Chapter 754: Life-and-Death Gambling Battle

These three people walked slowly to the middle of the great hall and stopped side by side.

The burly man in black robes standing in the middle, whose appearance was somewhat ferocious, spoke coldly:

"As for who the three of us are, I presume there is no need for introductions. Even if there are some among you who do not recognize us, you should recognize us now. This gathering is hosted by the three of us; does anyone have any objections?"

The burly man in black robes' voice was exceptionally icy. As soon as these words were spoken, a massive aura suddenly erupted from his body, and subsequently, a tremendous spiritual pressure descended upon the entire hall. Upon sensing that unfathomable spiritual energy fluctuation, the cultivators seated there changed their expressions one after another.

However, while Han Li was shocked by this person's powerful magic power, he felt a wave of astonishment in his heart.

Looking at this person's body full of icy demonic Qi, he was definitely that Hehuan Old Demon of the Demonic Dao. Yet, this Old Demon's appearance was truly vastly different from what he had imagined. He was said to be the Great Elder of the Hehuan Sect, but his cultivation technique looked more like the demonic arts of the Ghost Spirit Sect!

Han Li did not know that the Great Elders of the Hehuan Sect through the generations were all called the Hehuan Old Demon. Although the cultivation technique the burly man in black robes practiced was actually a type of demonic art that had little to do with the Hehuan Sect, he still had to bear the title of Hehuan Old Demon.

At this moment, after the others felt the burly man's terrifying nature, although they felt somewhat uncomfortable in their hearts, they would not be stupid enough to jump out and challenge the authority of the three great cultivators.

For a time, the entire great hall was silent, which could be considered a tacit agreement to the Hehuan Old Demon's words just now.

"Good. Since there are no objections, I will not speak any more nonsense; in fact, there is no time for nonsense. Just this morning, the Mulan people sent an envoy and delivered a challenge letter. They said that if we do not agree to their conditions, a life-and-death battle will be decided at the border seven days from now," the burly man in black robes said expressionlessly.

"A challenge letter?"

"Seven days from now?"

"What conditions?"

The cultivators were in a stir.

"Brother Yi's words just now are not false; this is the opponent's battle letter. Fellow Daoists, please take a look at it first, and then we will discuss countermeasures. Although the great war is earlier than we anticipated, with the divine abilities of everyone present, could it be that we are truly afraid of the Mulan people?" the sword-carrying Daoist chuckled and said calmly.

Although his voice was not loud, as soon as it entered the ears of everyone present, it was like a cool breeze brushing against their faces, causing a chill to arise in their hearts, and they immediately became calm and composed.

The other cultivators were shocked in their hearts, and the stir immediately subsided, but someone muttered in a low voice.

"The Heart-Calming Technique of the Taizhen Sect. It really has some methods."

Hearing these words that seemed somewhat unconvinced, that middle-aged Daoist acted as if he had not heard them. Instead, he fished out a fresh, blood-red jade slip from his robes and tossed it to an old man in gray robes opposite him, saying with a smile:

"This is the Mulan people's challenge letter; Fellow Daoist, please take a look first."

After the old man was startled, he silently held the jade slip and used his spiritual sense to scan the contents inside. His expression suddenly turned gloomy, and then he threw the jade slip directly to the person beside him with a cold face.

That person took the jade slip and also curiously looked at it with their mind; their expression also turned ugly.

While the cultivators were passing around the challenge letter one by one, Han Li looked at the Daoist and the old man in green robes respectively.

That Daoist was about forty years old, with skin as clear and white as crystal. His features were upright and scholarly, making people feel a great sense of favor at first sight. He should be the Supreme Master Brother Zhiyang of the Taizhen Sect of the Righteous Dao Alliance.

As for that old man in green robes, from his appearance, he was truly too ordinary. Whether it was his clothing or his appearance and bearing, there was not the slightest special aspect. The only thing that made Han Li pay attention was that this old man actually kept long fingernails on his ten fingers. And these fingernails looked exceptionally sharp, and were purple-black all over, flashing with a faint light, which was truly somewhat eye-catching.

This person was naturally that Great Elder of the Nine Nations Alliance, Wei Wei Wuya.

Wei Wei Wuya seemed to have felt Han Li's gaze, tilted his head slightly to look at Han Li, and after their gazes met, a trace of surprise appeared on his face, and he actually smiled at Han Li.

Han Li also gave an awkward smile in return, but he couldn't help but think in his heart: if this person knew about his and Nangong Wan's affair, he wondered if he would still be able to smile at him.

Just as Han Li was pondering, Long Han on one side had already finished reading the jade slip that had been passed into his hands and threw it to Han Li with an ugly expression.

Seeing that the few people in front had such expressions, Han Li became a bit curious.

He immediately immersed his mind into the slip without changing his expression and began to read.

After a long while, Han Li frowned tightly, withdrew his spiritual sense, and silently handed the jade slip to another cultivator.

Not long after, the entire jade slip had been passed around. Everyone's expression became somewhat ugly. After one or two people finished reading, they even couldn't help but snort coldly.

"Fellow Daoists, now that you have finished reading the battle letter, I wonder what your opinions are?" that Supreme Master Brother Zhiyang of the Taizhen Sect asked with a smile that was not quite a smile.

"What a big tone. Letting us give up half of the Tiannan region to them. Do they think they have already won against us?" a man in brocade robes with a sinister expression said coldly.

"Not bad. What is meant by 'as long as we give up a little land, we can turn hostility into friendship'? Do they think we don't know that the Mulan people are just stray dogs now? I'm afraid we don't even need to fight a decisive battle with them; just dragging it out bit by bit will be enough to slowly exhaust them to death," another fat-headed, big-eared old man said with a treacherous expression.

"Fellow Daoist Lu, what do you mean by that? Is it because your Thousand Illusions Sect is in the depths of Tiannan that you don't care about the life or death of our sects? Fighting a protracted war, of course your Thousand Illusions Sect doesn't care. But what about the foundations of our sects?" a dark-skinned burly man sitting beside the fat old man said with an unkind expression.

"Am I not doing this for everyone's sake? If a sect is gone, it can be rebuilt, but if a person dies, they cannot be resurrected," the fat old man said indifferently after glancing at the dark-skinned burly man without the slightest fear.

"Hmph! You say it lightly. If our few nations are the ones being abandoned, why should we cultivators block the Dharma Master army for your Demonic Dao? We might as well move our entire sects to your Tianluo Nation; wouldn't that mean not a single person would die?" another person said coldly.

"You..."

"Enough, whether to fight a protracted war or not has already been decided long ago. There is no need to discuss it at all. What we need to do now is how to deal with the Mulan people's Dharma Master army, not to let you engage in infighting." When the burly man in black robes heard this, his expression sank, and he suddenly shouted to stop them.

Once these three people saw that it was this Hehuan Old Demon who spoke, although they were unconvinced in their hearts, they obediently shut their mouths.

After all, in the cultivation world, strength is what speaks.

"Actually, the dispute between the three Fellow Daoists is completely unnecessary; we have already calculated it long ago. With the momentum of the Dharma Master army coming with their entire tribe this time, fighting a protracted war is completely impossible. If we don't concentrate the majority of Tiannan's strength, we won't be able to stop the opponent's offensive in the slightest. Relying solely on the strength of one sect or one nation, I'm afraid it would collapse upon the first contact. At that time, the ones whose strength would be exhausted would most likely be ourselves. Therefore, this great war must be fought. And we must cripple the Mulan people. There is absolutely no room for any wishful thinking," Supreme Master Brother Zhiyang also became solemn.

Upon hearing these words, the remaining cultivators whispered to each other for a while before becoming quiet again.

"However, what kind of tricks are the Mulan people playing? If they want to fight, then fight; why do they have to conduct some kind of gambling battle first? And they even dare to place such heavy stakes. Such a large amount of precious materials is something that even a large sect could never take out. Isn't it said that the Mulan grasslands are poor in cultivation resources?" Dongmen Tu of the Spirit Beast Sect suddenly asked with flickering eyes.

"I know about this; the Mulan grasslands are indeed poor in resources. But that is relative. The production areas for spirit stone mines and some commonly used raw materials are indeed not many relative to the huge number of Dharma Masters. However, there are quite a few rare materials in the Mulan grasslands, and there are even several types that are more abundant than in our Tiannan. Being able to take out so many materials is not strange at all," another person who seemed to know a lot about the Mulan people explained.

"So that's how it is. But are they so confident? That they will definitely win in the gambling battle? Except for Core Formation late-stage cultivators, everyone else can participate. One bet is ten matches, and it is a life-and-death bet. Do they think our cultivators are made of mud?" Dongmen Tu said slowly, a look of contemplation appearing on his face.

Which of the people present was not a crafty and calculating person? Naturally, they knew that the Mulan people proposing this gambling battle must have some tricks or hidden schemes. They couldn't help but simultaneously ponder the impropriety of it.

Han Li was also somewhat puzzled.

The challenge letter he read just now stated it very clearly. This gambling battle would be held in front of both sides' formations, and it was impossible to use any underhanded methods. Moreover, the participating cultivators would directly carry the precious materials they were betting on to the arena to compete. The winner could directly take away the opponent's storage bag.

The only thing that was somewhat suspicious was that the challenge letter stated very clearly that these ten gambling matches must be held simultaneously, and even if a cultivator was defeated, they were not allowed to escape. They could only die in the arena. For this reason, the gambling battle would be held within a closed spatial barrier. And this barrier would be formed by both sides sending people to set it up, and during the gambling battle, people would also be sent to supervise the operation of the Dharma array to prevent the other side from doing anything underhanded.

"However, no matter what tricks the Mulan people have, this seems to be a good opportunity for us. If we can eliminate a few more high-tier Dharma Masters before the armies clash, it will definitely be of great help to us."

"Hmph, I'm afraid the Mulan people have the same idea as you."

Just as one person hesitantly said this, another immediately retorted with a cold laugh.

"What is there to think about? The Mulan people want to gamble; we just gamble. There is no need for this at all. Seven days from now, we will still follow our own arrangements. There is no need to accept any gambling battle. In this way, even if the opponent has any tricks, they will be broken." These words were actually from that old man surnamed Kuang of the Nihangzhai. He said it with disdain.

"Unfortunately, although Fellow Daoist Kuang's words make sense, we must participate in this gambling battle, and we must win," Supreme Master Brother Zhiyang sighed and said somewhat helplessly.

"What? What does the Supreme Master mean by this? We cannot be led by the nose by the Mulan people!" the old man surnamed Kuang frowned and said with some dissatisfaction.

Among the remaining old monsters, a few also nodded, expressing agreement with these words.

===== CHAPTER 755 =====