He turned slowly to regard his Hall Master with an expression that was mixed with weirdness and amusement. "Are the words of Hall Master Tang credible?"

Tang Huo breathed in deeply with his eyes closed and then opened them with firmness. "Indeed, I am serious about this. As long as Path Lord Li is willing to engage in this duel with Hall Master Shen, I will pay out the winnings from my personal account."

Hearing these words, not only the crowd, but the faces of the Hall Masters seated near Tang Huo shifted slightly.

Goodness, was this not indirectly trying to bribe him to ignore the flaws of this duel in favor of big money and just subject himself to their whims?

However, Shen Taixu and the other Hall Masters were deeply relieved because it caused Li Ling to stop in his tracks, and thinking about it, they were certain that he would fall for it. After all, they knew that a monstrous talent like this young man needed nothing other than merits to access better arts and resources to enhance himself.

Indeed, Li Ling knew they had caught him in their trap. While it was cool to find low-level methods like the Nine Heights Pagoda and then limit-break them into something unique, he would much rather purchase high-difficulty techniques like the Tai Xu Mysterious Method from the sect's library—of which they had plenty for all kinds of purposes—and brute-force learning them with the Infinite Slaughter System that could even generate physiques out of thin air.

That was the more economical and efficient way of using the system.

So this was like a dimensional reduction strike upon him, causing him to change his plans. Initially, in this fight, he planned to take out the Rank 4 Golden Sword Hilt and put it as a wager behind himself, then use his various methods to either exhaust or barely defeat Shen Taixu. But now, he would have to actually go all out.

"It can't be just you, can it? Do the other Hall Masters who participated in this organization not have anything to add?" Li Ling said with an insidious smile, turning his eyes over to the other Hall Masters who were feeling grateful to Tang Huo for sacrificing his own benefits for this endeavor.

However, their expressions naturally froze up when they heard his words, thinking to themselves that it should be logically impossible for anyone to be so greedy and daring, shouldn't it?

But indeed, turning their eyes to look at the cruelly smiling Li Ling, who playfully raised his leg in a motion to leave, they could only grit their teeth with hatred and send voice transmissions over to Tang Huo, whose lips twitched once more.

"Each Hall Master is naturally willing to contribute the same amount. Is that okay, Path Lord Li?" Tang Huo amended with a gentle smile, causing the crowd to simmer slightly.

That was a whopping 250,000 sect merits!! That was enough to even purchase all the way up to the Dao Integration stage of the sect-related cultivation method in one go, securing Li Ling's climb during his time in the middle layer—if he got there!

Some members of the crowd had red eyes as they gazed at Li Ling maliciously, plotting ways to seize those credits from him within the rules, but a certain voice that was spoken subconsciously happened to ring out at this moment.

"With how far they're going, will they really let him win?" A Path Walker at the mid-stage of the first realm muttered carelessly, only realizing his words were heard by too many as his face paled.

But for the rest, it was as if a cold bucket of water was splashed on their heads. Indeed, this huge wave of wealth sounded great, but one needed to win to actually get it—and after offering so much, who would actually dare to pay it out?

50,000 merits might not seem like much since Li Ling was able to theoretically earn 10,000 merits from one dispatch in this lower-tier War of Annihilation—which was reduced to 1,000 due to the merit ban—but it actually was.

Firstly, the dispatch was a supremely favorable one given through bribery, with Li Ling giving up 80% of the wealth earned from it and even having to find beauties like some goddamn pimp.

Secondly, Li Ling's strength was too great through the use of system-induced cheating. The typical operation for dispatches was for three to four Asura Blood Hall disciples to team up to clear their zone slowly over a period of time, sometimes taking one Hungry Ghost Hall fellow with them.

Yet he could totally be a one-man army by dropping meteors or spraying fire over a region—completely unreasonable and senseless. This was why he was even rated so highly after the previous duel with Bai Yegui. Bai Yegui was rated as a talent and a protagonist with a bright future—minus his tribulation—just because his circumstances allowed him to master one type of second realm daoist art to Perfection.

And the end result was one person easily farming what should have been split with a minimum of three people, not at all normal or representative of how typical merits were earned. To even give an example, one could precisely liken the Hall Masters to deans of a prestigious school complex, handling the grade school chapter.

Then suddenly, one asked them to fork out fifty thousand in cash on the spot for a bet.

No matter what, one would feel the pinch.

So because of this, the Hall Masters must be absolutely sure that Shen Taixu couldn't lose, because he was not even part of the bet. This made those watching wear grim expressions, wondering what gave the Hall Masters such confidence.

Then they looked up to the woman on the podium and felt that they had understood something.

Naturally, what they saw, Li Ling could see too. Without glancing at Shen Ziyan, he clapped his hands with an expression of approval. "It seems that I have underestimated the bravery and valor of our esteemed Hall Masters. If that is the case, then this Li shall not hesitate any longer."

With a single step, he climbed onto the dueling ring once more, cupping his fists in respect to the woman at the top.

"Li Ling greets the esteemed Core Disciple Shen Ziyan, Acting Matriarch of the Shen Clan. May your eyes be sharp and your judgment fair in this matchup."

Li Ling's words caused the faces of everyone to change once more, the biggest one so far since the entire farce began. After all, while they may have known who Shen Ziyan was due to her early arrival and announcement, Li Ling should not have easily found out, as that would defeat the purpose of the wager from the Hall Masters!

Speaking of that, the expressions of the Hall Masters—including Shen Taixu—became extremely ugly. If Li Ling already knew about their little trick and still walked in here, it meant that they were not the ones playing him—he had been happily playing them!

"Mmm. In this battle, neither party is allowed to use any artifacts, talismans, pills, or formations that require a plate or flags. The only permissible way to battle is to utilize one's cultivation and daoist arts." Shen Ziyan spoke her longest set of words so far, allowing everyone to bathe in her distinctively mature yet cold voice that was deeper than usual.

"I am ready to begin, Matriarch!" Shen Taixu declared with a solemn bow upward.

Shen Ziyan nodded and glanced at Li Ling, who made a thumbs-up. Without a change in expression, Shen Ziyan activated the Spirit Isolation Formation, which had been temporarily upgraded to the fourth grade for this match.

With her presiding, it was believed that nothing these two could do would affect onlookers in the stands, even if a few Perfection-stage daoist arts were thrown out.

"Hmm, since both parties are ready, let the match begin!" Shen Ziyan declared, and immediately, the two moved.

Shen Taixu maintained a cold sneer as he manifested angelic wings behind him, rising into the air in what seemed like flight, which should be an ability only possessed by Dao Integration cultivators. Like this, he pointed downward as thousands of feathers manifested around his wings and shot downwards like bullets from an assault rifle.

Li Ling raised an eyebrow and unleashed his full Blood Aura of 120 meters and congealed it to form a barrier before him, which submerged the incoming feathers of light, dissolving and corroding them rapidly until they dissipated into raw energy and dispersed.

This caused Shen Taixu to raise an eyebrow in slight surprise because Li Ling was able to deal with this beginner-level attack with such ease. He had thought the fellow would utilize the Golden Blockade like last time as he had prepared a countermeasure for it, but it seemed that the lad's Blood Aura was quite potent!

Just as well—it seemed that he would be able to showcase the power of a Hall Master using him as a target dummy!

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