Xiao Bing did not know that he was being targeted. But even if he knew, he did not give a fig about it.

The matches in the afternoon soon began. The moment Xiao Bing sat down, his spirit was lifted by the first match. More specifically, it was lifted by someone in the first group.

The first group contained only two men: one seemed tall, gallant and over 40, while the other was short and thin and not even over 1.5 meters high, which was a sharp contrast to the man beside him. He had a droopy mustache under his nose. His shifty eyes easily made others dislike him. But from the momentum this man was giving off, Xiao Bing could feel that the other men could not beat the thin man. He even believed that this short man might have even reached the Transforming Strength Stage.

A man of Transforming Strength could be taken as a master of martial arts. Yet this man was very sordid and even wanted to be the princess’s bodyguard.

Then the two began introducing themselves after they went onto the stage. The tall man said, “I’m Taro, a swordsman from Shizuoka.”

The short man grinned, “My name is Nakamura Jiro. I’m a tramp who is good with sabers.

Taro’s face changed instantly after he heard his foe’s name. The crowd exchanged whispers as well. Xiao Bing did not know who this Nakamura Jiro was. But he heard two men beside him discussing in low voices, “So he is Nakamura Jiro. I heard that he keeps challenging others and he would brutally chop off his opponents’ hands and legs each time. I have never expected that he was so short.”

“Keep your voice down. Don’t let him hear you. He’s quite an intolerant man.”

Taro seemed very stern. He stared at his foe and said, “So you are Nakamura Jiro.”

Nakamura Jiro smiled, “I’m good with sabers and so are you. But you are not as good as I am. Do you know why?”

“Why?”

“Because you have only one blade, while I have three.”

It was not until now that Xiao Bing noticed the three blades on Jiro’s back. They were lined and not very long, which was perfect for his height. Xiao Bing had never met someone who used three sabers in combats, so he decided to pay greater attention to it.

Chang Guchuan, who was on the judge’s stand, exclaimed, “He mastered the legendary triple-sabered swordplay!”

Jonin Sasaki, who was sitting near him, asked, “What is that? You are Feng XIII’s excellent student. You must be very experienced. So can you tell us about it?”

Staring at Jiro, Chang Guchuan said, “It’s a martial art skill that has been lost for many years. Yet he seems to have mastered it. Maybe he was taught by a certain expert or he just learned it by himself. Allegedly, anyone who has mastered it, can wield three sabers skillfully. He’s probably invincible among his peers.”

What Chuang Guchuan said meant that Jiro was invincible among masters of Transforming-strength, which was the stage Jiro was at now. However, Chang Guchuan had just become an innate master. No matter how skillful Jiro was, he would not be able to defeat Chang Guchuan. After all, his strength and speed were both absolutely inferior to Chang Guchuan’s.

However, someone invincible among the masters of Transforming Strength was the at top of masters. He would be reverently greeted wherever he went. Even the two judges sitting beside Chang Guchuan were perhaps not as powerful as Jiro.

The steward of Princess house cast Jiro an extra look and him, unable to tell this man’s attitude. “One will win this match if his opponent is unable to fight or yields. Once the winner is decided, the fight should come to a stop. Now let the fight begin.”

The sturdy man gritted, bellowed and delivered a sweeping saber first. He plunged towards Jiro, as fast as lightning.

Nakamura Jiro smiled viciously and moved in an instant. Their body switched positions. Then two wounds appeared on Taro’s chest, both cuts deep to the bones. Jiro withdrew his swords. He merely used two of his swords to defeat Taro. Taro spat out of a mouthful of blood and slumped to the ground, his eyes opened wide and his body twitched.

The Karate master on the Judges’ Stand sighed, “Take him away. He’s already beyond help.

The crowd gasped. Indeed this man was as brutal as the stories about him.

Nakamura Jiro grinned. He cast a sweeping glance of the crowd and said in a hollow voice, “Sorry. I only know how to kill instead of sparring..”

The spectators were rendered speechless. This man killed his foe in an instant. But no one dared to raise any questions. Because he did not break any rules and the moment Taro was defeated, he was already dead.

The steward walked onto the stage and declared the winner, with a stony face.

There was no sound of cheering, but a lot of ongoing discussions. They all seemed to dread this man.

Xiao Bing was starting to have a headache. He found this mission of his becoming more and more difficult, as Jiro appeared. Xiao Bing was absolutely stronger than him. However, he could not show his true might, which meant that he could not let them know that he had reached the level of the innate. Otherwise it would arouse suspicion. It would be strange for an innate master to compete for a position to be with the princess.

Especially in Country R, a small region, the existence of an innate master was rare. All of them were treated very respectfully. And most of them were usually too arrogant to be a princess’s guard. But they might be willing to protect the King.

But the most important part was that the one who just died had not been strong enough to make Jiro show his real strength. Otherwise Xiao Bing might have found Jiro’s weaknesses.

The following candidates were also masters of Transforming-strength. One was almost the same age as Xiao Bing. A 27-year-old master of Transforming-strength could be considered a talent of martial arts. Xiao Bing thought that it was not wise to underestimate these people from Country R. Though they were less populated, their land was not short of prodigies. The other was a man who was about 40.

It seemed that this Princess Nami was truly attractive. Otherwise there would not have been so many competitors, who were so eager to be her bodyguard.

Soon it was Xiao Bing’s turn. Xiao Bing walked into the fighting pit and stated his name. He decided to end it within 10 movements, because his opponent was really weak. But if it were not because Xiao Bing did not want to show all his powers, he could have finished off his opponent within three movements.

There were only 6 or 7 matches left after Xiao Bing finished his. After these matches were done. the slots for the top 80 was finalized. The steward walked to the pit and began announcing the names of the winners. Then he announced the matches for the next day. The matches for tomorrow morning would decide the slots for the top 40, and the matches in the afternoon would decide the top 20. And the matches would only become more and more intense.

The candidates and spectators began leaving. Almost all of the spectators found the fun worth the price. Some even had other reasons for coming here–they wanted to collect talents. There were some candidates that might not be able to make it to the end. But that did not mean that they were less powerful than their opponents. Some organizations needed them, and they would try to win their favor.

The power Xiao Bing showed in the first round was not surprising. So few people were interested in him, which was something he was happy with. He surmised that the masters who seemed to be at Transforming Strength would not be bothered tonight. But they would definitely say yes to these men, because the match was not over for them. It was still possible for them to be the champion.

Xiao Bing left the fighting pit and grabbed a bite in a nearby snack bar. Then he went out, trying to find his car to return to the hotel. Suddenly he found over ten men sauntering towards him. The man in the front was at Osaka Mingdao’s service.

Actually Xiao Bing was not surprised. He had predicted that he would be bothered for two possible reasons. One was that a certain candidate wanted to eliminate his rival discreetly. But Xiao Bing deemed this possibility very small as Xiao Bing had not shown his true power in the day. The other possible reason was that he had offended someone in Sakura Hall last night.

The ones who went to that club to have fun were usually the upper class who held great power and wealth. It was normal for them to be vengeful, after they were humiliated by Xiao Bing. Besides, Osaka Yangzi hated his guts.. Xiao Bing was told that this man’s father was in charge of the most part of the docks in Kyoto. Xiao Bing believed that whoever could do that must have many capable men at his service, and was respected by both the government and the gangs.

And Xiao Bing did not even want to guess, because he asked directly. “So tell me, who sent you here?”.

The one in the middle stepped forward and looked at Xiao Bing. “Indeed Mr. Qingmu is a haughty man. I assume you know Osaka Yangzi?”

“Oh, of course. I know him. Didn’t he crawl between my legs last night?”

Right after he said those words, these men were completely infuriated.historical