Chapter 128: Chapter 123: Dingyu Turns into Gambling
Translator: 549690339
Under the sweep of the shock wave, Li Fan felt like a withered leaf in a storm, uncontrollably blown backwards, until he was pushed several hundreds of miles away before he could manage to stabilize himself.
Fortunately, the shock wave was more about a show of power, its destructive force not substantial.
It seemed as though the power had been restrained, merely stirring up a huge wave that spread throughout the Misthaven Ocean, without causing any additional harm.
A bit like thunder being loud but the rain being small.
However, Li Fan didn’t dare underestimate it at all, this ultimate control of power truly demonstrated the terrifying strength of the other party.
The lock-on effect of the Formless Killing Machine had disappeared, indicating quite clearly that the unlucky cultivator had perished in the battle between the two powerhouses.
However, at this moment, Li Fan was advancing, flying towards the direction of the Celestial Palace of Clouds and Waters once again.
It wasn’t long before he could see the Celestial Palace again.
The massive blue transparent structure now bore a black layer.
Above, dark clouds were gathering, with incessant thunder rolling.
A massive vortex appeared above the Celestial Palace, as if it was going to swallow this newly unsealed structure once again.
The entire dome of the sky was trembling, with continuous buildings tilting and slowly collapsing towards the center of the vortex.
There seemed to be faint, resentful and angry roars emitted from the Celestial
Palace.
However, none of this could change its slow disappearance from reality. Half an hour later, this ancient sect that had only appeared in the world for just over five years, once again vanished between heaven and earth
Soon after, the dark thunder clouds gradually dissipated.
Between the sky and the ocean, the tranquility was quickly restored.
“Has the Celestial Palace of Clouds and Waters been resealed again? This didn’t happen in my past life.”
“Was it because of the Celestial Doctor Statue I sent in?”
In an instant, many thoughts flashed through Li Fan’s consciousness.
“So, in my past life, did Sikong Yi pocket the little statue instead of offering it to the Celestial Palace?”
“He dares to do so, relying on the Sky-Stealing and Sun-Swapping Decision?”
“No, there’s another possibility. The Celestial Doctor didn’t give the White Jade
Statue to Sikong Yi.”
“But he gave it to Lin Fan’s clone…”
“If that’s the case, did he see something?”
The creepy screams, terrifying images from the Celestial Palace reappeared in his head, leaving Li Fan full of doubts.
“What exactly did the Celestial Doctor do that led the Celestial Palace to harbor such a grudge against him…”
Li Fan then remembered the scene when he first met the Celestial Doctor.
“I’m just a damned old man who hasn’t died yet.”
“…Let this statue replace me and accompany them forever…”
When the Celestial Doctor said these words, his expression was filled with sorrow and nostalgia. It didn’t seem like he was pretending.
However, the more genuine he seemed, the more chills Li Fan felt.
“Regardless, this old man called the Celestial Doctor is dangerously powerful, even beyond my initial estimation. My clone has already appeared in his sight, I must not have any more contact with him.”
“This world is not a fixed game, often one unintentional move can trigger many unexpected changes.” “I have to be more cautious in the future.”
“Also, there’s that sword…”
“How many secrets are still hidden in this Misthaven Ocean?” Sighing, Li Fan abandoned his plan to wander aimlessly and hurried back to Ten Thousand Immortals Island.
Inside the Tianxuan Mirror, he searched again for information related to “Celestial Doctor”, “teacher” , and so on. All turned out to be recent discussions among cultivators.
There was no valuable information.
Li Fan was not surprised.
In the following period, Li Fan resumed his leisurely life on the island.
Occasionally, upon discovering a cultivator on the island on the edge of breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Phase, he would use the Formless Killing Machine to lock onto them and extract some understanding of the truth of Foundation Establishment.
He also routinely took on some tasks to accumulate contribution points.
He planned to exchange those contribution points for Natural Treasure in the Tianxuan Mirror, then use it to energize [Real] for unlocking the second anchor point.
He already had a rough plan on how to utilize the second anchor point but needed to unlock it first to make sure.
The mundane life of cultivation is not everything in a cultivator’s life.
A vast majority of cultivators are not like Zhang Haobo who cultivates twenty-four hours a day. They also have their hobbies.
In the Misthaven Ocean, the most popular hobby is Dingyu.
In the far northwest of the Misthaven Ocean, there’s a solitary island surrounded by cliffs on all sides.
Sea water flows upwards along the cliffs, converging in the center of the island, forming a lake.
Every month, when the accumulated water in the lake reaches its peak, it will spurt towards the sky, returning the sea water back to the ocean.
At this moment, countless fish are brought along, leaping through the air.
And among them, there’s always one that jumps the highest.
A few years ago, a passing cultivator chanced upon this spectacle and was intrigued.
He refined all the other fish in the lake into essence and feed them to the fish that jumped the highest. That fish hence underwent a metamorphosis, becoming almost as strong as a Demonic Beast and returned to the sea.
From then on, the lake on this solitary island attracted more and more fish.
Later on, this cultivator had an argument over the ownership of a treasure with a friend.
He remembered this place and suggested that both of them each choose a fish as a representative. Whoever’s fish can jump higher on the day the lake water bursts, the treasure will belong to that person.
His friend found this idea interesting, and so agreed.
This action attracted a few curious cultivators who put up their own bets and joined in.
An array was set up around the island to prevent exotic beasts from the ocean with superior abilities from straying in.
In twenty-seven days, they would each observe and choose the fish they liked. Three days before the spurt of water, they would make a final decision and no change would be allowed afterward.
The winner takes all. Whoever’s selected fish jumps the highest will win all the treasures bet by the other cultivators.
If someone is lucky enough to select the one fish that jumps the highest, it is considered a first-class prize, and the earnings will be multiplied.
The selected fish can only be observed through personal consciousness, enhancement with Spiritual Energy is not allowed. Anyone found cheating will be executed by the rest of the cultivators.
At the end, all the other fish will still be refined into essence and fed to the “Fish Leader”.
Eventually, the fish chosen by this cultivator came second, and he lost his treasure.
But he wasn’t upset, only believing that he had made a misjudgment, having found the secret within.
He decided that they should meet again in this place after the next month to determine the winner.
All the other cultivators excitedly agreed.
Thus, this “Fish Gambling”, gradually attracted more and more cultivators.
With the increase in participants, the rules were slightly adjusted.
A prize pool came into existence.
Each time half of the bets goes into the current prize pool and half goes into the jackpot.
The first prize is considered a first-class prize; the second to the tenth are classified as secondary prizes.
The first prize winner gets half, the second to tenth evenly split the other half.
If someone can guess the Fish Leader, they will win all the prizes.
At the end of each year, the accumulated jackpot is cleared, creating a super
grand prize..
