Chapter 86

Huaxia Jiu watched the lecherous middle-aged man's expression change rapidly, feeling somewhat puzzled, thinking to himself that this senior brother was truly strange.

"Senior Brother... um... Senior Brother! I don’t know how to address you. Could you please explain what the senior brother mentioned about the duel platform and the betting? Could you explain it to me?" Huaxia Jiu politely bowed to the lecherous middle-aged man and said.

The lecherous middle-aged man was used to the arrogant and condescending attitude of inner disciples towards outer disciples. Seeing this young and handsome inner disciple being so kind and polite, he was momentarily taken aback.

He was first stunned, then somewhat flattered, and said, "Senior... Senior Brother, my name is Wu Jiu, Wu as in martial arts, and Jiu as in alcohol. Actually, you can just call me Junior Brother Wu. For a senior brother to call me senior brother, I really don’t dare to accept it! Hahaha... So..."

Seeing that this man had been talking for a long time, rambling on and on, Huaxia Jiu interrupted him without any courtesy and said, "Oh! I am Huaxia Jiu. Could you please, Junior Brother Wu, explain what you mentioned earlier—"

Wu Jiu suddenly remembered Huaxia Jiu’s question and, without waiting for him to repeat it, hurriedly said, "Senior Brother Huaxia, you don’t know about the betting on the duel platform—oh, oh! I guess Senior Brother Huaxia has been practicing in the inner mountain and doesn’t know about these trivial matters, which is understandable. But, to be honest, Senior Brother Huaxia is so young and already—"

Huaxia Jiu listened for a long time, but seeing that Wu Jiu still hadn’t gotten to the point and was still rambling, his extremely practical nature made him somewhat impatient. However, he wouldn’t get angry at someone who was being kind and courteous to him. He couldn’t help but frown slightly.

Wu Jiu was known among the outer disciples for his verbosity. Whenever outer disciples encountered him, they would all feel a headache and be speechless.

But when Wu Jiu saw Huaxia Jiu frown, he couldn’t help but feel a chill and realized his mistake. With a sheepish look, he continued, "Uh—The betting on the duel platform is where disciples of similar cultivation levels use contribution points as stakes for a duel. The loser gives the contribution points to the winner. Speaking of which, I remember a month ago, Senior Brother Huang from the Sword Pavilion and—"

With a swoosh, Wu Jiu felt a blur in front of his eyes, and Huaxia Jiu was already gone. He was stunned and looked in the direction of the sound, only to see Huaxia Jiu already flying towards the duel platform.

Seeing this, Wu Jiu slapped his head, muttered a sentence, and shouted, "Senior Brother Huaxia, wait for me! Junior Brother is also going to the duel platform!" Without waiting for his words to finish, he also took off and flew towards the duel platform.

Huaxia Jiu, having understood the details of the duel platform betting, decided to save time and left the verbose Wu Jiu behind, flying straight to the duel stone.

The duel platform was not far from the contribution hall. Huaxia Jiu flew at full speed, and in a few dozen breaths, he could already see two hundred-meter-wide white stones, with hundreds of disciples surrounding one of the stones, shouting continuously. On the flat stone, two disciples were currently dueling.

Seeing the densely packed crowd around the duel stone, Huaxia Jiu couldn’t help but frown slightly. He looked around and noticed that the other stone was empty. Feeling a sense of relief, he pushed off with his foot and flashed over to stand on that stone.

Huaxia Jiu was satisfied with the wide view beside him and then focused his gaze on the two outer disciples dueling on the other stone, about fifty meters away.

Both disciples had cultivation levels similar to Huaxia Jiu, both at the initial stage of the Core Formation realm. Huaxia Jiu, who had never seen a duel between disciples of the same cultivation level before, wanted to understand the strength of cultivators at the same realm, so he watched attentively.

At the same time, Wu Jiu, who was flying towards him, saw what Huaxia Jiu was doing and was first stunned, then startled. He became anxious and shouted loudly, "Senior Brother Huaxia! Quickly get off that stone, it’s the arena stone—I forgot to tell you—"

Wu Jiu, worried that the shouts from the crowd around the stone would drown out his voice, used his true essence to amplify it, making it thunderous and echoing throughout half of the Luo You Valley.

Huaxia Jiu, hearing Wu Jiu’s shout, turned to look at him, wondering what the arena stone was. Suddenly, a woman’s scream came from the side, followed by a clear and crisp shout, "A senior brother is challenging the arena—"

Huaxia Jiu was startled by the sudden scream and was puzzled. Suddenly, he saw the hundreds of people around the other stone turn and look at him. To his unease, they all started shouting and rushed towards the stone he was standing on.

The distance of several dozen meters saw hundreds of people using various methods. Some flew, some jumped, and some ran. In an instant, they appeared beside the stone Huaxia Jiu was standing on and rushed towards a white jade square stone, about the size of a dining table, without stopping.

The person at the front was the young woman in white robes who had screamed. She took out her identity token when she was an arm’s length away from the white jade stone, swiped it over the stone, and quickly stepped back. Huaxia Jiu saw a cluster of white light flash and disappear on the white jade stone. The next person’s arm appeared above the stone, and they also swiped their identity token quickly. This process was repeated by ten people.

With a thud, the eleventh person, an old man with a long beard, was about to rush towards the white jade stone when a white light barrier suddenly enveloped the stone. The old man couldn’t stop himself and crashed into the barrier, letting out a惨叫 and falling out.

Seeing this, the hundreds of people who followed stopped, but no one paid attention to the old man. Instead, they all looked at the white jade stone or at Huaxia Jiu, their expressions grim.

From the moment Wu Jiu shouted to Huaxia Jiu to the moment the old man fell, the entire process was so swift that it left Huaxia Jiu dazed.

At this point, Huaxia Jiu recalled what Wu Jiu had shouted and realized that standing on this stone might have caused some misunderstanding. He pushed off with his foot, intending to jump down.

With a thud, Huaxia Jiu felt a flash of white light before him, and a powerful force pushed him back, as if he had hit an iron wall. He fell backward, feeling shocked. He rubbed his dazed head and tried to stand up.

At this moment, Wu Jiu emerged from the crowd, looking extremely apologetic, and said, "Senior Brother Huaxia! It’s all my fault for not telling you about the arena stone, which led to you accidentally setting up a challenge. Sigh—Senior Brother Huaxia! Now that the challenge has been set, it can’t be undone. I’ll explain the rules of the arena to you so you can prepare quickly. Speaking of the arena stone—"

"Old drunkard, get lost! By the time you finish talking, the yellow chrysanthemums will be cold. Let me and this—Junior Brother—duel first!" Without waiting for Wu Jiu to start his rambling, the young woman who had swiped the token first shouted.

The young woman, exuding a heroic aura, ignored Wu Jiu’s awkward and sheepish look and leaped onto the stone where Huaxia Jiu was standing, looking at him.

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