"What?"
Freshwater Celestial Immortal's complexion changed greatly. He could sense the aura of Blazing Flame Celestial Immortal violently increased several times at the moment. He could even feel that the surrounding space seemed to be boiling and an unprecedented sense of crisis sent a chill down his spine and subconsciously forced him to avoid it.
However, he was already caught off guard from all sides.
Although he desperately stimulated his Immortal Force to circulate in his body and wanted to form a defensive move, the fireballs amidst the sea of fire kept bombarding him one after another, causing his body to continue to shake. Every violent impact that hit him caused him to spit out a mouthful of blood. When thousands of fireballs came to hit him, his last layer of defense was finally shattered by the bombardment.
"The last one?!"
Freshwater Celestial Immortal's eyes flashed with madness. His immortal sword had been shattered by the bombardment, so he concentrated all the explosive power he had on his fists to clash with the last fireball he sensed.
He had been gravely injured and it was imperative that he must fully block the blow.
Freshwater Celestial Immoral loudly roared. The moment his fist hit the fireball, the fireball unexpectedly exploded in a flash. It was a hundred times easier than he expected, and he was dumbfounded for a moment. However, that expression only lasted for a hundredth of a second before a chill filled his heart.
"How… how is this possible?"
Freshwater Celestial Immortal looked down at the hole the size of a bowl in the middle of his chest. He could even see his broken heart from the hole and… a burning flame inside.
"Underestimating the enemy is forever a taboo thing that will lead to your death when fighting enemies."
Blazing Flame hideously grinned. The moment his spear immortal weapon returned to his hand, he watched Freshwater heavily crash to the ground with an incredulous expression. He immediately turned to the exit of the cell arena with satisfaction. He had used his last trump card to kill Freshwater Celestial Immortal. Yet, he didn't have it easy either as he had to pay quite a painful price.
Who could have expected that Freshwater Celestial Immortal was so arrogant that he committed such a taboo thing when fighting? Therefore, he only paid for the side effect caused by casting this secret art and thus only suffered a minor injury.
Throughout the arena cell, tens of thousands of gamblers in the auditorium got up and looked angry as they loudly cursed. Only a handful of people looked ecstatic, though most of them were jubilant yet chaotic.
In the back row.
Brightpeak Celestial Immortal was in a daze while staring at the figure of Blazing Flame Celestial Immortal leaving, unable to express the strange mood that surged inside his heart.
I won? Losing my reason just because I heard another's words and took the risk, yet I unexpectedly won? And quite a big win at that?
He slowly turned his head, watching his two companions cursing angrily to vent their anger at losing their wealth. Then he turned to Tang Xiu. He found that the fellow was also looking at him with a meaningful smile—something that sent a violent jolt that shook him inwardly.
Could it be… that this man had long judged that Blazing Flame Celestial Immortal would win? Did he infer it from the previous records and specific date of Blazing Flame and Freshwater's matches?
If that was the case… then wasn't he too terrifying?
Beside Tang Xiu, Qin Yu's beautiful face was full of shock. The amount of money Tang Xiu gave Battle Peng was 1 million Crystal Essences. She thought that Tang Xiu was just some rich man who just wanted to burn his money. But who ever thought that he won a short while after?
The yield was 3 million Immortal Crystals from the 1 million Immortal Crystals bet.
That was 3 million… Immortal Crystals!!
It took Qin Yu a long time to count how many Immortal Stones could be exchanged from these 3 million Immortal Crystals. After calculating it, she nearly fainted due to the shock since the amount was equal to… 30 billion Immortal Stones!
Battle Peng, who stood beside Tang Xiu, asked in a low voice, "Would you like me to exchange the deeds, Master?"
"No, let's continue playing." Tang Xiu shook his head.
Battle Peng slightly nodded in response with a strong sense of admiration for Tang Xiu's character. It must be noted that 3 million Immortal Crystals were not by any means a small amount.
Several meters away from their seat.
After the two companions of that youth in white vented their frustration, they finally sat back in their seats decadently. Both of them bet big and lost, which made them very vexed and frustrated.
Suddenly, one of them looked at the youth in white and murmured, "I remember you placed your bet on Blazing Flame, didn't you, Firecandle?"
The youth in white smiled and nodded. "I bet for Blazing Flame to win, indeed."
The other two exchanged glances and both held envious looks in their eyes.
The youth in white didn't notice the eyes of his companions and just got up to come to Tang Xiu. He then bowed and said, "I'm grateful for the auspicious advice, Immortal Friend. Can I have the honor to invite Immortal Friend for a drink after you're done playing here? Ah, that's right. I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Firecandle of Star Embrace Sect. May I know Immortal Friend's honored name?"
Tang Xiu pointed to the seat next to him and lightly smiled. "You can call me Great Tang. Let's talk about having some drinks sometime later, shall we? I still have a lot of things to tend to here."
"Well, I do hope that Immortal Friend Great Tang can accept my invitation after you're done with your business, regardless," said Firecandle respectfully after taking a seat next to Tang Xiu.
"Alright!" Tang Xiu slightly nodded.
"Anyway, are you still going to play, Immortal Friend Great Tang?" Firecandle asked again.
"Sure, I'm going to play again." Tang Xiu smiled.
Firecandle thought for a while and said, "Then I'm going to accompany Immortal Friend Tang. Anyway, this time I won 3 million Immortal Crystals. I'm going to bet it all to accompany you with the gamble."
"Are you not afraid of losing all of it?" asked Tang Xiu with a smile.
"If I lose then I lose. It doesn't matter to me." Firecandle smiled. "If anything, the Immortal Crystals I just won is a kind of a windfall, to begin with."
"You have a good mentality, mate." Tang Xiu couldn't help but laugh.
Quickly, the next fighters entered the arena cell for the next match. Tang Xiu quietly analyzed the information for a while and felt that the chance of winning was more than 80%. Therefore, he turned to Battle Peng and said, "Bet 4 million Immortal Crystals on Cloudmist Celestial Immortal!"
"Understood!"
Battle Peng accepted the order and left with 4 million Immortal Crystals toward the cashier.
Firecandle stared at Battle Peng's back as he left. His lips squirmed a few times before he smiled wryly. "You really do it the unorthodox way, Great Tang Immortal Friend. This Cloudmist Celestial Immortal is good at illusion arts. Even though his cultivation is at the late-stage Celestial Immortal, his opponent Ardent Blue Celestial Immortal is well known as a killing machine Immortal. This guy possesses some fearsome killing moves. It's unknown how many late-stage Celestial Immortals have died in his hands."
"Well, although the odds for this match are 2 to 1, it's possible to make more money. This is a good deal, no?" Tang Xiu said with a smile. "Besides, if you lose, then just lose. In any case, I just won 3 million Immortal Crystals. So, if I win again, I can earn 8 million Immortal Crystals all at once."
Firecandle hesitated for a while and then wryly smiled. "Haih, whatever will be, will be. This Firecandle already said I'm going to accompany you today, didn't I? Since Immortal Friend Great Tang says that Cloudmist Celestial Immortal is going to win, then I'm placing my bet on your choice too."
Nearby, his two companions shot a contemptuous look at him. All this while, they hadn't realized that Firecandle was so stupid. Just because he struck a fortune and won out of sheer luck, he just let it get over his head.
This match was very particular in itself. Especially due to one of its fighters, Ardent Blue Celestial Immortal, who was notoriously known as a killing machine Immortal. Yet, he unexpectedly chose to place his bet big on the choice of that youth of unknown origin?
"Bah, nevermind him. Winning or losing is his business, to begin with. He may want to taste what losing feels like, so let's not persuade him. I'm going to bet 2 million Immortal Crystals now. As long as I win, I can make up for the previous losses."
"I'm betting 2 million Immortal Crystals too. I can still earn more as long as I win this time. But if I lose, then I'll be worse off and must tighten my belt in my spendings for the next centuries. But I'll still take the risks to earn more Immortal Crystals, nonetheless."
After the two fellows firmly decided, they immediately followed behind Firecandle and ran toward the cashier desk.
Tang Xiu couldn't help but shake his head secretly after hearing the two men's conversation. Although he was not 100% sure about his choice, he was sure that the chance was very high at 80%.
But those two guys were more likely to get overwhelmed by some desperado mentality given the big stake they bet compared to the last time.
Quickly after, the fight in the arena cell began along with the countless loud cheers. Cloudmist Celestial Immortal took the imitative and directly conjured a cloud of fog. The multicolored fog quickly sprinkled away and adorned the space as though it was a phantasm.
"KILL!"
Ardent Blue Celestial Immortal didn't care in the slightest about what his opponent did. The only thing he knew was that he must go all out no matter who the enemy was. Freshwater Celestial Immortal's previous arrogance had shown the bloody lesson of how painful a price one must pay by doing so.
Time passed by.
The two fighters fought crazily and the fight continued for a whole day. The result of a day-long fight was Ardent Blue had the upper hand but was also badly scarred, whereas Cloudmist had his arm cut off and his clothes drenched wet with his own blood.
"It's about time."
Focusing his attention on the fight, a thought flashed in Tang Xiu's mind. If Cloudmist doesn't have any means to mount a surprise attack, it's very likely that he'll lose this match. But if he does, Ardent Blue will end up the loser here.
The chance was 80% as Tang Xiu gambled that Cloudmist Celestial Immortal would win by a surprise move.
His analysis was based on the means he inferred from Cloudmist's previous battle data, and the chance was as high as 80%.
"Mindsoul—Freeze!"
Right as Cloudmist got slashed by Ardent Blue's flying immortal sword and was sent flying backward, he roared all of a sudden. At the same time, a transparent gold thread was shot from his left thumb and instantly pursued and entangled Ardent Blue Celestial Immortal. In the next moment, his figure stopped flying backward and stormed over Ardent Blue.
Nobody noticed that at this moment, Ardent Blue Celestial Immortal's complexion had turned dull as though his whole being was frozen as an ice block. His sluggishness may only last for less than a second, but it was enough for Cloudmist to unleash his artifact and shoot a beam of light that directly hit him with a bang.
In the auditorium.
Tang Xiu turned to look at Firecandle and faintly smiled. "Here we go and win again."
Firecandle was hardly able to turn his head. But when he saw Tang Xiu's expression, he punched his fist into the air powerfully and waved hard while exclaiming in joy, "You're awesome, Immortal Friend Tang!"