After another ten minutes or so, people in the back rows started standing on their tiptoes to get a better look. Some began to mutter, "Why isn’t he here yet?"
A few impatient young Martial Artists even pushed their way to the doorway, craning their necks to see outside. Seeing this, some of the Martial Arts Demonstration officials responsible for maintaining order had no choice but to step forward and shout at them to stop.
"You lot, stop disrupting the order!"
At the same time, the three figures seated on the Taishi chairs upon the high platform remained perfectly still.
On the far left was Bai Longfei, the Sect Leader of the White Cloud Sect. He was dressed in a moon-white long robe, his hair and beard as white as silver. He was recognized throughout Yun Port City as the foremost expert of the Huajin realm.
The second was Zheng Zhishan, the chief instructor for the Yun Port City garrison. He wore a black training uniform, had a buzz cut, and his features were as hard and chiseled as if carved by a knife.
The third was a bald man with the surname Zhou, and his given name was simply Yi. He wasn’t wearing a training uniform, but rather the formal, crisp uniform of the City Affairs Bureau, the collar hook fastened with meticulous care.
Suddenly, the surging crowd outside the door parted as if pushed aside by an invisible hand, automatically clearing a path.
A narrow, straight aisle formed, stretching from the threshold all the way to the foot of the high platform.
"Lord Lu has arrived."
This sentence sent ripples through the hall. The restless crowd fell silent, and countless gazes turned in unison toward the entrance.
"So that’s him... the fourth advisor of our Martial Arts Demonstration? The old master of the Lu Family? This is the first time I’ve ever seen him in person!"
"Didn’t they say the old master only broke through to become a Grandmaster of Huajin at sixty? He looks... like he’s in his early fifties at most, right?"
A burly man in his thirties murmured, "And that vitality... I’m afraid he has more than I do."
The person next to him sneered, "You’re a mere Ming Jin practitioner, and you dare compare yourself to Lord Lu? Get lost."
Lu Yun paid no mind to the whispers. After walking straight up to the high platform, he first gave a slight nod to Bai Longfei on the advisors’ dais.
Bai Longfei saw this and nodded slightly in return.
Lu Yun then turned to his right, nodding to both Zheng Zhishan and Zhou Yi in greeting.
Zheng Zhishan gave a nod, while Zhou Yi stood up and offered a half-bow in return.
At that moment, across from the high platform, Gong Ning’s eyes were fixed on the legendary Lord Lu, studying him without reservation.
Her gaze swept from his salt-and-pepper temples down to the back of the hand gripping his wooden staff.
Hmm?
Her brow twitched slightly. ’Why is this Advisor Lu leaning on a cane?’
’A Grandmaster of Huajin should naturally have qi and blood as robust as a roaring furnace, and a physique far beyond that of an ordinary person. Common illnesses and injuries shouldn’t be able to touch them, let alone needing an external aid to walk.’
’Could it be that he only broke through to this realm at an old age, resulting in an insufficient foundation? Is he just a half-baked Grandmaster of Huajin?’
Several thoughts flashed through Gong Ning’s mind. ’So that’s how it is.’ A hint of delight surfaced on her beautiful face.
’Excellent. Today, I, Gong Ning, will set a record here on the stage of the Yun Port City Martial Arts Demonstration.’
’I will withstand two hundred moves from a Grandmaster of Huajin—without him using his Qi—and remain undefeated.’
’I will let every Martial Artist in Yun Port City know what the name of the Gong Family truly means.’
She suppressed her smile and took a half step forward. Forming a loose fist with her right hand and covering it with her left, she performed a formal Martial Artist’s salute with graceful bearing.
"Gong Ning greets Advisor Lu."
Lu Yun nodded slightly. He offered no extra words, simply watching her calmly and replying with a simple, "Mm."
’Peak of Anjin at twenty-seven, and capable of killing Ma Sanlie, who was at the same realm.’
’Truly, heroes in this world are as plentiful as fish in the sea.’
At this thought, Lu Yun gave her another look. ’I just wonder if this young woman has the same level of strength I did back when I hadn’t yet broken through.’
"Begin!"
The moment the Martial Arts Demonstration official’s long-suppressed announcement fell, a graceful black figure shot forward like an arrow released from its bowstring!
Gong Ning’s palms flew, their shadows as graceful as a blooming lotus, then like a wandering dragon weaving through clouds.
The naked eye of an ordinary Martial Artist would be completely unable to follow the feints and true trajectories of such an unpredictable palm technique.
The Gong Family’s ancestral art—the Wandering Dragon Eight Trigrams Palm!
Standing opposite her, Lu Yun took in all the subtleties of this palm style in a single glance.
’The palms move in arcs, generating power through spirals. The waist and hips act as the axis, with force coming from within. The body is like a wandering dragon, coiling and unpredictable.’
’It seems gentle, but it is in fact a perfect union of hard and soft. It seems to move in straight lines, but every step conceals a circular variation.’
’A truly rare, high-level school of Martial Arts.’
In an instant, those fair, slender palms—powerful enough to shatter stone and split steles—were right before him!
Lu Yun’s right hand dropped. With a THUD, the tip of his Wisteria Spirit Staff pierced the wooden floor beside him.
The next moment, both his hands shot out, fast as phantoms!
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
A dense series of blocks, like the sound of rain drumming on banana leaves, exploded in the blink of an eye!
Gong Ning’s impenetrable Wandering Dragon Palms were intercepted one by one with the simplest of moves, all stopped three inches from Lu Yun’s body!
Each block landed at the precise moment before her force could be fully released, and each parry snuffed out her follow-up moves before they could even begin.
In just a few seconds, Gong Ning felt as if her palm techniques were crashing against an invisible iron wall. The more she attacked, the more stifled she became; the more she struck, the more suffocated she felt.
The rebounding force traveling back from her palms grew stronger with each impact, making the web of her thumbs go numb and her arms ache with a swollen pain.
BANG!
The next second, Lu Yun saw the exact moment her momentum faltered. He pushed his right palm out flat, pressing it directly against her crossed, blocking arms.
Gong Ning felt an irresistible force surge toward her, and she was sent stumbling back more than a dozen steps.
When she finally stabilized herself, she looked down at her own uncontrollably trembling hands.
They were red and swollen. The edges of her palms were as red as if they had just been pulled from boiling water, and a fiery, stinging pain spread from her fingertips all the way to her elbows.

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