After hearing that, Xu Changxing's lips twitched violently twice.
Although Han Mingguan had already shown him what "drawing lots" meant earlier that day, hearing Ye Hong say it so brazenly still left him speechless.
After a moment's thought, he extended his right hand and made the gesture for six.
Ye Hong paused, then asked, "What do you mean? You want to wait until the sixth round to fight me?"
On the distant platform, the Core Formation elders watching the proceedings were also taken aback.
One of them said in disbelief, "Old Liu, that's not very sporting of you.
"We clearly agreed not to interfere with the drawing of lots. How could you let your disciple meddle with it?
"With Ye Hong out of the way, who could possibly stop your disciple's flying sword?
"Isn't that cheating?"
"How is it unfair? Xu Changxing isn't the one interfering with the draw.
"Old Liu, don't listen to their nonsense."
"Are you lot such sore losers..."
While the elders argued among themselves, Xu Changxing shook his head. "No.
"I mean that I currently have six thousand low-grade spirit stones on me.
"If you want to fight me, put up six thousand low-grade spirit stones and make a wager.
"If you win, you can take all the spirit stones I have.
"If you lose, you'll give me another six thousand."
Ye Hong's expression immediately turned exceedingly strange.
He had never imagined that the sword cultivator who had defeated Han Mingguan with nothing but a flying sword would say something like this.
Such behavior was no different from that of the Core Formation elders he looked down on.
Ye Hong gave Xu Changxing a peculiar look, but still nodded. "Fine. I accept your wager!"
Those words immediately stirred the spectating cultivators into excitement.
Of the two men making the wager, one was the disciple of a Nascent Soul patriarch, laden with magical artifacts, while the other was an elite sword cultivator who had just defeated Han Mingguan.
The stakes were enough to leave people tongue-tied, too.
Six thousand low-grade spirit stones was a substantial sum even for a Core Formation elder.
More than half of the young Foundation Establishment Realm disciples had never even seen so many spirit stones.
The Core Formation elders on the platform, who had been arguing just moments earlier, also fell silent with strange expressions.
One went straight over to Liu Chenyu and said:
"Old Liu, those disciples of yours certainly have character.
"If I'm not mistaken, he just took a bag of spirit stones from Han Mingguan, didn't he?
"Why has he turned around and set his sights on Ye Hong already?"
"Exactly. Isn't this disciple of yours a sword cultivator?
"What does he need so many spirit stones for?"
The corners of Liu Chenyu's mouth lifted slightly, but he only smiled without answering.
The man who had just spoken said thoughtfully:
"Could your disciple have some special talent that requires him to consume large quantities of spirit stones when cultivating?
"Hiss... a talent like that seems pretty rare."
Liu Chenyu was slightly taken aback.
Could that really be the case?
While he was lost in thought, several Core Formation elders nearby had already opened a betting pool on the outcome of tomorrow's match.
Although Xu Changxing had swept through today's battle like a gale crushing rotten wood, the betting odds were not overwhelmingly in his favor.
Quite a few people felt that since Ye Hong still dared to challenge Xu Changxing after watching today's fight, he must have something up his sleeve.
Taking Ye Hong's fighting style into account, it was easy to conclude that he must possess a powerful treasure.
A treasure like that might even allow a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator to defeat a Core Formation elder. Naturally, defeating a sword cultivator at the same cultivation level was not impossible either.
Seeing that his disciple did not have the edge in the betting pool, Liu Chenyu said with a disgruntled expression:
"I'm betting on my youngest disciple to win."
"Oh? Old Liu, you're joining in too?
"Sure. How many spirit stones are you putting down?"
Liu Chenyu shook his head. "Spirit stones are no fun.
"I'll wager a piece of heaven crystal sand and a Spirit-Nourishing Fruit."
The elder running the betting pool froze for a moment, then burst into laughter.
"Sure, I'll take that bet.
"Anyone else want to place a wager? Old Liu has even brought out precious materials of this grade.
"Does anyone want to raise the stakes?"
Before the surrounding Core Formation elders could respond, the elder surnamed Li, who had remained silent until then, could no longer hold back:
"Liu Chenyu, you're going too far! I haven't lost that piece of heaven crystal sand yet!
"If your disciple loses tomorrow's match, he'll drop into the losers' bracket.
"Han Mingguan is in the losers' bracket, and he'll definitely fight him again.
"If that happens, your disciple might not make it through the fifth round!
"Then we'll see where you find yourself some heaven crystal sand!"
"Hiss!"
Those words left all the surrounding Core Formation elders stunned.
But soon, their eyes gleamed with the excitement of spectators watching a juicy spectacle.
As far as they were concerned, the bigger the commotion, the more entertaining it was.
And this particular melon was growing sweeter by the moment.
Their gazes darted back and forth between Liu Chenyu and Li Pingyang. They were only a step away from shouting encouragement.
Yet Liu Chenyu remained expressionless. "That's none of your concern. Just have the heaven crystal sand ready!"
"..."
Amid the clamor of the Core Formation elders, the day's matches finally drew to a close.
After returning to his own mountain peak on his sword, Xu Changxing began recalling his battle with Han Mingguan.
Today's fight had been thoroughly exhilarating.
However, rather than merely reliving his brilliant moments, he began reviewing what he had gained and where he had fallen short.
Although his overall performance had been good, there had still been some shortcomings.
The biggest problem had arisen when he controlled his sword while drawing talismans.
Because he had never deliberately trained himself to divide his attention between two tasks, he had actually been in some danger at the time.
Had Han Mingguan's rain of talismans been any fiercer, he might have lost.
Still, he had not come away empty-handed.
Today had been his first baptism beneath such a ferocious rain of talismans.
Watching other people fight could never substitute for that feeling.
Even viewing it once from a first-person perspective had not left as deep an impression as experiencing it himself.
That rain of talismans had given him a deeper understanding of true essence and spells.
After reviewing the day's battle, he turned his gaze to a Storage Bag at his waist.
Inside the Storage Bag were the three thousand low-grade spirit stones he had won from Han Mingguan.
What he was considering now was whether to take this opportunity to run a simulation, lest his boat capsize in tomorrow's match.
Ye Hong had come at him so aggressively that he did not believe for a moment he had nothing up his sleeve.
If he could run a few simulations, his chances of winning tomorrow would certainly improve considerably.
But after a brief moment of thought, Xu Changxing abandoned the tempting idea.
For one thing, he did not know exactly what options the simulation would offer.
If, as last time, half a month passed while he watched the simulated footage, he might miss the tournament altogether.
Besides, he also wanted to have a proper fight with Ye Hong.
A match with an unknown outcome was a form of tempering for him as well.
If he had to rely on simulations to win even a fight where his life was not at stake, how would he cope if he ever encountered a life-or-death crisis?
A crisis that descended without warning might not give him a chance to run a simulation.
Before you continue