"You said you were bringing me to make money, and you brought me to the Great Soul Arena?"
Zhu Zhuqing's mouth fell open. Could the two of them alone earn thirty million?
"Of course. Where else in the world could money come faster than at a Soul Fighting Arena?"
Lin En narrowed his eyes. The way he looked ahead, he seemed to be looking not at a building, but at a mountain of gold.
"With just the two of us, wouldn't that be a little..."
Zhu Zhuqing felt rather helpless, an awkward embarrassment appearing on her face.
She knew Lin En was powerful. The fact that he had effortlessly injured Dai Mubai, a three-ring Soul Elder, earlier was enough to show how formidable he was.
But she herself was merely a Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster.
The Soul Masters in Heaven Dou City who hitched up their belts and stepped into the arena far surpassed her in both practical combat experience and their responses in life-or-death situations.
She had little confidence.
"Don't worry. I'll hold the line up front. You just dish out damage from between my legs!"
Lin En whistled, laced his hands behind his head, and strolled leisurely toward the Great Soul Arena's entrance.
"What do you mean, dish out damage from between your legs? You're making me sound so weak... wait for me!"
Zhu Zhuqing pursed her lips. The next instant, her face suddenly reddened; clearly, her thoughts had gone somewhere inappropriate.
By the time she came to her senses, Lin En had already walked far ahead.
The central main Soul Fighting Zone of the Heaven Dou Great Soul Arena.
It was nearly evening now, the best prime time of the day. The Soul Fighting Arena was a sea of people, bustling with activity.
Lin En and Zhu Zhuqing put on the masks they had bought in Heaven Dou City, concealed their identities, and went to complete their registration.
They received their initial Iron Soul Badges.
The Great Soul Arena had three competition formats: one-on-one, two-on-two, and, finally, group battles.
Soul Fighting was also divided into three categories. The first was a contest, where vicious attacks meant to kill were forbidden. The second was a death match, and the last was a wager fight.
Tonight, Lin En had brought Zhu Zhuqing to enter a two-on-two wager Soul Fighting match.
The winners took all; the losers ate dust.
After obtaining his Iron Soul Badge, Lin En went to the Soul Fighting Arena to check their odds.
Since this was their first wager Soul Fighting match, and they only had Iron Soul Badges, their payout odds were quite high.
A full four-to-one.
Seeing those odds, Lin En inwardly clicked his tongue. Wager fights really were the way to go: more bettors, higher odds, and more money to earn!
However, Soul Masters with Soul Fighting badges were not permitted to place bets at the Great Soul Arena.
That was hardly enough to stump Lin En.
If you won't let me bet, I'll just find someone to bet on my victory for me. All in!
Lin En bet every last one of the tens of thousands of Gold Soul Coins he had saved over the past few months.
With the payout at four-to-one, someone suddenly wagered tens of thousands of Gold Soul Coins. The bookmaker hurriedly adjusted the odds upward, bringing them to one-to-1.2.
But Lin En did not care about that. He had already placed his bet anyway.
At four-to-one, if he won, those tens of thousands of Gold Soul Coins would immediately quadruple. He would make an absolute killing!
However, the bookmaker was no fool either.
There had to be something fishy about such a large sum of Gold Soul Coins being wagered at once. The team originally assigned to Lin En and Zhu Zhuqing was replaced with a stronger combination.
That was right: the bookmaker arranged the matchups for wager fights.
Generally speaking, bookmakers like these all had a few tricks up their sleeves. Once they learned that one side had placed a heavy bet, they would send in stronger Soul Masters on the other side to reap the winnings.
If it was just small-time betting, the bookmaker naturally would not interfere.
But faced with an enormous payout on tens of thousands of Gold Soul Coins, they immediately bared their savage fangs.
When Lin En learned that his opponents had been changed, he merely smiled and paid it no mind.
He had considered this situation long ago. Any normal bookmaker would choose to reap the winnings!
But... wager fights were not decided by strength on the surface alone.
As long as his opponents were not powerhouses above Soul King, he was confident he could cut them down from their horses.
And with newcomers like them, fresh out into the world, the bookmaker was clearly treating them as rookies ripe for slaughter.
Still, who would slaughter whom remained to be seen...
Afterward, Lin En brought Zhu Zhuqing to the two-on-two wager fight registration desk to sign up.
"The entry fee is one hundred Gold Soul Coins. Win a match, and you'll receive all your opponents' Gold Soul Coins."
Lin En nodded slightly and took one hundred Gold Soul Coins out of his Storage Ring to register.
"Please choose a name for your combination."
A smile appeared at the corner of Lin En's mouth, and he turned to Zhu Zhuqing.
"Zhuqing, your name has the character for bamboo, and mine has the character for grove. How about the Bamboo Grove Combination?"
Bamboo Grove Combination? What kind of lousy name was that?
The corner of Zhu Zhuqing's eye twitched, but after thinking it over, she decided it was only a name and let him have his way.
"Whatever you want. Anything's fine!"
"All right, register us as the Bamboo Grove Combination." Lin En laughed heartily, seemingly enjoying Zhu Zhuqing's disgruntled expression.
"All right. The Bamboo Grove Combination is now registered."
Then the staff member returned their badges, which now bore an additional engraved line of lettering.
"Not bad. Come on, Zhuqing. I'll take you to make some big money!"
Lin En put away his badge with a brilliant smile.
Zhu Zhuqing's face was icy, without the slightest visible shift in emotion. Clearly, she was still dwelling on what had just happened.
The Soul Fighting Arena.
Lin En and Zhu Zhuqing stepped onto the Soul Fighting platform. On the other side, another pair stepped up as well.
When he saw their opponents, Lin En froze, and Zhu Zhuqing's eyes widened too.
One of their opponents had bulging eyes, his pupils shaking like an earthquake, yet he stood there dumb as a wooden chicken.
The other had perfectly circular bulges around his eyes, as though someone had drawn two dark circles there. His vacant gaze looked cross-eyed.
Holy freaking Twin Stars!
Lin En cried inwardly, nope, I wanna remake!
The announcer began his introduction just then.
"Let's welcome the Bamboo Grove Combination, competing in today's wager fight, and their opponents, the Twin Star Combination!"
After briefly introducing both sides' names and Martial Souls, the announcer signaled that their Soul Fighting match could begin!
Wager fights had no referees. Once they stepped onto the platform, their lives and deaths were in their own hands.
The contest was all about heart-stopping thrills and that touch of uncertainty.
"Lone Wolf..."
"Black Hyena, possess me!"
As their Martial Souls were released, the Twin Star Combination's eyes instantly became clear, their gazes filled with brutality and madness on the verge of collapse.
As the two released their Martial Souls, three Soul Rings-yellow, yellow, and purple-instantly appeared beneath the three of them, shining in unison.
"Two three-ring Soul Elders?"
Lin En yawned and said lazily:
" Sageross, come out!"
"Saa-"
A streak of green light shot out of his body, and Sageross appeared on the Soul Fighting platform. His enormous frame instantly blocked the audience's view of Lin En and Zhu Zhuqing.
"Sageross, Twin-Blade Light!"
Sageross growled low. A cold gleam instantly lit up the tips of his blades, and he raised his scythe blades high, forming two streaks of blade light that shot outward.
"Shhk, shhk-"
The two streaks of blade light slashed down like intersecting crescent moons, tearing through the air as they sped toward the Twin Star Combination!
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