Huang Xiaolong!
Huang Xiaolong!!
Li Lu's beautiful eyes stared fixedly on the three characters. Her small cherry lips uncontrollably quivered, calling out the name repeatedly in her heart. Her eyes were red-rimmed, tears swimming in her eyes.
"Is it you? Is it really you?" In a voice others couldn't hear, Li Lu muttered to herself more than once. As if she was afraid the three words would disappear from her eyes, Li Lu's gaze fell on the name at the twenty-fourth place again. There was no mistake, written there was 'Green Cloud Island, Barbarian God Sect, Huang Xiaolong'!
It really was Huang Xiaolong!
Li Lu breathed in deeply and wrinkled her nose. All of a sudden, joy and happiness filled her.
He really ascended to the Divine World! Furthermore, he really came to participate in this term's All-Islands Great War!
Although there was a possibility of it being a coincidence and this 'Huang Xiaolong' may not be the same Huang Xiaolong she knew in the lower realm, she was almost obsessed in believing that this 'Huang Xiaolong' was the same person from the lower realm.
The images of the young Huang Xiaolong flashed past in Li Lu's mind.
Her aloof but elegant features suddenly softened into a smile, a smile that could even fascinate flowers.
Standing at the side, maidservant Qing Qin silently watched tears suddenly filled Li Lu's eyes as she looked at the name list, but soon revealed an enchanting smile. In truth, great waves of shock hit her heart. In her impression, she had never seen Li Li either cry or laugh.
A short while later, the Fortune Gate's Young Lord Zhu Feng received a report saying that Li Lu had suddenly cried and laughed while looking at the preliminary round's name list.
When Zhu Feng heard this, he was dazed for a moment. Ever since Li Lu had appeared at the Fortune Gate, no one had ever seen her cry or laugh, including himself. There were times when he imagined how beautiful she would be when she laughed.
Now, Li Lu actually cried and laughed while looking at the name list!
"Looks like Miss Li Lu staying in the Pure Snow Mansion instead of returning to the Divine Kingdom is indeed for the All-Islands Great War." Fortune Gate Elder Lu Tai stated solemnly with certainty.
Zhu Feng gave no response to Lu Tai's words, his face expressionless, no one could guess what was going through his mind.
Although Zhu Feng didn't know which name on the list moved Li Lu's heart, he still felt uncomfortable, enshrouded by a dark shadow.
"How is the investigation on Chen Weiping's incident coming along?" Suppressing the uneasiness in his heart, Zhu Feng suddenly asked Lu Tai.
Lu Tai shook his head, "There is no result as of yet, however, it is estimated that he died in the hands of some magic beasts in the Extraterritorial Devil Battlefield."
"Continue to check." Zhu Feng asked another question, "I had you check if any of the participating disciples have ascended from the lower realm, how about it?"
"I have already checked, but there is no such person." Lu Tai replied.
"None?" A trace of doubt flashed across Zhu Feng's face.
In truth, Huang Xiaolong had the Barbarian God Sect alter his background, becoming a disciple of a family surnamed Huang from Green Cloud Island. Moreover, he had arranged everything related to the Huang Patriarch and the family's elders, thus, when Lu Tai investigated the matter, he wouldn't be able to find out that Huang Xiaolong had ascended from the lower realm.
Zhu Feng and Lu Tai discussed other things for a while.
In the blink of an eye, the day came to an end.
In the next nine days, Huang Xiaolong and Yao Chi spent their days walking around the city, continuing to cultivate at night, consuming one hundred drops of Phoenix blood. His strength had reached the limit of peak late-Tenth Order Heavenly God Realm for quite a while. Compared to the time he had arrived in Fortune City, his strength had more than doubled. The energy in his three supreme godheads surged with vitality.
The nine days passed peacefully.
During this period, the preliminary round's top five thousand ranking was talked about in every corner of the city . Of course, the most talked-about were the top ten disciples, and the most popular one amongst them was naturally Dragon Origin Sect's Zhou Xu.
"I bet on Zhou Xu getting first place, ten million shenbi!"
"I bet on Tan Lin winning second place, and third for Luo Yunjie!"
When Huang Xiaolong and Yao Chi passed by a gambling house, the clamoring noises of people placing bets could be heard from the streets.
Big and small gambling houses in Fortune City had open bets for the top ten in this term's All-islands Great War.
Almost everyone bet on Zhou Xu winning first place, whereas second place was a battle between Tan Lin and Luo Yunjie.
This scene reminded Huang Xiaolong of the time in the lower realm before his battle with the Azure Dragon Institue's Xiang Mingzhi. At that time, almost everyone placed their bets on Xiang Mingzhi.
When passing by a big scale gambling house, Huang Xiaolong felt an impulse. He then turned to Yao Chi and said, "Let's go in and have a look."
Yao Chi dazed for a second, but quickly followed behind Huang Xiaolong.
Inside the gambling house were mostly men. The moment Yao Chi stepped into the hall, she became the sole center of attention, eyes glowing green.
Standing in front of the main counter, Huang Xiaolong said to the young man in charge of bet placement, "I want to bet that first place won't be long to Zhou Xu, what are the odds? Any limit?"
Nine and a half people out of ten were stupefied by Huang Xiaolong's words and everyone quieted down.
'This black-haired young man is betting that the first ranked won't be Zhou Xu?!'
The young man at the main counter was stupefied as well. Most of the people who came over in the last few days bet that Zhou Xu would win first place, this was truly his first time encountering someone who wanted to bet the opposite.
"Five times higher." Recovering from his shock, the young man honestly replied, adding, "No limit."
"Good, I bet three hundred billion." Huang Xiaolong nodded and flicked a spatial ring onto the countertop.
Three hundred billion! The entire gambling house became so silent that a pin drop would be akin to thunder in their ears.
Huang Xiaolong decided to purchase a residence in Fortune City, however, the residences in Fortune City did not come cheap, the most common residences easily cost one trillion and above. So, when a chance of earning easy appeared in front of him, Huang Xiaolong naturally went all in.
Half an hour later.
Huang Xiaolong walked out of the gambling house with Yao Chi, holding a three hundred billion promissory note in his hand. Such an enormous bet had naturally alerted the gambling house's higher echelon. When they arrived and confirmed that the three hundred billion were genuine, they quickly processed the bet for Huang Xiaolong.
In a short while, many forces received news of Huang Xiaolong's bet, including the Dragon Origin Sect.
The Dragon Origin Sect's Hu Qi teased, "Senior Brother Zhou, this Huang Xiaolong actually bet that you cannot win the first place."
"Does this brat thinks Luo Yunjie or Tan Lin have a better chance than Senior Brother Zhou?" Another disciple chimed in.
The present Dragon Origin Sect disciples chuckled, including Zhou Xu. To them, it was very obvious that it was impossible.
"I have briefly investigated, this Huang Xiaolong's preliminary ranking is quite high, at the twenty-fourth place. The strange thing is, his cultivation is only at peak late-Tenth Order Heavenly God Realm." Hu Qi revealed.
Zhou Xu and the others looked amazed.
A peak late-Tenth Order Heavenly God Realm actually reached the twenty-fourth place!
"Senior Brother Zhou, do you want me to teach this brat a lesson?" Hu Qi offered. Hu Qi's ranking in the preliminary round was sixteen. Amongst the Dragon Origin Sect's participating disciples, his strength was only below Zhou Xu and a disciple named Chen Kai.
Zhou Xu solemnly said, "That's a good idea, if any of you meet that brat on the battle stage, teach him a good lesson."
***
The much anticipated final round had finally arrived.
The venue was set at the same square where the participants had previously registered.
Huang Xiaolong, Yao Chi, and the others arrived early at the square.