#312 - Keep gambling! (4000 words)

Xu Ming felt the two people walking towards him, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

In the beginning, the reason why Xu Ming made this bet with Shixin was because Shixin was too pure, and Xu Ming couldn't help but want to bully her a little.

But who knew that bullying her would be like subverting her worldview.

Now, if he wins everything, what a big impact it will have on Shixin!

Taiwan Novel Network → 𝘁 𝘄 𝗸 𝗮 𝗻 . 𝗰 𝗼 𝗺

But it seems that now, even if I don't want to win, I have to win.

Zeng Rong held a poisoned dagger and aimed at Xu Ming's heart, stabbing directly down, the dagger gleaming coldly!

"Alas, Amitabha."

Shixin sighed and chanted a Buddhist prayer, golden light constantly gathering in front of Xu Ming, finally forming a golden罩子 (zhàozi - cover/shield), blocking the poisoned dagger.

"Clang!"

Only a crisp sound was heard, and the dagger in Zeng Rong's hand was directly knocked away.

Zeng Rong was shaken back several steps.

Xu Ming and Shixin both opened their eyes.

Originally, Wang Mingshan and others hadn't slept, and seeing the assassination fail, the four of them suddenly attacked, wanting to kill Xu Ming while he wasn't prepared.

However, the sword energy bursting out from Xu Ming's body directly slammed them against the wall, and the four of them spat out a mouthful of blood.

Xu Ming slowly got up from the ground, patted the dust off his body, and held a long sword in his hand: "Alas, you people, I have no grievances or hatred with you, I really don't know why you want to kill me?"

"Hehe, naturally someone wants to buy your life. The life of a Number One Scholar is too valuable!"

Zeng Rong got up from the ground and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

Since his plan had been exposed, then it was exposed. It didn't matter anymore. In that case, he could only use strength to see the truth!

"Who wants to buy my life?" Xu Ming frowned.

Previously, Mozhu'er had said that within the Wu Kingdom, someone wanted to buy his life.

As a result, he didn't expect that after the other party failed so many times, not only did they not slow down, but instead directly sent people into the Rootless Secret Realm to kill him.

This person's power in the Wu Kingdom is definitely not low.

And the people who could have this kind of power...

In Xu Ming's heart, he already had a vague idea of the range, but he couldn't pinpoint a specific person.

"Number One Scholar doesn't need to know this." Zeng Rong's mouth curled up, "Number One Scholar just needs to hand over his head!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Zeng Rong had already instantly stabbed in front of Xu Ming.

Xu Ming shook his head. Since they wouldn't say, then he would use his sword to make them speak.

Xu Ming casually waved his long sword, and a burst of sword energy slashed past. Zeng Rong dodged, and Xu Ming's sword energy crashed into the stone wall of the cave.

The entire cave was constantly shaking.

"Hmm?"

Xu Ming looked down and found that his shadow was swinging a sword at him.

Xu Ming dodged sideways, and another sword struck the stone wall.

"That's a bit interesting."

This was the first time Xu Ming had seen this kind of magic that could control other people's shadows, and the sword that his shadow had just used had nearly 70% of his power.

If he hadn't experienced many life-and-death trials since he was a child, otherwise, with this sword, he would really have been tricked.

Just as Xu Ming's shadow was about to swing the second sword, Xu Ming directly stepped on his shadow with one foot, then stepped forward, and delivered a punch, this punch heavily hitting Wang Mingshan's body.

"Boom!"

Wang Mingshan was slammed against the wall by Xu Ming, and his whole body was embedded in it, leaving an indentation, like it couldn't be pulled out.

At this time, the rocks falling from the entire cave were even more severe, and it was about to collapse.

Xu Ming grabbed Shixin's hand and flew directly out of the cave, then used a sword backward.

Under Xu Ming's sword, the entrance of the cave quickly collapsed, and a boulder smashed towards them.

Bai Zhan delivered a punch, smashing the boulder to pieces.

Zeng Rong and the other three also escaped.

Xu Ming didn't expect to kill the opponent so easily, let alone that Xu Ming didn't want to kill them yet.

Xu Ming, like throwing a chain ball, directly threw Shixin away, throwing her far away, and then he and Zeng Rong and the other three began to fight.

In Shixin's eyes, Xu Ming was like a fierce beast, using both fists and feet and a long sword. Every move and every style of his was wide open and closed, not giving people a moment to breathe.

Shixin had also fought with many people before, and had not suffered any hardships.

But Shixin had never seen this kind of fighting style.

The other party was integrating boxing and swordsmanship together.

However, in Xu Ming's opinion, Wang Mingshan's magic of controlling shadows was indeed more annoying, but fortunately, Xu Ming quickly found the key to control it.

Wang Mingshan needed to use his own shadow to control other people's shadows.

As long as his shadow would not be connected by Wang Mingshan's shadow, it would be fine.

After mastering this key point, Xu Ming was always concerned about Wang Mingshan's every move.

When his shadow approached Xu Ming, Xu Ming immediately moved away, not giving Wang Mingshan the slightest chance.

Bai Zhan's magic was also more interesting.

He could absorb a huge amount of spiritual power and inject it into his body, and then, his body would constantly expand, and then smoke, and his body could become more and more thick, so that every move and every style could burst out with great power.

Although he was not a martial artist, he used the boxing techniques of a martial artist, but used spiritual power instead of true energy.

It seemed that his move was perfect, both having the lethality of a martial artist and being able to be a Qi practitioner, able to have a long lifespan.

But the fact was not so.

The reason why martial artists are called martial artists is because martial artists do not believe in heaven and earth, but only in themselves.

Cultivators absorb spiritual power from the outside world, but martial artists completely rely on themselves to generate true energy.

In other words, martial artists regard their bodies as a small world.

And the difference between the two caused Bai Zhan's punch and kick, the sense of oppression and lethality were far less than the martial artist of the corresponding realm, and his body was far less excellent than the martial artist of the corresponding realm.

He was just imitating.

"Boom!"

Xu Ming delivered a punch, facing Bai Zhan's fist head-on.

A wave of wind swept directly away.

"Ah!"

Bai Zhan's painful cry spread.

Bai Zhan's arm that collided with Xu Ming was directly crippled.

Xu Ming turned around again and swung a sword, hitting Xu Sheng's body directly.

Xu Sheng was shocked, and quickly pinched the magic formula, his whole person turned into stone.

Xu Sheng, who had turned into stone, was chopped to pieces by Xu Ming's sword.

However, these stones continued to condense and reorganize, turning into a human appearance again.

"Your skills are really interesting."

Xu Ming stood in front of the four of them with his sword, savoring the magic of these four people just now.

Not to mention the level of these spells, at least each spell was very unique, and he had never seen them before.

Zeng Rong and the other three stood up and stared at Xu Ming.

They had long expected that this Number One Scholar would be very difficult to fight, and they had already prepared themselves mentally. No matter what, the other party was also the second on the Azure Cloud List.

But what they didn't expect was that this Number One Scholar was so difficult to fight.

"If Number One Scholar wants to learn, we can teach Number One Scholar." Zeng Rong said with a smile.

"No need." Xu Ming shook his head and said, "I only believe in my fist and sword."

As soon as he finished speaking, Xu Ming slashed his sword at the four of them again.

The four of them froze and quickly dodged the sword.

Zeng Rong turned into a black shadow and disappeared from Xu Ming's eyes, Xu Sheng raised his hands, stones were constantly condensing above his head, Bai Zhan punched his fists together, his body turned red, and behind Wang Mingshan, his shadow gradually separated, turning into a huge shadow monster.

Looking at the appearance of these four people, Xu Ming was very clear.

These four people wanted to release their ultimate moves.

To be honest, the ultimate moves of these four people were indeed quite oppressive.

Xu Ming felt that if he hadn't experienced that year of tempering and hadn't obtained those opportunities, it would indeed be more difficult to fight with them, and he might have been suppressed by them now.

But after experiencing that year of life and death, these people in front of Xu Ming were more like child's play.

Dealing with them was just a matter of one sword.

So Xu Ming just swung a sword.

This sword directly chopped Wang Mingshan's shadow monster into two pieces.

This sword blew away the fist tiger that Bai Zhan had hit.

This sword chopped the meteorite that Xu Sheng had smashed into pieces.

This sword directly砍 (kǎn - chopped/cut) Zeng Rong, the villain who was looking for a chance to assassinate in the dark, flying several meters away.

Shixin, who was standing not far away, looked at Xu Ming in surprise.

Shixin had never seen anyone of the same generation who had such a sharp and clean sword.

And Shixin knew that all of this was the result of Xu Ming holding back.

Otherwise, these people would all have to die under Xu Ming's sword.

"Puff!"

Zeng Rong and the other three spat out blood and fell to the ground, tightly covering their hearts.

And when they had just raised their heads, Xu Ming was already carrying his long sword, walking towards them step by step.

"Spare me! Number One Scholar, please spare our lives! We are willing to do anything!"

Zeng Rong and the other three knew that their lives were in Xu Ming's hands, and quickly knelt down, constantly kowtowing and begging for mercy.

They were crying and sniveling, their bodies were shaking, and they looked extremely scared.

It seemed that Xu Ming was the one who was bullying the weak, and they were all innocent weaklings.

It has to be said that these rogue cultivators' cultivation levels aren't that great, but their skills in begging for mercy are quite good. If it were someone with a soft heart, they might actually let these guys go.

But then again, these rogue cultivators often live on the edge between being killed and killing others. When they're about to be killed, they definitely have to practice the skill of "begging for mercy" well.

I just wonder, when some cultivators really do let them go, whether those cultivators who let them go are still alive.

"I can spare your lives, but you're willing to do anything? Is that true or false? I don't like being lied to." Xu Ming's long sword pointed at Zeng Rong, and there wasn't a trace of pity in Xu Ming's sharp eyes.

"It's true, it's true!" Hearing that there was still a chance for them to live, Zeng Rong and the others became even more excited, kowtowing repeatedly. Their foreheads were broken, and blood dripped onto the ground. "Even if we had ten thousand guts, we wouldn't dare to deceive you, Scholar Xu! From now on, our lives are yours, Scholar Xu! Whatever you ask us to do, we'll do it!"

"Then tell me first, who is the one who wants to kill me?" Xu Ming asked.

"This" Cold sweat broke out on the foreheads of Zeng Rong and the others.

"What? Can't say it?" Xu Ming sneered. "Just now, you were so confident, saying you could do anything."

"Scholar Xu, it's not that we don't want to say it, but we've been placed under a forbidden curse. Once we say or write those words, we'll be destroyed in both body and spirit, turning into a puddle of pus!"

"But we can tell Scholar Xu that that person isn't in the capital and is a powerful and famous prince!" Wang Mingshan quickly added, "Scholar Xu, we can really only be specific to this point. If we say any more, we're really afraid the forbidden curse will activate."

"Alright, then I won't make things difficult for you." Xu Ming put away his long sword. "I'm not a bloodthirsty person either, especially since Master Shixin has been teaching me about Buddhism recently, telling me to be kind to others and to show mercy whenever possible, and not to commit too much killing. I think what Master Shixin said makes a lot of sense, so I've been cultivating my mind and reciting Buddhist scriptures recently."

Shixin: "."

Shixin really didn't understand why Xu Ming could say these things without blushing or skipping a beat.

"So, I don't need you to be my slaves. I'll give you a chance to redeem yourselves." Xu Ming looked at Zeng Rong and the other three. "If you agree to help me obtain the Bodhi Fruit, I'll spare your lives, how about it?"

"Definitely, definitely! We definitely agree! Scholar Xu is simply a living Buddha!"

Knowing that they could still live, everyone was overjoyed, and the four of them kept kowtowing, as if they were all Xu Ming's most sincere believers.

"Get up." Xu Ming sheathed his long sword.

"Yes, yes, yes." Zeng Rong and the other three stood up fearfully.

But as they stood up, a shadow of malice flashed in their lowered eyes.

Xu Ming! Just you wait!

We'll see how we deal with you then!

"Let's go, let's find a new place to stay, and don't attract any night beasts."

Xu Ming turned around and walked into the forest.

The fight just now left a lot of blood, which could very well attract night beasts, so they had to leave quickly.

However, as he passed Shixin, Xu Ming said softly, "Sorry, I won the first round. Otherwise, let's not continue betting, and we'll call our bet off."

"No!"

Shixin looked at Xu Ming with firm eyes.

Those flawless golden eyes revealed the girl's stubbornness.

"Continue betting!"

[Hehe, the fever is gone~ No fever today, thankfully, thankfully, scared me, looks like I don't need to get an IV, otherwise, everyone is on vacation for National Day, but I'm getting an IV in the hospital, that would be too terrible!]