December 23rd, 7:30 PM.
The Galaxy Sports Center in Qi City, which can accommodate more than ten thousand people, had been rented out by Chang Zhiyang as the venue for the Extre Martial Arts Tournant finals.
The finals were scheduled to start at 8 PM sharp, and at this mont, spectators were gradually making their way into the arena.
Although the Extre Martial Arts Tournant had already generated significant attention online, there weren’t actually many people willing to spend money to attend the event in person tonight, so the vast sports center still looked quite empty.
In a row of spectator seats near the central boxing ring, Liu Yuanbo and a few others were sitting here, in the VIP area.
Liu Yuanbo was interacting with the audience in Wu Li’s livestream, all smiles.
Ordinarily, handling Wu Li’s phone and livestreaming would be a task for an assistant, but ever since Liu Yuanbo had livestread for Wu Li once, he seed to have fallen in love with the feeling of being on cara and now always volunteered to help with the livestream.
By now, many of Wu Li’s livestream followers recognized Liu Yuanbo, but they all believed he was just an assistant hired by Wu Li, not knowing that strictly speaking, he was actually Wu Li’s boss.
"Wu Li is resting backstage right now. He won’t be up for a while, so don’t rush, everyone," Liu Yuanbo said into the phone.
At this ti, Wu Li’s livestream already had 130,000 viewers and was still increasing.
"If Wu Li wins tonight, will he give you a red envelope (smirk)?" soone joked in the livestream room, asking Liu Yuanbo.
"Haha," laughed Liu Yuanbo at the comnt. A red envelope? In truth, if Wu Li won, he should be the one giving Wu Li a red envelope.
"Probably," Liu Yuanbo laughed, not minding at all that people mistook him for Wu Li’s assistant.
"I an, why doesn’t Wu Li get a female assistant? With his looks and physique, even if he doesn’t pay a salary, there’d be people willing to pay to work for him," soone else comnted in the chat.
"No way! Our strong big brother can’t have a female assistant!"
"Exactly, don’t talk nonsense, my husband only uses male assistants."
"This assistant is pretty good, don’t start any rumours!"
...
As soon as those words ca out, Wu Li’s female fans imdiately beca unhappy and began to speak out in protest.
"Haha," Liu Yuanbo couldn’t stop laughing as he read the comnts, finding them imnsely amusing.
"Yuanbo."
Soone walked over, interrupting Liu Yuanbo.
Liu Yuanbo looked up and saw Li Jun coming toward him. He was about to greet him when he noticed the person behind Li Jun and suddenly paused.
"Dad? What are you doing here?"
A middle-aged man, who bore a six or seven-point resemblance to Liu Yuanbo and was sowhat plump, walked up with a smile.
He was none other than Liu Yuanbo’s father, Liu Wenhan, the chairman of Haohan Fitness Group.
Liu Wenhan was wearing an ordinary black down jacket and looked more like Li Jun’s driver based on his deanor. However, Li Jun was standing respectfully behind him at this mont.
"What, can’t I co?" Liu Wenhan asked his son with a smile.
Liu Yuanbo touched his head, handed his phone to an assistant beside him, and got up to greet his father.
"Don’t you never watch fighting matches? What made you break the rule today?"
Liu Wenhan pulled his son to sit down, "I mainly ca to see you, and incidentally, to watch your new master."
Liu Yuanbo felt a bit embarrassed, "Dad, my master is really amazing; you’ll know once you see him later."
Liu Wenhan nodded, "To make it to the finals, of course he must be capable. The guy’s gained quite a reputation recently; even I’ve heard of him. It looks like your Bo Yuan Boxing Gym is going to beco popular because of him."
"Dad," Liu Yuanbo said nervously, "you have to accept the outco of a bet. If the Bo Yuan Boxing Gym does well, you can’t make work at your company anymore."
"You rascal," Liu Wenhan ruffled Liu Yuanbo’s hair, "what’s mine and yours, isn’t what’s mine yours too? If you don’t work at the company, who am I going to leave this big business to?"
Liu Yuanbo turned his head away, irritated, "Here we go again!"
Clearly, he had heard this kind of conversation more than once.
"Alright, alright." Liu Wenhan replied with a resigned look. "I won’t say anymore, as long as you can manage the Martial Arts Hall well, I won’t force you."
He had started from scratch and had navigated the business world for decades, known in the business circle as ’Cold-faced Tiger’, and it was only in front of his son that he showed such an expression.
"Old Li." Liu Wenhan reined in his smile, turning to look at Li Jun.
"Chairman." Li Jun answered respectfully.
"I heard you made a bet with Wu Li; if he wins the championship today, you’ll have to give him 5% of the shares in the Boxing Gym?" Liu Wenhan asked with a half-smile.
Sweat imdiately ford on Li Jun’s forehead. "I was impulsive, and I didn’t expect that he would really make it this far."
Liu Wenhan nodded. "Heroes have erged from youth since ancient tis, you really shouldn’t underestimate your opponent."
Li Jun couldn’t fathom Liu Wenhan’s intent and dared not to answer rashly.
Today, too, Li Jun had received a sudden call from Liu Wenhan, saying he wanted to co and see Wu Li’s match, so Li Jun quickly purchased the tickets and brought Liu Wenhan over.
Logically, because of Wu Li, Bo Yuan Boxing Gym had made a na for itself, and it could be anticipated that many people would co by its reputation, which ant that the bet between Liu Wenhan and Liu Yuanbo would be lost. But now it seed that Liu Wenhan wasn’t upset at all, which puzzled Li Jun.
...
On the other side, the Qi City Martial Arts Association had also arrived.
"Old Yan, sit here."
Qi City Martial Arts Association’s Vice-President Qi Jianwei beckoned Yan Baili to sit down; the two had a longstanding friendship.
Yan Baili seed in good spirits, much improved compared to when Wu Li first t him. He nodded his head and sat down next to Qi Jianwei, while the Martial Arts Association’s Liu Xiaochuan, Jiang Peng, and others greeted him.
"Old Yan, you really do have a good eye; who would have thought this young man could make it this far." Qi Jianwei said.
Yan Baili looked sowhat proud but humbly responded, "It’s mainly the young man’s determination."
"It’s a pity. I heard Xiao Chuan invited Wu Li to join our Qi City Sandboxing team, but he was rejected." Qi Jianwei expressed regret.
Beside him, Liu Xiaochuan couldn’t help but speak up. "Yes, Coach Yan, maybe you could put in a word for us. With his talent and strength, he would definitely be a mainstay on our Sandboxing team and sure to achieve great results!"
Liu Xiaochuan had once been his student, so Yan Baili was less polite, shooting him a look. "If he wins against Han Yuanfei tonight, he’ll be qualified to compete internationally. Do you think he’d be willing to stay on your little Sandboxing team?"
Liu Xiaochuan smiled sheepishly; although he was nicknad ’King of Hell Liu’ by his teammates in the Sandboxing team, he still revered Yan Baili, his forr coach.
Jiang Peng by Liu Xiaochuan’s side sighed, "Alas, it’s just that our Qi City Sandboxing team’s capacity is too small to contain Wu Li, this little Flood Dragon."
"Don’t you be saring Wu Li in front of Old Qi. He hasn’t boasted about anything." Yan Baili chided jokingly.
Qi Jianwei gestured dismissively. "We’re all getting old, to be able to see Traditional Martial Arts being carried forward and honored in the ring of modern Free Fighting before we close our eyes, we should be content."
With those words, Yan Baili, Liu Xiaochuan, Jiang Peng, and the others fell silent.
They were all practitioners of Traditional Martial Arts with towering aspirations to make a na for Traditional Martial Arts in the ring, but ended up defeated by reality.
The only one who refused to admit defeat opened a Martial Arts Hall for over a decade but ended up humiliated after being challenged at his own doorstep.
As Qi Jianwei said, it had not been easy for soone like Wu Li to now do what their generation couldn’t. They should be content.
"From what I know, representatives from Asia’s ONE Championship and the United States’ UFC are here tonight to scout Wu Li, to see if he has the potential to be signed." Qi Jianwei made a startling statent.
Yan Baili, Liu Xiaochuan, and Jiang Peng all looked over at the ntion.
"Old Qi, is it true?" Yan Baili said, sowhat excited.
Nowadays, the status of Free Fighting competitions is rather awkward, not quite on par with Boxing and being overtaken by MMA; especially the latter, which has been gradually trending to catch up with Boxing. If Wu Li could enter the international MMA stage, Traditional Martial Arts would beco more widely recognized and better developed.
Qi Jianwei nodded and looked towards the brightly lit ring ahead.
"Whether he’s a dragon or a worm, we’ll know tonight."
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