Translator: CinderTL
Hui Zhen turned toward the voice and saw a young man with a rebellious air approaching him, his face twisted in a mocking sneer. Behind the youth trailed a Divine Transformation Stage guardian.
"Gao Cang, it's been a few months since we last met. Your audacity has grown, daring to mock me. If you displease me, beware—the Dry Zen Temple will annihilate your Gao Clan," Hui Zhen warned.
The young man, identified as Gao Cang, dismissed Hui Zhen's threat with a wave of his hand.
"Hui Zhen, do you really think you're someone important? You may have a powerful father, but in the Immortal Cultivation World, strength speaks loudest. You've cultivated for half a century and are still only at the early stage of foundation establishment. Great Master Du'e has provided you with vast resources, yet your progress remains painfully slow. This only proves you're a complete waste of talent."
Hui Zhen's expression darkened, turning icy.
"Gao Cang, it seems you've come here deliberately to cause trouble."
Gao Cang replied arrogantly, "I am causing trouble. What are you going to do about it? I've advanced to the golden core stage, and my clan has assigned a divine transformation stage cultivator to protect me. Meanwhile, you're only accompanied by a nascent soul stage guardian today."
The "Nascent Soul Stage guard" Gao Cang referred to was Song Wen.
Song Wen had arrived with Hui Zhen, dressed in the robes of a monk. Gao Cang instinctively assumed Song Wen was Hui Zhen's attendant.
Song Wen, in turn, had roughly guessed Gao Cang's background.
The Gao Clan was the foremost cultivation family under the Dry Zen Temple, their influence not to be underestimated. The clan boasted five or six Void Refinement Stage cultivators.
Even the abbot of the Dry Zen Temple treated the Gao Clan with deference.
The animosity between Gao Cang and Hui Zhen was clearly long-standing.
Today, Hui Zhen had brought only one "Nascent Soul Stage guard," and Gao Cang was determined to seize this opportunity to thoroughly humiliate him.
"Young masters, please calm down," Elder Ran interjected. "Give me some face and let's settle this peacefully."
"Don't worry, Elder Ran," Gao Cang replied. "I won't cause trouble in your martial arena."
This martial arena appeared unremarkable, but it was actually a gold mine.
A single Nascent Soul Stage rogue cultivator like Elder Ran could never manage such an arena alone.
Behind the scenes lurked the shadow of a high-ranking official from the Dry Zen Temple, along with the involvement of several other factions under the temple's control.
Elder Ran was merely a puppet pushed to the forefront.
Cutting off someone's livelihood is akin to murdering their parents.
Gao Cang wasn't foolish enough to cause trouble in the martial arena.
As for his feud with Hui Zhen, as long as it didn't result in bloodshed, neither Du'e nor the Gao Clan would intervene, dismissing it as mere squabbles between juniors.
"Thank you, Young Master Gao," Elder Ran said gratefully.
Gao Cang ignored Elder Ran, turning instead to Hui Zhen.
"Hui Zhen, are you brave enough to wager with me? We'll each select a martial slave from Elder Ran's collection and have them fight to the death..."
Before Gao Cang could finish, Hui Zhen interrupted, "What's there to fear?"
"Hold your horses," Gao Cang said. "I haven't stated the stakes yet."
"Whatever the stakes may be," Hui Zhen retorted, "if it's something you, Gao Cang, can produce, I'll gladly accept."
"One thousand high-grade spirit stones," Gao Cang declared.
Hui Zhen's expression stiffened slightly. "You... you can actually produce a thousand high-grade spirit stones?"
A faint smirk played on Gao Cang's lips as he waved his hand.
Instantly, a pile of spirit stones materialized in mid-air.
Thud... thud... thud...
The stones plummeted to the ground, landing with a series of dull thuds.
Gao Cang's sudden action immediately drew the attention of everyone in the pavilion.
They shifted their gaze from the stone platform to the pile of spirit stones scattered across the floor.
Hui Zhen naturally became the focus of their attention.
He instantly realized that Gao Cang had orchestrated this entire scene to publicly humiliate him.
Seeing Hui Zhen's expression darken, Gao Cang grew even more smug.
"Hui Zhen, you can't possibly not have a thousand high-grade spirit stones, can you? You, the son of Great Master Du'e, can't even produce a mere thousand high-grade spirit stones?"
Hui Zhen's face turned ashen. He knew he had fallen into Gao Cang's trap, but his pride wouldn't allow him to back down so easily.
"Of course I have a thousand high-grade spirit stones. They're just not on me right now. They're with my guard."
With that, he turned to Song Wen.
"Give me the thousand high-grade spirit stones I left with you," Hui Zhen commanded imperiously, as if he truly had such a sum in Song Wen's possession.
Though Hui Zhen appeared calm on the surface, his heart pounded with anxiety.
First, he had no idea if Song Wen actually had a thousand high-grade spirit stones.
Although Song Wen was a nascent soul cultivator, many rogue cultivators at the Nascent Soul Stage couldn't even afford a thousand high-grade spirit stones.
Secondly, their encounter had been fleeting. Even if Song Wen had the spirit stones, he might not be willing to help him.
"Yes!" Song Wen replied respectfully, immediately producing a thousand high-grade spirit stones.
Watching the spirit stones float toward him, Hui Zhen's face broke into a satisfied smile.
He turned to Gao Cang. "When shall we go choose our martial slaves?"
Gao Cang's expression darkened. "Hui Zhen, these spirit stones probably aren't even yours. They belong to your guard, don't they?"
"If I say they're mine, they're mine," Hui Zhen retorted. "Gao Cang, are you in or out?"
"I'm in!" Gao Cang glared at Song Wen, gritting his teeth.
"Elder Ran, take us to choose our martial slaves," Hui Zhen said.
"Very well, young masters. Please follow me," Elder Ran replied, leading the way to the left.
Gao Cang and his guard, along with Song Wen, followed Elder Ran.
Soon, the group arrived at a stone wall.
Elder Ran produced a token and channeled a wisp of Spiritual Power into it.
The stone wall trembled slightly, revealing a ten-foot-tall stone gate.
Behind the gate lay a long, narrow passage.
The group traversed the narrow passageway and emerged into a vast underground cavern.
The cavern was remarkably spacious, spanning several dozen acres, and housed over a thousand iron cages.
However, most of the cages stood empty; only about thirty contained a single cultivator each.
These cultivators were completely naked, their cultivation sealed, and their limbs tightly bound by iron chains. This rendered them not only incapable of escape but also unable to commit suicide.
All of them were at the Foundation Establishment or Qi Refining Stage.
"Young masters, all the martial slaves are here. Please feel free to choose," Elder Ran said.
Hui Zhen's gaze swept across the rows of cages before he suddenly spoke.
"Gao Cang, we must select the martial slaves ourselves. No one else is to interfere."
He feared Gao Cang might seek assistance from his guards. With their experience and keen eyes, they could easily identify the strongest among the martial slaves.
"Rest assured, I wouldn't resort to such petty tricks," Gao Cang replied. "To make this contest more interesting, how about we add another rule?"
"What rule?" Hui Zhen asked.
"The martial slaves we select must not use spells or treasures during the fight. Only close-quarters combat is allowed," Gao Cang proposed.
"Very well! I agree," Hui Zhen replied without hesitation.
Gao Cang's proposal perfectly aligned with his desires. He relished the sight of close-quarters combat, where blood splattered across the arena.
The two immediately began selecting their combatants.
Gao Cang chose a gaunt, withered old man with peak Foundation Establishment cultivation.
Hui Zhen selected a woman built like a standing bear, her cultivation at the late Foundation Establishment stage.
Hui Zhen's chosen fighter was at a disadvantage due to her lower cultivation level.
With only early Foundation Establishment cultivation himself, he couldn't accurately gauge the woman's true strength. However, her vigorous Blood Qi suggested she might stand a chance in close combat.
"Win this fight for me, and I'll grant you your freedom," Hui Zhen said coldly to the female cultivator. "If you lose, you'd better die in the arena. Otherwise, I'll make you wish you were dead."
The woman glared at Hui Zhen with icy fury, her eyes burning with rage and resentment.
Once a free-spirited rogue cultivator, she had been forcibly abducted and turned into a tool for others' amusement.
How could she not hate?
Yet she was powerless to resist.
Now, her only path to survival lay in killing the old man whose fate was intertwined with hers.
(End of the Chapter)
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