Chapter 8

Outside the imperial city, in front of the arena, a crowd had already gathered. Besides the usual onlookers, there were also many of the capital's young lords.

Today was the day of the life-or-death duel between Longchen and Li Hao. Although duels were frequent here, life-or-death duels were rare.

Moreover, a life-or-death duel between two young lords, despite their cultivation not being earth-shattering, still attracted countless spectators.

In the most famous gambling house in the entire capital, the Azure Blue Gambling House, odds were set for all gamblers to choose from:

Li Hao wins, 1 to 2,

Longchen wins, 1 to 10.

Since a life-or-death duel could not be faked, especially between two young lords of noble birth, betting on their lives was extremely exciting.

For a time, even those who were not gamblers began to place bets, but most of them bet on Li Hao's victory.

Although Longchen had defeated Li Hao before, at that time Li Hao was completely unprepared and was caught off guard by Longchen. Miracles don't happen twice.

However, a small number of people, who enjoyed the thrill, took the risk and bet on Longchen's victory, but this group was very small.

The betting place was not far from the arena. The area where people bet on Li Hao's victory was packed, while the area where people bet on Longchen's victory was almost deserted.

"Bet 300,000 gold coins on Longchen's victory."

Suddenly, a tall man appeared in front of the person responsible for recording the bets and threw a crystal card.

"What?"

The man was shocked. For most of the morning, he had only received a little over 10,000 gold coins, and he almost thought he had heard wrong.

The tall man was none other than Shifeng, who had been entrusted by Longchen to bet all the gold coins on himself.

Longchen had anticipated that, due to their status, the Azure Blue Gambling House would certainly set odds for his life-or-death duel with Li Hao.

This kind of life-or-death duel, even if the Azure Blue Gambling House knew they would lose money, still needed to be held, otherwise they would lose a lot of popularity.

Their most profitable area was their internal gambling, and they had to participate in external gambling to avoid upsetting the gamblers.

However, the Azure Blue Gambling House, being wealthy, could afford to lose money for the sake of maintaining their reputation, so Longchen took advantage of this.

The original one-to-one bet was changed to a one-to-ten bet. As long as Longchen wasn't foolish, he knew what to do.

With the help of Fatso and others, Longchen had raised over 200,000 gold coins the previous day. After giving the gold coins to Shifeng, Shifeng, seeing Longchen's confidence, gritted his teeth and added 100,000 more to make it 300,000.

The Shifeng family was not wealthy. The Shis were straightforward and had a bad temper, and were not good at business, so they were actually not as rich as Fatso's family.

To raise the money, he had pawned his weapons and armor, gathering enough to take a big risk with Longchen.

After receiving the receipt, Shifeng's heart couldn't help but race. "Brother, you have to be steady. All my family's savings are on the line."

As noon approached, Li Hao arrived. He leaped onto the ten-foot-high arena, causing a round of cheers.

However, the cheers were not for his posture but for the start of the duel. The show was about to begin.

Today, Li Hao was dressed in a tight-fitting outfit, clean and neat, looking very impressive. A hint of pride appeared on his face: "Longchen, I will return the humiliation you gave me tenfold."

However, after waiting for a long time, Li Hao didn't see Longchen appear. People couldn't help but wonder if he was afraid to come.

Just as everyone was puzzled, the old man guarding the arena said coldly, "Your duel is at noon. You came an hour early. You can choose to wait on the arena or come down."

Everyone immediately booed. The previously confident Li Hao was taken aback: "Damn, how could I forget to check the time?"

"No problem, I'll wait on the arena. After all, he's a man about to die, and his time is much more precious than mine."

Li Hao smiled faintly and sat cross-legged on the arena, exuding the air of a master. However, this air of mastery didn't last long.

Since it was noon, the sun was scorching, and the arena was made of black stone, which was extremely hot, almost hot enough to fry an egg.

But Li Hao couldn't stand up after sitting down, as he had to maintain the air of a master, enduring the heat.

Some keen-eyed people noticed that Li Hao's buttocks were starting to smoke, and everyone's faces turned strange.

"This guy is really stupid. He's suffering for the sake of his pride. Before the fight even starts, his butt is almost cooked."

A delicate laugh came from a woman. In the distance, two masked women were watching the arena.

"Frankly, he's just being hypocritical," the other woman shook her head.

"Sister Mengqi, we've been here for several days. When do you plan to break the engagement?"

The woman called Mengqi frowned, looking troubled. "He's in a difficult situation now. If I suddenly propose to break the engagement, it would be too cruel for him. I don't know what to do."

"But, this can't go on forever. Our master has urged us several times. If we don't return to the mountain, we might be punished.

Besides, with your talent, you will eventually reach the innate realm and touch the Dao. You and he are from two different worlds, and there will be no outcome."

"But, I feel it would be unfair to him. Sigh... Let's see how it goes," Mengqi gently shook her head, a hint of distress in her eyes.

The woman, seeing Mengqi still hesitant, was about to speak when she suddenly noticed a commotion in the crowd and quickly looked over.

A man in a black robe was slowly walking through the crowd, with a sharp gaze and a radiant presence, exuding a unique aura that made him seem very profound.

He was like a well, seemingly ordinary on the surface, but no one could see through him, no one could gauge his depth, as if he himself was a mystery.

Even the woman and Mengqi, seeing Longchen appear in such a manner, couldn't help but be moved. It had to be said that the current Longchen was vastly different from the one they had seen a few days ago, now full of confidence.

Seeing Longchen arrive, Li Hao jumped up from the ground, feeling a burning pain in his buttocks, and was filled with anger.

"Longchen, come up and die," Li Hao roared.

Longchen didn't even look at Li Hao, glancing through the crowd and nodding to Shifeng, feeling relieved.

Not only did he see Shifeng, but he also saw Fatso and others, clearly there to cheer him on.

Longchen smiled at them and turned to walk up the stairs to the arena. Li Hao had jumped up, but Longchen walked up the stairs.

At that moment, those who had bet on Longchen's victory felt a chill in their hearts, thinking their money was likely to be lost.

"Longchen."

Seeing Longchen finally come up, Li Hao gritted his teeth and spat out two words.

"Idiot, is your butt burnt?" Longchen looked at Li Hao and couldn't help but sneer.

In fact, he had arrived earlier but had been hiding in the shade, unnoticed, and had seen everything clearly.

"It's noon, sign the life-or-death contract."

At that moment, the old man took out a document, and Longchen smiled, signing his name.

This time was different from the last. There was no option to surrender; the winner had the right to decide the other's life or death.

After Li Hao signed, he looked at Longchen with a sinister expression. "Brat, today I will return the humiliation you gave me a hundredfold."

Now that the life-or-death contract was signed, the arena became their place of death, with no one to referee.

"Sharp blades heal quickly, but harsh words leave lasting hatred. It seems you don't understand. Your repeated provocations are forcing my hand."

Longchen took a deep breath, his eyes filled with a strong killing intent. Since Zhou Yaoyang had said he wasn't Long Tiaoxiao's son, people had started using this insulting term to call him.

"Die, bastard."

Li Hao sneered, roared, and channeled his spiritual energy, a visible aura of spiritual power swirling around him.

The crowd below exchanged smiles. Last time, Li Hao had suffered a great loss because he hadn't used his true essence to protect himself, and Longchen had successfully ambushed him. This time, he had already set up his defenses.

Although he was only at the Gathering Qi stage and couldn't project his spiritual energy outward, channeling it to protect his body made it difficult for ordinary people to harm him.

After setting up his defenses, Li Hao, with a sinister smile, pounced on Longchen, his hands forming claws, aiming for Longchen's shoulders.

His claws, filled with spiritual energy, were like iron hooks. If an ordinary person were caught, their shoulder bones would be shattered instantly.

"Good, Li Hao, completely cripple this bastard."

A loud cheer came from the crowd below. The person was none other than Wang Mang, who had been slapped by Longchen in the Imperial Academy, losing half his teeth.

Now, Wang Mang, at a young age, had lost half his teeth. The medicinal pills to regrow bones were too expensive for his family to afford, and he had long hated Longchen. Seeing Longchen about to be defeated, he couldn't help but cheer loudly.

As he cheered, Shifeng, Fatso, and others' faces changed. Longchen had not shown any signs of cultivation, making their hearts race.

Longchen watched Li Hao pounce, a sneer on his lips. He took a step forward, his entire body moving like a shadow, heading straight for Li Hao.

"Bang."