Dual Cultivation God Returns-Chapter 974: Raining Gold

"And now, Fellow Daoists, we have a very very unusual and potentially quite interesting fight coming up!", the commentator’s voice loudly proclaimed, "It is a fight to settle a dispute, which happens from time to time, but what’s interesting about today’s fight is that it is a fight between a mysterious man at the peak of Mortal Transcendence Realm and a seasoned fighter in Essence Gathering Realm"

The announcement prompted confusion among the crowds since it didn’t seem like a particularly exciting match up. Who wouldn’t know the outcome? Those in the betting area were particularly upset at the strange announcement.

But the commentator wasn’t done, "And what do you know, I was told that it was the Daoist in Mortal Transcendence Realm who picked a fight, not the other way around! Is it hubris? Is it ignorant bravery? Or is there some secret? Who knows? We might witness a surprising upset!"

There were now murmurs amid the crowd, but it was more of a morbid interest than any kind of real expectation, evident from quite a few mocking jokes that could be heard.

"Hah! Yeah, right! The only surprise we’ll get is if the Mortal Transcendence Realm guy’s corpse remains intact after the fight"

"Can someone in the Mortal Transcendence Realm even stand upright when an Essence Gathering Realm expert unleashes his Spiritual Qi? Wouldn’t he basically crush him just with Realm Suppression alone?"

"Heh, at this point it’s a far better bet to gamble on whether the Mortal Transcendence guy falls on his back or face down"

The Elder of the Lament Scripture Sect grinned, looking at Wu Long, "You hear that, boy? Unlike you they know what a colossal mistake you’re making"

But just as he said that, the commentator who gave people enough time to sit with the idea of the fight they were about to see, added another announcement, "Oh, I almost forgot... the Essence Gathering Realm expert is a ’mighty warrior of justice’, an Elder of a respectable Righteous Path Sect! So please give him your ardent support!"

The moment this announcement was made a roar of boos so loud it eclipsed the one at the end of the previous fight filled the entire underground space.

"What is this?!", the Elder was livid, turning to Feather Warrior.

It was already quite humiliating for him to fight someone so much lower than him in the cultivation realm, but the sheer hostility he felt toward Wu Long made it at least somewhat bearable. However, his identity being announced on top, in such a mocking manner no less, made his face redden with both rage and utter embarrassment.

"No one said anything about hiding your identity - plus, they have a job to do as well, they need to sell the fight", the latter nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders without a shred of guilt or sympathy.

While he was technically on the side of the Elder in the dispute, it did not mean he was fond of the Righteous Path, and deep down felt contempt for the Elder. He also didn’t lack the insight to see the irony of the ’righteous’ Elder doing something like this instead of sending one of his Disciples in the Mortal Transcendence Realm.

Now the audience was torn, since emotionally they fully supported the Mortal Transcendence Realm, but logically couldn’t place bets on him.

And then came the announcement everyone was waiting for, "The starting odds have been announced! The righteous warrior’s odds are at 1:2! Bet two coins, win one if he triumphs! As for our courageous challenger’s , the long shot — odds at 100:1! Bet one coin, win one hundred if he survives the storm! Choose wisely, for fortune favors the bold — will you back the titan, or risk it all on the impossible?"

Murmurs began amid the crowd. It was a battle of greed and personal disgust at betting on the Righteous Path warrior. Still, this gamble was a rare guaranteed win so there was no shortage of people with no scruples placing their bets.

Watching the ruckus Hong Yue suddenly chuckled, "With odds like that, your money guy would cry rivers of blood for missing it"

This caused Wu Long to laugh, "Bold of you to assume he’s not here"

And right as Hong Yue turned her crimson eyes full of surprise to him, the commentator spoke in an even louder voice than usual, with slightly unhinged excitement, "Ladies and gentlemen! I just got the news! You wouldn’t believe this - an unbelievable, super massive bet was just placed on the Mortal Transcendence Realm challenger!!! A staggering, mind-blowing, utterly ridiculous 20 million Wei Dynasty Gold Coins! Gold, ladies and gentlemen! It’s raining gold! As of now, the odds are adjusted to 1:1 on the righteous warrior and 70:1 on the challenger’s side"

This caused a massive uproar, as the crowd clamored with excitement and speculation about the move. Many were shouting that someone simply lost their mind for doing that. Others were in a hurry to place their bets on the Elder while shouting that they couldn’t believe their luck since some sucker surely lost his mind.

The Elder of the Lament Scripture Sect who was already in foul mood simply made a grimace looking toward Wu Long, bitterly mumbling "Some fool just lost a fortune"

The Elder of the Blood Skull Sect was also looking puzzled. He wasn’t particularly fond of his temporary ally, and was quite gleeful when he saw his precious ’fact’ being dragged through the mud by announcing his identity, but he never for a moment thought he was so weak to lose to someone in Mortal Transcendence Realm.

Meanwhile, Wu Long was still watching the arena where the organizers still didn’t hurry to clean up the corpse or the signs of battle.

"Not only him, but both Old Yen and Nie Guanting came a few hours ahead of us, they just had a different task", he explained in a lighthearted tone, and then added with a playful shudder as if scared to think about the consequences, "But even if they weren’t here, I would’ve asked Baihu to transport them here. Can you imagine the grudge he’d have for me if he wasn’t here tonight?"

"I doubt he would’ve ever forgiven that", Zhao Biren snickered with amusement.

"What about on your end?", Wu Long asked, finally taking his eyes off of the fighting pit to look at him.

"Heh, we’ll see", the Drinking King shrugged.

After a massive influx of bets, the odds quickly readjusted to their initial values, but then another bombshell announcement came, "By Heavenly Daos! I just received word of another extraordinary bet on the challenger! 50 million gold coins Fellow Daoists! The Golden Gates of Heavenly Fortune have been opened wide! The fountain of wealth is real! And... what’s more, this time the bet came from the Right Guardian himself! His representative just placed the bet! The odds are now immediately readjusted 5:1 for the righteous warrior, and 50:1 for the challenger!!! It has also been announced that the fight would be postponed for an hour to give time for bets!"

"They bit", Zhao Biren chuckled, jokingly adding, "Now, please don’t lose Valley Master, or my head’s going to fly, the big league guys will be going into this bet now"

"What?!", at the same time a loud shout came from the side of the unlikely alliance of Righteous Path and Evil Path Sects, as the Elder of the Lament Scripture Sect shouted in disbelief.

The Feather Warrior standing not far from him also looked completely shocked, glancing first at Dead Fish, and confirming he was also surprised, turned to look with an unreadable gaze at Zhao Biren. A strange feeling crawling into his mind that something big was now happening in the shadows.

The crowd was now in a mad frenzy, large bets from big players of the Crow King’s Nest were announced one after another, as wild rumors were circulating, ranging from the reasonable fears that this was all some kind of arrangement or game by the big shots, or slightly gossipy speculations that the Mortal Transcendence Realm challenger is actually some kind of disguise and so on, to the most ridiculous conspiracy theories and fever fantasies.

The news and excitement spread outside into the streets of the Crow King’s Nest like wildfire, and even further beyond toward the entire Western Outskirst, and with some time, perhaps even the entire city agglomeration of the Iron Claw city as multiple powerful auras rushed toward the West.

The audience of the Death Arena began growing exponentially, to the point there was actual concern there wasn’t going to be enough space for people.

When it was finally time for the fight to begin, the whole place was absolutely packed, with cheaper areas resembling ant nests with people squished together and on top of each other with no room to even breathe.

"It’s time, I’ll be off then", Wu Long turned to the beauty in his arms.

She tilted her head and put the mouth of her silver mask to the approximate position of mouth on his black mask while grabbing the back of his neck and head with both hands.

And after a few moments, letting him go spoke softly with slight excitement, "Have fun, Darling"