Chapter 45: A Penchant for Kicking Balls

Ye Guan’s eyes were tightly shut. He was planning on fighting others for first place.

He was oblivious to the fact that the entire Nanzhou was rooting for him. It had been ages since someone managed to qualify for the third round in the decennial martial contest, so Ye Guan was already a hero in the eyes of Nanzhou.

Zuo Fu was also eyeing the first-place flag. He also wanted first place in this contest. Yunzhou had been second for many years, and at this point, second place was no longer an honor but shameful for Yunzhou!

The sobriquet—second forever—was terrible. For many years, the cultivators from Yunzhou only had one goal—to be the number one state! However, they had all failed to become the number one state for many years now.

Zuo Fu clenched his right fist.

The participants took only one glance at the first-place flag before shifting their gaze away. Not everyone could fight for that flag—Yunzhou and Qingzhou were simply too powerful to contend against.

Meanwhile, the Immortal Treasures Pavilion created a temporary betting house dedicated to the martial contest in Shang City.

The betting odds for Qingzhou were one percent. In other words, if Qingzhou won the martial contest, a gambler would earn one gold spiritual crystal for every hundred gold spiritual crystals they had decided to gamble in favor of Qingzhou.

However, one could bet more than a thousand gold spiritual crystals on Qingzhou.

Yunzhou’s betting odds were one to ten. One would earn ten gold spiritual crystals for each gold spiritual crystal.

The odds for the rest of the states were even higher—one to a thousand! In other words, one would earn a thousand gold spiritual crystals for every gold spiritual crystal one had decided to gamble in favor of every other state.

The most important part was that there wasn’t any limit on the amount that one could bet on the other states.

In a way, everyone was looking down on the other states, but one had to understand that Qingzhou had been dominating the martial contest for a long time.

Just then, Fei Banqing walked into the Immortal Treasures Pavilion. She weaved through the crowd and placed her bet.

“Fifty thousand gold spiritual crystals on Nanzhou!” she shouted.

A deafening silence descended upon the betting house as all eyes turned to Fei Banqing. However, she ignored everyone’s baffled looks and turned around to leave.

Fifty thousand gold spiritual crystals—the amount was her life savings. In addition, she had even borrowed a sizable amount from Song Ci, but why? It was entirely because Ye Guan had told her that he was aiming for first place.

Meanwhile, Luo Zhaoqi was standing in front of the participants in the wasteland. She smiled and cheerfully announced. “I hereby declare the start of the third and final round of the martial contest!”

With that, she walked away to become a part of the audience members.

The representatives of Qingzhou immediately made their move. They ignored the participants and headed for the first-place flag with confidence and arrogance.

Zuo Fu made his move as well. His goal was the first-place flag as well, but no one was really surprised about his decision. After all, Yunzhou had always been the one and only state qualified to fight against Qingzhou.

However, the participants and the audience members were startled by a shocking scene that unfolded in front of them.

What was Nanzhou doing? Are they going for first place as well?

The spectators from all three hundred and sixty states also tensed up. However, the spectators burst out into boisterous laughter once they recovered from the initial shock.

How ridiculous! How absurd! They were definitely caught off guard.

There was a deafening silence In Nanzhou’s Guanxuan Academy as soon as Ye Guan and the others started making their way toward the first-place flag.

Time seemed to have stopped as the tension bore down on them like a heavy mountain. In their opinion, it would already be incredible if their Guanxuan Academy could be in the top ten.

Why are they fighting for first place?

“Fuck!” someone cursed loudly, and it started a cacophony of shouts and cries.

Zhao Su smiled upon seeing Ye Guan walking toward the first-place flag. She knew that Ye Guan’s aim was first place. Yuan Gu next to her remained silent, while Luo Zhaoqi’s surprise turned into interest.

Just then, the three representatives of Qingzhou came to a halt.

Mu Yunhan turned toward Nalan Jia and asked, “Is it true that you have the legendary Holy Spirit Physique?”

Nalan Jia nodded. “Indeed.”

Mu Yunhan stared deeply at Nalan Jia and remarked, “You’re beautiful. It would be a shame for you to die.”

Nalan Jia scoffed and taunted. “I dare you to kill me, then.”

Swoosh!

Mu Yunhan abruptly thrust her saber at lightning speed toward Nalan Jia. The majority of the spectators only saw a flash of light. They didn’t manage to catch even a glimpse of Mu Yunhan’s saber.

A shrill noise echoed as the saber tore the air apart. However, the saber struck nothing but air because Nalan Jia had already teleported away.

Yuan Gu’s voice had a hint of curiosity in it as he remarked, “Her spacetime comprehension is incredible.”

Zhao Su was equally surprised.

“Interesting...” Mu Yunhan muttered. Moments later, she abruptly vanished and reappeared in front of Nalan Jia to unleash a flurry of strikes.

Saber lights pervaded Nalan Jia’s surroundings, but Nalan Jia vanished as well and counterattacked. Sparks and space itself distorted as the ladies exchanged blows.

Meanwhile, Ao Han glanced at Ye Guan and Zuo Fu before asking, “Which one of you will fight me?”

Ye Guan and Zuo Fu shook their heads and gestured at An Mu with their chins.

“You guys aren’t giving me any face at all.” Ao Han’s face darkened. He pointed at Zuo Fu and said, “You will be my opponent.”

Zuo Fu frowned and asked, “Why?”

Ao Han looked at Ye Guan and remarked, “He has a penchant for kicking balls.”

Ye Guan’s expression froze.

Zuo Fu spoke, “Is that so? You’re not looking down on me, right? Anyway, don’t worry, I’m not as despicable as him.”

Ye Guan was gloomy. Zuo Fu’s words were like rubbing salt in his wounds.

However, Ao Han remained calm as he explained, “I want to fight you rather than that scoundrel from Nanzhou. I want to see if Yunzhou has improved.”

Ao Han didn’t wait for Zuo Fu’s reply. He dashed and threw a punch at Zuo Fu.

Boom!

An explosion tore through the air as Ao Han’s punch flew toward Zuo Fu. It turned out that Ao Han was a physique cultivator!

Zuo Fu placed his palms together and chanted.

Boom!

A cosmic light descended and sent Ao Han flying a few meters away.

A large crater was made in the ground where Ao Han had been standing earlier.

The spectators were stunned.

Ao Han looked down to check his condition and saw that he was covered in ashes from the heat of the beam that struck him. He looked at Zuo Fu and cried out, “You’re a sorcerer!”

A sorcerer!

Sorcerers were mysterious people with ancient origins, and it was rumored that sorcerers could easily manipulate the natural energies of the world. The strongest of them could manipulate even the laws of the world. The spectators were surprised by the revelation, as no one had expected a sorcerer to appear in Yunzhou.

Ye Guan stared at Zuo Fu in bewilderment, and he seemed to have thought of something as his eyes landed on Zuo Fu’s crotch.

“I’m not going to fight you,” Zuo Fu hurriedly said. However, he froze for a few seconds and urgently added, “It’s not because you’re strong or I’m scared of you. I just don’t want to get—anyway, I don’t want to fight you for now.”

Ye Guan didn’t know what to say.