Chapter 208.1: The Five Elements Decomposition Reveals Its Might, Ten Straight Wins Shock the Battle Arena! (I)
"I will... continue," Lu Changsheng said evenly.
The arena official was not particularly surprised. Usually, those who came to fight and won three straight did not choose to leave but pressed on. Of course, by choosing to keep fighting, they were willingly walking the very edge of life and death.
"Very well. I'll arrange your fourth match. The usual rules apply, set for three days from now. By the way, you can call me Wang Cheng. If you have any matters concerning the arena, come straight to me."
Lu Changsheng nodded. The fact that the man took the initiative to introduce himself showed plainly that he thought well of Lu Changsheng. From such small details alone, Lu Changsheng knew he was no longer a nobody in the arena.
Three days slipped by, and Wang Cheng came to find him.
"Your next opponent is Zhang Long. He's won five bouts in a row, and his strength is formidable. You still have the right to refuse."
One had the right to decide a fight only after they had won three straight fights.
"Zhang Long... Yeah, I've seen his fights. I'll take him on," Lu Changsheng said calmly.
"Good. Then sign the agreement and leave your mental imprint."
Lu Changsheng nodded. The agreement and the imprint would lapse on their own once the bout was done. Before each new match he would sign and leave a fresh one, and as long as it was before signing, he could still refuse. Once his mental imprint was set, he simply had to wait.
By now his coming clash with Zhang Long had stirred up a lot of discussion.
"After three straight wins, Lu Changsheng decided to keep fighting, and his first match is against Zhang Long, out of all people."
"Zhang Long is a big deal. He's incredibly strong, and he's won five fights already."
"Indeed. Zhang Long also wields five Principles, but his divine techniques are constantly shifting, each complementing the others. His combat power is brutal. I think Lu Changsheng might be in trouble."
"Hehe, whatever happens, I'm betting on Lu Changsheng again this time. I've already made a tidy sum off him."
"The odds on Lu Changsheng are a bit low now, but it looks like plenty of people are still backing him."
"I'm still putting my money on Lu Changsheng."
Lu Changsheng was unaware of the public perception and the betting situation. He simply water in silence. Several hours later Wang Cheng returned to inform him about the betting total for this match.
"The total wagered on this bout comes to 13,640 spirit stones," Wang Cheng said, his spirits visibly lifted.
Hearing that, Lu Changsheng's eyes widened. More than ten thousand!
And this was only Lu Changsheng's fourth match. Of course, that owed much to his opponent being Zhang Long, a supreme Dao Foundation martial artist with five straight wins and considerable fame of his own.
A single duel had broken ten thousand spirit stones, and the odds were one to one.
"If there's nothing else—"
Lu Changsheng cut him off. "I want to place a bet."
"Uh, you want to bet? Sure, that won't be a problem, so long as it doesn't exceed the total wagered."
Wang Cheng did not urge caution, and the reason was simple. If Lu Changsheng lost the fight, he would lose his life too, and any amount of spirit stones he had saved would simply go to waste. In truth, most martial artists who fought in the arena bet on themselves.
And sure enough, Lu Changsheng decided to go all in. "I'll stake all four hundred and seventy-four spirit stones."
"Four hundred seventy-four? Done." Wang Cheng took the stones.
But Lu Changsheng was not finished. He also took out a porcelain vial. "I'll also stake a drop of Heavenly Spirit Water. At the current market price, it should be worth ten thousand spirit stones, right?"
"Heavenly Spirit Water?" Wang Cheng was taken aback.
That was Heavenly Spirit Water, worth more than ten thousand spirit stones even at a single drop. And it was a hard currency, more precious than spirit stones and never discounted in the slightest.
"Are you sure about this? You really want to stake a drop of Heavenly Spirit Water?"
"Yes, take it," Lu Changsheng said without hesitation.
He had not done so before only because all the previous fight had drawn fewer than ten thousand spirit stones, leaving him no way to wager a drop of Heavenly Spirit Water. But now that this match's pool topped ten thousand, he could bet aggressively like this.
"Very well. Hand it over." Wang Cheng took the Heavenly Spirit Water and went off to place the bet.
Lu Changsheng was entirely at ease. This time, if he won, he would walk away with a vast sum of spirit stones, which was the whole reason he had come to the arena in the first place.
With everything set in place, he slowly closed his eyes and waited.
Two hours later, Lu Changsheng finally stepped onto the platform for his fourth fight.
Zhang Long was already there, ready for his sixth fight. So far, he had been an overwhelming combatant, surging forward with great force, his various divine techniques woven together with consummate skill, his combat power brutal.
"Begin." The official's voice fell.
Boom!
Zhang Long moved first. He knew a fight with Lu Changsheng had to be quick. More than that, he was well aware that Lu Changsheng possessed a divine technique that could bind an opponent, and he could not allow him to actually unleash that technique.
In the next instant, a rare Principle stirred faintly within Zhang Long's Mind Space.
"Divine technique, Mental Shockwave!"
With a hum, a mental shockwave swept toward Lu Changsheng in an instant. No one had imagined Zhang Long had condensed the Mental Principle, much less that he could unleash a mental divine technique.
"What, Zhang Long has six Principles, and he's even practiced a mental divine technique?"
"Zhang Long's hidden it deep. In all five earlier bouts he never showed the Mental Principle, never unleashed a mental divine technique, keeping it concealed until now."
"Mental techniques hit the mind hard. However powerful Lu Changsheng's divine techniques are, can he even bring them out under that mental assault? If he can't, then he's in real trouble."
"The Mental Principle is notoriously difficult to master. To think that Zhang Long has managed it... He's no ordinary fighter..."
"Aaah... Maybe I shouldn't have bet so much on Lu Changsheng."
"Lu Changsheng and Zhang Long were supposed to be evenly matched, but it turns out that Zhang Long was hiding his Mental Principle. Now that he's unleashed it all of a sudden, what can Lu Changsheng even do?"
Many spectators hung their heads in despair. Nearly all of them had backed Lu Changsheng. After all, he had been so dominant in his first three fights, so dazzling, that the odds on him had even dropped low; clearly he was the favorite.
However, it seemed to many that the honeymoon was over. Zhang Long had hitherto concealed his true strength, and now he had taken Lu Changsheng by surprise with a fearsome mental technique. At this point, Lu Changsheng's defeat seemed almost certain.
Voosh!
However, Lu Changsheng remained calm, even as the mental shockwave came sweeping toward him. Perhaps a flicker of surprise crossed his eyes, but no more than that.
Mental Black Hole!
Within his Mind Space, a vast black hole emerged with a hum, looking endlessly deep and mysterious.
Swoosh!
And just like that, the shockwave vanished, devoured outright by the Mental Black Hole without the slightest effect.
"What?"
"Lu Changsheng has a mental technique too?"
"He's mastered the Mental Principle as well?"
"It has to be. That black hole can devour the mind itself. Even Zhang Long's Mental Shockwave was swallowed whole. Lu Changsheng's technique is clearly superior."
"I guess keeping parts of your arsenal hidden has become a common strategy. Zhang Long kept his technique hidden through those five matches, and Lu Changsheng did the same with his three matches."
"Zhang Long's in trouble now. The mental divine technique must have been his trump card, and now it turned out to be useless. What's he going to do now?"
"Is this going to be another flawless victory for Lu Changsheng?"
Lu Changsheng's Mental Black Hole left all the spectators stunned. Some even began to wonder whether the Mental Principle was truly as difficult to master as they had thought. First Zhang Long, and then Lu Changsheng—two up-and-coming martial artists suddenly revealing their Mental Principles to stun the entire arena.
On the platform, Zhang Long was the most shaken of all, his face a picture of disbelief.
"Impossible. How could you have a mental technique? I can't die here... I have no choice but to kill you..." Zhang Long's face flushed a deep red, his expression twisting.
Hum... Voosh!
Multiple mental shockwaves surged toward Lu Changsheng in a frenzy.
Lu Changsheng did not know what Zhang Long was after, or what bitter circumstances had driven him to the arena. But it made no difference. This match-up was simply Zhang Long's misfortune, nothing else.
A thought stirred in Lu Changsheng's mind, and the Mental Black Hole swelled once more. Like sweeping away dead leaves, it devoured every one of Zhang Long's mental shockwaves, then surged back the other way and plunged into his body in an instant.
"Ghaaa!" Zhang Long broke into screaming.
In truth, his mind was quite strong, given that he also possessed the Mental Principle. However, Lu Changsheng's Mental Black Hole, the ultimate mental technique he could devise with his current level of Perception, was infinitely more powerful.
Although Zhang Long's mind had not been devoured whole in an instant, the better part of it was destroyed, all while he endured unbearable agony.
Lu Changsheng swept out his hand, and the Lesser Five Elements Annihilation surged forth at once. A black current washed over Zhang Long, cutting off his screams and reducing him to dust.
And just like that, Zhang Long had been slain by Lu Changsheng with the lightest of touches.
Many spectators felt an odd sense of deja vu, as this fight had concluded in a strikingly similar fashion to Lu Changsheng's previous fights. Whatever opponent he faced, he simply wiped them out with a casual flip of his palm. Thus far, no one had managed to push Lu Changsheng even close to his limits.
This time, he had even revealed a Mental Principle and a complementary divine technique. And yet, none could say whether that was his trump card. Perhaps Lu Changsheng had even more surprises in store. No one knew just how vast his arsenal really was.
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