Chapter 585: Betting Duels

After Yun Zhuo declared his defeat, the crowd in front of the villa started thinning. Those who left were the ones who weren't a match for Yun Zhuo. It was natural that they also weren't qualified to challenge Xiang Shaoyun as well. One ought to admit that Xiang Shaoyun's way of defeating an opponent without an actual fight was rather impressive.

In truth, Xiang Shaoyun was merely feeling lazy when it came to fighting. He had spent a lot of time fighting the skeletons during his time at the Back Graveyard. Now that he had left, he wanted to take a few days off.

The Han Clan sisters updated him about the academy's affairs during the past year. Of course, the two did not know as much as Tang Longfei. After Tang Longfei finished talking, Xiang Shaoyun finally had an all-rounded understanding of the academy's affairs. There were tens of factions in the academy, and there were three rankings for all the recently recruited disciples. One could say that the academy had transformed into a place of strife.

How should the academy disciples cultivate and grow? They needed to rely on their own hard work. There were nine cultivation zones in the academy that the disciples could enter. The zones respectively corresponded to gold, wood, water, flame, earth, wind, lightning, light, and darkness. Whether the disciples grew or not, it would rely on themselves.

Of course, it wasn't easy to gain entry into the nine cultivation zones. One needed to pay the academy sufficient contribution points for each entry. As for the contribution points, the disciples needed to complete missions for them. The more contribution points one paid, the longer one could stay inside the cultivation zones. Contribution points could also be used to purchase numerous battle techniques, herbs, weapons, and so on from the academy.

In short, contribution points were akin to money in the academy, similar to the contribution points of the Bloodsin City. Of course, there were also some free cultivation zones in the academy. These could be considered a benefit accorded to the disciples for joining the academy.

However, it was natural that the free cultivation zones weren't as good as the nine paid cultivation zones. After hearing about the nine cultivation zones, Xiang Shaoyun recalled the mission Ugly Gambler had given him. He was required to look for the divine site. His plan was to look for the site if he had the time for it. If not, he would just forget about it. In any case, he had already cured himself of Ugly Gambler's poison. He did not need to be overly bothered with what Ugly Gambler wanted.

After explaining the matters of the academy to Xiang Shaoyun, Tang Longfei started asking about him. "Shaoyun, I heard you were banished to the Back Graveyard. Did that actually happen?"

The rumors about Xiang Shaoyun's banishment were very believable. He had been worried about Xiang Shaoyun all this while. Now that Xiang Shaoyun had returned, he couldn't help asking about it.

Xiang Shaoyun smiled. "Yes, but I managed to profit from the disaster. That is why they had decided to release me."

"Why did they do that? With your crazy physique, the academy should have focused on nurturing you instead. Why would they do something so foolish?" Tang Longfei asked in confusion.

Xiang Shaoyun did not want to talk too much about it. "Big Brother Tang, there are things where we really have no other choice. Since we're already here, we should focus on growing. As for everything else, it's best we forget about it for now."

"Ok, I'll respect your wish. But you need to watch out. After all, your cultivation level is your current weakness. There are still some difficult opponents on the Serpent Fowl List. Don't fail due to some absurd mistake," said Tang Longfei.

Xiang Shaoyun suddenly roared with laughter and said, "Haha, I suddenly have a great idea for earning contribution points!"

"What idea? I am also lacking contribution points!" Tang Longfei said, his eyes lighting up.

"I naturally have an excellent plan, but it only works on myself," said Xiang Shaoyun with a crafty smile.

The next day, Xiang Shaoyun appeared at the academy's martial ring. He got Tang Longfei to disseminate news that anyone who managed to defeat him would be able to move into 1 Dragon Villa and obtain 10,000 contribution points. That was a large amount of points that couldn't be easily earned.

After all, the value of the academy's contribution points was completely different from Bloodsin City's contribution points. One could say that 10,000 contribution points here were worth 100,000 contribution points at Bloodsin City.

When joining the academy, an ordinary disciple was given 1,000 free contribution points, whereas a core disciple was given 10,000 free contribution points. All the points were recorded in each disciple's badge. As a core disciple, Xiang Shaoyun had naturally been given 10,000 contribution points as well.

Of course, he wasn't offering that reward for nothing. If his opponent suffered defeat, the opponent would have to pay him 10,000 contribution points. In other words, this was a duel and a bet, a method for him to earn contribution points quickly. Tang Longfei was rather impressed with Xiang Shaoyun's mind for being able to think of something like that.

Sure enough, after the announcement was made, many challengers appeared. Beside the ring, Tang Longfei had a betting stand with a payout rate of 1-to-1. He himself was also lacking in contribution points. Of course, he wasn't exactly a fair host as he only let others bet against Xiang Shaoyun. Then again, anyone making a bet at his stand was doing it voluntarily, so there really wasn’t anything unfair with it.

Initially, Tang Longfei had not expected so many people to participate, but the moment Xiang Shaoyun stepped onto the ring, a large number of people came to place their bets. Of course, they did not stake many. On average, each person staked about several hundred contribution points, and they were most likely only there to test the waters.

In their eyes, although Xiang Shaoyun had a crazy physique, his cultivation level was too low. One ought to know that all the top 1,000 of the Serpent Fowl List were Dragon Ascension Realm cultivators. Even if Xiang Shaoyun was a War Emperor, he wouldn't be able to prevail so easily.

Their confidence in him further dropped when they saw that his current opponent was Huang Quan, who ranked 50 places higher than Xiang Shaoyun. Huang Quan cultivated the power of earth and possessed an impressive defensive strength. He had also comprehended the power of gravity and was capable of unleashing an astonishing combat prowess.

That was why the crowd did not have much confidence in Xiang Shaoyun winning. A considerably large crowd formed around the ring, and they all wanted to see what someone with a nine-star physique was capable of.

Huang Quan wasn't very tall, but his body was quite sturdy. He wore a simple singlet that revealed his rock-like muscles. It was obvious he possessed explosive physical strength.

Huang Quan lightly bumped his fists together before looking at Xiang Shaoyun seriously. "Xiang Shaoyun, I am not here for the 1 Dragon Villa. I only want to see what's so special about a nine-star physique. I hope you don't disappoint me."

"Hehe, come. I won't disappoint you," said Xiang Shaoyun with a smile.