Volume 1, Chapter 394 – Imperial Bearing

Shi Lan’s feelings toward Shi Feng were somewhat complicated.

Back during that period when Lingyang had first begun to awaken, she had not yet awakened from her grand dream and had remained immersed in her delusions of wielding absolute power in another world.

As her shadow guard, Shi Feng had indeed helped her quite a bit during the time they fled Tenglong City.

Shi Lan understood very clearly what Shi Feng was thinking now.

Or perhaps, having once been a man herself, she could understand a few traces of his feelings. The tremendous change that had happened to her had left him dazed, and even now he had still not fully recovered from the shock.

Once upon a time, she too had someone she cared for, but in the end that person had only been like the bright moon in the sky, something one could look at but never reach.

She understood the taste of longing for something one could not obtain.

If not for the struggle over fortune, perhaps she and Shi Feng might still have become friends.

But unfortunately, there were no “perhaps” in this world.

…

Shi Lan stopped paying attention to the battle and returned to the betting pool run by the bookmaker.

The Yunlai Immortal Palace disciple Shi Feng was facing was no match for him. The final outcome could already be foreseen. As for whether Shi Feng would make enemies of Yunlai Immortal Palace’s disciples because of it, that was no longer something Shi Lan cared about.

On the jade stele behind the bookmaker, the arrangement of names and the odds were changing at all times.

Possibly because of her reminder just now, Shi Lan’s name had already been added. At present, her odds were one-to-one, and they had not changed for quite a while.

Shi Lan pondered for a moment and was just about to step forward to place her bet when another name suddenly appeared on the panel.

“Gao Linyuan…”

The instant those three words appeared, they shot straight to the top and occupied the highest position on the jade stele. The odds were one-to-one-point-one.

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Even with odds that low, the people placing bets on him still came in an endless stream. In the eyes of the overwhelming majority, this was no different from picking up money for free.

For a former number one on the Prodigy Record, taking first place in today’s martial gathering was almost a certainty.

With Gao Linyuan’s appearance, Shi Lan was pleasantly surprised to discover that her own odds were soaring in a straight line. They soon climbed past one-to-two, finally slowing to a stop at one-to-four.

After rummaging through her Qiankun Bracelet and discovering that she did not have many spirit crystals left, Shi Lan walked back to the betting pool and asked somewhat awkwardly,

“Do you take collateral here?”

“We do! Pills, treasures, cultivation methods, even spiritual lands. As long as you dare to stake it, there’s nothing I don’t dare to take!”

The middle-aged man running the betting pool waved his hand grandly, looking bold and full of confidence.

Shi Lan’s eyes lit up. Her mind connected with the system’s lottery panel, and she fed in several million reputation points.

The spiritual materials from Chu Hanzhou would only be given to her after the martial gathering. For now, she could only temporarily draw some items as collateral.

In fact, if not for the weapon spirit and the fact that it was too eye-catching, Shi Lan would have been tempted to stake even the Scarlet Crow War Halberd.

A burst of notification sounds rang through her mind. Shi Lan filtered through the results, removing some items that were too unsuitable to appear in Lingyang, then placed a pile of assorted objects on the table before the bookmaker.

“Please come with me.”

After giving the items only a casual glance, the bookmaker’s expression changed slightly. He told someone to watch the betting pool, then led Shi Lan into the tower and served her tea.

“Please wait a moment, miss. I’ll invite an appraiser. The collateral price definitely won’t differ too much from market value.”

After saying that, the bookmaker hurried upstairs.

Not long after, a gray-haired old man came downstairs, stopped in front of Shi Lan, and began inventorying the items.

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“Four bottles of sixth-rank high-grade pills, valued at eight million low-grade spirit crystals.”

“Six bottles of sixth-rank mid-grade pills, valued at 5.7 million low-grade spirit crystals.”

“Three bottles of sixth-rank low-grade pills, valued at 1.6 million low-grade spirit crystals.”

…

“One top-grade spirit treasure, valued at thirteen million low-grade spirit crystals.”

“Two mid-grade spirit treasures, valued at 4.2 million low-grade spirit crystals.”

“Five low-grade spirit treasures, valued at 3.7 million spirit crystals.”

…

After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, the pile of materials had been fully inventoried. All the resources needed for cultivation had been converted into a total of more than 360 million low-grade spirit crystals.

“Miss, are you certain you want to bet on Shi Lan to win in the end?”

The middle-aged man’s expression had turned somewhat grave. Based on Shi Lan’s current odds of more than one-to-four, that translated to nearly 1.6 billion low-grade spirit crystals. Even for him, it was no small sum.

“I’m certain.”

Shi Lan gave a slight nod.

“Then please sign the betting slip, miss.”

It was a major transaction, so the middle-aged man took out two sheets of pale golden paper and handed them to Shi Lan.

These two betting slips did not require signatures. One only had to press a bloody palm print onto them with blood and qi.

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As the bright red handprint fell, the slips formally took effect. Neither side could go back on it, or they would be severely punished by the Imperial Court.

“My name is Du Huo. May I ask your name, miss? Since we’ve met today, it counts as making an acquaintance.”

Carefully putting away the betting slips, the middle-aged man smiled and cupped his hands, then probed a little further.

“Miss, you have the bearing of a dragon and phoenix, the appearance of sun and moon. You must surely come from a great family…”

This was clearly deliberate flattery. The appearance Shi Lan was wearing through her disguise could not be called ugly, but it was certainly not striking either.

“My surname is Shi, and my given name is Lan.”

Shi Lan smiled, glanced at the way the man’s mouth suddenly stiffened, set down the teacup in her hand, and rose to leave.

…

On a tall arena stood a young man in white. His appearance was ordinary, and he wore only a plain white robe with a simple jade belt.

The surroundings of the arena were packed with people, and the eyes of many of them burned with fervor. The halo of being the human race’s number one prodigy was simply too dazzling.

Anyone wearing that halo, no matter what they looked like, would have bearing enough to overshadow the Vast Land of Shenzhou.

Standing opposite him was a peerlessly beautiful woman. Her face was fair, her eyes like autumn waters, and her skin seemed to glow with rosy light. Every inch of her flesh and bone was beautiful enough to shake the heart.

“Does this Yunlai Immortal Realm still have any use for you?”

The woman spoke calmly. Light flowed faintly through her hair, and she naturally carried a majestic bearing.

“I’m preparing to break through to the late stage of the Nascent Soul Realm and need a spiritual land.”

Gao Linyuan answered with a smile, his aura gentle and approachable.

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“Then we’ll each rely on our own means.”

…

Shi Lan returned to the arena once more and, from a few scattered remarks, learned the identities of the two people on it.

There was no need to say anything about Gao Linyuan. At present, he was the acknowledged number one prodigy of the human race and had occupied the first place on the Prodigy Record for a long time.

The woman facing him was equally extraordinary. Her name was Bu Bingyan, and she came from an ancient divine sect that had survived since antiquity. She cultivated an Emperor Scripture, possessed unparalleled combat strength, suppressed all others of her generation, and ranked third on the Heaven Ranking.

It could be said that both people on the arena possessed imperial bearing, and their future achievements would be immeasurable.

…

On the raised platform not far away, Li Jingzhou, who had been seated the whole time, rose to his feet. Seeing the bustling betting pool at the edge of the plaza, he grew interested and looked toward Yunlai Immortal Palace’s upper echelon.

“Gentlemen, any interest in a little wager?”

“If King Ling is interested, we would naturally be happy to accompany you.”

“Of course we would not refuse.”

The high-level figures of Yunlai Immortal Palace all responded one after another, vying to speak first.

“How about counting me in as well.”

A voice sounded from the corner of the raised platform. At some point, Chu Hanzhou had appeared there. He took a sip of hot tea, then said,

“How do you want to bet?”