Chapter 757: Southern Heaven's Pride Trade Fair (Two-in-one, begging for everything)

Before one knew it, the time had arrived at the evening of the next day.

In the room, Li Zhangsheng flipped through the list of personnel in his hand and said, "In other words, a total of 75 people are willing to participate?"

"Yes, including you, my lord, and Miss Ning, they are 6 Pseudo-Kings, 48 Sixth-Rank experts, and 21 Fifth-tier Beastmasters respectively."

Zhao Rui paused for a moment and continued, "Actually, there are still some contestants who have not yet arrived at Bernama Fortress. Furthermore, if you were to organize it yourself, I believe the number of participants would certainly be much higher."

When he reached the end of his sentence, Zhao Rui gave Li Zhangsheng a small compliment.

This was not a lie; after all, Li Zhangsheng's reputation preceded him, and as a Top-tier Pseudo-King, his power of appeal and influence far exceeded Zhao Rui's. If he were to come forward to organize it, many contestants would naturally be willing to show him some respect.

However, Li Zhangsheng did not like socializing, especially with a large group of strangers, and at the same time, this was also a test for Zhao Rui.

Overall, he was satisfied with Zhao Rui's organization; after all, counting everything, it had only been a little over a day, and for Zhao Rui to be able to handle so many people, he could be considered quite excellent in this regard.

Li Zhangsheng continued to look at the personnel list, his gaze mainly focused on the Pseudo-King column.

Apart from him and Ning Bizhen, the other four Pseudo-Kings were Dou Yuanhua, Wu Zetao of the Shayi Kingdom, Mo Suyue of the Tianshuang Kingdom, and Chen Chu of the Baiyue Kingdom.

Li Zhangsheng was not very surprised that Dou Yuanhua had come to participate; although the two had some conflicts, ever since Li Zhangsheng severely wounded the Third Prince Dou Yuanbin, their relationship had become subtle.

Besides that, Dou Yuanhua also wanted to see if he could trade for treasures that would enhance his strength at the trade fair.

What greatly surprised Li Zhangsheng was that Wu Zetao had actually participated in this trade fair. Wu Zetao was also a Top-tier Pseudo-King, and as for why he participated, only he himself knew.

As for Mo Suyue of the Tianshuang Kingdom and Chen Chu of the Baiyue Kingdom, they both belonged to the new generation of Pseudo-Kings, and on the surface, they each only possessed one Demon Beast.

Li Zhangsheng roughly flipped through the list and discovered a strange phenomenon: there were no contestants from the Kailing Empire on the list.

Logically speaking, the Kailing Empire possessed twenty contestants, and with Zhao Rui's social skills, he should have been able to win over a few, yet he had not expected there to be none at all.

"The contestants from the Kailing Empire do not live in this castle!"

Regarding this question, Zhao Rui seemed to have thought of something and said, "Every year, after the Kailing Empire decides on their contestants, they will gather these contestants in advance to conduct closed-door drills. Before the competition starts tomorrow, it is very difficult for us to see them."

The Kailing Empire did this mainly to improve the tacit understanding among the contestants and increase the success rate of competing for seats in the Heavenly Dao Secret Realm.

"So that's how it is!"

Li Zhangsheng was not aware of this matter; after all, he was not like Zhao Rui, who had already represented the Dai Kingdom in two competitions for seats in the Heavenly Dao Secret Realm, so his information was naturally not as well-informed as Zhao Rui's.

"Has the venue been arranged?"

"It has been arranged. It is set at the activity venue in the castle; it is spacious enough to accommodate so many people."

"Well done, you may go down first."

Li Zhangsheng did not stint on his praise.

Soon, Zhao Rui respectfully left the room, preparing to head to the venue of the trade fair to make the final preparations.

After Zhao Rui left, Li Zhangsheng took out a pile of Space Rings. The smallest of these Space Rings were at least a thousand cubic meters, and the largest were a full several tens of thousands of cubic meters, storing a large amount of treasures.

Among these treasures, many were of no use to Li Zhangsheng, and he prepared to use them for trading.

Due to the large number of people, the trade fair naturally set a threshold. Only Heavenly Essence Grade treasures, Top-Grade Treasures, Superior Fairies, or items of equivalent value could be presented on stage. If they did not meet the standard, they could only stand silently under the stage and find people to trade with on their own.

Li Zhangsheng began to pick and choose among the large amount of treasures. Many of them were Top-Grade Treasures he had refined himself or Strange Treasures like the Dragon Scale Armor; he had truly accumulated quite a lot of these things.

Of course, there was also no shortage of things produced by Kailan, such as Bloodline Potions, Wanxiang Guiyuan Pills, and Beauty Nourishing Pills.

Besides that, Li Zhangsheng also carried more than a dozen Superior Fairies from the Langya Liu Clan, which would also be easy to sell off here.

By the time it was close to seven o'clock in the evening, Li Zhangsheng and Ning Bizhen arrived at the castle's activity venue together.

This was a hall of nearly a thousand square meters. In the center, Zhao Rui had temporarily built a high platform of over two meters, which allowed the contestants to go up and exhibit their trade items.

This trade fair was named the Southern Heaven's Pride Trade Fair. At this moment, there were still nearly ten minutes before the trade fair began, and most of the contestants had already arrived in advance, waiting for the trade fair to start.

Of course, uninvited guests would occasionally appear; most of them were contestants who had just arrived at Bernama Fortress.

"My lord, Miss Ning, please, this way!"

Zhao Rui had no taboos at all and openly addressed Li Zhangsheng as "my lord" in public. Li Zhangsheng had met many members of the Imperial Family, but he could be considered the first one who did not care about his reputation like this; he was simply a freak among the members of the Imperial Family.

However, it was precisely because of this that Zhao Rui would take the initiative to defect to Li Zhangsheng; in terms of vision and decisiveness, he could be considered quite excellent.

There were a large number of seats in the activity venue. Zhao Rui led the two of them to the two seats closest to the high platform to hold down the fort.

Sitting in the seat next to Li Zhangsheng was a young man with a fair face. He wore a green shirt, had a precious jade hanging from his waist, and had a slender figure with a proper and handsome appearance.

Sensing Li Zhangsheng's gaze, the young man immediately returned a smile and said, "Hello, I am Wu Zetao from the Shayi Kingdom!"

"I am Li Zhangsheng from the Langya Kingdom!"

Li Zhangsheng nodded his head. He also had some understanding of Wu Zetao; the records stated that this guy possessed four Demon Beasts, and this was also his fourth consecutive time competing for a seat in the Heavenly Dao Secret Realm.

The first three times, just like the name of his country, Wu Zetao returned in defeat every time. Apart from bad luck, it also had to do with the Kailing Empire.

In these three sessions, the Kailing Empire could lock in an average of five seats in the Heavenly Dao Secret Realm every year, while the remaining five spots were fought over by nearly two hundred people, which showed how fierce the competition was.

Now Wu Zetao was making a comeback, his strength a level higher than the previous session, and he had more confidence in winning a seat in the Heavenly Dao Secret Realm.

Thinking of his bad luck in the previous three sessions, Wu Zetao thought about clutching at straws before the competition started to see if he could use the Southern Heaven's Pride Trade Fair to improve his strength.

It was no wonder Wu Zetao did not take it seriously, because he was already 29 years old. According to the age limit, this was also the last session he could participate in, so naturally, he could not afford any mistakes.

Wu Zetao had also heard of Li Zhangsheng's great feats. Although he regarded him as his main competitor in his heart, he did not lose his demeanor on the surface. After all, as long as one was not a fool, given Li Zhangsheng's age and strength, a normal person would not take the initiative to provoke the other party.

Compared to Li Zhangsheng, Wu Zetao's age was much older; it could also be said that he was the oldest person present, and this was his last session competing for a seat in the Heavenly Dao Secret Realm.

Unlike Li Zhangsheng, his age advantage was truly too obvious. If nothing unexpected happened, he could still participate for a full 11 sessions.

The key was that Li Zhangsheng was already a Top-tier Pseudo-King; perhaps in a few years, he would become a King. By then, even if others won seats in the Heavenly Dao Secret Realm, the greatest gains from the Heavenly Dao Secret Realm would only be snatched away by Li Zhangsheng in the end.

Before the trade fair began, Li Zhangsheng and Wu Zetao chatted casually, and occasionally Ning Bizhen would interject a few words. Their topics were mainly about other Pseudo-Kings or the Kailing Empire's team.

Although the casual chat was short, Li Zhangsheng and Wu Zetao were secretly transmitting voices to each other, and they had already reached a certain agreement: while winning high scores, they would also try their best to reduce the number of seats the Kailing Empire obtained in the Heavenly Dao Secret Realm.

There was no other way; according to past practice, the Kailing Empire, with only five Pseudo-Kings, could roughly secure five spots, and the remaining five spots were competed for by nearly two hundred people.

Excluding the five Pseudo-Kings of the Kailing Empire, there were a full 13 other Pseudo-Kings, plus over a hundred Sixth-Rank experts, competing for those five spots. This was also the main reason for Wu Zetao's three consecutive failures.

As for those Fifth-tier Beastmasters, unless their luck was heaven-defying, it was simply impossible for them to win a seat in the Heavenly Dao Secret Realm.

Wu Zetao had figured it out: if he wanted to win a seat in the Heavenly Dao Secret Realm, besides needing to be capable himself, he also had to minimize the Kailing Empire's spots to increase the probability of winning a seat in the Heavenly Dao Secret Realm.

The two could be said to have hit it off immediately. Counting Ning Bizhen, that made three Top-tier Pseudo-Kings. Even if the Kailing Empire possessed five Pseudo-Kings, they were not afraid at all, and it was enough to bring them no small amount of trouble.

While the two were discussing the details, the Southern Heaven's Pride Trade Fair officially began.

As the ostensible organizer of the trade fair, Zhao Rui stood on the high platform; without any superfluous words, he recited the rules of the trade fair.

At the Southern Heaven's Pride Trade Fair, those who meet the requirements will take turns going up to the platform to display their treasures and state their trading terms; if someone off-stage is willing to pay such a price, the trade can proceed.

If not, the seller may temporarily change the trading terms or choose to give up.

After announcing the rules, Zhao Rui stepped down from the high platform and sat in a designated spot, with a table placed in front of him.

In addition to being the organizer, Zhao Rui also had to act as an appraiser to prevent the phenomenon of passing off fakes as genuine.

The moment Zhao Rui sat down, at least a dozen people instantly surrounded him, holding various treasures, wanting to be the first to take the stage.

At the trade fair, going on stage earlier carries a certain advantage.

"Stop, please line up, one by one!"

Zhao Rui slapped the table hard; since there were no Pseudo-Kings among these people, and with Li Zhangsheng presiding, he appeared quite firm.

Due to Li Zhangsheng's deterrence, these people had no choice but to form a queue, one by one handing the treasures they wanted to trade to Zhao Rui.

In just half a minute, the first person finished the appraisal, and because they met the requirements, they jumped directly onto the high platform.

This was a Sixth-tier Beastmaster who struggled to pull a small basin out of his Space Ring.

The small basin contained giant "black pearls" the size of an infant's fist, flickering with water-blue luster from time to time.

Naturally, these were not "black pearls," but a special liquid; judging by his heavy footsteps and strained expression, these liquids appeared very heavy.

"This is Xuanyuan Heavy Water, 36 drops in total, each drop weighing as much as a thousand catties; it has miraculous effects for Beastmasters who practice heavy water-type beast taming arts, and can also be used as a material for artifact refining and alchemy."

After finishing the explanation of the effects of Xuanyuan Heavy Water, the Sixth-tier Beastmaster began to propose the trading terms: "I intend to use this basin of Xuanyuan Heavy Water to exchange for a Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure, Alchemical Pill, or potion that can assist in breaking through to the Lord-rank. If there is a price difference, I can also make up the difference. Alright, those who wish to exchange can come up to the platform to negotiate with me!"

Xuanyuan Heavy Water and Heavenly One True Water are of the same rank, both being Heavenly Essence Grade spiritual waters, though their effects differ greatly.

The goal of this Sixth-tier Beastmaster was very obvious: he hoped to further increase his strength before the competition began.

Unfortunately, treasures that assist in breakthroughs are very popular among Beastmasters, and the vast majority of people use them as soon as they obtain them; it can be said that those who possess such treasures are few and far between.

In addition, Xuanyuan Heavy Water is relatively niche and of little use to those who have bargaining chips in their hands, so naturally, no one was willing to exchange.

"If there are no treasures to assist in breaking through to the Lord-rank, then I will settle for second best and use it to exchange for a Top-tier Secret Technique that increases the combat power of a Demon Pet!"

The Sixth-tier Beastmaster was somewhat disappointed and had to choose to settle for second best by stating an alternative trading plan.

Using a small basin of Xuanyuan Heavy Water to exchange for a Top-tier Secret Technique, the value of the two is not much different, because before the exchange, this Sixth-tier Beastmaster must sign a special contract, witnessed by the World Will, not to leak this Top-tier Secret Technique to a second person.

If the contract is violated, the World Will will send down Thunder punishment; unless one possesses the power to contend with this Heavenly Dao, one will be severely injured at best, or wiped out of existence at worst.

At this moment, someone finally went up to the high platform; after the two discussed, they finally reached an agreement and successfully completed the trade.

After the Sixth-tier Beastmaster left the stage, another person immediately and impatiently came to the high platform to start displaying their treasures and trading terms.

Unlike the previous person, they displayed two treasures separately.

In the rules of the trade fair, as long as the items meet the standards, one can display them on stage as much as one likes, but each item must complete its trade within one minute, otherwise it means the trade has failed; this is mainly to save everyone's time.

This process lasted for seven or eight minutes, during which five people took the stage, but unfortunately, there had not yet been an item that Li Zhangsheng took a fancy to.

It was not until this moment that a female Beastmaster came to the high platform; her display item was a massive Flood Dragon corpse, which still exuded an aura of power even though it was already dead.

This Flood Dragon corpse was relatively well-preserved; its fatal wound was located on the abdomen, where there were five claw marks several meters long that had directly disemboweled the Flood Dragon.

The typhoon hasn't arrived yet, but the power went out at home first -_-||

It's truly miserable, and I don't know when the power will come back on; this is the only chapter for today.

(End of this chapter)