Chapter 1195: The Ninth Prince

"Not yet credited?"

Ye Lan's beautiful eyes flickered with surprise. "Two hundred million credit points were written in the challenge letter. Di'er is imperial royalty—he shouldn't be that petty."

"I find it strange too."

Xu Jingming narrowed his eyes slightly.

There's another possibility: the Ninth Prince is deliberately delaying, just to annoy him.

Given his performance on the arena, this possibility isn't low.

Ye Lan furrowed her elegant brows, thought for a moment, then spoke:

"If the Ninth Prince hasn't paid by the time you reach the Sacred Ground, I'll go with you to find him."

"You don't need to get involved in this."

Xu Jingming shook his head, a cold smirk curling his lips. "I have a way to make him transfer the money immediately."

Like anyone can't be annoying.

Ye Lan blinked slightly, realizing Xu Jingming was preparing to pressure the Ninth Prince.

She wanted to advise him not to oppose the imperial clan, but then she remembered his nature.

Even if she spoke, he wouldn't listen—so she said nothing to stop him, instead shifting the topic:

"Besides thanking you for the betting match, there's another matter I'd like to discuss with you."

"What is it?"

"About the Sacred Ground Exchange Competition."

Ye Lan's voice was calm and clear as she briefly explained the format of the Sacred Ground Exchange Competition.

"In short, participating in the Sacred Ground Exchange Competition will earn you a large amount of credit points.

I recommended you to my teacher as the Starlight Fourth-Rank competitor, and my teacher has agreed.

Now it's up to your decision."

Ye Lan's clear, deep purple eyes fixed on Xu Jingming.

"I have no problem with it."

Xu Jingming, who needed credit points to buy equipment, naturally wouldn't refuse. "But what if I'm no longer Starlight Fourth-Rank after five months?"

Given his breakthrough speed, even he didn't know what level he'd reach in five months.

"You've passed the phase of accumulating strength—your subsequent breakthroughs will slow dramatically.

Five months shouldn't be enough for you to break through."

Ye Lan gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, recalling her own past.

Back then, she had been stuck at Starlight Third-Rank for over a year.

But after arriving at the Noah Sacred Ground and practicing the rarer primal energy cultivation technique, she broke through to Starlight Fourth-Rank in no time.

She originally thought subsequent breakthroughs would be just as fast, but each one became harder than the last.

By the time she broke through to Star Second-Rank, nearly a century had passed.

Of course, even that speed was considered extremely fast within the entire Noah Sacred Ground.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have been taken as a disciple by the Immortal Niki.

Pausing briefly, Ye Lan added:

"Of course, if you do break through, I'll have my teacher reassign your competition slot."

"Good." Xu Jingming nodded slightly.

After chatting with Ye Lan for a few more minutes, he teleported away.

"Just now, Xu's junior seemed to notice something unusual about me..."

As a Star Second-Rank expert, Ye Lan had naturally noticed the flicker of doubt in Xu Jingming's eyes at the start.

"Looks like after bloodline liberation,

I can't meet anyone immediately—even in the Virtual Universe."

Ye Lan bit her red lip lightly, her expression faintly wistful.

If only her demon bloodline weren't a succubus.

Then she could openly use her bloodline power instead of hiding it like this.

She'd even have to worry about the side effects of the succubus bloodline...

"S-Class—what are you planning to do about the Ninth Prince?"

After teleporting back to his residential zone, Eva on his shoulder asked curiously.

"He likes posting challenge notices in the sky over the Sacred Ground, right?

Simple—we'll post our own notice and countdown."

Xu Jingming said coolly: "Check if we can post announcements in the Virtual Universe sky like Di'er did."

"There really is!"

Eva's eyes flashed as she immediately found the relevant information:

"Announcements are billed by hour and region.

If you want to post a notice across the entire Sacred Ground, like Di'er did,

it costs 400,000 credit points per hour, with a minimum rental of ten hours.

And the announcement must not contain any advertising content."

This last rule was a mandatory Sacred Ground requirement.

Otherwise, anyone entering the Virtual Universe's Noah Sacred Ground wouldn't see the vast starry sky.

They'd be bombarded by holographic ads filling the entire sky.

"So expensive? Renting it for one day costs nearly ten million credit points!"

"The Ninth Prince rented it for fifteen days altogether—just on this announcement, he spent 150 million credit points!"

"That damn Ninth Prince—Xu Jingming was increasingly convinced he was doing it on purpose."

"We don't need that long—ten hours is enough."

"As for the announcement content, I'll write it now..."

"Ten hours cost four million credit points—this was still a significant expense for Xu Jingming."

After cursing the Ninth Prince a few more times in his mind, he drafted the announcement and posted it.

Thus, high above the Noah Sanctuary in the virtual universe, another massive announcement appeared...

Noah Empire, First Planet.

This was the largest of the Noah Empire's ten mother planets.

The Emperor of the Noah Empire lived on this planet.

In addition, the Empire's Ten Pillars also trained here for extended periods.

This planet was also called the 'Imperial Capital Planet.'

At this moment, in the southern region of the Imperial Capital Planet, the Ninth Prince's palace.

Inside the luxurious palace, Prince Di er lay lazily on a soft cloud-patterned couch, surrounded by several exquisitely beautiful women.

They either gently plucked lute strings, poured wine to serve him, or leaned against him, whispering sweetly.

Di er half-closed his eyes, savoring their service, a faint smirk of arrogance on his lips.

Compared to toiling in the Noah Sanctuary, he much preferred staying in his palace to indulge.

"Your Highness, you seem to be in good spirits today?"

A blue-eyed woman in sheer gauze asked softly, her slender fingers massaging his shoulders.

Di er chuckled, lifting her chin with his fingertip, his tone playful: "Of course I am—after all, some people, no matter how unwilling, can only wait obediently."

He was referring, of course, to Xu Jingming's two hundred million credit points.

The wager was clearly written in black and white on the challenge letter—he, a royal prince, would never renege.

But delaying it for a year or two to annoy that ignorant upstart—what harm could it do?

Could Xu Jingming possibly summon an Immortal God to demand payment?

If he did, he'd become a laughingstock across the entire Sanctuary!

"Just some upstart who just entered the Sanctuary—does he really think beating Bazel makes me bow to him?"

Di er sneered, sipping his wine, a flicker of contempt in his eyes.

"Your Highness is wise."

Another girl with red hair giggled in agreement, "That Xu Jingming is merely a lucky brute—how could he compare to you?"

Di er pinched her cheek approvingly, about to say more.

Suddenly, his smart wristwatch vibrated slightly—a call request from Koen.

"Why is he calling me now?"

Di er frowned but tapped to accept.

"Brother! Something terrible has happened!"

Koen's holographic projection appeared before him, his expression frantic.

"What is it?" Di er frowned.

"I can't explain it—please, go see for yourself in the virtual world."

Koen wiped sweat from his forehead.

A faint sense of dread rose in Di er's heart—he quickly retrieved his virtual helmet and entered the virtual universe.

PS: Begging for small gifts, powering love with devotion—thank you, dear readers!