"I'm not betting! Absolutely not betting anymore! Do you think I'd fall for the same trick twice in a row?" Patriarch Li shook his head like a rattle drum and flatly refused.
"Not betting? Patriarch Li's standards have grown so high that even the inner core of a Blood-Line Flood Dragon doesn't catch your eye?" The Taoist put on an expression of shock and disbelief.
However, no matter how Han Li looked at it, the performance seemed utterly artificial.
"Blood-Line Flood Dragon's inner core!" Patriarch Li, who had originally sworn never to have anything to do with the Taoist again, suddenly changed his expression upon hearing the name of the item, his voice trembling slightly.
"Indeed! I heard that Patriarch Li once stayed at the treacherous rapids of Panlong River in the Kingdom of Yuanwu for over thirty years seeking this very item, yet still left empty-handed. That is why this poor Taoist spent a great deal of money to specially procure it for you!"
The Taoist spoke unhurriedly, growing leisurely in his demeanor, looking as though he had his opponent completely cornered.
"Impossible! How could a Blood-Line Flood Dragon be so easy to catch, let alone preserve its inner core? You're not just spouting nonsense to toy with me, are you?" Patriarch Li snapped out of his excitement and showed a look of suspicion.
"This poor Taoist is a man of the cloth and does not speak falsely. You may see for yourself."
The Taoist didn't want to waste more words on explanation. With a flip of his hand, a white sphere covered in red blood vessels appeared before Patriarch Li's eyes. The sight made Patriarch Li's eyes gleam, as though he wanted to snatch it immediately.
"If Patriarch Li's Silver-Horned Serpent were to consume this pill and seclude itself in cultivation for ten or twenty years, it would surely leap from the mid Foundation Establishment stage to the late stage. With another century of bitter cultivation, entering the Core Formation stage would not be impossible." The Taoist's words were filled with temptation.
Patriarch Li snorted coldly upon hearing this, keeping a stern face as if unmoved, yet his flickering gaze betrayed his inner turmoil.
"Such a rare wager, and yet Patriarch Li hesitates for so long. Could it be that you truly have so little confidence in your valley's disciples?" The Taoist curled his lip, employing a goading tactic.
"Our Yellow Maple Valley's disciples are not for your Clear Void Gate to critique." Patriarch Li's face showed displeasure.
He then glanced at the group behind the Taoist and immediately gained a rough assessment of the Clear Void Gate disciples' strength. They should be about on par with the Yellow Maple Valley disciples.
"Fine, I'll take the bet! But what treasure of mine are you after?"
After some deliberation, Patriarch Li felt the odds of this wager were roughly even. Combined with his extreme desire for the inner core, he finally nodded in agreement. Still, out of caution, he casually asked a question.
"Hehe, this poor Taoist has no interest in your other treasures. I simply hope that if this poor Taoist happens to win, Patriarch Li will refine two more pieces of Iron Essence of the same size for me within the next twenty years. Patriarch Li's mastery of true fire is renowned among the Seven Great Sects — surely this is a small matter!" The Taoist narrowed his eyes and smiled, but a hint of cunning crept through his words.
"Two more pieces of the same Iron Essence?" Patriarch Li's face turned ugly, and he nearly jumped up immediately.
"You old ox-nose, you're trying to make me your laborer!"
"How could that be? Once you win, you won't need to do it anymore. That is the inner core of a grade-four demonic beast! Equivalent to the early Core Formation stage for us cultivators — it's absolutely worth the price!" The Taoist shook his head back and forth as he spoke.
Patriarch Li's expression shifted between dark and light for a good while before he finally, slowly, extended one palm and asked in a cold voice.
"Same rules as last time? First, whoever's side gathers the most spirit herbs wins; second, the quality of the herbs; and lastly, the number of people who walk out of the restricted area alive!"
"Of course! Everything remains the same!"
The Taoist was overjoyed and hurriedly extended his palm as well, wanting to slap it against the other's to seal the wager.
*Snap!* A crisp sound rang out.
The Taoist had indeed struck a palm, but his expression showed no trace of happiness — instead, he looked miserable.
The palm he had struck was not Patriarch Li's extended hand, but another filthy palm that had appeared out of thin air. This hand had materialized eerily between the two of them, covered in grease and grime, as though it hadn't been washed in an immeasurably long time!
The disciples from both sects, who had been closely following their patriarchs' conversation, were dumbstruck at this ghostly scene.
"Senior Qiong!"
The Taoist and Patriarch Li both blurted out simultaneously, their faces turning pale.
"What senior? I wouldn't dare accept that title. I'm at the same Core Formation stage as you two — I just happened to break through a few years earlier!" A languid voice echoed from between them, and a strangely dressed figure gradually materialized there.
The man wore a blue robe patched in several places, with short hair only a few inches long. Tucked at his waist was a pale, washed-out cloth bundle, suggesting he was someone who prized cleanliness. Yet his face was covered in a thick layer of dark grease, so much so that his true features were completely obscured.
"A few years? It should be several hundred years!"
After getting a clear look at the newcomer's face, Patriarch Li and the Taoist both smiled bitterly to themselves. After sighing with the sentiment of "so it really is this person," they dared not show the slightest hint of disrespect.
This eccentric figure was not only terrifyingly old — one foot already stepping into the Nascent Soul stage — but his personally invented Invisible Escape Technique was famous throughout the cultivation world. Even the various cultivation sects in the nearby kingdoms had long heard of his name.
Perhaps because his great tribulation was approaching and he had yet to fully enter the Nascent Soul stage, his temperament had grown increasingly eccentric over the past century. He loved to play tricks on Core Formation cultivators, and nearly all of the several dozen high-ranking cultivators among the Seven Great Sects had been thoroughly embarrassed by his pranks.
But these cultivators, normally treated as grand patriarchs in their own sects, were utterly powerless against him.
In terms of cultivation depth, he was second to none among Core Formation cultivators. In terms of backing, he was from the Concealed Moon Sect, the strongest of the Seven Great Sects. If one wanted to find a Nascent Soul "expert" from their own sect to teach him a lesson, most such experts knew him, and those who didn't were unwilling to trouble themselves over such trivial matters.
As a result, this figure had thoroughly earned the reputation of a "bully" and "scoundrel" among the upper echelons of the cultivation world. Essentially, whoever ran into him could only pray for good fortune — hoping he was in a good mood that day, otherwise a bit of playful torment and suffering was unavoidable!
How could the sudden appearance of such a "senior" not startle Patriarch Li and the Taoist, leaving them filled with unease? Both of them had suffered at his hands before!
"If there's to be a wager, having just the two of you would be too dull. Count this old man in as well!" Senior Qiong seemed to be in fine spirits, yet his words made the two of them groan inwardly.
"Senior jests! How could our disciples possibly compare with the Concealed Moon Sect's talented students? We would certainly lose — no need for a bet; we concede defeat freely!" The Taoist forced a smile and spoke obsequiously.
Patriarch Li kept his lips tightly sealed, but the expression on his face made it abundantly clear that he agreed one hundred and twenty percent.
The old man Qiong let out a few cold chuckles, rolled his eyes, and said in an odd tone:
"Would I stoop to such underhanded behavior? Rest assured — as long as the combined results of your two sects surpass our sect, I consider myself the loser. Then you two can settle things between yourselves."
"Really?"
The Taoist couldn't help but sigh with relief upon hearing this. Though this man was mercurial and spoke with little regard for convention, his word was ironclad — he had never broken a promise. In that case, the wager was quite fair; they might even have a slight advantage.
"These three talismans of the Invisible Needles were refined out of boredom in my spare time. Since I have no descendants to speak of, I'll use them as this wager's stakes!" The old man raised his hand and displayed three talisman papers, each painted with seven-colored needles, then gave them a wave and put them away.
When Patriarch Li and the Taoist saw this, they could not conceal the astonishment on their faces. They involuntarily glanced at each other, and in each other's eyes they caught a gleam of greed.