Wu Tian paid no attention to Ling Tengyun's mockery and did not bother with him afterward.
After the site was tidied up, the first group stage match of the Asian Traditional Chinese Medicine Exchange Competition finally commenced.
India's representative was Yimulan, indicating their strategy to field their strongest contender first to boost morale.
On the China team, Wu Tian was naturally the one to compete.
The other members of the China team held no hope for Wu Tian; instead, they wore sinister smiles, ready to witness Wu Tian's downfall. It was as if Wu Tian did not represent China.
Soon, Wu Tian and Yimulan walked into the open space in the center of the crowd.
Yimulan grinned menacingly at Wu Tian and said, "I didn't expect you to actually dare to show up!"
"In front of so many people, aren't you afraid of making a fool of yourself?"
Wu Tian said calmly, "If you're not afraid of making a fool of yourself, why should I be afraid?"
"Your reputation is far greater than mine. If you lose to me, you'll be thoroughly disgraced."
Yimulan laughed, "Me, disgraced? Haha, you really think highly of yourself!"
"With your skill level, you don't even deserve to be compared to me."
"It's an honor for you to compete against me today."
Wu Tian smiled and said, "Then I hope you've truly learned genuine skills from ancient Chinese medical texts, and that your Chinese proficiency isn't just for mockery."
Most of the audience understood little Chinese, so they couldn't comprehend what the two were saying. However, judging by the atmosphere of their conversation, everyone understood that there was likely animosity between Wu Tian and Yimulan.
Yimulan indeed had a considerable reputation, and the audience regarded him as one of the strong contenders in this competition. As Wu Tian had said, people were unfamiliar with Wu Tian, or had never even heard of him.
With Wu Tian and Yimulan's tense confrontation, the audience's interest in the match was significantly heightened.
At the referee's signal, the organizing committee brought out two wooden dummies. These dummies were essentially the same size as an adult and appeared to be for acupuncture practice, though they lacked marked acupoints.
The referee announced, "This match is a best-of-three system. This round will test your mastery of acupoints."
"As you can see, there are no acupoints on these dummies."
"Next, you will be blindfolded and use silver needles to mark all 52 single acupoints on the human body. Do you understand?"
Upon hearing this, many in the audience gasped in surprise. If they were to directly locate acupoints, marking not just 52 single acupoints, but all acupoints on the body, would not be too difficult. After all, they were all top-tier geniuses, and this was the skill they had honed since childhood. However, doing so blindfolded was not a simple feat.
This Asian Traditional Chinese Medicine Competition truly lived up to its reputation as the premier event in the Asian TCM community! The difficulty of the group stage alone had reached such a level. If the subsequent matches were even more challenging, the tasks would surely be even harder. Thinking of this, many couldn't help but swallow nervously.
However, Yimulan, as a genius from India, clearly felt no pressure. He instead smiled mockingly at Wu Tian and said, "Did you hear that? This competition isn't that simple."
"I know that with your skill level, you won't be able to accomplish this."
"So, I advise you to surrender now to save us both time."
Wu Tian smiled and replied, "Since you say that, can I assume that you actually can't handle this challenge?"
"So, in the end, you're just trying to bluff me."
Yimulan scoffed, "Me bluffing you? You think too highly of yourself!"
"To deal with someone like you, I can conquer you with sheer strength, I don't need any tricks."
Wu Tian nodded and said, "Very well. If that's the case, then we don't need to say any more. Let's just start the match, shall we?"
"If you truly possess the strength to defeat me, you don't need to tell me; I'll leave on my own."
Yimulan sneered, "I've met annoying people, but I've never met someone as annoying as you. Are all you Chinese this arrogant?"
"Then today, I will make you Chinese people understand that India is the strongest country in TCM!"
"And your China is nothing!"
Hearing their exchange, Ling Tengyun's expression turned somewhat grim. However, he wasn't angry at Yimulan's insult to China, but at Wu Tian for daring to provoke Yimulan. He gritted his teeth and said, "This scoundrel truly doesn't know the immensity of heaven and earth!"
"Now that he's been insulted like this, if he loses to that guy later, won't we be thoroughly disgraced by him?"
The atmosphere in the arena had reached an extremely tense state, and the audience's anticipation grew even more fervent. Now that things had reached this point, the outcome of who would win or lose was a significant point of interest.
At this moment, the referee asked them, "Who would like to go first?"
Yimulan raised his hand and said, "Let me go first. I can finish in half an hour."
"If he goes, I'm afraid he won't be done even by tomorrow!"
The referee then asked Wu Tian, "And you, do you have any objections to this?"
Wu Tian smiled and said, "What objections could I have? Since he's so confident, I certainly can't stop him."
The referee nodded and said, "Alright, then for this round, India's Yimulan will go first!"
Yimulan believed Wu Tian was clearly intimidated, which was why he agreed to let him go first. Therefore, he taunted Wu Tian, "I thought you had some extraordinary skills to dare to challenge me like this."
"But it seems now that you're just a weakling."
"But it's good this way. After witnessing my skills, you'll understand the vast difference between someone like you and me!"
With that, Yimulan took the blindfold and silver needles from the organizing committee members and began searching for acupoints on the wooden dummy. Although Yimulan spoke discourteously, his reputation in the outside world suggested his skills were not to be underestimated. He was very confident, his needle-finding techniques were professional, and his state was stable, hitting the mark almost every time. Ten minutes later, fifteen silver needles were already neatly inserted into the wooden dummy.