Chapter 49 – The Grand Arena

Shortly after Wensheng finished his words, both Shaochuan and Gao Pan were stunned by the huge amount of money the Magnate had betted on this fight. They stood there with utterly pale faces.

With 100,000 gold coins, one could hire a cultivator who had already reached the peak state of an ocean of qi.

Excluding staff salary and other expenditures, the annual revenue of the Black Dragon Palace stood at merely 10,000 gold coins on average, which meant, that it took them ten full years to accumulate 100,000 gold coins!

“Gao Pan, do you now understand why the Magnate conferred this golden cassock to you? It was bought from the Gold Refinement Palace, at the price of 2,000 gold coins.” Wensheng kindly warned Gao Pan. Despite the fact that he had full confidence in Gao Pan’s fighting experience, he wasn’t 100% sure about who would survive in the end. After all, Xu Yi was also a cultivator in the peak state of a forged body.

The Black Dragon Palace couldn’t afford any disrepute anymore. Xu Yi’s story of killing the young lord of the White Horse Palace, the subdivision of the Black Dragon Palace, had already been quite sensational throughout Guanan. They wouldn’t allow themselves to lose face yet again, otherwise they would really become the laughingstock of all of Guanan.

“I swear I’ll complete this mission and behead that bastard!” Gao Pan clenched his fists, while the cracking of his knuckles could be clearly heard.

“Great! I bet you won’t dice with death.” Wensheng replied with satisfaction. He then reached into his pocket and took out a black box, the size of a matchbox. In the box there was a specially-designed silver ring, in the center of which a delicately-sculptured snake was curled up.

“This ring is also bestowed upon you, by the Magnate. You should use it as a concealed weapon, in case of an emergency. Look, here is the trigger, touch the head of the snake with the strength of your palm, and then it will protrude a green sting from the mouth of the snake, which was plucked from a 100-years old Green Queen Bee. This sting is rather tough and sharp, whenever it pokes into flesh, it will inject poison into it. Usually, a wild beast will immediately fall down, after only a single dose of this poison. For those below the ocean of qi stage, this weapon is lethal. However, even those who’re beyond the ocean of qi stage, would shed away from this attack.” Wensheng proudly explained its functions.

Unexpectedly, with the help of the strength exerted from his palm, the head of the snake shot out a long and thin sting. It went straight through the edge of Gao Pan’s golden cassock and then flew to the corner, until it finally stabbed into a bronze column.

The golden cassock was like a beancurd, easily poked through by the sting. The quickness and unpredictability of the attack was another advantage, as even for Gao Pan it was impossible to completely dodge this attack.

Taking the sting out of the bronze column, Wensheng stepped forward, in order to show the look of the sting to Shaochuan and Gao Pan.

In Wensheng’s palm, the sting shortened to only one third of the length of a needle. It was as thin as the fine hair of a human, with a jade-green color.

After the demonstration, Wensheng bent the sting into an arch and gingerly pushed it back into the mouth of the sculptured snake, before he tucked the ring into Gao Pan’s hands, “This ring will guarantee your safety, but remember, only use it when it is absolutely necessary. You know, the sting is a consumable, once it enters into the flesh and releases its poison, it will be useless. It costs 1,000 gold coins for a single sting! Although our Magnate is always generous, you’d better use these weapons efficiently and wisely.”

“Generous?” Gao Pao highly doubted this, however, he firmly nodded to hide his suspicion.

The Magnate of the Black Dragon Palace was stingy with money, everyone knew that. After the fight, he would take all his weapons back from Gao Pan, including the golden cassock and the ring.

Gao Pan was determined to refrain himself from using the sting, unless his life was in danger. Otherwise, even if he won the fight, the Magnate would be greatly angered.

…………………

Through the narrow channel, the sand in the crystal sandglass kept flowing from the top section to the bottom section. Xu Yi had been staring at it for quite a while.

Since his departure from General Gao’s room, Xu Yi was asked to stay in this room. When the sand in the sandglass had fully filled the bottom part, the fight would start.

Finally, the last grain of the sand dropped to the bottom part and, almost immediately, the door opened, “It’s time to go, stand up and follow me!” Another man in green clothing led Xu Yi through numerous aisles and finally arrived at an elevator. Xu Yi was rather curious, as he looked around and tried to find out where the power-generator was. As soon as the elevator stopped, the man in green clothing continued to walk ahead until they reached another elevator.

Xu Yi was utterly befuddled by the mysterious way to the arena, as they had already lowered themselves by more than 150 meters.

- Di! Di! -

A signal sound came from the waist of the man in green clothing, before the elevator stopped a little bit and the man in green clothing got out and left, leaving Xu Yi alone. Soon, the elevator started back up, but this time it went upward.

To Xu Yi’s surprise, unlike the previous elevator, the walls in this one stood still, as only the floor went upward.

Soon, Xu Yi saw that he had emerged on the stage of the arena! Several meters away from him, a man in a golden cassock rose from another elevator.

Their gazes locked on one another, as both Xu Yi and Gao Pan looked at each other.

Never in this lifetime, or even in the three-dimensional movies in his previous lifetime, had he ever seen such a grand arena.

The surface of the arena was paved by green slates, all made from the compound of heavy iron and diamonds. A layer of golden sand was applied to the slate, making it even more magnificent. The almost boundless arena was more like a place for the most untamed beasts to fight with each other.

The terrace stands were as high as mountains; they could accommodate millions of spectators. Waves of people swarmed into the stands, pushing and squeezing all the way through.

To ensure the visibility for each spectator, the designer of this arena had shaped the stands into a concave-convex form. Looking from afar, it looked like a giant serpent crouching on the ground.

However, with millions of spectators, the stands were built in high latitude. Looking from the highest point, the two candidates in the center of the arena were like two small dots.

In order to solve this problem, the Guanan Government had invited an innovative genius from the Gold Refinement Palace.

And this genius created a gigantic projector screen on each side of the stands, exposing each movement of the candidates. This way, the spectator would certainly enjoy an accurate view of the fight.

In addition, to convey the sound of the fight to the ears of each and every spectator, the genius had placed multiple sound-gathering devices in the stands. Be it the “thud” of the colliding of the palms, or the smallest of noises of pulling out a sword, all would be heard.