"Hmph! What are you talking about, Adjunct Li? The details of what had happened were very clear. Yuan Dacheng was determined to win the competition. After he injured Lu Ming with one move, he didn't know if Lu Ming still had the strength to fight, so he took advantage of the situation to pursue and attack, causing Lu Ming to be seriously injured! This was an unintentional mistake caused by Yuan Dacheng's desire to win. If this was considered a mistake, then who would dare to go all out in the following matches? What's the point of the Black Armored Army holding a martial arts competition?
Moreover, Lieutenant Li, you have said before that you would rather the soldiers sweat more and get more injuries on the training ground than die on the battlefield. Why do you still want to pester us endlessly when the soldiers of the V Battalion are injured? "
In the Black Armored Army Drill Ground, Qiu Xinggong had already thought of an excuse when faced with Li Zexuan's challenge. He looked at Li Zexuan and said "righteously" without any change in his expression.
The old man's words didn't sound wrong at first. He even used Li Zexuan's words to attack Li Zexuan's shield with his spear. He was indeed a cunning old fox. In fact, it was easy to find the loopholes in Qiu Xinggong's words. In a battle between warriors, as long as it wasn't a battle of life and death involving personal grudges, they would usually have a sense of propriety. Now that Lu Ming was seriously injured, it meant that Yuan Dacheng not only didn't have a sense of propriety, but also wanted to kill Lu Ming on purpose!
As for what Qiu Xinggong said about "accidentally injuring someone", that was even more nonsense and sophistry. As a Qi Transformation Realm martial artist, their control over their strength was far beyond the reach of ordinary people. Ordinary people might accidentally injure their opponent in a fight, but a Qi Transformation Realm martial artist had a relatively accurate estimation of the power of their every move and the damage they could cause. As long as they didn't want to injure or kill their opponent on their own accord, it was basically very difficult for accidents to occur!
Yuan Dacheng's "final attack" after injuring Lu Ming was impossible to be an unintentional mistake. It was also not in line with the spirit of "stopping when the time is right" that Duan Zhixuan said at the beginning of the martial arts competition!
However, both Qiu Xinggong and Yuan Dacheng insisted that it was an accident, and there was no direct evidence to prove that Yuan Dacheng did it on purpose. Therefore, it was hard to conclude this matter!
Even though Duan Zhixuan knew in his heart that Yuan Dacheng might have been instructed by Qiu Xinggong to use the martial arts competition as an excuse to harm the soldiers of the Wu Battalion, he still couldn't accuse Yuan Dacheng of anything. This was because it would be easy for others to use this against him. Qiu Xinggong might also use this as a pretext to make a fuss. When that time came, if everyone in the army was afraid of being punished for accidentally injuring someone during the competition, then there would really be no need for the martial arts competition to continue!
"Hmph! What a good 'wholeheartedly seeking victory'! If I want to fight with General Qiu, will General Qiu be willing? For the remaining four matches in the first round, why don't I replace the fourth team of the Wu Battalion, and General Qiu replace the first team of the Yi Battalion. Let's decide the winner in one match. What do you think, General Qiu? "
Li Zexuan sneered and looked straight at Qiu Xinggong. Without any warning, he issued a challenge to Qiu Xinggong!
Hard!
Li Zexuan's words could only be described with one word, and that was "hard"!
The atmosphere instantly turned solemn. All the surrounding soldiers, no matter if they were from the Yi Battalion or the Wu Battalion, all turned their gazes towards Li Zexuan!
The Tang people revered martial arts, and the Tang Army was even more so. As soldiers, not only did they revered martial arts, they were even more competitive!
Li Zexuan issuing a challenge to Qiu Xinggong was like roasting Qiu Xinggong on a fire. If Qiu Xinggong didn't agree, then he wouldn't have the face to stay in the Black Armored Army anymore. After all, as a high-ranking officer of the Black Armored Army, if he didn't even have the courage to fight, how would he be able to command his subordinates in the future? In the army, strength was everything, and the strong were respected!
However, if Qiu Xinggong agreed, and if he couldn't win, or if Li Zexuan took the opportunity to injure him, then not only would he lose face, his body would also suffer!
No one would have thought that Li Zexuan would issue a challenge to Qiu Xinggong for an ordinary soldier. This was clearly offending Qiu Xinggong to the point of death!
At this point, some of the Second Battalion soldiers who were used to hearing bad things about Li Zexuan changed their impression of Li Zexuan. A good general who was respected by his soldiers, other than being strong and able to win battles, more importantly, he loved and protected his soldiers!
Li Zexuan's action of challenging the second-in-command of the Black Armored Army to fight for justice for his subordinates, it was hard not to have a good impression of him!
Qiu Xinggong's face darkened as he stared coldly at Li Zexuan. He didn't think that Li Zexuan would act so unconventionally and challenge him to a duel. If this was outside, he could ignore it. However, this was the army camp and there were so many soldiers watching. If he rejected Li Zexuan's challenge now, it wouldn't take more than two hours for all the soldiers of the Black Armored Army to find out about this and secretly mock him. Then, how would he have the face to stay in the Black Armored Army in the future?
"… The Grand General organized the combat tournament for ordinary soldiers. Even the captains of the various battalions are not allowed to participate. How can this general and Adjunct Li break the rules?"
After hesitating for a moment, Qiu Xinggong opened his mouth to speak.
He didn't agree nor reject the challenge. Instead, he brought out Duan Zhixuan and the rules of the tournament to reply to Li Zexuan. It wasn't that he didn't dare to accept the challenge, but that the rules of the tournament didn't allow it!
In reality, Qiu Xinggong really didn't dare to accept the challenge. No matter how much he looked down on Li Zexuan, there was one thing he had to admit. Li Zexuan's individual martial arts skills were indeed much higher than his!
Not to mention his martial arts skills, just based on the fact that Li Zexuan was able to survive a head-on battle with the Grandmaster Wu Jie at the Longmen Pass, there weren't many people in the entire Great Tang who could do that. Naturally, Qiu Xinggong couldn't do it!
Thus, no matter what, Qiu Xinggong wasn't willing to fight with Li Zexuan one-on-one. If he lost, he would be humiliated and injured. If he won … cough, it seemed like he had no chance of winning at all!
Hearing Qiu Xinggong mention himself, Duan Zhixuan's eyes flickered. As the commanding general of the Black Armored Army, even if he stood on Li Zexuan's side, he couldn't completely 'kill' Qiu Xinggong. He needed to maintain a balance in the middle. After a moment of silence, Duan Zhixuan was about to speak when a mocking voice suddenly sounded from outside the crowd.
"Heh! What do you mean by breaking the rules? Could it be that General Qiu doesn't dare to accept the challenge? "
Boom ~!
A commotion instantly broke out among the surrounding soldiers. No one expected someone to be so bold as to humiliate Qiu Xinggong in public. Everyone craned their necks, wanting to see who was the one who spoke such arrogant words.
…
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