"I think that there's no eigth tier Jindan Dao cultivator here that can match up to me. Are there any ninth tier ones that dare to challenge me instead? I thought Yan Huang Imperial City had many strong fighters. I guess there's not even a single capable one?"

Wu Yu wanted to prepare a supreme immortal treasure for himself, so the 20,000 pills he had earned thus far were not enough. If he accumulated around 40,000, that would be just about right.

He'd gradually earn the rest after that. His success rate when it came to refining immortal medicines was very high now, so he could go purchase raw materials to refine such medicines on his own.

Even though everyone left were old foxes, they were still attracted by the 20,000 Golden Essence Pills on the line. Additionally, Wu Yu was only an eighth tier Jindan Dao cultivator after all, and after several battles, he was likely to be at the end of the line. Due to this, many ninth tier Jindan Dao cultivators volunteered to go up after just a short moment of hesitation.

After all, once they won, they would earn a huge sum! Earning 20,000 Golden Essence Pills was never that easy.

Wu Yu randomly selected an opponent and decided to make it seem even harder for him to win this time. He wanted to try fighting another round after this in order to increase the number of Golden Essence Pills on him to close to 80,000!

As the battle started, the crowd was full of passion. Many of them even placed wagers of their own, and clamorous cheers erupted from the crowd. Some of them were even itching to replace either one of the fighters themselves.

Wu Yu wielded a spiritual immortal treasure that was of poor quality, yet he was repeatedly able to come back from death's door. He knew that even if he continued to act further, he would probably be uncovered soon. As such, he had already made the necessary preparations to stop battling at any time.

In the middle of this “difficult” battle, he wasted a lot of energy as he skipped and hopped away as he was chased to death.

A majority of the people had still placed bets against Wu Yu. At this moment, they started to shout at the fighters. They wanted the ninth tier Jindan Dao cultivator that was Wu Yu's opponent to deal with Wu Yu quickly.

"Kill him! Hurry up and kill him!"

“He dodged again, damn it! Could he not be such a cowardly tortoise?"

In the midst of the deafening sound from the crowd, Wu Yu wanted to delay things for a little more before "rising" in revolt to defeat his opponent.

At this moment, Wu Yu's vision swept over the thousands watching and he noticed that three people were staring at him from afar. There were countless Violet Kingdom of the Inner Sea cultivators present, but those three people made Wu Yu feel exceptionally threatened. As he took a closer look at them, he pretty much confirmed that the two males were at or exceeded the level of a Shushan Heaven sword rank disciple, and were the two strongest within the Wind Flower Snow Moon Palace.

"One's a Yan Huang Immortal Army soldier, and the other is probably the one who runs this place."

They had already taken notice of him, so Wu Yu knew that it would not be that easy for him to earn money using this method. It was slightly unethical for him to do so anyway.

"It's time to stop while I'm ahead." As he thought of this, Wu Yu immediately stopped suppressing his strength. He started to accelerate and arrived beside his opponent in just a short amount of time. With a single punch, he sent the ninth tier Jindan Dao cultivator flying out of the platform. As his opponent crashed into the crowd, the victor was determined in a single instant.

What a joke. Wu Yu would have been able to defeat such an opponent even back when he was still at the Supreme Hunting Ground.

"Thanks for letting me win." Wu Yu cupped his hands in respect.

His final punch had been too shocking. Due to this, the entire crowd was dead silent as they simply stared at him. They did not yet know how to react to it.

Even Feng Er also had her mouth agape in the wager area. She had just been joking with those beside her that Wu Yu would lose everything he had earned today if he carried on like this, and the last challenger would be able to take advantage of him. However, the battle had come to a spontaneous end just like that right before her very eyes.

Ultimately, Feng Er watched as Wu Yu lightly landed back on the ground. Her face still held a smile, just that it was only there because it was frozen stiff in shock.

"Sorry, but I've won. Please check on my Golden Essence Pills as you give them to me." Wu Yu started to pack up the immortal treasures belonging to his doppelgangers before collecting the Sumeru Pouch containing his own Golden Essence Pills. His opponent's Sumeru Pouch was still with Feng Er. She still had to subtract out some fees before handing it over to Wu Yu.

"You... you..." Feng Er was still in a daze for quite a while. She did not know what to say, but she had a vague idea of what had happened. Wu Yu was a wolf in sheep's clothing, and he was actually extremely skilled. Everything before this was merely an act.

"You went overboard!" Feng Er felt wronged.

"Cut out the nonsense and hurry up." Wu Yu glared at her.

"Alright." Feng Er subtracted several thousand Golden Essence Pills as the rake before handing the rest over to Wu Yu. As she handed over the Sumeru Pouch to him, she still felt a little unsatisfied. She originally thought she had managed to lure in an imbecile today, but she had let him win 40,000 Golden Essence Pills instead!

"Farewell." Wu Yu exchanged glances with Ji Qingan and the rest as he prepared to leave.

However, right at this very moment, the three of them started to walk toward Wu Yu. The people blocking the way immediately made a path for them the moment they noticed that it was Jiang Xuechuan and Ji Qingan.

"This young man is actually very strong. Winning money in this way is unethical, so that's why Palace Master Ji has personally come to deal with him, right?"

The ones who had lost money to Wu Yu maliciously guessed.

It has to be said that while Wu Yu's actions were unethical, they did not break the rules governing this place at all. In a place like this, one had to act like a wolf in sheep's clothing in order to win money.

As the crowd cleared a path, the three people swiftly appeared before Wu Yu. They had friendly expressions on their faces and did not seem like they were here to cause trouble. This made Wu Yu feel far more relaxed. This was still a foreign place to him after all, so if he had provoked others, it would be quite troublesome to settle things.

As the landlord of this place, Ji Qingan naturally had to be the one to bridge the gap between them. He walked ahead and stopped right before Wu Yu. He smiled as he said in a clear voice, "I am the caretaker of this Wind Flower Snow Moon Palace, and my name is Ji Qingan. My friends all know me as Palace Master Ji. Sorry for bothering you as a fellow friend of dao at this moment. Forgive my arrogance, but I just want to know if this fellow Dao practioner's name happens to be Wu Yu."

Wu Yu already anticipated that his reputation would spread to this place. This was indeed the case.

One would never slap someone who admitted his mistakes with a smile. Wu Yu nodded his head and replied, "That's right, I'm Wu Yu."

Actually, this was a name that sounded like many others, so even after hearing this, many people still could not figure out who he was. Someone in the crowd finally managed to connect the dots together and remarked, "I know now. He's the discarded disciple from Shushan. He caused quite a huge uproar recently, and there's even a significant connection between the turmoil in the Endless Demon Seas and him. Rumors say that he was with the Mizar Sword Immortal's daughter, Nangong Wei, but due to a difference of opinion on demons, they have now broken up with each other. He's even been expelled out of Shushan..."

"Oh, so that's him! Rumors say that his corporeal body is abnormally strong, and while he was at the seventh tier of Jindan Dao, he was already able to defeat Earth sword rank talents in Shushan! He's only 20 years old too. Apparently, the third ranked of Shushan, the Ursae Sword Immortal, was even prepared to accept him as a disciple!"

"It's such a pity that Shushan expelled him. I can even say that I don't think he's committed any grave sins either. The key thing is that the Mizar Sword Immortal hates demons way too much. The one known as Nangong Wei's the same as well, so that's the only reason why Wu Yu was expelled from Shushan just because he befriended Jiu Ying!"

The crowd started to recall who he was, which caused the scene to become livelier than before. To them, Wu Yu was a legendary figure as well, so regardless of whether they had just lost money to him, they all came over to get a better look at him.

Wu Yu had never expected his reputation to extend as far as Yan Huang Imperial City. Perhaps news traveled far less freely in the isolated Shushan, but this Yan Huang Imperial City was definitely the place where information flowed the most freely in this world. Any significant event that happened on the divine continent would result in rumors spreading like wildfire here in no time at all.

An unexpected surprise was that there seemed to be quite a number of people who supported his decisions. He did not think this would happen at all.

The truth was that Wu Yu had done nothing wrong in the eyes of the majority of the people here.

The stories of him giving up his love for his dao and shedding his blood to settle his debts on the Mortal Arena had, in fact, long spread across the entire divine continent.

That was why the crowd was so excited to actually see him in person.

"Everyone, keep quiet please." Ji Qingan had to clear his throat before the crowd stopped their clamor. Right now, it seemed like 10,000 or so people within the Wind Flower Snow Moon Palace had joined the crowd in encircling them.

"He's that Wu Yu?" Feng Er was driven mad upon learning this. Stars started to swirl in her eyes as she covered her cheeks and mumbled, "He's so cool. He even dared to go up against the Mizar Sword Immortal. What a hero! Yesterday, my sisters and I were discussing him, and we all felt that Nangong Wei was practically blind~."

Ji Qingan waited for the crowd to settle down before introducing Wu Yu to the other two.

Wu Yu never expected that he would be able to receive such a welcome in Yan Huang Imperial City, and he was still not quite used to this. In fact, he felt that from the Shushan Immortal Sect's point of view, he had definitely made a mistake. At the very least, he really believed that he had failed to live up to Nangong Wei's expectations.

Ji Qingan introduced them. "This man is wearing the Yan Huang Immortal Army's uniform, so I'm sure you can guess his identity. He's a chiliarch of the inner city, and is known as Commander Jiang Xuechuan. He's at the seventh tier of the Violet Kingdom of the Inner Sea, and his strength rivals that of the Shushan Sword Sages over at Shushan!"

Wu Yu was indeed able to feel the strength of this man who stood in the center of them. This Jiang Xuechuan was truly very powerful, and was even superior to most of the Heaven sword rank disciples.

"Commander Jiang has quite a say in the Yan Huang Immortal Army. In the inner city, he's an important figure indeed. His circle of friends stretches across the entire world, and he's definitely a passionate and straightforward man." Ji Qingan smiled as he introduced him.

Jiang Xuechuan said, "Brother Ji is too generous with his words. Wu Yu, I've heard about your experiences, and I feel that you're indeed a heroic figure in this world. You're an exceptional talent, and I'm glad that I have the good fortune to be able to meet you here like this today."

It was quite a surprise to Wu Yu that someone this important in the Yan Huang Immortal Army was so courteous to him.

Finally, Ji Qingan briefly introduced Commander Luo without much elaboration. After all, Commander Luo was merely a centurion and did not compare to the other two. She stood behind Jiang Xuechuan and looked at Wu Yu with her pair of azure eyes. She was as tranquil as snow, and did not say a single word. Wu Yu noticed her snow white hair, and even though a part of it was hidden within her helmet, it went without saying that such hair was a pinnacle of beauty that was indeed a rare sight in this world.

As Wu Yu was looking at Commander Luo, he was lost in a daze. He felt like this woman was one-of-a-kind in this world, and her elegance exceeded all other things in existence. She was like the sea sirens of legends. Even though her appearance was not known to others, there was still something about her that made his heart throb. This was especially true when she locked eyes with him.

"Wu Yu, I'll cut to the chase. I want to borrow your talent and invite you to join the Yan Huang Immortal Army and enter the inner city. Before all else, this will firstly guarantee that the people of Shushan will no longer be able to harm you in this lifetime. Secondly, the Yan Huang Immortal Army is stronger than the Shushan Immortal Sect, so you'll be able to fully develop your talents with us. I'm willing to bet that in a few years, you may not even be weaker than Nangong Wei and Beishan Mo. Even though they're being trained by the Seven Immortals of Shushan, the city lord of Yan Huang Imperial City is actually the strongest individual in the entire divine continent!"

Jiang Xuechuan was very straightforward. He directly made his complete intentions exceptionally clear before the entire crowd.

The first was to support Wu Yu.

The second was to give Wu Yu resources. These were resources that would allow him to catch up to the two star-like geniuses of Shushan after a period of 10 years or so.

"Lastly, Yan Huang Imperial City will not restrict you in any of your actions, even if you end up teaming up with demons. All you have to do is to be able to face your own conscience." Jiang Xuechuan's final line was clearly a dig at Shushan's adherence to old ideas.

After all, Yan Huang Imperial City was the divine continent's only central power. It never cared about the conflict between cultivators and demons.