The bookmaker seemed afraid that Gu Lingzhi would regret her decision and take her money back, but he was certain that the Tianluo Clan would win and that the odds were in his favor. With a cheeky smile, he said, “Lady, you are really brave. Though the Gui Yuan Clan is newly-established and cannot be compared with the Tianluo Clan, no one knows what they are truly capable of. Perhaps they might surprise us and make a name for themselves.”

That was something she liked to hear. 

Gu Lingzhi nodded her head in satisfaction, the displeasure in her heart dissolving. She turned and sat back at where the Gui Yuan Clan was situated.

The bookmaker’s lips immediately twitched. He thought that he had been able to find someone who was stupid enough to bet on the losing team. It turned out that he was the one who had underestimated the Gui Yuan Clan.

Oh well, maybe it’s better this way. The odds ratio would increase to favor the Tianluo Clan and he might end up winning more instead.

Everyone that was present had the same thoughts as he did, expecting the Gui Yuan Clan to lose. They felt that Gu Lingzhi was going to lose all her money.

Some of them mocked under their breaths, “Did you see that? That lady from the Gui Yuan Clan forked out 50,000 god stones on her own clan. She’s seriously overestimating her clan. The Tianluo Clan is really powerful, she’s going to lose all her god stones.”

“Well, you might be wrong. If the Tianluo Clan underestimates them and sends out a disciple that’s not the strongest, the Gui Yuan Clan might win out of luck.”

“The Gui Yuan Clan winning? If they are able to win, then our clan can enter the top 100 in the Clan Rankings. The lower-class True God from the Tianluo Clan forked out 200,000 god stones to bet on his clan! That goes to show that they are not underestimating their opponent.”

Gu Lingzhi could easily hear the conversations going on in the crowd. She narrowed her eyes and laughed coldly before she told Qin Xinran, “Make sure you teach them a lesson later on, so they know what the proverb ‘the younger generation will surpass the older ones in time’ mean.”

“Alright, I’ve been itching to fight for a while now,” Qin Xinran chuckled. As she smiled in anticipation and excitement, Hunting Cat looked on in adoration as his heart raced. To him, she was adorable in every single way and he wanted to be closer to her.

Rong Yuan observed this but pretended that he did not. He turned to give some words of encouragement to the Martial Sage and the Demigod from the Guiyuan Clan that was partaking in the competition. Then, he gave Gu Lingzhi a pat on her hand reassuringly, “Don’t worry, we’ll definitely win.”

Due to the vast number of clans participating in the Clan Tournament, the Tianyan Clan prepared a hundred Tournament Stages so that 200 clans could compete with each other at any one time.

Gu Lingzhi’s clan was the 532th, so they were being allocated to the Tournament Stage 16. There were only two matches before theirs, so they quickly gathered at their allocated stage.

The three contestants from the Tianluo Clan had already arrived, and after seeing that a large number of people from the Gui Yuan Clan had come to watch the match, they could not help but laugh at them. “Look at them. It’s just a preliminary round and almost their entire clan is here to watch. If they enter the final rounds, will their whole clan move their houses here?”

“Don’t you know that they bet 50,000 god stones that they would win? For all you know, they are really powerful. Don’t underestimate them, the tables might turn in their favor,” another middle-aged man commented.

Though it sounded like the middle-aged man was siding the Gui Yuan Clan, there was a mocking tone in his voice that gave his intentions away.

Wu Erlang waved his Meteor Hammer and arrogantly claimed, “Who cares if they have the capabilities or not? It’s their bad luck to have us as their opponents.”

Everyone who was present laughed at his words. It was ridiculous that Gu Lingzhi would bet 50,000 god stones on her own clan who was unheard of at that time.

From their point of view, even if the Gui Yuan Clan had a certain level of capability, they would only be able to get a place in the top 1000, and even then, it would be because of pure luck. The Gui Yuan Clan was clearly overestimating themselves by betting that they would beat the Tianluo Clan. Some people were even congratulating the Tianluo Clan on their winnings before they had secured victory.

The blatant mockery angered the members of the Gui Yuan Clan.

Rong Yuan merely raised his hand and signaled for his clan members to calm down. He then plainly stated, “I sincerely hope that our friends from the Tianluo Clan will not suffer a defeat then.”

The people who were laughing were silent for a few seconds before they burst out laughing again, “Oh my God, where did this Guiyuan Clan even come from? Do they seriously think that they can win?”

“Their courage is commendable; they just have not been put in their place yet.”

Though the crowd started to mock them even more, the members of the Gui Yuan Clan were no longer as angry as they were just now.

Rong Yuan’s gesture made sense – the more they gloated now, the more upset they would be later when they lost.

Due to the collusion between clans, there were not many interesting matches. It was almost as if the powerful clans had planned for who was going to win and who was going to lose.

Within the next hour, the two matches before theirs were completed.

It was time for them to fight.

The first match in the preliminary round was for Martial Sages. The contestant that was representing the Gui Yuan Clan was a young lady from the Spirit Tribe, Ruan Qingyan.

The moment she went on the Tournament Stage, her good looks and vigor instantly caught everyone’s attention. With a light smile, she said, “I’m Ruan Qingyan from the Gui Yuan Clan.”

A pity that such a pretty girl had to go against the Tianluo Clan in the preliminary rounds.

The first person from the Tianluo Clan who mocked the Gui Yuan Clan, Zhu Jing, swept his eyes lazily over Ruan Qingyan’s body and licked his lips. “You’re such a pretty girl, how could your Gui Yuan Clan bear to send you up here to fight? Why don’t you join my Tianluo Clan instead? We’ll take great care of you, ten thousand times better than how the Gui Yuan Clan treats you.”

A murderous glint appeared in Ruan Qingyan’s eyes for a second before it disappeared again. Calmly, she replied, “Sure, only if you beat me.”

“Haha, what’s so difficult about that?” Zhu Jing responded with great confidence.

He did not think that she would agree to his request so easily; on his part, it was just a casual comment. He thought that luck was on his side.

He smiled even wider. “After you, my lady.”

Ruan Qingyan returned his smile with a chuckle. “Then I…will not hold back.”

Then, the energy around her shifted as she released the inner cultivation of a Martial Sage. She transformed from a shy sheep to a predatory shark. She charged towards Zhu Jing with her sword. At the same time, vines as thick as a human’s arm appeared from the ground and wrapped themselves around Zhu Jing’s feet, holding him tightly in place. Behind him, a wall made of mud rose up to his waist, preventing him from retreating. Zhu Jing had no choice but to face Ruan Qingyan’s attack head-on.

Boom!

Her sword struck at Zhu Jing and he flew backwards into the mud wall, causing it to become a pile of mud. He flew further backwards off the stage and in the blink of an eye, Ruan Qingyan was the only person standing on the Tournament Stage.

“It seems like I won’t be able to follow you,” Ruan Qingyan commented, feigning pity.

The panel of referees were shocked. It had only taken a few seconds for the match to end.

How did she do it?

“How…how is this possible?”

There were many Martial Sages in the Tianluo Clan, so they would choose only the most talented Martial Sages in their clan to represent them. Yet, he had lost to Ruan Qingyan in just a few seconds.

Just how strong was she?

Without letting the crowd recover from their shock, the middle-aged man from the Tianluo Clan, who was their representative in the Demigod match, hopped up on the Tournament Stage. Staring coldly at Ruan Qingyan, he said, “Who’s next?”

The panel of referees quickly announced the Gui Yuan Clan to be the winner of the Martial Sage duel before inviting their Demigod representative to go onto the stage.

Beside Gu Lingzhi, a boy who looked only to be about fifteen or sixteen years old got onto the Tournament Stage and smiled warmly at his opponent. The discussion became even more intense.

“Oh dear, he looks really young. His cultivation speed must be insanely fast!”

The lifespan of a Martial Artist was dependent on one’s cultivation level. The faster one could cultivate, the slower one would grow. Looking at the boy, who was called Kang Le, he did not even look like he had reached adulthood yet. With some calculations, he was at most 500 years old.

It was not impossible to become a Demigod in 500 years, but Martial Artists that were capable of such a feat were usually recruited by the top clans in the Realm of the Gods. It was unthinkable that such a talented person would be part of the Gui Yuan Clan, which was a small clan.

Having learnt not to underestimate his opponent from Zhu Jing’s previous experience, the middle-aged man took the liberty to attack first the moment the panel of referees signaled for them to begin the match. A sea of fire immediately appeared on the Tournament Stage and ten fire dragons surrounded Kang Le, threatening to swallow him whole.

“Water – extinguish!” Kang Le muttered under his breath. Instantly, a small thunder cloud appeared over their heads and heavy rain started to fall, extinguishing the sea of fire and the ten dragons in mere seconds.

The heat of the fire turned the water droplets into steam which engulfed the entire stage. The spectators were unable to tell what was going on internally, but they could hear a few cries that came from the middle-aged man and Kang Le.

A minute later, when the mist subsided, the silhouette of Kang Le appeared, with the middle-aged man at his feet. Kang Le looked straight at the panel of referees, “Announce the results.”

“Oh, oh…the victor of the second round is the Gui Yuan Clan.”

Everyone’s faces started to change. The expression on Wu Erlang’s face became even uglier.

This was because…he had bet 200,000 god stones that the Tianluo Clan would win!

The Gui Yuan Clan had won two out of three matches, it did not matter whether the Tianluo Clan won the last match or not. His 200,000 god stones…had gone down the drain.

Almost everyone that was present had betted on the Tianluo Clan winning. But now, all of them had lost.

“You said your clan was in the top 500, but you people can’t even beat such a small clan. What a load of bullshit!” Someone who had lost a considerable amount of money began to scold.

“I can’t believe you people lost after gloating so much! Your Tianluo Clan is useless, return us our money!”

“Return us our money! Return us our money!”

The accusations and insults of the public caused Wu Erlang’s face to turn green with anger. He angrily got onto the stage and pointed at the Gui Yuan Clan, “The next contestant, come up now!”

His voice was full of threat and anger. He was ready to vent all of his anger and frustration on the last match in this round.

The audience felt nervous for the Gui Yuan Clan.

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