Chapter 146: Secret Card
Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy
After the jaw-dropping scene of w.a.n.g Lu’s eleven lottery draws, the compet.i.tion situation has been completely reversed.
Ten Thousand Arts Sect was immediately under great pressure. Although they still have an advantage over Spirit Sword Sect in terms of total nutrition points, that advantage has been gradually narrowing.
It was not because Spirit Sword Sect people have become faster, but the people of Ten Thousand Arts Sect have become slower.
The first reason was that of w.a.n.g Lu’s eleven lottery draws, which sent an extremely bad suggestion to these contestants. Whenever they acc.u.mulated certain points and saw the golden card in w.a.n.g Lu’s card case, they inevitably couldn’t help but want to try their luck.
Their Master had said that w.a.n.g Lu was born with extremely strong luck, however, of all the people present, who didn’t have strong luck? Among the five of them, no one who was without talent and opportunity bestowed by the heaven! However, once they left their fate to chance, the inevitable result was...
Trash card, trash card, and trash card!
In this way, a lot of their points have been squandered away. Lu Qiancai was not the only one. Even the one with the quickest progress, Zhao Jiangyuan, couldn’t resist to try his luck; in the end, he wasted more than ten dishes.
Seeing this, w.a.n.g Lu just smiled and ignored them. Actually, he took that jaw-dropping eleven lottery draws not to lead his team to victory, but to slow down the pace of the opponent, making them hesitate and jump into the pit that was the lottery draw. In other words, he was hundred percent trying to lure them to spend their points in vain!
The so-called born with extremely strong luck was indeed real. However, no matter how strong one’s luck was, it was highly unlikely for someone to have even one in a thousand chance to get that shocking eleven lottery draws result. What actually happened involved a little bit of skill. Of course, it wasn’t cheating per se, but through a special mean, he had momentarily strengthened his own luck!
This one belonged to his own unique skill. However, this skill must only be used when the condition was ripe, otherwise, it wouldn’t bring him a good result. Moreover, it would be really difficult to implement it in an actual fight. Nevertheless, it was enough to be used to get a great result in the lottery draws in this eating compet.i.tion. Unfortunately, that was a one time use, and it was impossible for him to do that shocking eleven lottery draws in a row again, nor was it necessary.
The second reason why the Ten Thousand Arts Sect contestant’s speed had slowed down was that of Aya’s superb cooking skill. Even their Healthy Stomach Digestion Pill couldn’t suppress the strong and unique taste of Aya’s dishes, which was enough to dispel the appet.i.te of most people. Furthermore, they couldn’t just continue to consume the Healthy Stomach Digestion Pill, because after several pills, the pill wouldn’t have the desired effect anymore.
Fortunately, these five cultivators of Ten Thousand Arts Sect have a strong foundation. With their Foundation Establishment Stage’s powerful control of the body, they could sustain the continuous eating. Needless to say, however, it was torture for them...
On the other side, seeing that the Ten Thousand Arts Sect people have slowed down, the contestants from the Spirit Sword Sect have their morale lifted up, and they began to gradually speed up, trying their best to catch up.
However, when the situation had gradually become more disadvantageous to them, Ten Thousand Arts Sect’s youngest brother finally opened his mouth.
"Senior Brothers, Senior Sister, I think since this is a compet.i.tion, shouldn’t we treat it as a compet.i.tion? Rather than showing off our technique or willpower, winning is more important."
This youngest brother from the five contestants of Ten Thousand Arts Sect was saying those words lightly. After that, he looked at the other four; seeing that they were seriously listening to him, he smiled. "Senior Brothers, Senior Sister, all of you guys know that I don’t have any skill that I could be proud of, therefore… just now, I have broken my sense of taste."
Zhan Ziye and the others were stunned, then they revealed the it-suddenly-dawned-on-them expression. That’s right, they have this trick! A Foundation Establishment cultivator’s power to control their body far surpa.s.sed that of a Xiantian Stage Martial Arts Master—they could s.h.i.+eld their body from their five senses… and it wasn’t difficult at all! Once they broke their sense of taste, though it could cause them some trouble, at least the strange taste on their meal would no longer be a hindrance to them!
This was a compet.i.tion not to show off their willpower or perhaps lock horn with the other side, but rather victory should come first… Although the Ten Thousand Arts Sect people initially wanted to end the compet.i.tion with an overwhelming and comprehensive victory, since it was impossible, just the ordinary victory would do.
Zhan Ziye, Zhao Jiangyun and the others approvingly nodded to Hai Yunfan, then all of them broke off their sense of taste and increased their eating speed!
w.a.n.g Lu glanced at little Hai, smiled but didn’t speak. From the five people of the Ten Thousand Arts Sect, the one with the highest cultivation stage and level was Zhan Ziye, however, the one really worth paying attention for was actually Hai Yunfan. Nevertheless, it was just a matter of how much he was worth paying attention for; the real card-under-the-sleeve to decide the victory was not this.
——
On the other side, after the reminder from Hai Yunfan, the progress of the Ten Thousand Arts Sect was accelerated again, and their hope for victory went back to their field of vision once again. The one with the biggest eating capacity Zhao Jiangyun was like tiger swallowing the whale. The pile of empty bowls next to him stacked up like a small hill, which was really intimidating to look at.
The Foundation Establishment Cultivator’s const.i.tution was not ordinary, however, if there was no special method, it was absolutely impossible for someone to be able to consume that much. If the body couldn’t digest the food residue, how could one be able to eat that much in a row? Moreover, most of the dishes on the table were made with spirit objects, which has a much higher grade than any meal from the mortal world, and consequently, more troublesome to digest. At this time, Zhao Jiangyuan demonstrated his expertise. Soon, he would leave the other Spirit Sword Sect disciples far behind; even the gap between him and w.a.n.g Lu had been steadily reduced.
w.a.n.g Lu’s high-level card was indeed awesome, but Ten Thousand Arts Sect disciples had also been constantly improving their card level. In the early stage of the compet.i.tion, they simply couldn’t even dream of any level five or level six card. However, by the middle stage, it wasn’t that unattainable anymore. Zhao Jiangyuan had been acc.u.mulating a certain number of level four cards, and at any time, he might exchange them into a level five card!
As long as he could surpa.s.s w.a.n.g Lu, then there would no longer be any suspense in this compet.i.tion… unless the latter could go against the heaven once again and draw the eleven in a row lottery and pull out many level six cards, thus consolidating his advantage. However, even if he did, with Zhao Jiangyuan’s progress, he could redeem the level six card with his two-thirds point acc.u.mulation and use the last one-third to regain his advantage.
Towards this, w.a.n.g Lu still held onto his moderate pace, indifferently watching his hard-won advantage rapidly shrinking… Actually, he couldn’t speed up at all.
On this big stomach compet.i.tion, from purely individual strength, he was actually the weakest; he couldn’t even gain an advantage over Yue Xinyao. Indeed, from purely physical toughness alone, with his Non-Phase Sword Bone, even compared with Zhan Ziye and Liu Li, he would not feel inferior. However, physical toughness and eating capacity have no direct connection… Actually, with simple reasoning, it wasn’t difficult to get the answer: how could a method to increase eating capacity be born out of that kind of dest.i.tute place that was the Non-Phase Peak? w.a.n.g Wu herself longed for the day when she and her Disciple could suck the essence of sun and moon, living outdoor without the need to eat anything!
Therefore, from the start, w.a.n.g Lu didn’t intend to win the game relying on himself; all he did was to attract the attention to him so that the real card could remain hidden. Right now, the Ten Thousand Arts Sect side, including Hai Yunfan, paid attention only to him, yet they ignored the other four contestants from the Spirit Sword Sect, including a certain person whose progress was getting faster and faster!
Finally, when the game reached two-thirds of the time limit, Zhao Jiangyuan redeemed level six card. Towards this, w.a.n.g Lu just gave him the winner’s smile, yet his hand actually pointed to the side. Zhao Jiangyuan puzzledly turned his head, and then his eyes sprang wide!
n.o.body knew when did it happen, but right now, Liu Li’s nutrition points had actually risen and currently neck and neck with Zhao Jiangyuan; moreover, her speed was still accelerating! Before this, all of their attention was on w.a.n.g Lu; they thought that they could win just by overtaking him. However, unexpectedly, Spirit Sword Sect’s real trump card was someone else.
For a time, all the five people of the Ten Thousand Arts Sect were shocked. They saw how Liu Li cleaned up her food without even lifting her head. Her action was methodical, yet still ladylike, nevertheless she was quite quick. Well, she actually didn’t chew her food, just like Zhao Jiangyuan and the others who directly swallow their food. It was just that she wasn’t as bold and unrestrained, and she didn’t even dislocate her jaw… She just has her own way to eat. The pair of silver chopsticks danced in the air as her hand moved up and down. First, she gently packed the big chunk of the food neatly into ten neat blocks, and then, like the whale sucking the water, she opened her small mouth and swallowed those blocks into her belly. Compared to Zhao Jiangyuan and his teammates, she wasn’t the least bit slower. Moreover, unlike the Ten Thousand Arts Sect people, she simply never stopped eating—she never needed for the food to be completely digested. She was like a bottomless pit!
At this time, the compet.i.tion has entered the last period. Most of the dishes on the table were of level three and above, therefore, they were not that easy to digest. If it were ordinary people, a bite would cause their nose to bleed. Even if the contestants were the disciples from the Five Uniques, after eating a dozen of them, they would be under enormous pressure. With a special method to a.s.sist their digestion, the Ten Thousand Arts Sect disciples had a much better situation than that of the Spirit Sword Sect disciples… At least, an elite inner court disciple like Yue Yun couldn’t eat more than one dish without resting first. However, although Liu Li’s eating speed was not fast, she never stopped even for a second. As the level of the card gradually improved, her relative speed became faster and faster!
w.a.n.g Lu inwardly sn.i.g.g.e.red, thinking that this was clearly the advantage of the clear and pure physique of the Brilliant Sword Heart; this crystal clear physique was exactly the thing that she relied on when she rapidly dispatched those Xudan Stage cultivators with their super strong explosive force! On the ability to convert energy from digesting the food, perhaps only a certain Fenrir, that stupid dog, could be her match; however, not everyone has the ability to write the food diary for the whole year of experiential learning down the mountain.
"Okay then, your task now is to overcome our lovely Senior Sister Liu Li. I’m already full, so I won’t accompany you to play anymore."
With that, w.a.n.g Lu directly stood up and gave up the compet.i.tion!
The people of the Ten Thousand Arts Sect were shocked again! Especially Zhao Jiangyuan whose grief and indignation went through the roof: "d.a.m.n you! How could you quit like that!? You don’t even have a little bit of spirit of compet.i.tion, where is your earlier pompous and arrogant act? We have been trying our best to catch up with the card level, yet now you directly throw your hands up and give up the game!?"
Actually, w.a.n.g Lu felt somewhat regretful with his action. As a professional adventurer, he naturally has the professional adventurer’s ethics. However, he simply couldn’t eat anymore. Moreover, he thought… "Do you think eating this much is easy? You, this group of Foundation Establishment can eat as much as you like because of your enhanced digestion. But I, as the ‘pretty-daughter-from-a-humble-family’ Qi Cultivating stage have been accompanying you guys to play for so long that my stomach will soon burst open!"
However, he didn’t need to explain this reason; if that could make the other side grieved and became indignant and thus affected their eating, nothing could be better. Actually, he understood that Liu Li’s prowess was in fact not that much better than those chowhound of Ten Thousand Arts Sect; after many calculations from him and many shady moves, in the end, he could only make their chance of winning to be a little over fifty percent.
After this, whether Senior Sister Liu Li could make a big kill or whether the Ten Thousand Arts Sect people could have what card, w.a.n.g Lu didn’t want to bother anymore.
After eating so much, he had to let himself relax a bit...
——
A while later, after feeling refreshed, w.a.n.g Lu returned to the compet.i.tion table and found out that his timing was quite accurate; in a couple of minutes, the compet.i.tion would end. As for the situation on the table… most of the contestants have already given up on the compet.i.tion and sat on their seat gasping for breath. Even Zhan Ziye could only helpless shook his head. His nutrition points matching method was astonis.h.i.+ng, and his calculation was mind blowing; with a limited amount of points, he could double the effect. However, in the face of an opponent that had several times eating capacity than him, Zhan Ziye could only call ‘I quit’. As for his teammates who had a mediocre eating capacity and comparatively not better than him, they felt an even more rolling ache in their belly, yet they actually couldn’t freely leave the table as easily as w.a.n.g Lu; it was truly an embarra.s.sing situation for them.
This left two people as the main characters in this compet.i.tion, Liu Li, and Zhao Jiangyuan. Senior Sister Liu Li, with her bottomless pit of a stomach, still went on with her methodical eating; a single bowl of high-calorie dish was finished by her in just two or three chews, without a change in her expression at all. Moreover, she also didn’t care about points and nutrition points. In fact, in the entire compet.i.tion, she was the only contestant who really enjoyed the food.
On the other side, Zhao Jiangyuan’s face had begun to turn purple from red; it seemed like at any time, he could suddenly burst open and die. His mouth, throat, and belly were already stuffed with food, and his body seemed to have swollen into a sphere! It was clear that in the time w.a.n.g Lu went out to relax, he had desperately eaten as much as he could, and the result of this all-out effort was that his nutrition points still have an edge compared to the opponent, although it was just an insignificant edge.
Now that the compet.i.tion was about to end, as long as he swallowed down this last chunk of food in his mouth, based on Liu Li’s eating speed, he was almost certain that he would be the winner, however… to swallow this last chunk of food was easier said than done. However, if he didn’t swallow, it was almost certain that Liu Li would have the final victory!
The several Elders of the Ten Thousand Arts Sect looked worried because unlike Liu Li’s natural eating capacity, Zhao Jiangyuan’s eating capacity was acquired and thus has its limit. And currently, it was beyond limit. His desperate effort to eat actually bore a great risk for him. However, if they told him to give up at this time, his confidence would suffer a heavy blow, and this caused the Elders to hesitate.
They all secretly thought, "Maybe he could really win this?"
It was such a strange stalemate scene on the compet.i.tion table. Both sides held their breaths for fear they would affect the last two surviving contestants—okay, Liu Li would certainly not be affected by anything. It was Zhao Jiangyuan who could have a problem.
Seeing this scene, w.a.n.g Lu shook his head and sighed. "Why bother?"
He then walked to the table, but toward Liu Li’s side, and then...
He held out his hands and gently untied the top b.u.t.ton of the girl’s dress.
Immediately, the half part of her white and plump bosom bloomed out.
"Pfftt!"
The next moment, the person across the table bleed through his nose; even most of his acc.u.mulated food inside him shot up to the air!
The winner has been decided!