Chapter 11: The Life-and-Death Arena Begins

The next day, the sky was cloudless for ten thousand miles.

Jingchuan City. A sea of people gathered at the entrance of the City Lord's Mansion; even the City Lord of Jingchuan was quite helpless about it.

Jingchuan City was a small city under the rule of the Nine Provinces of the Wuhuang Dynasty; in this vast Wuhuang Province, it was but a negligible existence.

For the most part, the City Lord's Mansion managed affairs among commoners; when it involved the major Families, they often turned a blind eye.

Outside the City Lord's Mansion, there was a massive Arena, a place for the people of Jingchuan City to compete and spar. Usually, there was a steady stream of people, but it had never been as popular as it was today.

A life-and-death battle between Long Xiaotian, the Genius of the younger generation from Jingchuan's number one Family, the Long Family, and the Xiao Family's trash—Xiao Fan, the older brother of the Genius Xiao Tian!

The venue, which could originally hold tens of thousands, was now clearly insufficient. The number of spectators this time was no less than those attracted by the Piaomiao Immortal Palace messenger a few days ago.

The crowd was clamorous, and the endless stream of spectators began to discuss.

"This Xiao Fan is the Long Family's Matrilocal son-in-law, yet he dares to challenge Long Xiaotian. He must have a death wish, right?"

"I feel like Xiao Fan is going to be beaten to death…"

…

As one of the protagonists, Long Xiaotian had arrived at the Arena early in the morning and was prepared.

Although Xiao Fan was also in the Long Family, the two parties naturally wouldn't come together.

Before noon had even arrived, Long Xiaotian strode into the air and leaped onto the Arena. His imposing manner immediately caused many people around him to cry out in surprise.

As the main party, many people from the Long Family had come: Family Head Long Anhai, his second son Long Yi, as well as a group of direct descendants and clan elders.

With only half a quarter-hour left until noon, Xiao Fan was still nowhere to be seen, which prompted another round of mockery from the onlookers below.

"I bet Xiao Fan doesn't dare to show up, does he?"

"I think so too. Fight Long Xiaotian? What a joke. Xiao Fan would probably be beaten to death."

"But even if he doesn't come, what can he do? As long as he's in Jingchuan City, would the Long Family let him off? Not to mention he's their Matrilocal son-in-law."

In just one day, the news that Xiao Fan was the Long Family's Matrilocal son-in-law had naturally spread everywhere, along with the story of how he was severely injured by his younger brother and sent to the Long Family to marry Long Miaoyin as a Live-in son-in-law.

Below the stage, Long Anhai's expression flickered. They had made such a big deal out of this life-and-death battle, yet Xiao Fan hadn't shown up?

Wouldn't this make everyone see the Long Family as a joke?

Long Yi, who was standing nearby, felt the same way. If anyone in the Long Family hated Xiao Fan, he would definitely be at the top of the list.

"Father, that trash Xiao Fan wouldn't dare not to come, would he?" Long Yi asked, and the surrounding Long Family members all looked over.

Long Anhai lowered his head for a moment, then said in a deep voice, "Send someone to tell him to come. If he doesn't, break his legs and bring him here."

Beating Xiao Fan in public this time was specifically to suppress the Xiao Family's arrogance.

Even if the Xiao Family claimed to the outside world that Xiao Fan was no longer one of them, did that matter?

As long as Xiao Fan's surname was still Xiao, he represented the Xiao Family!

Long Yi nodded, his face contorted in a grimace as he prepared to leave with some Long Family experts to fetch Xiao Fan.

Just then, he heard someone in the crowd cry out in surprise.

"Xiao Fan! Xiao Fan is here!!"

Everyone's eyes turned to see a man and a woman strolling forward. The man wore a white robe and looked ethereal and elegant, while the woman had a graceful figure and wore a veil over her face.

At that moment, everyone present knew who had arrived—today's protagonist, Xiao Fan!

The crowd blocking Xiao Fan's path instinctively made way for the two of them. They passed through without obstruction and slowly walked to the front of the Arena.

"Wait for me here," Xiao Fan said to Long Miaoyin before leaping onto the Arena.

Long Miaoyin gave a soft "mm" and then whispered to herself, "Come back safely."

It was exactly noon. As Xiao Fan stepped onto the stage, the surroundings instantly erupted into a clamor, and many Gambling Dens even set up booths to take bets.

"Closing the bets now, closing the bets! Odds for Long Xiaotian to win: 1 to 0.01. Odds for Xiao Fan to win: 1 to 100!!!"

Such odds were extremely rare anywhere. However, even with Xiao Fan's odds being so high, very few people bet on him to win—only those who wanted to test their luck.

The bookmakers seemed to have expected this and weren't surprised; after all, as long as one wasn't a fool, they wouldn't bet on Xiao Fan.

However, at that moment, a woman's voice rang out: "I'll bet on Xiao Fan's victory. Let's put down one thousand Spirit Stones."

Everyone around was stunned. A thousand Spirit Stones at once… this person was either a fool or boasting.

What did a thousand Spirit Stones represent?

Aside from the major Families in Jingchuan City, no one else could possibly produce them, not even the Xiao Family.

Among the resources obtained from the Long Family for Xiao Tian previously, there were exactly one thousand Spirit Stones.

This showed how precious they were.

"You're not joking with me, are you?"

The man taking the bets frowned and was about to snap, but then he saw the woman casually toss a Storage Pouch. He stepped forward to check it and immediately gasped.

Inside were one thousand Spirit Stones, neatly arranged.

"Is this enough now?" the woman said with a faint smile.

"It's enough, it's enough." The bookmaker was overjoyed and nodded repeatedly. After making the entry, he looked up to see who the woman was, but she had already vanished.

From beginning to end, he hadn't clearly seen her face; he only remembered she was wearing a red dress.

On the Arena, Xiao Fan looked at Long Xiaotian, and the other did the same; both parties sized each other up.

Long Xiaotian still maintained his lofty attitude and said, "I'll give you one more chance. Kneel and beg for mercy, apologize to my Long Family on behalf of the Xiao Family, and I can forgive you."

An uproar broke out among the onlookers. Long Xiaotian had channeled his cultivation when he spoke, so everyone present heard him clearly.

"Heh… Long Xiaotian," Xiao Fan replied indifferently. "Are you a fool?"

"Hmm?" Long Xiaotian's brow furrowed, and his face twitched. How dared this Xiao Fan insult him in front of so many people?

"Setting aside the fact that I've been expelled from the Xiao Family and my name isn't even on the genealogy, even if it were, what does I, Xiao Fan, have to do with that Xiao Family?"

"The Xiao Family… what do they even count for?" Xiao Fan's voice was resonant. He had also channeled his cultivation, ensuring everyone heard him clearly.

"You…" Long Xiaotian wanted to say something, but he was interrupted by Xiao Fan.

"And you, Long Xiaotian, what do you count for? You actually want me to kneel and beg for mercy? You're not worthy."

Upon hearing Xiao Fan's words, the clamor of the crowd reached its peak. The faces of the Long Family members below the stage grew uglier one by one, especially the Family Head Long Anhai, who wished he could go up and slap Xiao Fan to death.

"Xiao Tian, stop wasting words with him. Just beat this trash to death," Long Anhai said.

Long Xiaotian had the same intention. Without another word, he moved directly.

"Come on, let me see what you're capable of!!"