Chapter 559: The Gambling Contract
After Zhang Yu sent his message that he also intended to participate, Bei Wufeng seemed to hesitate for a moment before replying.
Bei Wufeng: “Junior Brother, are you joking?”
Bei Wufeng: “If you think the price isn’t high enough, we can negotiate further.”
Bei Wufeng: “I’m being completely sincere.”
Zhang Yu: “I’m sorry, Senior.”
Zhang Yu: “I genuinely want to participate in the Ten Greats League.”
Bei Wufeng: “The Military Competition of the Ten Greats League?”
Zhang Yu: “The Military Competition of the Ten Greats League.”
Sensing Zhang Yu’s earnestness, Bei Wufeng’s tone shifted.
Bei Wufeng: “The school team currently has ten members, with three from the Artifact Refinement Department: Yan Qianji, myself, and Ye Xingli.”
Bei Wufeng: “If you want to join the team, are you planning to replace Ye Xingli? Or me?”
Bei Wufeng: “According to the rules, you’d have to challenge either Ye Xingli or me. If you win, you’d take our spot.”
Upon reading Bei Wufeng’s message, Zhang Yu was momentarily at a loss for words.
Bei Wufeng: “Haven’t you considered this? To represent the school in the Ten Greats League’s Military Competition, you’d need to reach at least our level.”
Bei Wufeng: “The official competition is in September, but the registration deadline is in July. It’s February now, which means you have roughly five months to catch up to us.”
Bei Wufeng: “Do you think you can reach our level in five months?”
Zhang Yu knew Bei Wufeng’s arguments were logical and well-founded. He believed most students would be persuaded by these words.
Even Zhang Yu himself, if not for the opportunity of “Immortal Sect Technique Self-Selection,” probably wouldn’t be in such a hurry to participate in this year’s Ten Greats League.
But to increase his chances of joining a sect, Zhang Yu was willing to give it his all.
Moreover, he understood that he wasn’t entirely without hope.
Through years of accumulation on the Immortal Dao — cultivation arts, Chain Formation Diagrams, Dao Seeds, wealth, connections… his cultivation efficiency had been steadily increasing, and his progress had accelerated into a period of explosive growth.
Faced with Bei Wufeng’s interrogation, Zhang Yu replied: “I want to try.”
Upon seeing Zhang Yu’s response, Bei Wufeng couldn’t help but laugh.
Lying seems pointless, and it would be too easily exposed.
“So… this guy really thinks that?”
Reading the message, Bei Wufeng felt only arrogance and incomprehension.
“He seems to underestimate both Ye Xingli and me.”
“Does he think our achievements can be surpassed so easily?”
Shaking his head, Bei Wufeng’s opinion of Zhang Yu plummeted.
However, since his words had failed to dissuade Zhang Yu, he didn’t want to waste any more time arguing.
Yet Bei Wufeng refused to give up. After all, the Heavenly Sun Radiance God was a military-grade puppet he had long planned to rent.
As early as last year, when Jin Jun began refining the Heavenly Sun Radiance God, Bei Wufeng had already made an agreement with his Junior Brother: to borrow the puppet during the Ten Greats League to refine his own combat system.
During Jin Jun’s refinement of the prototype mechanism, Bei Wufeng provided considerable assistance, including funding, connections, strategies to suppress Zhang Yu, and even the information about Zhang Yu’s registration for the evaluation.
As Jin Jun was his Junior Brother, Bei Wufeng naturally hoped for Jin Jun to defeat Zhang Yu, thereby strengthening their lineage’s influence.
However, this support had its limits. Now that Jin Jun had failed, Bei Wufeng couldn’t possibly help him suppress Zhang Yu. Instead, he shifted his target to Zhang Yu, establishing a cooperative relationship with him.
Faced with Zhang Yu’s perplexing choice, Bei Wufeng decided to try a different approach.
Bei Wufeng: “If you don’t make the school team by July, would you rent me the Heavenly Sun Radiance God for the Ten Greats League?”
Bei Wufeng: “We can negotiate the price later if you’re not satisfied.”
Zhang Yu: “Agreed.”
Bei Wufeng: “I’d like to sign a contract to ensure you prioritize lending it to me at that time.”
Just as Zhang Yu was about to agree, Fu Ji interjected, “Zhang Yu, since we’re signing a contract, why not add some additional terms?”
Zhang Yu asked, “What kind of requirement?”
Fu Ji replied, “Since you can’t participate in the Ten Greats, you’ll lend your military-grade magical artifact to your opponent. If they can’t participate either, shouldn’t they also lend their artifact to you?”
Zhang Yu’s eyes flickered, clearly intrigued by Fu Ji’s suggestion.
He hadn’t considered this possibility before. Now that he knew students like Bei Wufeng could borrow magical artifacts for the Ten Greats League, he realized he could do the same.
Borrowing his opponent’s military-grade artifact would significantly boost his chances in the Ten Greats League.
Yet hesitation lingered. He said to Fu Ji, “Bei Wufeng just helped me suppress the Celestial Monsters incident. Would it be right to approach him like this? Wouldn’t it offend him?”
Fu Ji scoffed, “What’s right or wrong got to do with it? The path of the Immortal Dao is either you step on others, or they step on you. You think this is some game where everyone holds hands and happily breaks through realms together?
“As long as it increases your odds of winning, who cares if you offend someone?”
“Besides, he’s right about one thing: if you join the school team, the most likely scenario is that you’ll have to displace either him or Ye Xingli.”
“After all, Yan Qianji is the strongest in the Artifact Refinement Department, making him the most challenging opponent. Bei Wufeng and Ye Xingli, ranked second and third respectively, are closer in strength, making them the easiest to defeat.”
Fu Ji continued, “What he said aligns with our intelligence. To join the school team, you’ll need to challenge one of them and win to take their place.”
“Do you plan to displace him or Ye Xingli? Given your personality, you’ll probably challenge Bei Wufeng, whom you’re less familiar with. But wouldn’t that still offend him?”
“Since offending him is inevitable, why not clarify things now? We can secure an agreement for his military-grade magical artifact in advance and leverage his current underestimation to negotiate a more favorable contract.”
“Otherwise, if you wait until after you defeat him to request the artifact, he might refuse to lend it to you.”
Fu Ji concluded, “Zhang Yu, this isn’t about you wanting to offend him. The conflict between you is unavoidable. The reason is simple… he’s blocking your path.”
Zhang Yu had to admit that Fu Ji’s reasoning was sound, leaving him no room to refuse.
“To increase my chances of joining the sect, I’ll have to trouble you a bit, Senior.”
Zhang Yu didn’t immediately respond. Instead, he turned to True Monarch Magnetic Pole and Ye Xingli to ask about the Ten Greats League and the school team, particularly the rental of military-grade magical artifacts.
Only after understanding the situation clearly could he continue his conversation with Bei Wufeng.
True Monarch Magnetic Pole: “Bei Wufeng is asking to borrow your military-grade magical artifact?”
True Monarch Magnetic Pole: “You could ask your senior sister if she wants to lend from you too.”
True Monarch Magnetic Pole: “Why does it have to be your senior sister? Just lend it to whoever offers the most money or the best terms.”
Ye Xingli: “Junior Brother, I’ve already gathered enough military-grade magical artifacts for the Ten Greats League.”
Ye Xingli: “Borrowing more would exceed my artifact control limit. Besides, your Heavenly Sun Radiance God doesn’t quite fit the system I’m building.”
Ye Xingli (Poverty Simulator): “Thank you for your concern, Junior Brother. If you want to rent out the Heavenly Sun Radiance God, don’t worry about me.”
After consulting with his Master and senior sister, Zhang Yu had a clearer understanding of the situation.
“Indeed, even with the assistance of a Soul Cultivator, there’s a limit to the number of magical artifacts one can control simultaneously.”
“Military-grade magical artifacts are even more difficult to wield, further reducing the number a single person can use at once.”
“Once the number of magical artifacts exceeds the operational limit, they become difficult to control and even harder to unleash their full potential. In the end, they might be more trouble than they’re worth. It’s better to focus on mastering a few military-grade magical artifacts.”
Zhang Yu thought to himself, “If I were to rent one… my teachers’ military-grade magical artifacts are all already above Level 20. Not only would they be difficult to control, but they’d also be extremely expensive.”
“And the students who earned Military Certificates in previous years all went to Kunxu’s Third Layer for postgraduate studies after graduation. Not only would it be hard to borrow their artifacts, but many of them have probably already obtained Golden Core Qualification Certificates. Their magical artifacts would have also been upgraded upon reaching the Golden Core stage.”
“As for military-grade magical artifacts from military channels, those would be even harder to access.”
“Therefore, compared to all these options, military-grade magical artifacts refined by current students in University City would be the most suitable for renting and using in the competition…”
After gathering this information, Zhang Yu had a much clearer understanding of the situation. He replied to Bei Wufeng, “Senior, if I participate in the Ten Greats League and you lose your eligibility, would I be able to borrow your military-grade magical artifact for the competition?”
Upon seeing Zhang Yu’s reply, Bei Wufeng couldn’t help but chuckle again.
“This kid… is he really determined to challenge me?”
Bei Wufeng wasn’t angry; instead, he saw an opportunity to profit.
“Zhang Yu is even more arrogant than I initially thought.”
“Perfect… let’s see if I can exploit his arrogance.”
“Hmm, I might even provoke him a bit.”
Bei Wufeng replied: “Agreed.”
Bei Wufeng: “If you can challenge me and kick me off the school team, I’ll lend you my military-grade magical artifact for free.”
Bei Wufeng: “But if you lose and fail to qualify for the Ten Greats League, you’ll lend me your Heavenly Sun Radiance God for free.”
Bei Wufeng: “Dare you accept?”
Seeing Bei Wufeng’s reply, Zhang Yu hesitated for a moment, thinking to himself, “If I want to win the Ten Greats League and defeat the Heavenly Chosen from other schools, I have to take this gamble.”
“I’m in.”
Zhang Yu replied: “Fine, let’s sign the contract.”
After signing the contract, Bei Wufeng smiled smugly, thinking, “Heh, this is even better than I expected. No rental fees means I’ve freed up a portion of my budget, which I can now use elsewhere to increase my chances of winning the Ten Greats League.”
Zhang Yu stared at the contract, his fighting spirit ignited. “I have to win! If I lose, I’ll be losing 50 Spirit Coins a day in rental fees!”