Talented Martial Hero
Chapter 166 A Small Fortune

Darren and Aries stood on the arena.

At once, most of the audience lost their interest. Some of them were even seething with anger andcursing. They had spent so much money in order to buy those tickets, and it was all a waste. Therewas no use watching a boring competition where you already knew who the winner would be.Meanwhile, on the arena, Darren looked at Aries, the man standing opposite him, from head to toe.Based on Darren's intuition, he felt that Aries’ strength was not that powerful. At most, he hadprobably just reached the ninth stage of the Mysterious Realm.

"Why do I have to fight with such crap in my first round? I have never felt more humiliated in mywhole life," Aries sneered, knowing what Darren's cultivation stage was.

By now, Darren had seen so many people like this one who were arrogant, yet completely good fornothing. He could not care less about what Aries said. Instead, he wondered about what he coulddo to earn more ink stones in the next competition.

'If I take him down with only one movement, others will realize how strong I actually am. If thathappens, people will change their bets and stake their money on me, and I, in turn, will earn muchless ink stones than I am earning right now, ' Darren thought. After he pondered over the issue for awhile, Darren decided to fool around with Aries. In order to disguise his real strength, he planned ongetting some small injuries on purpose, so that he could make a fortune out of the next game."Fuck off, you scum!" Aries roared as he lunged his fist towards Darren.

Since Aries achieved the ninth stage of the Mysterious Realm, his fists grew tremendously powerful.Each of his punches became equal to almost ten thousand pounds of force. Because of this, thebattlefield was made with titanium stones. A rule cultivator was even hired to build properprotection around it in order to avoid his immense strength from harming the audience.

Darren pretended to dodge his fist and flee in panic. Everything went as he had planned.

"What? He didn't die?" someone yelled in shock. The audience could not believe their eyes. Afterseeing Darren's actions, the audience suddenly became considerably interested in the fight.

"How about we all put a bet on how long he can survive?"

"That's a great idea. I bet he will not even survive the second punch.”

"I think that guy is not that bad. It is obvious that he is trying to conceal his real cultivation base. Ibet that he is going to lose at the third punch.”

Now, the audience became highly involved and motivated as they found a new way to earn someextra money.

Darren had been playing with Aries for nearly an hour.

It took no effort for him to skillfully dodge all of Aries’ fierce attacks in the nick of time. He wouldalso let himself suffer some small damages on purpose in order to fool the audience into thinkingthat he would lose the game.

“Alright, this is enough, * Darren thought to himself. Darren decided not to play anymore now thatthe audience had started to get pissed at him.

This time, Aries dashed towards Darren, gasping for his breath. He screamed in frustration uponrealizing that there was nothing he could do to seriously hurt Darren. Seething with anger, hefrantically threw his fists at Darren again and again.

Suddenly, a blade appeared in Darren's hand. But he was not planning on using it to kill Aries.Instead, he made it seem as if the blade slipped out of his hand by accident when he dodged Aries’punch. When the blade hit the edge of the battlefield, it bounced back and penetrated deep intoAries’ thigh.

To everyone watching, it seemed like nothing more than a timely accident.

Feigning a headache, Darren stood up from the ground. He reached out his fists and lunged atAries. Within a split second, Aries was thrown out of the battlefield.

Darren won the battle. But in everyone else's eyes, it was only by luck that he was able to defeatAries.

"Shit! I can't believe that brat won. He just cost me ten thousand ink stones.”

"Fuck! I lost thirty thousand! I'm so out of luck.”

The biggest amount that anyone was allowed to bet on Darren was only five thousand ink stonessince he had the odds of one to one hundred. But for Aries, on the other hand, there were peoplewho bet over five hundred thousand ink stones. Eighty percent of the audience lost the bet.

The staff of the Prison Battle Arena grew giddy with excitement knowing that they had just made afortune.

After the first round, they had a short break, so the fighters could decide whether they would like tocontinue or not.

"Ha-ha. You're so great. In this card are the ten thousand ink stones you earned from the last battle,as well as the five hundred thousand ink stones from the outside bet,” Jaya praised Darren as hetook out a card. The card was made of crystals that shone with yellow light

"What is that?" Darren asked, confused. It was the first time Darren had ever seen a card like that."It is a coupon that has been specially made by Sky Pavilion. It is worth five hundred and tenthousand ink stones. You can exchange it into real ink stones before you leave. Furthermore, I willnot take the one thousand commission from you," the elder explained

"All right,” Darren replied as he gave a slight nod. As he took the card from the elder, he found thatthere was another card in his hand. Obviously, the elder had also bet that Darren would win thebattle, so he earned a lot of money as well. That was why he didn't need the commission before."Your act was pretty good. Go for it!" The elder wore a look of glee on his face. He grinned widelyand revealed his old, yellow teeth.

In no time, Darren entered the second round.

In the second round, more people from the audience bet that Darren would win the battle, but thehighest anyone could bet was still five thousand. Additionally, Darren also asked the elder to put ina bet for him on the outside.

Without question, Darren once again won in the second round and gained another four hundredthousand ink stones from the gamblers.

Darren used the same trick to win the third and fourth round, and with that, those two roundsearned him another five hundred thousand ink stones.

But as Darren progressed through the rounds, his opponents became more and more powerful.After a while, Darren was left with no choice but to reveal some of his real strength.

Later on, the audience came to realize that Darren was merely disguising his real cultivation base inthe earlier rounds. Their blood boiled with anger as they had lost a lot of money because ofDarren's little antic.

The fifth round started. This time, Darren had the odds of one to one. It meant that a bet of one inkstone on him could only win one back. And the limit of the bets for both Darren and his opponentcame close to three hundred thousand.

Darren did not care about fooling the audience anymore, because his real goal was to win the tenthround and break the record, which would gain him four million ink stones!

"You are good. Even the host didn't see through your little ruse!" a guy shouted as he glared atDarren. Darren's opponent in the fifth round was a guy who had a scar on his face.

The fifth round was much different from other rounds, because if someone who was able to winfour consecutive rounds was defeated by his opponent in the fifth round, the winner would get atleast five hundred thousand ink stones as a reward. So starting from the fifth round, the competitorsbecame mostly experienced masters.

"I will get that prize no matter what. Go to hell, you scum!" Darren's opponent exclaimed arrogantly.He then dashed towards Darren as fast as he could. He did not want to waste any time on him.Darren's brow furrowed in concentration. He had already revealed his strength and earned a lot ofink stones. This time, there was no need for him to disguise his identity and waste his time.

Boom!

Darren transferred the blade intent contained inside his body into a blade and attacked the man."What! He..."

"Such powerful blade intent, he must be an excellent martial artist!"

"Shit! How come he is so strong? We're totally fooled by his tricks!"

As soon as Darren used his blade intent, the audience became ridden with fear. Everyone who betagainst him instantly regretted their decisions, thinking that they should have bet their ink stoneson Darren instead.

The moment Darren's blade intent enveloped the man, his eyes filled with sheer terror.

As expected, numerous bloody stains appeared all over his clothes as he was thrown out of thebattlefield.

A while later, he struggled to get up from the floor with blood covering his body. He dragged hisown broken body towards Darren and knelt in front of him as he trembled in fear. "Thank you somuch for not killing me, sir," he said.

"Just go," Darren replied casually.

It was not easy for that man to risk his life to earn those ink stones. And Darren didn't have anyhatred towards him, so he just let him go.

"Thank you, sir." After expressing his gratitude, the guy dragged his broken legs behind him and leftthe battlefield.

"Jaya, get your butt over here."

Up on the grandstand, Jaya chuckled in the corner. He was in a good mood after making a goodfortune from the bet. So naturally, he was pissed when someone interrupted his good mood bygrowling at him.

"You bastard! Can't you keep it down just a little? What's wrong with you?" Jaya was a normally niceguy, but getting a scolding from his subordinate really irritated him.

"Humph! Don't be so arrogant. If I'm guessing correctly, that guy should have been killed in the firstround. You are ready to report to the accountant and get the pension for his family, right? Are youtrying to defraud the pension off the money shop? I have already informed our lady and she hasalready arrived here. Just pack your luggage and get lost,” a young man shouted. He was the youngman who was scared to the ground in front of Darren's sword intent earlier.

"Fuck off!" At this point, Jaya was already seething with anger.

"Jaya, you have served in our money shop for so many years. I can't believe that you would do sucha terrible thing. You deserve a tough punishment! Humph!" A voice coming from outsideinterrupted them. A girl was walking near them, and her tone was filled with anger.