The second round started with the same procedure as before. Both men placed their gifts within the protective shield. Nobody knew what the other had chosen but Chen Wentian guessed that it was something expensive to counteract the first round. As such, he quickly chose an adequate response.
"Great! This round, Chen Wentian, you may present your gift first."
On the plinth was a thin booklet made of plain paper which gave off a serene, melodic aura. It was cool and comforting but it was only at the first lesser realm and not much more. All in all, it was far inferior to the previous gift he had brought out.
"Abbotesses, this is my second gift." He said, "Called 'Reflections Beside an Icy Stream', it is a collection of songs created by a member of the Order and this school, Immortal Winter Hymn Xuan Xina. The songs in here are highly suitable for my Sacred Daughter specifically."
The abbotesses all blinked and stared at the insignificant booklet. The reaction to his presentation could only be described simply as disappointment. Xuan Xina was a well-known prioress but she was just a Spirit Lord and still young. Her songs were good but had not gained the same fame as established songwriters. In terms of both quality and price, it was wholly lacking.
Nobody wanted to discuss the merits of his gift and Li Shishi quickly moved on to Yang Gehu.
As expected, his gift was spectacular. It was a set of three tomes, each thicker than a loaf of bread. The bindings were made of shiny black ivory from an unknown spiritual beast. The pages were lined with gold thread. The entire set gave off a deep, immeasurable aura as if a peerless expert was about to emerge from its pages.
"Everyone, this is my second gift." Yang Gehu began to explain, his voice strangely tight as if he was angry at something, "It is called 'A Complete History of Martial Songs'. It is something that has been compiled by the one known as Song Queen Yang Yan, the genius songwriter that only composes one song per year. This collection contains all the songs she has ever created that are below the Spirit King Realm as well as detailed explanations about each verse, each word, and each melody. This is something not available to ordinary people. I was able to obtain it because, like me, the song queen is a member of the Yang Clan."
"Hahaha! Amazing! Now, this is a real gift!" Abbotess Yang blurted excitedly.
She was well acquainted with Yang Yan and went into a long diatribe about the song queen's immense talents. When she finished, her allies added their own anecdotes. Together, they raised this collection of songs to near holy status, as if merely perusing through this set of books could directly propel Long Yifei to the Spirit Lord Realm.
Chen Wentian's pitiful gift was long forgotten. Nobody even gave it a second glance.
"Well, I think we have all made our decisions." Li Shishi said, "Let's judge!"
Seven sets of spiritual energies rose into the air, forming the symbol for Yang. It was a clear victory.
Cheers and applause erupted across the grand banquet hall. To say that people were impressed was an understatement. Yang Gehu's gift was simply priceless and it was immensely useful. It contained so many songs of all levels that it could be considered a mega gift. Its quality was also the highest possible with the best songs at the peak of the Spirit Lord Realm. It was probably the most expensive gift within his arsenal and a fitting counterattack against his loss in the first round.
Everyone was happy and excited but there was one person who wasn't… but it wasn't Chen Wentian. It was actually Yang Gehu. He should have been happy but instead, he understood that he had been played by Chen Wentian again.
"You turtle bastard." Yang Gehu said through gritted teeth. "How did you know?"
"How did I know what?" Chen Wentian chuckled.
"Tell me!"
Chen Wentian shook his head, "How did I know... that you would bring out a really expensive gift? How did I know to counter with my cheapest one, thus effectively wasting your biggest weapon? I don't know, just a lucky guess? Hahaha, this Gift Duel is quite interesting don't you think? The founders of the Order came up with a truly exquisite way to torture people. Victory or defeat relying on chance, what a wonderful way to cause endless mental anguish!"
"Fuck your mother! The score is still one-to-one. Don't act so arrogant!"
Chen Wentian ignored the enraged man. He actually did know a lot about Yang Gehu's gifts. Through Chen Mo and many living souls he had taken over, he had managed to gather enough information and could guess, with some certainly, all five gifts that his opponent would use.
The stone tablet and the obnoxious song collection were gone but there was still a water-based dance routine, a special costume that would enhance a person's power of dance, and a medicinal pill that would greatly strengthen a person's vocal cords.
These three were all good gifts but they varied in quality. The medicinal pill was of the lowest quality and was at the peak of the lesser realms. The dance routine was next and was rated at beginning of the Spirit Lord Realm. The dance costume was the best and was around the middle of the Spirit Lord Realm. It doubled as spiritual armor so its value was extremely high.
Chen Wentian's three remaining gifts were better than Yang Gehu's as a whole. He had one gift at the upper limit of the Spirit Lord Realm, one at the middle, and one at the entry-level of the realm. Using the resources of the Golden Basin Auction House, he had adjusted his own gifts specifically to counter Yang Gehu's gifts.
If the three remaining rounds of gifts lined up properly, he would win all three without much issue. Each of his gifts would be clearly superior to his opponent's and the abbotesses could not rule subjectively. Even if he was a little unlucky, he would still be able to unequivocally win two rounds out of three and capture the overall win.
However, he could still lose if he was really unlucky. His lowest quality gift could go against his opponent's highest quality one and lose. Gifts of the same quality could be matched against each other, leaving the victor to be determined by favoritism and bias.
Chen Wentian had prepared for this Gift Duel with everything he had but it was still too difficult to ensure a certain victory. The Golden Basin Auction House also had been more than generous. Combined, the five gifts in his arsenal were worth over two hundred kilograms of orange spiritual crystal. This was equivalent to two billion taels of gold or two kilograms of yellow spiritual crystal. It was a staggering amount and ten times what he could have afforded on his own. It would have been impossible to ask for more.
"Alright, let's move on to the third round!" Li Shishi's voice interrupted his thoughts.
Chen Wentian sighed and focused on the task at hand. This Gift Duel was truly mental torture.