To the side of the ring was a section of aisle disconnected from the other sections. Numerous experts were seated there.

While leisurely sipping on tea, Niu Baidao said, "Both of them are talented kids. It is a loss to lose either of them. Do you agree?"

Jiang Tao, who had just arrived, smiled, "Principal Niu is right. Junior Brother Shan has always been kind. In all his previous spars, he has never harmed his opponents too badly. Most of the time, he will only kill cultists or those from our enemy races."

He did not say anything about Su Yu. But everyone knew just how murderous Su Yu was. And he had killed a lot of humans. Some of the people he had killed were young human geniuses, such as Di Feng of Great Xia.

He had also killed the students from Great Xia's Foreign Students Faculty, Zhou Pingsheng, and the others. He was most definitely not a good person. In comparison, Shan Xiong looked much kinder.

Niu Baidao merely smiled and said nothing. Nearby, Wen Zhong said, "Teaching Assistant Shan sure is kind. It isn't a bad thing to teach those multiple character faction juniors that there is always a stronger person out there. However, erasing one's hope is crueler than simply killing someone."

He did not say anything else.

Shan Xiong's previous challenges were not regular challenges. Rather, he was stepping on the multiple character faction while they were down. With the backing of Great Zhou, he had forced the weakened multiple character faction to disband.

Wen Zhong did not know what Shan Xiong was thinking when challenging all those multiple character faction experts, but he did know that Shan Xiong was the knife meant to cut the multiple character faction down.

Jiang Tao said, "Even if Junior Brother Shan didn't challenge them, someone else would do so as well. There is no denying that those people are weak. What's the point of talking about hope? Back when the multiple character faction was dominant, they had also defeated countless single character faction experts. Did we cry about our hope being erased?"

Wen Zhong merely smiled, not bothering to argue.

***

Su Yu continued walking toward the ring, ignoring what the others were saying about him.

After getting into the ring, he stood about ten meters away from Shan Xiong. With a smile, he greeted, "Greetings, Senior Brother Shan."

"You're too polite, Junior Brother Su."

After exchanging greetings, Shan Xiong asked, "How do you intend to proceed with this match?"

Su Yu smiled, "How do you think we should proceed?"

"Stop after a victor is decided?" Shan Xiong suggested.

Su Yu's smile grew wider, "Stop after a victor is decided? That's too soft. And boring. We won't be able to properly display our strength doing that. Why don't we up the stakes? Previously, the multiple character faction members you defeated were forced to dissolve their branches. Why don't we do something similar here? If I lose, I'll shut down my research center."

Shan Xiong raised his brow and said, "Junior Brother, the dissolution of the multiple character faction branches aren't related to—"

Su Yu waved his hand, "Senior Brother, none of us is a fool. Why bother explaining? You're stronger than them. After defeating them, they dissolved their branches out of shame. You won fair and square. I don't intend to fight for them. But you initially planned to challenge my teacher, Bai Feng, right?"

Shan Xiong nodded.

"You probably wanted to see the multiple character faction in Great Xia dissolved as well. In that case, why bother saying all these lies and acting like a hypocrite? I can't make any decisions for Great Xia. I can only make my own decisions. Are you willing to take this bet?"

Shan Xiong sank into silence.

At this time, Jiang Tao's voice rang out, "Su Yu, since you're so confident, why don't you increase the stakes further? You don't need to shut down your research center if you lose. You only need to hand over the Character Technique Stele you took out of Great Xia. What do you think?"

Su Yu looked at Jiang Tao and said, "Senior Brother Jiang, what are you talking about? What stele?"

Jiang Tao said, "You were the one who had said that we should be honest. In that case, why deny the truth? If the stele isn't on you, then it must be on Chen Yong. Don't forget that he's currently in grave danger."

If it was confirmed that Chen Yong had the stele, those people hunting for him would become even more persistant.

After a short silence, Su Yu smiled, "Senior Brother Jiang's words are reasonable. Either the stele is on my martial uncle or me. Since it will bring more trouble for my martial uncle, sure, it's on me. But what can you give me if I win?"

Jiang Tao asked, "What do you want?"

Su Yu said, "I want a lot of things. I'm only afraid that you can't afford to give what I want. Since you're asking, I'll give you my answer. I believe you understand very well the significance behind the stele. You need to provide something of equal value. I only want a hundred drops of Sunmoon divine and devil blood essence, a thousand drops of Mountainsea divine and devil blood essence, and ten thousand drops of Cloudbreach divine and devil blood essence."

That request caused a commotion among the crowd. Su Yu sure was not holding back. They would need to kill ten Sunmoons, a hundred Mountainseas, and a thousand Cloudbreaches for that much blood essence. And all of them must be divines and devils.

That was Su Yu's demand. Was his Character Technique Stele really worth that much? Wasn't that something one could find in all academies?

Jiang Tao frowned. After a long while, he finally answered, "If the limitation of divine and devil blood essence is removed, we can agree to that."

Those words caused a big commotion among the crowd as well. Even without that limitation, this was still a massive request. They still needed to kill a large number of Sunmoons and Mountainseas. It was a big deal regardless of whether their targets were divines and devils or not. Niu Baidao and the others remained silent.

Su Yu said, "If you want to remove that limitation, then you need to double the amount. Otherwise, it won't be fair. I believe Senior Brother Jiang understands what I mean."

Before Jiang Tao could say anything, Shan Xiong sighed and said, "Won't a battle without a bet be cleaner?"

Su Yu smiled, "But is this match clean in the first place? Senior Brother Shan, are you deceiving yourself or do you truly believe that all your matches so far were pure matches with no other agendas attached? If that is the case, you could have stopped at defeating a single multiple character faction expert of the same cultivation level. Why keep targetting the other multiple character faction experts? Aren't people like Huang Teng and Qin Fang more interesting as opponents? The first divines and original devils are also interesting opponents."

Clean match? What a joke.

Shan Xiong was left speechless. After a long while, he nodded, "You're right. Those matches were never clean."

Su Yu looked at Jiang Tao and asked, "So? Do you agree?"

Before Jiang Tao could answer, Niu Baidao coughed and said, "Su Yu, do you even have that stele? Don't try to fool them with a lie. Everyone is watching."

So did Su Yu have the stele? Well, he was sure that Su Yu had the stele. But they needed to talk about it first before wagering it in a bet. What if the kid ended up losing? That would be very troublesome.

Su Yu wasn't weak. But Shan Xiong was someone who had reached the 50th floor of the pagoda. That was a very impressive level of strength. Zhu Tiandao wasn't confident that Su Yu would win. Otherwise, Jiang Tao wouldn't have bothered suggesting the bet.

Su Yu said, "Prefect, nobody will trust me if I say that I don't have it. In that case, I might as well give them the answer they want."

"You..."

Niu Baidao laughed, "Little Jiang, this is merely a spar between youngsters. Don't escalate it too much. Are you trying to empty Great Zhou's treasury? Won't you be in trouble if Shan Xiong loses?"

"A small bet will bring people closer, but a massive bet might harm someone. Why don't we make the wager a hundred merit points?"

Su Yu laughed. Even Shan Xiong laughed.

Shan Xiong said, "Principal Niu is right. There is no need to escalate this too much. If I lose, I'll go to the Allheaven Battlefield and kill ten Cloudbreach divines and devils for you. If you lose, you will need to do the same. What do you think?"

Su Yu sneered, "Shan Xiong, why are you still playing these boring games?"

Shan Xiong said nothing.

Su Yu said, "You can freely go to the Allheaven Battlefield. But does the same apply for me? Too many people want me dead. But very few people want you dead."

Once again, Shan Xiong was rendered speechless.

"Since you don't have the courage to accept this bet, let's change it."

Su Yu had a toying tone as he said, "Since you lack the courage to bet with resources, we'll be betting our reputation. If you lose and survive your defeat, you only need to visit the various academies and personally admit that the single character faction is worse than the multiple character faction."

"I am not qualified to represent the single character faction."

Shan Xiong disagreed.