The young people present felt their blood heat up at Ziju Minâs words. Geniuses of Yan Zhenhuaiâs caliber however, maintained their composure. The latterâs only reaction was a slight raise of the eyebrow. A hint of perplexity, and just that.
In the end, martial dao dominated the mainstream.
In the Ten Divine Nations, martial geniuses were the most welcomed kind. Many such geniuses were predisposed for pill dao greatness, of course, but basically none had made it to the peak of both categories.
This didnât mean that pill dao was unpopular in the divine nations though. Pill masters were quite prominent in their own right.
Because there were so many martial experts and so few pill ones, many cultivators who couldnât attain peak in the former often considered pivoting to the latter. Unfortunately, pill dao wasnât something that could simply be picked up.
In fact, it emphasized heritage even more than martial dao did. Without heritage or tutelage, it was difficult to achieve much of anything in pill dao â marking it different from martial dao.
The top geniuses who were born with the talent were another matter entirely, of course.
Ziju Min didnât go on a particularly long-winded speech. After a few casual discussions about pill dao, he passed the torch back to House Xiahou.
The master of ceremonies smiled. âEveryone, are you not excited? Senior Ziju has taken Miss Ying as his personal disciple, and now heâs announced this great news to us. Why not take this opportunity to show off your skills to him? Today, we will give you that chance. Weâve discussed it with Senior Ziju as well as Miss Ying. The next segment will be a pill dao battle.â
A pill dao battle?
The young people below the stage were uniformly curious.
How was that supposed to work? These geniuses werenât totally clueless about pill dao, but they were hardly experts. Thus, no one was particularly panicked about the prospect of the event.
They were already guests at House Xiahou. No matter how their host wanted to play, they would be happy to follow.
In fact, some were rather expectant. After all, Ziju Min represented the Eternal Sacred Land. If he took an interest in any of them, it would be a life-changing experience.
Geniuses at Yan Zhenhuaiâs level may not be interested in such a thing, but each house had plenty of geniuses at different levels. Resource allocation was a very real issue. Those who knew they didnât have much of a future would often have second thoughts.
Someone like Yan Jinnan for example, wouldnât hesitate to grasp at an offered straw. There wasnât much more that his house could offer him.
He would have to rely on himself if he wanted to achieve anything more. Because Yan Jinnan knew he was incapable of doing that on his own, he would have varying thoughts about what he wanted to do in a situation like this.
âBrother Huai, we arenât very good at pill dao.â
âWell, observe then,â Yan Zhenhuai retorted coldly. âWe seek only self-preservation today. Itâll be fine as long as we donât lose any reputation or face.â
However, his plan wasnât going to work as the others werenât going to let him.
âIt took us quite a while to think of a more interesting method of competing. Simply gathering everyone up to compare pill dao prowess would be too crass. For today, weâre going to have everyone participate in a quiz.
âThere are twenty questions in total, and all of you have the chance to answer. The first that does so correctly receives ten points. To avoid malicious participation, an incorrect answer will lose twenty points. After all twenty are finished, the party with the most points will be crowned the victor. This competition isnât a personal oneâeach house receives points as a team. We will see which house has the most pill dao knowledge and talent very soon!â
The method of the competition was still disappointingly mundane. But having the teams be house-based was a new spin on the genre.
âThis method is interesting,â someone suddenly yelled. âBut itâs no fun if itâs just for comparing against each other! Why not give out some prizes too?â
âYes, we need prizes! Itâs just less fun without them.â
âAbsolutely. Something must be on the line.â The larger factionsâ geniuses all wanted to contribute something.
Ones like House Yan however, kept quiet. They had the self-awareness to understand that their average status and prowess in the area meant they had nothing to back up anything they said. Therefore, there was no response from them to the calls for pitching in with prizes.
Even Yan Qingsang, who tended to be the loudest of the bunch, was a bit wilted. He didnât seem to care much about the pill dao competition. He just wanted the birthday banquet to finish as soon as possible. He didnât want to stay another moment in this deplorable place.
House Yan could remain quiet, but the others werenât going to let them off the hook easy.
Very quickly, someone laughed jokingly to Yan Zhenhuai. âBrother Zhenhuai, isnât House Yan keeping too low a profile? Arenât you interested in a potential prize?â
âWhat, is House Yan too cowardly to make even casual bets like these now?â
These words were purely provocative in nature. Yan Zhenhuai knew that as well. Alas, the circumstances meant that the other factions had been driven into a frenzy already. Though he didnât want to participate, he could hardly refuse.
House Yan would really be looked down on then.
âIf youâre scared, Brother Zhenhuai, we can reduce the bet.â
âYes, we hear that House Yan is tight on resources these days. We can accommodate them with a small bet.â These apparently concerned voices were filled with schadenfreude.
Jiang Chen had nothing to say about the othersâ self-satisfied demeanors. Were they really that talented in pill dao? How were they so sure House Yan would lose?
Finally, the largest factionsâ geniuses came to a consensus. The large factions participating in the pill dao contest would contribute a hundred million each, which made nine in total.
Among the sacred land, three sects, and seven factions of Eternal Divine Nation, House Xiahou was the host and thus ineligible. Meanwhile, the sacred land was too lofty to engage in betting with the other factions.
That left three sects and six factions for the bet. Out of these, two houses had no desire whatsoever to be here. House Yan was one of them.
A hundred million spirit stones was an extremely hefty amount. Even Yan Zhenhuai wouldnât be able to produce that much offhandedly. In fact, it was rather exorbitant.
âOle Brother Zhenhuai, everyoneâs waiting on you! Only House Yan hasnât responded. You canât be so down in the dumps as to not afford this little bet, can you?â
âItâs just a hundred million. Thatâs nothing at all. If you win, youâll get all the other stones!â
âYou worried about your wallet, younger brother?â
The other factions attempted to rattle Yan Zhenhuai, their inflammatory words wanting to drag him into the event.
Everyone else firmly believed that House Yan was here only to add to the pot. A house with as little foundation as that had no right to be viewed as their equal in anything, pill dao included. Thus, their coaxing was simply a dig to raise the stakes for their own house on a potential win.
Yan Zhenhuai was stuck between a rock and a hard place. At this juncture, participating in the bet would only lose his house the contributed stones.
He had enough self-awareness to know that. It was precisely because of this that he didnât want to waste a hundred million sky spirit stones. The house wasnât what it had once been. A hundred million spirit stones was a significant sum.
But nonparticipation to save spirit stones would only disappoint the other houses, potentially leading to being sidelined even more in the future. That trend was already occurring, and available space for House Yan to survive would only grow tighter as time went on.
Yan Zhenhuai suddenly became rather anxious.
As an observer, Jiang Chen saw through Yan Zhenhuaiâs hesitation. âGo persuade Yan Zhenhuai to participate. Say youâll contribute half of the hundred million,â he messaged Yan Qingsang.
âHuh?â Yan Qingsang was stunned. âBrother, weâre not going to get anything back. Whatâs the point of giving away spirit stones to these animals?â
Jiang Chen smiled. âIf you want to make some money, you should participate. Remember, you need to insist that profit be allocated in the same way as the stake is funded. No stake now means no stones later.â
Yan Qingsang glanced at his friend, his resolve loosening. His trust in Jiang Chen almost surpassed that in Yan Zhenhuai. His brother gave him a very reassuring look back.
Yan Qingsang grit his teeth, coming to a decision.
âBrother Huai, we may be sure to lose our money, but we canât lose our face right now. Weâll live even if we lose a hundred million. If we donât participate, House Yan will be pushed away even further. Letâs bet with them. We can pool the hundred million together.â
âYou can do that yourself,â Yan Jinnan stated coldly. âThis bet is designed to ruin us. If youâre walking into this obvious trap, you mustâve lost your brains somewhere.â
The other two smiled wryly, shaking their heads as well. Neither was willing to put forward any stones.
Yan Zhenhuai squinted at Yan Qingsang, surprised at his clan brotherâs eagerness. âQingsang,â he couldnât resist remarking, âyou do understand that youâre giving away the stones, right?â
âSo what if I am? Sometimes we have to take some pretty daunting risks. I have fifty million here. Are you in, Brother Zhenhuai?â Yan Qingsang gnashed his teeth.
His declaration shocked everyone else.
Fifty million sky spirit stones? Yan Qingsang really had hit his head somewhere. Why waste these stones on those bastards rather than spending it himself?
Yan Zhenhuai knew acutely that House Yan had to suffer this loss today. Others were referring to him by name, and every other faction had participated. They couldnât possibly abstain. The prospect of losing money was no longer important!n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om