Outside the combat field, members of the Liu family had come to celebrate Liu Dongdong's victory.
Beaming with joy, Liu Dongdong bowed and saluted to the audience.
All the fighters in the street were still in disbelief.
They didn't expect that Liu Dongdong would win. Moreover, his victory was so easy and swift. He had defeated Zhuo Tianyou, the third hero on the List of Heroes, with only his fingertip.
The chief general Wushuang patted Liu Dongdong's shoulders and said admiringly, "Bravo, Dongdong! I've seen the hope of the second Bulldozer in you!"
In the far distance, the governor looked stern. He couldn't believe that Zhuo Tianyou had been defeated so badly.
His face grew grave when he recalled Liu Dongdong's finger.
"That certainly looked like the legendary Yi Yang Finger!"
"Maybe the Liu family has passed down their physical cultivation methods…"
He turned to look at Liu Meimei, who was attending to Zhuo Tianyou's injuries carefully. Suddenly, a thought came across his mind.
In the combat field, Liu Meimei's eyelashes were trembling as she looked at Zhuo Tianyou's wounds. Her face was full of concern. She said, "You are severely injured! Do you want to follow me home and pay your respects to our ancestor?"
"It will help, really! People of my family clan always go and pay respects to him when they fall sick. After that, they always recover!"
The doctor from the Lord Governor's Mansion heard her. He couldn't help but rebut bitterly, "Is your great ancestor a pack of blood-clotting powder or healing herbs?!"
Liu Meimei rolled her eyes and ignored him. She continued to take care of Zhuo Tianyou.
Zhuo Tianyou had always looked down on the Liu family before. But today, he had no choice but to see them in a different light after Liu Dongdong had stripped him of the glory of the third position on the List of Heroes.
"I'm going to inform my father!"
Zhuo Tianyou didn't reject Liu Meimei this time. He stood up and walked towards the carriage.
"Sure, go! Take a good look at the Liu family!" the governor said, hinting to Zhuo Tianyou that he should perform a thorough investigation of this clan.
Zhuo Tianyou understood his father's hidden intention. He turned and saw Liu Meimei looking at him expectantly. He nodded and said, "Let's go!"
Liu Meimei smiled. She looked like a blossoming flower.
In the distance, Liu Dongdong smiled too. But his smile was frosty.
"How dare you flirt with my girl, you loser. Seems like I went too easy on you!"
…
Liu Dahai, Liu Erhai, and Liu Sanhai had returned to the ancestral temple. But they still looked frightened and their shirts were wet with their cold sweat.
Liu Tao was confused. It was obvious from their aura that their power had grown significantly, which meant that they had succeeded. Now, all of them were martial arts masters of the Dragon State.
That couldn't explain why they looked so pathetic.
Liu Dahai drew a deep breath and said, "After I paid my respects to the ancestor just now, I had a strong feeling that I would be able to break through. Hence, I locked myself up and prepared for the breakthrough."
"However, my energy and blood suddenly started to flow backward and I almost lost it. But at this very moment, I successfully overcame it somehow. After that, I ran into issues again when I was trying to refine my muscles to the state of the martial arts master. I was out of energy, which almost got me killed…"
"When I was about to break through, there was a sudden turbulence and I almost dropped from my current state!"
Liu Erhai and Liu Sanhai nodded beside him. They had encountered the same thing as Liu Dahai. Fear seized them as they recalled what had happened.
Liu Tao was dumbfounded. Their journey wasn't smooth at all.
"I thought you've paid respects to the ancestor? Why was it so dangerous during your breakthrough if you were sincere in front of our ancestor?" Liu Erquan asked curiously.
Liu Dahai glanced at Liu Fan's spirit tablet and mumbled, "Who knows, maybe the Ancestor is biased!"
"Yes, he's biased!"
Liu Erhai and Liu Sanhai nodded in agreement and said, "I don't believe the Ancestor has helped us at all during our breakthrough this time. We've succeeded simply because we are talented, experienced, and lucky."
Liu Fan was furious inside his coffin.
"Do you really think you would have succeeded if I hadn't cast the Spell of Safe and Daunting Experience? You ungrateful idiots!"
At this moment, they heard the sound of drums.
A distant voice came with it.
"Congratulations to Liu Dongdong of the Liu family for achieving the third place on the List of Heroes!"
Liu Fan smiled in the coffin.
This Liu Dongdong had finally begun to shine!
In the courtyard, Liu Tao and the Elders exchanged a look of pleasant surprise with one another.
"For real? Dongdong defeated Zhuo Tianyou?!"
"Come on, let's go welcome our Dongdong!"
The group scurried out of the courtyard and saw a crowd marching towards them.
They were led by the chief general Jun Wushuang.
The general was wearing a mask and holding a red flag, on which was sewn a giant scorpion, the sigil of the City of Scorpio.
On top of the scorpion rode Liu Dongdong. The man rested his hands on his hips, and he looked impressive on the flag.
"Dongdong is riding the giant scorpion too! Hahaha…"
Liu Dahai laughed. The other members of the Liu family started cheering too.
It wasn't a casual thing to draw Liu Dongdong on the city flag.
There were procedures behind it!
First, they had to obtain the City Lord's approval, and the man must be on the top three in the List of Heroes.
Hence, this flag symbolized that the City Lord had acknowledged Liu Dongdong's martial arts abilities, and the Lord believed that Liu Dongdong had the potential to be the strongest fighter in the City of Scorpio. That was why the City Lord was willing to present this flag to him.
"As of this moment, the City of Scorpio has a population of millions of people, but only ten have had the honor of receiving the scorpion rider flag. Therefore, I would like to congratulate Liu Dongdong and the Liu family!" Wushuang said loudly.
When he saw Liu Tao and the six Elders, his pupils suddenly constricted.
He had sensed that five of them were martial arts masters, and the remaining two's true abilities were unfathomable.
'The Liu family is indeed a dark horse!' General Jun Wushuang thought.
'If they are this powerful, then they are comparable to the established houses of the City, and not so far away from the top clans of the world!
'I must report this to the City Lord. Despite their immense power, the Liu family has decided to hide in this small alley of Black Street. That's suspicious. They may have some unexpected secrets!'
Hence, after he had presented the flag, he left with his black knights.
At the gate of the courtyard, Liu Tao lowered his voice and said to Liu Erquan, "I saw Jun Wushuang's eyes rolling just now. I'm afraid he has already noticed our true abilities."
"Jun Wushuang is the City Lord's most trusted advisor. There's no way he's not reporting this to the City Lord today. Given the City Lord's paranoid nature, I'm sure he will start to investigate us."
"Then give him a reason. Let's raid Black Street today and unite the scattered powers in the area."
Liu Erquan felt a chill down his spine, but he agreed.
Now, the Liu family had two grand martial arts masters and five martial arts masters. Their power would grow significantly if those who were trying to break through succeeded.
By that time, the Liu family would be more powerful than the rest of the Black Street clans combined.
"I hope Meimei can convince Zhuo Tianyou to come. If she succeeds, we'll have a talisman with us…" Liu Tao murmured, his eyes glimmering cunningly.