"I just overheard two people saying that the prize for the pitch-pot game is a growth-type magic item?" Yan Yuting asked expectantly.
Xu Jintang nodded, "Yes, the Soul-Seizing Bell."
Yan Yuting's expression immediately turned to surprise. "This black market owner is indeed rich; he can even use something like this as a game prize."
Xue Zhongqi raised an eyebrow. "I remember a Soul-Seizing Bell was auctioned at the last Myriad Treasures Pavilion auction, and the final price was twelve million star coins."
Xu Jintang was surprised, "So valuable?"
"Do you think it's possible that this Soul-Seizing Bell is the same one that Myriad Treasures Pavilion auctioned off?" Song Tianqi speculated, stroking his chin.
Jiang Shiyi quietly spoke up, "It was auctioned off by our Myriad Treasures Pavilion. I remember that auction; at the end, when the staff registered the auctioneer's information, they only recorded the black market owner's name, without even revealing his real name."
Now, the expressions on the faces of the five people became subtle.
Xu Jintang was the first to look away, crossed his arms, and joined the end of the line. "Let me make this clear beforehand: even brothers keep their accounts straight. These valuable treasures are for everyone to take based on their own abilities."
Yan Yuting nodded. "Yes, whoever gets it first keeps it. No one can hold back."
Song Tianqi and Xue Zhongqi exchanged a glance, and then quickly lined up.
Jiang Shiyi wasn't particularly interested in the Soul-Seizing Bell, but seeing that the four of them were all very enthusiastic, she didn't leave.
The queue was very long. The game of pitch-pot was played in groups of ten, with a time limit of one minute. The total score was calculated based on the number of successful throws. When everyone finished playing, the person with the highest score won.
Xu Jintang and his group of five were positioned quite far back in the queue, so it was estimated that they would have to wait a while before it was their turn.
"Make way, can't you see we're being squeezed so tightly we can barely move!" A familiar voice came from not far away.
Xu Jintang glanced up casually.
Then, Huai Yangxia and his group from the Silver Light Military Academy strode arrogantly toward them.
Huai Yangxia's arrogant personality hadn't changed at all. After walking to the back of the line, he directly took his place. The people following behind him weren't so high-profile; they just silently followed behind.
Huai Yangxia's casual gaze swept across the room until he saw Xu Jintang's familiar face, at which point his expression immediately darkened. "It's you again!"
Xu Jintang didn't really want to see him again.
She raised her hand to fan herself and sighed, "Yeah, it's not easy to go out and browse the black market, and I still run into unlucky people. It's really speechless."
Huai Yangxia gritted her teeth, clenched her fists, and strode up to Xu Jintang. "Enough talk, let's settle this in the ring!"
"Fight me?" Xu Jintang looked him up and down with a mocking expression. "You're not qualified."
"You—" Seeing that Huai Yangxia was about to lose his temper, his teammates immediately surrounded him, pulled him back, shook their heads, and reminded him, "We still have elimination rounds ahead, don't mess things up now."
Huai Yangxia a deep breath, which prevented her from losing her temper on the spot.
His teammates pulled him back to the back of the line, and he calmed down.
This minor incident did not affect the progress of the pitch-pot game.
The first few groups of passersby who participated in the game quickly completed the pitching game, with the best scorer hitting the target six times in total.
The game does not restrict the use of mental energy, so in addition to assisting their own pitching, they will also interfere with other people's pitching, resulting in many people having a very low hit rate.
Soon it was Xu Jintang's turn.
The five of them were paired with five students from the Silver Light Military Academy for the game of pitch-pot.
The man in the black trench coat smiled slightly and handed out bamboo arrows to them. "Pitch-pot game, one minute time limit, let's begin."
Xu Jintang weighed the bamboo arrow in his hand, kept his body still, and raised his hand to aim at the center of the bamboo tube opposite him.
After staring at it for a few seconds, a surge of spiritual energy flowed from his palm and covered the bamboo arrow.
The force propelled the bamboo arrow swiftly towards the bamboo tube ten meters away, landing precisely in the tube with a parabolic arc and producing a crisp sound.
At this moment, Huai Yangxia, who was standing in the corner, sneered and glanced at Yan Yuting, who had not yet thrown his arrow.
He pinched his fingers together, subtly channeling his mental energy. A wave of energy slowly formed and swiftly shot towards the bamboo arrow in Yan Yuting's hand.
Yan Yuting didn't notice any of this. She took a deep breath and confidently shot the bamboo arrow in her hand.
The bamboo arrow was originally shot straight forward, but an energy wave flying from the side hit the arrow, causing it to fly to the side and miss the bullseye perfectly.
Yan Yuting frowned and turned to look to the side.
Huai Yangxia gave her a provocative smile, then casually tossed a bamboo arrow out.
He probably thought the bamboo arrow was a sure thing.
As a result, when the bamboo arrow was still one meter away from the bullseye, another energy wave struck.
The bamboo arrow, which was originally flying steadily toward the bullseye, was knocked away.
Huai Yangxia's face darkened, and she turned her head to look in the direction from which the energy wave came.
Xu Jintang smiled at him, "Sorry, I missed."
Huai Yangxia knew, of course, that it couldn't have been a misfire; it was clearly Xu Jintang deliberately targeting her.
His eyes turned cold, and he calmly took out the next bamboo arrow, preparing to shoot.
Yan Yuting's anger flared up immediately after his arrow was interrupted.
She crossed her arms in front of her, stopped playing the arrow-throwing game, and stared at Huai Yangxia with a sullen face.
"Whoosh--"
Xu Jintang then hit two more bamboo arrows.
Song Tianqi and Xue Zhongqi were initially making good progress, but then the people from the Silver Light Military Academy started causing trouble, all using their special abilities to interfere.
After missing another arrow, Song Tianqi's temper flared up.
He threw down the bamboo arrow in his hand, glanced speechlessly at the person opposite him, and said, "Come on, come on, let's see who wants to mess with my arrow!"
Upon hearing this, the few people from the Silver Light Military Academy who were up to no good immediately shut up and pretended that nothing had happened.
Xu Jintang was probably too arrogant, so no one bothered her, and she hit all six arrows smoothly.
The highest score on the leaderboard right now is six times.
If she gets hit by just one more arrow, she'll be in first place.
As Xu Jintang picked up the new bamboo arrow and was aiming, several energy fluctuations shot out from both sides.
One of the spiritual forces came from Huai Yangxia.
He had been constantly harassed by Yan Yuting and had only managed to hit the target three times so far. Clearly, he could no longer catch up with Xu Jintang, so he simply gave up and began to focus on harassing Xu Jintang and his group.
The members of the Silver Light Military Academy Squad were also annoyed by Song Tianqi's interference, so they all stopped playing the pitch-pot game and started to only distract him.
Xue Zhongqi had been shooting well, missed two consecutive shots.
His face darkened instantly, and he immediately turned to glance at the person opposite him.
The four members of the Silver Light Military Academy and Yan Yuting began to fight each other fiercely. The mental energy fluctuations mixed with various supernatural light clashed in the air. On the surface, it seemed calm, but in reality, everyone was glaring angrily, wishing they could strangle each other.
Xu Jintang was positioned right between Song Tianqi and Yan Yuting. With these two there, any outside interference was intercepted before it could even get in, and then they were able to retaliate.
Time ticked by, second by second.
The man in the black trench coat, who was keeping track of the time, glanced at the clock and reminded him, "There are only five seconds left."
The atmosphere became more tense.
Huai Yangxia glanced at the bamboo tubes in front of Xu Jintang; the number had already exceeded six.
He clenched his fists, so angry that he summoned the Five Poisons Golden Toad, intending to smash Xu Jintang's bamboo tube.
Noticing this, Song Tianqi immediately pointed and shouted, "Boss, there's a shameless guy here who's always sabotaging other people's bamboo tubes!"
Xue Zhongqi immediately unleashed two Attack Inscription at the Five Poisons Golden Toad.
The toad was hit on the head, and its movements came to a standstill.
The man in the black trench coat turned his gaze, noticed Huai Yangxia's actions, and smiled slightly, "Sir, our game only allows interfering with other players' pitching, but damaging the bamboo tubes is prohibited."
Huai Yangxia was furious and cursed with a dark face, "You think I care about playing this stupid game?"
After saying that, he immediately retrieved the Five Poisons Golden Toad, turned around and left.
Seeing him leave, the four members of the Silver Light Military Academy did not linger. They clasped their hands in greeting and then left together.
At that moment, the five seconds had just ended.
Xu Jintang slowly exhaled a breath of stale air and looked at the man in the black trench coat beside her, "Shall we now tally the results?"
The man smiled gently and nodded. "Yes."
Song Tianqi then remembered the important matter at hand.
He glanced at the bamboo tube in front of him, and his vision went black. He slapped his forehead.
"I'm so ashamed of myself; I was just distracting them."
He only had three bamboo arrows in the bamboo tube in front of him, and spent most of the rest of the time interfering with the other side.
Yan Yuting snorted coldly.
From the moment she started targeting Huai Yangxia, she had no intention of winning the game again, so as long as Huai Yangxia didn't get the prize, she didn't care about the rest.
Xue Zhongqi stood aside indifferently.
Jiang Shiyi wasn't bothered much, but she wasn't interested in the prize from the start, so she just threw a few arrows randomly and hit five in total.
After final tallying, Xu Jintang ranked first in the overall standings with a score of twelve bamboo arrows.
"Congratulations to this lady for winning this game of pitch-pot. To everyone who didn't win, thank you all for participating. We hold similar games every month in our black market, so please come again next time!"
Everyone sighed regretfully, but no one dared to break the rules of the black market. They merely glanced at Xu Jintang with envy before turning and dispersing.
The man in the black trench coat bowed and gestured for Xu Jintang to enter. "This way, please. The prize for this game is still with our master. He will personally hand it over to you later."
Xu Jintang heard the key words.
The master? Is he the black market owner?
Xu Jintang's eyes lit up with interest, and he readily agreed, "Okay."
She turned and spoke briefly with Yan Yuting and the others, then turned and followed the man in the black trench coat toward the intersection.