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 Primitive Stone

would be auctioned tomorrow. Darren must earn at least three million ink stones. How could he not be

in a hurry?

The old man nodded, went backstage, picked up the young man who had been scared to the ground

by Darren, and told him, "Get ready and send him to the Prison Battle Arena at the top level of 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 now frowning

as he said, "Jaya, although this boy has hidden his cultivation base, it isn't appropriate to send him to

the arena at the top level of the Mysterious Realm, is it? If he dies on the stage, we'll have to pay at

least three thousand ink stones. That's not a good deal. Besides, it's too risky to bet ten thousand ink

stones on the outside!"

The young man also felt that Darren had extraordinary talent, but he didn't think Darren would be able

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 at least

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 there myself.

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 will

introduce 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 ink stones. I

will take one thousand as commission.

Second, you must sign a life and death contract with the Prison Battle Arena. If you are unfortunately

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 I

could win three million?"

"Ha-ha, young man. If you're strong enough, you could win three million—hell, you could even win up

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 two million

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 four million

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, I will

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…" he trailed off

and checked to see if Darren was listening. "Well, we will compensate your family for a certain amount

of money, but if you choose to go on with more than five games, it's none of our business anymore. If NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.

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 Mysterious

Realm without authorization. He's trying to defraud the pension," the young man disdainfully sneered 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. He wanted

to use this opportunity to bring down Jaya.

*

Darren followed Jaya to a tall building and was surprised to see the building where the Primitive Stone

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 me and

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 more than

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 nearby arenas

and his eyes came upon a man chopping off a man's head with a huge blade. Blood was continuously

flowing out of the body, which caused the vicinity to smell strongly of blood. It was a cruel scene to

watch.

"Who wants to join the arena at the top level of the Mysterious Realm?" a middle-aged man in

gorgeous clothes asked. Jaya led him towards Darren.

The highest level of the Prison Battle Arena was at the top level of the Mysterious Realm. Every battle

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 most favored event by

the organizer.

The middle-aged man eyed Darren with suspicion and asked him, "Are you sure you want to take part

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 for your

life and more importantly, your death," he said as he handed Darren a piece of paper. The middle-aged

man looked somewhat unhappy. He was afraid that the boy would die in the first game 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 presented to

the audience. The next step was the most profitable part of the game—betting on who would win or

lose.

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

ninth stage of the Mysterious Realm.

When Darren's information was presented, the thousands of spectators present in the arena burst into

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 find a

rubbish 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. It would

really be awesome if there was a strong warrior who would fight against that monster from yesterday's

games."

"It won't be easy. The record of winning nine games in a row hasn't been broken for ten years. I don'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 backgrounds

who liked gambling, so of course a game like this with no challenge at all was simply too unexciting for

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! The bets

are limited to five thousand ink stones, folks!" the announcer's booming voice echoed throughout the

entire arena.

Odds of one to one hundred meant that if Darren won, a bet of one ink stone on him could win a

hundred ink stones back. This was the case where the odds had reached the upper limit. Otherwise

odds 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!"

"I bet on Aries with five thousand!"

"I bet on Darren with one ink stone!"

Almost eighty percent of the people in the audience placed their bets in favor of Aries Wu; nineteen

percent chose not to place any bets at all, thinking that they wouldn't win many ink stones; and lastly,

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 make money.

He gave some of the audiences top-quality pills in exchange for five thousand ink stones beforehand

and asked for Jaya to bet them all in favor of himself. He wouldn't be able to bet on himself 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 he stepped

out onto the arena.