Chapter 978: Chapter 978

"No way? To be ahead of the Ming Group by so many points indicates your elder brother must be strong. How could he not know assassination?"

Tang Ming looked at Long Ao in confusion.

"Bullshit. My elder brother Long Jia is known internationally as Azure Dragon, having killed countless people and having a formidable reputation. How could he possibly not know assassination?"

Long Ao snorted unhappily.

Tang Ming’s face changed slightly. He had heard of this person, and he was ranked higher abroad. Unexpectedly, that guy failed, which was quite surprising.

"Who was he supposed to assassinate? A commercial tycoon or a master from a powerful Martial Arts Family?"

Tang Ming became interested and eagerly asked.

Long Ao smiled bitterly, "The task in the competition was to kill a legless disabled person."

Tang Ming’s mouth twitched, "Could the opponent be a strong internal master who could defeat your brother even without legs?"

Long Ao rolled his eyes at Tang Ming, sighed, and said, "That person is a mercenary, always active in the foreign mercenary industry. He lost his legs on the battlefield. Although his combat stance differs from ours, he might be seen as a dangerous figure by most, but he’s considered a combat hero. My brother couldn’t bring himself to harm a disabled person, so he ended up losing."

"Damn, the Ming Group actually had your brother assassinate such a target. Isn’t that too despicable?"

Tang Ming couldn’t help but curse.

"If the Ming Group isn’t despicable, that would be bizarre. Those guys will use any means for victory, but the people of the Dark Group have their own limits. Because of this, we’ve been losing consistently."

Long Ao helplessly shook his head.

Although everyone knows that it is not manly to not be ruthless, the people of the Dark Group simply can’t compare to the scheming and viciousness of the Ming Group, which explains why they’ve been suppressed all these years.

"Alright, alright, I’ve finally understood the difference between the Dark Group and the Ming Group."

Tang Ming sneered, only now realizing that Lin Canghai’s maneuvering to bring him into the Ming Group was the correct decision, "I’m no saint, let’s see what tricks the Ming Group will play in this martial showdown. Want to play dirty with me? I can outwit them."

With the situation as it is, Tang Ming started to take this martial showdown seriously. He had originally thought it was a fair and open competition, but now it seems clearly otherwise.

No wonder the order within the martial arts world under the Urban System is in chaos, with the Ming Group’s vile members controlling resources. It’s bound to lead to chaos in the world.

At this time, in the luxurious theater-like indoor viewing room outside the martial showdown venue, guests were already seated.

All the seats were high-end leather sofas with tables in front of them to hold fruit and pastries, along with outstanding-looking ceremonial ladies ready to provide services at any time.

Besides the public seating on the first floor, the viewing room on the second floor had three special private rooms in three different directions. The one in the middle, facing the central screen, was the largest and designated for the leaders of the nine families to watch the competition.

The private rooms on either side of the central room had only lighting visible but no figures, designed to facilitate special people in keeping secrets.

As for the guests in these two private rooms, only the people from the nine families knew their identities, while even the dignitaries below knew nothing about them.

Currently, sitting in the central private room were four middle-aged men, all smiling graciously and spiritedly, chatting leisurely over tea.

These four people were dressed in white Zhongshan suits of uniform color and were the family heads of four of the nine families: Fu Family, Zhao Family, Qian Family, and Wan Family.

Fu Tianbao, who bears some resemblance to Fu Tianyou, smiled at the other three family heads: "Three old brothers, seeing you all so spirited, you must be confident in winning this martial showdown. Should I offer my congratulations in advance?"

"Haha, Brother Fu, you are quite sly?"

A middle-aged man with a balding, square face smiled while looking at Fu Tianbao, "Isn’t the Fu Family confident in this martial showdown at all?"

"Brother Wan really likes to joke."

Fu Tianbao looked at Wan Family’s family head, Wan Changfa, and said with amusement, "This martial showdown is the same as in the past, the Dark Group has no chance of winning, and it’s just us four families picking a spokesperson. How could I not have confidence?"

Fu Tianbao then humbly looked at the other family heads, "My brother Fu Tianyou is the head of the Ming Group, and he shouldn’t have any aspirations for the spokesperson position, and my nephew Fu Renjie also lacks the strength to take the crown, I’m very self-aware of that."

"You can’t say that. The martial showdown tests the contestants’ comprehensive qualities, not just cultivation; otherwise, it would just be a direct match between Zhao Family’s and Wan Family’s kids, wouldn’t it?"

Qian Weiguo, the overweight family head of the Qian Family, smiled sweetly, sipping his tea as he took over the topic.

"It seems Brother Qian is surely confident in this martial showdown, but I wonder how much strength Qian Bujun, with only a Six-star Martial Master’s cultivation, can exert."

The lean-bodied, sallow-faced Zhao Family head, Zhao Jincheng, mockingly taunted.

"Hmph, didn’t I say this competition isn’t about cultivation alone; even if Zhao Tianba is a Seven-star Martial Master, it doesn’t guarantee he’ll take first place."

Qian Weiguo snorted unhappily, spoke in a cutting tone, "If cultivation were the sole criterion, Zhao Tianba wouldn’t necessarily have the upper hand against Long Ao."

"Ridiculous, the competition isn’t about competing strength to the death or brawling fights; no one will duel directly."

Zhao Jincheng declared his displeasure.

"Then what’s the point of saying those things?" Qian Weiguo dismissed caustically.

"Alright, alright, let’s stop bickering here."

Seeing that Qian Weiguo and Zhao Jincheng might start arguing, Fu Tianbao quickly intervened to prevent it, reminding them worriedly, "The Su Family’s representative for this martial showdown is Tang Xin, who has been very prominent recently; this person is an uncertainty, so we should be cautious."

Upon hearing Fu Tianbao’s words, the others fell silent.

"This Tang Xin is the one from the Dark Group who took over the Ming Group’s West Sea Province Branch and the Imperial City’s Biochemical Laboratory?"

Wan Family’s typically silent head, Wan Changfa, furrowed his brows and asked.

"Yes, it is that guy."

Fu Tianbao bit his teeth and, with a murderous aura, said, "All these years, the Dark Group has been stepped on by the Ming Group, and unexpectedly, a guy who can repeatedly cause setbacks for the Ming Group has appeared. We have to take him seriously."

"Hmph, just a Dark Group member, no matter how capable, can’t accomplish much."

Zhao Jincheng dismissed contemptuously, "I refuse to believe he has the capacity to win first place in this martial showdown."