pangu lost after only one move?
He was the strongest warrior in the entire Panda Tribe!
The strongest!
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The strongest!
The strongest!!!!
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“Oh dear, Old Chieftain, are you all right? I told you my skeleton warrior grows stronger the longer he fights, but you refused to believe me.”
“Now that you’ve lost, shouldn’t you lead the entire Panda Tribe to live in my territory?”
Just then, a jarringly cheerful voice rang out. Su Mu came scampering over, helped the panda chieftain up from the ground, and even thoughtfully dusted off his robe.
Shameless!
Countless resentful gazes immediately fell upon Su Mu.
That fellow’s skeleton was every bit as cunning as its master. It had actually launched a sneak attack.
The old chieftain had not even had time to use the Panda Tribe’s ultimate martial technique, Battle Aura Eruption. How could that count as a loss?
Besides, Su Mu had never said that losing meant the entire Panda Tribe had to move to his territory.
This human child was utterly shameless.
“Heh heh.”
Facing those blade-sharp glares, Su Mu merely chuckled and continued, “Chieftain Pangu, I’ve long heard that the Panda Tribe is made up of warriors who keep their word, men who value their promises above gold. A loss is a loss. Surely you wouldn’t go back on your word and insist on a second match?”
“Though I didn’t explicitly say that your entire tribe would have to come with me if you lost, with your wisdom and intelligence, surely you had already figured that out.”
“After all, I did extend a very sincere invitation.”
“...”
The panda chieftain was covered in dark lines. He had lived for more than a century; how could he fail to realize that Su Mu had trapped him with his own words? Yet for the moment, he had no idea how to refute him.
The Panda Tribe cared deeply about its honor, after all.
Clenching his teeth, the panda chieftain was just about to accept Su Mu’s request when a timid voice suddenly echoed from within the valley.
“Chieftain, may I have a match with this human lord? Our Panda Tribe always keeps its word, but if this human lord wants us to follow him, he must first display enough strength to earn our respect.”
“His skeleton warrior cannot represent his own strength.”
“That’s exactly what we should do!”
The panda chieftain’s eyes lit up. He immediately felt that this was an excellent idea.
He hurriedly turned around, eager to see who had offered him such a brilliant solution.
But when he saw the thin panda standing at the entrance to the valley, his expression instantly darkened. He scolded him furiously, “Qiao, who told you to come out? You have no right to call yourself a panda warrior. Get back inside at once and keep chopping wood. If you come out here and embarrass yourself again, I will not spare you.”
The panda youth standing at the mouth of the valley lowered his head sadly and pleaded, “Chieftain, please give me one chance to become a warrior. I will defeat this human lord. I can defeat him with my life.”
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His name was Qiao, the frailest panda in the entire tribe. Most pandas stood between thirteen and sixteen feet tall, but Qiao was only about six and a half feet. He could not even wield the two-handed greatswords commonly used by the Panda Tribe, and naturally, he could never become a panda warrior.
Nor could he cultivate panda battle aura. Within the tribe, he was practically useless, fit only for chores such as chopping wood.
“Get out!”
Qiao’s pleading earned him an even harsher roar from the panda chieftain.
“Wait.”
Su Mu suddenly spoke in a calm voice. It was soft, yet the authority and confidence in his tone were enough to suppress the entire scene.
“I am willing to fight him. If I lose, I will leave your Panda Tribe immediately and never disturb your peace again.”
Looking at the panda youth, Su Mu could not help remembering his former self.
Ever since his S-rank talent had been permanently restricted to Level One, he too had been called a good-for-nothing. That title had followed him for more than a decade.
And so, he was willing to give this panda youth a chance to prove himself.
Life is like a candle flame. Even beneath a bitter, howling wind, it deserves to shine with at least a sliver of light.
The panda chieftain froze for a moment, then hurriedly turned and explained, “Human lord, do not misunderstand. Qiao is not one of our panda warriors. If you insist on fighting someone, I can choose another warrior to duel you.”
“No explanation is necessary. I’ll fight him.”
Su Mu could not be bothered to pay the panda chieftain any attention. He walked straight up to the panda youth and asked softly, “What is your name, and how would you like to compete?”
“I—I’m Qiao. I want to compete with you in archery. We will each have twenty arrows and walk twenty paces apart, then shoot at one another. Whoever survives wins; whoever dies loses.”
Perhaps because this was his first time dealing with someone outside the Panda Tribe, Qiao was nervous at first. His words came out haltingly.
But the moment his fingers touched the quiver at his waist, he suddenly became utterly composed. His eyes shone with a calm, razor-sharp brilliance, as though he had transformed into an entirely different person.
“Qiao, are you insane? You can’t compete like that. You’re throwing your life away!”
The moment Qiao finished speaking, the panda chieftain erupted in fury.
At a distance of twenty paces, even the weakest archer could shoot an arrow straight through his opponent’s heart, unless he was blind. This was nothing short of suicide.
When Qiao had said that he would win the match with his life, Pangu had assumed he was joking. Who could have guessed that this fool was being completely serious?
A madman!
Qiao was a madman!
This was not a duel. It was a wager with death.
Unless this human lord was a madman himself, there was no way he would accept such an insane challenge.
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