Chapter 86 – Gambling (1)
In a hurry, Qinghan rushed to the demon, and took off the ring from his scale-covered finger. When he placed the demonic ring against his own, the number, beside the sculptured word “War”, changed from 365 to 465.
Looking at the new number, Qinghan thought of his sister, who was lying in bed, waiting for his return. But&h.e.l.lip; he couldn’t. He wished he would encounter scores of high-ranked demons or barbarians, so that he could meet the total number of the target credits, and go home earlier. Nevertheless, this was but a mere dream. Usually, the total number of high-ranked enemies, such as Demonic Emperors, was scarce. The one they just killed was an arrogant lone ranger, who had thought that he could deal with one or two cultivators in the Realm of the Prince with his overwhelming speed. Unexpectedly, he encountered this super team, and eventually died.
“You’d better stand beside me if we encounter a large group of enemies. For those snake-shaped demons, whose power are equivalent to those in the Realm of the Marshal, I figured out a way to defeat them.”
The team members dispersed, and set about doing their own task, with some patrolling around, and others having a rest behind the trees. Only several young lords and girls lingered around the scene. Suddenly, a conveyed voice reached Qinghan’s ears, rea.s.suring him that he would be protected in times of a group fight. Apparently, the melodious voice came from a girl.
Out of curiosity, Qinghan rolled his eyes, and turned his head, in search of the origin of this voice. Finally, his eyes anch.o.r.ed on Qingcheng, and he replied with a big smile, “Alright!”
However, with a doubtful expression, Qinghan glanced at Qingcheng again, as he was surprised that she was able to fight with a snake-shaped demon in the Realm of the Marshal.
Deep inside, Qinghan had complete confidence in his integration technique, which could probably kill such demons within a second. Yet, he didn’t bother to explain too much to Qingcheng, so he just accepted her good intention. Actually, almost no one knew the true power of Qinghan’s integration technique, as most of them thought it should be credited to the holy-grade battle beast. But, since it was considered his trump card, he wouldn’t easily lay his cards on the table, and let everyone know the truth. He would only expose it at the right time&h.e.l.lip;
Qinghan’s warm smile touched the string of Qingcheng’s heart, and she was caught up in such ecstasy, that the corners of her lips kept raising up, while her eyes were lit up with excitement. Out of shyness, she immediately turned around and ran away.
Staring at the beautiful back of Qingcheng, Qinghan was lost in thought. In the beginning, Qinghan had regarded Qingcheng as a brazen, shameless girl, who would force him to marry her. Even more so, after he had learned that Qingcheng would follow him all the way to the Prefecture War, he had even prepared a ton of reasons to reject her. To Qinghan’s surprise, however, she didn’t cling to him at all, as though she wasn’t quite obsessed on marrying him. Instead, she behaved like a standard good wife, and lived up to her reputation as a considerate girl.
Since they had entered Ghost Island, Qingcheng had never thought of any tricks, nor did she deliberately run into Qinghan, pretending for it to be a coincidence. She didn’t even climb on his bed, to try and lure him in with some sensual pleasure. On the contrary, she kept herself away from Qinghan, and only appeared in times of an emergency. It was fair to say, that she had been suffering silently without requiring Qinghan to do anything in return. What was the definition of a good wife? For most men, they would answer it this way: the woman should, first and foremost, understand and support her husband. She should read her man’s mind, and know exactly what she should do and what she shouldn’t do. Apparently, Qingcheng met this criterion.
&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;
In the following days, nothing special happened. Qinghan continued with his cultivation, while Hua Cao and Feng Zi kept attempting to court the girls of the Yue family, and Qingcheng and Qingwu stayed in their respective rooms. Meanwhile, the cultivators in the Realm of the Prince trained the descendants of the prominent families.
With the decreased number of enemies, the team members started to compete with each other, to figure out who got the honor of fighting first with the demons or barbarians that teleported here. Once a creature from another race emerged, the young lords would then take turns to fight against it. This happened, of course, under the protection of the cultivators in the Realm of the prince. When the young lords got tired, the other elites from the team would join in, until the demon or barbarian was too weak to fight back&h.e.l.lip;
Obviously, with this tactic, everyone in the team was able to quickly improve their fighting experience. The huge amount of information they gathered, would surely help them better prepare for the upcoming larger-scale battles. Among them, Qinghan’s Mysterious Trace Steps was considered to be the weirdest training method, because he never attacked, but only practiced his footsteps and defensive abilities. In others’ opinion, he was merely seeking to be abused.
As time went by, the odds of encountering a teleported enemy became increasingly slim. The three prefectures had generally grasped the main location of the teleportation posts, thus seldom did any moron fall into the trap. Only those, who were being chased into a corner, might slip into a teleportation spot. Sadly, most of the people were cautious on their route, in case they got caught by a teleportation post, and got teleported to a place, like this Monster Slaughter Pool, where enemies were waiting to fight them.
Since no enemies emerged, the young lords had ample time to flirt with the girls of the Yue family. However, to their surprise, Qingcheng had told every girl of their history of playing with other girls, which had made them feel rather awkward. Unlike the girls on the island of the Tranquil Lake, who were treated as commodities to please the prominent figures; the girls in this super elite team were all key descendants, who boasted not only a charming appearance, but also absolute abilities. Since Hua Cao and Feng Zi couldn’t promise them to marry them as their first wife, they refused their pursuit. In the end, after the Prefecture War, they would separate; luckily, some might still get in touch and end up in a one-night stand. Although the Yue family was liberal-minded in not interfering in their descendants’ romantic life, they had made a rule that their key descendants should be married as the first wife, rather than a concubine. Therefore, Hua Cao and Feng Zi’s plan, once again, failed.
“I’m so bored&h.e.l.lip;”
Hua Cao touched his handsome face, and said in a la.s.situde manner. Since there was no demon or barbarian for them to fight against, he hadn’t stretched his body for quite some time. As a high-fed young lord, he wasn’t used to this arduous lifestyle. Plus, he wasn’t fond of cultivation either. Since he had nothing to do right now, Hua Cao decided to rally the team members to discuss if they could end this “hunting” plan in advance.
“Boring? I’ve got a new proposal!” A black figure from the distance replied to Hua Cao.
Upon hearing this, Hua Cao jerked his head around, winking his peach-like eyes towards the black figure. The moment the figure got closer, he was surprised to find it was Qinghan.
“Qinghan? Haha, is the sun rising from the west today? It’s so rare for you to come out. You’ve been so over-scheduled with your cultivation recently!”
“Haha! For a young lord like you, who hasn’t tasted the hardships of life, you would already find yourself in a pickle when you’re forced to live in such a remote, inconvenient place.” Qinghan, with his unflappable eyes, spoke slowly like a mature man. Also, owing to these days’ intensive cultivation, his body seemed much stronger than before.
“Come on, don’t keep me guessing, and just tell me your proposal. What is it? Are you going to peep on the girls with us?” Hua Cao exhaled a mouthful of foul breath, and scratched his head.
“f.u.c.k you!” Qinghan glanced at Hua with the corner of his eyes, “Hey buddy, I have a question for you. Your family is famous for patience, such as the a.s.sa.s.sins in your family, who can remain in squat stance in a toilet for several days, in order to successfully finish their task; but look at you, if you were asked to wait there, you’d bounce up within an hour!”
“Alas!” Since Qinghan had seen through his weakness, Hua Cao replied with a little hesitation, “I’ve lacked patience since I was a child. Indeed, I aspire to be a unique a.s.sa.s.sin, who can kill his target in broad daylight. I imagine, that one day, I’ll be that kind of a.s.sa.s.sin, and behead the target in front of thousands of enemies. Haha, isn’t that cool?”
“C&h.e.l.lip; cool.” Qinghan was almost speechless, he stopped momentarily, before he continued, “I’m afraid, that you’ll be chopped into a heap of meat before you even find your target! Alright, all jokes aside, I’ll let you know my proposal now. Let’s make a bet, and if I lose, I’ll invite you to Thirteenth Street for an entire month. Deal?”