Life-or-death battle

Outside the Imperial Capital, in front of the dueling arena, quite a few people had already gathered. Apart from some idlers who often watched the excitement, there were also many young nobles from the Imperial Capital.

Today was the day of the life and death duel between Long Chen and Li Hao. Although duels were constant here on ordinary days, life and death duels were rare.

Not to mention a life and death duel between two young nobles; even though their cultivation levels were not earth-shattering, it still attracted countless people to come and watch.

And the most famous gambling house in the entire Imperial Capital—the Youlan Gambling House—had even opened up a betting pool for all gamblers to choose from: Li Hao wins, one to two; Long Chen wins, one to ten.

Because it was a life and death duel, there was no possibility of any fraud. Especially since they were two young nobles with noble status, betting money on the life and death of two young nobles was a very thrilling affair.

For a time, even those who were not gamblers began to place bets, although almost everyone was buying Li Hao to win.

Although Long Chen had defeated Li Hao last time, at that time, Li Hao had been completely unprepared and had been taken advantage of by Long Chen. Miracles would not happen twice in a row.

However, there was also a small group of people who liked excitement, took risks, and wanted to bet small to win big, so they bought Long Chen to win, but this group of people was very small.

The betting area was not far from the arena. The place where people bet on Li Hao's victory was crowded, but the place to buy Long Chen's victory was deserted.

"Bet three hundred thousand gold coins on Long Chen to win." Suddenly, a tall man appeared in front of the person responsible for registration and threw over a crystal card.

"What?" The man was greatly shocked. It had been almost half the morning, and he had only received a little over ten thousand gold coins in total; he almost thought he had misheard.

The tall man was none other than Shi Feng. Entrusted by Long Chen, he had bet all the gold coins on him.

Long Chen had anticipated that because of their status, given the strength of the Youlan Gambling House, they would definitely open a betting pool for his life and death duel with Li Hao.

For such a life and death duel, the Youlan Gambling House had to participate, even if they knew they would lose money, otherwise they would lose a great deal of popularity.

The place where they made the most money was their internal gambling games, and they had to participate in these external betting pools, otherwise it would cause dissatisfaction among gamblers.

However, the Youlan Gambling House was wealthy and bold; even if they were losing money just to create buzz, they could afford it, so Long Chen had set his sights on this point.

The original wager had been changed to the current external betting. One was one-to-one, and the other was one-to-ten. As long as Long Chen was not stupid, he knew what to do.

With the help of Fatty Yu and the others yesterday, he had raised over two hundred thousand gold coins. After handing the gold coins to Shi Feng, Shi Feng saw that Long Chen was so confident, so he gritted his teeth and brought the gold coins up to three hundred thousand.

Shi Feng's Family was not wealthy because the Shi Family members were straightforward and short-tempered, and not good at business; in fact, they were not even as rich as Fatty Yu and the others' families.

In order to raise the money, he had mortgaged his own weapons and armor. He had scraped together this money just to go crazy with Long Chen.

After receiving the receipt issued by the person, Shi Feng's heart couldn't help but beat wildly in an unpromising manner. "Brother, you must be steady. My entire fortune has been put on the line."

When it was almost noon, Li Hao had already arrived. He tapped the ground and leaped onto the ten-foot-high arena, immediately sparking a round of cheers.

However, those sounds were not made for his posture, but because the prelude to the duel was about to begin; the good show was finally about to start.

Today, Li Hao was wearing a tight-fitting outfit, looking clean and sharp all over, very pleasing to the eye. A trace of arrogance appeared on his Face: "Long Chen, I will return the humiliation you gave me ten times over."

However, after Li Hao got on the stage, he waited for a long time, but Long Chen did not appear. People couldn't help but feel puzzled; could it be that he didn't dare to come?

While everyone was wondering, the old man guarding the arena said coldly: "The duel you agreed upon is at high noon. You arrived half an hour early. You can choose to wait on the stage, or you can wait below."

When everyone heard this, there was a chorus of boos. Li Hao, who had been high-spirited on the stage, couldn't help but be dumbfounded: "Damn it, how did I forget to check the time?"

"It doesn't matter. I will just wait for him on the stage. Anyway, he is a man who is about to die; his time is much more precious than mine."

Li Hao smiled faintly and sat cross-legged on the arena, quite resembling a Master. However, the Master's demeanor only lasted for a while before something felt wrong.

Because it was noon, the sun was very scorching, and the arena was paved with black rock slabs, which were searing hot; you could basically fry an egg on them.

But Li Hao had already sat down, so he couldn't stand up again. In order to maintain the Master's demeanor, he endured the torment at every moment.

Some sharp-eyed people had already discovered that Li Hao's backside had started to emit a faint smoke. For a moment, everyone's expressions were extremely strange.

"This person is really an idiot, suffering just to save Face. In a while, before the battle even starts, his butt will be cooked." A giggle came from a woman. In the distance, two masked women were looking at the arena calmly.

"To put it plainly, it's just hypocrisy." The other woman shook her head.

"Sister Mengqi, we have been here for several days. When do you plan to break off the engagement with him?" The woman asked.

The woman called Mengqi frowned slightly and said with some difficulty: "Now that he is in a difficult situation, if I rashly propose to break off the engagement at this time, it would be too cruel to him. I also don't know what to do."

"But dragging this matter on is not a solution. Master has urged us several times. If we don't return to the mountain, we will probably be punished. Moreover, with your Aptitude, Sister, you can step into the Innate realm in the future and touch the Heavenly Dao. You are destined to be people from two different worlds; there will be no result at all." The woman sighed and said.

"But I always feel that doing this is very unfair to him. Sigh… let's just wait and see." Mengqi gently shook her jade-like head, a trace of distress flowing through her beautiful eyes.

Seeing that Mengqi was still hesitant, the woman was just about to speak when she suddenly saw a commotion in the crowd in the distance and couldn't help but look over there in a hurry.

She saw a man in a black robe walking slowly through the crowd. With sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes, he looked spirited and carried a unique charm, giving people a very profound feeling.

He was like a well; on the surface, it didn't look like much, but no one could see through him, no one could see his depth, as if he himself was a mystery.

Even that woman and Mengqi, seeing Long Chen appear in such an image, couldn't help but have their hearts flutter. It had to be said that the current Long Chen was worlds apart from when they saw him a few days ago; he was now full of confidence.

Seeing Long Chen arrive, Li Hao jumped up from the ground with a "whoosh." Feeling the searing, stabbing pain in his butt, a wave of resentment surged in his heart.

"Long Chen, come up and die." Li Hao shouted angrily.

Long Chen didn't even look at Li Hao. He glanced at the crowd and saw Shi Feng nod at him, which made him feel relieved.

Not only did he see Shi Feng, but he also saw Fatty Yu and the others. Obviously, they had come to cheer him on.

Long Chen smiled slightly at them and turned to walk toward the arena. Li Hao had jumped up, while Long Chen walked up the stairs.

For a moment, those who had bet on Long Chen to win felt their hearts go cold, feeling that most of the money they had bet would likely be gone forever.

"Long Chen." Seeing that Long Chen had finally come up, Li Hao couldn't help but spit out the two words through gritted teeth.

"Idiot, is your butt burnt?" Long Chen looked at Li Hao and couldn't help but sneer.

In fact, he had arrived long ago, but he had been hiding in the distance to cool off, and no one had noticed him, but he had seen everything here clearly.

"The time of high noon has arrived. Both parties, sign the life and death contract." Just then, the old man took out a document. Long Chen smiled slightly and left his name on it.

This time was different from the last time; there was no such thing as admitting defeat. The winning side had the power to decide the life and death of the other party.

After Li Hao finished signing, he looked at Long Chen with a ferocious Face: "Little bastard, today I will return the humiliation you gave me a hundred times over."

Now that the life and death contract had been signed, this arena had become their place of death; no one was needed to be the referee.

"A sharp blade cuts the body and heals quickly, but vicious words hurt and the hatred never fades. It seems you don't understand. You have provoked me again and again; this is forcing me."

Long Chen took a deep breath, and a thick killing intent appeared in his eyes. Ever since Zhou Yaoyang said last time that he was not Long Tianxiao's seed, people had started using this insulting term to refer to him.

"Go to hell, scum." Li Hao sneered and shouted, his whole body's Spiritual Qi circulating. A visible force of spiritual power could be seen flowing around him.

The people under the stage looked at each other and smiled. This Li Hao had suffered a big loss last time; he hadn't circulated his true essence to protect his body and had been successfully ambushed by Long Chen in one fell swoop. This time, he had already prepared his defense in advance.

Although it was only the Qi Gathering realm and spiritual power could not be projected outward, by circulating spiritual power to protect the body, it was very difficult for ordinary people to cause them any harm.

Li Hao finished setting up his defense, and with a ferocious grin, he pounced on Long Chen. His hands formed claws, grabbing toward Long Chen's shoulders.

His claws were covered with Spiritual Qi, no different from iron hooks. If an ordinary person were grabbed, their shoulder bones would be crushed instantly.

"Good, Li Hao, completely cripple this scum." A loud roar came from under the stage. The person was none other than Wang Mang, who had had half his teeth slapped out by Long Chen in the Imperial Academy.

Now, Wang Mang was young, but half his teeth were gone. With his Family's strength, they couldn't afford a Medicinal Pill that could regenerate bones. He had long hated Long Chen to death, and seeing Long Chen about to be grabbed, he couldn't help but shout loudly in approval.

As he cheered, the expressions of Shi Feng, Fatty Yu, and the others changed. From beginning to end, Long Chen had not revealed a trace of cultivation, which made their hearts instantly jump to their throats.

Watching Li Hao pounce, a sneer appeared at the corner of Long Chen's mouth. He took a step, and his whole body, like a shadow, met Li Hao.

"Bang."