Chapter 57: The Bet

The Artificer Academy now has a total of 989 artificer branches. Among them, the Zufire Hall is the most powerful, always ranking first in the annual artificer task statistics. Moreover, within the Zufire Hall, there are powerful Lower Earth Soul Immortals, hundreds of expert Earth Soul Immortals, and even millions of Human Immortal disciples.

Traditionally, the artificer tasks assigned by the Artificer Academy are given priority to the Zufire Hall. Whenever the Zufire Hall expresses interest in a task, other branches voluntarily avoid it.

The executive of the Zufire Hall is a beautiful young woman named Ning Yan, whose cultivation has reached the level of Five-Star Earth Soul Immortal. With a remarkable background and significant influence within the Youhan Sect, she was able to become the executive of the Zufire Hall. Naturally, Ning Yan, with her beauty and influence, never lacks admirers. Whenever she comes to the Artificer Academy to assign tasks, those who pursue her always follow closely behind.

That day, Ning Yan went to the headquarters of the Artificer Academy to assign some tasks. Following her were two executors who admired her: Zhan Yi from Jinghuatang and Wei Yue from Xinfulutang.

Ning Yan, Zhan Yi, and Wei Yue, along with ten followers each, arrived at the Chenger Hall and heard voices coming from the first-floor hall. The news that the Fire Lord had taken over all the artificer tasks assigned to One-Star Human Soul Immortals reached Ning Yan, Zhan Yi, and Wei Yue’s ears.

“What a jerk! Only our Zufire Hall has always been allowed to take on tasks. This new Tongzhou Hall dares to take over all the artificer tasks too? This is an insult to me!” Ning Yan snapped angrily before rushing into the first floor of the Chenger Hall.

Upon entering the hall, she went straight up to the Fire Lord and shouted angrily, “Are you the people from the newly joined Tongzhou Hall? How dare you take on all the One-Star Human Soul Immortal tasks? Isn’t that too much?”

Zhan Yi and Wei Yue followed closely behind, also looking as if they wanted to attack the Fire Lord.

The Fire Lord remained calm, smiling at Ning Yan and asking gently, “Beautiful lady, who are you?”

Huh!

At the Fire Lord’s words, everyone in the first floor took a deep breath in shock. They could hardly believe that the Fire Lord didn’t recognize Ning Yan—after all, she was the executive of the Zufire Hall!

Hearing the Fire Lord’s question, Ning Yan’s heart skipped a beat. She felt a flicker of interest, but it was quickly overshadowed by her anger at not being recognized. Her pretty face tensed up, and her eyes seemed ready to burst into flames.

“Damn you, you wretched Soul Immortal! What right do you have to ask for the name of Attendant Ning Yan?” Zhan Yi and Wei Yue both roared in anger. The thirty attendants behind Ning Yan, Zhan Yi, and Wei Yue also looked furious, ready to pummel Fire Venerable at the slightest command. Fire Venerable then laughed and said, “You two fools, didn’t you just tell me?” Zhan Yi and Wei Yue froze in shock. Ning Yan suddenly burst into laughter before her expression turned stern again as she glared at Fire Venerable in anger. “Zhan Yi and Wei Yue, these annoying guys keep following me. If it weren’t for the relationship between your families and our Ning family, I would have beaten them long ago. This Fire Venerable may seem arrogant, but he’s actually quite endearing,” Ning Yan thought to herself. Meanwhile, Zhan Yi and Wei Yue, both Four-Star Earth Soul Immortals, were seething with rage—Fire Venerable had called them fools in front of Ning Yan, and she had even laughed. “You brat, a mere Soul Immortal, daring to insult us Earth Soul Immortals? I’ll kill you!” “You’re indeed arrogant, but without strength, your arrogance will be your death sentence.” At the same time, Zhan Yi and Wei Yue rushed forward, grabbing at Fire Venerable from either side. “Don’t be presumptuous! This is the Vessel Hall!” Suddenly, a middle-aged man appeared on the first floor, stepping in front of Fire Venerable and blocking their attacks with outstretched hands. The man was Yue Zi’en, the one in charge of registration on the first floor. As a Six-Star Earth Soul Immortal of the Earth element, he easily repelled Zhan Yi and Wei Yue. After being pushed back by Yue Zi’en, seeing Fire Venerable smiling at them, their anger grew uncontrollable, and they rushed forward again to attack him. “Do you two want to be punished according to the sect rules?” Yue Zi’en frowned and swiftly threw them aside, scolding them angrily. Zhan Yi and Wei Yue got up from the ground, glaring at Fire Venerable, but they stopped trying to attack him. Finally, Ning Yan spoke up, shouting at Yue Zi’en, “Yue Zi’en, record this! This disciple from Tongzhou Hall has reserved all the first-tier alchemy tasks for One-Star Earth Soul Immortals. Why didn’t you stop him?” Instantly, everyone in the hall turned to Yue Zi’en with puzzled expressions. Yue Zi’en nodded at Ning Yan and smiled, saying, “Attendant Ning Yan, Tongzhou Hall’s reservation of all first-floor tasks does not violate any rules. Your Ancestral Fire Hall can also make reservations.”

Upon hearing this, Ning Yan immediately turned to look at Fire Lord, her eyebrows arching as she smiled and said, “We at Ancestral Fire Hall have also reserved all the crafting tasks at the one-star Human Soul Immortal level.” It was clear that Ning Yan was deliberately trying to make things difficult for Fire Lord. Yue Zien turned to look at Fire Lord to gauge his reaction before making a decision. Fire Lord directly smiled at Ning Yan and said, “Girl, are you targeting me? Our Tongzhou Hall has already taken on all the tasks, and yet you try to interfere.” Girl? This title made everyone in the hall take a deep breath again; some even instinctively headed for the exit, fearing that the conflict here might affect them, as it was no trivial matter. The Ning family was a powerful force within the Youhan Sect, and no one wanted to be targeted by them. As some left, others followed, and in moments, everyone in the hall left voluntarily, leaving only Fire Lord, Ning Yan, Zhan Yi, Wei Yue, and of course, Yue Zien, the recorder in charge of the first floor. “You brat! What’s your name? How dare you call me ‘girl’?” Ning Yan’s face turned red with anger, her murderous gaze fixed on Fire Lord. Fire Lord chuckled, then pulled Hua Hai over and casually said, “Hua Hai, tell this silly girl my name.” Silly girl? Ning Yan was completely stunned, as were Zhan Yi and Wei Yue. Even Yue Zien stared at Fire Lord in disbelief. Hua Hai observed everyone’s expressions and mustered up the courage to say, “He is a disciple of our Tongzhou Hall—Fire Lord.” “Fire Lord, you call yourself Fire Lord. As a lower-ranked Human Soul Immortal, how dare you call me ‘silly girl’? I won’t let you off. Yue Zien, the recorder, don’t assign a single one of the one-star Human Soul Immortal level crafting tasks to Tongzhou Hall. We at Ancestral Fire Hall have taken them all.” Ning Yan was in a frenzied state, her teeth gritting as if she wanted to bite Fire Lord to death. At this moment, she had decided that from now on, whenever Tongzhou Hall reserved crafting tasks, Ancestral Fire Hall would snatch them away, leaving Tongzhou Hall with nothing to do. “Our Jinghua Hall has also decided that from now on, we will reserve any tasks that Tongzhou Hall books.” “Our Xinfu Hall has also decided that from now on, we will reserve any tasks that Tongzhou Hall books.” Seeing Ning Yan angry at Fire Lord, Zhan Yi and Wei Yue immediately joined in. Hua Hai stood there, completely frozen like a statue.

Yue Zien watched the argument among them calmly, deciding to let them fight first before reporting to the ten elders on the top floor of the Chengci Hall.
Fire Lord smiled at the angry deacon, tossed his flowing hair aside, and looked at Ning Yan relaxedly, saying, “Girl, don’t get angry. Your face is so beautiful; if wrinkles appear, it won’t look good. The three of you really intend to prevent our Tongzhou Hall from having any crafting tasks, don’t you?”
Hearing Fire Lord’s words, Ning Yan, who had been filled with anger moments ago, suddenly didn’t want to get angry anymore, and her thoughts even stalled for a moment.
“Yes! How dare you look down on us? With your cultivation as a Human Soul Immortal, you show disrespect to us Earth Soul Immortals. We must punish you!” Ning Yan regained her composure and shouted at Fire Lord again, still furious.
“We must punish you,” Zhan Yi and Wei Yue added in unison.
Upon hearing this, a hint of disgust flashed in Ning Yan’s eyes.
Fire Lord smiled upon hearing their words and suddenly shouted, “The three of you, since you’re so determined to hinder our Tongzhou Hall’s crafting tasks, how about we make a bet?”
“How do we bet?” Ning Yan blurted out, feeling a strange thought arise in her mind after speaking—she didn’t understand her own behavior.
Ning Yan herself couldn’t explain why, but in just a short while, she had become somewhat concerned about Fire Lord and even wanted to get closer to him, so much so that she was willing to confront him to have more chances to meet in the future.
Zhan Yi and Wei Yue immediately asked, “Fire Lord, how do you propose to bet?”
Yue Zien also watched Fire Lord with great interest, eager to hear his betting plan.
With a constant smile on his face, seeing that the three had fallen for his bait, Fire Lord said, “In ten years, our Tongzhou Hall will complete all one-star Earth Soul Immortal-level crafting tasks. If we succeed, each of you will give me one billion Origin Stones as rewards. If we fail, I’ll give each of you one billion Origin Stones.”
Thirty billion Origin Stones!
What!
Ning Yan, Zhan Yi, and Wei Yue all showed shocked expressions upon hearing Fire Lord’s words and fell into a daze.
Yue Zien also stared at Fire Lord in disbelief, utterly shocked by his bold claim.
Hua Hai, standing beside Fire Lord, simply collapsed to the ground, his nose bleeding again.

The ten elders on the top floor of the Hall of Holders had been watching the activities in the main hall below. Hearing the words of Fire Venerable, they all let out sounds of surprise.