Shen Jun looked at Ye Futian with a puzzled expression. He had placed his bet on Yu Sheng, so he naturally knew that Yu Sheng was powerful.
However, while it was entirely normal for Ye Futian to want to place his bet on Yu Sheng, he went so far as to borrow money from the woman at his side.
But then again, Shen Jun simply chuckled and paid no further attention to any of it. If Ye Futian wanted to have fun, it was none of his business.
"Don't get too carried away. It's difficult to rise from the platform, after all," Situ Yan heard what Ye Futian said and reminded him of the stakes.
"Go and bet on Yu Sheng. Place, however much you can," Ye Futian replied to Situ Yan.
"…"
Situ Yan looked at him in a somewhat exasperated manner before saying telepathically, "Alright, I'll chip in and bet on Yu Sheng. Again, don't get carried away."
She then headed to the place to place bets in the castle after that. However, her expression remained cold after she returned, not saying another word to Ye Futian.
No wonder he went to tear Bliss Palace apart. This guy is nuts. He went and bet everything he got, she thought.
She shuddered when the sacred spirit stones and treasures that he bet with came to mind.
Those things were not something that a Doctrine Saint would have been able to fork over. In truth, not even Unblemished Saints would have been able to spend that much on a bet, as those were not things they could have afforded to lose.
He sure is a daredevil.
And an insane one, she thought.
"You have bet too little. Put more in. How about telling your clan to chip in as well?" Ye Futian said, trying to persuade Situ Yan, who was at his side.
Situ Yan's face remained cold, and she did not bother with him.
She was thinking that she had been concerned about him for nothing and that she had been wasting her time.
"This is a rare chance, you know," Ye Futian said again.
Situ Yan glared at him hard, and then walked away, pretending as if she did not know him.
Ye Futian shrugged and felt it to be a pity, thinking she had been missing out on a chance of a lifetime.
As a top-notch clan in Qianye City, the Situ clan must have been wealthy. Ye Futian was thinking how splendid it would have been if they were just to bet everything they had, their lives included.
It was a pity that Situ Yan stopped paying him any attention.
Why won't she trust me on this? he thought.
Everyone returned to their seats, and the eyes of the spectators changed when they looked at the Rising Dragon Platform at that time. Those who placed their bets were unsurprisingly in a different mood. They all had their eyes fixed on the ones whom they placed their bets on, having expectations for their respective candidates.
Pang Xiao, Yan Tong, and Zhuo Xu were naturally the three with the highest amount of bets placed on them. Many placed heavy bets on those three, especially those from their respective clans.
As for Yu Sheng and the others, other than a handful of people—Ye Futian, Kong Xuan, Shen Jun, and a few others—no one would have bet on them.
Other than Pang Xiao, Yan Tong, and Zhuo Xu, some others were extremely renowned from other cities on the Rising Dragon Platform.
A low rumble of the dragon was heard, and the saint who stood on the back of the crimson dragon left the platform. Formless powers emanated from above that cylindrical screen of light. Matrixes were activated to isolate aftershocks from attacks. Crimson glow showered on the space below.
Countless in the castles waited solemnly for the battle that was about to begin.
All of them stared at the crimson dragon that was circling the opening above the platform. The dragon then said, "Let the Battle of the Sleeping Dragon begin."
One figure after another on the Rising Dragon Platform below, looking very serious, as none of them dared to let their guard down.
All those who participated in the Battle of the Sleeping Dragon were sages at the pinnacle of their training, which practically meant that all of them had one foot in Saint Plane already. The meaning of that battle was to be trapped in a crisis, battling many others who were at the top. None who lacked courage would have dared enter the battlefield.
While it was not to say that one would die if they proved to be of inferior powers, but in principle, at least, the battle was not one where life and death fights were prohibited. If a participant was heavily injured, the risk of getting killed would be very high, making the battle one where people put their life on the line.
Powerful, terrifying aura burst, and the Rising Dragon Platform was like it was being set on fire. Mighty ones continued to burst with their power.
The pressure within the platform became earth-shattering within mere moments.
Some participants began to make a move after finding their opponents, attacking right there and then.
"The show has started."
The spectators were tense as they looked at the battlefield. Formidable fighters in a free-for-all battle burst in an instant, making the scene exhilarating.
It was a scene like none other on the Rising Dragon Platform.
Pang Xiao of Crimson Cloud City burst with golden light all over him as his arts were unleashed. Golden beams shot out with a force that could have torn everything in their path apart.
Yan Tong of Flaming Prison City was even more ferocious than he was. Yan Tong unleashed his Life Spirit right away—a terrifying fiery giant, which looked like it was a devil from hell. Yan Tong melded with his Life Spirit into a single being, and his entire body grew to enormous sizes, becoming a god of war forged in the fires of hell. Every inch of his enormous body was covered in flames, which moved about like liquid, resembling lava out to melt everything.
That pressure alone was extremely forceful.
That huge hand of Yan Tong swatted away at a participant before him, who sensed extremely frightening pressure and burst with towering might of the sword. Thousands of sword will flowed about him as they lashed out at their target.
When that enormous hand came down, the flowing liquid felt as if it had frozen over within an instant. Those swords were frozen in place at the same time, and the liquid fire solidified right away. Everything in that space was locked in place in an instant, and the swords were slowly being melted away.
That swordsman was able to react quickly and unleash his Life Spirit, melding with his sword into one, and it seemed as if his physical body was transformed into a sword. The overflowing sword will merged into a single entity, and a flash of lightning zipped past. The frozen fiery lava exploded and crumbled as the sword attack surprisingly tore through Yan Tong's moves. The extremely sharp sword charged forward without stopping, heading straight for the head of that huge, fiery god of war.
Boom. Yan Tong's foot stomped on the ground, and a wall of fire was thrown up before him. The entire space was solidified into a sturdy firewall. A huge fiery punch was thrown with extremely massive force. It was apparent he was versed in more than just the power of fire.
The sword continued forward, but it was still melted and broken eventually. That powerful swordsman ended up dead within the flames. His body was burned until there was nothing left.
Yan Tong swept his eyes at the battlefield around him and continued stepping out with overbearing force.
There were heaven-splitting cheers heard everywhere. Those within the castles who had placed their bets on Yan Tong felt their blood boiling.
He really is a mighty one from the city lord's office of Flaming Prison City, indeed, they thought.
Zhuo Xu, a descendant of the Black Flame Emperor, displayed extremely formidable combat capacity as well. Boundless black flames surrounded his body, and where his fingers pointed, boundless black flames shot in a frenzy. The black flames were extremely overpowering, and they were capable of easily killing anyone they touched.
Soon, three extremely formidable participants were killed by Zhuo Xu.
The battle had only been going on for mere moments, and yet everyone was able to feel how intense and brutal the Battle of the Sleeping Dragon was; it was just too wild and crazy.
The great figures standing at the top of the castles watched in silence. Unless there were those of their losing or dying in battle, none of them would have shown many emotions.
Ye Futian was watching the battle as well. The cultivators of Crimson Dragon Realm who were versed in fire-based powers, were clearly of a higher ratio. The realm was said to have nine suns, after all, and the entire realm was filled with a thick aura of flames everywhere.
As for the Battle of the Sleeping Dragon, Shen Jun had the gall to tell him that it wasn't very dangerous, fooling them into participating in the battle. It was easy to tell that Shen Jun never had the slightest care for their lives to begin with.
He was simply using them to achieve his objective.
From that point alone, it was easy to tell that Shen Jun and Bai Ze were fundamentally similar.
It was just that Bai Ze never bothered to conceal his cold-blooded nature.
Shen Jun, on the other hand, had a knack for manipulating others through plain chatter, so long as the ones before him would have been of use to him.
Ye Futian's eyes were on that battlefield, and his heart felt rather cold. Shen Jun had been scheming against them right from the first time they met, making it apparent that Shen Jun saw those from other imperial realms as little more than prey.
But then again, the score was not one needed to be settled in a hurry. He had plenty of time to get to that.
Ye Wuchen, Huang Jiuge, Xu Que, and Qin Zhuang all made their moves on the battlefield, picking their respective targets.
Their goal of participating in the Battle of the Sleeping Dragon was mainly to test themselves out, without the slightest intention of killing their targets. They only wanted to know just how powerful those at the pinnacle of Crimson Dragon Realm were.
Yu Sheng did not move. He stood at the center where the battles of the other four had taken place. He simply stood there alone and watched the other four fight.
He was there to keep the situation under control for all four of them.
His current level was such that mere fights between sages would have done him little good in allowing him to further his endeavors to break through the Saint Plane.
"What is Yu Sheng doing?" Shen Jun said. "They should be joining hands to take others down."
Since all five of them were of the same gang, it was naturally best that they join hands, enabling them to have an easier time overwhelming the others. The possibility of Yu Sheng making it out eventually was very high, and Shen Jun would have been able to see his objectives achieved, creating a win-win situation.
"He knows what he is doing," Ye Futian replied.
Shen Jun frowned. His intentions could have been vaguely told by the position he took. He was there to keep the situation controlled for the other four. That was simply insane.
By doing so, his battle at later stages would be extremely stressful.
The possibility of him losing would have been great.
However, since the battle was already underway, none of the spectators would have been able to do anything to affect the situation. They were able to watch from the sides.
The coldness on Shen Jun's face became apparent, and he seemed less friendly already.
Yu Sheng began to slowly move at that moment. He had been keeping himself at the center of the four battles around, just so that he was able to support any of the four at any given moment.
He was naturally keeping a close eye on the four battles as well. Ye Wuchen's side did not seem to be of much of a problem, and he was able to handle things. He, at that moment, had the edge over his opponent.
However, those on the battlefield simply would not have let Yu Sheng just watch and do nothing.
One mighty one went up to Yu Sheng at that moment.
Yu Sheng sensed the hostility from the other party, and he glared at that person with an overbearing look, uttering two words, "Get lost!"
That person narrowed his eyes. One hell of a cocky *ssole, eh? he thought.
A dazzling image appeared before him as he launched himself at Yu Sheng within an instant, bursting with terrifying killing force. He intended to bury Yu SHeng's entire body within the image. Killing light rained down on Yu Sheng, and yet the man remained standing where he was, quietly. The light that coursed about his body felt like he had been wearing an armor fused with both Buddhist and demonic powers, letting the killing force rain on him while he stood around doing nothing.
Voom. That person accelerated all of a sudden and brought dazzling images on Yu Sheng right there and then. His eyes were filled with wonder, wondering if Yu Sheng had a death wish.
However, he saw Yu Sheng move at the very next moment. Yu Sheng bent his legs and stepped out with a loud rumble.
That space shook violently, and a punch was thrown at the very next moment. That person had not been able to react in time. His images were penetrated by the dark golden fist, which then landed on his chest. He was sent flying with just one single attack.