Chapter 2106 — Wagering With You

"Give up? Pull the other one! If you were really capable of giving up, I, Pi Zhishan, would hand you my head on a platter!" Pi Zhishan was so incensed by Wei Zhao that he had lost his head entirely.

"What use would I have for your head? How about the two of us make a wager instead—if I do give up, you give me another bottle of that external-body tempering elixir. Deal?" Wei Zhao asked.

"That..." Pi Zhishan's words had been spoken in the heat of anger, but now that it had actually escalated to the level of a formal wager, he felt a flicker of misgiving.

"Can't make that call, can you? Then forget the bet," Wei Zhao said mildly.

"Take him on! What's one bottle of elixir? If you lose, I'll compensate you with pills!" You Panhu harbored the deepest hatred for Wei Zhao—and for good reason: Wei Zhao had just swindled his family out of two pill cauldrons! Naturally, he was eager for Wei Zhao to forfeit a match.

What was more, in You Panhu's eyes, Wei Zhao's words were nothing but bluster, merely a matter of him having locked horns with Pi Zhishan. Judging by how Wei Zhao had followed up with "then forget the bet," it seemed Wei Zhao did not truly wish to give up the contest either.

To forfeit a match meant being forced to lose a treasure, all to trade for one bottle of tempering elixir—by any reckoning, no sort of bargain at all. That was precisely why You Panhu kept goading Pi Zhishan into standing his ground against Wei Zhao.

You Panhu had come to watch the contest today as well; he simply had no chance to speak, and so kept his head down and his light hidden.

"Fine, then I'll take your wager. If you give up the match, I'll give you a bottle of tempering elixir!" Pi Zhishan said with a nod.

Old Master You looked on as You Panhu opened his mouth, and his lungs nearly burst with fury! Was there something wrong with You Panhu? Telling Wei Zhao to forfeit? If Wei Zhao simply gave up in the final spirit-beast trial, would their whole plan not be for nothing?

But this plan had been laid by the old masters of several families and the heads of the various sects; You Panhu naturally knew nothing of it, and Old Master You could not possibly have revealed it in advance. So in this moment he was seething, silently cursing You Panhu for having far too loose a tongue.

"All right, Old Zhao, can we announce the results now? I'm about to drop dead from exhaustion!" Having finished his wager with Pi Zhishan, Wei Zhao turned his gaze to Old Master Zhao.

"In this round, the hidden Han family wins. Second place goes to the hidden Pi family, third to the Golden Bell Sect!" Old Master Zhao announced the results. "Will the hidden Han family come claim the stakes; the hidden Pi family and the Golden Bell Sect may withdraw theirs!"

Wei Zhao glanced at the hidden Pi family's stake—it was the Meridian-Opening Pill he had traded to them earlier. Wei Zhao had no interest in it whatsoever, and so refused to exchange anything for it. Pi Zhishan gave Wei Zhao a cold look, then, pill in hand, left together with Pi Zhihai and Old Master Pi, without another word.

The hidden Pi family had been lucky indeed—they had also won third place in the first contest, breaking even once again.

As for the Golden Bell Sect in third place, Wei Zhao was not surprised. It seemed that external-body practitioners did hold a certain advantage in the sheer might of their martial techniques, but that advantage was confined to brute force against brute force; the techniques of internal practitioners tended more toward skill. Take the Frenzied Flame Fist, for instance—the power born of raw force alone might be somewhat lacking, but with fire-energy to complement it, it could inflict damage on an enemy in combat that they would never anticipate.

The treasure the Golden Bell Sect had put up for exchange this time was a set known as the low-grade Golden Cicada Inner Armor. According to the treasure description they had registered, this low-grade Golden Cicada Inner Armor could withstand attacks from any expert below the Earth rank—meaning that so long as a practitioner's strength had not reached the Earth rank, any Mystic-rank practitioner would find this inner armor utterly impervious.

The catch was that this was only the low-grade Golden Cicada Inner Armor, and unlike the mid-grade and high-grade versions, it was not proof against fire and water. This low-grade armor still feared burning and flooding.

The item was a treasure in its own right, but plainly put, it was in fact a transaction between the Golden Bell Sect and the Pi family. Both families excelled in external-body cultivation, yet one could be said to specialize in attack and the other in defense. The hidden Pi family was somewhat lacking in defense, while the Golden Bell Sect was somewhat lacking in attack—if the two families complemented each other, it would be a fine arrangement.

To the Golden Bell Sect, this low-grade Golden Cicada Inner Armor was of scant use, so it would have been better to lose it to the hidden Pi family in this contest. Of course, even without losing, they could simply trade it to the hidden Pi family—but who would have thought the hidden Pi family would lose instead?

Naturally, the hidden Pi family did not wish to exchange with the Golden Bell Sect right in front of Wei Zhao; if they did, Wei Zhao would likely interfere and forcibly exercise his right of exchange to claim the low-grade Golden Cicada Inner Armor from the Golden Bell Sect's hands.

So the hidden Pi family made a show of indifference and departed first—in truth, a hint to the Golden Bell Sect to take their treasure and go quickly, so the two could conclude their business in private.

Unfortunately for them, Wei Zhao had taken a fancy to the thing. Proof against the attacks of experts below the Earth rank? Not bad. He would get himself one—even if he had no use for it, if those around him ever undertook anything dangerous, it could still serve.

So Wei Zhao casually fished out from his pile of goods a "Minor Restoration Pill." This pill was the stake the hidden You family had submitted; it could rapidly heal the injured, but not those whose meridians had been damaged—it could only treat injuries other than meridian wounds.

Of course, a "Minor" Restoration Pill was, as the name implied, of rather modest effect. It was useless against grave injuries and could only treat wounds that were not fatal to begin with.

To Wei Zhao, this too was of scant use. His Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art could heal a person comprehensively, whether the meridians were injured or not, so the Minor Restoration Pill was good for nothing. Wei Zhao tossed it straight to Diamond and said, "I'll trade this for your low-grade Golden Cicada Inner Armor set!"

"That..." Diamond was momentarily speechless. Damn it, aren't you just swindling me? We're the Golden Bell Sect—what we train is to be impervious to blade and spear! What the hell use is a Minor Restoration Pill to us? Who could possibly wound us? And if anyone could wound us, the injury would be beyond what a single Minor Restoration Pill could save—we'd either be crippled or dead!

What was more, this low-grade Golden Cicada Inner Armor was meant for the hidden Pi family. If Wei Zhao traded for it, how were they to explain it to the hidden Pi family?

So Diamond cast a pleading look at Old Master Zhao, hoping he would say a few words.

"What, don't tell me you're unwilling to trade?" Wei Zhao glanced at Diamond and asked mildly. "Or is it that you no longer wish to abide by the rules of the hidden-family summit?"

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