Chapter 205: Chapter 173: Who Are You Betting On

"Insolence!" Zheng Duan, who stood behind Lu Qian, couldn’t hold back any longer, "Who do you think you are? How dare you utter such wild words, attempting to challenge our Sect Leader?"

Xiao Tianci snorted coldly, "I know you, you didn’t even make it to the top sixteen in the sect competition, you are no match for me."

Lu Qian stopped the enraged Zheng Duan, his expression unchanged, speaking calmly, "You should know, tomorrow is the Foundation Establishment Arena, and I will be facing off against the Divine Flood Dragon Sect’s Ling Xuzi."

"Indeed." Xiao Tianci nodded, "I request a duel with Sect Leader Lu, and after I win, it will naturally be me who fights Ling Xuzi."

Lu Qian remained unangered, "The schedule is already set and cannot be changed. However, I appreciate your ambition, so please watch tomorrow’s match first, and then I will arrange for you to fight the winner. How does that sound?"

"Is this true?" Xiao Tianci’s eyes lit up.

Lu Qian nodded with a smile, "I am the Yunshan Sect Leader, my word is my bond."

Thus Xiao Tianci nodded in satisfaction, clasped his hands with the longsword, and turned to leave.

Zheng Duan flushed with frustration, "Sect Leader, why not take action to teach this arrogant fellow a lesson."

To his surprise, Lu Qian burst into laughter, "I never thought I’d be treated as a grindstone for sharpening swords one day. Oh well, an adorable young man, let him be."

Zheng Duan, hearing terms like "adorable young man", was utterly confused, but since his Sect Leader was magnanimous and farsighted, he naturally complied.

Afterwards, Lu Qian met with the second and third ranked loose cultivators, who were both Qi Cultivation Perfection cultivators and behaved much more normally. Meeting the Yunshan Sect Leader and Shuangye Alliance Leader, they were respectful and cautious. Lu Qian also extended an invitation, offering two choices.

One, to become a Honored Guest Elder of the Yunshan Sect, responsible for the defense of Bichao Mountain, and also serve as the combat instructor for Yunshan disciples, accepting their challenges to hone their combat skills.

Two, to join the Yunshan Sect, starting as an outer disciple, and become a true Yunshan disciple following the sect’s training and promotion system.

These two Qi Cultivation Perfection cultivators had struggled on their path since entering the Dao, relying on luck and effort to reach where they were, standing out among loose cultivators. But the more they achieved, the more they realized the importance of sect resources and felt the difficulty of advancing without the backing of a sect.

With the Yunshan Sect’s rising reputation, Lu Qian’s olive branch was a pleasant surprise for them, and they readily accepted. However, upon reflection, they chose to become Honored Guest Elders, not wanting to start from scratch as outer disciples.

Following this, Yunshan Sect’s invitations were extended one after another, reaching loose cultivators who performed well in the Qi Cultivation Arena. This recruitment was not focused on current cultivation level; anyone who stood out with potential and talent received an invitation from Yunshan Sect.

However, for these young promising seeds, Lu Qian only offered one choice: to truly join the Yunshan Sect, starting as outer disciples and gradually transforming into qualified Yunshan disciples.

Ultimately, through this Qi Cultivation Level Arena, Yunshan Sect not only made a substantial profit but also gained two Qi Cultivation Perfection Honored Guest Elders and eleven outer disciples of varying cultivation levels.

A truly multi-beneficial event, turning the arena into both a gold mine and a talent recruitment event.

As the recruitment event neared its conclusion, it was also quite fruitful.

Although those truly adept in the Hundred Arts of Immortal Cultivation are the treasured assets of each sect, and a loose cultivator with exceptional skills would likely have long become an esteemed guest of some sect, except in rare cases like Cui Shanyan’s, it’s uncommon for them to seek sect recruitment.

But this recruitment event still brought Yunshan Sect five loose cultivators with some talent in Talisman Making, Alchemy, and Artifact Refining. Though they aren’t current masters, they are young and highly adaptable, willing to join Yunshan Sect starting as outer disciples, which Lu Qian readily accepted.

Overall, this arena and recruitment event have brought certain progress in both quantity and quality of the Yunshan Sect’s cultivators.

Currently, Yunshan Sect has 117 cultivators.

Among them, one Foundation Establishment (Guh Niqiang), three Qi Cultivation Perfection (Lu Qian and the two newly hired Defense Honored Guest Elders), four Late-Stage Qi Cultivation (Master Xuan Ji, Jiang Qingfeng, Tan Hong, Zheng Duan), forty-eight Mid-Stage Qi Cultivation (Zhang Lemei, Fanx Shang, Wuh Zilan, Cui Shanyan, etc.), and sixty-one Early-Stage Qi Cultivation (Lin Le, Jiang Baitao, Li Da, Wang Ruoyu, etc.).

Additionally, in Bichao Town, Yunshan Sect has twenty-four immature young spirit seeds.

On June 16th, the final day of the Shuangye Square Carnival, the Foundation Establishment Feather Scholar Arena, the streets were empty as throngs of people gathered.

Today’s three matches were eagerly awaited by the broad community of cultivators, especially the match between the Yunshan Sect Leader, Lu Qian, Qi Cultivation Perfection, against the Divine Flood Dragon Sect’s Third Elder, Foundation Establishment Feather Scholar Ling Xuzi, and the match of unparalleled beauty Nishang Fairy against the charming Jade Flood Dragon Fairy. These had become sensational topics across the county government, widely discussed after days of anticipation.

With the previous series of exciting matches in the Qi Cultivation Arena providing a solid audience base, the number of spectators at Shuangye Square reached an unprecedented level, nearly two thousand!

Given this turnout, Lu Qian was astonished. Only now did he realize he had greatly underestimated the impact of this match, as ticket revenue alone reached one hundred thousand spirit stones!

Thus, the previously estimated total revenue of the carnival turned out to be an underestimate! 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Just before the match started, the betting area was crowded, people jostling shoulder to shoulder.

A loose cultivator clutched a hundred spirit stones he’d painstakingly saved, staring wide-eyed at the betting sheet with seemingly close odds, agonizing over his choice, "Ah, who should I bet on?"

"Bet on Ling Xuzi!" yelled a nearby cultivator, "Are you foolish? A Foundation Establishment Feather Scholar fighting a Qi Cultivator is like cutting through vegetables. With a single Dao Pattern flare, it’s an instant win!"

"But after all, Lu Qian is the sect leader of Yunshan, wouldn’t he have some hidden cards if he dares take the stage?"

"Betting on Ling Xuzi can’t be wrong, I’m a cultivator from Liangxiang County, this Third Elder of the Divine Flood Dragon Sect is truly fearsome, rumors say his battle prowess almost rivals Mid-Stage Foundation Establishment!"

"That’s it, Lu Qian is sure to lose! Even if he has some tricks, the gap is just too wide, soon he’ll have to publicly concede."

"I understand now!" A cultivator slapped his thigh, "Yunshan Sect is so sly! You’ve been in this marketplace so long, yet you don’t know how adept Yunshan Sect is at making money? The outcome of the match doesn’t matter, what’s important is profiting! To make money, Lu Qian would even forgo his reputation."

The surrounding cultivators found the point reasonable and gathered around as the person continued passionately, "The odds are deliberately set close to mislead us, making us think Lu Qian has a chance and switch our bets to him. They’ve long prepared for Lu Qian to lose and are using this chance to make a killing at the betting table!"

Sensing the logic, the crowd cursed loudly, "Cunning Yunshan Sect and Shuangye Alliance, sinister and treacherous, Lu Qian is sure to lose, bet on Ling Xuzi!"