Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

"Second?! How is this possible?" Nangong Mu's hands trembled as he knew Fang Zhengzhi's character too well.

Because he knew Fang Zhengzhi too well, he was even more certain that Fang Zhengzhi would have definitely played cheat and wrote "first" on both of the pieces of paper.

However, now…

The word "second" was extremely glaring.

Why did this happen?

Could it be such that Fang Zhengzhi did not play cheat and really wrote "first" and "second" on the two pieces of paper, meaning that he actually swallowed the piece of paper with the word "first"?

No, no…

Fang Zhengzhi would have definitely played cheat. Therefore, the only explanation would be that both of the papers had the word "second" written on them.

Thinking about this, Nangong Mu's face turned relatively ugly as he had realized that Fang Zhengzhi knew that he would have spotted the possible problem.

"If we talked about the state of mind… I am definitely worse than Fang Zhengzhi, however, we are competing based on our true capability." Nangong Mu shook his head gently and did not continue further.

Although losing the round on drawing lots was a slight blow to Nangong Mu's confidence, it did not surprise him too much as he was mentally prepared.

However, after losing the round on drawing lots, the situation seemed to be…

Just as Nangong Mu was deep in thought, a voice floated into his ears.

"I forgot to tell you that I accidentally smudged something dirty on the two pieces of papers when I was writing… are you still feeling alright after eating the paper?"

The voice came from Fang Zhengzhi, it was not very loud but it caused Nangong Mu's face to turn as black as charcoal.

Poison!

He poisoned the paper!

If this happened six months ago, even someone who had a good endurance like Nangong Mu would have cursed.

However, Nangong Mu could not curse as he had to endure. In order to fulfill the last wish of Nangong Tian, he had to endure.

However, even if Nangong Tian was able to endure, the troops of the Monster Race and Demon Race was unable to endure.

"This shameless brat dare to poison the paper!"

"How detestable!"

"Stop talking nonsense, ask Sir Chou Qi to make a command for us to kill him and all of the Human Alliance!"

The troops of the Monster Race and Demon Race roared furiously.

Ping Yang, on the other hand, was evidently stunned. She had always thought she had learned how to be as shameless as Fang Zhengzhi, but after hearing what Fang Zhengzhi said, she realized that there was still a huge gap between her and Fang Zhengzhi that she could never match up to.

"Shameless brat, you really poisoned the paper?!" Ping Yang still could not believe it as her consciences told her that no matter how shameless one was, one could not possibly be as shameless as that.

Poisoning the paper was such a horrendous act that made both the humans and G.o.ds furious.

"Of course, I did… It was such a great opportunity, how could I have not done it?" Fang Zhengzhi was so blatant that he did not even bother hiding the truth.

"…" Ping Yang was speechless.

"…" Wu Yuer also moved her lips but did not say anything.

Mo Shans.h.i.+ and Mu Qingfeng stared at each other and blushed slightly as they felt embarra.s.sed to be in Fang Zhengzhi's team.

However, they had no choice.

"Brat, you used my poison?" The Heavenly Oasis Saint looked nonchalant as he had the same personal experience.

Sometimes, he felt that he could even become Fang Zhengzhi's master. However, the truth was that he would have been under Fang Zhengzhi's control with the use of several cups of poison.

Moreover, what pained him the most was that those poisons were made by him.

"I made some slight improvements to the poison," replied Fang Zhengzhi casually.

"Nice one, you are indeed merciless!"

"Just a bit."

The disciples of the Human Alliance turned their heads to pretend that they did not hear the conversation between Fang Zhengzhi and the Heavenly Oasis Saint.

At this moment, cold sweat trickled down Nangong Mu's forehead because he suddenly felt that his stomach felt as though it was being turned upside-down.

"It is really poisonous!" Nangong Mu squatted down and vomited everything in his stomach out. Meanwhile, he took out a medicinal pill and swallowed it.

He felt slightly better after swallowing the pill.

Having the power of the Tree of G.o.d and Nangong Hao's heart and the additional power that Nangong Tian left behind before he died, as well as the power obtained from Chou Qi and Qin Xian, Nangong Mu would definitely not die so easily because of the poison.

However, that did not mean that he would not get affected by the poison as it was an "intense poison" made by Fang Zhengzhi after some improvements.

It was as though as finding 'a segment of caterpillar' inside an apple…

That feeling would not kill you but you would feel disgusted for at least ten days. Therefore, Nangong Mu was definitely affected temporarily.

"Rest a.s.sured, you won't die. This poison is not lethal, it only hurts your kidney a little… The most straightforward effect would be frequent micturition and diarrhea…" Fang Zhengzhi gave a "friendly" reminder to Nangong Mu as he looked like he was struggling.

"…" Nangong Mu's face turned extremely pale upon hearing this. His legs almost turned into jelly and fell on the ground.

"Fang Zhengzhi…'

'I really should not have been your opponent.'

Nangong Mu clenched his fist and a scene flashed across his mind.

In the freezing land covered in snow, there was a patch of fresh blood, a shriveled Tree of G.o.d and ten over loyal servants of the Nangong n.o.bles kneeling in front of him/

"Mu'er, the future of the Nangong n.o.bles is in your hands…"

"You have to kill Fang Zhengzhi and get back the things that belonged to the Nangong n.o.bles!"

"Dad, please!"

"Dad!"

Nangong Mu bit his lips. He did not want to fulfill the final wish of Nangong Tian but he had to "fight" for the future of the Nangong n.o.bles.

That was because he had the Nangong n.o.bles' blood flowing in his body.

"Dad… I can't follow what you have taught me but I promise, I will get back whatever that belonged to the Nangong n.o.bles…" Blood trickled down Nangong Mu's lips and his eyes became bloodshot. He gave off a creepy and terrifying aura.

However, he calmed down very quickly.

With the ident.i.ty of Chou Qi and the right to command the troops of the Monster Race and Demon Race, he was already halfway to success and definitely could not give up at this time.

"This little amount of poison will not hurt me!" Nangong Mu gradually raised his head but the gray haze beneath his black cloak became thicker and thicker.

"Of course it won't hurt you. I believe that you are powerful enough. Let us start our compet.i.tion now, so who are you sending out in the first round?" Fang Zhengzhi nodded.

"Sir!" At this moment, Lin Yu who had been usually quiet suddenly dashed towards Nangong Mu.

"What's the matter?" Nangong Mu asked with a deep voice.

"Who are you sending for the first round?" Lin Yu clenched his teeth and asked carefully.

"What do you suggest?" Nangong Mu knew what Lin Yu was thinking about.

"If you trust me, I will go in the first round. I will fight till my death!" Lin Yu was determined.

"Only you?"

"And another three Monster Kings."

"I don't think that is sufficient." Nangong Mu shook his head.

"Why? Unless Sir feels that there is another person, except for Fang Zhengzhi, who can win us?" Lin Yu did not understand.

"No, but what if the two of them were able to kill the three Monster Kings in a short time?" Nangong Mu asked.

"What do you mean?"

"According to what I know, Mu Qingfeng could kill three Monster Kings very easily. Then, you will be facing the combined attack of four people!"

"I am not afraid even if four of them attacked me together!"

"That's good, but the chances of winning is 50-50." Nangong Mu shook his head.

Lin Yu fell silent.

As what Nangong Mu said, even though he was a G.o.dly State expert, there was a 50 percent chance that something would go wrong when he fought against Four Sages like Mu Qingfeng.

50-50 chance…

If they lost the first battle, they still have to fight against Fang Zhengzhi…

"Then send me and Mu Xing!" Lin Yu decided to accept the suggestion given by Nangong Mu and replied.

"With the powers of you and Mu Xing, you will definitely win if you did not encounter Fang Zhengzhi. I was also thinking about this arrangement but I feel that there is a trap in this." Nangong Mu nodded slightly before shaking his head again.

"What trap?"

"If… You were Fang Zhengzhi, what would you do when you have to fight against two G.o.dly State experts?" Nangong Mu asked back.

"Other than fighting by himself, the only choice was to forfeit as he would definitely not win." Lin Yu replied without thinking.

"Do you think he will forfeit?"

"Yes."

"I don't think so."

"Why?"

"If he forfeited for the first round, he had even lesser hope for the second round as I will be fighting along with two other G.o.dly State experts."

"So… Sir, what do you mean?"

"If I send you and Mu Xing, Fang Zhengzhi will definitely go."

"So you mean in the first round, Fang Zhengzhi will…" Lin Yu shuddered slightly and a drop of cold sweat trickled down his forehead.

"Yes, he will definitely kill you and Mu Xing in the first round. Then, he will have two choices, one will be to fight with us without heeding by the rules. However, I don't think he will do that as he will be even more shameless than that. Therefore, the second option was to kill again in the round when we only send one G.o.dly State expert out."

"…" Lin Yu felt chills down his back when he heard this.

Although Nangong Mu was merely speculating, if the opponent was Fang Zhengzhi, this was extremely likely to happen.

After all, he was a shameless brat that was daring enough to poison the paper

Moreover, if two or three G.o.dly State experts were killed consecutively in the martial arts compet.i.tion, the power of the troops of the Monster race and Demon race would be greatly depleted and …

The troops of the Monster race and Demon race might no longer have the final say.

"Then what do you think we should do, Sir?" Lin Yu stopped insisting on his stand as he felt that Chou Qi had a better understanding of Fang Zhengzhi.

Lin Yu felt suspicious.

That was because from what he could remember, Chou Qi should not have came into contact with Fang Zhengzhi before. However, the reality was that Chou Qi was more far-sighted than Lin Yu himself.

That was strange.

However, Lin Yu had no time and means to investigate as Chou Qi was the leader of the troops of the Monster race and Demon race now.

He could not suspect Chou Qi.

He could only trust him whole-heartedly.

"If we want to secure all three rounds, we will definitely lose and lose extremely dramatically. Therefore, we can only place our bets on securing two of the rounds!" Nangong Mu finally spoke after some consideration.

"Two rounds?!" Lin Yu's eyes lit up.

He had already understood what Nangong Mu meant. The winner was decided based on winning two out of the three rounds, yet it sounded risky to place a bet on two of the rounds.

However, intelligent people would know that it was impossible to win all the rounds.

If one wished to win all the rounds…

One would lose dramatically.

"For the first round, you will bring two other G.o.dly State experts and one Monster King. Mu Xing… I will go with him in the last round," said Nangong Hao.

"Sending three G.o.dly State experts in the first round, are you sure?" Although Lin Yu understood Nangong Hao's plan, he was slightly hesitant.

"Hmm, Fang Zhengzhi will only not fight if we send out three G.o.dly State experts as the chances of him killing all three G.o.dly State experts were extremely slim. The chances of him winning in a one versus three scenarios will only be 50 percent. Even if he won by luck, he would not be able to kill the G.o.dly State experts and will definitely lose the subsequent two rounds!" Nangong Mu was very certain.

"Then what are the arrangements like for the next two rounds?" Lin Yu nodded.

"Based on the rules, Fang Zhengzhi will send out their people first. I think he will send out at least one person who is able to kill the Monster Kings to secure his win."

"So Sir, you mean we will forfeit the second round?"

"Yes, we will put our bets on the third round!"

"I understand, however, could you please fulfill my request?"

"Speak."

"Sir, please take back your commands and put me in the third round!"

"You want to go in the third round?"

"Yes!"

"But you should know that you will face Fang Zhengzhi in the third round."

"I know that and that is why I wish to be put in the third round. Rest a.s.sured, sir, I will definitely not disappoint you."