Chapter 148 — Guo Zhen Was a Fool
CHAPTER 148
Guo Zhen Was a Fool
Shi Feng struck Sima Yu four times at close range before the word of surrender could leave the prince's throat.
Each short blow fell from less than an arm's length, driven by all three hundred and sixty-five meridians and the unyielding frame of his completed golden bones, and Shi Feng's voice carried clearly above the formation's hum to the front rows with every strike.
“One for the ordinary accident you promised in the capital,” Shi Feng said, his first palm shattering the prince's right shoulder guard.
“One for Guo Zhen's wire in the northern storehouse,” he continued, his knuckles crushing the left collarbone channel where the pill's surge gathered.
“One for Cao Wenshu at the Hengyun signal fort,” he said as the third strike caved in the side of Sima Yu's rib guard, choking the cry in his throat.
“And one for Zheng Jian in the west-canal timber yard.”
The fourth palm landed squarely in the centre of Sima Yu's chest, shearing straight through the gold qi to the exact node where the burst pill's false Golden Core pressure met his foundation.
The borrowed strength folded inward with a deep, muffled crack. Gold light shattered across Sima Yu's shoulders in uneven strips as the pill's violent force tore backward through channels that could no longer hold it together.
Shi Feng caught the prince by the front of his gold-threaded robe before he could drop to the stone, holding him upright while the formation light climbed past their waists.
Sima Yu coughed blood across his own collar, his late Foundation Establishment qi fracturing along the foundation he had tried to force into a higher realm.
“You—” Sima Yu wheezed, his fingers clawing weakly at Shi Feng's wrist as he tried to draw breath enough to cry yield.
Sima Yu's bloodshot eyes widened in terror as he realized none of his murderous orders had stayed buried.
“Guo Zhen was a fool,” Shi Feng said clearly as the pale barrier light reached shoulder height between them. “He thought a prince's order could kill me without a receipt.”
One breath before Sima Yu's trembling lips could form “I yield,” and a heartbeat before the four formation beams locked overhead to seal the halt, Shi Feng opened his hand and stepped back.
The pale wall of the official halt snapped shut between them as Sima Yu hit the flagstones on his knees.
Shi Feng stood on his own side of the light with his sword already lowered at his side, untouched by the barrier. He hadn't struck through an official halt; he had finished the exchange inside the legal window while Sima Yu was still lunging under the forbidden pill's surge.
Lu Yong descended beside the platform at blinding speed, his hand settling on the formation post as he inspected the boundary and the timing crystal.
The crystal showed the final blow had landed before the halt seal closed.
Inside the barrier, Sima Yu collapsed onto his side, coughing blood over his broken wrist ornament while Zhou Ke and the arena guards hurried forward with a carrying board and restraint bands.
“The final strike preceded the halt seal,” Lu Yong declared after checking the post. “Remove the offender to the medical court.”
For several breaths, Shi Feng watched the guards strap Sima Yu onto the board.
The prince could no longer lift his head properly. His qi leaked in ragged wisps from his cracked foundation, his tournament run ended in public disgrace, and every breath dragged across ruined channels. He was alive only because killing him after the barrier closed would have forfeited the championship Shi Feng came here to win.
Zhou Ke guided the carrying board toward the central stairs. The protected band travelled with it until the guards reached the cleared passage.
Sima Yu's eyes opened briefly as they passed.
Shi Feng didn't look away.
The prince saw no mercy waiting there.
The stands erupted when the carrying board vanished beneath the arch.
“He used the forbidden pill!”
“And still lost!”
“That wasn't a breakthrough!”
“Did you hear the crack?”
“Great Liang's crown prince is being carried out!”
The front rows repeated the names Shi Feng had called out. Guo Zhen. Cao Wenshu. Zheng Jian. A Great Liang officer shouted for silence, then stopped when several spectators asked whether he could answer for those men. He couldn't. The herald recorded the forbidden pill and the final timing; the accusations would remain part of what the crowd had heard.
Several Great Liang officials stood helplessly beneath their banner. They couldn't call the loss an ordinary injury, and the broken wrist ornament still lay on the platform where thousands had watched it fail.
Sima Lan remained beneath the awning. She didn't move toward the medical passage.
Ling Qingzhu gripped the edge of her sleeve, then let it go. Shi Feng stood alone beside the light while the attendants cleared the broken jade and checked the cracked stone.
He hadn't been hurt. That didn't make his expression easy to watch.
Lu Yong returned to the centre.
“Victory to Shi Feng,” Lu Yong announced. “Sima Yu used forbidden burst medicine and is disqualified. The violation and its consequences will be entered in the public record.”
The announcement carried to the highest seats.
No royal title followed the prince's name.
Zhou Ke opened the ordinary exit after the barrier lowered. Shi Feng sheathed his sword and stepped down.
The referee looked at the blood on his sleeve.
“Are you injured?” Zhou Ke asked.
“No,” Shi Feng replied.
Zhou Ke nodded and let him pass. There was no congratulatory pat on the shoulder and no lecture about how fortunate the prince had been.
Shi Feng washed Sima Yu's blood from his hand at the water basin. The red thinned, circled once and disappeared through the drain.
Duan Yichen stood nearby, silent for longer than usual.
“Do you want company?” Duan Yichen asked.
“Not yet,” Shi Feng replied.
The sabre user nodded and moved aside.
Shi Feng dried his hand carefully. The officials had ended a match. They hadn't ended what Sima Yu had begun in Great Liang.
He left the arena with that difference intact.