Who Else Could It Be but That Old Schemer?

Tang San suddenly turned his head and glared furiously at Ma Hongjun and Dai Mubai.

He was already furious himself, but he would never allow anyone else to speak even a single word against Xiao Wu.

Dai Mubai and Ma Hongjun looked at each other. They knew their words had been unpleasant, but they had only been telling the truth. Why had he reacted so strongly?

"Xiao San, we talked too much."

Dai Mubai had seen more of the world, after all. Noticing that Tang San was truly angry, he promptly backed down. "If you don't like hearing it, we won't say it again."

He quickly tugged Ma Hongjun's sleeve and gave him a meaningful look.

Ma Hongjun could only mutter unwillingly, "Yeah, Xiao San, I was wrong. I shouldn't have spouted all that truthful nonsense. Don't take it to heart."

It was as if Tang San had been stabbed again.

He endured it, took a deep breath, forcibly suppressed his anger, and stopped pursuing the matter.

After all, this was not the time for infighting.

Only Oscar, whose presence had always been rather faint, had kept his gaze fixed on the direction Ning Rongrong had disappeared from since the beginning. His soul had practically flown off after her, and he had not noticed that the people beside him had nearly started arguing.

Each of them harbored their own thoughts as they entered the loud, bustling Soul Fighting Arena.

Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing were quickly assigned their matches.

Jiang Yunzhou immediately rushed toward the betting counter.

He now carried the enormous sum of over four thousand gold coins on him. This was the richest he had ever been in all his years!

After checking their odds, he saw that the multiplier for newcomers was quite high. Both of them had odds of 1:2.

Thinking about how his little treasury would soon double, he grew so excited that his hands trembled slightly.

Zhu Zhuqing's match was first, and he placed his bet without hesitation.

"Hello, I'd like to place a bet. Codename: Bamboo Leaf Green. Four thousand gold coins on her to win."

When he pulled out the heavy money pouch, his face was clearly full of pain and reluctance, as if he were handing over not gold coins, but his lifeblood.

Zhu Zhuqing had no interest whatsoever in betting or gambling and had already gone straight to the waiting area.

Ning Rongrong simply looked down on such a small amount of money. If she bet too much, she was afraid the Soul Fighting Arena would not be able to afford the payout, so she followed Zhu Zhuqing to the waiting area.

Xiao Wu, standing beside Jiang Yunzhou, looked at those glittering gold coins with an eager expression.

"Brother Yunzhou, you're placing bets too?" Xiao Wu leaned closer and asked curiously.

Jiang Yunzhou turned to see her and raised an eyebrow. "Why did you come over too? Don't you need to prepare for your match?"

"Hehe, it's not my turn yet!"

Xiao Wu said with a grin, "I saw you heading this way and guessed you were here to place bets, so I followed to watch the fun. Who did you bet on? Rongrong?"

"Of course. I bet on both of them!"

Jiang Yunzhou promised confidently, "Listen to me, you can't go wrong. It's a sure win! Want to bet some too? I'll make you rich!"

Xiao Wu naturally knew Zhu Zhuqing's strength, and she was not particularly obsessed with making money.

But seeing how enthusiastic Jiang Yunzhou was, she became interested as well. "Sure! Then I'll bet on Zhuqing and Rongrong to win too!"

She took out her shriveled little money pouch and carefully counted out one hundred gold coins to place as her bet.

Tang San had deliberately given her those hundred gold coins. Who knew whether he had finally gotten the idea.

She noticed that Jiang Yunzhou's gaze had remained on her shabby money pouch, and she immediately felt embarrassed and awkward, her cheeks warming slightly.

What does Brother Yunzhou mean by this? Does he think I'm poor? But his expression doesn't seem to mean that!

Young girls were sensitive, and they were especially prone to blushing at times like this.

"Brother Jiang, don't laugh at me. This money of mine..." She tried to explain, but her voice grew quieter and quieter.

Jiang Yunzhou directly interrupted her, his tone filled with sincere surprise and a hint of envy.

"I didn't expect you to have so much secret spending money, Xiao Wu! That's amazing. With so many gold coins, you could buy so, so much delicious food!"

"When I was your age, I often couldn't even eat my fill!"

"Ah?"

Xiao Wu froze. This reaction was completely beyond her expectations. It seemed entirely different from the disdain she had imagined.

"All right, the bet's placed! I'm going to watch the match. You should go get ready too," Jiang Yunzhou said in high spirits.

"Mhm! Okay!"

Xiao Wu nodded vigorously. "Then I'm going to prepare for my match too! Brother Yunzhou, you have to watch my match, okay?"

"Definitely!"

After watching Xiao Wu leave, Jiang Yunzhou headed straight for the spectator stands.

He found an inconspicuous seat and had only just sat down when a prickling sensation rose along his back.

His instincts told him that a hostile gaze was firmly locked onto him.

The feeling was extremely unpleasant.

Jiang Yunzhou frowned slightly and discreetly looked around.

Unfortunately, the arena was packed with shoulder-to-shoulder spectators and filled with deafening noise. It was difficult to immediately locate where the gaze was coming from.

Moreover, whenever he tried to search for it, that feeling of being watched vanished without a trace.

Unable to find anything, he temporarily put the matter aside.

No matter who it was, before absolute strength, they were nothing but a clown jumping about.

As long as he could ensure the safety of his two precious disciples, he would deal with whatever came his way.

For now, making money was more important.

Yet things were often like this—the less one wanted to be disturbed, the more trouble came looking.

Just as he focused entirely on waiting for Zhu Zhuqing to enter the arena, that feeling of being followed appeared once more!

This time, Jiang Yunzhou had remained highly vigilant in advance.

Sure enough, at the corner of a corridor to the side, he caught a fleeting black shadow!

His eyes narrowed. It would have been one thing if he had not noticed it, but now that he had, he could not pretend to see nothing.

Any potential danger had to be strangled in the cradle.

He immediately rose from his seat and quickly headed toward that corridor corner.

When he arrived, he saw only the edge of a garment vanish around the next turn.

It felt as though someone was deliberately leading him on, revealing a trace of themselves at precisely the right moment whenever he was about to lose the target.

"Heh. Interesting." Jiang Yunzhou sneered.

He already knew that someone was deliberately trying to lure him out of the Soul Fighting Arena.

Anyone capable of being so stealthy while concealing their aura so thoroughly had to be quite powerful.

In a place like Suotuo City, there were only a handful of people with such strength.

But would Jiang Yunzhou be afraid? Not a chance!

He simply followed openly, determined to see what medicine the other party was selling.

Seeing part of the figure at every corner at just the "right" moment, this pretentious little game gradually wore away his patience.

"Damn it, if you want to lure me somewhere deserted, just say so! There's no need to play ghost like this!" Jiang Yunzhou shouted directly into the empty corridor.

Sure enough, when he rounded the final street corner, he saw an unusually burly figure standing with its back to him deep within a dim, secluded alley.

The newcomer wore a tattered hooded cloak that shrouded their entire body in shadow, giving off an aged yet dangerous aura.

This classic "tattered cloak" look let Jiang Yunzhou instantly guess the person's identity.

Who else could it be but that old schemer?