As evening fell, Jiang Liu followed the crowd to the arena outside the South City Gate. The arena was set up in an open space about three or four miles away from the South City. Nine viewing platforms had also been built next to the arena, presumably for the two sides to wager, the various powerful factions in the city, and members of the Martial Prohibition Hall.
On the viewing platform, the Pang Family, the Feng Family, and the Moonfall Sect had already arrived and taken their seats. The White Lotus Sect, the Chen, Li, and Wang families had not yet arrived, nor had anyone from the Martial Prohibition Hall appeared.
The rules of the duel are simple: once you're in the ring, if one side refuses to end it, the fight continues. Life and death are left to Tianming.
If both sides are unconscious, the Martial Prohibition Hall will declare it a draw. The Martial Prohibition Hall is also responsible for maintaining order, mainly to prevent the losing side from launching a siege against the other side.
Half an hour before the betting began, five tents were set up behind the crowd of onlookers, two of which were empty. These were the betting areas set up by the casino, and they were packed with people.
Some people were saying that the person accepting bets tonight wasn't the one who was familiar with the casino before; it seemed like someone else had come to collect the bets.
Jiang Liu didn't pay much attention to the betting. He stood aside and waited quietly for the betting to begin. About half an hour later, a commotion suddenly broke out. Many people were shouting, "Kill him! Kill him!" It turned out that He Lie had arrived.
He Lie was wearing a black cloak, carrying a sword on his back, his hair tied up with a jade hairpin, his face was cold and stern, and he wore a close-fitting undershirt with the White Lotus Sect's insignia. His eyes coldly swept across the entire scene.
He Lie's figure suddenly appeared on the arena. This arena was square, thirty meters long, and specially made. It could withstand the full-force battle of Rank 9 Martial Practitioner without collapsing. It was said that the materials were specially transported from Yunzhou by the Martial Prohibition Hall to build it.
He Lie went up to the arena and sat cross-legged quietly, waiting. He Lie's companion, Xie Hen, the Xie Hen of the Fengcheng branch of the White Lotus Sect Wind City, led the remaining two protectors to the left-hand viewing platform. The other members of the White Lotus Sect were not qualified to go up to the platform to watch.
After waiting for about fifteen minutes, the Chen, Li, and Wang families finally arrived. Before they even reached the arena, they started arguing with the White Lotus Sect members. Both sides were exchanging pleasantries about each other's parents, ancestors, and three generations of ancestors.
The three teams were led by Chen Tianyang, the head of the Chen Family, followed by Li Fei, the head of the Li Family, while Wang Jian, the head of the Wang Family, followed at the very back with a gloomy expression.
The three family heads, each accompanied by their Lineage elders, ascended the right-hand viewing platform and took their respective seats. They appeared to have a larger and more powerful force than the White Lotus Sect.
Not long after, the people from the Martial Prohibition Hall arrived. Leading them was Luo Hui, the head of the Fengcheng branch of the Martial Prohibition Hall Wind City, who was in charge of the Martial Division Arts Department. He was accompanied by the heads of the remaining four departments: Liu Changfeng, the deputy head of the Wind Department; Shang Tianhe, the deputy head of the Crane Division Shang Tianhe; Yan Jin, the deputy head of the Investigation Department; Li Qianfan, the deputy head of the Guard Division. They went up to the central viewing platform.
The Martial Prohibition Hall is divided into five departments to manage all matters in the Jianghu: Martial Division: responsible for overall control of Jianghu forces; Wind Crane Division: responsible for collecting intelligence on Jianghu arts forces; Crane Department: mainly responsible for combating Jianghu forces; Investigation Department: mainly responsible for supervising forces within the dynasty; and Guard Division: mainly responsible for logistics.
The heads of the five departments of the Wind City Martial Prohibition Hall are all ninth-rank masters, and with the support of the imperial court, they are able to maintain a firm advantage over the forces in Wind City.
Seeing that it was almost time, Luo Hui gestured to Shang Tianhe, who nodded, then stood up, walked to the center of the stands, released his aura, and said calmly, "Both sides prepare."
Immediately, He Lie opened his eyes, stood up, and stood in the middle of the ring, waiting. Wang Jian, on the other hand, leaped onto the ring, took out special boxing gloves, put them on, and stood facing He Lie.
Seeing that the two of them were standing in the middle, Shang Tianhe said, "Start!" and went back to his seat.
He Lie and Wang Jian exchanged a glance, neither of them rushing to attack. The two unleashed their powerful auras as they clashed fiercely. He Lie stared coldly at Wang Jian and whispered, "Are you sure you don't want to agree to our proposal? Once someone dies, there's no going back."
Wang Jian glared fiercely at He Lie. If he agreed to their demands, the Wang Family would become a complete vassal. If he didn't, the family would be gradually devoured and eventually destroyed, especially given that the Chen and Li families had revealed their wolfish ambitions.
Wang Jian was instantly enraged. He threw a punch, his metal elemental energy radiating out and condensing into a fist phantom, which he blasted towards He Lie. "Let me see if you have the strength to say that before you do."
"Alright!" He Lie drew his sword to block. He circulated his fire-attribute energy, and his body felt as if it were burning with flames.
Wang Jian dodged and stepped closer to He Lie, throwing a powerful right punch at He Lie's chest. He Lie dodged to the side, then used a series of footwork techniques, unleashing Blazing Fire Sword technique with his right hand, the sword faintly glowing with fire, as he slashed towards Wang Jian.
Wang Jian followed up with a left punch, striking He Lie in the ribs, while his right fist met He Lie's sword strike.
Immediately, the two on the stage began to fight fiercely, neither holding back at all.
Jiang Liu watched their fight from below the stage, commenting inwardly that Wang Jian's fighting style was too rigid. Or perhaps it had something to do with his personality? As for He Lie, it was harder to tell. However, He Lie seemed full of anger, but that wasn't really the case! Are all people these days so cunning?
It seems Wang Jian, the honest one, is going to get screwed. Jiang Liu shook his head.
The battle on the stage had reached a fever pitch. The two were exchanging blows with all their might, the sound was deafening, and energy was flying everywhere. The onlookers, being quite experienced, kept a distance of dozens of meters from the stage to avoid being accidentally injured.
The two fought for almost half an hour before collapsing on the arena, both panting heavily. However, what happened next was completely unexpected: they both agreed to a draw. Shang Tianhe then stepped forward to confirm their agreement before turning to the audience and announcing the result.
A commotion erupted in the audience! Those who had placed bets were immediately enraged, as no one had bet on a tie; the bets had been neck and neck until the very end. The bettors tried to turn back to find the person who had set up the betting station, but he was gone. It turned out the person at the betting station had run away as soon as they heard the result.
Upon seeing this result, Jiang Liu couldn't help but chuckle. He hadn't expected that Wang Jian, who seemed so honest, could be just as cunning as he was!
As expected, none of these Jianghu are simple-minded, especially the leaders of these powerful factions. Otherwise, they would be tricked and killed without even knowing why.
This seemingly fierce wager was actually the White Lotus Sect coercing the Wang Family. If the Wang Family submitted, it would end in a draw; Wang Family didn't, Wang Family would lose. Wang Family lost, Wang Jian would die. Then, the Wang Family face even greater hardship.
As for the Chen Family and Li Family, although they were supposedly allied, they were actually just watching the show, because they were confident that the White Lotus Sect couldn't overturn things because they had the Martial Prohibition Hall above them.
The factions present all understood this, which is why they remained silent as they watched Wang Jian.
Luo Hui stared blankly at Wang Jian. He hadn't proposed the bet to get them to join forces; he wanted to intensify their conflict so he could keep it under control. Now, he felt things were getting a little out of control.