Chapter 98 - 98: Cripple Him
"Hah... ah!"
Chen Chen yawned and woke up from his sleep, only to see a group of successors staring at him.He was a little speechless.
"What are you guys looking at me for? Is it over today?"
The successors were speechless. 'He's trying to give you a warning, can you be more attentive?'
"Senior Brother Chen Chen... Qi Bufan is scaring you."
You Lanxin who was at the side, was speechless. 'So much for me worrying about Senior Brother. Yet, he's sleeping!'
"What is he scaring me for?"
Chen Chen looked at the exasperated Qi Bufan who was in the center of the ring, his eyes full of curiosity.
Qi Bufan was so infuriated by his reaction that he almost vomited blood. He was initially very domineering when he took advantage of the opportunity after defeating Lin Jin to say those things. Yet, his words had no effect.
If he had to say it again,he would seem silly.
Thinking of this, he glowered at Chen Chen and got out of the ring without saying anything. However, deep down, he had already made up his mind tomorrow he would not only cripple Chen Chen's limbs tomorrow, he would injure him badly!
...
On the way back, You Lanxin said with some embarrassment, "Brother Chen, my weakness caused you to end up getting hated by others. Qi Bufan has warned that he will attack you tomorrow. Why don't you admit defeat first before challenging a weaker opponent to get your seat back?"
"You're looking down on me, huh?" Chen Chen said, laughing as he walked.
"Qi Bufan defeated Lin Jin and crippled him too. If there is no supreme heavenly treasure, I'm afraid the Green Dragon Clan is going to be kicked out of the 36 clans," You Lanxin said worriedly with fear on her face.
The second among the elites had his limbs crippled too. That was too brutal.
Of course, after two days of the Ranking Battle, the elite ranking had now changed too, with Qi Bufan replacing Lin Jin as the second on the list.
"He defeated Lin Jin? Is he that powerful?"
Chen Chen's expression became serious all of a sudden. He had really been sleeping because he was fatigued from taking treasures from the other successors and making himself bleed last night.
"Exactly!" You Lanxin exclaimed, feeling more energized when she aw that Chen Chen had finally become more serious.
'Senior Brother has finally realized how serious things are.'
"Oh."
Chen Chen responded distractedly.
He didn't care about Qi Bufan. He was actually concerned about Yuan Qingtian, who trumped Qi Bufan in strength and was still seated on the seat of the No. 1 clan.
'What is this guy doing?'
'Qi Bufan has defeated Lin Jin and this guy can defeat Qi Bufan. He's probably on par with Chong Ye, right?'
'What is such a powerful person doing being a mascot and staying silent?'
'Impossible, absolutely impossible, there must be something fishy about this.'
'What exactly went wrong?'
Chen Chen couldn't figure it out, but it would be the last day of the Ranking Battle tomorrow and if there was anything fishy, it would be revealed then.
Seeing that Chen Chen was getting distracted again, You Lanxin felt helpless. Even though he was the one who would be facing Qi Bufan's attack, she was more worried than him.
Just as the two of them were walking, a sudden hollering came from a special store in the distance.
"It has begun. Tomorrow, Qi Bufan, who's ranked second among the elites, will be going against Chen Chen who is ranked seventh. Those who bet that Qi Bufan will win will win 1.2 times of your betting amount while those who bet that Chen Chen wins, will win five times your betting amount!"
Hearing that, You Lanxin's eyes lit up and she muttered, "Senior Brother Chen, if I bet 10,000 Spirit Stones on Qi Bufan's victory, won't I earn 2,000 Spirit Stones tomorrow?"
"My foot, if you do that, you will lose 10,000 Spirit Stones tomorrow," Chen Chen said with displeasure.
However, a sinister grin appeared on his face a moment later.
"However, you can go ahead and bet a hundred Spirit Stones. Maybe, I might admit defeat."
"Senior Brother Chen Chen, you've finally come around. Actually, it's not a big deal to admit defeat, look at Ye Wusheng and they rest. They've all learned to admit defeat too."
Seeing that Chen Chen had figured it out, You Lanxin proceeded to place her bet in high spirits.
However, she did not bet 100 Spirit Stones, but secretly bet 200 Spirit Stones.
'Only a fool would choose not to earn Spirit Stones.'
...
However, the owners of the gambling dens and gamblers were not stupid. When they say that the successor of the Youshui Clan who was close to Chen Chen, had bet 200 Spirit Stones on Qi Bufan, he immediately smelled something fishy.
'There must be insider news!'
Hence, a bunch of people swarmed forwards to bet on Qi Bufan winning. Soon, the betting returns for Qi Bufan became 1:1 while Chen Chen's became 1:10.
By the time Chen Chen returned to Yiran Inn, the odds in the entire capital had become 1:15.
"Ah, there will be countless merit in persuading others to quit gambling."
Looking at the odds of the major gambling dens in the capital, there was holy light on Chen Chen's face.
He then called Zhang Ji over.
"Zhang Ji, do you know where the biggest gambling den in town is?"
Zhang Ji exclaimed, "Big Brother, I know, I even bet my entire fortune on you! 30 Spirit Stones!"
However, there was no pain in his eyes. Instead, he felt excited.
He was joyous because he was about to earn several hundred Spirit Stones.
He had never doubted his big brother Chen Chen.
He didn't care about the elites ranking and betting odds either as they were just bullshit to him.
Chen Chen was rather touched too. Right from the beginning, Zhang Ji, who had come out to cultivate immortality with him, was the only one who understood him.
'But 30 Spirit Stones... Zhang Ji is pretty poor.'
Although Zhang Ji was considered rich compared to his fellow disciples, he was too poor to be an underling of the wealthy Chen Chen.
As he thought about it, he could not help but but feel guilty.
"Zhang Ji, take the Spirit Stones in this storage bag and bet all of them on me. Let's split the earnings between the two of us."
Zhang Ji grabbed the storage bag and checked the number of Spirit Stones inside, after which his cheeks twitched.
'10,000 Spirit Stones...'
'If he wins, the payout will be 15 times of 10,000... That'll make all the gamblers in the city go bankrupt!'
'Big Brother actually said that he's willing to split the winnings with me, wouldn't that mean that I'll be getting 75,000 Spirit Stones!?'
Zhang Ji inhaled sharply.
Zhang Ji's vision turned dark. Fortunately, he didn't faint and instead hurriedly shook his head. "Brother, I don't want so many Spirit Stones. With my current talent, one Spirit Stone a day is enough even if I cultivate diligently at all times. If I keep so many Spirit Stones on me, it's going to be a disaster rather than a blessing."
Hearing this, Chen Chen was a little speechless but he had to admit that Zhang Ji had a point.
Although Zhang Ji had eaten some heavenly treasures too, his cultivation qualifications were limited, and he was only at the third tier of Qi training.
It would indeed be a fatal disaster if someone with that status of cultivation had tens of thousands of Spirit Stones with him.
"Big Brother, stop thinking about it. I'll go take a look at the gambling den."
As Zhang Ji spoke, he put away the storage bag well and left Yiran Inn.
Staring at his back, Chen Chen smiled and shook his head.
Although Zhang Ji usually seemed silly, he was smart at the right time. Ever since he arrived in the capital, he hadn't messed up before.
...
He was at Auspicious Gambling Den.
It was the largest gambling den in the capital, which generated a large revenue that was no less than that of the top brothel of the capital, Drunken Red House.
After the start of the Ranking Battle that had been going on over the past few days, they had a revenue of tens of thousands of Spirit Stones. The gambling den owner was filled with joy.
Although it was already late at night, the gambling den was still crowded and some were placing bets while some were placing dices.
"Boss, for the Ranking Battle tomorrow, I'll bet 10,000 Spirit Stones on Chen Chen the successor of the Tianyun Clan."
At this moment, Zhang Ji walked over, dressed in a Chinese costume. His clothes were fluttering and he no longer looked like someone's underling. Instead, he looked like a nobleman.
"10,000 Spirit Stones?"
The staff of the gambling den were shocked. It was a large sum of money that only a few in the capital could afford.
The sudden appearance of such a large betting amount usually meant that there was something odd behind it.
Thinking of this, he subconsciously wanted to inform the boss.
However, at that moment, a single file of people entered.
"I'm betting 20,000 Spirit Stones on myself."
Hearing this voice, the people in the gambling de instantly fell silent, and everyone subconsciously looked in the direction of the source of the voice.
They saw Qi Bufan standing at the door of the gambling den and fanning his paper fan with some derision in his eyes. The other successors of the 18 clans were behind him.
"The Successor of the Luoyou Clan!"
"The second of the elites has arrived!"
"And the fifth of the elites, the successor of the Xuanbing Clan!"
After a moment of silence, the gamblers were in an uproar.
It was the first time they had seen such a situation.
Besides, Qi Bufan actually bet 20,000 Spirit Stones!
Originally, when they saw that the person who had just arrived had bet 10,000 Spirit Stones on Chen Chen to win, they thought that there might be something strange behind it, but now it seemed that they had thought too much.
Their bet amounts were 10,000 Spirit Stones and 20,000 Spirit Stones respectively. It was obvious who was more confident!
When the staff of the gambling den saw the Spirit Stones, they naturally grabbed Zhang Ji's bet and gave a betting ticket to Zhang Ji.
Zhang Ji grabbed the betting ticket, turned around and left without saying a word.
Looking at Zhang Ji's back, there was some coldness in Qi Bufan's eyes.
Several people chipped in for the 20,000 Spirit Stones that he had. Yet, Zhang Ji took out 10,000 Spirit Stones all at once.
'Is he Chen Chen's underling? But what makes him so confident? Could it be that he is ready to go all out and take a gamble?'
'Ridiculous!'
At this moment, Qi Bufan felt insulted. He had even defeated Lin Jin, who was the second best elite in the State of Jin. He even felt that he would be able to do better than Chong Ye if he received the same treatment as Chong Ye!
However, even then, there was still someone who felt that he could possibly lose to Chen Chen!
'Atrocious! Outrageous! Detestable! Pathetic!'
'Foolish!'
Thinking about it, his expression turned menacing as his joy from defeating Lin Jin vanished. He turned around and said coldly to a successor, "Follow him. If he's Chen Chen's subordinate, cripple him!"