Chapter 119: Clearly a Man of Means

"What do you mean?" Ma Zhiguang, not to be outdone, shook his fists and walked toward Qiu Li.

The two sides stood locked in a tense standoff; anyone unaware of the situation might have thought a bloody battle was about to break out.

"One round decides the winner," Qiu Li sneered, curling his lip. "And no underhanded tricks, or I’ll make you regret ever being born."

"Heh heh!" Ma Zhiguang flashed a rotten grin. "Brother Qiu, how about this? I’ll step down, and you give me 150,000 yuan. How’s that?"

Qiu Li was stunned. "You want to earn 150,000 just by lifting your legs to step down?"

Chu Tianfeng stood to the side with a sly smile, silently watching their performance.

"Then how about you step down, and I’ll give you 150,000!" Ma Zhiguang’s smile was much brighter than Chu Tianfeng’s.

Qiu Li wavered, struggling with the thought for a long while before gritting his teeth. "Fine. I’ll step down, and you give me 150,000."

"Suit yourself," Ma Zhiguang said dismissively. "I don’t have that much cash on me. I’ll pay you once I get the money from that 'two-hundred-fifty' idiot."

*Fine,* Chu Tianfeng thought to himself. *Just you wait. I’ll make sure you pay up.*

"Done!" Qiu Li beamed at Chu Tianfeng, turned around, and leaped off the high platform.

"Is it settled?" The elderly referee struggled to suppress a laugh, looking at Ma Zhiguang as if he were an utter fool. He knew that this guy was doomed today—that "two-hundred-fifty"... er, Number 11, was truly a bottomless pit!

"Yes, thank you, Senior!" Ma Zhiguang mistook the referee’s look for concern.

"The match begins!" The referee announced and stepped aside, ready to witness Ma Zhiguang’s miserable defeat.

Chu Tianfeng had been waiting for these words. Without hesitation, his body blurred, and his right fist slammed down from above!

"Wait!" Ma Zhiguang’s face drained of color. "What about the money we agreed on?"

The referee turned his head away, his facial muscles twitching uncontrollably.

Chu Tianfeng ignored him entirely and kept his fist descending!

Ma Zhiguang had no time to dodge and was forced to block the strike head-on.

*Thud!*

Chu Tianfeng added a bit of force to the blow. Ma Zhiguang was sent stumbling back several steps, his arms numb and his internal organs reeling from the shock.

"Late-stage Transformation Realm?" Ma Zhiguang’s face turned ghastly pale.

*What a trap!* Ma Zhiguang regretted it so much he could have died.

Seeing Ma Zhiguang’s pained expression, the elderly referee suddenly found Chu Tianfeng quite endearing—he almost wanted to hug him and give him a kiss.

Most of the audience burst into laughter, and the chubby Bai Yucheng was rolling around in hysterics. Only Du Jingjing rolled her eyes, cursing him under her breath as an idiot.

"Does that feel good?" The "idiot" Chu Tianfeng also wore a sly grin as he shook his wrists and walked toward Ma Zhiguang.

He had seen all of Ma Zhiguang’s petty tricks during the coin toss. To be honest, he found it distasteful and had long been itching to teach him a lesson.

"I concede!" Ma Zhiguang shot Chu Tianfeng a look of pure resentment and shouted at the top of his lungs.

The opponent was in the late stage of the Transformation Realm—a whole level higher than him. What was the point of fighting? He certainly didn’t think he was one of those geniuses who could challenge someone stronger than himself.

"Then get lost, and be quick about it." Chu Tianfeng pointed at Qiu Li, who was standing below the stage. "Brother Qiu is dying for that 150,000 of yours; don’t let him down."

"I..." Ma Zhiguang wanted to curse, but remembering Chu Tianfeng’s cultivation level, he swallowed the words back.

The referee ignored Ma Zhiguang’s rage, sent him off with a look of utter disdain, and returned to the front of the stage to announce loudly, "Number 251, Liu Feng, wins!"

The robust voice echoed and swirled around the arena, lingering for a long time.

***

The arena fell into a brief silence. However, if one pricked up their ears, they could still hear a couple of discordant voices near the edge of the ring.

"You saw it yourself, that 'two-hundred-fifty' set me up."

"I don't care. You said you’d give me 150,000; you didn't mention any other conditions."

"Brother Qiu, Master Qiu, please, can’t you let me go? I didn’t get a single cent, and I got punched by that kid. Where am I supposed to find justice for that?!"

Clearly, the owners of these two voices were Ma Zhiguang and Qiu Li, still arguing over the 150,000.

The spectators mostly ignored them, craning their necks to see if anyone else wanted to win the 400,000 from the "two-hundred-fifty" Chu Tianfeng.

"Hurry up and go! That 250 looks like he’s loaded!" someone urged their companion.

"Hell no! That’s a loaded guy in the late-stage Transformation Realm! You’re even more of a trap than that 250!" his companion shrieked.

"What are you afraid of? He’s fought several matches already; he must be at the end of his rope!" another person insisted.

"If I’m not enough, you go if you have the guts!" the other man retorted indignantly.

The arena remained silent for several minutes. Just as everyone began to think Chu Tianfeng would be standing there for a full half-hour, another figure suddenly soared onto the stage.

"Number 95, Huang Zaihui, challenges the ring holder."

A loud, clear voice, and a handsome figure.

Chu Tianfeng scanned him with his divine sense and realized he was another late-stage Transformation Realm practitioner!

"The match begins!" Unexpectedly, the referee didn't even ask Huang Zaihui anything this time and let them start.

Huang Zaihui bowed slightly to the referee and then turned to Chu Tianfeng. "Are we fighting?"

"Doesn't matter," Chu Tianfeng shrugged. "I have plenty of money."

"I want 500,000!" Huang Zaihui held up three fingers.

Chu Tianfeng rolled his eyes. "In that case, I think it’s better to have a fight."

The referee frowned slightly at this.

Huang Zaihui was puzzled. "This is your last match. Are you really that confident?"

"I’m idle anyway, might as well get some exercise." Chu Tianfeng finished, clenched his fists, and took a stance.

"Fine." Huang Zaihui raised his hands. "I’ll concede—400,000."

The referee let out a soft sigh of relief.

Chu Tianfeng smiled, turned to walk to the back of the stage, took 400,000 in cash from his pack, and handed it to Huang Zaihui.

"Thanks, brother!" Huang Zaihui leaped down from the ring.

The referee stepped forward, smiled, and nodded at Chu Tianfeng. "Give me your wooden token."

Chu Tianfeng took out the token and handed it over with both hands. After signing it, the referee held the token high. "I announce that Number 251, Liu Feng, has won five consecutive matches and has qualified to enter the secret realm."

Sparse applause broke out; it was clear that most of the audience was quite dissatisfied with the "two-hundred-fifty" Chu Tianfeng.

Chu Tianfeng didn't care in the slightest. He took the token back from the referee, slowly walked to the edge of the stage, put on his gear, and slowly made his way down.

"You jerk, are you done showing off yet?" A crisp voice floated toward him just ten meters away.

"Heh heh! The ticket is in hand!" Chu Tianfeng waved the token.

***

"Hurry up and pay the fees to exchange for the iron badge; you still need to pick up the map." Du Jingjing grabbed his arm and started walking.

When they reached the entrance on the east side of the plaza, they handed the wooden token to the middle-aged woman from earlier.

"Five million!" The woman was no longer as warm as before.

"What?" Chu Tianfeng was startled. "Wasn't it one million?"

"One million for the entry ticket, four million for the deposit," the woman said coldly. "Do you want it or not?"

Could Chu Tianfeng say no?

A gold card was exchanged for three items: an iron badge, a map, and an iron pickaxe. A pickaxe...

"What’s wrong?" Du Jingjing asked, puzzled by his comical expression of distress.

"I bought a dozen of these this morning," Chu Tianfeng replied gloomily.

"You—" Du Jingjing covered her mouth, looking at him in disbelief. "I just arrived this morning and heard that some fool spent 100,000 buying a bunch of broken iron pickaxes. So... you... you are that..."

"Yes, that fool is me." Chu Tianfeng looked at Du Jingjing with resentment. "Go ahead and laugh if you want."

*Giggle!* Du Jingjing was very well-behaved; she immediately doubled over with laughter.

Chu Tianfeng picked up the map and studied it for a moment. "Why is there only a map from Peach Blossom Town to Peach Blossom Valley, and nothing for inside the valley?"

"Giggle!" Du Jingjing was still laughing. "There are no obvious landmarks inside Peach Blossom Valley, so it’s hard to make a map. Anyway, it’s just four big areas: the Fog Zone, the Swamp, the Herb Valley, and the Desert. You just need to keep walking straight in one direction."

Chu Tianfeng put away the map and took out the iron badge to examine it. A moment later, he couldn't help but want to complain again.

The iron badge was nothing more than a defensive magical artifact. Its functions were essentially the same as the defensive jade slips or bracelets he made, and it contained even less internal energy than his own. It was estimated that it could only block one or two attacks from an early-stage Xiantian expert at most. However, the material was quite rare—it was Geng metal!

Geng metal was extremely expensive and usually used for setting up formations. He hadn't expected the competition organizing committee to use it for mere identification badges. Chu Tianfeng was left between laughing and crying.

"What’s next?" Du Jingjing finally stopped laughing and grabbed his arm again.

"Get something to eat, then head into Peach Blossom Valley, I suppose," Chu Tianfeng answered casually.

"In your dreams!" Du Jingjing pouted. "Didn't you read the notice? The contestants selected on the same day can only enter the secret realm the following day. Besides, I heard the road is quite dangerous, and we’ll be escorted by several Yuantian-stage experts."

"I—" Chu Tianfeng really wanted to curse.

He didn't believe there was any road that could stump him. Besides, with so many Yuantian-stage experts following him, it would be suffocating!

"Giggle!" Du Jingjing couldn't help but laugh again seeing him so frustrated. "I advise you to be good. Meet at the plaza at six tomorrow morning and go in with us."

"Fine," Chu Tianfeng sighed, looking at Wang Caizhang in the distance.

He knew, of course, that Wang Caizhang had been staring at him all morning. If he went to the valley entrance alone this afternoon, it was almost certain that Wang Caizhang would follow him to his death. With his current cultivation, he knew exactly what the outcome would be if he faced Wang Caizhang.

"I have a match this afternoon. Why don't you come and cheer for me?" Du Jingjing stopped and looked at Chu Tianfeng with expectant eyes.

"That works. I’ll go observe the legendary 'Du Family Ticket-Punching Fist' of Lady Du." Chu Tianfeng couldn't bear to refuse, so he nodded.

Between Wang Caizhang and Du Jingjing, this was an easy choice. Besides, Du Jingjing was a beauty; she looked much better than that wrinkled, bony Wang Caizhang!

"You jerk, follow me!" Du Jingjing rolled her eyes.