Upon seeing this, Gu Zuo furrowed his brows.

His patron was wounded? That wasn't good… Although the current tolerance of his patron's body was fine, he couldn't sustain injuries. It would've been wonderful if he didn't get hurt.

He went over without delay, still acting as a henchman. From his sleeve — In fact, it was his storage s.p.a.ce that he fished out a jade bottle. He stuffed it into his patron's hand, who'd just gotten off the stage.

This was undoubtedly the perfect grade qi generating pills. 1

When he was in the villa, Gongyi Tianheng was still fine. But ever since he ventured out, whenever he nearly exhausted his true qi in the Stampeding Oxen Mountain Range, he used this kind of qi generating pill.

Now that he engaged in combat, this naturally wasn't an exception.

Gongyi Tianheng didn't bother being polite and immediately took the porcelain bottle. He wrapped his fingers around the bottle's body and flipped it. A plump and glossy medicinal pill was shaken out and it plunged directly into his mouth. Afterwards, he pulled a bench over and sat cross-legged, regulating his breath to recover his true qi.

This was the first time he'd done this since fighting someone. On the contrary, there were some people who used their heads, and thought about the quality of his pills. However, they could only roughly infer that the qualities were high. The specifics were unknown.

Not long after, Tianheng opened his eyes. The vigor in his body was a bit stronger than before.

Gu Zuo moved closer and softly asked: “Young master, are you okay?”

Tianheng smiled: “I made a breakthrough.”

Gu Zuo gaped.

A breakthrough? Could it be from Meridian Condensing third stage to Houtian ninth stage perfect-grade?

However, this Houtian ninth stage perfect-grade originally referred to the power of the ninth stage being flawlessly polished. One could engage the concept of the half-step into the Xiantian realm. Furthermore, this wasn't a genuine breakthrough. And if one said that his patron already broke through to half-step Xiantian, then it wouldn't seem like such a big deal…

During this time, Gu Zuo was a little confused.

Gongyi Tianheng saw his puzzlement, but didn't immediately explain. He merely opened his mouth and arrogantly said: “You still haven't fetched this young master's gambling money?”

Gu Zuo snapped out of it at once, and promptly left for the sales counter.

The eyes of the wizened shopkeeper standing at the sales counter held a bit of killing intent.

With regards to the a.s.sa.s.sin organization of the entire continent, the Ghost Division, 1.28 million gold was naturally a paltry sum. However, with regards to such a tiny stronghold, that was already a huge amount of operating funds.

It was only that the underworld had its own rules. At least in this stronghold, they couldn't renege on their debts. Also, they couldn't harm these newcomers who gambled with high stakes and won big time.

It could only be when…it was in the Arena.

That wizened shopkeeper's face trembled as he reluctantly smiled: “I'm not aware if that young master wants to keep betting?”

Gu Zuo turned his head and looked towards Tianheng.

Gongyi Tianheng raised an eyebrow: “What are the odds?”

Gu Zuo turned his head again and looked to the shopkeeper: “Our young master asked a question!”

The wizened shopkeeper's mouth twitched: “One to two.”

Gu Zuo quickly raised his voice: “Young master, one to two!

"

Tianheng sneered: “Such small odds? Where's the fun in that? Go bring my golden banknotes back!”

Gu Zuo again shouted: “As you command, young master!”

Afterwards, under the reluctant gaze of the wizened shopkeeper, the gambling patrons, as well as the greedy eyes of the surrounding martial artists, he picked up that thick stack of golden banknotes and hurriedly delivered it to his patron.

Gongyi Tianheng shot a glance: “I'll just give it to you to hold.”

Gu Zuo heard all the people around suck in a breath, and restrained his laughter: “Yes, young master!”

Following that, he stashed that stack of golden banknotes into the front of his robes. Then at last, he sensed scorchingly hot gazes from all directions.

This feeling was a little dreadful.

Gu Zuo held his breath and hid behind Dragon Two.

Ah…he was just a weak pharmacist.

However, while Gongyi Tianheng didn't place any bets, his opponent's strength was still even more powerful. 2

The opponent who appeared this round seemed like a terrible beast — No, it should be that when he didn't move, he was like a ghost. And once he moved, he was incomparably vicious. His body was enveloped in a fiendish aura just like a killing machine. It was very scary!

At this moment, Gongyi Tianheng was satisfied in his heart.

He could tell that this veteran killing machine was one genuinely cultivated by the Ghost Division. A killer who'd undertaken countless a.s.sa.s.sinations. Tianheng didn't know how many lives he'd taken; he was truly an elite a.s.sa.s.sin.

If he only fought with a couple average hoodlums, why would he have specifically sought out this stronghold? He could've had his subordinates investigate some information to find bandits and so on, then just eliminate them. What he wanted was not only to help train himself against the Ghost Division's novice a.s.sa.s.sins, but after Xu Wenhe's proposal, he already had a plan — What he wanted was the feeling of hanging by a thread between life and death. It was to temper himself in a life or death struggle!

It was only when one approached death again and again, did one conquer it. This could allow him to steadily increase his willpower and make him capable of confronting any kind of crisis. From here on, he would step onto the path of the martial artist and reach its peak!

As a result, Gongyi Tianheng used his vaguely arrogant att.i.tude and large denominations of money to provoke those gamblers' nerves. Afterwards, through his victories, he made those gamblers frantic and made the stronghold's administrator recognize that he shouldn't be messed with. When he stepped on the stronghold's bottom line, he promptly pulled back. Now, the stronghold was finally willing to show their trump card.

— At this time, the entire stronghold didn't want to let Tianheng live.

As he was so unbridled and egotistical, it didn't matter if his recklessness or arrogance was real or not. Regardless of his ident.i.ty, they all wanted to peel off a layer of skin!

This att.i.tude from the stronghold was precisely what Tianheng wanted.

Gongyi Tianheng was crazy.

Of course, at this time, Gu Zuo hadn't yet discovered that his patron's madness had already started to flare up. He only saw his patron's current opponent shuddering, and innocently waited for his patron's triumph.

He firmly believed that his patron would surely achieve a total victory!

______

This round, Gongyi Tianheng couldn't fight so easily and he didn't conceal his strategies.

He fully utilized all his available martial skills and his footwork was unpredictable. Since the last fight, his speed was faster, his fighting was fiercer, his angles of attack were craftier, and his coordination was sharper.

Some martial artists' lines of sight often weren't able to react and follow along before he already changed over ten moves. In dozens of attacks, the sounds of explosions never stopped. There were air-breaking sounds between the palm strikes he brandished.

Many martial artists found that this pampered young master's speed was faster and it seemed he was even stronger. However, it was obvious that there wasn't such a terrifying power before. Wasn't this kind of frightful progress in such a short period of time simply too exaggerated? Or should it be said that this youngster had hidden his strength from the very beginning?

That veteran killing machine practically turned into a blackened shadow and could engage from all kinds of elusive angles. He used a terrible power to unleash a certain-kill strike!

Only, these attacks were still obstructed by Tianheng. Their punches and kicks crossed paths and m.u.f.fled impacts sounded continuously. The power of this fight's collisions erupted in rumbling bursts.

Gongyi Tianheng was extremely calm.

He really sensed a boundless killing intent that wanted to rend his flesh and burrow into his bone marrow. There were even many times when he dangerously avoided those killing moves. In the instant that his counterpart's murderous aura overflowed, he could observe his opponent's bad habits. His body would dodge beyond the predicted trajectory of his opponent's attacks and he could calculate many ways to respond.

This was a kind of exceptional insight that seemed inherent. Together with his incomparable IQ, his powerful brain became his strongest resource.

The greater the life or death crisis, the calmer his mind became.

This made his eyes seem like two mirrors. That killing machine's a.s.sa.s.sination techniques were all brought into focus.

Thus, even though he was a killing machine meticulously cultivated by the Ghost Division, he could only give Gongyi Tianheng a few small injuries in the beginning because Tianheng had yet to adapt to his tempo. And the more Tianheng fought, the braver he became. That killing machine truly looked like a machine whose electricity had run dry. He couldn't maintain his lighting-fast, storm-like a.s.sa.s.sination techniques any longer!

Gongyi Tianheng didn't forget to keep his arrogant expression, but his movements didn't match his expression in the least. He suddenly used heavenly eagle steps and quickly switched it with spirit serpent steps. Compared to the a.s.sa.s.sin, it was still craftier than anything previously. He covertly wrapped around behind the a.s.sa.s.sin and used his fingers to snap his neck!

That's right. This a.s.sa.s.sin's neck was already hardened through training, but Tianheng had prepared early on. He utilized his complete strength to efficiently get rid of the Ghost Division's killing machine!

One fight ended.

Countless martial artists were bitter and hateful.

The majority of martial artists who stayed here for a long time all had exceptional eyesight. And besides a small number of brainless gambling addicts, the gamblers who regularly placed their bets wouldn't let the excitement of the high-stakes cloud their own judgment.

For example, there were some among them who were very successful at calculating. They'd long ago guessed that the high-profile Gongyi Tianheng and his group wouldn't have such a good ending. When that killing machine actually showed up, even more people found that he was different from many of the martial artists here.

Naturally, a great majority of the gamblers conscientiously saw through him. They believed that no matter how gifted Tianheng was, he wouldn't risk his life fighting in a perilous 3 place like this. It was impossible to compare to the elite a.s.sa.s.sin carefully bred by the Ghost Division. When placing their bets, they chose the veteran killing machine.

Who could've thought that it was Gongyi Tianheng who'd ultimately win?

One fight after another.

Every time the martial artists felt that Tianheng might lose, he always won quite handily. It wasn't until after the Ghost Division's elite arrived that they still had their faces slapped.

In the end, this made them sense the stirrings of an abnormal development…

Everyone's complexions changed.

Gu Zuo hastily went to greet his patron and continued to offer him the perfect grade qi generating pills in addition to the perfect grade rejuvenation pills — Not only had his patron's clothes become tattered, the wounds on his body were large and small, which produced dozens of rivets of blood. His patron rapidly recovered from his injuries and his strength was restored. Not a single wound was overlooked.

Only, Gu Zuo knew that the following battles would still be hard-fought!

…Ai, his patron was truly too adventurous.

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>>

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1 I'll be retroactively changing “highest quality” to “perfect grade.”

2 Tianheng stopped placing bets on himself, but he's still fighting in the Arena.

3 刀山血海 - Dao shan xue hai, knifes in the mountains and blood in the sea. It means a location that is so dangerous, a person would die a horrible death.

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