Special Reward

"Junior Brother Ye—no, no, I should be calling you Senior Brother Ye now. Come, let me do the math for you. Aside from the portion we paid out, we made a total of one hundred and ten thousand taels. Split evenly, you and I each get..."

"Wait. Pay me back the portion I wagered first, then we can discuss that half."

Seeing that Ye Zhen had seen through his little scheme, Jin Yuanbao slapped his forehead. "Ah, look at me. How could I forget your share? Tsk tsk, ten-to-one odds. Your share is the big one. Once I pay that out, this round's net earnings will shrink drastically."

Jin Yuanbao spoke with such seriousness that it was as if he had truly forgotten about it. When he lied, not even a trace of red appeared on his fat face.

In Ye Zhen's match against Ma Hun, he had wagered two Marrow Cleansing Pills and fifty Sect Contribution Points. Aside from getting his stake back, Ye Zhen had earned two thousand five hundred taels of silver.

Ye Zhen had wagered all of that on his match against Hong Bao. Counting it up, the total value of Ye Zhen's stake had reached five thousand taels of silver.

But the odds for Ye Zhen's match against Hong Bao had been ten to one.

In the blink of an eye, Jin Yuanbao paid Ye Zhen the enormous sum of fifty thousand taels of silver, enough to make the corners of his mouth twitch. The net profit from this betting pool was only a little over one hundred and ten thousand taels.

With that payout, half of the net income was gone to Ye Zhen. And that was not even the end of it. Of the remaining net income, another half still had to be given to Ye Zhen. That had been their original agreement.

However, the Outer Disciples' wagers had come in all shapes and sizes. Some had bet silver, some pills, and some had directly wagered Sect Contribution Points. Sorting through the accounts now was extremely troublesome.

Yet Jin Yuanbao grandly shoved all the wagers toward Ye Zhen. "Senior Brother Ye, pick whatever you want. Just choose wagers worth eighty thousand taels. Anything that can be wagered is hard currency anyway. Leave all those odds and ends to me."

"Yuanbao, you opened the betting pool for me, and I played the dark horse for you. With the natural understanding between us, doesn't calling me 'Senior Brother Ye' sound too distant?"

Jin Yuanbao's manner won Ye Zhen's favor. A verbal agreement and a massive sum worth tens of thousands of taels—yet Jin Yuanbao paid without hesitation and even let him choose first. Such generosity was not something ordinary people possessed. Ye Zhen began to think of befriending him, even if Jin Yuanbao was a bit too shrewd.

"Really? How about I call you Old Ye? We're both young, but I love calling my friends Old This and Old That. It feels damn good to say."

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

"Old Ye!"

They exchanged a glance, then the two youths suddenly burst into laughter across more than a hundred thousand taels of silver. A strange gleam flickered in Jin Yuanbao's eyes.

"Old Ye, we're brothers now, right? Then you don't need those thirty thousand taels you were supposed to take. Or maybe we can split all this silver fifty-fifty?" As soon as their relationship drew closer, Jin Yuanbao started wiggling his brows and shamelessly pushing his luck.

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

With a sweep of his hand, Ye Zhen began picking out what he needed from the wagers without any ceremony. As long as the rest had value, Jin Yuanbao, the middleman, could handle it all.

"These two bottles of Condensing True Pills are all mine."

"Old Ye, your heart is way too black. You're not leaving me even one Condensing True Pill." Jin Yuanbao rolled his eyes.

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

"Hehe, I visit Chaotic Cloud Peak, where the Inner Disciples live, all the time." Jin Yuanbao said smugly.

Ye Zhen shot Jin Yuanbao a huge eye roll, then stared at the wagers spread across the table in thought. "These five bottles of Blood Origin Pills and these ten Marrow Cleansing Pills are mine too. And this..."

"Old Ye, aren't you already at the peak of Blood Refining Fifth Level? Why are you still 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 father and mother have worked hard for me all these years. It's time I showed them some filial respect." Ye Zhen said.

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

At the mention of parents, Jin Yuanbao's expression suddenly darkened. Ye Zhen did not notice. "For the rest, I'll take twenty thousand taels of silver and another two thousand Sect Contribution Points. That should cover it."

Once Ye Zhen had finished choosing, Jin Yuanbao swept up the remaining treasures on the table, and they vanished into thin air. Then he stretched lazily in satisfaction. "With these treasures, breaking through to the True Essence Realm is just around the corner!"

Ye Zhen stared at Jin Yuanbao with a strange expression. "Old Jin, you have a storage treasure? Didn't they say those things cost ten thousand Contribution Points each? You're way too rich, aren't you?"

"My ass! Look at my cultivation. Do you think I'm qualified to spend so many resources on one of those? I picked this defective item up from a true disciple on the main peak who studies artifact forging. It only has half a cubic meter of space, and I spent this much." Jin Yuanbao held up one finger.

"One thousand?"

"Get out of here. If you offered one thousand, they'd smash you to death. Ten thousand—ten thousand taels of silver. And that was only because I helped him with a small favor." Jin Yuanbao said.

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

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

Just as Ye Zhen was saying goodbye and preparing to leave, Jin Yuanbao suddenly grabbed him. After checking that no one was nearby, he lowered his voice and said, "Old Ye, Senior Disciple Brother seemed especially interested in you today."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. Anyway, he was deliberately asking about you, especially the fact that you were still a Menial Disciple four months ago. That made him very curious. He even specifically asked which Menial Peak you used to be from." Jin Yuanbao said.

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

"I don't know." Jin Yuanbao spread his hands. "I just found it strange, so I'm giving you a warning. Senior Disciple Brother is a very shrewd man. But maybe he's only curious. Perhaps he thinks that you, the newly risen second place on the Earth Ranking, might threaten his position."

"Maybe..."

After bidding Jin Yuanbao farewell, Ye Zhen planned to return first and think things over. Today's gains had been enormous. He needed to carefully consider how to use these resources to make his strength soar.

Along the way, every black-clad Outer Disciple Ye Zhen encountered stepped aside and cupped their hands in greeting. Each called him Senior Brother Ye, their expressions filled with awe. It gave Ye Zhen a rather floating feeling.

The changes in the Earth Ranking had already spread throughout East Arrival Peak at the first opportunity.

In today's two martial battles, Ye Zhen had killed Ma Hun in one, while Hong Bao had been beaten so badly in the other that he was gravely injured. There were even rumors that if the Sect Deacon had not intervened, even Hong Bao, once second on the Earth Ranking, would have been killed by Ye Zhen.

That rumor caused Ye Zhen's ferocious reputation to surge across East Arrival Peak. It directly led to some Outer Disciples stammering when they greeted him.

This was a world where strength reigned supreme.

When Ye Zhen returned to his residence, he was surprised to find Steward Liu, the peak steward of East Arrival Peak, waiting outside his door. From the look of it, he had clearly been waiting for him.

I completed this month's Sect Mission long ago. After thinking it over, Ye Zhen found nothing he had overlooked and walked forward.

"Greetings, Steward Liu."

"Hehe, Ye Zhen, congratulations. Congratulations on claiming second place on the Earth Ranking in one fell swoop."

Looking at Steward Liu's smiling face, Ye Zhen was initially a little surprised, but quickly understood. In the past, whenever he saw Steward Liu, the man had always worn an icy, dead-man's expression.

Now that Ye Zhen's status was different, his treatment naturally became different as well.

"Ye Zhen, seeing that this is your first time entering the Earth Ranking and you charged straight to second place, I was afraid you might not know the benefits of reaching second place. That is why I came specially to inform you." Steward Liu said.

"Doesn't the top ten of the Earth Ranking only receive four Blood Origin Pills each time?" Ye Zhen asked in confusion.

"Of course, it's not just that. If an Outer Disciple enters the top three of the Earth Ranking, there is a special reward!" Steward Liu said.

"A special reward? What special reward?" Ye Zhen's eyes suddenly lit up.

P.S. Fine, the special reward is here. Young man, do you want to know what it is?

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