Special Reward

"Junior Brother Ye—no, I should call you Senior Brother Ye now. Come, let me calculate it for you. Aside from the portion paid out, we earned a total of one hundred and ten thousand taels. If we split it, you and I each..."

"Hold on, pay me the portion from my bet first, then we can discuss that half."

Seeing Ye Zhen had seen through his little scheme, Jin Yuanbao slapped his forehead abruptly. "Oh, look at me, how could I forget your share? Tsk tsk, ten-to-one odds—your share is the big one. With this payout, the net profit for this round is going to shrink significantly."

Jin Yuanbao spoke with such gravity, as if he had truly forgotten about this matter; his fat face didn't even flush as he lied.

For the match between Ye Zhen and Ma Hun, Ye Zhen had bet two Marrow Cleansing Pills and fifty Sect Contribution Points. Aside from the return of his principal, Ye Zhen had earned two thousand five hundred taels of silver.

Ye Zhen had wagered all of that into his match against Hong Bao. All told, the total value Ye Zhen had bet reached five thousand taels of silver.

However, the odds for the match between Ye Zhen and Hong Bao were ten-to-one.

With a flick of his hand, Jin Yuanbao paid out a massive sum of fifty thousand taels of silver to Ye Zhen, the payout making the corners of Jin Yuanbao's mouth twitch. The total net profit for this gambling pool was only a little over one hundred and ten thousand taels.

With this payout, half of the net profit was gone, paid entirely to Ye Zhen. And that wasn't even the end of it; from the remaining net profit, another half had to be split with Ye Zhen, as they had originally agreed.

However, when the bets were placed, the Outer Disciples had used a chaotic variety of stakes—some bet silver, some bet medicinal pills, and others bet Sect Contribution Points directly. Sorting through the accounts now was extremely troublesome.

Jin Yuanbao, however, pushed all the wagers in front of Ye Zhen with great magnanimity. "Senior Brother Ye, feel free to pick. Just pick enough to reach a value of eighty thousand taels of silver. Since everything that can be bet is hard currency, leave the scraps for me to handle."

"Yuanbao, I act as the dark horse while you run the gambling ring. Don't you think that with the natural rapport between us, calling me 'Senior Brother Ye' is a bit too distant?"

Jin Yuanbao's conduct earned Ye Zhen's favor. A verbal agreement involving a massive sum of tens of thousands of taels, paid out without hesitation, and even allowing him priority in picking his share—this kind of boldness wasn't something just anyone possessed. Ye Zhen felt inclined to befriend him, even if Jin Yuanbao was a bit mercenary.

"Really? Can I call you Old Ye? Even though we're both young, I love calling friends 'Old So-and-so.' It feels great to say it like that."

"You can, why not? Just don't call me Old Ye in front of my father, Old Jin!"

"Old Ye!"

Exchanging a glance, the two youths suddenly burst into laughter across a pile of over a hundred thousand taels of silver. A strange glint flickered in Jin Yuanbao's eyes.

"Old Ye, we're brothers now, right? How about you forget about that thirty thousand taels you were going to take? Or, how about we split that silver fifty-fifty?" Once the relationship grew closer, Jin Yuanbao began to push his luck with a wink and a nudge.

"Get lost. Even brothers must settle accounts clearly!"

With a wave of his hand, Ye Zhen began picking out the items he needed from the wagers without hesitation. In any case, Jin Yuanbao was a wheeler-dealer who could handle whatever value remained.

"These two bottles of Condensing True Pill belong to me."

"Old Ye, your heart is too black. You're not leaving a single Condensing True Pill for me?" Jin Yuanbao rolled his eyes.

"Old Jin, don't tell me you don't have a channel to get Condensing True Pills?"

"Heh heh, I visit Chaotic Cloud Peak, where the Inner Disciples live, quite often," Jin Yuanbao said, not without pride.

Rolling his eyes at Jin Yuanbao, Ye Zhen stared at the table of wagers and pondered. "These five bottles of Blood Origin Pill, and these ten Marrow Cleansing Pills, they're mine too. And this..."

"Old Ye, you're already at the Blood Refining Fifth Level peak, why are you taking Blood Origin Pills and Marrow Cleansing Pills? Those things are useless to you now, aren't they?" Jin Yuanbao asked.

"I'm planning to go home for a visit. My parents have worked so hard for me for so many years; it's time I showed them some filial piety," Ye Zhen said.

"That's only right, only right. Even ordinary people can prolong their lives and strengthen their bodies by taking these Marrow Cleansing Pills."

At the mention of parents, Jin Yuanbao's expression dimmed suddenly, though Ye Zhen didn't notice. "For the rest, I'll take twenty thousand taels of silver and two thousand Sect Contribution Points, and that will be enough."

Seeing Ye Zhen finish picking, Jin Yuanbao swept his hand, and the remaining pile of treasures vanished into thin air. He then stretched comfortably and said, "With these treasures, my breakthrough to the True Essence Realm is just around the corner!"

Ye Zhen stared at Jin Yuanbao with a look of wonder. "Old Jin, you have a storage treasure? I heard those cost ten thousand contribution points to exchange for one. Aren't you a bit too rich?"

"Bird! Look at my cultivation; do I have the qualifications to spend that many resources on such a thing? This is a defective item I scavenged from a true disciple who studies artifact refining on the main peak. It only has half a cubic meter of space, and I spent this much on it." Jin Yuanbao held up one finger to Ye Zhen.

"One thousand?"

"Go on, if you offered one thousand, see if they don't smash you to death. Ten thousand—ten thousand taels of silver. And that was only because I did him a small favor," Jin Yuanbao said.

"Ten thousand taels for half a cubic meter is a fair deal. Old Jin, if you get the chance, get me one too," Ye Zhen said.

"No problem. Since you, Old Ye, have asked, I'll definitely find a way to get you one."

Just as Ye Zhen was about to take his leave, Jin Yuanbao suddenly tugged at him. Checking that no one was around, he lowered his voice and said to Ye Zhen, "Old Ye, the Senior Disciple Brother seems to be paying special attention to you today."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know, but he's been deliberately asking around about you. He's especially curious about the fact that you were a Menial Disciple just four months ago. He even specifically asked which menial peak you were from," Jin Yuanbao said.

Ye Zhen's brow furrowed immediately. "Why is he asking about that?"

"I don't know." Jin Yuanbao spread his hands. "I just thought it was strange and wanted to give you a heads-up. The Senior Disciple Brother is a very shrewd person. But then again, it might just be curiosity. Perhaps he feels that you, the newly ranked second on the Earth Ranking, might threaten his position."

"Perhaps..."

After bidding farewell to Jin Yuanbao, Ye Zhen prepared to return and meditate. Today's gains were too great; he needed to carefully consider how to utilize these resources to rapidly increase his strength.

Along the way, every black-clad Outer Disciple who encountered Ye Zhen stepped aside and bowed in greeting, calling him "Senior Brother Ye" with expressions of awe, which made Ye Zhen feel somewhat lightheaded.

The change in the Earth Ranking had already spread throughout East Arrival Peak in an instant.

In today's two duels, Ye Zhen had killed Ma Hun in one and left Hong Bao severely wounded in the other. There were even rumors that if the Sect Deacon hadn't intervened, even Hong Bao, the former second-ranked on the Earth Ranking, would have been finished off by Ye Zhen.

This rumor caused Ye Zhen's fierce reputation on East Arrival Peak to soar, directly leading to some Outer Disciples stuttering when they greeted him.

This was a world where strength reigned supreme, a world of naked survival of the fittest.

When Ye Zhen returned to his residence, he was surprised to find Steward Liu, the manager of East Arrival Peak, waiting at his door. The way he stood made it clear he was waiting for him.

"I finished my Sect Mission for this month a long time ago." After a moment of thought, Ye Zhen couldn't find any oversights and walked up to greet him.

"Greetings, Steward Liu."

"Hehe, Ye Zhen, congratulations! Congratulations on soaring straight to second place on the Earth Ranking."

Looking at the beaming smile on Steward Liu's face, Ye Zhen was initially surprised, but he quickly understood why. In the past, whenever he saw Steward Liu, the man always wore a cold, deadpan expression.

Now that his status and position had changed, his treatment had naturally changed as well.

"Ye Zhen, since this is your first time breaking into the Earth Ranking and you've charged all the way to second place, I was worried you might not know the benefits of reaching that rank, so I came specifically to inform you," Steward Liu said.

"Isn't the reward for the top ten of the Earth Ranking just four Blood Origin Pills each time?" Ye Zhen asked, feeling a bit puzzled.

"Of course it's more than that. If an Outer Disciple manages to break into the top three of the Earth Ranking, there is a special reward!" Steward Liu said.

"A special reward? What kind of special reward?" Ye Zhen's eyes lit up instantly.

************

ps: Alright, the special reward is here. Young man, do you want to know what it is?

Want to know?

Hand over those recommendation votes!