Chapter 229: Chapter 228: Not Knowing What’s Good for You

Gong You was a natural-born adventurer. His Level wasn’t low, and it had been too long since he’d had a good stretch. His whole body was brimming with the will to fight. He craved a satisfying, all-out battle.

So he didn’t choose the type of match he could easily win by relying on his Level advantage. Instead, he picked the arena with a medium difficulty, the one that looked like it was for settling grudges.

When it was Zhi Le’s turn, the bamboo slip bucket had been tampered with again, all the slips replaced with blank ones. Using the bucket as cover, he secretly smuggled out a bamboo slip with “Number Twenty-Six” written on it from his space!

The Beastman at the registration desk frowned again. ’A mistake once can be chalked up to carelessness, but how could it happen twice in a row?’

This sort of tampering was something the city’s upper-level decision-makers were all tacitly aware of. It all came down to whose methods were more clever and whose luck was better. However, it couldn’t be brought out into the open, as that would cause public outrage.

This Beastman was afraid Zhi Le would cause a scene, so he didn’t dare say anything and just lowered his head to register Zhi Le’s information.

The Beastmen took their bamboo slips to their respective arenas and drew numbers for the order they would go on stage. As long as two Beastmen agreed, they could swap numbers, allowing for a great deal of freedom.

As the competition horn sounded, ten Beastmen stood on each arena. They were all grouped together in alliances of two or three, or even four or five.

Si Shuo pulled Xu Chi to stand below Arena Twenty-Six. Zhi Le was in the first match. Not only were his three bodies now one, but Xiao Cheng was also inside holding Little Ye, ready to act as a third avatar at any moment.

On the stage, three Winged Dragon Beastmen stood together, two Bear Beastmen were next to each other, and three Golden Lion Beastmen occupied a corner. Only Zhi Le and a Yellow Mouse Beastman stood alone. Aside from Zhi Le, who was a Level 10 Beastman, there were two at the Eleventh Level, and the rest were all Twelfth Level, with one even at the Peak of Level 12.

“Brothers Zong, look. There are three of us and two of you, all powerful Beastmen. Why don’t we team up and eliminate the other five together?” a Winged Dragon Beastman said with a smile, extending the invitation to the two Bear Beastmen.

A Golden Lion Beastman’s expression turned cold and grim. “Brothers Zong, the Winged Dragon Clan has always been tyrannical and unreasonable. Why don’t our groups team up and eliminate the Winged Dragon Beastmen first? Then we can all compete for the final five spots based on our own abilities.”

The two Bear Beastmen exchanged a look, then glanced over everyone else on the stage, completely ignoring Zhi Le and the Yellow Mouse Beastman. The Combat Power Value of the Winged Dragon Clan and Golden Lion Clan Beastmen was about the same. It seemed the final outcome of this round would be entirely up to the two of them.

“Brothers Zong, we of the Winged Dragon Clan might have a bit of a proud temper, and that’s normal, but we also value loyalty! Just help us out. Afterward, whether it’s honey, beautiful females, Crystal Stones, or shops—you can take your pick…”

When it came to threats and inducements, the Winged Dragon Clan members were very experienced. They didn’t just make verbal promises; one of them also tossed over a pouch of Level 10 Crystal Stones to show their sincerity.

Seeing that the Golden Lion Beastmen made no counteroffer, the Bear Beastmen immediately strode toward the Winged Dragon Beastmen. “Fine, we’ll ally with you! But you have to deliver on what you promised.”

“Haha, of course, of course! We of the Winged Dragon Clan always keep our word!”

Seeing them form an alliance, the Golden Lion Beastmen’s expressions turned sour. It seemed they had anticipated their own crushing defeat, but they still weren’t willing to give up. They could only settle for the next best thing: allying with Zhi Le and the Yellow Mouse Beastman.

The leader of the Winged Dragon Beastmen smiled and spoke again. “You two little brothers, the outcome is already obvious. Don’t put up a pointless struggle. It’s better to stand aside and watch than to lose the match and offend our Winged Dragon Clan.”

“How about this? If you forfeit now, I’ll give each of you half a bag of Crystal Stones as compensation.”

As he spoke, someone tossed a Beast Skin Bag to both Zhi Le and the Yellow Mouse Beastman.

The Yellow Mouse Beastman immediately jumped up to catch the bag. He looked down, opened it, and saw half a bag of Level 7 Crystal Stones. Overjoyed, he nodded in agreement, forfeited on the spot, and left the arena!

Zhi Le, however, stood with his arms crossed and his eyes slightly lowered, as if he hadn’t heard a thing, letting the bag roll to a stop by his feet.

“You don’t know what’s good for you. Just wait until I’m free, and see if I don’t break your spine!” one of the Winged Dragon Beastmen sneered, cracking his knuckles. He looked down on Zhi Le for his low Level and inability to read the situation.

The Winged Dragon Clan members were known for being ruthless and cruel. When they fought, they did so with a relentless ferocity, as if to the death, and they were especially known for holding grudges.

In the arena, they wouldn’t stop until they had half-crippled their opponents. Because of this, most Beastmen were unwilling to face them. If you weren’t certain of victory, it was better to forfeit at the start to avoid provoking this group of paranoid lunatics.

The Golden Lion Beastmen exchanged a look. If they were ordinary Beastmen, they would have just bowed their heads and forfeited. But they represented the Golden Lion Clan; even if it meant dying in battle, they could not show weakness to the Winged Dragon Clan!

“Enough talk. Let’s begin,” one of them said. They didn’t expect Zhi Le to be much help, but at least he shouldn’t backstab them.

Beastmen didn’t really bother with strategy when they fought. They just charged in and went at it.

Zhi Le’s eyes narrowed. He charged forward along with the Golden Lion Beastmen, targeting the Eleventh Level Winged Dragon Beastman first.

The Winged Dragon Beastman let out a laugh of indignation. His target was the Golden Lion Beastman of the same Level, yet some Level 10 Snow Leopard was looking down on him, treating him like a soft target?

Full of ferocity, he wove the fire in his hands—which held the power to incinerate anything—into a net in mid-air and sent it swatting toward Zhi Le.

Zhi Le condensed all his Spiritual Power into a Protective Shield, transformed into his Beast Form, and charged fiercely at the Winged Dragon Beastman. He was incredibly fast, and with the thick shield he had condensed, the fire net didn’t cause him any significant damage.

His speed was astonishing. The Winged Dragon Beastman barely managed to sidestep the attack, but his body suddenly went numb and unresponsive! It turned out that in the instant the Beastman dodged, Zhi Le had drawn on half his Spiritual Power to form a net of lightning and had cast it right over the Winged Dragon Beastman’s head.

With his movements slowed, the Winged Dragon Beastman was forcefully knocked out of the arena by Zhi Le, who had instantly turned back to ram him!

“Nice one, little brother!” A Golden Lion Beastman, catching this out of the corner of his eye, couldn’t help but cheer.

Having lost a comrade, the Winged Dragon Clan members were furious. One of them immediately said, “You three keep fighting. I’ll be right back. A piddling Level 10 nobody actually dared to scheme against my brother!”

He broke away from the main fight, aiming to finish Zhi Le in a single, decisive move. He spared no effort, condensing numerous Ice Blades and sending them toward Zhi Le. Densely packed, they glinted coldly in the sunlight, each one crackling with immense Spiritual Power and carrying the force of a thunderbolt.

Si Shuo watched nervously. ’Won’t that just turn him into a pincushion?’

Xu Chi squeezed her hand. “Those Ice Blades aren’t just infused with Spiritual Power; they’re also coated with some of their master’s spiritual power. They won’t fall to the ground until they hit their target, and their speed won’t even decrease.”

“If it were an ordinary Level 10 Beastman, they’d be dead or crippled!”

Si Shuo hugged his arm, wanting to watch but too afraid, yet too worried to look away. It was as if by staring at the arena, she could cheer Zhi Le on.

The Snow Leopard that was Zhi Le circled the arena at high speed, closely pursued by hundreds of sharp Ice Blades. They were densely aimed at his chest and Dantian, like a pack of vicious hounds waiting for the fatal strike.

The Winged Dragon Beastman gave a contemptuous smile and rejoined the chaotic melee. “Go on and play with those little toys!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep