Chapter 35: No One Responds

“Yan Que, I’m sorry, but I won this time.”
As soon as Qu Yi heard Zong Jing announce the result of the battle, he happily stood up and shouted loudly, as if afraid his voice wouldn’t be loud enough.
The Eight Realms Divine Kings all looked resentful but couldn’t argue.
Of course, Yan Que was the most upset. Not only had he lost the bet, but he had also lost face in front of the cultivators at the Eight Realms Divine Marshal stage. More importantly, he had lost a Divine King artifact due to this, filling him with immense anger.
“It’s okay. I can afford to lose one Divine King artifact,” Yan Que replied calmly, without even turning to look at Qu Yi.
Yan Que was well aware that if he turned around and saw Qu Yi’s smug expression at that moment, he might lose control of his anger and attack him immediately. But he knew that outside this virtual battlefield, there must be a Divine Emperor watching. If he acted recklessly regardless of his status, the Divine Emperor would punish him without hesitation.
Qu Yi smiled at Zong Jing.
“Since the bet has been decided, I’ll follow the rules and hand over the two Divine King artifacts to Qu Yi,” Zong Jing said with a smile before tossing the two artifacts to him.
Qu Yi took the artifacts and sat down smiling, continuously stroking the divine sword that Yan Que had brought, seemingly trying to annoy Yan Que on purpose.
Yan Que pretended not to notice and sat calmly.
At that moment, Zong Jing glanced at Xiao Feng, Yang Guo, Guo Jing, Duan Yu, and Xu Zhu on the battle platform and nodded, saying with a smile, “Next, the five of you will continue drawing lots to fight. Those who draw an empty lot will be exempt this time.”
With five people, only two battles could take place, and the remaining person would advance directly.
Upon hearing Zong Jing’s words, Xiao Feng, Yang Guo, Duan Yu, and Xu Zhu all shouted at the same time, “Divine King, we decide to give up fighting and hand over the position of City Lord of Exchange Beast City to Guo Jing.”
Since only five people were left, all of whom were members of Tianfeng Fort, there was no need to continue fighting. Among these five, only the honest Guo Jing was easy to reason with and could endure loneliness. Naturally, he was the most suitable candidate for the position of City Lord.
Guo Jing smiled innocently.
Hearing this, Zong Jing could only nod. Since four people had given up fighting, only Guo Jing remained, so he would have to take on the role of City Lord.
The Eight Realms Divine Kings and the cultivators at the Eight Realms Divine Marshal stage watched the actions on the battle platform, filled with anger, but they could do nothing. The rules were clear, and they couldn’t blame the five people from Tianfeng Fort for their actions.

The position of city lord in Kuangshou City also fell into the hands of Tianfeng Camp. Adding to the original 100 city lord positions in Ze Dai Divine Realm, Tianfeng Camp has now taken 101 of them, leaving only seven cities remaining.

The three Divine Kings of Ze Dai Divine Realm—Gongye Ming, Gongye Zhong, and Gongye Yu—saw that their divine realm, which they once ruled, had now been hollowed out by Tianfeng Camp. Their anger was so intense that even killing every single person in Tianfeng Camp wouldn’t be enough to relieve it.

“It doesn’t matter. As long as we can kill Qu Yi, these people from Tianfeng Camp, even if they seize all 108 cities, won’t be able to succeed. Our Gongye family has ways to strip these city lords of their power,” the three Divine Kings thought coldly.

Undoubtedly, the eight Divine Kings of the various realms were not influenced by the exciting scenes involving Qu Yi and Tianfeng Camp. They all had one goal in mind: simply kill Qu Yi.

The three Divine Kings on Nanyin Island exchanged glances, smiles passing between them.

Every additional city lord position for Tianfeng Camp meant greater strength for the Ascendants, so these three were naturally extremely excited. However, as the host of this individual battle, Zong Jing couldn’t show too much enthusiasm.

“Next is the position of city lord in Duiciao City. Any cultivator who wishes to compete for this position can come forward and register,” Zong Jing called out loudly again.

At these words, the Divine General-level cultivators of Ze Dai Divine Realm became eager to compete, especially the few disciples of the Gongye family at that rank. After all, it was time to fight for the city lord positions in Ze Dai Divine Realm. Due to unspoken rules, cultivators from other divine realms would surely not join in, so it would be a competition among the cultivators of Ze Dai Divine Realm itself. Seeing that Tianfeng Camp had easily taken over 101 city lord positions, the Divine General-level cultivators of Ze Dai Divine Realm were filled with anger and determined to regain some face this time.

“I’ll do it!” A loud voice rang out, and soon a tall cultivator flew onto the Yin-Yang Fish fighting platform. This person was Gongye Zhi—the one who had led ten Divine General-level disciples of the Gongye family to chase after Qu Yi last time in the outer seas.

“Great!”

The Divine General-level cultivators of Ze Dai Divine Realm, seeing Gongye Zhi already on the platform, immediately cheered loudly, their fighting spirit rising. Then, another ten Divine General-level cultivators from Ze Dai Divine Realm flew onto the platform and stood behind Gongye Zhi, acting as a protective force.

At this moment, all the Divine General-level cultivators from the eight realms turned their attention to Tianfeng Camp, with even more eyes fixed on Qu Yi, eager to see who he would send to compete for the city lord position this time.

Seeing so many eyes fixed on him, Qu Yi couldn’t help but smile. After clearing his throat, he called out, “Brothers of Tianfeng Fort, this time, the Ze Dui Divine Realm has sent eleven people to compete for the title of the city lord of Dui Qiao City. Let’s send eleven of our own as well. There are only eleven spots—those who want to go ahead should volunteer.”

Haha…

The 19,000 Divine Marshal-level cultivators of Tianfeng Fort laughed in response to Qu Yi’s words, their laughter carrying a hint of mockery toward the Ze Dui Divine Realm. Soon, eleven people from Tianfeng Fort stood up and flew to the Yin-Yang Fish combat platform.

Fei Changxia, the leader of Tianfeng Fort, along with ten others, smiled as they faced Gongye Zhi and the other eleven people, their presence even more imposing and their fighting spirit even stronger.

Zong Jing, seeing the situation on the combat platform, laughed and said, “There are twenty-two people in total. Let’s follow the previous rules—draw lots to determine our opponents.”

Immediately, a disc appeared, containing twenty-two cards. Fei Changxia and Gongye Zhi, along with the others, each took a card and flipped it over to find someone whose card matched the color at the bottom of theirs. Naturally, everyone quickly identified their opponents.

Fei Changxia faced a Divine Marshal-level cultivator from the Ze Dui Divine Realm, while Gongye Zhi faced Zhen Wu Liao from Tianfeng Fort. The eleven combatants soon flew to the same place, and eleven transparent energy shields appeared on the combat platform.

The battle was about to begin!

Qu Yi stood up then, his eyes smiling as he glanced at the Eight Realms’ Divine Kings. “Is there anyone among you Divine Kings willing to bet against me again? The rules are the same as last time—if the cultivators of Tianfeng Fort win more matches, I win; if they win fewer, I lose.” Qu Yi shouted loudly, clearly excited.

No one responded!

These Divine Kings weren’t fools. After what had happened with Yan Que last time, who would foolishly give Qu Yi another Divine King artifact? Naturally, all the Divine Kings remained silent, not even a single Divine Marshal-level cultivator daring to look at Qu Yi.

Seeing this, Qu Yi smiled again and continued, “Never mind. I’ll suffer a loss. If I win, you only need to give me one Divine King artifact; if I lose, I’ll compensate you with two. Is that acceptable?”

Still, no one responded!

Although Qu Yi’s second attempt to persuade them had somewhat insulted their dignity, these Divine Kings understood well that answering would mean falling into his trap, forcing them to participate in the bet and inevitably giving him a Divine King artifact. They refused to bet—definitely refused.

The divine kings thought to themselves with certainty, repeating those words countless times.
“None of you divine kings dare to bet against me? All the cultivators at the Divine Marshal stage from the Eight Realms can watch you here. It’s just a small bet, yet you all refuse to take it on—how lacking in courage!” Qu Yi, acting as if he didn’t care about anything, shouted again in an attempt to provoke these divine kings.
Haha…
The 19,000 people of Tianfeng Fort all laughed, staring at the cultivators at the Divine Marshal stage from the Eight Realms with disdainful looks.
Meanwhile, the cultivators at that stage all lowered their heads. They knew it wasn’t their turn to speak—this was a battle between the divine kings and Qu Yi. If they spoke up and angered the divine kings, they would suffer later.
Sure enough, after Qu Yi’s mocking words grew louder, the expressions of the divine kings from the Eight Realms turned grim.
“You brat Qu Yi, this is a one-on-one battle between cultivators at the Divine Marshal stage, not a place for gambling. Stop making such noise,” said Gongye Yu, the divine king of the Zedui Divine Realm, his voice cold and full of reproach.
Gongye Yu was a goddess-king, beautiful in appearance yet exuding a chill aura.
Hearing this and realizing it was Gongye Yu who spoke, Qu Yi couldn’t continue shouting. After all, facing a woman, he couldn’t afford to be so brazenly mocking and pressuring her. Yet, he still wasn’t willing to give up the bet.
“Since it’s Divine King Yu who’s speaking, I’ll obey. How about this? The bet still stands, but the stakes will be different. If I win, I only need one divine artifact at the Divine Marshal stage from you. If I lose, I’ll give you a divine king artifact in return,” Qu Yi said with a smile.
The divine kings were shocked. Such a bet clearly favored Qu Yi. A divine artifact at the Divine Marshal stage—divine kings had many of those, and they could easily give one away. But if Qu Yi lost, he’d have to give away a divine king artifact.
Gongye Yu hadn’t expected that by stepping in, she’d end up in such a bet. Although the eleven people from Tianfeng Fort would surely win the fight, refusing this bet would truly damage her dignity as a divine king.
“Very well, I’ll bet with you,” Gongye Yu said helplessly, accepting the bet.
In truth, such betting terms were somewhat humiliating for her as a divine king. After all, it was beneath her status to take such an advantage. But she also didn’t want to get angry at Qu Yi and rashly hand over a divine king artifact, so she pretended to accept it reluctantly.

Qu Yi sat down on the seat with a smile.
At that moment, the eleven combat monks inside the light barrier began to fight.
Fei Changyan faced off against a male monk and took out a yellow whip, which was a divine artifact at the Divine Hero level.
With just one whip strike, that male monk was split in two!