"What does Hong Lian have to do with Spirit Eye? You can even have a Martial Soul Fusion Skill? The world is vast, and strange things abound."
Wang Dong'er sighed repeatedly. After all, proper Martial Soul Fusion Skills usually required some connection between the Martial Souls.
Ji Siyuan wasn't happy with that. "It's one thing when other people say that, but isn't that a little too abstract coming from you?"
Spirit Eye, Light Goddess Butterfly, Ice Jade Empress Scorpion, Clear Sky Hammer—there was no apparent connection between any of the four Martial Souls. And it wasn't as if the Holy Necromancer and the Sea God were related, yet you still had a hundred percent compatibility rate.
"Look, just because there's no connection doesn't mean you can't have a Martial Soul Fusion Skill. Maybe you could even have one with the two of us."
Wang Dong'er immediately said there was no way that could happen, and she absolutely wasn't going to test it!
She didn't want to know whether it might actually work.
Tang San: "Go for it! Even if you don't have one, your uncle can use the Sea God's Power to make one for you!"
"Uncle, do I have enough power in me? I haven't inherited the Sea Godhood yet. I've only got a little of what you left behind."
Tang San: "Look at it another way. Why does it have to be your Sea God power? Doesn't Wang Dong'er have any? It's all Sea God Divine Power. You don't think I can't control it, do you?"
It was a good idea, but Wang Dong'er certainly wouldn't agree.
She kept a step's distance from the two of them.
She didn't want to be hugging them, either.
Tang San: "Not now. We can find a time later."
"Uncle, you really don't give up, do you?"
"After all, she's practically my daughter."
He wanted to rescue Wang Dong'er from the clutches of God King Tang.
It wasn't all that urgent now that he'd come here. Ji Siyuan was still a little weak.
Wang Dong'er had sought them out not for a Martial Soul Fusion Skill, but to learn the Tang Sect Secret Arts.
They'd been teaching her for a while when they saw Bei Bei walking over.
"Senior Brother Bei Bei!"
Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong'er greeted Bei Bei warmly. Bei Bei spotted the three of them and headed their way.
"Siyuan, Yuhao. There's something I'd like to discuss with you. You can refuse."
Bei Bei explained the situation, but deliberately left Ma Xiaotao out of it. He didn't want to put too much pressure on the two of them.
Ji Siyuan double-checked what he'd heard. "You want us to throw the match?"
Wasn't match-fixing just a way to disgust the spectators?
"It's not match-fixing. We just don't go all out for the first few moves. Then we really start fighting. It's just a way to make a little money."
Xu Sanshi's idea was simple: start a betting pool!
As a fifth-year senior, his Soul Power far surpassed that of first-years Ji Siyuan and Huo Yuhao.
Once bets were open on the Soul Fight, people would inevitably wager on things like how many moves it would take for one side to lose, or how long they'd last. The odds on who would win or lose would be extremely low.
Huo Yuhao tugged at Ji Siyuan's sleeve. He didn't want to fight.
Besides, Ji Siyuan had told him not long ago that cheating was wrong. Fixing a match was far worse than cheating.
But it was clear that Ji Siyuan would have to decide. In fact, Xu Sanshi had mainly approached him.
"Fine. It's just money. Who wouldn't want to make some? Can I bet, too?"
Bei Bei said, "You can, but as the bookie, you shouldn't need to."
Huo Yuhao called out anxiously, "Siyuan, we have enough money to get by. If we don't, we can earn more. We don't need to fix a match."
Wang Dong'er chimed in from beside them. "If you fix a match, I'll look down on you."
"Why do you keep assuming we're fixing it? Can't we have a real match?"
Xu Sanshi exclaimed, "What? They bet on themselves to win? At ten to one?"
Even when the gap in ability was enormous, ordinary betting odds rarely exceeded ten to one. That only happened in matchups with no chance of an upset, like a Soul King fighting a Soul Master.
Xu Sanshi had been cautious. He'd specifically marked the bet on how long they'd last as one in which Ji Siyuan would lose.
The two had borrowed money from Wang Dong and bet on themselves to win: 200 gold coins.
They'd staked their entire fortunes.
It was absolute confidence in their own strength, but to Xu Sanshi, it felt like an insult.
"Newborn calves don't fear tigers. I'm going to teach those two a lesson."
Word spread quickly through the Outer Court about the fifth-years challenging the first-years, drawing a huge number of bets.
Wu Feng said, "A fifth-year challenging a first-year? Senior Xu Sanshi has some nerve. Ning Tian, are you betting?"
As one of the three Soul Elders in their year, Ning Tian knew the difference between a Soul Master and a Soul Elder all too well. And Xu Sanshi was a well-known figure in the Outer Court.
"Why would Ji Siyuan and Huo Yuhao dare accept?"
Dai Huabin walked over with Zhu Lu. "Hmph. They don't know their place. No brains."
Zhu Lu reminded him from the side, "Did they collude to fix the match?"
There were plenty of loopholes in the rules, and Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi had long been rumored to have done this sort of thing.
Since the two of them came from decent backgrounds, no one paid much attention to it.
With the young master of the Mysterious Underworld Sect involved, everyone knew Xu Sanshi wouldn't take things too far.
Most people were still guessing how long Ji Siyuan and Huo Yuhao would last.
"Ten seconds should be doable, right? I remember Ji Siyuan's First Soul Ring was a Thousand-Year Soul Ring."
"Don't make your senior Sanshi laugh. He's almost a Soul Ancestor. If I remember right, one of those two has 11th-level Soul Power, and the other has 15th-level Soul Power. One's a trashy special recruit, and the other barely got into the school. And they think they can last a few seconds?"
By any reasonable assessment of their strength, that was the right conclusion.
There was no way Ji Siyuan and Huo Yuhao could beat Xu Sanshi.
"I bet 300 Gold Soul Coins that Ji Siyuan won't last ten seconds." Dai Huabin's voice rang out. Everyone knew that he and Ji Siyuan had a grudge.
There weren't many people who caused trouble on the first day of school, but Dai Huabin was the first to make a scene that everyone heard about. And he'd made an especially ugly spectacle of himself, getting beaten out of his Gold Soul Coins and Life-Generating Fruit.
Dai Huabin had been spoiled since childhood. He'd never been treated that way before, so he held a grudge.
As his fiancée, Zhu Lu also bet 200 Gold Soul Coins.
More people joined in after that.
The upper-years also bet on how long the two would last, relying on Xu Sanshi's reputation and strength.
Wang Dong'er quietly slipped off to one side and bet 500 Gold Soul Coins on Ji Siyuan and Huo Yuhao winning.
"Hmph. It's not that I believe in you. I just think too few people are betting on you to win."
But in everyone else's eyes, it looked different. She was the only one betting on them to win, and she'd bet so much that she was bound to draw attention.
"Someone's actually betting on Ji Siyuan to win? What kind of genius is that?"
Tang Ya stepped forward. "They're from our Tang Sect. What's wrong with betting on our own people to win?"
Dai Huabin's face flushed with anger when he saw Tang Ya. The Dragon Whisker Needle she'd stuck him with still gave him nightmares. "Hmph, a trash sect. You're throwing your money away. Think it's still four thousand years ago?"
"What did you say?" Tang Ya glared at Dai Huabin.
"What? Am I wrong? Does your Tang Sect even have five members?" Dai Huabin sneered.
Wang Dong'er immediately stepped forward. "Can you not count, or is there something wrong with your brain? Can't you see the five of us?"
Everyone laughed at Dai Huabin.
He couldn't even understand what they were saying, yet he was supposed to inherit the title of Duke.