Chapter 48

As soon as Ma Wensheng finished speaking, there was a sudden steely coldness in the room. Jiang Shaochuan was pale. Gao Pan was no longer displaying any air of arrogance. His valiant face was as cold as stone.

Ten thousand taels of gold. What was the amount of money capable of doing? It could purchase the life of a powerful warrior in the Qi Ocean.

Black Dragon Hall had countless members. After deducting annual operating costs, the annual surplus was only ten thousand taels of gold. Ten thousand taels of gold would be the surplus of ten years.

“Hall Master Gao, by now you should have known the reason for our leader to award you the special robe that is valued at two thousand taels of gold.”

Ma Wensheng was pleased with what he had seen. Gao Pan was solemn. His mission was to drill the importance of this duel into Gao Pan. He had no doubt about Gao Pan’s prowess. However, there was no guarantee of a sure win in any duel. Any unmitigated risk could result in a downfall. Black Dragon Hall would have too much to lose, and a defeat could be disastrous.

Gao Pan was stunned, and he solemnly declared, “I’ll complete my mission without fail!”

“Excellent! I believe you won’t be treating your life like child’s play.”

As he spoke, Ma Wensheng took out a small box from his waist pouch. When he opened the matchbox-sized box, a silver ring lay in the centre of it. There was a design of an exquisite snake on the ring. It was extraordinary. “This is a gift from the supreme leaders. If there’s any unforeseen circumstances in the duel, you just need to activate your palm force to touch the head of the snake. There will be a beam of green light. This green light is the rear needle of the hundred-year-old Glacial Queen Bee. Its venom is indomitable and can bring down a gigantic beast. When we are testing it, even the formidable warriors in the Qi Ocean have to temporarily avoid the killer beam.”

With those words, Ma Wensheng activated his palm energy and touched the snake’s head gently. A beam of green light was emitted. It flew past Gao Pan’s shoulders and hit an embroidery on his gold armour. It drilled a microscopic hole into the armour and flew out at lightning speed for over ten yards. It finally stuck on the a pillar constructed from pure copper and gold.

The robustness of the green beam was able to penetrate the special robe built by the Alchemists’ Chamber. Even Gao Pan was unable to make any attempt to avoid its path trailing at such lightning speed.

Ma Wensheng swiftly retracted the green beam and let it sit on his palm. Jiang and Gao were able to take a good look at the green beam.

The green beam was extremely short. It was a third of the usual length of a sewing needle. Its colour was clear and crystal. It was as fine as hair. It was inconspicuous on the palm.

During the demonstration, Ma Wensheng split the snake ring into two semi-circles and carefully hid the green beam into the body of the ring. The design was restored. He handed the ring to Gao Pan, and in a serious tone, he announced, “This object has phenomenal power. When you have it as a last resort, it’s insurance. This duel will have no room for error. However, I have to caution you. This is a consumable item. Once it comes into contact with skin, the venom in the green beam will be released. This treasure is expensive and it costs thousands of taels of gold. Our supreme leader, though extremely generous, my wish is that you’ll only use it as a last resort. I believe in your ability to kill that rascal.”

“Generous indeed.”

Gao Pan had his own unspoken opinion. However, he chose to go with the flow.

The supreme leader of Black Dragon Hall was an extreme miser. Everyone knew about it. The special gold armour robe which he had received was also a loan from the supreme leader. When the duel was over, he had to return it.

Once he thought about the miserly leader and his ruthlessness, Gao Pan had decided that he would not activate the green beam unless his life depended on it.

Otherwise, his win would also be his loss.

…

Xu Yi was intrigued by the hourglass made from crystal.

Since he took his leave from Gao Junmo, he was led into an extremely quiet room. The guide pointed to the hourglass placed at the window and reminded him that it would be time for the duel when the sand in the hourglass stops flowing.

As soon as the last grain of sand dropped, the door creaked open. A young sleuth dressed in green emerged and announced, “Time’s up. Please follow me!”

It was a winding journey, and they finally entered a lift. Xu Yi was speculating on where the lift derived its power from. The lift landed and the sleuth led him eastward. After several moments, they entered another lift.

Xu Yi was in awe. Earlier on, they had descended about fifty yards. Could they continue downwards? If so, would they be underground?

While he stood in bewilderment, the young man’s waist sounded twice. The lift started to move slowly upwards.

However this time, the young man did not accompany Xu Yi. He was left alone in the box.

He scrutinised the surroundings. This box and the earlier lift were different. It had four fixed walls. Only the metal plate beneath his feet moved upwards.

It escalated for almost ten yards. There was suddenly light against the pitch black above his head. Within a few breaths, there was light everywhere. Xu Yi was standing in the middle of the duel platform. At the same time, within ten yards of where he had stood, he saw a strong man clad in a gold armour leap upwards. Both Xu Yi and Gao Pan had discovered each other simultaneously.

When Gao Pan’s gaze was directed at Xu Yi, he started to lose his focus.

Xu Yi could swear that he had yet to see a scene as magnificent and glamorous as the scene before him. He was certain that no future 3D movie could be able to display such a grand spectacle.

The duel platform spanned a few hundred yards. The ground was not covered with the usual green stone panels. It was constructed from an alloy of iron and golden steel and was then toughened by green gold sand. It was as if he was placed in the middle of the black ocean. Such a grand duel platform was not meant for humans to fight each other. It could have been used for two beasts to battle.

If the duel platform had bewildered Xu Yi, then the towering spectators’ stands were utterly phenomenal. Xu Yi was beginning to doubt his senses.

There was no spectators’ stand. There were four huge city walls surrounding the entire duel platform.

The stand was a hundred yards in height. It was congested with people. From the enormous logo on the rooftop, Xu Yi was cold surmise that the rooftop could fit in a few dozen spectators.

To allow everyone to be able to get a closer look, the designers had intently built an uneven convex construction. From afar, it had looked like an ancient python attempting to eat up the entire sky.

However, in order to fit in several hundred thousands of viewers, the stand was extended sky high. At such a height, the two contestants were like two black specks.

In order to resolve the design conflict, the Guang’an Prefecture Governor had paid a purposeful visit to the Alchemists’ Chamber to hire the Master Craftsman whose notable craftsmanship was unsurpassable.

Under the superb Master Craftsman, each viewing stand was installed with a magnificent projector wall. It could enable the projections of the warriors during their fights. This solution allowed everyone to watch the fight in real-time, up close and personal.

In order to heighten the senses, the Master Craftsman installed amplifiers to capture the moans and grunts of the warriors as well as those feeble sounds made by fists and weapons.