Mercenary’s War
Chapter 1355 - 1338: Toad Sage

Chapter 1355: Chapter 1338: Toad Sage

Despite not being a boxing champion, Gao Yang has attracted significant attention, giving him the opportunity to earn a substantial sum of money as an unknown fighter, even exceeding many champions. The reason for this phenomenon is simply that Gao Yang’s gym challenges have become a viral sensation online, drawing global attention, without any other reason.

The MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas not only has a casino but also a multi-purpose sports arena that can accommodate over seventeen thousand people. This venue has hosted numerous UFC unlimited fighting events and boxing matches, and today, it is holding a large-scale competition because of two amateur fighters for the first time.

The event is not only large in scale, but the ticket prices are also high, rivalling those of champion-level boxing matches.

The arena is already packed, with many wealthy individuals and celebrities showing support, and notably, the proportion of East Asian audience is much higher than usual, much higher.

The competition has transcended its original meaning, becoming a dispute over whether martial arts or taekwondo is superior.

Seats outside are filled with people, and the arena is noisy. The closest area to the octagonal boxing ring is the most expensive section, where either wealthy individuals or celebrities are seated. As for the complimentary tickets for Jin Jizhe and Gao Yang, the seats are slightly further back.

The supporter groups for Jin Jizhe and Gao Yang were clearly divided, with Jin Jizhe’s supporters being very high profile, all dressed in glamorous attire, while Gao Yang’s supporters seemed like epitomes of low profile.

Wearing hats and sunglasses, they sat in a neat row, none daring to show their faces; even fugitives are more flamboyant than them.

Meanwhile, Jin Jizhe’s supporters seemed very normal, and there were even two celebrities. When the cameras focused on them and broadcasted their images on the big screen of the boxing ring, they waved and brought forth rounds of cheers from the audience.

As for Gao Yang’s side, several beauties were seated there. In terms of appearance, Gao Yang’s supporter group could easily outshine Jin Jizhe’s side; however, unfortunately, these beauties deeply hid their faces because they were seated quite close to the front row, so they were easily captured by the cameras.

Morgan did not dare sit in the front either; he was seated among the regular audience, alongside Jack, who came from Portland to support Gao Yang.

Coming out of the lounge and greeted by the mixed noise of boos and cheers from the over ten thousand on-site audience, Gao Yang couldn’t help but smile when he saw the outfits his partners had put together.

Gao Yang raised his hand and waved twice, expressing gratitude to his supporters, which intensified both the cheers and boos.

Upon stepping onto the boxing ring, Jin Jizhe and his disciple were already standing there waiting.

With Gao Yang and Jin Jizhe standing face-to-face, the host holding a microphone was in between, but Gao Yang’s gaze fell on a young man in his thirties standing behind Jin Jizhe.

Just by glancing at him, Gao Yang could tell that Jin Jizhe’s so-called disciple was more formidable than Jin Jizhe himself, just like Li Jinfang was more formidable than him. As for the reason for this judgment, it was simply Gao Yang’s instinct, as the young man standing behind Jin Jizhe struck him as very dangerous.

Gao Yang withdrew his gaze, focusing intently on Jin Jizhe before him. Jin Jizhe, too, after glancing at Li Jinfang behind Gao Yang, started to fix his gaze on Gao Yang standing opposite him.

What the host would say, as well as what Gao Yang and Jin Jizhe should say, were all predetermined. For the sake of money, Gao Yang certainly had to cooperate.

The name is fictitious, the background is fictitious, even the face is fictitious. This match will be broadcast live, with an unknown number of people watching directly. Gao Yang, bold as he was, dared not show his true self. However, his countermeasure was simple: both he and Li Jinfang wore masks onto the stage.

Wearing masks in UFC’s unlimited fighting matches is not uncommon, and in the unlimited fighting events popular in Mexico, wearing masks is even more commonplace, so no one questioned Gao Yang’s style, except Gao Yang himself, who thought his style was ugly.

Jin Jizhe and his disciple were all dressed in taekwondo uniforms, including the group following them. On the other hand, Gao Yang and Li Jinfang wore those loose martial arts suits; Li Jinfang was in white, wearing a white demon mask with elder tusks, while Gao Yang was in black, donning a terrifying demon mask with a black face, red mouth, and double horns.

Despite looking down on his opponents, Gao Yang had to admit that their taekwondo uniforms were more visually appealing than his martial arts attire. After putting on the masks, neither he nor Li Jinfang revealed their eyes. Except for bizarre and ugly descriptions, there were no other descriptors.

After delivering the pre-drafted opening speech, the host extended the microphone towards Gao Yang and loudly asked, "Why are you wearing a mask?"

Gao Yang fixed his gaze on Jin Jizhe and responded in a deep voice, "As I’ve said before, if you want to see my face, you’ll have to defeat me first."

The microphone was again extended to Jin Jizhe’s mouth, but Jin Jizhe, with an indifferent face, said, "I will defeat you! But I’m not interested in what you look like, never have been interested!"

After reciting the lines required by the organizers to create some tension for the audience, Gao Yang and Jin Jizhe stepped down from the ring, leaving only Li Jinfang and Jin Jizhe’s disciple on it.

As the saying goes, any renowned martial art must have its unique qualities and value for existence.

Martial arts and Tae Kwon Do both have high practicality and strong spectacle, but a real combat skill is bound to end in a few moves, or even decide the winner in a single strike.

However, Li Jinfang’s task was to prolong the match with his opponent as much as possible, not for any particular reason, just to prevent nearly twenty thousand on-site spectators, and countless TV viewers, from watching a fight that starts and ends in less than ten seconds. In that case, everyone would complain terribly.

Insiders look at the technique, while outsiders just watch the spectacle, so the fight doesn’t necessarily need to be technically difficult, but it must be visually appealing, very appealing, extraordinarily appealing.

Jin Jizhe’s disciple, named Park Geun-hoon, kicked a few times, which indeed looked good, especially the continuous aerial kicks that elicited exclamations from the entire arena.

After Park Geun-hoon finished his flashy moves, Li Jinfang performed some freeboxing on his side. He is not good at routines, and he didn’t want to expose his Xingyi Fist background, so he used Baji Fist, whose moves, though simple, are fierce and intense, particularly the stomping power move, which appeared incredibly imposing.

Li Jinfang’s few punches really produced a whooshing sound. After landing two punches, Li Jinfang stomped his right foot, and the ring floor immediately let out a thunderous noise.

The UFC-style no-holds-barred fighting competition ring is soft and elastic, designed to allow fighters to perform throws without getting injured, but such a ring still produced an unimaginable loud noise when Li Jinfang stomped it.

With a bang, the entire ring echoed, the sound was so loud it overwhelmed the cheers of the nearly twenty thousand people.

Being far away was okay, but those closer to the ring were all startled, especially everyone around the ring, surprised and caught off guard, their faces exhibiting a variety of expressions.

A stunning opening move, after a stomp, Li Jinfang stood in a position ready to face the enemy, really showing a bit of a Great Grandmaster’s aura.

Of course, now Li Jinfang is indeed a Grandmaster level fighter, his actions, though simple, have an indescribable beauty akin to flowing water. If not for the ugly and tasteless mask, Li Jinfang’s actions would even seem somewhat ethereal.

With one stomp, Jin Jizhe’s face changed, turning ghostly pale, and the host exclaimed, "Oh! Listen to that sound! Have you ever heard that? Truly unbelievable, too astonishing, I swear no tricks were done to the ring!"

Jansen clutched his fists, with a twisted expression, shouted, "So cool, indescribably cool, just like a sage, Toad truly deserves to be my idol! Even as a man, I feel he’s too cool, cool to explode!"

Jansen’s words drew several people’s attention, then Eileen frowned and said, "Can’t deny he does resemble, like a Huaxia sage, but what does that have to do with being cool, Toad, no matter how amazing, he’s still Toad, even if cooler, he’s still Toad, you can call him Toad Sage, but you can’t call him Toad Handsome, that’s a fact."

Jansen didn’t retort because Li Jinfang started to move.

When showing off, the moves look great, but when it comes to actual fighting, the moves don’t look good, as there’s no way around it, real combat skills are like this; Park Geun-hoon aimed a not very wide side kick at Li Jinfang’s ribs.

Speed, power, angle, all embodying the essence of Tae Kwon Do, just one kick made Gao Yang, temporarily an audience member, know that Park Geun-seok is indeed an expert, and once the real combat kicking style began, Park Geun-hoon gave him a completely different feeling.

Park Geun-hoon used killing techniques, Tae Kwon Do’s killing techniques, not for spectacle nor health training, but killing techniques circulated only in the military.

Gao Yang began to admire Jin Jizhe for indeed finding a good disciple; such a disciple, Jin Jizhe couldn’t train. If it came to a real fight, Jin Jizhe wouldn’t be a match for Park Geun-hoon.

However, Gao Yang wasn’t worried about Li Jinfang; he only cared if Li Jinfang could defeat his opponent beautifully.

Li Jinfang blocked Park Geun-hoon’s probing attack with a downward arm block, then, assured of no mistakes and with absolute confidence, Li Jinfang began to strive towards looking good. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you’re welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly votes on Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com to read.)