Vol.2-Chapter 213 – In the Limelight

Many figures flew toward the betting arena like locusts.

Zhao Jiuge revealed a meaningful smile, and his Big-Dipper Sword appeared before him. He jumped on his sword and flew toward the betting arena, where he would fight Zhou Hongyong.

While flying through the air, Zhao Jiuge knew that something was clearly different. The spirit core in his dantian slowly released spirit force to his whole body. The amount of spirit force required to fly was not significant anymore and could easily be replenished by the spirit force his spirit core was passively absorbing.

This was the first time Zhao Jiuge had blade soared on his own after forming his spirit core. No wonder people said that you could blade soar for a long time after entering the Spirit Core Realm, unlike the Foundation Realm.

The betting arena was located on the Alert Spirit Peak. There were many fighting platforms here, and several elders oversaw the fights.

For every battle, they would charge a fee to maintain the formations. The formations prevented people outside the battle from getting hurt.

The elders would also immediately intervene for the safety of the disciples. Although disciples were not supposed to kill, swords didn't have eyes. There might be an accident, or someone might not have full control over their strength.

However, unless it was a critical moment, these seniors wouldn’t carelessly intervene. If they rushed in, they might change the result of the battle.

The Alert Spirit Peak was particularly lively. Figures kept appearing around the peak and descended onto the peak.

A ray of silver light was quickly flying toward the Alert Spirit Peak. The figure standing on the sword was Zhao Jiuge.

On the way to the Alert Spirit Peak, Zhao Jiuge was talking to Senior Sister Jiulian, who he had not known for long.

Zhao Jiuge had just entered the inner sect, and this was the first time he had come here. He didn’t know anything about the people here and had no idea how strong Zhou Hongyong was. Senior Sister Jiulian was taking this time to give Zhao Jiuge some information.

Zhao Jiuge couldn’t help but feel good about Senior Sister Jiulian. He had known about her, but this was the first time they had met in person. He didn’t expect her to be so friendly.

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Leng Rufeng and Luo Xie were only at the late stage of the Foundation Realm. Leng Rufeng had touched the bottleneck of reaching the Spirit Core Realm. They could only do their best to keep up, but they were lagging behind Zhao Jiuge and Jiulian. Luo Xie felt annoyed and said, “Rufeng, look at you, worrying about Jiuge. I don’t think that guy cares at all. Look at him, flirting with a girl and laughing.”

“At this point, he can only face it head on. Worrying about it is pointless. In addition, he has the ability to flirt with a girl. I don’t see any girls willing to flirt with you. If you have the ability, then go flirt with a girl for me to see.” Leng Rufeng looked at Zhao Jiuge in a daze, but his words were ruthless.

Luo Xie was suddenly made speechless. His face was filled with doubt and he secretly muttered, “That’s right, I’m no worse than Jiuge; why have I not caught the attention of any female disciples? Actually, I’m very handsome too.”

Leng Rufeng, who was thinking about things, suddenly felt his mouth twitch, and he scolded, “Don’t speak nonsense with me. Without strength, nothing matters. Look at how Zhao Jiuge has already condensed his spirit core. We have to work hard!”

This time, Luo Xie was completely startled and the smile on his face faded. No one knew what he was thinking, and there was confusion in his eyes.

After a long time, Leng Rufeng let out a sigh. “However, even though Jiuge has condensed his spirit core, he should not be a match for Zhou Hongyong.”

Luo Xie raised his brows and said, “What? Aren’t both of them at the early stage of the Spirit Core Realm? Not to mention Jiuge has his own ace.”

“Although that’s the case, Zhou Hongyong condensed his spirit core several years ago, and his understanding of the sword art is not something we can compare to. But the most important thing is his understanding of formations, which is something even the Head Teacher has praised.”

Leng Rufeng’s tone became quiet, and after pausing for a moment, he continued, “Let’s wait and see. I hope Jiuge can win.”

Although cultivation was divided into three great factions, there were special paths. Spirit formations was one of them, along with alchemy and other rare occupations. People who set off on these paths didn’t only cultivate, they did other things as well because of their talent. Therefore, their cultivation progressed slower than other people’s, but that was only on the surface. Their actual combat effectiveness was not the same, and Zhou Hongyong was this kind of person.

“Okay.” Luo Xie nodded firmly. He had an almost blind faith in Zhao Jiuge, and it wasn’t because the three of them were brothers.

Zhou Hongyong and Zhao Jiuge’s battle was quickly spread by those disciples that just wanted as much chaos as possible. One passed to 10 and 10 passed to 100. This kind of excitement hadn’t been seen in the sect in almost 100 years!

The huge bet wasn’t the only reason this fight had attracted so much attention and brought so many people. It was because of both of their identities.

One was the fifth disciple of the Mysterious Fallen Peak’s Head Seat, Du Jun. Although he hadn’t done much recently, he was very famous when he joined, as his mastery of spirit formations was sublime.

The other’s identity was even more amazing. The youngest disciple of Head Teacher Jian Wuxian. He had just joined the sect and had already caused such a big commotion.

Both of them were geniuses, but they didn’t seem to be on the same level. However, due to their special statuses, many people still rushed over.

They wanted to see how this bet would end.

Although many people had seen Zhao Jiuge and heard about his previous deeds, they weren’t very optimistic about his chances. As for those who had only heard of him, they were even more eager to rush over.

It could be said that just Zhao Jiuge’s name had attracted a lot of the people here.

Soon, a ray of silver light arrived at the Alert Spirit Peak. When Zhao Jiuge arrived, Zhou Hongyong was already here, and many other inner sect disciples had arrived. They were very excited and were looking forward to the fight.

Seeing Zhao Jiuge arrive, everyone looked over.

Seeing this situation, Jiulian’s expression changed once more. She warned Zhao Jiuge to be careful once more before retreating into the crowd.

There were constant fluctuations of spirit force around the Alert Spirit Peak. People were rushing over or landing on the peak.

It was a bit noisy, but when Zhao Jiuge landed, he was very calm. The noise around him seemed insignificant to him.

There was a figure standing in the middle of the crowd. Zhao Jiuge looked over and saw an old man with a childish face. At first glance, he looked like an old man, but his skin was as smooth as that of a baby.

The old man was wearing the black robe that the elders wore, with a silver sword embroidered on the cuff. He was the person in charge of the Alert Spirit Peak, Elder Wu.

From the aura Elder Wu gave off, although he might not match the elders at the top, he wasn’t too far behind. His status is much higher than that of those ordinary elders, and his strength was decent too. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be the one managing the Alert Spirit Peak. Battles between disciples were no small matter, and any lapse in judgement could mean death. If the manager of the place was lacking in strength, it would cause serious problems.

When Zhou Hongyong saw Zhao Jiuge land, he revealed a mocking smile. “Hehe, why are you so slow? Others might’ve thought you wouldn’t dare to come.” There was a flash of viciousness in his eyes that wasn’t easy to perceive. This time, outsiders couldn’t interfere, because this was an official battle. When Zhao Jiuge lost, he wouldn’t be able to do anything, and no one else could intervene.

“You’re not qualified to make me scared.” Facing Zhou Hongyong’s mockery, Zhao Jiuge returned in kind.

Zhou Hongyong felt that it was a bit boring and no longer spoke. He didn’t want to get into an argument with Zhao Jiuge. He merely sneered in his heart.?“Just you wait!”

At this moment, even more disciples arrived. Some of them didn’t even know what was happening and were curiously looking over. They hadn’t expected the atmosphere to be so fiery. The two had begun arguing the moment they met.

Various voices echoed.

“I wonder if there is a good show to watch today.”

“Are you an idiot? Both of them have already placed their bets. How can there not be a good show to watch!?”

The two disciples began to quarrel when another person interjected, “A fight doesn’t mean there is a good show to watch. I don’t think Zhao Jiuge is Zhou Hongyong’s match. If he can’t even last a few moves, then there is nothing interesting to watch.”

The people around him nodded in agreement.

At this moment, the discussions simply couldn’t stop at all and became more and more intense. However, most were not optimistic about Zhao Jiuge, and public opinion was very one-sided. Occasionally, some people would bring up that Zhao Jiuge was the Head Teacher’s disciple and shouldn’t be underestimated. However, their voices were soon drowned out by the crowd.

Leng Rufeng, Luo Xie, Jiulian, and others felt nervous for Zhao Jiuge. Zhao Jiuge had to win, for nothing else other than the honor of the Mysterious Heaven Peak.

“Everyone, be quiet.”

Elder Wu suddenly spoke. His voice wasn’t very loud, but it was oppressive. Everyone became silent and looked at Elder Wu, waiting for his next command.

Sure enough, Elder Wu continued, “The two of you, come up here. Place the bet of 5,000 spirit stones and the token holding your sect contributions.”

The two people he was talking to were naturally Zhao Jiuge and Zhou Hongyong. Before the battle, both sides had to hand their bets to him for safekeeping. The winner would get it all and the loser would get nothing back.

Hearing this, everyone became excited. 5,000 spirit stones and 4,000 sect contributions were a lot for these disciples that hadn’t gone out yet. There had been bigger gambles, but those were very rare. And every time they came up, the commotion was as big as today.

At this instant, everyone’s gazes were locked on to Zhao Jiuge and Zhou Hongyong. Everyone wanted to get a good look at the two people fighting today.

Everyone was very excited, like they were the ones that were going to walk up. Many people were fantasizing about being the main characters here today instead. Even if they lost, they would gain a lot of attention and their face would spread.

Although the battle hadn’t begun, Zhao Jiuge and Zhou Hongyong were extra dazzling.