CH 128

Chapter 128 – Battle Amongst the Top 10, Strong Start But Weak Finish

Xu Disheng put away the top-grade cloak Magic Treasure, then stepped on the Yin Yang Diagram and flew down from the arena under the fervent gazes of countless disciples.

Back at the betting table where He Junyu had placed his bets, the expressions of the disciples who were hosting the gambling scheme turned pale. The tables in front of them were piled high with storage pouches and spirit stones.

Xu Disheng landed next to He Junyu. Li Cangyun, who had been standing nearby, came forward with a smile. Quite a few of the other geniuses crowded around, each congratulating him in turn.

He Junyu looked at Xu Disheng, his complexion somewhat complex. “Everyone said that you came from the Mortal Secret Realms and had no foundation in the Sacred Sect. But I never would have thought that your cultivation base was this deep, not inferior to even me by the slightest bit.”

“Looks like I’ll be able to keep the Smoky Cloud Screen this time,” Xu Disheng said with a light smile, not entertaining his topic.

The geniuses crowded around He Junyu and Xu Disheng and escorted them towards the betting table where He Junyu placed his bets.

“Senior Martial Brother He wagered 10,000 spirit stones. With the 1:4 betting odds, that’s 40,000 spirit stones,” Li Cangyun said first, pointing at the stakes piled up on the table. “However, while you have quite a few spirit materials and spirit stones there, it doesn’t seem to be sufficient to pay that amount.”

The betting broker disciple lowered his head and said respectfully, “Senior Martial Brother He, this disciple is willing to offer you all of the stakes on this table, but in return, this disciple sincerely hopes that Senior Martial Brother He doesn’t press this lowly one any further.”

The disciples who dared to host a gambling market like this had to have some level of background and status in the Mountain Range. But in front of the first descendent of Celestial Tide Spirit Master, He Wenshu, his background was sorely lacking.

He Junyu swept a rough glance over the spirit materials piled on the betting table. Excluding the 10,000 spirit stones within the two interspatial rings that he had bet, there were over 20,000 spirit stones worth of things there. After a while, he said, “Fine, you can go.”

The betting broker disciple bowed his head deeply as if he had received a generous pardon and quickly ducked into the crowd.

“Junior Martial Brother Xu, you can take everything else. I’ll just take back the 10,000 spirit stones that I bet,” He Junyu said, taking back his two interspatial rings and gesturing at the remaining stakes on the table.

“What?!”

The expressions of the nearby disciples were colored with a mix of envy and shock. As they looked at the massive pile of spirit stones and cultivation resources on the table, they couldn’t stop their eyes from turning red with greed.

“Senior Martial Brother He, I wagered 50 spirit stones on Senior Martial Brother Xu at this betting table. Can I receive the stakes that I won from that bet?” a youth with a pretty face said, squeezing out from the crowd and cupping his hands respectfully.

The betting broker disciple who had originally been manning the betting table had disappeared without a trace. If anyone wanted to touch anything on the table, they naturally had to go through He Junyu first.

Lightly furrowing his brow, He Junyu replied indifferently, “Do you have any proof of that?”

The youth was only at the early Sea of Qi stage, but he wasn’t nervous under the gazes of all the geniuses nearby. From this point alone, he could be said to have a bit of courage and insight.

The youth took out a jade slip and activated it. A screen of light appeared above it, showing the scene when the youth placed his bet. “Senior Martial Brother He, I have a recording jade slip as proof!”

It was extremely common for disciples to record their bets, which would often serve as a receipt when it came time to settle accounts.

Everyone’s gazes settled on the screen of light and the scene taking place on it.

In the picture, the pretty youth deliberated for a moment, then seemed to eventually make up his mind. He took out exactly 50 spirit stones from his storage pouch and said, “I will bet all of this on Senior Martial Brother Xu.”

The disciples in the scene looked at him like he was an idiot. One of them addressed him with good intentions, saying, “It looks like it wasn’t easy for you to save up those spirit stones. Just bet on Kou Zun. Although you’ll win less in return, at least you won’t suffer a loss.”

The youth shook his head. He placed down the 50 spirit stones on the table and repeated himself. “I will bet all of this on Senior Martial Brother Xu.”

The betting broker disciple didn’t care as much. He simply accepted the spirit stones and made a record of it, not sparing him so much as another glance.

After that, the recording jade slip showed He Junyu walking up to the table and betting 5,000 spirit stones. But that was as far as the recording went, ending right there.

He Junyu nodded and said, “Alright, you can take 200 spirit stones then.”

The youth made his way over to the small mountain of spirit stones and portioned out exactly 200. He then approached Xu Disheng, his face turning a bit red. “Senior Martial Brother Xu, I was watching from the sidelines back when you were fighting Jie Zizhuo, and it was then that I started to really admire you. I was wondering if you could perhaps leave me your message jade slip…?”

Xu Disheng raised a brow and asked, “Were those 50 spirit stones all that you had at the time? Why would you have so much faith in me, to the point that you would go all-in?”

“Can I… n-not say?” the early Sea of Qi stage youth said, his face looking all the more embarrassed as he started to stutter slightly.

Xu Disheng shook his head lightly, not looking at him any further. With a wave of his hand, he stored all that remained of the stakes on top of the betting table.

The youth stood there with his head lowered, not stepping back into the crowd. He previously looked rather at a loss, but in an instant, his expression turned tranquil. A seal that depicted thunder and lightning flashed on his forehead, but quickly disappeared once more.

“Junior Martial Brother Li, it’s about time for you to go up,” He Junyu said, patting Li Cangyun on the shoulder. “It seems that you can only pick me though.”

A bitter smile rose to Li Cangyun’s face. “Looks like we’ll just be going up for a quick stroll then, Senior Martial Brother He. I’ll admit defeat and we can watch Bai Zhaoyun and Ke Yue fight in the next match.”

He Junyu nodded, while the nearby geniuses simply sighed.

With the slight change to the rules in the fight amongst the top 10, the order that the contestants went up to choose their opponents was now based on the number of points they had earned.

The winner could directly enter the top 5. Although there were some flaws to these rules, they had been set by the Spirit Masters, so there was no room for argument.

There would be two heaven-shattering matches between the four half-step Dao Foundation stage geniuses, but at the same time, that meant two of them would inevitably be eliminated from the top 5.

Looking down at the arena from his position at the edge of the giant turtle, Tao Yuanbai declared, “Li Cangyun.”

Li Cangyun flew up onto the arena atop a streak of sword light and said, “I will chose Senior Martial Brother He Junyu.”

After the two of them were standing there in the arena, Li Cangyun didn’t even wait for Tao Yuanbai to speak before cupping his hands in salute towards the chariots atop the giant turtle and saying, “I admit defeat.”

Tao Yuanbai’s expression was a bit strange, but he didn’t say anything as he gazed at Li Cangyun. He nodded, then called Ke Yue onto the arena.

As expected, Ke Yue chose Bai Zhaoyun as his opponent.

But what strayed from everyone’s expectations was that Bai Zhaoyun immediately admitted defeat, voluntarily opting out of the fight for a place in the top 5.

Seeing Li Cangyun and Bai Zhaoyun admit defeat one after the other, some disciples seemed to have thought of something, their expressions exposing a hint of revelation.

Other disciples were puzzled, and couldn’t understand what had transpired. “Why did both of them admit defeat?”

Some of the smarter disciples began to explain. “The top 10 in the Mountain have already been set in stone, so there’s no point in fighting each other any further. They want to conceal their strength in preparation for the Eight Mountains Grand Tournament one year from now.”

He Junyu also nodded in agreement. Addressing the disciples surrounding him, he said, “In a moment, Senior Martial Brother Jian will likely also admit defeat. If he and Senior Martial Brother Yu really go at it seriously, I reckon that everyone will be able to completely see through Mingxin Mountain Range’s top Sea of Qi stage powers.”

Although a large majority of the spectating disciples were disciples of the Mingxin Mountain Range, a good number came from other Mountain Ranges. They had come here with the express purpose of recording the Magic Treasures, cultivation methods, spiritual pets, and other hidden trump cards that each genius had, which they could then bring back and study in detail.

Xu Disheng’s usage of what was presumably a Psychic Magic Treasure known as the Black Sky Yellow Earth Pagoda, as well as his extremely powerful but bizarre secret ghost Dao technique had both entered the list of things that the Sea of Qi stage disciples from other Mountain Ranges needed to watch out for.

Thus, the battle among the top 10 for the top 5 spots ended up playing out in such a farcical manner. As a result, the top 5 were Yu Yangyao, Ke Yue, He Junyu, Xu Disheng, and Guan Lu.

“The grand finals among the top 5 Mingxin Mountain disciples of the Sea of Qi stage will henceforth commence. Based on your point rankings, the one at the lowest in terms of ranking will go up and make a challenge. The winner will then advance,” Tao Yuanbai announced, his voice ringing throughout the entirety of the Green Lotus Domain.

Guan Lu flew up onto the massive arena, but he hesitated when he looked and found himself squaring off directly against Xu Disheng.

Right before Tao Yuanbai was about to tell them to start the match, Guan Lu’s voice was heard. “I admit defeat,” he declared

Normally, he was about on par with Kou Zun in terms of strength, and it was difficult to tell who was the stronger of the two.

But after seeing Kou Zun make use of his hidden trump card, the Departure from Hatred Vestment, and still not be able to win, Guan Lu was forced to reconsider. He felt that he didn’t have any way to defend himself against that bizarre blood-colored light of the Extinguishing Soul Mantra, so he didn’t see the need to fight it out.

There wasn’t much difference between being 4th and 5th place anyway.

“Xu Disheng versus He Junyu.”

Xu Disheng didn’t move, the person in front of him changing from Guan Lu to He Junyu as he went up to take his spot.

“I admit defeat,” Xu Disheng declared, cupping his hands in salute to the chariots high up in the sky. The Yin Yang Diagram appeared beneath his feet and he flew down from the arena.

At this point, there wasn’t a single person who didn’t know that Xu Disheng was a disciple that was held in high regard by Celestial Tide Spirit Master, and had even received vigorous support from him. Him admitting defeat at this point wasn’t outside of anyone’s expectations.

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