Chapter 69 - Believe in Me!
The whole God Stone Square was silent. Mo Zhan’s clamoring seemed to echo in the arena.
Shi Jian face was in a grimace, and he was trembling in rage. He almost wanted to go to the middle of the arena and slap Mo Zhan to death.
The Beiming, Ling, Mo, and Zuo families all looked at Shi Jian. Many warriors around the arena were looking at Shi Jian in sympathy.
At this point, everyone could see the vicious heart of the Mo family, and they also knew that they had definitely used some unusual means.
However, that’s what the Martial Competition was like. Each side would use their own methods, and as long as they’re not strongly against the rules of the arena, no matter how tragically the loser turned out to be, no one would say a thing.
Even if the Shi family were highly displeased, at that moment, there was nothing they could argue about. And the others of course, would not step into such murky waters.
At that moment, Han Feng suddenly came up from behind the people of the Shi family and passed a slip of paper to Shi Jian. He said, “Master, someone told me to give this to you.”
Shi Jian was barely able to control his anger. As he took a glance at the note, his expression suddenly froze.
“The children from the Mo family have taken the Blood Vigor Pill, made by the Poison Dragon Valley of the God Blessed Empire. The Blood Vigor Pill allows one to increase their strength by twofold for a short period of time at the cost of being unable to use their martial powers for a whole year. It is best for you not to continue the following matches, or else you will still lose miserably. The old man standing next to Mo Zhan is the alchemist Xie Shou from the Poisonous Dragon Valley! Sincerely, Mu Xun.”
Shi Jian looked at the words on the paper with a grim face. He finally knew what the Mo family had done.
Just to deal with the Shi family, Mo Tuo had sacrificed a year of his grandchildren’s cultivation. In turn, this caused Shi Tian Luo and Shi Tian Yun of the Shi family to be bedridden for at least three to five years. This method was ruthless to the extreme!
Shi Jian’s expression was gloomy. Looking at Shi Yan, he suddenly could not decide how to proceed.
If Mu Xun didn’t pass on this information, Shi Jian might have actually let Shi Yan enter the arena.
But since now the truth was known, Shi Jian knew that Mo Zhan must have also taken that Blood Vigor Pill, and that now his abilities were enhanced for the upcoming battle. Knowing this, Shi Jian faltered.
Mo Zhan was already at the Third Sky of the Nascent Realm. But after taking the Blood Vulgar Pill, he would have the ability of a Human Realm warrior. Human Realm warriors could easily break the second stage of Shi Yan’s Petrification Martial Spirit.
Shi Yan had only started cultivating recently, so Shi Jian naturally thought that Shi Yan lacked real battle experience.
In this situation, Shi Yan could easily be crushed by his opponent. But Shi Yan had twin Martial Spirits. In a long run, he would definitely become as good as Beiming Ce. He was the true future hope of the Shi family.
If this battle led to Shi Yan losing miserably and suffering heavy injuries, not only would it slow down his path to success, the strike could probably devastate him forever.
The more he weighed his options, the more hesitant Shi Jian felt. He almost had the thought to protect Shi Yan even if he were to be disgraced.
Then, at this moment.
Zuo Shi came slowly from the Zuo family’s side, carrying a giant backpack.
Zuo Shi’s captivating figure caused unrest outside the arena. Many looked at Zuo Shi lasciviously, their eyes gazing towards her beautiful long legs.
Soon, Zuo Shi arrived at the Shi family’s place. She stood next to Shi Jian and put the backpack on the Shi family’s table, saying quietly, “Grandpa Shi, my grandpa told me to bring the Dragon Turtle Armor to you in the hope that you would win.”
Then, she turned her head and looked at Shi Yan, and spoke quietly, “Go for it.”
After that, Zuo Shi left the Shi family area and returned to the Zuo family.
Even when she arrived back at the Zuo family, her beautiful eyes were still locked onto Shi Yan from across the arena.
Everyone in the Shi family felt devastated.
Not only those who didn’t know about Shi Yan’s situation, even those who were actually aware of Shi Yan’s cultivation level were also pitying him.
A warrior who just recently broke through to the Third Sky of the Nascent Realm, versus one who heavily trained for twenty years, and slowly came to this realm step by step. It’s clear who was stronger.
Besides, the Mo family obviously played dirty, so now the actual gap between the two was like a deep valley.
“Dragon Turtle Armor!”
When Shi Jian saw the armour he was completely shocked. Even though his confidence was restored, he still hesitated a bit. Passing the paper slip to Shi Yan, he murmured, “Sigh… grandpa doesn’t know what to do either, you decide for yourself. If you think it’s too hard, then… just give up.”
When he said the words “give up”, Shi Jian suddenly felt exhausted, as if he aged some years.
Shi Yan still looked unconcerned with the recent surprising developments. He glanced at the paper slip, but didn’t show any reaction. He was still calm as ever. He had already realised that the Mo family must have used some underhanded means.
Before Shi Jian had even finished speaking, Shi Yan leapt off and appeared in the middle of the arena. He spoke lightly, “Shi Yan from the Shi family. Nascent Realm, Third Sky. Please enlighten me!”
A great disturbance stirred in the crowd!
The silent arena suddenly became louder than the street markets. Many were in utter shock, puzzled, as they looked at Shi Yan.
“Who’s this kid? I’ve never heard of this guy in the Shi family.”
“Right, he never showed up in any of the previous Martial Competitions. When did the Shi family get such a warrior?”
“Shi Yan... I know. Isn’t he that young master of the Shi family who loves to study ancient texts? This guy never practiced martial arts. I only know him because he always caused trouble.”
“No way! He has never cultivated in martial arts, but still is at the Third Sky of the Nascent Realm?”
“Who knows? But even if he is at the Third Sky of the Nascent Realm, what can he do? You saw what happened when Mo Qi, who’s only at the Second Sky of the Nascent Realm, went against Shi Tian Yun, who was at the Third Sky of the Nascent Realm. About that Shi Yan guy, maybe it’s only because Shi Jian doesn’t want to be embarrassed so he sent him out to die.”
“Yeah... sigh… poor guy, being sacrificed like that.”
“...”
Around the arena, the sounds of gossip rose everywhere. Not a single warrior felt optimistic about Shi Yan. After knowing his true identity, they all thought Shi Jian had only let him go up out of frustration. The outcome… was already decided.
On the Beiming family’s side, Beiming Shang also furrowed his brows slightly. He turned his head to a dedicated warrior on the side, “What’s the deal with Shi Yan? Why was there no news about him? When did the Shi family get another Nascent Realm, Third Sky kid? Did he appear out of thin air?”
“Master, I didn’t know either. Since a young age Shi Yan didn’t have the Shi family’s Martial Spirit, so we didn’t spend much effort observing him. Who knew that he suddenly…”
“A little strange.” Beiming Shang nodded, he frowned and asked no more.
Beiming Ce was dazed for a second, as a flash of surprise gleamed in his eyes. He stared at Shi Yan for a while, then suddenly realized, “Hey? Isn’t that the kid who was drinking with Han Zhong in the Spring Pavilion, a few days back?”
Mu Yu Die and Di Yalan also remembered, and lightly nodded at the same time. From far away, Di Yalan stared at Shi Yan, who was talked about by many people in the arena. Her expression was a little strange, and with a low voice she said, “It’s him.”
“He’s definitely gonna die.” Beiming Ce shook his head, unconcerned, “No matter how amazing his luck was before, this time, against Mo Zhan, he’ll be crippled, if not killed.”
Mo Tuo also dazed out for a second, then he sneered, “I don’t care where this little bastard came from, but we’ll never see him again.”
“Shi Yan, take that thing!” Shi Jian shouted while grimacing. He pointed at the Dragon Turtle Armor brought by Zuo Shi, and hinted at him.
“Don’t need it.” Shi Yan glimpsed over at Shi Jian, and shook his head. Then he smiled at Mo Zhan, “At the Spring Pavilion, I told you we’d meet again. Now do you know who I am?”
“I know.” Mo Zhan laughed arrogantly, “You’re just someone who came here to die! Haha, the Shi family really has nobody now. Sending out a guy who researches ancient texts! Hahaha, I’m gonna laugh to the death!”
Shi Yan didn’t show any anger, he looked indifferent, and stood in the arena waiting.
“Ahem, head of the Shi family, you can put out your bet now.” The director standing at the round table shouted out.
“Master!”
“Master!”
“Master!”
At the Shi family tower, many of the dedicated warriors shouted, clearly indicating their displeasure.
All of them had heard about Shi Yan. Even if he had somehow reached the Third Sky of the Nascent Realm, everyone believed that it was for nought, and that Shi Yan would lose miserably.
If Shi family lost the fight again, not only would they would be crushed in the competition, they would also lose their high-value bets, the repercussion of which, would last forever.
“Brother! You must not!” Shi Tie advised Shi Tian strongly, still injecting his Profound Qi into Tian Yun. “Brother! It’s not worth that little bit of pride! Tian Luo and Tian Yun have already lost, you can’t bring Shi Yan in too! Just let it go, Brother!”
Shi Yan could clearly hear all the chatter behind him. Groaning, he looked back at Shi Jian and said calmly, “Grandpa, believe in me!”
“...Okay!”
Shi Jian, who was hesitating over his choices, looked at Shi Yan’s confident expression. And for some reason, he actually did choose to believe in him. He suddenly roared, “Phoenix City! Our family bets the authority to the whole city! If the Mo family wins, our family will cede the authority for Phoenix City immediately!”
This led to another great disturbance in the crowd, everyone started gossiping and chatting again.
Phoenix City was a big city in the Merchant Union, and the Shi family had been holding the authority to the city for decades. Now Phoenix City had been branded with the Shi family’s name.
It could be said that Phoenix City was where the Shi family’s influence was deepest. Now Shi Jian was putting up the authority for Phoenix City as a bet, was he going insane?
“Big brother!”
“Master!”
Everyone in the Shi family were on their feet as they looked at Shi Jain in disbelief. All of them started requesting Shi Jian to take back the bet vehemently.
“Stop trying to persuade me! My mind is set!” Shi Jian’s stubbornness was back, and with a straight face, he sneered, “It’s either make or break! I will take the risk this time!”
Everyone in the Beiming family and the Ling family were also stunned, clearly they didn’t understand either.
Zuo Xu dazed for a moment, then sighed and said quietly, “Now there’s no turning back for Brother Shi.”
“Okay!” Mo Tuo suddenly stood up, and shouted loudly, “You can’t take this back now!”
“Take it!” Shi Jian took the deeds from his personal pocket, and passed it to the director who came towards him. Then he shouted coldly, “Mo Tuo, your little bet is not enough!”
“I will add three more mines!” Mo Tuo scowled, then sneered, “It’s a sure win match, doesn’t matter how much more I add, after all it will still belong to the Mo family in the end!”
Soon, the director took the bet from the Mo family up to the round table, then suddenly roared, “The match starts!”