Bet and Battle

"You obtained the map you wanted. How do you plan to deal with me, your defeated foe, next?" After finishing his thoughts, Hai Bodong understood that his life and death were now in another's hands, leaving him at their mercy, and asked Lin Yuan in a heavy voice.

"Defeated foe? Ah, it seems the Ice Emperor isn't convinced by losing to me that way!" Lin Yuan's tone added a bit more teasing.

Hai Bodong snorted inwardly and did not answer. Though he somewhat blamed himself for being careless, he truly felt a bit unconvinced. He had been taken down by a deliberate sneak attack before he had even made a move.

"Fine. It's about time I let my future ally see our side's strength. Let's go. A battle outside the city. I'll temporarily undo the seal I just placed and suppress my Dou Qi to the same level as yours. If you can defeat me, then out of respect for a strong person, I'll return the fragment map and undo the seal. But if you lose..." Lin Yuan looked towards Hai Bodong.

"If I lose, then I, Hai Bodong, will be fully convinced and obey your orders from now on." When it came to a head-on battle, Hai Bodong was extremely confident. He did not believe he would lose to a junior, so he readily agreed to the battle agreement, ready to stake everything he had on this round.

"Then it's a deal. Let this be our oath." Lin Yuan raised his right hand.

"It's a deal." Hai Bodong struck his palm in agreement.

Looking at the confident Hai Bodong, a bit more amusement appeared in Lin Yuan's eyes.

"He took the bait."

"The more confident the gamble, the easier it is to make yourself lose even more!"

In a stretch of desert outside the city, Hai Bodong and Lin Yuan, both emitting the aura of peak Dou Spirits, stood facing each other.

"Kid, let me tell you that a head-on battle and a sneak attack are two different things." Feeling his strength return, Hai Bodong emanated ice-cold Dou Qi all over his body and said coldly to Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan said nothing more and waved his hand at Hai Bodong.

The two figures instantly vanished from where they stood and rushed towards each other like lightning. In the blink of an eye, they collided in the middle, and two fierce energies, ice and fire, erupted from the point where they clashed, blasting the surroundings until yellow sand filled the air.

Energy erupted from the center, and the two of them flew backwards along with it.

After steadying himself, Hai Bodong immediately began moving at high speed around the battlefield the two had marked out. Ice cold Dou Qi continuously emanated from his body, and the ice-cold air it formed spread rapidly. A faint mist also coiled within it, slowly obscuring Lin Yuan's vision.

"Interesting. This mist can slow a person down, but... these tricks are useless against me."

Lin Yuan gathered his power into himself, stretched out his right foot, and stomped heavily on the ground. A powerful surge of fire force erupted with Lin Yuan as the center, instantly scattering the ice mist. Hai Bodong, who had been moving through the ice mist, was also struck by the fire force and forced back several steps.

"Ice Emperor, don't bring out toys meant for fooling around. Let me see your true battle level as a strong person." Lin Yuan looked calmly towards Hai Bodong.

Hai Bodong steadied himself and said nothing. Wrapped in Ice Dou Qi, he charged at Lin Yuan and began close-quarters combat with him.

As their limbs crossed, Dou Qi clashed, and the two fought as one tangled mass. The more Hai Bodong fought, the more alarmed he became. The kid before him was extremely formidable in close combat: fast, strong, skilled in his moves, and extremely powerful in Dou Qi control. Moreover, it was as if he could see through his attacks, calmly receiving every single one.

I can't go on like this. Thinking of this, Hai Bodong abruptly stamped on the ground, pulled open the distance, and brought both hands together at the same time.

"Mystic Ice Thorn!"

Over a dozen long ice thorns condensed and shot towards Lin Yuan. Seeing this, Lin Yuan used a clever force with his hand and caught the first ice thorn, dispersing its power. Covering it with Dou Qi, he wielded it like a longsword and lightly knocked away the ice thorns that came shooting after it.

Seeing this, Hai Bodong's expression darkened. With a wave of his palm, dozens of spiral-shaped ice thorns rapidly took form before him. With another wave of his hand, they shot violently towards Lin Yuan with whistling cries that blotted out the sky. At the same time, his palms opened and closed, actually condensing countless fine ice threads that wound towards Lin Yuan.

Seeing this, Lin Yuan moved with a thought, generating fire with his Qi. A large amount of Azure Spirit Flame instantly spread all around him, then under Lin Yuan's control, turned into a rapidly rotating azure fire cover. The moment the ice thorns and ice threads touched the fire cover, they were burned into nothingness.

After dissolving this wave of attacks, Lin Yuan immediately launched a counterattack. Under Lin Yuan's control, the azure fire cover rotated at high speed and compressed, finally condensing at Lin Yuan's fingertip into a rapidly rotating fire cone. At the same time, several azure flame whips took shape and, under Lin Yuan's control, launched an attack on Hai Bodong.

This kid has such powerful control. He can actually condense such strong energy into one tiny fire cone, while also manipulating so many flame whips to seal off and hinder my movements. This is trouble. As the battle dragged on, Hai Bodong felt more and more that things were going badly.

The instant the fire cone finished condensing, several more fire whips formed and joined the attack, quickly sealing off Hai Bodong's movements. Lin Yuan seized the momentum and shot out the fire cone.

"Pill Flame Technique—Flying Star."

The instant he saw Lin Yuan shoot out the fire cone, Hai Bodong knew he could no longer dodge it. His dry hands quickly formed a seal, and he shouted softly, "Ice Condensing Mirror!"

As the hand seals ended, a transparent ice mirror about half a meter long and wide abruptly condensed before him.

The instant the rapidly rotating fire cone collided with the transparent ice mirror, the energy compressed to the extreme within the fire cone erupted at one point on the ice mirror, as if trying to pierce through it. Seeing this, Hai Bodong continuously circulated his Dou Qi to reinforce the ice mirror. The hot wind blew Hai Bodong's disheveled hair into the air, and the fierce energy impact pushed Hai Bodong, who was holding the mirror, backwards, his feet plowing two deep trenches through the sand.

I blocked it. Before Hai Bodong could catch his breath, a wind-breaking sound came from behind him. Hai Bodong quickly turned around, crossed his arms, and blocked the whip kick coming at him, but even so, the fierce force still smashed Hai Bodong and sent him flying backwards.

Hai Bodong, who had rich battle experience, used his movement technique in midair to shed the force and flipped several times before landing steadily on the ground. Looking at the figure ahead, he saw it was Lin Yuan, who had already moved behind Hai Bodong to wait after shooting out the fire cone. Moving his arms, which had gone somewhat numb, Hai Bodong looked at Lin Yuan warily. This guy has such a powerful body and strength.

Looking at Hai Bodong with a smile, Lin Yuan asked, "Ice Emperor, do you still plan to continue?"

Looking at the young man before him, whose breathing was not even disturbed and whose aura remained as calm as it had been before the fight began, Hai Bodong understood that the person before him was an absolute powerhouse among those of the same realm, strong in every aspect. Today's chances of victory were slim. Between closing and opening his eyes, he had already made his decision and said decisively, "Take this move, and Hai Bodong will admit defeat here."

"I'll take this move of yours. Come." With a flip of his hand, azure fire filled the sky. Lin Yuan agreed to Hai Bodong's one-move battle to decide victory and resolved to meet it head-on. This time, he intended to defeat Hai Bodong completely.

"Mystic Ice Spiral Kill!"

His hands quickly formed seals before him, and streams of crescent-shaped ice blades emerged around him in rotation. In the end, they actually faintly concealed Hai Bodong's body completely within them. The ice blades connected to one another, forming a small spiral storm made entirely of combined ice blades.

"Go!" From within the storm, a low shout rang out, and the ice blade storm suddenly rolled towards Lin Yuan to kill him.

Lin Yuan's eyes turned sharp. The seals in his hands changed, and a purple-red blood essence was drawn out from the blood core. Blood essence, azure flame, and Dou Qi gathered and condensed before him, forming an azure-red seal with blood essence as the embryo, azure flame as the mountains, and Dou Qi as the rivers. Mysterious runes flickered on the seal, and World Energy faintly gathered into it, emitting destructive power.

"Heavenly Fire Tribulation, Mountain River Seal."

"Go!" Under Lin Yuan's control, the azure-red seal shot towards the spiral storm.

The Mountain River Seal collided with the ice blade spiral storm, and energy erupted violently. After a stalemate of several breaths, the ice blade storm was completely shattered. Hai Bodong, at the center of the storm, flew backwards as if struck by a heavy blow, falling to the ground. His aura had also weakened considerably. Hai Bodong looked at the raging energy and mist ahead, his gaze bitter. He had lost, utterly lost.

Not far away, Lin Yuan raised his right hand and chopped diagonally downward with a hand chop. A gust of wind, with his body as the center, scattered the surrounding mist and energy. Then he walked towards Hai Bodong and asked with a smile, "Ice Emperor, how was this battle?"

Looking at the young man before him walking over as if strolling through a courtyard, his deep eyes and steady aura unchanged, Hai Bodong's voice carried a hint of admiration amid its bleakness. "This battle was this old man's loss, and I lost fully convinced. Haha, I didn't expect that after living in seclusion here for more than twenty years, I would be completely defeated today by a junior in a battle at the same level. The younger generation is truly formidable."

"From now on, this old man is at Your Excellency's command." After adjusting his emotions, Hai Bodong said in a deep voice. As for a promise built on victory and defeat, he acknowledged it.

"Then I wish us a pleasant cooperation from here on, Ice Emperor Hai Bodong."

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