Chapter 1294: The Convict Arena Prison
Every large city in the Immortal World usually had a Convict Arena similar to a gladiatorial arena on Earth—a place full of brutality and blood. Every deathmatch gladiator was a slave whose fate was in the hands of others where they only had two paths to survive. One was to constantly kill their opponents on the Convict Arena, and the second was to attract the attention of a potential rich figure who’d buy them.
Immortal Solicit City itself could only be regarded as a medium-sized city in the Immortal World. It was due to its location that a Convict Arena was built here. After all, this Immortal Domain was much more barren than the other bustling domains, so the greater number of exiles and convicts here.
“The place is ahead, Sire.”
Following next to Tang Xiu, Dragon Broker boy fawningly nodded and said after they spent half a day running and came to a dark castle thousands of meters high. Even with his outstanding eyesight, Tang Xiu immediately realized that he couldn’t see the end of the castle at all.
“The size of this place doesn’t seem to be small, no?” Tang Xiu asked.
“It’s as you said, Sire.” Dragon Broker replied, “This little one has heard many hearsays although this one has never been in other cities. Rumors have it that even the Convict Arenas in large cities are not as big as the Immortal Solicit City’s. Therefore, many gamblers from other Immortal Domains come here to gamble.”
“You seem to know a lot about this Convict Arena.” Tang Xiu smiled and said, “Do you often come here to play some games?”
“How come this little one has spare money to play such games, Sire? This little one has always been dirt poor and is barely able to get by in life.” The boy hollowly smiled. “It’s just… many outsiders come here to gamble and they need this little one to guide them. Thus, this little one has accompanied many gamblers wherever they go. Seeing how some of them suddenly become rich overnight and witnessing a lot more who go bankrupt. So…”
Tang Xiu looked thoughtful and smilingly asked, “So what?”
“So this little one lost the courage to go to places like this,” the teenager replied wryly. “This little one always advises every rich person who hires me prudently, hoping they do not gamble in this place.”
Tang Xiu patted his shoulder and gave him a pill casually. He chuckled and said, Well, you’re not bad, boy. At least you don’t go astray. Anyway, let’s head off! It’s been ages since the last time I went to play some bets at the Convict Arena, you know. I’m going to play a few games today and try to win some money to buy some gladiators.”
A warm feeling inundated Dragon Broker’s heart as he looked at the elixir in his hand. His expression, however, looked complicated because he had never met such a generous hirer for his service even though he had served thousands of rich people as a guide before.
“May I know your honorable name, Sire?”
“You can address me Sir Great Tang,” replied Tang Xiu calmly.
“Sir Great Tang, this humble one hasn’t the right to advise you or anything else, but looking at this elixir Sir gave me, this unworthy one really hopes that you don’t bet too much. There have been too many Immortals who ended up miserable after losing gambles at this Convict Arena.”
“I know. I’m just going to have small bets for some fun.” Tang Xiu calmly nodded. He then glanced at the tens of stalwart men standing outside the 100-meter high gate. To his surprise, these men were unexpectedly Golden Immortals.
“Welcome, two honorable guests. Would you like to rent a barouche?” A Dragonkin girl with a horn on her forehead approached with a swaying slender curvy waist and smilingly asked.
“How much is it?” Tang Xiu asked.
The dragon girl answered, “Only 10 Immortal Stones for an ordinary barouche and 100 Immortal Stones for the exquisite one. Each barouche can be used for an unlimited time, so even if both Sirs would like to stay in it for thousands of years it won’t be an issue.”
Tang Xiu took out 100 Immortal Stones and casually handed them to her. “Please give me the exquisite barouche.”
After that, he turned to Dragon Broker and asked, “You drive it.”
“At your command, Sire!”
Dragon Broker looked a bit happy since he liked to drive such a barouche and drove it countless times. To him, the feeling of driving it was a lot cooler than flying with the sword. After they picked a s.h.i.+p-shaped barouche, Tang Xiu took a seat inside and watched the teenager skillfully drive it to fly inside.
Both sides of the straight road in the interior s.p.a.ce were full of open stalls that sold weapons, elixirs, talismans, and many others. Everything was available for sale here as long as the item was considered as an ordinary item in the Immortal World.
Tang Xiu himself had frequented such a place countless times and naturally knew that nearly all the goods here were for cultivators. Generally, the stronger ones who broke through to the Immortal ranks would never buy anything at such low-grade stalls.
However, he was exactly in need of such objects. After all, nearly all the people in his Great Tang Empire had yet to break through to the Immortal Stage, so the goods being sold here were very useful to them.
“Dragon Broker, tell me a stall that has complete goods and fair prices,” Tang Xiu calmly said.
“What exactly would you like to purchase, Sir Great Tang? Do you have a detailed number?” Dragon Broker asked with a doubtful face.
“Well, any pills for Nascent Soul Stage cultivators, talismans, weapons, refining materials, and herbs for alchemy… As for the quant.i.ty, it should be enough for hundreds of thousands of cultivators for a century,” Tang Xiu added.
“Gasp…” Dragon Broker’s eyes turned saucer and bigger than a bell, saying with an aghast face, “So many of them?”
“You help me deal with it and I’ll give you 10 Immortal Crystals as your reward when I leave,” said Tang Xiu with a smile.
10?
The teenager’s body trembled before an overjoyed look replaced his other expressions. It must be known that 100 Immortal Crystals were equal to 1,000 Immortal Stones, all of which were enough for him to use for several years.
“No worries, Sir Great Tang. I promise to manage it for you properly so you can buy the most resources with the least Immortal Stones.” Dragon Broker guaranteed and patted his chest.
Shortly after, both of them didn’t hurry to rush to the Convict Arena but spent four days shopping around. They only stopped shopping after Tang Xiu had completely spent 20 million Immortal Stones and readied the entire cultivation resources enough for over 200,000 people of the Great Tang Empire to consume for 100 years.
To Dragon Broker, there had been no time as stimulating as these four days. The feeling of spending money like pouring water had made his blood vessels inflated all the time. He kept looking at Tang Xiu as though he was a kind of Deity.
“Huff…”
As both of them came out of a stall, Dragon Broker took a deep, heavy breath, wiped off the sweat on his forehead and respectfully said, “Sir Great Tang, shall we head to the Convict Arena next?”
“Take me to the highest-grade Convict Arena, then,” Tang Xiu said.
“It’s ruled that the gamblers must prove their wealth before entering the highest-grade Convict Arena, Sir. They must have at least 10,000 Immortal Crystals.”
Tang Xiu nodded and ordered, “We won’t be subject to such limited entry. Head there!”
“Understood!”
The boy himself had witnessed Tang Xiu’s expenses these days, so he naturally knew that Tang Xiu had so many Immortal Stones and Crystals. Therefore, after he took them to the deepest part of the Convict Arena, he said to the guard outside and said, “Two Sirs, we already know the rules.”
Tang Xiu handed over an interspatial ring. After the two guards verified it, they immediately invited them inside with respectful faces.
The Convict Arena itself was an independent s.p.a.ce that covered hundreds of kilometers with nearly a kilometer high. The place was constructed like a gladiator arena on Earth surrounded by a colosseum-like auditorium that was enough to accommodate hundreds of thousands of people. 200 km to the center was exactly the arena for the deathmatch gladiator partic.i.p.ating in the fight.
At this moment, thousands of gamblers were already inside the auditorium, staring at the two gladiators in the arena. Both combatants there were neither pure humans nor pure immortals. One of the fighters was a Leopardkin male with an Earth Immortal Stage strength, and his naked upper body was covered with fine iron chains as he swung an immortal saber that created overlapping layers of blades around him. The other combatant was a Featherkin male with a human appearance with two pairs of wings on his back. At the moment, he flapped his wings and immediately sent crimson layers of a blade that clashed with the former’s strike.
Tang Xiu randomly picked a spot to sit and calmly watched the fight of these two Earth Immortals. With his keen vision, he could easily discern that the leopard-headed Earth Immortal whose body was covered with a steel chain had fallen into a weaker position and would soon be killed by his opponent.
Dragon Broker didn’t accompany Tang Xiu to sit but slipped away to the vicinity towards a row of iron cages that could be seen in the North direction, with each cage guarded by an Immortal. A price tag and the information about the cultivation of these deathmatch gladiators and their fighting records in the arena were displayed out of each cage.
Quickly after, the leopard-headed Earth Immortal was killed by his opponent. Dragon Broker slipped back and stopped behind Tang Xiu, reporting in a whisper, “Sir Great Tang, I just asked around and there will be 4 high-level fights three days later where all the 8 Golden Immortal deathmatch fighters will fight. The last four winners will win, whereas the other four will die in the Convict Arena. At that time, some high-profile gamblers from several Immortal Domains will come to partic.i.p.ate in the gamble.”
A glint flashed in Tang Xiu’s eyes and he nodded in response. “If so, we’ll stay here for two days and use the winning money to buy some more cultivation resources at those high-end stores.”
Dragon Broker hurriedly replied, “A-are… you sure you can win, Sir Great Tang?”
“You know, there’s a saying in some places that you had best avoid doing things you don’t have the abilities to handle. I wouldn’t have come here if I didn’t have the confidence. Of course, you may think that I’m arrogant, yet I’ve already decided to have some good time no matter what.”
Having said that, he gave an interspatial ring to Dragon Broker and lightly said, “There are 100,000 Immortal Crystals in it. You help me to place my bets with these.”
“O-one… one hundred thousand Immortal Crystals?”
The teenager trembled and replied with a bit of a scared face, “S-Sir Great Tang… isn’t this… a bit too much? So many Immortal Crystals, just in case…”
“Just follow my order and spare me the question about my decision, will you?” Tang Xiu lightly said, “If you’re that incompetent, I can replace you with someone else.”
“Yes, yes… I’ll listen to your order.”
Dragon Broker’s expression changed and he immediately realized that he had talked too much. After taking the interspatial with 100,000 Immortal Crystals inside and placing the bet, he went back and stood next to Tang Xiu, waiting for the start of the next showdown and the big gamble.