Death Duel Arena

Li Zhi realized there was still a significant gap between himself and Mo Xian. Moreover, when they had been in the center of the Black Mountain Range, he had seen Mo Xian wielding a mid-tier Earth-ranked weapon. If they were to duel in the arena, Li Zhi had no chance of winning.

Looking around at the outer sect disciples who were watching, Li Zhi gritted his teeth. In order to maintain his reputation in the outer sect and preserve his fearless image in front of Lei Qingqing, Li Zhi steeled himself and said to Ye Qiang, "Alright, are you saying I, Li Zhi, am afraid of you? Just tell me when you want to fight!"

"Hahaha, you really have guts. But if we fight now, I, Mo Xian, don't want anyone saying I'm bullying you because of my higher cultivation. How about this—once your cultivation is the same as mine, we'll fight," Ye Qiang said with a smile.

"And if I, Mo Xian, lose, I'll let you protect my junior sister. But if you lose to me, you'll never bother her again!" Ye Qiang's voice was firm.

"You... looks like you're determined to go against me, Li Zhi. Fine, I accept. Wait for it—I'll defeat you!" Li Zhi spat angrily and, leaving behind a hateful yet resolute remark, swaggered off toward the mountain range with his group of trusted disciples.

"Brother Mo Xian, I'm so sorry. I've caused you trouble again," Lei Qingqing said apologetically, looking at Ye Qiang. She then buried her head into his chest, looking like a girl in need of comfort.

Ye Qiang helplessly embraced the petite girl in his arms, inhaling the faint fragrance of her body and murmuring, "It's no big deal. If that guy bothers you again, just tell Mo Xian, and I'll teach him a lesson!"

After the crowd of onlookers dispersed, Ye Qiang held Lei Qingqing's soft, fair hand. When he noticed that she didn't seem upset, he guessed that she might have feelings for him. After a moment of daydreaming, Ye Qiang spoke up, "By the way, junior sister, you just came out of the political hall. Did you hear any sect news?"

"Yes, the elders mentioned that our sect leader will emerge from seclusion in five days. After that, the outer sect will hold a ranking competition. The top ten winners will be promoted to inner sect disciples to celebrate the sect leader's return!" Lei Qingqing replied in one breath.

"And the inner sect will also hold a ranking competition. The top ten winners will immediately receive a chance for secluded cultivation, and after 100 days of cultivation, there will be the 33rd Sect Leader Candidate Competition!" Lei Qingqing added.

After listening, Ye Qiang pondered for a moment and said, "It seems our sect leader is confident in winning the sect-wide battle. The top ten inner sect disciples won't even need to participate!"

"Yes, I think so too!" Lei Qingqing agreed.

"This sect-wide battle is coming soon. My little Qingqing, are you scared?" Ye Qiang teased playfully, charmed by her cuteness.

"I'm not scared!" Lei Qingqing replied without hesitation.

"Many people will die in this sect-wide battle, you know," Ye Qiang said, his tone turning more serious.

"Will you protect me, Brother Mo Xian?" Lei Qingqing asked sweetly, her voice filled with affection.

"Of course... not," Ye Qiang teased with a laugh.

"Hmph, why not?" Lei Qingqing pouted, playfully slapping Ye Qiang's chest with her small, delicate hand.

Seeing the cute expression on Lei Qingqing's face, Ye Qiang couldn't resist pulling her into a tight embrace. Breathing in the faint fragrance of her body, he spoke tenderly, "Look, you can tell from my smile that I'm joking. Don't worry, you're the girl I, Mo Xian, love most. Even if the sky were to fall, I wouldn't let you suffer a single scratch!"

It seems that girls are easily swayed by sweet words. As Ye Qiang looked down at the girl in his arms, who seemed so content, he suddenly thought of that girl from the Wuji Sword Sect, Meng'er.

Every time he thought of Meng'er, he couldn't forget the image of a young woman with long blue hair cascading over her shoulders, a beautiful face full of life, and a figure so seductive that it was almost irresistible. She had a sharp longsword pressed against his neck, and her enchanting appearance made him wish he could just embrace her.

Sigh, he thought. Here he was, holding one girl in his arms, yet his thoughts kept drifting to another.

Just as Ye Qiang was pondering, he realized that there wasn't much to do or anywhere to take his junior sister to have some fun. Just then, a group of Blood Sword Sect outer sect disciples, varying in height and shape, approached him.

"I heard someone is going to duel today. Let's go watch the fun!" one of them said.

"Yeah, it's been a while since anyone had a duel," another added.

"I heard that when you duel in the arena, you have to sign a life-and-death agreement. Once that's done, the winner can kill the loser without facing any repercussions from the sect!"

"Don't know which two fools decided to fight to the death," someone else remarked.

Seeing the short, chubby man leading the group of Blood Sword Sect disciples entering the political hall, Ye Qiang turned to Lei Qingqing and said, "Junior sister, let's go see how they fight!"

Lei Qingqing didn't refuse, so Ye Qiang took her soft hand, and together they walked into the Blood Sword Sect's outer sect political hall.

The duel arena was located just outside the back door of the political hall. To participate, both sides had to register with the elders in the hall and sign the agreement. Once the agreement was signed, the duel would be supervised by an elder.

Ye Qiang followed the chubby man and the other disciples through the massive political hall and finally arrived at the duel arena. The place was crowded with spectators, three layers deep, and it was nearly impossible to squeeze in.

The arena itself wasn't very large, only about 20 paces in diameter, but it was enough for the duel.

In the arena stood two Blood Sword Sect outer disciples in blood-red robes, with a young elder standing between them, holding a white wine cup about the size of a fist.

Ye Qiang carefully studied the two duelists. The person on the elder's left held a longsword, with a tattoo of a small snake near his neck, giving him a very cool, tough appearance. On the elder's right stood a young man with blue hair, holding a longsword. Ye Qiang immediately recognized him as Ye Jiancheng, a stubborn and somewhat eccentric youth he had encountered when entering the Black Mountain Range.

This sparked Ye Qiang's curiosity about Ye Jiancheng.

According to the crowd, once the elder dropped the wine cup, the duelists could begin the fight, having legally signed the life-and-death agreement.

While Ye Qiang focused on observing the duelists, the noise from nearby gamblers caught his attention.

"Place your bets, place your bets!" someone shouted.

"Come on, everyone, take a look!" another yelled.

"I'm betting on Savage Snake to win!" one gambler said.

"Same here, I'm betting on Savage Snake to win!" another echoed.

Ye Qiang, curious, squeezed his way into the crowd to see what was happening. He was stunned when he saw the betting odds.

Betting on the young man named Savage Snake to lose had odds of 100 to 1. On the other hand, betting on Ye Jiancheng to lose had even odds—1 to 1.

Ye Qiang couldn't help but notice that Savage Snake had reached the fifth stage of the Bronze rank, and he seemed completely relaxed, exuding confidence in his arrogant gaze. He clearly didn't consider Ye Jiancheng a threat.

When Ye Qiang turned his attention to Ye Jiancheng, he was surprised to see that his cultivation had improved even further since they last met two days ago. The young man now emanated a quiet aura, with a faint but intense fiery anger in his eyes. His talent for cultivation was remarkable.

After observing the duelists for a while, Ye Qiang turned to Lei Qingqing and said, "Junior sister, do you have any money to lend me?"

"Brother Mo Xian, you're betting too?" Lei Qingqing asked.

"Yes, with all this excitement, why not try our luck?" Ye Qiang replied.

"Okay, I only have 1,000 gold coins. Who should we bet on?" Lei Qingqing asked.

"Let's bet on Savage Snake losing," Ye Qiang said.

"But…" Lei Qingqing hesitated.

"Don't worry about it. Look at the odds for Savage Snake to lose—100 to 1. If we win, we could make 100,000 gold coins. We can't let this opportunity slip by!" Ye Qiang urged, seeing her hesitation.

"Alright, I'll trust you. But if we lose, you'll pay me back, okay?" Lei Qingqing agreed, though she still felt Savage Snake wouldn't lose, but she decided to go along with Ye Qiang.

Despite everything pointing to Savage Snake winning, Ye Qiang inexplicably decided to bet on Ye Jiancheng.

The surrounding onlookers, noticing that someone was betting 1,000 gold coins on Savage Snake losing, began to take interest in the odd bet.

A chubby, dark-skinned man came over, looking at Lei Qingqing, who was betting 1,000 gold coins, and ignored Ye Qiang entirely. He made a move to flatter her, saying, "Little sister, you must be new to the Blood Sword Sect, right? Let me tell you, that guy, Savage Snake, is definitely not going to lose."

Noticing that Ye Qiang didn't respond to the man, Lei Qingqing frowned, clearly displeased. "How do you know he won't lose?" she asked.

Just then, a man with a large mole on his face, dark-skinned and shady-looking, squeezed past the dark-skinned man and leaned in close to Lei Qingqing, pushing the man aside. He then spoke to her in a rather suggestive tone...