The Stingy Giant Axe Arena

A month later, Jin Yu finally arrived at Gan Wu Universe Country's imperial capital—Gan Wu Star.

"Jin Yu, was there really a need to come all the way out here?" Babata asked in confusion.

"Of course there was. How could a place like the Black Dragon Mountain Star Domain possibly have any geniuses? Only an imperial capital like Gan Wu Star has enough geniuses to help me improve."

With curious eyes, Jin Yu walked along the roads paved entirely with obsidian.

"Another World Master. I've already seen fifteen World Master-level experts on Imperial Capital Star. This place is insane." Even Babata was stunned by Imperial Capital Star's prosperity.

When he had followed Hu Yanbo, most of their time had been spent adventuring, or traveling toward their next adventure.

Even when they established Yun Mo Star's faction, they had chosen some remote backwater, terrified of provoking some great figure they should not offend.

"When you were following Teacher Hu Yanbo, you never came here?" Jin Yu asked suspiciously. He always felt Babata seemed just like him, like a country bumpkin entering the city for the first time.

"How could I not have come here?!" Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, Babata leaped up from his throne in the virtual space. "The boss and I came to Imperial Capital Star back when we were still weak. It's just that we were weak then, and our scouting equipment was poor, so we couldn't detect the strength of experts."

After Babata's explanation, Jin Yu finally understood. On prosperous planets, many experts activated anti-detection devices to keep weaklings from peeping into their strength.

It was a habit of life for lofty big shots.

There were generally three ways to sense someone's strength: through instruments, through spiritual force detection, or through sharp eyesight.

But if one's detection equipment was too weak, powerful equipment could block its detection capabilities.

Spiritual force detection, meanwhile, was an extremely impolite act, even a provocation. If the other party felt that you had hostile intentions, they could even directly kill you in "self-defense."

As for eyesight? Generally, one needed to be at least one major realm higher to see through someone.

Thus, Jin Yu was currently just a weak Stellar level nine. The many Universe level and Domain Lord level experts around him could easily see his level.

So his constant glancing around drew many suspicious looks. The surrounding experts all felt Jin Yu was spying on them, yet they had no proof.

Occasionally, he would encounter someone displeased enough to stop him and demand to know whether he had been spying on them.

"Big Brother, I'm truly sorry. It's my first time on Imperial Capital Star. I'm about to take part in a Giant Axe Arena Life-and-Death Battle, and I wanted to take one last good look at this world. Perhaps this will be the last time I ever see it."

Jin Yu wore a deeply emotional expression, like a lone warrior about to march bravely to his death.

At that moment, the experts who had been suspicious immediately revealed looks of realization. They then encouragingly patted his shoulder.

"Your name is Emperor? Kid, you've got guts. What's the number of your decisive battle? If I have time, I'll come support you." The expert then sent a strand of consciousness into the Virtual Universe to enter the number. Only after confirming that it was indeed Jin Yu's match information did he hypocritically let Jin Yu go.

In their eyes, for someone participating in an Arena battle for the first time, this truly was the final moment of his life.

As for lowering themselves to watch? Not a chance.

"And you have the nerve to say you're taking one last look at the world?" Babata was laughing wildly while enjoying a massage in the virtual core hall.

Watching one big shot after another get completely fooled was simply too entertaining.

"Why shouldn't I? Didn't you hear me say perhaps? Do you understand what perhaps means? I might fail, or I might succeed." Jin Yu calmly replied in his mind.

He had already arrived at the waiting room of the Giant Axe Arena on Imperial Capital Star. Many Warriors preparing for Life-and-Death Battles were seated there.

The Giant Axe Arena was one of the five great giants of the Human Clan in the universe. Because of the Great Axe Founder, calling it the strongest faction would not be an exaggeration.

Within the Virtual Universe Network, a plane space had been specially opened up. A vast river ran through the entire plane, its waters possessing astonishing buoyancy. On this broad river, so wide that its end could not be seen at a glance, floated one island after another. Each island was an Arena.

On Island 0021.

This was an island blanketed in snow. The most magnificent structure on it was a massive Arena. At its center lay an incomparably spacious open field, while densely packed seats surrounded it. The second, third, and fourth floors of the Arena contained private rooms.

Only members could enter the private rooms.

Ordinary spectators could only watch from the densely packed audience seats.

"I didn't expect today's match to feature a newcomer. I bet he won't last a single move."

"Betting on Kelly? Kelly's odds are too low."

"What's wrong with low odds? Kelly's odds are 1:1.35, while Emperor's are 1:2.98. Judging from the official odds given by the Giant Axe Arena, the Giant Axe Arena itself clearly favors Kelly. Who cares if the odds are low? As long as I can make money, that's enough. I've already made plenty betting on Kelly to win. I'm betting on him again this time!"

"I'm betting on Emperor. That name sounds badass. Maybe he'll pull off an upset and let me win it all back in one go. I'm betting 600 million Gan Wu Coins!"

"Only 600 million Gan Wu Coins? I'm betting 2 billion Gan Wu Coins on Kelly to win!"

"I'm betting 1 billion Gan Wu Coins, just for fun."

Three beastmen with red horns on their heads sat in the audience seats in luxurious attire, chatting and laughing.

Similar scenes played out continuously in the other seats.

As the live broadcast of the decisive battle was about to begin, more and more people filled the entire Arena. More than half of the densely packed audience seats on the first floor were already occupied, at least several million people. Quite a few had even gone upstairs. Those able to enter the private rooms above were at least three-star bank clients, or even higher.

"Five people went upstairs!"

"Look at those kids. Those curious eyes, that bearing—they're obviously little fellows from some backwater who've never seen the world."

"I agree with Big Brother. Based on my judgment from dealing with people every day, these few clearly lack bearing. They aren't any important figures."

"I agree too."

The three red-horned beastmen watched a handsome young man in the nearby corridor and the four people following behind him. The five of them curiously examined the Arena's structure, then stomp, stomp, stomp, headed straight up to the fifth floor.

The three red-horned beastmen immediately widened their eyes. They had completely misjudged them!

"Five-star clients? Holy crap, seriously?"

"What the hell? I actually misjudged them! That's just ridiculous."

Jin Yu led Luo Feng and the other four rapidly upstairs. Following the private room number, they entered one of the rooms.

As a five-star client, he had been given an exclusive Giant Axe Arena membership, along with an independent private room. Members could bring their family, friends, and servants to watch.

As for how many people they brought, that was entirely up to them.

Of course, the private room was only so large. The more people they brought, the more crowded it became.

"Senior Brother, this Giant Axe Arena is really generous. I checked before—the tickets for this sort of live broadcast are expensive! Yet members can watch for free." Thor clicked his tongue in admiration. "And when we entered the Arena just now, there were so many people. Listening to their discussions, it seemed they were all placing bets worth hundreds of thousands or even millions of Gan Wu Coins. They're really rich."

Hong smiled. "Those who can come here, even those sitting in the first-floor audience seats, mostly own many planetary territories. And speaking of which, you have several orders of magnitude more money than they do, right?"

"Mm."

Luo Feng nodded with a smile. "Right. One Gan Wu Coin can be exchanged for 1,000 Black Dragon Coins. One billion Gan Wu Coins is equivalent to one trillion Black Dragon Coins. In other words, every casual bet they place is equivalent to betting one planet, or even several planets. In their respective star domains, they're definitely influential figures."

No matter how influential they were, they still did not qualify as members.

The lowest threshold for Giant Axe Arena membership was being a three-star bank client! Usually, only World Master-level experts possessed such status... For example, in the Black Dragon Mountain Star Domain, the ancestors of the sixteen great families were all World Masters, but they were not necessarily all three-star clients.

"Ladies and gentlemen from the various Universe Countries."

"This Life-and-Death Battle is about to begin. Please place your bets quickly. There is not much time left."

"Kelly to win, odds 1:1.35."

"Emperor to win, odds 1:2.98. If both sides perish together, the odds are 1:81. Yes, eighty-one times the payout. When experts of similar strength fight, mutual destruction is very possible." A loud voice speaking standard Universal Language echoed in every spectator's ears. "Only five minutes remain before betting closes. Please place your bets quickly."

Inside the private room.

"Since it's our first time here, we should place a bet." Thor smiled. "Brother Hong, Second Senior Brother, Junior Brother, who are you planning to bet on?"

"I'm betting on Kelly." Hong answered casually. "I'll bet on him... 100 million Universe Coins."

"Kelly?" Luo Feng looked at Hong and nodded. "I want to bet on Emperor. One hundred million Universe Coins as well. He may be a newcomer, but that also means limitless possibilities. An upset might happen."

"I choose Emperor, 100 million Universe Coins. Gambling is all about luck." Thor said, "Senior Brother, Junior Brother, what about you two?"

"Me?" Jin Yu looked through the private room window at the detailed information on the two Life-and-Death Battle opponents displayed on the floating giant screen above the Arena's center, a strange smile appearing on his face.

That Kelly in the information... was domineering beyond compare, like an ancient war god emerging from the abyss. Emperor, meanwhile, had calm eyes with a faint trace of confidence, and a slight smile on his face. Well, aside from being fairly handsome, he looked quite ordinary.

"I choose Emperor!" Jin Yu said with a smile. "Let's put down 100,000 Hun Yuan units." He did not lack money at the moment, so he would just bet a little for fun. It was a guaranteed win anyway, so he could treat it as entertainment.

"What? One hundred thousand? And Hun Yuan units at that!" Luo Feng and the others were completely stunned. Was that necessary? It was only a Stellar level battle, yet he was betting so much?

Even Jia Yi nearly forgot to place his own bet, falling into shock. In the end, he casually followed suit and bet 100 million Universe Coins.

"Holy crap! Sure enough, they're sneaky bastards. What, they can't afford to play?" Jin Yu looked at the email he received. His bet had been rejected. The maximum bet had actually been restricted to just 10,000 Hun Yuan units.

He had never placed a bet before, so he truly did not know there was a betting cap.

"Then even if I win a thousand matches in a row, I'll only make a bit over ten million Hun Yuan units? And the odds will definitely get lower later, so I won't make even a cent." Jin Yu unhappily placed a bet of 10,000 Hun Yuan units. With such a tiny profit, there was simply no point.

At the same time, he had Babata transfer 90,000 Hun Yuan units to his slaves, splitting it among one hundred people and having each of them bet 900 Hun Yuan units. It was his way of throwing a tantrum.

Of course, he could not keep doing this. If he did not want to cause trouble in the future, he could only play by himself within the limit.

But what he had not expected was that this stingy Giant Axe Arena had restricted that as well! The total bet could not exceed 100,000 Hun Yuan units.

Meanwhile, the total bets outside were less than 2,000 Hun Yuan units, so he could only fill the gap and place a total bet of 98,000 Hun Yuan units.

Fuck this! Even a whole string of curses in Jin Yu's heart could not vent his anger.