"What a twist! What a conclusion! What a spectacular, spectacular fight! Fellow Daoists! You... no, WE, are extrely lucky! Today we witnessed history! We have witnessed a Mortal Transcendence Realm cultivator defeat and take the life of an Essence Gathering Realm expert, an Elder of a Righteous Path Sect! You wouldn’t be able to see this kind of spectacle anywhere else! Let’s now review the fight! I think we can all agree... "
While the comntator was lost in long ramblings, clearly still overco with emotions from the fight, Wu Long ca near the Elder who was still alive due to the tenacity his Cultivation Realm gave him, but severely weakened, life slowly draining away from him.
Contrary to the expectations of the Elder’s muddled mind, Wu Long didn’t approach to say anything to him at the end. No, he seemingly already forgot all about the Elder, and arrived near the big bell, placing his hand on it.
"Mm, a good present indeed", Wu Long nodded, concentrating and sending his Spiritual Qi into the bell.
"Kgh... kehehe", the Elder first gurgled out blood, and then let out a weak but insidious laugh, "...-t’s... us...-les..., it is..."
But the forced out with last strength ridicule in his eyes froze and was gradually replaced by shock and confusion. This was an artifact bound to him by blood, it should have crumbled into dust with his death delivering at least a final satisfaction to him to take with him while going into the dark, but just now, he felt that the connection he thought was absolute was sohow severed, shattering the rules of reality he knew.
It was with this expression that his eyes finally froze forever, becoming glassy and unseeing while Wu Long quietly collected the bell into his own Spatial Ring.
At this point, the Death Arena officials also approached them.
They were there to docunt and receive the money stored in the defeated fighter’s Spatial Ring, as well as to oversee the winner receiving the rest of the belongings, as well as to handle the clean-up of the fighting pit and inspect the Formations for any signs of damage.
While this was going on, a man approached Zhao Biren in the audience, "Drinking King", and once he had the latter’s attention, tilted his head to indicate ’let’s go’, "Co on, the Right Guardian is waiting"
Zhao Biren excused himself to the twins and swiftly followed the man, while Changsun Yong was still staring in shock at the Elder laying on the floor of the fighting pit, "H-he won... he really won!"
He turned his gaze to the two assassin beauties, but didn’t see any interest in talking to him in either of them, thus left to process his amazent on his own.
However, he did catch a glimpse of the Disciples of the Lant Scripture Sect, feeling a pang of compassion as he saw their devastated and uneasy expressions, as well as the mixed reactions of the mbers of the Blood Skull Sect.
—
Zhao Biren arrived on the top floor, the sa floor that the comntator’s booth was on, where private booths reserved for Crow King’s Nest higher ups and guests they wished to entertain were. These were normally empty, since no one was allowed to use them even if the owners did not co to see a fight, which was a rare occasion.
From there he was led to the private booth of the Right Guardian, and upon entering saw the owner of the booth, a sturdy-looking large-built but average height man with an almost square jaw covered in a thick, slightly ssy looking beard which stretched down to his chest and long hair he didn’t bother tying up, wearing a copious amount of gold jewelry with large precious gems, sitting on an armchair that was just a hair breadth’s away in luxury from being qualified as a throne elevated enough to see the fighting pit below without having to stand at the railing, supporting his tilted head with his fist full of rings.
The one in charge of managing the Death Arena stood next to him, saying sothing with a servile attitude. And there were multiple people from the Right Guardian’s close circle sitting in the private booth around him.
Upon seeing Zhao Biren arrive, the Right Guardian’s eyes which didn’t hide boredom and slight annoyance lit up, as he raised his head and simultaneously dismissively waved off the Death Arena manager away, "Drinking King! There’s a welco man! Hahaha! Co here, you, handso fella!"
"I greet the Right Guardian", Zhao Biren made a very short but polite bow.
"Hahaha! I told you to not bother with such formalities!", the Right Guardian laughed heartily.
’Heh, you did, but the mont I follow those words you won’t be trendously happy with to say the least’, Zhao Biren thought while plastering a smile of seeing a dear friend onto his face, "Hahaha, your magnanimity knows now bounds as always"
"To be honest with you, after you proposed that I make that bet, for a mont, I thought that you were either insane, or finally drank more than you could handle, or, hahaha, made a deal with the Left Guardian to pull one over ...", the Right Guardian sustained the pause after those words for just a second longer than it would’ve passed for a complete joke, while looking as friendly and happy as before, and then continued, "But when that 20 million anonymous bet really ca through as you said it would, I thought, what the hell, if they’re willing to risk this fortune on this, I might as well see where this goes and bet even more than you suggested!"
"A spectacular achievent, by our estimations, the Left Guardian’s close circle has lost considerable money today", one of the people sitting nearby spoke.
"Bahahahaha! And I have earned more than triple of my entire personal fortune accumulated over an entire lifeti in just under an hour! 1:97 odds, close to 5 billion gold!!! I never imagined I would have so much money in my entire life!", the Right Guardian bellowed with laughter, looking extrely satisfied as he laid back onto the backrest of his armchair, "Of course, I will have to share with the Crow King, but what’s a billion when I will have four left? My only regret is that I did not bet more!"
"That could’ve threatened the revenue and operations of the Death Arena, sir", another close associate of the Right Guardian reminded, "What we won is close to the limit without causing a potential breakdown of the bookmakers system. We have to rember that there are those who also bet on the Challenger after you, although a minority compared to those who lost. Still, it already would’ve potentially caused so losses to the Death Arena if we didn’t manipulate the close circle of the Left Guardian into joining the bet against you, though of course, there were a lot of independent big players who lost their money as well, but that is beside the point"
"Ah~", the Right Guardian waved his hand dismissively, " you bean counters always say risk that risk this. We won! Celebrate a little! Tsk, what a boring bunch, right, Drinking King?"
"Hehehe, I am not as strong with numbers, but I buy booze with them so I know they’re important", Zhao Biren chuckled.
"Bahaha! That’s right, that’s right", the Right Guardian spoke while standing up, and approaching Zhao Biren, hugged him over the shoulder to lead him to the edge of the booth, "You know I like you, Drinking King. I never saw a man so fun to have a drink with who could also get the best booze I ever tasted... that wine you bring is sothing else... but what you did today is a totally different ga, you understand that, right?"
"Of course, I am flattered you think so highly of , Right Guardian. Today I just got lucky to know a secret before anyone else", Zhao Biren chuckled, very precisely controlling his reactions to show a very slight discomfort and just a tiny trace of fear, all the while making it look like he was doing his best to hide them, "Oh, I did bring you a new jar of wine... this one should be to your liking as well..."
"Heh", the Right Guardian smirked, "See? That’s why I like you. You understand . But what I am talking about is... you certainly managed to do sothing big for ... and I am not a man who leaves such rits unrewarded. But you also have to know... this ti what you did not only was to my benefit, it hurt the Left Guardian quite a bit... you get my drift right?"
"S-sir... Right Guardian...", Zhao Xieren’s expression showed slight panic at the ’realization’ that in serving this big win to the Right Guardian, he crossed the Left Guardian in the process ’without knowing’ it.
"Hehe, relax~", the Right Guardian chuckled while tapping on Zhao Biren’s shoulders a couple of tis and then letting him go to slightly wobble on the spot. He then leaned on the railing of the private balcony, looking down, "No matter how much he’s mad at you no one can touch you as long as you’re under my protection... you just have to stick with and you’ll not only be fine, you’ll be golden"
And then his gaze lingered on the masked man in the pit who was talking with the officials of the Death Arena, his eyes shining with interest, and a touch of greed as he thought of all the secrets this masked young man had to have on him, "Speaking of which, how did you know he was going to win? Do you know him?"
"Hahaha, no, he’s a client who found when I was in the Northern Outskirts. The reason I proposed you to bet is because I trust the judgent of those who introduced to him as a guide in the first place, they were the ones who bet the 20 million. I may only know them distantly, but what I do know is that they’re serious people and wouldn’t risk that kind of money on uncertain things", Zhao Biren laughed, "But you know , I like to be doubly sure... before we set out to go here, during negotiations about the price for my services, I got a couple of drinks in him, so he bragged a bit. I warned him about the dangers of this place to which he said he has so kind of scary background, so no one can touch him. When I laughed and said no one will look at his background here he laughed and said they will if they heard so family na, but added that he doesn’t fear anyone below Essence Ignition Realm anyway-..."
"Wait", the Right Guardian suddenly interjected in a very solemn voice, standing upright again and turning to look directly at Zhao Biren, "Did you just say family na? Think carefully, did he say the na? Was it... by chance... Hong? As in... the Hong Family?"
"Yes, that’s what he said... that’s what he...", Zhao Biren spoke while looking taken aback at this sudden and complete change in the Right Guardian, "He said ’they would care if they heard the na’, verbatim. But I’m not sure if he ntioned this Hong na... he might’ve just left it a mystery... W-What is it? It wasn’t a bluff?
"You idiot! You should’ve said that first! If it’s true and the na is Hong then-...!", the Right Guardian shouted in in a flash of abrupt and intense anger, causing the entire balcony to freeze up, and Zhao Biren to recoil slightly, and then after closing his eyes and covering them with his palm for a few monts, and a heavy sigh, he opened his eyes with a more calm deanor, waved his hand to the room that everything was fine, and spoke in a slightly tired voice, "Then again, it’s not entirely your fault. I should’ve known sothing was up when I saw those Bahshi Assassins with him. Those half-masks... they clearly don’t have normal status either... and I never heard of one behaving so intimately with soone. Shit, this almost went sideways in a very bad way"
He then motioned for the manager of the Death Arena and two of his associates to approach while briefly explaining to Zhao Biren, "All you have to know about the Hong Family is that they are not sothing you, or even I could ever ss with, ever. It’s not surprising you don’t know of them, it’s not talked about much nowadays, but it is a big deal. They might’ve lost in a power struggle so ti ago, but everyone knows it’s not that easy to completely exterminate a powerful entity of the underworld, everyone who has even a tiny shard of wit in their heads suspects they’re still lingering in the shadows, licking their wounds. If he’s even remotely connected to hidden remnants of the Hong Family we really should be very, and I an very, careful of how we deal with him. It’s one thing if he lost in a death duel he initiated himself, that’s still bad but probably would not be too severe, but it’s completely another story if I or soone else here approached him the wrong way"
When the Death Arena manager approached, the Right Guardian quickly gave him a set of instructions inaudible to Zhao Biren, and then sent a ssage to both the Left Guardian and even the Crow King himself through his associates.
It was at this point that a commotion rose from outside the private balcony, causing him to look there.
Wu Long and one of the officials jointly inspected the Elder’s Spatial Ring, and then the forr, taking the ring, transferred the money to the latter.
"Don’t worry about everything else, we’ll clean up here", the official casually said while watching Wu Long collect the Elder’s two blades as well, "Once you collect your tal you can go back up"
Instead of answering Wu Long smiled under his mask, and turning toward the booth of the comntator raised one of the swords of the Elder high up, boosting his words with Spiritual Qi, "I invoke the right of the winner to stay in the pit and fight on"
The ramblings of the comntator were cut short, as a mont of silence followed in which even the audience beca silent. Then a head appeared over the edge of the comntator’s booth, "C-co again? I think I misheard..."
"A-are you sure? There won’t be much ti to rest. You just fought a very hard battle...", the official next to him also asked with astonishnt and slight hesitation, perhaps thinking Wu Long was riding on a high of a win and wasn’t thinking straight.
Wu Long simply turned to the official and nodded, turning to begin collecting the tal around the fighting pit.
"H-he confirms!", the official, still shocked, turned to the comntator and shouted backing his voice with Spiritual Qi.
The whole place exploded with excitent and shouts.
"W-what should we do?", the manager of the Death Arena spoke to the silent Right Guardian.
"What can we do? It’s not like we can deny him his right as the winner for no reason in front of everyone. Let him do as he pleases, just... make sure no one on our side has strange ideas about him", the Right Guardian sighed, and then turned to Zhao Biren, "Go for now, I’ll call for you later and we’ll talk more. Just make sure his visit to the Crow King’s Nest goes without problems, and that he safely leaves our territory after, my people will assist you from the shadows in any way they can..."
And then before the manager of the Death Arena who was already at the door to the balcony could leave completely, Right Guardian called him, " Oh, and those people who bet 20 million, they might be connected sohow so make sure no one touches them either. Just quietly pay out 2 billion to them and say that you cannot accept any further bets from them for the near future"
Finally, sending everyone away, he was left alone on the balcony, placing his hands on the railing, looking down at the fighting pit with a gloomy look, "Tsk, things are troubleso as it is without such troublemakers... what the hell did he co here for? I just hope he leaves quietly after he’s done ssing around..."
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