Chapter 294 - Bet

Killing Mo Xiaolang and then giving them the beast soul? To Long Chen, this was nothing more than bullshit.

Long Chen was already irritated when they ignored him while thinking that he was an idiot. He knew that he needed to hold back, but he didn’t mind showing them that it was a bad idea to piss him off.

His voice was ice cold when he rebuked Yu Tao’s absurd request. “Impossible. Xiaolang is my sworn brother who has gone through life-and-death situations with me. I can’t let him become your third brother’s Primary Beast Soul.”

Long Chen's refusal caused the smiles on their faces to freeze. They thought Long Chen was just a pitiful man, but now that same man was being arrogant towards them. How could they let that slide?

Before being taken in by the Ninth Prince, they were bandits that killed innocent people for fun. It was because they had to take the Ninth Prince’s reputation into consideration that they stopped doing all those things. But that didn’t mean they would allow Long Chen to insult them just like that.

“The beast soul is very important to my third brother. Long Chen, are you sure you don’t want to give it to us?” Yu Tao asked in a threatening tone.

If it wasn’t for the Ninth Prince being present, he would’ve slapped Long Chen silly with his Fifth River Stage strength.

Long Chen was not afraid of him. He pointed at Yu Tao’s second brother, the youth at the Third River Stage. “If I asked for his life, would you give it to me?”

He had made his meaning clear: Xiaolang was his sworn brother!

“You seek death! Do you want to fight me?” The youth stood up from his chair when he saw that Long Chen was underestimating him. He wanted to kill Long Chen badly.

“Yu Chong, sit down!” The Ninth Prince scoffed.

Yu Chong had to obey the Ninth Prince, so he sat down begrudgingly. Even though he dared not move again, the killing intent in his eyes was growing.

“You have just met and are already fighting over a small issue. Yu Tao, you need an Earth-tier wolf-type demonic beast, correct? I will just ask someone to go find one tomorrow. This matter has been resolved, so neither party should seek the other out for revenge. Understood? All of you are working under me as Immortal Guards. My reputation will fall if you can’t cooperate!” The Ninth Prince’s voice grew colder as he spoke.

Even though the Heavenly Wolf Gang was still angry, none of them dared to mention it again after seeing how angry the Ninth Prince was.

They assumed Long Chen’s status was low, but it seemed that he had a little. But they only understood why the Ninth Prince was so angry after looking at Ling Xi. Their altercation had made Ling Xi upset.

Looks like the Ninth Prince is going all out for this lady. Ling Xi is clearly in love with Long Chen, and the Ninth Prince is different from us. Not only does he want her body, he wants her heart too. If we cause trouble for Long Chen, it will only make Ling Xi hate the Ninth Prince even more. It’s a good thing we stopped ourselves!

Yu Tao understood after looking at the situation.

“In that case, we will be going. We will come and guide Long Chen tomorrow.” Yu Tao was worried that his underlings, who were all very aggressive, would seek trouble with Long Chen, so he had to leave with them now.

The Ninth Prince was about to nod when Long Chen called out, “Wait.”

The Heavenly Wolf Gang was confused. They were about to stand up when Long Chen stopped them. The Ninth Prince gestured for them to sit back down.

“What do you want from them?” The Ninth Prince was confused.

“I thought it through. We will be brothers in the future since we are going to cooperate in the Counter Essence Realm. Naturally, I cannot be selfish if my brothers need a beast soul urgently. But I don’t think I can just hand Xiaolang over to you after having it for so long. I will agree to it under one condition.” Long Chen smiled mischievously when he looked at the Heavenly Wolf Gang.

“What condition?” Yu Tao was confused too. Long Chen was such a weird individual to him. He had been as prickly as a porcupine, and now he wanted to give up the beast soul?

Is Long Chen afraid?

Long Chen’s eyes were sharp, and he pointed at Yu Chong, Yu Tao’s brother. “It’s simple. If you can defeat me, I will give you the wolf.”

Everyone froze before laughing. Yu Chong laughed the hardest.

Yu Tao stifled his laughter and patted Yu Chong’s shoulder. “Second Brother, stop laughing. Come, show him the strength of the Heavenly Wolf Gang! Let this bumpkin see how strong we are.”

𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

“Of course, Big Brother. I will put on a satisfactory show.”

Yu Chong had to hold in his laughter. Long Chen’s suggestion had come as a complete surprise. They thought Long Chen was a prickly idiot, one that was too difficult to deal with. But now they realized that he was a complete moron.

The Heavenly Wolf Gang was a group who recruited strong people, ones who could fight opponents above their levels. Long Chen was just a country bumpkin at the Second River Stage, and now he wanted to challenge them?

It was the biggest joke they had heard today. Even the mature Yu Tao had to force himself not to laugh.

“Bastard, we are all Immortal Guards working under the Ninth Prince. Just hold yourself back and don’t injure him! We need to be able to cooperate peacefully in the future,” Yu Tao fake-warned his brother.

“Of course.” Yu Chong stopped laughing and looked at Long Chen excitedly. He had no idea how Long Chen could be so stupid.

Both the Ninth Prince and Elder Yan looked at each other. They weren’t laughing.

They knew how Long Chen was—he would never do something stupid out of anger. The Ninth Prince had also checked Long Chen’s history. He was an unknown boy who had worked his way into Yuanling City and then ended up killing Yuanling City’s strongest cultivator, Emperor Yuan.

The Ninth Prince didn’t believe that Long Chen would make such a offer without an ulterior motive.

As he had expected, Long Chen continued, “Since this is a duel, it’s only natural that you need to state your reward if I defeat you. I’ve already stated mine. This is fair and square. You guys are my seniors, so there's no way you would put up something trivial as a reward, right?”

The Heavenly Wolf Gang thought about it and found the suggestion to be reasonable.

Of course, they never thought that Yu Chong would lose, so Yu Tao said in a lazy tone, “Sure, what do you want? Heavenly River Pills? Earth-tier Divine Arms? Martial techniques or spiritual herbs? Name it and we can give it to you!”

They had thought Long Chen was just a country bumpkin that wouldn’t even know what an Earth-tier martial technique was. That was why they had spoken so rashly.

Long Chen was not interested in what they offered. He turned towards the Ninth Prince instead. “I am interested in the Fire Essence at the top of the study room. I wonder, would the Ninth Prince be kind enough to set it up as a reward?”

Long Chen looked at the Ninth Prince with anticipation.

This was his true goal.

The Heavenly Wolf Gang wasn’t sure what to do after they had heard what Long Chen wanted.

The Fire Essence was the Ninth Prince’s possession, and there was no way they could even touch it, much less give it to Long Chen. They never thought Long Chen would come up with such a request.

“No, that is the possession of our Lord. Long Chen, ask for something else,” Yu Tao said, irritated.

Long Chen did not answer him and continued to look at the Ninth Prince.

“Sure.” The Ninth Prince smiled peacefully. “Since Long Chen wants it, then I will just set it up as the reward. This is my territory after all. All of you are my Immortal Guards, so there is no harm in me using it as a reward. I will also be your judge. If Yu Chong wins, Long Chen will have to give up the demonic beast. If Long Chen wins, the Fire Essence will be his.”

Long Chen smiled.

He knew the Ninth Prince would agree.

Most battles were fought intellectually. He knew that the Ninth Prince would want to see him spar with Yu Chong. That was why Long Chen had gotten greedy and asked for the Fire Essence.

“Thank you, my Lord!” Yu Tao nodded fervently at the Ninth Prince before looking at Yu Chong. “Second Brother, you know what to do. If you lose, the Ninth Prince will have to give up on the Fire Essence. I will beat you up if you do!”

“Don’t worry. Have I ever let you down?” Yu Chong rubbed his fists. He was very eager to fight Long Chen.

“Brother Chen ...” Ling Xi was worried.

“Sit down. I will show you how I bully the bad bastards.” Long Chen stood up, lowered his head, and gave Ling Xi a peck on her jade-like cheek.

Ling Xi blushed, the redness spreading from her neck to her ears. She lowered her head, wanting to bury herself in a hole out of embarrassment from being kissed in public.

The Ninth Prince’s killing intent flashed across his eyes after seeing what Long Chen was doing.

Yu Tao saw what Long Chen had done and whispered to Yu Chong, “Our Lord is angry. Just fight seriously.”

“I understand.” Yu Chong licked his lips with his blood-red tongue while still rubbing his fists.

“Long Chen, follow me outside.” Yu Chong walked out first.

There was a big empty space in front of the study room, one big enough for them to fight.

Long Chen held Ling Xi’s hand as they walked out. The others follow suit with the Ninth Prince at the lead. All of them wanted to see Long Chen and Yu Chong fight.

Xiaolang saw everything and he raised his head. He glanced at the Fire Essence at the top of the study room, his eyes revealing gratitude and contentment.

He knew that the Fire Essence would be his soon. Ling Xi was the only other person who knew how strong Long Chen was.

“The Third River Stage?” Yu Chong was stronger than Emperor Yuan, and younger too. Yu Chong’s cultivation level and age were roughly the same as Long Chen’s, and he was considered as a genius. But Long Chen was not afraid.

“Let’s start,” Yu Chong said excitedly.