1954 Betting (1)"This medicine is effective?" Bai Ruanqing"s eyes reddened in agitation.
She was more than aware of her grandfather"s condition. If not for his superior cultivation, he would have already died. Even so, he was also coming to the end of his life. Most likely, he would breathe his last within the next two days. Thus, it was shocking to her that her grandfather would wake up and speak after drinking a bottle of clear water.
Even the most advanced Life Continuation Pill of their sect did not have such remarkable effects!
"Old Master!"
Bai Feng immediately rushed over to help Elder Bai Ye up. At the same time, he drove his zhenqi into the other party"s body to check his internal condition.
A moment later, his eyes widened in shock as he remarked, "Old Master"s injuries actually recovered a little..."
While the recovery was not too apparent, it was a fact that the medicine did work. The destructive energy that was corroding Elder Bai Ye"s organs, zhenqi, and soul had actually been curbed!
That destructive energy was a unique and unstoppable force of the City of Collapse s.p.a.ce, and there was no known medicine in the world that could treat it. Who could have known that the bottle of clean water that the Bai Ruanqing had brought over would achieve the inconceivable?
Young Mistress, where did you buy that bottle of medicine from?" Bai Feng asked anxiously.
"I bought it from the internal disciples" market..." Bai Ruanqing quickly snapped out from her shocked state.
"You bought just one bottle?"
It was probably due to the insufficient quant.i.ty of medicine that Elder Bai Ye had only recovered a little. Nevertheless, it was obvious from the current situation that the clear water had the effect of curbing Elder Bai Ye"s injuries. As long as they acquired a sufficient amount of it, it was possible for Elder Bai Ye to make a full recovery from the affliction that had all of the sect physicians stumped!
"I thought that it might be a scam as well... so I bought one just to try it out..." Bai Ruanqing"s face reddened.
"It"s not a scam at all. It"s a true divine medicine in every meaning of the term. Quick, lead me there!" Bai Feng urged in agitation. "We have to buy as much of it as there is. If we gather enough of it, the Old Master will surely make a recovery!"
"Y-yes! Let"s head over right now!"
Bai Feng"s att.i.tude made Bai Ruanqing realize that a miracle had really happened this time around. Thus, she quickly rushed out and leaped onto her aerial beast.
"That will be too slow! I"ll take you over!"
But before the aerial beast could set off, Bai Feng"s voice suddenly sounded in the air. Following which, Bai Ruanqing felt her body rising off the ground and das.h.i.+ng right toward the inner disciples" market at an astounding speed.
It took only a few breaths for her to arrive at her destination. The first thing she did upon landing was rush to where she had bought the medicine, but it had already been emptied out.
Widening her eyes in horror, she immediately turned to the adjacent vendor and anxiously asked, "Where did the person who sold the jade bottles of medicine next to you earlier go?"
The vendor was horrified to see the female dinosaur returning so quickly, and she even had an elder who could fly with her! The vendor cowered a little before fearfully replying, "H-he has already left..."
"Do you know which lineage he is from or which elder he is under?" Bai Ruanqing pressed.
"I don"t know!" the vendor replied anxiously. "He only arrived today, so we aren"t familiar with him. Even if he sold fake medicine to you, it has nothing to do with me at all!"
"That"s right, that"s right! We really don"t know him at all. We knew that he"d offended you, so we didn"t even sell him the stuff he wanted..."
"I knew that he wasn"t a good person... I"ll make sure to teach him a lesson the next time he comes so that he dares not step into the inner disciples" market ever again..."
The other vendors immediately tried to distance themselves from the earlier young man.
They had been keeping a close eye on Bai Ruanqing ever since she arrived at the inner disciples" market, so they had seen her buying that fake medicine from that young man earlier. Considering how Bai Ruanqing had returned so hurriedly, chances were that she had realized that she had been scammed and went back to teach that young man a lesson.
In order to avoid being implicated, they had no choice but to distance themselves from the young man before putting him down in order to appease this female dinosaur.
Seeing how indignantly everyone was speaking up against the young man, Bai Ruanqing was stunned for a moment. With a hint of bewilderment in her tone, she asked, "What are you talking about?"
"Didn"t he sell fake medicine to you?" the adjacent vendor asked.
"His medicine is real. I came here to thank him, as well as to buy a few more bottles," Bai Ruanqing replied.
"His medicine is real?"
The other vendors were all dumbstruck.
Such a casual store putting up such an exaggerated claim... was real?
"Wasn"t he here to sell his goods? Why did he leave so quickly?" Bai Ruanqing asked. She sharply noticed an anomaly on the expressions of those around, so she added with a frown, "I want to hear nothing but the truth. I"m sure you understand the consequences of lying to me."
"This... The reason he came here to sell medicine was to buy an Ethereal Token. However, we thought that he had offended you, so we refused to sell it to him and urged him to leave..."
"You urged him to leave?" Bai Ruanqing finally understood what was going on, and her complexion turned incredibly awful. "He"s the benefactor of my grandfather, yet the lot of you dared push him around. Since that"s the case..."
Hu!
Bai Ruanqing"s reputation as a female dinosaur was not just for show. As soon as she encountered something that she disagreed with, she made a move without any hesitation... and her blows were merciless.
In just a few moments, all the vendors in the inner disciples" market were lying on the ground, groaning in pain.
Placing her hands on her waist, she uttered in an icy-cold voice, "Find him. Right now. If you can"t find him before nighttime, I"ll have another round of beatings waiting for you. Don"t try to run. It"s futile. Other than those who have left the sect or are dead, there has never been a person whom I have eyed that has gotten away from me!"
"The crowd.
The heck! How were they to know that the medicine sold in such a shady store would actually be authentic?
Just what in the world did they do so wrong to deserve such treatment?
Meanwhile, Zhang Xuan had returned to his residence.
He took out one of the Ethereal Tokens that he had obtained from Cao Chengli and dripped a droplet of blood on it. Following which, he immersed his consciousness into it.
Having prior experience activating the Ethereal Token, his movements were much swifter than before.
Unlike Starlight City"s Ethereal Hall, there was no introduction from Kong s.h.i.+ when he entered the Ascendant Cloud Sword Pavilion"s Ethereal Hall. He quickly checked on his physical condition and found that his cultivation was indeed at Ancient Sage 1-dan.
This felt quite relieving to him. He simply could not get used to having his cultivation suppressed at Saint 1-dan back in Starlight City"s Ethereal Hall. There were so many maneuvers that he could not pull off due to the limitations on his strength and speed, so it had been quite frustrating for him.
I can"t call myself World"s Edge anymore, Zhang Xuan thought.
Back in Starlight City"s Ethereal Hall, he had named himself World"s Edge and fought with Huo Jianghe and the others. Currently, Elder Lu Yun and the others thought that Dan Xiaotian was World"s Edge, so it would be incredibly dubious if this name appeared right now.
If he dared pummel the sect leader and elders with this name, they would probably come knocking on his door the next moment!
Since it"s just a nickname in the Ethereal Hall, there"s no need for me to put so much thought into it. Why don"t I just go with a random one? Zhang Xuan pondered for a moment before coming up with a nickname he was satisfied with. Let"s go with "I Am Low Profile"!
To be honest, he regretted calling himself World"s Edge.
Whenever others called him with that nickname, he felt like his hair would fall off from the gooseb.u.mps rising all over his body. It was so cringy!
On the other hand, I Am Low Profile suited his disposition and humble personality well.
After choosing a name, Zhang Xuan proceeded ahead, and a large palace appeared before him. There was a huge plaque hanging on top that read "Ascendant Cloud Sword Pavilion: Ethereal Hall".
Zhang Xuan pushed the door open and walked in. The bustle that unfolded before him was amazing. Huge crowds walked on the streets. Nearly everyone had a sword on their back, and he could feel palpable Sword Intent lingering in the air.
He walked up to a pa.s.serby and asked about some basic information.
Just like the other Ethereal Halls, the fastest way to earn Sword Pavilion Coins was to fight in the dueling ring. This setting worked perfectly fine with Zhang Xuan.
Thus, the first place that he headed to was the dueling ring.
Ding ding ding ding!
At that moment, there were two young men fighting in the ring.
As it was possible to alter one"s appearance in the Ethereal Hall, it was impossible to tell the true ident.i.ties of either of the two fighters. So, in order for the crowd to better distinguish among the two fighters, the two fighters were wearing garments of different colors, one green and one white.
The swordsmans.h.i.+p of the green-clothed young man was forceful and sharp in nature, making it hard to face him head-on. On the other hand, the white-clothed young man was extremely nimble on his feet, and his swordsmans.h.i.+p was light and flexible.
Despite the vast difference in their swordsmans.h.i.+p, they were fighting on equal grounds with one another.
"Not bad!"
After taking a brief look, Zhang Xuan nodded in agreement.
As expected of the inner disciples of the Ascendant Cloud Sword Pavilion, their swordsmans.h.i.+p was indeed on a higher level than Huo Jianghe and the others. They had already forged their own individual path with their swordsmans.h.i.+p, and every movement they made had its own deep conceptualization behind it. Despite their young age, they were already carrying the dispositions of grandmasters.
Even the swordsmans.h.i.+p of Sword Saint Xing and the others from the Master Teacher Continent could not begin to compare to this.
"Brother, would you like to place a bet?"
While Zhang Xuan was studying their movements, a hushed voice suddenly echoed by his ears. Turning his head over, he saw a gray-robed young man looking at him with a sneaky look on his face.
Almost all the avatars in the Ethereal Hall had been put through beauty filters and photoshop, so it was no exaggeration to say that everyone within this s.p.a.ce was decent looking. Nevertheless, this gray-robed young man had a suspicious gleam in his eyes that made him look incredibly dubious.
"How does it work?" Zhang Xuan asked.
As one of the Six Sects, the Ascendant Cloud Sword Pavilion maintained an upright and disciplined image before the world. Given so, it was unlikely that it would allow its disciples to engage in gambling, so there was no official betting service for the dueling ring. Most likely, this young man was working as an illegal broker for a private betting service in hopes of earning some extra money.
"Simple. The odds on the green-clothed young man are 1 to 1.5, and the odds on the white-clothed young man are 1 to 1.1. If you bet on a draw, the odds are 1 to 5," the gray-robed young man replied.
"Why is the payout for the white-clothed young man so low?" Zhang Xuan asked doubtfully.
"His chances of winning are higher. He has fought over three hundred so far, and he has won over two hundred of them. This means that his swordsmans.h.i.+p is formidable!" the gray-robed young man replied. "Would you like to try putting a bet?"
"Sure!" Zhang Xuan took a look at the duo on the dueling ring before smiling. He raised two fingers and said, "I"ll bet twenty Sword Pavilion Coins on the victory of the green-clothed young man."
"You"re going to bet twenty Sword Pavilion Coins?" the gray-robed young man exclaimed in shock. He did not expect this unfamiliar young man to make such a huge bet all of a sudden.
Just as Zhang Xuan thought, the gray-robed young man was indeed an illegal broker. While the Ascendant Cloud Sword Pavilion did not allow its disciples to gamble, its enforcement on its rules was not as strict. As long as the issue did not get out of hand, no one would bother about it.
Usually, the bets that private betting services received would not be too big, ranging from two to three Sword Pavilion Coins. This was the first time that the gray-robed young man had seen someone staking twenty Sword Pavilion Coins in a single go.
Zhang Xuan nodded calmly in response to the gray-robed young man"s doubt.
"I"ll first warn you that there"s no way to back out of the bet, alright?" the gray-robed young man said as he glanced at the dueling ring.
Currently, the white-clothed young man was clearly in an advantageous position. Under his relentless a.s.sault, the green-clothed young man was forced to retreat again and again.
With a delighted chuckle, the gray-robed young man took out a card with "20" inscribed on it and pa.s.sed it over, saying, "Pa.s.s your money to me first. At the end of the match, if you have won the bet, you can get your winnings with this card. Of course, if you lose, the card will become completely worthless!"
"Un!" Zhang Xuan nodded.
He already had his Ethereal Card prepared, and he had deposited his twenty Sword Pavilion Coins into it. With just a light tap, the twenty coins were transferred over to the gray-robed young man.
"Heh!"
Looking at the additional twenty Sword Pavilion Coins in his card, the gray-robed young man smiled in delight before weaving out of the crowd to take a seat by the side.
Soon, a young lady dressed in similar clothes walked over and asked him, "How"s it going?"
"I just met a fool. He bet twenty Sword Pavilion coins on the green-clothed young man"s victory," the gray-robed young man replied gleefully.
"Twenty? That fool!" The young lady burst into laughter. "There"s no way the green-clothed young man can possibly win! Through our information network, we have found out that the white-clothed young man is Senior Mo He whereas the green-clothed young man is Junior Hu Xiao. The latter only joined the sect less than two years ago, so how could he be a match for Senior Mo He?"
"Indeed. It"s essentially twenty free Sword Pavilion Coins," the gray-robed young man replied with a smirk.
However, at that moment, just as the green-clothed young man was pushed to the edge of the dueling ring, he suddenly charged forward and released a powerful spurt of sword qi.
Puhe!
The abrupt counterattack caught the white-clothed young man off-guard, resulting in a fatal blow to his chest. With that, the green-clothed young man had won the duel!