Talented Martial Hero
Chapter 165 Entering The Battlefield

"Could you wait a moment, please?" the old man asked politely.

"Could you please hurry up? I'm kind of in a hurry," Darren impatiently demanded. The PrimitiveStone would be auctioned tomorrow. Darren must earn at least three million ink stones. How couldhe not be in a hurry?

The old man nodded, went backstage, picked up the young man who had been scared to theground by Darren, and told him, "Get ready and send him to the Prison Battle Arena at the top levelof the Mysterious Realm. And by the way, bet ten thousand ink stones on him outside. Is that clear?"The young man had calmed down and the horror in his eyes had disappeared. He was nowfrowning as he said, "Jaya, although this boy has hidden his cultivation base, it isn't appropriate tosend him to the arena at the top level of the Mysterious Realm, is it? If he dies on the stage, we'llhave to pay at least three thousand ink stones. That's not a good deal. Besides, it's too risky to betten thousand ink stones on the outside!"

The young man also felt that Darren had extraordinary talent, but he didn't think Darren would beable to go far in the arena at the top level of the Mysterious Realm.

"Don't talk nonsense. With so many years of experience, I can tell that he can definitely enter atleast the fourth round of the contest at the top level of the Mysterious Realm. Take him there now!"The old man paused to think for a few seconds and finally said, "Never mind, let me take him theremyself. Since he can hide his cultivation base, we will be able to make a big profit on outside bets.”He then turned to Darren. "There are some terms I need to tell you. If you agree to the terms, I willintroduce you to the arena,” he said as he walked towards Darren with a smile.

"Tell me the terms, then,” Darren eagerly replied.

"First, if you win a fight in the Prison Battle Arena, you will be rewarded with ten thousand inkstones. I will take one thousand as commission.

Second, you must sign a life and death contract with the Prison Battle Arena. If you areunfortunately killed on the stage, you can't blame anyone," the old man enumerated.

"What?" Darren angrily spat out. "If I win a game I get ten thousand ink stones? I thought you said Icould win three million?"

"Ha-ha, young man. If you're strong enough, you could win three million—hell, you could even winup to ten million!" the old man said with a big grin on his face.

"How?" Darren asked, puzzled.

"The only way to win a huge amount of ink stones is to break the record in the Prison Battle Arena.Yesterday, a man broke the record of winning nine games in a row and was rewarded with twomillion ink stones. Plus, he asked others to bet for him and earned more than three million in total.I've seen that man fight firsthand and he is extremely strong.

But if someone breaks the record of winning nine games in a row today, he can get at least fourmillion ink stones!" the old man exclaimed.

Four million ink stones, even Darren felt tempted.

"Those four million ink stones are mine," Darren stated as he smiled confidently.

"Ha-ha!" The old man shook his head, and said, "Well, it seems that you are determined. First off, Iwill introduce you to the arena, and then sign a contract with you for five battles at most. If you win,you will pay a thousand ink stones commission per game. However, if you have an accident..." hetrailed off and checked to see if Darren was listening. "Well, we will compensate your family for acertain amount of money, but if you choose to go on with more than five games, it's none of ourbusiness anymore. If something happens, you won't get a penny. You should think it over.”

"You don't have to care so much. Just take me there,” Darren impatiently declared.

"Alright then. Follow me." The old man stopped talking and led Darren out.

"Inform the lady that Jaya decided to send the cripple to the arena at the top level of the MysteriousRealm without authorization. He's trying to defraud the pension," the young man disdainfullysneered at the person in charge of the ink stone exchange.

The young man simply did not believe that Darren could hold on to five games in the arena. Hewanted to use this opportunity to bring down Jaya.

Darren followed Jaya to a tall building and was surprised to see the building where the PrimitiveStone would be auctioned tomorrow.

"Isn't this the auction house? Why did you bring me here?”

"Well, the auction house and the Prison Battle Arena are in the same building. Just come with meand you can see it yourself,” Jaya said and went in as he gestured at Darren to follow.

It turned out that the upper part of the building was an auction house, and underground were morethan a dozen Prison Battle Arenas.

Each Prison Battle Arena was circular, surrounded by hundreds of grandstands.

As soon as Darren walked in, he got a whiff of a strong scent of blood. He scanned the nearbyarenas and his eyes came upon a man chopping off a man's head with a huge blade. Blood wascontinuously flowing out of the body, which caused the vicinity to smell strongly of blood. It was acruel scene to watch.

"Who wants to join the arena at the top level of the Mysterious Realm?" a middle-aged man ingorgeous clothes asked. Jaya led him towards Darren.

The highest level of the Prison Battle Arena was at the top level of the Mysterious Realm. Everybattle always had gamblers outside of the arenas who bet ten times more money than other arenas.For this reason, the Prison Battle Arena at the top level of the Mysterious Realm was the mostfavored event by the organizer.

The middle-aged man eyed Darren with suspicion and asked him, "Are you sure you want to takepart in the arena at the top level of the Mysterious Realm?"

"I'm sure,” Darren responded, unperturbed.

"Sign this life-and-death contract. Signing this means that no one would be held responsible foryour life and more importantly, your death,” he said as he handed Darren a piece of paper. Themiddle-aged man looked somewhat unhappy. He was afraid that the boy would die in the firstgame and he wouldn't be able to make much money.

Darren, on the other hand, signed the life-and-death contract without hesitation.

The Prison Battle Arena then matched Darren with an opponent and his information was presentedto the audience. The next step was the most profitable part of the game—betting on who wouldwin or lose.

Darren glanced at his first opponent's information. The man's name was Aries Wu, a cultivator at theninth stage of the Mysterious Realm.

When Darren's information was presented, the thousands of spectators present in the arena burstinto an uproar. They all booed, ridiculing Darren for courting death.

"What complete bullshit! This Prison Battle Arena is getting more and more boring. They even replace arubbish fighter at the first stage of the Mysterious Realm. What's there to watch?"

"Hey, at least we had a good show yesterday. It's a pity that no one can fight five games today. Itwould really be awesome if there was a strong warrior who would fight against that monster fromyesterday's games.”

"It won't be easy. The record of winning nine games in a row hasn't been broken for ten years. Idon't think someone who could beat that record would just suddenly appear. It's just impossible.”The audience speculated all sorts of bias against Darren. They were people from rich backgroundswho liked gambling, so of course a game like this with no challenge at all was simply too unexcitingfor them and a waste of their money.

"In this battle between Darren Chu and Aries Wu, Darren has the odds of one to one hundred! Thebets are limited to five thousand ink stones, folks!" the announcer's booming voice echoedthroughout the entire arena.

Odds of one to one hundred meant that if Darren won, a bet of one ink stone on him could win ahundred ink stones back. This was the case where the odds had reached the upper limit. Otherwiseodds of one to one thousand might be possible.

"I bet on Aries with ten thousand ink stones! Just trying to win a little money here!"

"l bet on Aries with five thousand!"

"l bet on Darren with one ink stone!"

Almost eighty percent of the people in the audience placed their bets in favor of Aries Wu; nineteenpercent chose not to place any bets at all, thinking that they wouldn't win many ink stones; andlastly, only one percent placed a bet of just a few ink stones in favor of Darren as a joke.

“This is my chance! Darren thought. He didn't plan on missing this great opportunity to makemoney.

He gave some of the audiences top-quality pills in exchange for five thousand ink stonesbeforehand and asked for Jaya to bet them all in favor of himself. He wouldn't be able to bet onhimself as a contestant, so he hatched up the fool-proof plan.

"Looks like I will win half a million in the first game. Not bad,” he said to himself, smirking as hestepped out onto the arena.