Chapter 246: Let the Boss Prepare
As Yi Yun spoke to the referee, many of the cultivators present were looking at them. Yi Yun was at the center of attention, so it was even more eye-catching when he spoke to the referee.
The spectators suddenly realized that Yi Yun was submitting his challenge for tomorrow.
“Yi Yun is climbing up the Earth roll!” Someone said excitedly. Yi Yun’s next match was definitely going to be exciting.
“That’s for sure! It is not only Yi Yun, but even Chu Xiaoran should carry on climbing up. With their strength already revealed, they can at least enter the top 2000. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow.”
The audience was buzzing with activity. Some were looking forward to it, while others were sullen.
Especially the veteran cultivators who were ranked around the top 2000. They did not look forward to it. Their positions had suddenly become very delicate. If they were unlucky, and got challenged by Yi Yun or Chu Xiaoran, it might become a tragedy for them.
Just from today’s battle, they knew that Yi Yun and Chu Xiaoran’s level of strength was very similar. Neither one of them would be an easy opponent. It was definitely not easy for them to win!
The veterans were older and they had a higher cultivation level. They had been around and about for a longer period of time. It was not admirable for them to beat their opponent by a small margin.
That was just being optimistic. But if one was being pessimistic, they could even lose accidentally, and that would be shameful.
There was no benefit in winning, and losing meant that you would lose a lot of face. No one wanted to be picked for a battle like that!
“I wonder who the kid will challenge&h.e.l.lip;”
Many people began to focus their ears on Yi Yun’s words. The arena was very quiet. With the hearing abilities of a warrior, unless there was a sound-proof Yuan Qi forcefield like the one Elder Jian Ge used, they would clearly be able to hear what someone was saying.
At this moment, Yi Yun was still smiling. He did not say anything out loud, but he transmitted his voice, using Yuan Qi, to the referee, “There is still a need to prepare. This is so he does not get surprised&h.e.l.lip;”
The referee found Yi Yun’s explanation odd. What did it mean by not being surprised? This was not a battle between two armies. There was no need to set up an array or anything. Unless a warrior was injured, they could enter the arena at anytime.
But as if Yi Yun wanted to be considerate towards his opponent, the referee could only nod his head, “Since you insist, alright. I will inform the person you challenge in advance. Who do you plan on challenging?”
The referee thought that since Yi Yun was being this considerate, the opponent was unlikely to be that strong.
Yi Yun was most likely challenging someone who was ranked around 2100-2200 on the Earth roll. Other cultivators were having similar thoughts as well. After all, Yi Yun still had two matches left tomorrow. After fighting someone in the 2100-2200 ranking, he could secure his rank and then, he could attempt to enter the top 2000 in his second match.
Yi Yun handed over the challenge form that he had already filled to the referee.
The referee received it and glanced at it. Immediately his eyelid twitched, “What? You are challenging Li Hong? The one ranked 1028 on the Earth roll, Li Hong!?”
Li Hong!?
The surrounding cultivators were dumbstruck when they learned who Yi Yun’s next opponent was!
The Hongdao a.s.sociation’s President, Li Hong? Yi Yun actually wanted to challenge him?
Originally, they thought that it would be impressive if Yi Yun challenged someone in the top 2000. But he actually challenged Li Hong, who was ranked at 1028!
What was he thinking!?
Li Hong previously had misgivings with Yi Yun. Two months ago, Li Hong wanted Yi Yun’s glory points and he tried to cheat them off Yi Yun. But Yi Yun did not buy his scheme, and became an enemy of his. This was something everyone knew.
But misgivings were just misgivings. This was the Earth roll compet.i.tion that was determined by a person’s strength. Was this challenge just a show of emotions?
Li Hong was no pushover. Out of all the second year cultivators, he was the strongest!
Li Hong had already climbed into the top 1000 in the Heaven roll ranking.
And as for the Earth roll ranking, he had reached 1028 last month.
It was especially difficult to rank up as you get closer to the top 1000 as most of the people were nearly approaching the Yuan foundation realm. It could be said that their strength was at the extreme peak of the Purple Blood realm.
This included Li Hong himself.
It could be said, without any exaggeration, that the strongest Purple Blood realm warriors in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom were converged around this ranking. There was intense compet.i.tion for the places around this position!
There were even some Yuan foundation realm warriors, who had comparatively poorer cultivation techniques or attack moves, that were ranked below Li Hong!
For Yuan foundation realm warriors to rank below Li Hong, it showed that Li Hong’s strength was great.
“The number one rookie is challenging the second year cultivators’ number one&h.e.l.lip;Incredible!” Someone said. Both of them were the best in their respective years, and to challenge someone who was a year above you in such a circ.u.mstance was extremely rare in the Tai Ah Divine City.
“Li Hong is only around half a month from breaking through to the Yuan foundation. Once he breaks through into the Yuan foundation, there is no doubt that he will enter the top 1000! He might even enter the top 700!”
Li Hong did not manage to enter the top 1000 within a year.
But he still managed to earn a Heaven ranking of 1030 in 13 months and an Earth ranking of 1100.
That was quite terrifying!
It was not every year you had perversely strong people like Chu Xiaoran and Yi Yun.
“Yi Yun challenging Li Hong, why do I feel&h.e.l.lip;Yi Yun can’t beat him at all&h.e.l.lip;”
Many people were having such thoughts. Yi Yun and Chu Xiaoran’s battle was interesting, but they were a distance away from someone ranked just beyond the 1000th place on the Earth roll.
People could understand that Yi Yun had challenged Li Hong out of emotion, but if he were to be beaten up by Li Hong, he might get seriously injured. If that happened, would it not be depressing?
“What is Yi Yun thinking? He probably doesn’t know what it means to be around the top 1000 on the Earth roll&h.e.l.lip;Or does he have some more hidden strength?”
“More hidden strength? He’s only in the middle stages of Purple Blood, what more is there to hide? Could he have managed to produce the Aspect Before Yuan? That’s impossible! The moment he came to the Tai Ah Divine City, he has been working. He never went out to hunt desolate beasts!”
People found it incomprehensible. They felt that Yi Yun was asking to be tortured by challenging Li Hong.
Previously Li Hong had oppressed Yi Yun, but he ended up losing a lot of money to Yi Yun. Li Hong was just thinking of causing trouble for Yi Yun! But, Yi Yun came knocking on his door.
There were a few Hongdao a.s.sociation members sitting at the corner of the arena.
When they heard that Yi Yun was challenging their President, they were instantly furious!
“Who does this kid think he is!?”
“He should p.i.s.s on a mirror to look at himself. He thinks he is invincible just because he is the best amongst the rookies. He’s courting death!”
Seeing that Yi Yun was so arrogant to the point of challenging their boss in public, a few of them became outraged immediately.
But upon further thinking, this was not necessarily a bad thing. Since Yi Yun was dumb enough to come knocking on their boss’ door, they should take this opportunity to beat Yi Yun up seriously and also make him suffer a great monetary loss!
Yes, make him suffer a great monetary loss!
Previously, they had suffered greatly due to Yi Yun. A bunch of brats had lined up just to be knocked down by Yi Yun’s brick. Not only did they get bricked, they even gave Yi Yun a large sum of dragon scale runes. Just thinking about the dragon scale runes made their hearts bleed.
“Let’s report this to the boss immediately!” A few of Li Hong’s henchmen suddenly thought it through.
Li Hong was not present. He had been absent for the past few days. He was not interested in seeing other people steal the show. Especially this afternoon, when Yi Yun appeared and shocked everyone. Even if Li Hong was present, he would leave prematurely. He would feel terrible if he saw Yi Yun being that outstanding.
“Brothers, we should take this opportunity to make sure Yi Yun suffers greatly. We must let the boss prepare in advance,” said a thirteen year old youth who lost a great sum of dragon scales to Yi Yun.
Those who had lost monetarily would usually hope to win it back through gambling.
This was the mentality of a gambler. It was not desirable, but very few people could rein themselves in before it was too late.
“That’s right. Even the boss is tight on money. He still needs to prepare for tomorrow. We will make sure that Yi Yun vomits out the dragon scale runes when the boss beats him!”
The Hongdao a.s.sociation had lost a great deal of runes in the betting pool, so Li Hong was currently penniless. This henchmen thought that if Li Hong were to bet against Yi Yun, he could win it all back in one go. And the so-called “preparation” was to gather sufficient funds for the bet.
This was the reason why Yi Yun announced his opponent in advance. If he were to suddenly announce that he wanted to challenge Li Hong tomorrow, due to the lack of time and that Li Hong was poor, what sort of decent bet could he offer?
But if it was mentioned today, Li Hong would have the time to prepare. With his connections, he should still be able to gather a tidy sum of dragon scale runes.
Yi Yun had been keeping his trump card from the beginning. This trump card was specifically prepared to cheat Li Hong.
A few henchmen stood up. With either an outraged look or a smile, they glanced at Yi Yun. This expression seemed to say, “Kid, just you wait!”
They quietly left the arena and rushed straight to Li Hong to inform him so he could prepare for the battle tomorrow.
Unfortunately, when Yi Yun said to the referee “give the person some time to prepare”, he had used Yuan Qi to transmit his voice. Those henchmen did not hear it; if they did, these youths would probably have figured out something was amiss&h.e.l.lip;