Chapter 1059: Battle Of The Lower-Class Celestial Luck Banner!
Yun Yang felt as if there had been a thin layer of fog veiling his eyes in the past. But after listening to the world view of all these people just now, it disappeared completely and his vision became clearer than ever. The world in front of him, as well as his future path, had become much clearer instantly.
'Yes, every world has its own rules.'
'The Bound of Universe protects ordinary people in an extremely harsh way, but it also highly values and promotes the concept of survival of the strongest!'
'In this way, the weak can always live in peace while the strong will become stronger and stronger.'
'This is the Bound of Universe!'
As soon as he realized that, Yun Yang felt extremely relaxed. 'I don't have to view Bound of Universe with the worldly eyes of Tianxuan!'
At that moment, there was a sudden turmoil in front of him, and the world before his eyes actually became extremely clear. It seemed to be deliberately matching with his enlightenment.
In front of him were nine steps, and at the end of the steps was a huge platform.
Yun Yang walked up one step at a time, and when his head emerged above the platform's floor, he heard a loud voice. "The challenger of Celestial Luck, Residence of Nine Supremes, enters the arena!"
The voice was as deafening as a thunderclap and could be heard even from a far distance.
Then, he suddenly felt as if countless divine senses had enveloped the entrance where he was at in that moment! Each divine sense came with strong curiosity, and a few of them were filled with malice. But, he could clearly sense that they could only look at him and not thoroughly examine him!
They were nothing but countless eyes.
Yun Yang walked up the steps with a calm expression, and his stately and refined purple figure quietly emerged above the floor.
At the moment of his appearance, he felt a slight tingling sensation on his face, caused by countless eyes fixing on his face at the same time. Yun Yang smiled faintly and his expression remained unchanged as he stood straight at the entrance, looking up and glancing at the surroundings.
Soon afterward, Shi Wuchen and the others followed him into the arena and stood beside him while Yun Xiuxin and other disciples stood behind their respective masters.
Presenting before the people of the Residence of Nine Supremes was a huge platform like that of the first level.
The only difference was probably...
...directly in front of this platform was a high stand made entirely of amethyst, which looked luxurious and magnificent. Three seats were placed on top of it, on which sat three men in green clothes and with golden crowns on their heads.
Instinctively, Yun Yang squinted at the men and saw at a glance that there were glittering heart symbols on their sleeves and collars. Among them, the man in the middle should be the leader and the other two his assistants.
As his eyes swept across the amethyst stand, he saw nine more stands, five to the left and four to the right.
They should be the places of honor for the nine sects owning the lower-class Celestial Luck Banners, who sat loftily there according to their ranks.
The arrangement made the place look like a gaping mouth, because the entrance where Yun Yang came out was the only side without a stand. However, as soon as Yun Yang and others from the Residence of Nine Supremes emerged, the gap was closed, making the arena perfectly rounded.
With just a glance, Yun Yang instantly grasped the current situation.
Of the ten stands in front of him, nine were for the lower-class Celestial Luck Banners, and one was the hosting stand for the Sacred Heart Palace.
The differential treatment was also obvious—only his side, the challenger, did not have a stand, which clearly put them in a lower position!
But that was the rule, so the people of the Residence of Nine Supremes could only stand there, waiting quietly for the next step to come, unable to do anything to their opponents.
Even then, all the people sitting high above had the same feeling: the Lead Supreme of the Residence of Nine Supremes looked extremely calm!
Seeing that the people of the Residence of Nine Supremes had all arrived, the green-clad man sitting in the middle rose to his feet and thundered, "The challenging sect has arrived! I hereby announce that the battle for the Celestial Luck Banner has officially begun!
"The founder of the Residence of Nine Supremes, Supreme Cloud Yun Yang, the eight Supremes, Shi Wuchen, Luo Dajiang, Tie Qingcang..."
The man actually called out the names of all the Nine Supremes.
"I'm Huo Yunfeng, the executive officer of the Sacred Heart Palace's Iron Face Hall. Beside me are my two fellow brothers, Ding Buke and You Buneng, and we will preside over the battle of the Celestial Luck Banner. Should we judge unfairly in this battle, we are willing to accept the scourge. May heaven and earth be our witness!"
Before anything, the man had sworn a serious oath, showing that he was just and without selfish motives.
As he made the oath, a thunderclap rang out of the thick fog—the Heavenly Dao had acknowledged the oath, and it was official!
The faces of all turned solemn and cold!
With the oath, all friendships or plots were rendered ineffective! Those who wished to pass the battle could only fight with their strength!
Hong Changtian, the sect leader of Cangwu Union that ranked the last of all the sects with lower-class Celestial Luck Banners, had been staring at Yun Yang and the others, his eyes filled with a complicated look.
'The Residence of Nine Supremes...Why do I find this name so familiar?'
'Ah... I remember now! It is a new sect situated not far away from my sect! I got the news when it was just founded, but there are too many sects in Bound of Universe and warriors are establishing new sects almost every day, so I never took it seriously.'
'I can't believe that it is this little Residence of Nine Supremes that cut through all the obstacles and came here to fight with my sect in the end!'
'Strange things happen every year, but what has happened today is so bizarre that it is almost out of my knowledge!'
'The saying that one should never tolerate others encroaching on one's preserve does make sense. If I had known this, I would have...' Hong Changtian suddenly thought of the wisdom of the ancients and could not help but regret it. If he had sent several disciples to uproot the newly established Residence of Nine Supremes at that time, he would not have to face such a situation now.
His lack of action could only be described as 'cherishing a snake in one's bosom'!
"Now, I'll read the rules of the battle!"
Huo Yunfeng's clear voice echoed across the square and could be heard by everyone regardless of distance, showing his precise control of mystical Qi. Moreover, although the voice rippled like waves, the surrounding fog did not stir at all.
Yun Yang and the others listened attentively, not daring to neglect any details. Sure enough, the battle was not what he had known, or it could be said that what he knew was only part of the challenge.
The battle was divided into five matches.
The first four matches were between the number one experts from both sects, the pillar forces, the disciples, and a match of formations. This was similar to what Yun Yang had learned before, except for the last match: the defending sect had the right to propose any way to fight it.
Then there was the basic victory condition for the battle: a very simple system of best of five matches. The sect who won three matches would be the winner.
However, in addition to these basic rules was another rule. If either sect won all five matches, it could not only receive the Celestial Luck Banner, but also choose to continue to challenge the higher-ranking sect.
For example, if the Residence of Nine Supremes won all five matches against Cangwu Union, it could choose to stop there or continue to challenge the eighth-ranked sect. If it won all five matches again, it could challenge the seventh-ranked sect.
But, the rule was irrelevant to Cangwu Union, because even if it narrowly defeated Residence of Nine Supremes, it would not be able to continue to challenge the higher-ranked sect.
If Cangwu Union had the strength, it would not have waited until now and would not have been targeted by many sects participating in the qualification battle.
As for the Residence of Nine Supremes...
When the people from the nine sects with Celestial Luck Banners glanced at those from Residence of Nine Supremes, they shook their heads and sighed at the same time. Usually, the reserves of such a sect, which had only been established for less than a year, were extremely weak, and it should be its limit to obtain the challenge qualification. If it wished to challenge all the way up after defeating Cangwu Union, it was no different from a fool's dream.
And that stayed true even though all those who were killed during the battle in this realm could be resurrected afterward, and those who were wounded could be fully healed in an instant!
It was still the same even though their fighting strength could always remain at the perfect level!
The treatment of this realm was obviously higher than that in the qualification battle, which was almost completely opposite to the first-level's rules: there was only victory or defeat, no death!
After all, the ten sects here—including the Residence of Nine Supremes—were essentially the sects that already had the Celestial Luck Banners and were no longer cannon fodder in the qualification battle!
At this time, except for Cangwu Union, all the people in the other eight sects looked bored.
It was too boring!
They came all the way here just to watch Cangwu Union fight the challenger, and when the battle was over, they would go home and then come back three years later, only to do the same thing again.
Sects with Celestial Luck Banners were basically existences worse off than some but better off than many, because owning a Celestial Luck Banner meant having the ability to despise all sects without a Celestial Luck Banner. However, it was also because they had personally experienced the power of the Celestial Luck Banner and even knew the frightening power of higher-class Celestial Luck Banners that most sects had long extinguished their enterprising spirit. All they wanted was to maintain the status quo.
Even if they still had the will to fight, they had a clear estimation of themselves, and would never bring humiliation on themselves before they had absolute confidence in success.
Perhaps, only Golden Cauldron Sect had some other plans. Long in the first place among the lower-class Celestial Luck Banners, they felt they had accumulated enough strength to support them to go one step further, and intended to challenge the middle-class Celestial Luck Banner when things were done here.
They were also the only sect with lower-class Celestial Luck Banner that was qualified to challenge the higher class!
Even Huo Yunfeng and his two fellow brothers, who were sitting high above everyone else, only had calm faces smeared with a faint hint of helplessness.
'This year's luck has clearly hit rock bottom. Not only was I sent to preside over the battle of lower-class Celestial Luck Banners, but none of the bottom eight sects had the will to challenge. Apart from the top-ranked Golden Cauldron Sect, which shows the intention of challenging the middle-class Celestial Luck Banner, other sects have no desires to change their positions...'
'Well, there's at least the Golden Cauldron Sect.'
'But, the Golden Cauldron Sect is not challenging middle-class Celestial Luck Banner in this venue!'
'So, there is only one battle today between Cangwu Union and Residence of Nine Supremes...'
'There is no suspense at all!'
'A sect that has possessed a lower-class Celestial Luck Banner for thousands of years against a sect that has just been established...Even fools wouldn't bet on the wrong side, would they?'
Even if Mount Penta-Tier had prevented all the experts from probing with their divine sense so that no one could see each other's true strength even face to face, such an obvious thing did not need to be found out with divine sense; one could know the result with just their buttocks.
"This year's battle of Celestial Luck Banners is just too boring. Brothers, do you want to bet with me?" Huo Yunfeng asked his two fellow brothers with a voice transmission.
"How would you like to bet, big brother? Are you the banker?" Ding Buke and You Buneng replied in unison.
"I can be the banker. We will bet on the outcome of the battle between Cangwu Union and Residence of Nine Supremes. What do you think?"
Ding Buke smiled. "I'm fine with it. I bet on Cangwu Union."
You Buneng chuckled and said, "It's best that big brother is willing to be the banker. I, too, bet on Cangwu Union!"
Glaring at them, Huo Yunfeng said, "Don't you think it's really boring if you bet like that? Do I look like a fathead to you?"
Ding Buke laughed and said, "Big brother, you are the boring one. As our senior, you should be magnanimous. Now that you've agreed to be the banker, it means that the two of us can bet at will. Don't tell me that you will play only if we bet on Residence of Nine Supremes?"
"That's right!" You Buneng chimed in. "One cannot be so shameless! A banker who sets a restriction on bets is a cheater!"
Huo Yunfeng rubbed his chin. "Brothers, you'd better think it over. Although Residence of Nine Supremes is only a new challenger, the bearing and power of its people are extraordinary. After all, it is the best sect among the qualification battle who had defeated five hundred opponents. I have heard that Wild Saber Sect had also participated in this year's qualification battle, a sect that fought fiercely with Cangwu Union decades ago. Residence of Nine Supremes's ability to defeat Wild Saber Sect proves that its strength cannot be underestimated. At least in my opinion, the two sides in this battle are evenly matched and the outcome is uncertain. Consider again, brothers! I am a very accommodating banker. Since they haven't started yet, I'll allow you to change your bets once. It is now or never..."
Ding Buke and You Buneng snorted at the same time and stared at Huo Yunfeng with an idiotic look. "Change the bets? Do you think we are idiots? Giving you spiritual jade for nothing?"
"We are brothers, so we just play smart to lift the spirits. Let's bet ten...no, five spiritual jades. What do you think? Both of you bet on Residence of Nine Supremes and I'll pay you five times if you win!"
Ding Buke and You Buneng laughed scornfully.
"Not satisfied? Fine. If you bet on Residence of Nine Supremes, I'll give you 10-1 odds! How's that? If you win, you can get fifty supreme-grade spiritual jades! What's the point of betting on Cangwu Union when you will only get a little profit? Fortune favors the bold!"
"Hah..."
"15-1!"
"Hah..."
"30-1! This is my limit! If you still don't want to bet with me, forget it!" Huo Yunfeng complained, "It's too boring!"
You Buneng thought for a moment. "You said 30-1? Then I'll bet two spiritual jades on Residence of Nine Supremes to add a little bit of fun. You are the boss, and as your junior brother, giving you two supreme-grade spiritual jades is my limit. I can't afford any more."
"You Buneng, why did you agree? What's wrong with you?" said Ding Buke angrily. "This shameless guy has been cheating our spiritual jades all these years, and I've lost hundreds to him! How can you still fall for his trick?"
While smiling, You Buneng said, "Don't you understand? This guy is going to pull the two of us into the game no matter what. What's the big deal about two supreme-grade spiritual jades? Think of it as a small bet to lift the spirits and send this gambler away."
"Ding Buke, can you just say whether you want to bet or not? It is your business not to bet, but don't make a scene and interfere with others' judgment."
"Well, now that You Buneng has made his bet, it would seem that I am not generous enough if I let him suffer alone," said Ding Buke. "I will lay down my life to accompany him once and lose two spiritual jades to you. But, you have to promise me one thing in advance—when we get back, you have to treat us with your Thousand Spirit Wine! Otherwise, we will not play your game!"
"It's a deal!"
The two sighed. "It's a deal!"
Huo Yunfeng's spirit was suddenly revived when he saw the sure-win game was on. "Now I am really interested in this battle. We'll have to watch it carefully later."
The two men rolled their eyes. "You are not interested in the battle but our spiritual jades...I really admire your cheekiness! How could you say things that have no basis as if they are true? Wild Saber Sect has not participated in the battle of the Celestial Luck Banners for at least a hundred years, right? And yet you used it as an excuse to lure us in. I really don't know what to say about you!"
Hearing that, Huo Yunfeng paused for a moment and then said in surprise, "Oh? Wild Saber Sect has not participated in the battle for a hundred years? I remember wrongly then...In any case, we're betting on who's going to win, Residence of Nine Supremes or Cangwu Union, so it doesn't matter if there is no Wild Saber Sect!"
Rolling his eyes, Ding Buke said, "I knew you were uttering nonsense just now! I almost believed that..."
...
Down there, the sect leader of Cangwu Union—Hong Changtian—had been standing for some time, clearly waiting for the arrangement of the matches. However, the three executive officers of Sacred Heart Palace above him seemed to be discussing something and did not pay him any attention. It was not appropriate for him to sit down, but he felt somewhat embarrassed if he kept on standing there.
What was going on now?
Yun Yang was also confused about the current situation.
It seemed to him that the private discussion between the three above was surrounded in...a joyous atmosphere? What were they talking about that made them look so happy?
Weren't they supposed to get down to business?
As both men were wondering, Huo Yunfeng turned to them and said leisurely, "Sect Leader of the Residence of Nine Supremes and Sect Leader of Cangwu Union, please come up here."
Both men moved at the same time, going up in bewilderment. They set foot on the amethyst stand almost at the same time.
"Let's discuss the order of the matches."
Huo Yunfeng was in a good mood at the thought that four supreme-grade spiritual jades were about to fall into his pocket. 'No gain is too slight to bother with, let alone four supreme-grade spiritual jades!' So, with kind and pleasant countenance, he said, "You two discuss how the first match between the pillar forces and the second match between the top experts will proceed. According to the usual practice, Cangwu Union will decide the way to fight in the third match. After that, there may be the fourth and fifth matches. Decide how are you going to fight now and here!"
No matter how pleasant Huo Yunfeng behaved and even spoke in an inquiring tone, both Hong Changtian and Yun Yang felt from his words that he had already made arrangements and that they just had to follow suit.
"The arrangement is excellent," said Hong Changtian.
Yun Yang accepted it as well. "That's fine by me. I'll do as Your Excellency bid."
"Great! You can go back and arrange your men now. Start as soon as you can. The battle of the Celestial Luck Banners attaches the greatest importance to fairness, so I won't say more."
Huo Yunfeng paused, and his face grew more pleasant while his smile broadened before he spoke again, "I wish both of you get what you want. Haha!"
The corners of Yun Yang and Hong Changtian's mouths twitched.
'You wish both of us get what we want at the same time?'
'Your blessing seemed really...odd!'