The bull may still have his horns, but they were certainly dulled by the itch.

  The bull’s once-burning fists ceded its job to a sharper edge, yet the disarrayed stance and movement did little to help boost the scimitar’s danger rating.

  Every slash was wild and can’t even land properly.

  At this rate, sooner or later, this bull will exhaust all his stamina on his own!

  The win was in the bag!

  But just when Bubai got a bit comfortable with the battle rhythm, the scimitar that was so easy to dodge actually sped up and viciously chopped toward his neck!

  Bubai’s eyebrow quirked over the abrupt power burst, but his dagger still went to parry that blow smoothly.

  But no sooner had Bubai stopped the scimmy, his danger senses tingled!

  Out of the corner of his vision, he caught sight of a sneaky hand activating a talisman!

  Fwoom!

  Legs split! Height dropped!

  Bubai instinctively bent back almost at a ninety-degree angle and watched the pillar of deep orange flames brush over his nose!

  Not giving him any chance to breath, a scimmy came chopping down right through the fire!

  Instinctively, Bubai’s palms clapped together to catch the blade!

  At the same time, his legs coiled around the scimitar-wielding arm like a serpent, and the momentum of his entire body gave it a twist-

  Crack! Dislocated.

  But this was no time to celebrate!

  Hugging the scimmy, Bubai borrowed the remaining momentum to roll away, just in time to avoid the flaming fist smashing down! Wham!

  A tumble later, Bubai bounced back to his feet, just in time to see the brute popping his dislocated arm back in place.

  The crack from the arms finally put a crack in that brute’s mask.

  There was still anger written all over it, but clearly, it hasn’t gotten to that brute’s head like he’d expected!

  “Kek.” The so-called brute spat to the side, chuckling darkly. “I prepared this trick for a proper foundation senior... Didn’t expect to use it here and it still failed.”

  Nani?! Out of character alert! Out of character alert!

  Bubai finally realized. This Jia Liang wasn’t just a brainless oaf!

  No, this was a five-star actor! Everything was to plant a misconception in his foe!

  So cunning! He almost fell for it!

  But there wasn’t just one actor on this stage!

  Bubai retreated a few steps back and pointed a trembling finger at the fellow actor. “You… you! How?! Impossible!”

  Seeing that terrified look on the other’s face, Jia Liang’s scowl deepened.

  “Quit pretending. Elder cousin Shizi already told me all about you and warned me of your tendency to be a smiling tiger.”

  Bubai’s face went stiff. Well, well, well. Looks like peeps aren’t so dumb after all.

  There goes his plan to play the pig to eat the tiger.

  Seeing no need for the pretense any longer, his panic mode was dropped, letting a wicked grin take its rightful place.

  “Hoh? What a surprise. Even knowing all that... you’re still not surrendering?”

  “Keke…” Jia Liang cracked his neck with a slow roll of his shoulders. “Every one of us who dares to stand on this stage have prepared ourselves and won’t back down so easily.”

  “Oh really?” The smiling Bubai tilted his head. “Then you guys must be itching for a good beating. Speaking of itching… you must be really feeling it?”

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Jia Liang pointed at the pox dotting his arms and sneered.

  “What? This little itch? My great-grandfather has done worse when I was just a toddler!”

  Bubai pinched his nose. “No, no. I’m not talking about that itch. I’m just admiring how you can stand the bad smell.”

  “Smell? What smell?”

  Bubai’s smile spread to his eyes. “Well, did I not mention? I’ve reused that itching powder a few times. Once it sat a little too close to a cesspit. So, it may or may not have been stained with… you know.”

  Somebody immediately felt like retching...

  But the wolf’s strong will fought back the urge and covered it all up with a derisive snort. “Keh. Enough of these stupid word games!”

  A blood rejuvenation pill was crushed by teeth. With eyes blazing, Jia Liang ripped off his powder-coated upper vest.

  “Come. Show me what makes you different and special in my elder cousin’s eyes!”

  Bubai sighed inside.

  Merlin’s beard. He thought each challenge down the ladder is supposed to get easier, but he got smacked in the face practically on the first step!

  Where be the lovely 2D cliche dummies sticking their butts out for a face-slap?

  Why did he get a smarty pants instead? An actor to boot!

  Due to this family-friendly actor competition, even his acting career took a hit...

  Ugh. He really doesn’t like this feeling at all.

  Sad, but that’s just how life is.

  Sometimes, it’s sunshine and daisies. Sometimes, he fails to turn the fat rat yellow.

  This round, the first act didn’t magically play out like he wanted.

  To make the most of the rest of the act...

  Seems like a card or two must be pulled out from the magician’s hat.

  The free scimmy was put away. Bubai lightly bounced on his feet and got into a dashing stance.

  “Round two, then? I’m all up for it.”

  “Kek.” Jia Liang punched his fists together and braced himself. “And I can go for ten more rounds.”

  High above on the sun disc.

  Ma Pei cast a sidelong glance at the brawny Jia Gufan. “Thought your lineage only trust muscles.”

  Jia Gufan’s grin split wide. “A little scheme works wonder when muscles aren’t enough. That little descendant of mine’s learned well.”

  Grand Elder Jia Wunan stroked his braided beard and nodded along. “Indeed. That junior of yours indeed shows some potential.”

  Ma Pei rolled his eyes. “Potential’s all well and good, but I’d say that little sprout picked the wrong fire to stomp out this time. Hohoho…”

  “Really? Wait… that speed...” Jia Gufan’s gaze sharpened, his interest renewed. “Kahaha! That kid wasn’t using his full strength all along?”

  Below, Jia Liang crossed both arms and barely blocked the solid blow to his temples, but the heavy weight still sent him skidding away!

  Lowering his shaky arms, he glared at his opponent.

  “You… As expected, elder cousin did say your strength isn’t normal. Didn’t expect you to hold back for so long even after how I treated your woman.”

  Bubai wiped his itchy knuckles on his trouser and fired back, “Hey, your little niece wasn’t half-bad herself.”

  Jia Liang showed a face that didn’t care. “Kek. Just a toy that will soon be changed like clothes, or I wouldn’t have shared her.”

  Wow. Ruthless. Bubai could only admit defeat in this aspect.

  Seeing his foe charging over, shurikens fanned out between his fingers and were sent zipping out!

  Smoke pellets followed up. Puf! Puff! Poof!

  But Jia Liang was quick to respond.

  A talisman activated and a powerful gust of wind made short work of the smokescreen!

  “Keke. I’m not poor like that dead second beat! If it wasn’t for the ban of talisman in the pits, first place wouldn’t be out of my reach!”

  Above, Jia Gufan slapped the armrest of his throne and almost jumped up from his seat. “This wastrel! Does he think talismans are made from toilet paper?”

  The Grand Elder patted his daoist brother’s arm to calm him and smiled kindly. “If a few scraps of paper can secure a spot, why not?”

  Neighboring the brawny Jia Gufan, the elderly scarecrow Tai Yinjun sighed. “Aye, and that’s why we should ban talismans from this tournament.”

  This earned an eye-roll from a few others, and Jia Wunan shot an exasperated glance over. “Please don’t get us started. Every year we have this same debate.”

  “Hey! What’s wrong with what I said? There’s nothing wrong with teaching your juniors to rely more on skill rather than burning through their money pouches!”

  Crossing his arms thick like tree trunks, Jia Gufan scoffed. “Then we should first ban your clan’s little dolls while.”

  The scarecrow-thin Tai Yinjun shot upright as if his stuffing had been ruffled and his straw-thin fingers pointed at the other in protest.

  “No, no! Why are you bringing our adorable dolls into this! They’re an entirely different matter!”

  While the elders traded jabs above…

  Below, a certain brute was now sporting many new bruises and was taking a beating… a rather one-side beating...

  Bam! Jia Liang guarded himself from another heavy punch and clenched his teeth in pain.

  It was really unexpected. He went all out, but once the other side stepped up his game, it really flipped the board!

  Now, with how the stinking jerk was sticking to him, Jia Liang couldn’t even activate a second talisman!

  Whenever he tried, it would just get snatched right out from his hands!

  Hateful!

  The worse part is... he can’t even hit back. All he could do was guard, guard, guard!

  The other had speed and power enough to bully peak body builders!

  If he didn’t know better, he would’ve thought the other had already stepped into the foundation realm!

  Just when Jia Liang raised his arms to guard against the palms clapping at his temples, a hard kick landed on his stomach!

  “Oof-” Jia Liang launched backwards, but quickly stabilized his stance.

  The sticky enemy gave him no time to breath. A follow-up punch came right at his face!

  Jia Liang’s face became ruthless and his own fist swung out! “Kah!”

  Trade injury for injury!

  But suddenly, the incoming fist changed into a claw! A fistful of sand flew right into his eyes!

  Rascal! It was a dirty trick!

  That did little except block his vision. However...

  In the blink of an eye, a claw locked his punching arm’s wrist!

  Oh no, careless!

  A tug forward destabilized Jia Liang, and a twist back- Crack. His arm was dislocated again!

  It’s just that this time, his opponent gave him no chance to fix it because his other arm followed suit with another sickening crack!

  His arms then got locked behind his back, and his knees got kicked in from behind.

  Thump! When Jia Liang fell to his knees, the smiling tiger behind breathed into his ears.

  “You lost. Surrender~ Stephen.”