Lu Ye had gone through countless battles of all sizes, so he naturally wouldn't let an opponent's words disrupt his own rhythm. Who knew if this was some kind of ploy from the enemy? So even though he heard Walnut's voice, his offensive didn't change in the slightest.

Seeing this, Walnut grew a little anxious and spoke extremely fast: "Fellow Daoist, I'll withdraw myself from this fight. I just want to make friends with you."

Even though she knew she wouldn't be in life-and-death danger here, watching that combat cultivator ahead charge in with a surging, sky-piercing aura still filled Walnut with terror. She finally understood why that Cher Chi had lost so fast. This kind of horrifying pressure was something she had never experienced before.

Almost the instant her voice fell, her neck felt a slight chill. By the time she reacted, her opponent was already standing at her side, that long blade resting against her neck.

Lu Ye didn't bring the blade down with that strike, because the opponent truly seemed to have no intention of resisting.

Lu Ye frowned and asked, "You know me?"

He had just arrived here; in this Asura Field he only knew one person, Gui Yi. Yet the other side suddenly wanted to make friends with him, which made Lu Ye suspect this Walnut might also be someone who had come from the All Phenomena Ocean and had seen him before.

Walnut was stunned for a moment, then quickly shook her head. "We've never met before."

"Then why do you want to be friends with me?" Lu Ye asked.

"Could we talk about that later? This isn't a good place for conversation." Walnut asked carefully. "If Fellow Daoist is willing, could we exchange marks?"

Lu Ye thought it over. He was indeed somewhat curious, and it was just exchanging marks anyway—nothing too serious. So he sheathed his blade at once and took out his Asura Authority Token.

Seeing this, Walnut let out a breath of relief and also produced her own Asura Authority Token.

Then, under the dumbstruck gaze of countless cultivators in the stands, the two of them exchanged marks, and Walnut's figure dissipated.

She had voluntarily conceded and left, so Lu Ye naturally won this round, and his ranking on the combat field rose by nearly a hundred places again.

There had been quite a few spectators who had bet on Walnut in this bout, and this was how it ended, which instantly made a crowd burst into curses, shouting about black-box operations and the like.

But all they could do was curse a few times. In the combat field, whatever choices a cultivator made were beyond outside interference. Walnut had voluntarily conceded and withdrawn, causing them to lose their bets; they could only blame it on bad luck.

In the cave residence, Lu Ye had just appeared when his Asura Authority Token reacted. After checking it, as expected, it was a message from Walnut.

"Fellow Daoist, don't rush into the combat field just yet. I have something I want to discuss with you."

Lu Ye replied with one line: "What is it?"

At the same time, in Walnut's cave residence, she hurriedly came to her master's side, speaking excitedly: "Master, that combat cultivator challenged me just now."

The woman who'd been lying spread-eagled there instantly snapped to attention when she heard this. She bounced up from the jade bed, grabbed her disciple's shoulders with both hands, eyes shining. "Good Disciple, did you take him down and vent your master's anger?"

Walnut could only smile wryly. "No, I conceded and withdrew."

The woman thought about it and realized that made sense. She knew exactly what level her Disciple's strength was at. That bastard combat cultivator had cut down Cher Chi like slaughtering a chick—how could her disciple possibly be his match? She immediately lost interest a little. "Then what's the point of telling me this?"

Walnut held up her Asura Authority Token. "I exchanged marks with him!"

The woman's eyes immediately turned bright. "Really?"

Walnut said, "Of course I wouldn't lie to you. I'm talking with him right now."

The woman urged her at once: "Quick, quick, quick, ask him which combat field he enters for his next combat bout. Your master's going to place a bet. That combat cultivator's strength is excellent; there'll definitely be a spot for him within the top five hundred."

She had misjudged earlier and bet on Cher Chi, only to lose miserably. But she had seen Lu Ye's strength with her own eyes and was certain that his current rank didn't reflect his true ability, so in the coming combats he would absolutely be on a triumphant advance.

If she could follow him into bout after bout and always place her bets on him, even if she didn't end up raking in a fortune, she'd definitely recover the losses from this recent stretch.

This was exactly why Walnut had wanted to exchange Asura Authority Token marks with Lu Ye—because she felt her master was just too pitiful. Nine losses out of ten gambles; the hard-earned Asura Seals she saved up always got wiped out in one go.

"But Master, you already lost all your Asura Seals just now. What will you use to bet?" Walnut asked.

The woman said proudly, "Who told you I was betting Asura Seals just now?"

Walnut was puzzled. "Then Master, you…"

"I bet spirit jade just now! The spirit jade's gone, but the Asura Seals are still here." The woman smiled, like a thousand pear trees bursting into bloom, though her expression was unavoidably a bit smug.

"I'll talk to him." Walnut said, and quickly sent another message over.

On the other side, after Walnut's explanation, Lu Ye finally understood what she wanted to do. He had to admit this woman was quite clever. Just by watching a single one of his combats, she'd realized this could be turned into a money-making scheme.

Plenty of people had probably realized the same thing; it was just that Walnut's luck was good—he happened to challenge her, and she happened to make contact with him. As for the other cultivators who'd figured this out, even if they wanted to reach him, they simply had no way.

Lu Ye couldn't help feeling a bit concerned. "Doing this won't be going against any Asura Field rules, will it?"

Walnut said, "Of course not. This kind of thing is actually very common. And the win-or-loss after placing a bet isn't 'bet how much, win how much'; the winning side just splits the losing side's stakes. Strictly speaking, this is only gambling between the spectators, the Asura Field doesn't actually lose anything."

Lu Ye understood, and asked again, "Then how do we make sure you can enter my combat field to place bets?"

Walnut said, "Every combat field has a number. After you go in, look up and you'll see it. Then send me a message, and I'll be able to follow the number in."

This was something Lu Ye had really never paid attention to. He'd fought so many matches and every time he only watched his opponent; he had never actually looked up at the sky.

"Last question, what's in it for me?"

Letting Walnut bet on him, Lu Ye could ensure that she would win, but that was only the benefit on her side. He worked his tail off fighting in the arena, and if all the profit went to someone else, he naturally wouldn't be happy.

Walnut had clearly anticipated this long ago, and answered without thinking, "Thirty–seventy split. Of all the stakes I win, you and I split them thirty–seventy."

"The Asura Seal can't be traded. How are you going to split with me?" Lu Ye asked.

"The Asura Seal can't be traded, sure, but I can go to the Asura Treasure Vault and exchange resources for you."

Lu Ye understood. That really was a way!

Then he asked again, "I get seventy?"

"I get seventy!"

In the cave residence, Lu Ye blinked and replied, "At least fifty–fifty, or forget it."

He had thought she would haggle with him, but Walnut agreed very quickly instead, "Alright, then fifty–fifty!"

This actually made Lu Ye a bit unsure. "How do I make sure that after you win the bets, you'll be willing to give me my share?" If Walnut played dirty, all he could do on his side was stare helplessly.

"Fellow Daoist, if you have time, could you come to the great square by the Treasure Vault? We'll sign an Asura Pact. With a pact in place, neither side can go back on their word."

Lu Ye had no reason to refuse; in fact, he had originally planned to sign an Asura Pact with her first. The binding force this thing had inside the Asura Field was equivalent to the Heaven's Augury Pact of the early years in the Nine Provinces.

A short while later, at the great square by the Treasure Vault, Lu Ye saw Walnut again.

She had already drafted the Asura Pact. Lu Ye picked it up and examined it, and after confirming that there were no issues and all the clauses matched what they had discussed before, he straightforwardly branded his own mark on it.

Walnut did the same. With two marks stamped, the Asura Pact vanished into thin air. At the same time, Lu Ye clearly felt some mysterious power surge into his body.

But in the next instant, the Talent Tree in his body stirred. His expression froze, and he hastily turned his senses inward to observe himself.

Under the gaze of his mind, he saw the Talent Tree blazing furiously, except that, at this very moment, there was a golden chain-like foreign object outside the Talent Tree, coiled around it like a long snake.

With the burning of the flames, that snake-like chain quivered nonstop.

Thick gray mist rose in great billows.

This scene astonished Lu Ye, because nothing like this had ever happened before.

After thinking it over a bit, he realized that the snake-like chain should be the profound power of the Asura Pact. Strictly speaking, the Asura Pact was an extension of the Asura Field's power. Even if it was insignificant, it was still the power of a supreme treasure.

Yet right now, the Talent Tree was burning it away the same way it dealt with External Force that invaded his body!

The Talent Tree could actually resist the power of a supreme treasure? The rate of incineration was slow, true, but just from that huge amount of gray mist rising, it was clear that the chain was indeed being burned away.

If this went on, sooner or later the chain would be completely incinerated.

And once this chain was burned away, the Asura Pact would no longer exert any binding force on him.

This was undoubtedly an unexpected discovery, and it made Lu Ye can't help but suspect: could the Talent Tree also be a stellar space supreme treasure?

He had considered this before, but all the stellar space supreme treasures he had encountered possessed wondrous and mighty abilities that didn't quite match the Talent Tree's behavior, so he had ruled that out. The Talent Tree's performance was more like a kind of inheritance.

But this unexpected development now made him once again harbor such thoughts.

Because as far as he knew, only a supreme treasure could oppose the power of a supreme treasure.

Perhaps the Talent Tree really was a stellar space supreme treasure; it was just that this treasure was not quite the same as those he knew. It might be a supreme treasure that could continuously transform as a cultivator's cultivation grew!

He had no way to stop the Talent Tree from burning that chain, and even if he could, he wouldn't want to, because he wanted to know whether the Talent Tree could actually incinerate this chain.

If it could, then within this Asura Field, no form of Asura Pact would be able to bind him.

The one Walnut had signed with him really posed no harm to him, but there was no guarantee that he wouldn't encounter harmful ones in the future. The Talent Tree having such an ability would undoubtedly give him one more hidden trump card in this place.