Chapter 2173.1: Challenge

After being rescued, Xu Chuyun looked at Lu Yun with eyes full of fear. He didn’t dare say anything anymore. What if Lu Yun changed his mind and grabbed him again?

“Ouyang Shengtian, how about you be my human pet?” Lu Yun cocked his head at the Ouyang young master; the latter’s face darkened.

“Don’t you go too far, Lu Yun.” Ouyang Shengtian took two steps back. Cloudexit’s two nascent soul guards were still in Lu Yun’s hands.

“Hahahaha!! Sir Ouyang of the three gentlemen is scared off by one word from me? Insignificant little me? Looks like I command quite a bit of respect!” Lu Yun roared with laughter to see the other’s expression.

The corner of Mo Qiyue’s lips tugged upward. “What three gentlemen of Dusk City? It’s just a trite title given by bored people.”

Ouyang Shengtian’s face darkened further when he heard the response. Plainly, the Mo young master didn’t think much of the moniker, but Ouyang Shengtian did and cared quite a great deal.

“But Sir Ouyang counts the title among his treasures…” Lu Yun snorted. Mo Qiyue wordlessly curled his lip.

Ouyang Shengtian glowered ominously.

Lu Yun waved him off. He was just scaring the Ouyang young master. These wouldn’t be the tactics he’d employ if he wanted to take action. He’d make sure that Ouyang Shengtian yearned for death.

“Sir Yang Qing, my lower spirit rank longsword is worth at least a million paramount rank spirit stones, is it not? Betting one hundred against it seems too few.” Dismissing what’d just happened, Lu Yun focused on haggling instead.

“The Arcturus Sword is well known in fourth rank empires. Mighty without parallel, it’s worth at least two million paramount stones,” Yang Qing assessed honestly.

“Then you should also bring out something on the same level to bet against me.” Lu Yun had wanted to befriend this exemplary disciple of the Ascension Sword Sect, thereby creating a strong helper for the Lu Clan, but his attitude earlier changed Lu Yun’s mind.

Lu Yun’s earlier actions probed Yang Qing’s attitude. Since the latter had kept himself out of the affair and refused to be involved, there was no need for Lu Yun to extend a friendly gesture to him.

Yang Qing’s attitude was an indicator that he wasn’t an ideal ally. Although he’d stopped Lin Qi and the others for Lu Yun, he’d done so to sit on his hands and watch others fight. He wanted to set the snipe and clam at each other and take advantage of both. His calculations were fully evident to Lu Yun.

“Ah…” Yang Qing blinked.

“I have a mid spirit rank sword called Riversurge. Why don’t I bet it against young master Lu?” A young man wearing long emerald robes and a beautiful piece of jade across his forehead stepped into the pavilion.

Yang Qing, Lin Qi, Wen Qiushui, and Luo Hongfei frowned. They didn’t recognize the newcomer in green. But judging from his bearing and the spirit rank weapon he’d brought it, he came from uncommon origins.

“If I might know this gentleman’s name…?” Lu Yun raised cupped fists to the young man.

“Jiang Feng,” the young man offered.

Yang Qing and the others continued to regard him blankly, unable to place him. His cultivation was greater than theirs at initial nascent soul—the same as Ouyang Shengtian and Mo Qiyue.

Fengxian Wu’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly when she heard the name.

“Is this Jiang Feng from a sixth rank empire?” Yang Qing mumbled to himself. He knew all of the fifth rank factions and fourth rank disciples by heart. If he didn’t know the stranger, that made him someone from a sixth rank empire.

As for seventh rank or above… a dao weapon wouldn’t draw their attention.

“So it’s Sir Jiang,” Lu Yun grinned. “But your Riversurge is a mid rank weapon while my Arcturus is only lower rank. We’re one level apart and I don’t have any more treasures to offer.”

“That may not be the case,” Jiang Feng smiled faintly, merriment in his eyes. “Didn’t you claim the personal wealth of Xu Lang from the Nineheavens Pagoda? Just take out a few items from your vault.”

The recovering Xu Chuyun nearly spat a mouthful of blood when he heard this.

“Alright then,” Lu Yun agreed reluctantly. “But I left all that at home, so if I lose, Brother Jiang will have to make a trip with me.”

“Hahahaha!” Jiang Feng laughed heartily. “You jest, Sir Lu. It’s not a given who will win or lose, there’s no need to come to conclusions so quickly.”

“Do my two human pets look like they stand a chance of winning?” Lu Yun cast a dismissive glance at the two in the ring. Xu Chuyun’s two guards were ashen faced and prepared to die. They were nascent soul disciples of the vaunted Nineheavens Pagoda, yet were subject to such intense humiliation in a third rank empire! Did they have it in them to continue living?

“That’s up to Sir Lu’s ingenuity,” Jiang Feng smiled uncaringly.

Lu Yun blinked, then suddenly shifted in front of Ouyang Shengtian.

“Ouyang Shengtian, our families have been enemies for a while and there’s no changing that. You can be my human pet and fight for me this time!” Sparks flared from Lu Yun’s hand as he grabbed for Ouyang Shengtian’s head.

Frowning, the Ouyang young master swiftly backed away. A flying sword shot out of his mouth and made for Lu Yun’s head in a streak of light.

Lu Yun shuffled his feet and gently shifted his body, easily evading the ray of light.

“Kill!” Killing intent flooded Ouyang Shengtian’s face. The flying sword exploded into dozens of light rays that rained down on Lu Yun.

“Interesting.” Lin Qi and the others watched the fight with interest, not inclined to stop the two. Their guards stood firmly in front of them.

Hummm.

Lu Yun’s Arcturus blazed with green light and projected a ray of sword light three meters long.

“Fire Slay!” he shouted, eliciting a sheen of fiery sparks from his sword light. They climbed up the radiance like a fire dragon.

Rumble!

The fire dragon and Ouyang Shengtian’s sword light smashed into each other in a shower of brilliance.

Pfft!

Ouyang Shengtian spat out a mouthful of blood—his personal treasure, the upper fine rank flying sword, clanged to the ground as scrap metal. Connected as he was to the weapon, he also suffered greatly from the damage.

A talisman shimmered in Lu Yun’s hand as he brought it down on Ouyang Shengtian’s head.

“Blood Shadow Flight!” Ouyang Shengtian ground his teeth and raised a ball of bloody light around him. He was gone when it cleared.

“That’s the human demon Bloodbath’s technique!” gasped Lin Qi and the others. Who would’ve thought that Ouyang Shengtian would deploy it?

“Wait, it was the Ouyang Clan who spread word that Bloodbath is in the capital. What is the truth of the situation?”

The Beast Colosseum was protected by formations, so nothing spilled over to the outside no matter how intense the fights inside were. In fact, no one beyond their pavilion would notice the scuffle unless someone was specifically keeping an eye on them.

“Ai, the only human pet that could win has run off,” Lu Yun sighed with resignation, inwardly cursing Bloodbath and all of his ancestors. The Ouyangs treated you like that, but you still taught them your ultimate protection techniques?

Jiang Feng shrugged without a word. The other noble scions were numb to the sight of Lu Yun easily defeating an initial nascent soul cultivator. That was how he’d subdued Xu Chuyun’s two nascent soul guards, wasn’t it?

Just as the group relaxed, Lu Yun darted forward and grabbed Xu Chuyun amid the latter’s ghastly howls.

“Hey, listen up, you two! You will win no matter what or I’ll turn your young lord into a human pet and match him against Sir Jiang next, do you hear me?” Lu Yun sealed off Xu Chuyun’s cultivation and hauled him up by the collar.

Xu Chuyun’s two guards had been ready for death, but stirred to life again when they saw their master in Lu Yun’s hands.

“Do whatever you want to me, but let go of the young lord!” Li Wei roared within the enclosure. Although they’d been assigned as the young lord’s guards, they were still deeply loyal to the Nineheavens Pagoda.

“Beat Sir Jiang’s battle pet for me and I’ll let your young lord go,” Lu Yun chuckled.

Li Wei’s eyes spat fire.

“In that case, let us begin.” Lu Yun turned with a smile.

“Yang Qing, is it? I’m going to borrow your blaze lion.” Jiang Feng nodded and pointed at Yang Qing.

A displeased look appeared in Yang Qing’s eyes, but he had no choice and handed over the blaze lion since he was unfamiliar with Jiang Feng’s background.

Xu Chuyun was nearly sobbing—Lu Yun treated him as nothing more than a toy and didn’t give him a chance to fight back.

A blaze lion was a second rank spirit beast, the equivalent of a foundation establishment cultivator. Although Li Wei’s cultivation was sealed off, he still possessed the immense physique of a nascent soul cultivator.

Human and beast faced off in the enclosure that ran thirty meters across.

The Beast Colosseum was where rich scions came to while away the time. Each pavilion saw its regulars and they typically didn’t interfere with each other. Only when there was a site-wide event did everyone head to the larger enclosures, so no one knew that Lu Yun and the others were in this pavilion. Otherwise, the four Dark Orchid gentlemen wouldn’t be acting like this.

All the same, there was certainly going to be revenge taken after the fact.