Lou Yi and a few others stood in the second row, just in time to hear old man Gao's muttering.
Lou Yi himself was unaware of the disputes between the villages and Landlord Jia.
But Wu Biao, the burly man, had a spark in his eyes as if he had thought of something, and then he quietly explained to Lou Yi: "Landlord Jia has always wanted to buy a rice paddy south of Gao Family Village, bordering the river, but the villagers collectively resisted..."
Lou Yi listened and felt a stirring in his heart.
Landlord Jia's timely appearance didn't exclude the possibility of him conspiring with Scarface Cao to set up a scheme.
They heard old man Gao calling back: "Old Third, bring your family's yellow cow over."
"Alright!" A man with an honest face responded.
Next.
The people from Gao Family Village and Cao Family Village returned home to fetch their bulls.
According to the rules, each village would bring out three bulls, and the one that knocked all of them down would win.
After half a period.
The first bull was led by a villager from Gao Family Village.
Over three meters long, nearly two meters tall, completely black, with coarse, hard hair, and its two large eyes showing an uncommon intelligence, its horns sat atop its head like two curved blades.
Standing in front of it, an ordinary person would look as frail as a bean sprout.
The people of Gao Family Village were quite excited upon seeing this bull.
"Old Third's bull is built sturdy!"
"This bull often participates in battles, experienced and rarely loses!"
"I've heard it has earned Old Third quite a bit..."
Lou Yi looked at this bull and nodded secretly.
Bullfighting primarily depended on the bull's physique, and this bull's build was a full size larger than ordinary water bulls, its strength imaginable.
Later, Gao Family Village and Cao Family Village brought out two more bulls, but the largest among them was still smaller in size compared to the first one.
The villagers of Gao Family Village were excited and proud, naturally weakening the morale of Cao Family Village.
But Lou Yi noticed that Scarface Cao remained unfazed, even showing a disdainful smile.
Sure enough, when the third bull from Cao Family Village appeared, all the noise at the scene suddenly fell silent.
It was a giant bull, red all over like blood!
Nearly three and a half meters long, over two meters tall, covered in red hair, with eyes that were also blood-red, exuding a rare ferocity among bovines.
The largest bull from Gao Family Village was already considered a rare breed, but compared to it, it was like the difference between a child and an adult.
"This is... the rare Blood Bull from Jiang City!" Old man Gao's face turned sour; Jiang City was over a hundred miles from Tai City, and Scarface Cao couldn't have such connections.
So where did this bull come from, wasn't the answer obvious?
His heart was filled with a deep chill.
Landlord Jia wanted to buy their village's southern rice paddy, but he had always refused.
Now, if they conspired with Cao Family Village to rig the bullfight against them,
by then, without water for irrigation, the villagers of Gao Family Village couldn't survive, wouldn't they be at Landlord Jia's mercy? And they might even have to do him favors.
But as things had come to this, saying more was useless, he could only hope the Blood Bull was just for show.
While physique was important in bullfighting, experience and ferocity were equally crucial.
The villagers left a space open.
Each village sent out one person to lead their bull into the arena, walking around the space first to get familiar with it.
The first round saw the largest black bull from Gao Family Village against a slightly smaller yellow bull from Cao Family Village.
The two bulls stood three to four meters apart, facing each other.
Once the nose ropes were released and a whistle sounded,
the two bulls glared at each other, snorting heavily, hooves pawing at the ground, ready to attack at any moment.
At that moment, they simultaneously charged at each other.
'Bang!'
Their horns collided with a heavy sound; the two bulls began a struggle, trying to topple each other.
"Go, Big Black, get it!"
"Topple it, topple it!"
"Cao Family Village's trash bull is sure to lose!"
The scene was filled with shouting and yelling, as if affecting the two bulls, making them constantly collide horns, pressing against each other, their hooves leaving small pits on the ground as the dirt splattered around.
Finally, the big black bull toppled the yellow bull to the ground, securing the first victory.
The villagers of Gao Family Village cheered and were inspired, while those from Cao Family Village looked indignant.
In the second round, Cao Family Village directly brought out the Blood Bull, instantly silencing the cheers of Gao Family Village.
The oppressiveness of the Blood Bull was overwhelming, with Big Black Bull next to it not looking much different from a calf.
'Moo!'
The Blood Bull pawed the ground with its hooves, let out a long bellow, and charged swiftly toward Big Black Bull!
The ground trembled violently, as if an earthquake had struck.
'Bang!'
With just one hit, Big Black Bull's head seemed about to be driven into the ground.
It dug at the ground with its four hooves, struggling desperately, but in the face of absolute strength, it was all in vain.
In the end, the black bull was knocked to the ground, with a gaping blood hole on its body, and blood flowed incessantly, staining the ground red.
Before it died, tears welled up in its eyes.
Its owner, the honest man Lou Yi, lay despondently on it, unwilling to rise for a long time.
The atmosphere in Gao Family Village was heavy, and it quickly sank into a state of depression.
Their second bull came on stage, fear evident in its eyes. It struggled hard to break free from the person holding its nose rope and turned to flee.
"Hahaha!"
The people of Cao Family Village laughed loudly, and with no better skills, the people of Gao Family Village could only endure in silence.
"Alright, you can send out your last bull now." Scarface Cao said laughing triumphantly.
The old man of the Gao Family remained silent. If their last bull lost, Gao Family Village would be completely doomed.
He regretted it so much that his intestines turned blue.
If he had stepped forward earlier to stop it, even if he offended Landlord Jia, the entire village wouldn't be in such a passive stance now.
Therefore, he was reluctant to send out their third bull for so long.
"Is there anything stronger? Don't hold back at this time!" the old man asked.
The surrounding villagers shook their heads, clearly indicating that today's three bulls were their greatest trumps.
"Hurry up!"
"Stop wasting time!"
As the shouts from the villagers of Cao Family Village grew louder, the people of Gao Family Village could no longer withstand the pressure and were about to send out the third bull.
Dark clouds gathered overhead, the weather grew increasingly dim, and the wind blew wildly.
Suddenly, the world brightened abruptly, turning a bright white.
'Rumble!'
A sound like a dragon's roar echoed all around.
Everyone felt as though their ears were exploding.
The Blood Bull of Cao Family Village, frightened, suddenly charged madly into the crowd!
"Ah!"
Several unfortunate individuals standing in the path were toppled like ragdolls by the bull's horns and were flung in parabolas to the ground, their life or death uncertain.
'Plop-plop!'
Torrential rain instantly poured from the sky.
The Blood Bull continued its rampage, indiscriminately attacking people from both villages in a frenzy.
"Run!"
Screams and cries, mingled with the sounds of rain, wind, and mud splattering, created pure chaos.
People, previously close together, were pushed closer as they fled, losing all sense of direction.
"Stop it now!" Landlord Jia roared.
Two servants under his command, wielding wooden sticks, moved forward to fend it off, but in the face of the Blood Bull, as heavy as a small car, they were easily tossed aside.
This made the other servants even more hesitant.
'Moo!'
The crazed Blood Bull launched another charge.
This time blocking its path were a few children who had come to watch the commotion, all falling into the mud in terror, watching as death approached.
"Move!"
At the moment of crisis, a figure dashed forward.
His speed exceeded that of a cheetah on the plains, too fast for ordinary people to see clearly.
His sheer bravery in facing the mad bull one-on-one drew the attention of everyone present.
'Who's this brave soul?'
'This young man is in for trouble.'
'Commendable courage, what a pity, what a pity.'
In that instant, everyone had different thoughts, but no one believed he could handle the mad bull.
Observed.
He grabbed one of the bull's horns with one hand, holding on tightly, despite the massive inertia from the bull's impact, he wasn't easily flung away, sticking to it like glue.
His legs, like two iron spears, carved two deep furrows into the ground.
When the mad bull's momentum was exhausted, he stood firm, his feet rooted into the ground, his arms exerting force on the bull's horn, his waist and shoulders twisting fiercely.
"Fall!"
The next moment, everyone's eyes suddenly widened.
The massive body of the Blood Bull, weighing no less than a thousand pounds, noticeably tilted under the tremendous force he exerted.
Its forelegs trembled incessantly, and the right foreleg buckled first, causing its entire body to topple sideways.
'Boom!'
The bull's body made intimate contact with the ground, the enormous sound even momentarily overshadowing the thunder in the sky.
It had been toppled by human strength!
...