Chapter 698: Chapter 698

Ding Fan and Li Duohao had both agreed, so paper and pen were brought up and they signed in front of the media and everyone present to formalize the arrangement.

Although Hu Jin thought Ding Fan was crazy, she had no way to stop him.

Hu Jin knew Ding Fan's personality; once he set his mind on something, not even twenty oxen could pull him back.

Therefore, nothing she said now would make a difference. Hu Jin could only hope for Ding Fan's victory.

Hu Jin believed Ding Fan was crazy, but Ding Fan was not crazy.

Ding Fan made this bet with Li Duohao for two reasons. First, Li's arrogance, showing off in Huaxia with Huaxia's national treasures, irked Ding Fan, compelling him to put Li in his place.

Secondly, Ding Fan felt that there was something different about the two bronze figures. He had tried to probe them with his Divine Sense but couldn't discern anything within the bronze figures.

If these items were left by the ancestors, they surely contained some secrets, so Ding Fan was intent on reclaiming them.

As for defeating his opponent, Ding Fan had confidence in himself.

Truly competent individuals are always extremely humble, while this Li Duohao was arrogant. Just on this point alone, Ding Fan could see that, although Li was skilled in medicine, he definitely had his limitations.

"Now let us announce the rules of the competition," the onstage female emcee said. "Whoever can insert all the Silver Needles into the acupoints of these Bronze Figures within the allotted time, and accurately so, will be the winner. And now, I declare the competition begins."

Following the female emcee's signal to start, Li Duohao went straight to one of the bronze figures, and with a flick of his right hand, the bag of silver needles on the table was opened.

Li Duohao wasted no time, picking out several Silver Needles with his hands and rapidly piercing them towards acupoints on the bronze figure.

Li Duohao's technique was evidently well-practiced, inserting the Silver Needles into the figure's acupoints with ease. Each acupoint was covered in wax, so it was impossible to see the needle holes with the naked eye. You had to have memorized the location of the acupoints to stand a chance.

Watching Li Duohao's hands fly, wielding the Silver Needles from head to toe without cessation, the crowd burst into applause amidst gasps of amazement after witnessing his swift technique.

Although many did not understand, Li's speed was astonishing, akin to juggling—a real spectacle.

"That Li Duohao is such a shameless guy. He must have pierced those Bronze Figures countless times by now; he knows them by heart. And this is Ding Fan's first encounter with them... Isn't that just bullying?" Zhong Wu below the stage commented discontentedly as he watched Li Duohao.

Zhou Shixin frowned deeply at the moment, watching Ding Fan beside him, who was methodically inserting one Silver Needle after another according to the meridian sequence.

Ding Fan's needle placement was disciplined, following meridian channels, unlike Li Duohao's random process from head to toe, region by region.

Clearly, Li Duohao was too familiar with the bronze figure to get any more familiar.

Indeed, this was the case. Even with his eyes closed, Li Duohao could easily hit all the acupoints. He had started learning acupoint location with these two Bronze Figures since childhood. If he couldn't hit the marks after four or five decades, Li might as well bash his head in with a tofu block.

It was because of his confidence that Li Duohao dared to accept the bet with Ding Fan.

In Li's eyes, there was no possibility of defeat in this battle. Ding Fan was youthful, less experienced in needling than himself, and Li knew the Bronze Figures inside out...

If he lost, Li thought, he might as well smash his head with a block of tofu.

Time flew, and five minutes had already passed. Now, looking at the bronze figure in Li Duohao's hands, Silver Needles protruded from the entire body except for the feet, which were not yet completed.

Looking back at Ding Fan, his Silver Needle technique, while not slow, had only reached the bronze figure's knees—an obvious gap.

Swish, swish, swish... With the last few needles, Li Duohao had covered all the acupoints on the bronze figure.

"Ha ha ha..." Li Duohao glanced at Ding Fan, who still had more than twenty acupoints unfinished. It was a clear victory for himself.

Li Duohao couldn't tell if his laughter was from the joy of Vietnamese Medicine claiming a win or the anticipation of acquiring Huaxia Company, but either way, he was beside himself with triumphant laughter.

"Li Duohao, you've been playing with these things for so many years, it's already shameless enough to suppress the young with your experience, and now you want to exploit their company!" Zhong Wu couldn't help but express his displeasure.

Li Duohao snorted lightly, "Mr. Zhong Wu, it wasn't I who asked to bet with Mr. Ding, it was he who requested it..."

"You... you ****." At this moment, Zhong Wu couldn't help but let out a curse in his annoyance.

Onstage, Li Duohao didn't care as he stood with his hands behind his back, watching Ding Fan's needling.

Ding Fan's needling technique was very skillful, and the speed was astonishing, and now Li Duohao couldn't help but admire this young man before him.

In terms of technique, Ding Fan was more or less on par with himself. If not for his intimate knowledge of the Bronze Figures' acupoints and decades of acupuncture practice, it would be hard to predict the victor today.

Li Duohao approached the needling patch by patch, which was not an efficient method of following the meridians.

And yet, even so, Li Duohao was only about twenty needles ahead of Ding Fan.

Now, looking at Ding Fan, Li Duohao felt a hint of wariness.

At most, Ding Fan was in his early twenties. With such medical skills at this age, he would definitely have more room to grow...

"Sorry for the wait…" Ding Fan inserted the last silver needle into the bronze figure and slowly raised his head.

"Mr. Ding, this time, it seems you have lost!" Li Duohao looked at Ding Fan. "I'll gladly take over your Huaxia Group."

Ding Fan glanced at Li Duohao. "Are you so sure of that?"

Li Duohao smiled. "The outcome, everyone has seen it clearly, I have indeed beaten you. What more is there for you to say?"

Ding Fan said, "If I remember correctly, the rules for the third round of the competition are such that one must strike all the acupoints."

Li Duohao nodded. "Of course, all the acupoints on my bronze figure have been struck. If you don't believe me, you can check for yourself."

Ding Fan shook his head slightly. "You have still missed one acupoint."

Li Duohao was taken aback and turned to glance at the bronze figure behind him; then he let out a cold snort. "Mr. Ding, by saying this, are you unwilling to admit your defeat, unwilling to concede the Huaxia Company to me... In front of so many media friends, I advise you to mind your grace."

At this moment, Jin Guangyi also walked up from below the stage. "Mr. Ding, we of Korean Medicine lost two rounds, but we can afford to lose. What now? We win one round and you can't accept it? This is not the style advocated by the Huaxia people."

Before, Ding Fan had thoroughly dealt with Jin Guangyi, who always had a vengeful nature and took the opportunity at hand, naturally not willing to miss this chance to get back at Ding Fan.

Seeing Ding Fan lose the entire Huaxia Group, Jin Guangyi felt a wave of satisfaction, though the Huaxia Group didn't fall into his own hands. But seeing Ding Fan lose, he felt vindicated, he felt joy.

This was a kind of exceedingly twisted vengeful psyche.

Ding Fan looked at Jin Guangyi and Li Duohao and smiled faintly. "Mr. Li Duohao, do you know what reaction there will be if all the acupoints on this parent and child bronze figures are hit?"

Li Duohao's brow furrowed slightly.

This Li Duohao had previously researched the ancient texts on the parent and child bronze figures, which stated that once all the acupoints on the bronze figures are hit, they will recite the words "persevere and strive harder."

However, Li Duohao had never heard the bronze figures utter these four words over the years.

Li Duohao simply thought that the ancient texts were inaccurate, but now, hearing Ding Fan say this, a sense of disquiet began to creep in.

"What reaction, let's hear it!" Jin Guangyi, the one beside them, boldly spoke out of ignorance.

"If all the acupoints on these parent and child bronze figures are hit, they will say the words 'persevere and strive harder.'" Just at that moment, Zhou Shixin also came up onto the stage.

Ding Fan at this time wasn't just representing himself or his Huaxia Group, but was representing all of Chinese medicine; thus, Zhou Shixin had to step forward and stand by Ding Fan's side.

"Nonsense, bronze figures speaking, you might as well say the bronze figures can walk by themselves!" Jin Guangyi said with utter disdain. "If these bronze figures could really talk, I would eat the bronze figures!"

Ding Fan glanced at Jin Guangyi. "You should not eat the bronze figure, but you can still eat dirt."

Jin Guangyi was taken aback, not understanding the implication of Ding Fan's words.

At this moment, Ding Fan addressed Li Duohao. "Mr. Li Duohao, your Korean Medicine originally inherited from our Huaxia traditional medicine and, for thousands of years, you have extracted a wealth of knowledge from our medicine. Yet today, you think you've learned enough and now seek to make it difficult for us—Chinese medicine practitioners... You've really learned skills but forgotten your own master."

Li Duohao looked at Ding Fan, not knowing what he was going to say, he just silently listened.

"You Korean Medicine practitioners came here claiming you wanted to teach me, a young man, a lesson. Unfortunately, you are utterly incapable of teaching me the weakest part of Chinese medicine. Since that's the case, then let me give you all a lesson from Korean Medicine today."

At this moment, Ding Fan stood erect, and his presence somehow felt different from before.

Below the stage, Hu Jin looked at Ding Fan , and her eyes lit up.

Just now, Hu Jin thought Ding Fan had lost, but seeing Ding Fan , she felt that Ding Fan might not necessarily lose. She had a sense that Ding Fan was turning the tables. Newest update provıded by 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹✶𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲✶𝗻𝗲𝘁

Zhou Shixin looked towards Ding Fan and also felt that this young man might truly be able to turn the tide.

Ding Fan then walked in front of the bronze figure and suddenly stretched out two fingers to tap the figure's right shoulder, then dramatically tapped the left armpit...

After tapping five or six consecutive acupoints, Ding Fan's hand suddenly dragged up the body of the bronze figure, followed by a cracking sound from the figure's body. A part of the bronze figure's spine protruded outward.

Li Duohao was dumbfounded at this sight. What is this...

Ding Fan then directly inserted the silver needle near the protruded spine.

And just as Ding Fan's silver needle went in, the bronze figure started to speak.

"Persevere and strive harder"…