Chapter 111: The King of Fighting

After Bao’er fell asleep, Maine carried him to the stroller, then pushed it to the door to watch where Xie Sen and Long Teng stood in the courtyard to fight

The two stood still, and Bai Jiao shouted from the side, “Start.”

In a flash, Long Teng came at Xie Sen like a gust of wind, Xie Sen backed up, summoned vines to trip Long Teng’s feet, and at the same time countless long, thin, needle-like grains of rice were shot at Long Teng. Long Teng reacted quickly, leapt lightly over the vines, flipped to the right to avoid the hailstorm of rice, and was about to move forward when an acacia appeared in front of him, and blocked his way.

“Wow, how handsome!” He shouted as he moved his feet to the left and over the acacia tree. But before he could do anything else, he was caught by the steeply elongated branches of the acacia tree.

Xie Sen summoned the plants to battle while he backed up and pulled away. At this point he was still maintaining the same distance from him as the opening scene.

“Great, start again!” Long Teng said excitedly.

Xie Sen knew Long Teng had deliberately slowed down his movements, otherwise he couldn’t have tied him up so easily. He ordered the Dragon Claw ivy to untie Long Teng and recalled them, “You speed up your attack. I’ll try to stop your attack by all means.”

Long Teng nodded, “Okay.”

For the second time, as Bai Jiao started the match. Long Teng scurried phantom-like to within two meters of Xie Sen. Xie Sen hurriedly summoned vines, and retreated at the same time. Long Teng leapt up, landed, and put his hand against Xie Sen’s neck.

Xie Sen halted. “You’re fast!”

Long Teng laughed. “I’m good, right? If you had blocked directly with the tree and retreated faster, it wouldn’t have been easy to touch you.”

Xie Sen nodded. The two of them sparred a few more times, and by the last bout, Xie Sen was able to summon three types of plants at the same time, and combined his defense and attack. He was so careful that the rice took off when it touched Long Teng, and didn’t hurt him.

Long Teng was released by the acacia tree. He reached out, touched a branch, and felt its toughness. His eyes glowed, “Plants really are super powerful! You have so many plants, if they can all be used quickly, I can’t beat you. Even if Big Black is there, it would be hard to win.”

Xie Sen spread his hands. “Fast use isn’t easy to do, and also needs more training. The more plants I can command, the easier it is to get out of the situation. I have to find the optimal combination that has the minimum amount of plants to give me in both combat and defense effects.”

Long Teng laughed. “You used to have slower reaction times in fights than you do now. You’ll get better with more practice.”

Xie Sen, “Mn, I’ll go to the training hall to find someone to spar with when I have time.”

The four of them ate lunch together. While they were eating, Bao’er happened to be awake, and was chewing on his fat hand and entertaining himself, while Long Teng ate and stuck his head close to him to watch. After the meal, Long Teng thought about the design of his restaurant, then he and Xie Sen chatted for a while about the dishes. Finally they got up and said goodbye.

Bai Jiao knew Xie Sen had the habit of taking a nap, so he didn’t stay long and left with Long Teng.

Xie Sen cleaned up the dishes. Maine tried to reach out, but he blocked him. “I’ll do it, you watch Bao’er.”

When Xie Sen came out of the kitchen, Maine was pushing the stroller to the bedroom. Xie Sen followed him into the bedroom, and set the sleeping baby down. They sat side by side on the sofa next to the bed.

Xie Sen turned on his bracelet, checked the exact location of the training center recommended by Long Teng, and discussed it with Maine. “Is it better for me to go every morning or afternoon?”

Maine, “Neither is good. Bao’er is still too young to go to a training ground, and I don’t feel comfortable with you going alone.”

Maine was now almost bound to Bao’er. Bao’er couldn’t go so he also couldn’t go.

Xie Sen pointed to the screen. “What’s to worry about? There is one quite close to home, and the environment in the pavilion is also very good.”

Maine looked at him, “The training ground has mixed fish. It’s easy to get into trouble.” When he saw him frown, Maine added, “If you want to spar with someone, call them to our home!”

Xie Sen sighed, and realized that things were getting serious. He turned off his bracelet, and sat sideways with his legs crossed on the couch, as he faced Maine.

“I think we need to talk.” He grabbed Maine’s hand. “I know you love me very much, and are worried about any harm coming to me, but I’m not a child. I’m an adult and have the ability to defend myself. Think about it, since I got pregnant, since I stopped working at Gold Medal, haven’t you been able to watch me almost all the time? We’re almost inseparable.”

Maine’s pretty lips pursed. “You don’t like it?”

“Of course not.” Xie Sen kissed the back of his hand. “I like us being together, but not all the time. We have our own things to deal with. It’s okay to be apart for a few hours in the middle of the day.” He said with a sigh, “You’re too nervous. The other day Huo Feng and you talked about things. You need to pay attention to the company, and you need to not worry about me. Huo Feng had to come personally. This isn’t normal. You have to relax. Think about it, the average partners have to go to work in the morning separately, and they only meet in the evening. We spend a lot more time together than they do. At a certain point, we can separate to do what each wants to do.”

He lifted his foot, wiggled it, and a clear bell rang. “Look, even if we’re separated for a while, you’ll always know where I am, and you won’t have to worry about it at all.”

Maine took hold of his foot, rubbed his thumb gently on his ankle, stared at the anklet for a while. He looked up at him, “Did you want to say it a long time ago? Have you been upset but holding back?”

Xie Sen pulled his foot away, and raised his arm to hug him. “No. After the pregnancy, and before Bao’er was old enough, I knew how important things were, and I could understand your not being at ease, so I didn’t feel bad staying at home. But now that I’ve recovered, I think I should do something else. Don’t forget, we’ve only been out of school for a year. We’re still young.” He wrinkled his nose. “I’m not going to live my old age so early.”

Maine took him in his arms. “I’m sorry, I…I couldn’t help worrying about you. I was so afraid you’d get hurt. You should go to the gym every morning. Just don’t stay too long, and contact me if you need anything.” He kissed Xie Sen’s forehead. “If I do something that upsets you, don’t take it to heart, just tell me.”

Xie Sen took his face, kissed him on the left side and the right side, then smiled. “You’re so nice. I love you!”

Maine’s eyes were tinged with laughter, as he took him by the back of the neck and kissed him deeply.

The next morning, Xie Sen finished his breakfast, took a walk to see the contract beasts, then went back home. He stayed with Maine to feed Bao’er and and change his diaper, and played with Bao’er, while he waited for Bao’er to fall asleep at almost ten o’clock. Then he switched into a set of sportswear, held a cap with a big long brim in his hand, twirled it around his fingers, and smiled at Maine, “How about it? Handsome, right?”

Maine’s eyes swept over him, “Very handsome. Have you grown taller?”

Xie Sen’s smile deepened as he jumped on him and kissed him. “Three centimeters taller.” He compared their height difference with his hand, and was depressed. “More than the previous difference.”

Maine laughed. “I’m five centimeters taller.” He took the hat Xie Sen was holding, put it on him, then pressed it down to cover most of Xie Sen’s face. “Wear your hat well, and choose the indoor VIP arena, not the open arena.”

Xie Sen, “Yeah.”

Maine took out black mask and handed it to him. Xie Sen took it and laughed. “When I went in, the staff at the gym didn’t think I was going to kick the bucket, did they?” 

Maine, “It’s perfectly fine for you to kick the bucket.”

The corners of Xie Sen’s mouth curled up. “So confident in me, huh? I don’t even dare to be so confident. Let me practice for a few days to see the effect.”

“Be back for lunch.” Maine reminded him before he went out the door.

Xie Sen drove the shuttle all the way at a speed safe for seniors. In less than twenty minutes, he arrived at the training hall nearest to his home. As he approached, the transparent doors opened automatically to the sides and a staff member in a black sports uniform greeted him. “What program would you like to learn?”

Xie Sen said, “None. I’m looking for someone to spar with.”

The staff quickly looked him over. “Sorry, the sparring program isn’t open to minors.”

Xie Sen deflated. He knew that, otherwise Long Teng wouldn’t have waited to start looking for people to spar at the training grounds until after he graduated. He said, “I’m an adult. Set me up with an indoor ring and a newbie opponent.” He had to take his time. Start as a novice and get used to his opponents’ abilities.

The staff obviously didn’t believe him, but all of the men he would be sparring with were males of Xie Sen’s height, and it would be a real tragedy if he were an adult.

“Identity information, please.”

Xie Sen held the brim of his hat, thought about it, and opened his bracelet. The name, gender and partner column were all mosaiced, and only allowed the staff to see the age column.

A surprised look appeared on the staff member’s face. Xie Sen asked, “Is that okay?”

“Yes.” The staff member took him to the front desk to check in for the VIP room, and then took him to the VIP 888 room. “In order to ensure the safety of our guests, the whole process will be monitored, and the video screen will be uploaded to the official website. I will be watching the whole process.”

Xie Sen understood, and nodded his head.

The staff took a look at his height, and couldn’t help but whisper, “Sir, you’re a female, right? It’s easy to get hurt in sparring. We have many training programs for females in the gym, would you like to change?”

Xie Sen had a better impression of the gym. It had principles, allowed customers to keep their identities private, and it was quite considerate, but his goal was to spar. He smiled, “Thank you, but I won’t change.”

At that moment, another staff member came in through the door with a tall, thin teenage male.

The staff member looked at his bracelet and explained to him, “He is a newbie guest who came to the pavilion recently. He is a D class contract beast master. One of you just needs to admit defeat, and the sparring session will end.”

Xie Sen nodded, and walked to the large dais in the middle.

The tall, thin male was very young. When he saw Xie Sen, he asked the staff, “Didn’t you say that underage people can’t duel?”

The staff explained, “He’s an adult.”

The tall, skinny male was surprised. He walked up to the dias and gave Xie Sen an embarrassed smile. “I’m sorry, I just thought you were too short…No, I just thought you had a teenage vibe all over your body, haha…I definitely didn’t mean to mock your poor development!”

Xie Sen lifted the brim of his hat and then turned it to the right back, leaving the mask to block most of his face. It only revealed his eyebrows, which was a very handsome look that also ensured that it didn’t block his view. “You might as well not explain.”

The staff person asked if they were ready, and after both said yes, the staff person raised the flag in their hands, and waved it down hard. “Start.”

The tall, thin male hesitated for a moment, then charged toward Xie Sen. It was only then that Xie Sen realized how fast Long Teng’s attack speed and reaction time was. There was really no way to compare.

The tall, thin male only managed one step, before he tripped over the vines Xie Sen had summoned and fell face-first to the ground.

The male looked up from the ground, frozen. The two staff members were stunned. “What did he just do?”

Xie Sen recalled the vines. “You can use weapons and contract beasts.” He had the ability to defend, and wasn’t afraid of others using swords. He was only afraid that if the other party didn’t use swords, just being tied up will cause them to lose the fight, and the bout would be ruined.

The tall and thin male got up from the ground. His eyes burst out with a very bright light, “You…you…you…You are…”

Xie Sen raised his hand and waved it. He wasn’t surprised that he was recognized. After all, his attack method was too unique.

The male was still excited, but understood what he meant and didn’t continue. However he said enthusiastically, “Senior, I’m from Star City University. I’m a recent graduate this year, but I’m from the Mechanical Department, and not very strong in combat.” He smiled shyly. “Senpai, I have a friend from the Combat Department who is in the A class sparring area. Would you like to spar with him?”

Xie Sen felt that his opponent’s ability was too poor, and it was meaningless to spar with him, so he thought for a moment and said, “Sure.” He looked at the staff members. “Can I spar with someone else?”

“Yes.” The tall, thin male’s words made the staff realize who he was as well, and they nodded their heads one after another.

Not long after that, the thin and tall male’s best friend came over. He was a bronze-skinned teenager, lean and muscular, and at first glance it was clear he was a master.

“Tch, you asked me to come just to fight him?” The bronze-skinned teenager frowned.

The tall, thin teenager grabbed his neck, and whispered a series of words. The bronze teenager nodded, and walked to the middle of the field. “Senior, if you don’t admit defeat, I won’t stop.”

Xie Sen raised his eyebrows, “I will show mercy, if you don’t have time to admit defeat.”

When the staff called the start, the two people on the field immediately moved. The bronze boy quickly charged forward, while Xie Sen immediately retreated, as he used vines to stop him while he shot a hailstorm of rice.

Just as the vines were bent and ready to bind him, an arm-length, narrow-bladed knife suddenly appeared in his left hand, and he raised his hand and cut the vines.

At that moment, a potato fell from above towards his wrist, and his raised arm was too late to dodge. His right hand clenched into a  fist and knocked the potato away. Xie Sen thought he had good speed. He saw that the teenager was less than two meters from him. He summoned the acacia in between them to block, then grabbed a branch swing to the other side to pull away, while he ordered the acacia branches to tie the teenager.

The teenager’s waist was tied up. He reacted very quickly to cut off the branch with a backhand motion, then jumped up and grabbed a branch, and when the branch bent to wrap around him, his body zigzagged and bounced, which moved him towards Xie Sen’s position. A green leaf suddenly appeared under Xie Sen’s feet, and the leaf instantly extended outward. Xie Sen’s position changed, right back to the acacia tree not far away. In order to stabilize his body, he reached out and grabbed a branch that reached out.

He turned around and saw that the leaves were cut where he was standing, and was shocked for a moment. Fortunately, there was a new method of displacement, or the fight would have ended.

Vines could be quickly displaced, but there would be additional injuries.

This green leaf was an oversized king lotus, a kind of aquatic plant. The leaf bearing force was very strong, and the plant’s function was ductility. As he stood on the leaf extension, he could follow the fast and smooth displacement, a bit like a conveyor belt.

The teenager froze, and the wariness in his eyes increased, as he attacked him again. Xie Sen summoned potatoes and rice to attack, and the boy leaped up to avoid the attack. Xie Sen immediately summoned a thornbush, and placed it where the boy landed.

The thorns were only a meter high, but the thorns on the branches were thin and long, like elongated scythes, and were deadly. The teenager couldn’t dodge it, he could only roll outward, trying his best to touch the fewest number of thorns.

“Watch out!” The tall and thin teenager couldn’t help but shout. The moment the teenager was about to touch the thorns, Xie Sen recalled the thorns, and the teenager fell to the ground, then jumped up with a hand.

“You win.” The teenager said.

Xie Sen was satisfied with his reaction. The thorns had come to him on the spur of the moment. There were already five types of plants on the field. He had just used six for the first time, and the instructions were completely correct, while the thorns were perfectly completed.

He laughed, “You are very good. I used many kinds of plants, you didn’t even use your contract beast.”

The teenager frowned, “I don’t have a contract beast. You have a lot of plants, but you need to give orders. You move very slowly. If I attack faster and more violently to disrupt your speed, it is possible to win.” He thought about it and said, “I’m not familiar with your attack method, after I go back to study today’s cut-screen, I will fight you again, and I can win without a contract beast.”

Xie Sen, “I’m looking forward to it.”

When he fought the giant lynx beast master, he found that some of his attack methods would be targeted, so he was eager for someone to crack his attacks, so that he could fix the holes based on their methods.

The giant lynx beast master wore a helmet in order to avoid the chili, which at the same time made it impossible for him to use black fungus to affect his breathing. So at the time of the fight, he immediately gave up on these two plants.

But now that he thought about it, he could have used the black fungus and let it adhere to the eyescreen of the helmet to affect his vision. Real battles were always instantaneous, there couldn’t be that much thinking time, and when the attack and dismantling formed a habit, he could become a master.

He recalled the king lotus and the dragon claw ivy, then looked at the time. From the time he entered the training hall to now, it had only been twenty minutes. The  two battles were very fast, while the time was spent on formalities or talking instead.

“I’ll go back first, and come back later.” He waved his hand and left the infield.

The remaining four waited for him to go out, then immediately rushed towards the fighting arena, trying to grab potatoes and pick up rice.

The staff grabbed the tall and thin boy’s arm. “Don’t grab that, don’t think I didn’t see that you put away the potato your friend knocked away.”

“That was also my quick reaction,” the teenager broke away from his hand. “This is what the senior and my friend used to attack when they fought, so it should belong to my friend.”

The bronze teenager was originally on the stage and he was fast. He picked up the two potatoes on the stage in one go, then squatted down again and used his palm as a small broom to gather the rice together. When the staff saw this, they didn’t care about stopping people and started to grab the rice.

Xie Sen returned to his home in a happy mood. It took him only an hour to go out. When he got home, Bao’er was still sleeping, and Maine was sitting aside to design the program.

“How do you feel? Are you happy?” Maine looked at him.

Xie Sen nodded, “Yeah. I met two students. One of them was good, but I won. Haha! Even though he didn’t have a contract beast.”

Maine laughed, “Long Teng’s skills are top notch. If you can dodge his attacks, few people will be your opponent. But with a contract beast, you still have to be careful.”

Xie Sen nodded, “Mn, I know. I’ve asked Big Tiger and the others. I’ve found out several flavors of plants that contract beasts especially hate, so I can deal with them without the chili.”

In the afternoon, as Xie Sen was brushing up on the news after his nap, he learned that the news of his visit to the training ground had made the headlines.

The news wasn’t spread by the staff, or the students, but was related to the rules of the training ground. The official website of the training ground had a video screen of each bout. It recorded the victory and defeat of each person’s bout, which was also material for customers to study.

Some people want to become famous and challenge the masters, so the video was the evidence. The bronzed student had a high win rate in the A classl sparring ring, and after his video with the student was automatically uploaded, the A class expert lost a sparring session with a D classl novice, which immediately drew the attention of others.

Then his identity was exposed, and the video instantly became a big hit.

As Xie Sen was watching it, he received a communication from the owner of the training hall, who said that he was welcome to continue to come to the training hall to spar, and promised to strengthen security so that it wouldn’t cause him any trouble.

Xie Sen didn’t want to end his training program, so he listened to the boss and went to the gym the next day.

He didn’t know what method the boss used, but there was no one on the outside of the gym, while there were a lot more people inside the gym. So he went in, contacted the staff from yesterday, and was quickly taken to the VIP infield. Everything went smoothly, but he was particularly depressed during the bouts.

His opponent was very capable of dodging the vines without any problem, but as long as he attacked with potatoes or other food, his opponent didn’t care, and risked injury to get the food in his hands. Even if he fell to the ground with a silly smile on his face.

Xie Sen could see that the purpose of these people was simply food!

After two fights, he simply didn’t use food. All his attacks were with inedible plants, and finally he had a good fight. And because several plants were used for the first time in real combat, he had a sense of newness and was happy.

In contrast, his opponent’s face was bitter. “Xie Sen, why don’t you use potatoes? Am I not good enough to deserve potatoes?”

Xie Sen was deflated. “If I used potatoes, you’d be thinking about cleaning up the battlefield before the sparring was over.” After he thought about it, he exchanged a potato and threw it to the other party. “Your ability is very good. I had a good fight, so thanks. This is a thank you gift.”

The other party immediately raised a big smile. “Thank you, God. Thank you! Will you come back tomorrow? I will definitely do better!”

Xie Sen looked at the +1 energy prompt in front of him and his smile deepened. “I’ll come, but I don’t know how they ranked the opponents. I’ll see you sometime.”

He was still in a good mood when he went back to his home. After playing with Bao’er for a while and waiting for him to fall asleep, he patted Maine on the shoulder. “You watch Bao’er, I’ll go make lunch.”

Maine said, “I’ll do it.”

Xie Sen, “I’ll do it. I’m going to make a new dish.” During his pregnancy, he provided the ingredients, while Bai Jiao researched and made all kinds of seasonings, such as vinegar, soy sauce, cooking wine and so on, so now he had a full range of condiments to make any dish.

For lunch, he made beef brisket with tomatoes, then sweet and sour pork in addition to green vegetables. He hadn’t eaten meat freely for a long time, so both dishes were very generous, and Maine liked them so much that he ate all of them.

After the meal, he told Maine about today’s fight, and couldn’t help but enter the official website of the training hall. The last fight video was [God Xie, please fight with me, I absolutely do not put up water!] The pop-up screen was swept.

Xie Sen smiled. He was especially satisfied with the result.

His opponents became stronger and stronger, and because he was thinking about his fruit and vegetable gift, he took the sparring very seriously, and his reaction speed became faster and faster. He was able to give orders to more and more plants at the same time, and the plants reacted precisely.

After a month or so, for every sparring session, the other party had to bring contract beasts and the difficulty of the sparring sessions had been strengthened a lot, as Xie Sen’s combat power increased rapidly.

After Bao’er was half a year old, Xie Sen had already become the king of the sparring ring, and the rest of the training center often sought him out for sparring, but they were no match.

Long Teng’s restaurant also opened a branch restaurant. The name of his restaurant was very random. It was called Delicious Restaurant, while the branch was even more random, Delicious Restaurant Two.

Xie Sen and Maine attended the opening ceremony with their baby, who was held by Maine and didn’t show his face throughout the ceremony.

When Long Teng was asked by the media who was the best fighter between him and Xie Sen, Long Teng laughed, “I definitely can’t beat him.” He had sparred with Xie Sen and he was no match. Of course, he hadn’t summoned his contract beast.

Even if he did, it would be useless, as Big Black wouldn’t attack Xie Sen at all.

The Fighting King, Long Teng, himself admitted that he couldn’t beat Xie Sen. Xie Sen was awarded the title of Fighting King on the same day, and netizens congratulated him while enthusiastically calling out to him to show his baby’s face.

[Although I didn’t see the face, after looking at the white and tender little hands, I know he must be super cute!]

[Both parents look so handsome, he must be very cute, kiss the little hand, mua mua mua.]

[Go aside, Bao’er is mine, not to kiss.]

Xie Sen sat on the sofa, looking at the black line, then looked at Bao’er crawling around on the carpet for a while, and sent a personal message, [The son is mine and Maine’s. Hit on him and think about your own fists first!]

[Thank God for Bao’er’s partner! I decided to start training every day from today!]

[Yes, start training immediately! Immediately!]

The corners of Xie Sen’s mouth twitched. He couldn’t keep up with the netizens’ brain circuits anymore, was that what it meant?

He was giving a warning!

He decided to ignore the netizen and waved towards Bao’er. “Baby, come to Dad.”

Bao’er looked up at him, crawled smilingly to his lap, and then stood up on his lap. His fat hands and feet were particularly strong. Xie Sen kissed him on his fleshy cheek. “Come on, let’s go see your father.”

After a few months of adjustment, Maine was no longer excessively nervous about him and Bao’er. He was able to stay in the office room alone when he dealt with business, and was calm enough to go out on his own, without asking the other person to come home.

As soon as Bao’er saw Maine, he stretched out his fat little hand and shouted in a milky voice.

Maine looked up at Xie Sen, who was holding Bao’er as he walked towards him, and his face grew very soft, with a strong doting look in his eyes. The sunlight shone through the window, and spilled behind Maine. It was almost like a special effect, that made his handsome face look a little distorted.

Bao’er stirred his feet, and drew a picture of his face onto Maine’s, as he excitedly “ahhhhhed.”

Maine laughed lightly, and returned a kiss to each of their faces.

The screensavers that were playing on the virtual screen over the desktop kept changing, but all had pictures of the three of them together, and in the upper left corner of each photo, there was a beautiful color print word. Happiness.

The author has something to say.

Thank you for your support (づ￣3￣)づ╭? ～I’ve finished the main story, and the next is the extra \(^o^)/~

The more I wrote, the more I realized that I have a lot of shortcomings. Many times I became anxious, and was even afraid to look at the comments, because of your encouragement, I kept holding on!