Book 50 Chapter 2 – Contending for Supremacy in the Arena (1/2)

Book 50 Chapter 2 – Contending for Supre spurred their rides at exactly the sa to land

Horses have horses’ nature, if you want theradually release their power, to climb toward the peak of their speed Ha the horse in an active condition, hence in just a few breaths he was able to urge the horse to arrive at its top speed If he obtained the ball, he could seize the opportunity to bring the ball along the north line swiftly for several steps, and then before reaching the end of the line, he would pass the ball to Meineiyi, as rushi+ng over along the south line to provide support, then undoubtedly they would win this point

When Xu Ziling was spurring his horse, Haht side, and the ball was landing about thirty paces away on Haht side The two men made their move at the same time But spurred by the ‘ on reached its top speed in the blink of an eye, like a powerful arrow it darted toward the landing point the ball If he could rush in front of Ha the ball one step ahead

The two horses, one in front of the other, the hoofs rose, the hoofs landed, they rushed wildly with all their strength toward the ball The stick in the right hand stretched out, the whip in the left hand lashed the horse’s butt, the competition was intense

All eyes in and around the arena were co’s ride constantly accelerated, it appeared that he ht create a miracle None atched did not act like they were silly or crazy; they shouted to cheer on him

The drummers beat the drums even more forcefully

The shout of the people, the beating of the drums, the sound shook the public square, inside and outside the playing field, the at to its extreed direction; unexpectedly froht Based on Xu Ziling’s current momentum, he would certainly be forced by the horse toward the left, and could only accoether, or perhaps the two horses would collide into a luame

At this ti the half-way line; he rushed in front of Kou Zhong, spurring the horse to full speed along the north line to run after the ball If Ha, he could, before the ball escaped out of the north line, snatch it one step ahead

Kou Zhong cried ‘Not good!’ inwardly; he desperately urged his ride to chase like crazy, but because he fell behind for nearly thirty paces, even with ‘man-and-horse-as-one’ technique, he was simply unable to catch up

Li Yuan and the others were even farther away at the back, they could only gaze at the ocean and la their frustration and were anxious in vain

The true qi within Xu Ziling’s body cycled around, he fully injected it into the horse’s body When it looked like he was about to crash against Ha horse reared, it rose to the sky and let out a long neigh Before the front legs fell to the ground, the hind legs were still carried by the momentu Hamomei by a hairsbreadth

Ha had this alloped across in front of Xu Ziling’s rearing horse, straight toward the end of the line It was an extremely close miss

The cheers were like a roar of thunder; it was the around, Xu Ziling spurred the horse to rush forward With no one to compete with, he brandished the stick to hit the ball, the ball shot up into the sky, above Kesa’s – as rushi+ng over – head, and fleard Kou Zhong

Kou Zhong did not wait for the ball to hit the ground, he ih up in the sky, the ball traversed over ten zhang of eround about ten paces in front of Li Yuanji’s horse

Li Yuanji was greatly delighted; seeing Zexina blocking his way ahead, he swung his stick and pass the ball to Li Yuan at the south line

This moment the enemy’s Hamomei, Kesa and Meineiyi were still at the west side of the field, they were unable to rush over in ti the ene the ball, Li Yuan did not dare to hesitate, he carried the ball to advance toward the east gate

Zexina urged his ride to meet Li Yuan, his body suddenly ht, and he reached forward and stooped backward, giving up the i to strike, he would be able to intercept it head-on

Li Yuan swept the stick across, the ball was passed to Li Yuanji on his left, it swiftly rolled on the ground

Zexina immediately displayed his expertise; abruptly he pulled back his horse, the horse see up again, and has successfully changed the direction of its sprint In a hard-to-believe situation, he dashed at an angle toward the space between Li Yuan and Li Yuanji’s two rides It looked like that it was still too late to intercept, yet he stretched his body forward until it was al the stick swept, just enough to hit the ball

Meeting the stick, the ball changed direction; it was sent toward Kesa, as on the north line of the west field Kesa swiftly sent the ball toward the on-the-south-line-rushi+ng-over Meineiyi The latter, before Xu Ziling rushed over, swung his stick to hit the ball, sending the ball into the goal

Three druoal, increasing their lead to four points, leaving only eight points re to be contested

Someone quickly sent the ball to the naled with his hand, asking for a tiate He spoke to Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling first, “You played well! The loss of this point is not your fault”

Li Yuanji nodded and said, “Zexina, this defensive barrier is very strong; in my opinion, he is more brilliant than Hae for play defense at the rear As long as you play with the same level like just noehow he amiably called the two by their first na and Xu Ziling in his heart

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling accepted the imperial order with a loud voice They were infected by the spirit of the game, plus they felt that the lost point just noas an injustice Their fighting spirit was aroused, they vowed to fight the next point back

Kou Zhong started with the ball in the , the latter bent down half of his body fro the crescent-shaped head of the stick he controlled the ball to roll forward on the ground

Ahead, waiting in tight formation, Hamomei rushed forward to intercept, Meineiyi and Kesa also attacked fro defense at the rear

Just before Ha, beyond everybody’s – inside and outside the field – expectation, did not pass the ball back to Kou Zhong; instead, he hit the ball to roll between the four hoofs of the other side’s horse, while he hiale, from one side bent to the other side, and then before the ball escaped froht it forward, thereupon he skillfully strained Hamomei that he pounced on the e up everywhere, the dru for the good opportunity to attack the gate

Sure enough, Xu Ziling brought the ball forward and advanced straight toward Zexina

Kou Zhong’s mind was interlinked with his; he cut in and pressed on, so that Zexina was like a lone palht to intercept

Other people thought that it was their, the ‘Taihang Shuang Jie’, ere experts in playing polo – troops formation, only they, the two boys ell aware it was their experience in going through battles, big and sht into the ball field and put it to full use

Zexina suddenly spurred his horse to dash forward, the polo stick in his hand fantastically created multi-layered stick shadows, it was hard to tell which one was real, which one was fake; it was fine and delicate, which quite reached perfection

Xu Ziling’s , Zexina’s stick technique was indeed brilliant, however, compared to shi+ Zhixuan’s Bu Si Huan, there was still some quite out-of-reach distance, therefore, how could it baffle Xu Ziling? Feigning an attack, he tricked Zexina’s polo stick to lean slightly to the left, while he ihtly Just like that, he easily passed through the opponent’s seeht-that-even-water-could-not-splash-through stick shadow, and then send the ball in front of Kou Zhong

Kou Zhong did not dare to show off, because at this point Kesa was less than two horses’ long away on his left side Straightforward, he swung his stick, ‘Pop!’ the ball obediently bored through the east gate and entered the goal net

The druly; no one cared that it was Cai Yuanyong instead of the Great Tang Eoal

Li Yuan did not care even more; on horseback, he proudly looked around, as happy and excited as if he scored the goal himself His decision to substitute players in the arena was actually a risk in troops deployeneral on the battlefield at the last moment, and now the fact verified that his sacred decision was a correct one, so that he would be able to answer Li Shentong and Li Nantian wholory in front of the crowd

Li Yuanji urged his horse to coreet the two ether

The battle situation quickly becaer trapped in passive, only-take-a-beating situation

Three drumbeats in succession The first set of the second half of the game continued

The Persian side was determined to win the last point of this set If they won this point, they could stilllead of four points

After kick-off, the Persian side changed tactics to full-attack After receiving the ball, Zexina pushed forward to theintercepted him, he passed the ball to Hamomei This main striker, with Meineiyi and Kesa, three ic trick With their rides interweaved as they rushed along, the ball beca unpredictably like a spirit or a ghost, turning to the left and was passed on to the right, suddenly it went to the front, suddenly it ca had no tio back to help, Li Yuan and Li Yuanji did not have any opportunity to touch the ball even more; the opponent sent the ball into the net, victory was like handling a butcher’s cleaver with ease, it was as easy as blowing off dust

In their heart, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling could not accept this loss, yet they had no choice but to accept; they felt utterly frustrated

The first set of the second-half of the game concluded, there was a moment’s rest

The two followed Li Yuan and Li Yuanji to the sideline Li Yuan’s expression was grave, he waved away the eunuch serving tea and delivering toas going to wait upon hi his brows, he said, “Now there is only six points left; only if we could take all six points e be able to triuaood proposal?”

Li Yuanji obviously lost his confidence, but because Kou and Xu perfor, you can boldly speak up what you think in your hearts”