Chapter 153 Wager

However, this type of imperial artifact possessed unique qualities incomparable to any other.

If properly repaired and its artifact spirit awakened, it could climb from a first-tier imperial artifact to a second-tier.

If fully awakened and transformed into an imperial tree, spreading its branches and leaves, it could become a sect-镇派之宝 (supreme treasure protecting the sect) on par with the Ten Heavens and Ten Earths!

Only, the required resources were astronomical, like a bottomless pit. The consumables needed could forge two sixth-tier imperial artifacts of the Ten Heavens and Ten Earths caliber.

Wuyun revealed this staff with a look of pity, casting it into the divine soul of the King of Struggle to make him chant scriptures and purify it.

Little Bug felt miserable inside. Thinking of the cultivation method he practiced, he let out a long sigh: "Could it be that I have to establish a sect here, building a Buddha mountain and a Buddha sea, just to nurture my natal immortal artifact..."

"I want to take a shortcut, too."

Sighing with emotion, Little Bug declined the King of Struggle's kind invitation and muttered, "Senior was merely comforting you, letting you keep it and hold onto it. In a moment of crisis, if you use it, you will be the first to die."

Falling Flower Dance, unable to fathom Wuyun's actions from the side, asked in puzzlement: "Could it be that you have another one?"

Wuyun shook his head. Pointing at the sealed space surrounding them, he said, "How about we make a wager? We can hardly escape anyway, let's pass the time. What do you say?"

The latter nodded and said, "I want that staff!"

Wuyun acquiesced. Glancing at Dragon One, he pondered and said, "This staff cannot be used. Later on, I want to plant a branch to grow a large tree to help rebuild the mountain gates of the Carefree Immortal Sect. I won't take advantage of you; trade it for the souls of ten fox immortal kings. My little Dragon is lacking a concubine to wait on him."

"Very well. A female immortal must take advantage of a male immortal to achieve the harmony of yin and yang." Falling Flower Dance, somewhat unhinged, conjured ten foxes from her soul.

The moment they appeared, Wuyun furrowed his brow and looked at Dragon One. The latter understood. Just as he was about to advise that Moon Seven's identity must not be exposed, Wuyun said, "We have been plotted against. The Resentful Hatred Immortal Sword left behind in the alien space has a faint connection to these foxes. We must skin these ten foxes and make a fine garment out of them."

The ten fox immortal kings trembled with fear. There was a faint, lingering connection between them and the sword in their spiritual minds. If not for the surrounding grand array blocking it, the Resentful Hatred Immortal Sword would surely have tracked them down.

What Wuyun worried about was not the Resentful Hatred Immortal Sword, but the Imperial Snake. The latter would definitely retrace her steps to search for her subordinates, at which point the King of Struggle, Old Bear Three, and the others would be doomed.

Upon learning the reason, Dragon One turned ice-cold all over. Every time he heard that the Imperial Snake was inferior to him, despair and collapse filled his heart. Yet, having stayed with Wuyun for so long, an absurd notion arose within him: that the Imperial Snake would ultimately die by his hands.

Especially when the ten foxes appeared, he understood that disaster was inescapable.

The ten fox immortal kings, having regained their physical bodies, remained quietly behind Falling Flower Dance. Not a word did they utter, calmly awaiting the arrangement of fate.

Now, her strength was severely depleted, and her cultivation was less than one percent. To rebuild her realm to that of an immortal king, she required powerful resources.

Most crucially, she remained locked onto by the Imperial Snake and tracked by the Resentful Hatred Immortal Sword. To escape, unless her soul scattered and she fell into the mortal world, was impossible.

"How shall we wager?"

"Let us wager on whether I can break this grand array!"

Wuyun made the wager in the form of a solemn oath. Once the contract between the two was completed, they smiled at each other simultaneously—one large, one young, without the slightest sense of discord.

"This planetary protective array derives its resources from the star core. Look at how distant the surrounding stars are; it cannot absorb much stellar force, and its integration with Ju Mo is extremely poor. I merely need to communicate with it, and just like seducing your star core, I can make it obediently listen to me."

The wager struck, Wuyun did not hesitate. He lowered his body, lay flat in mid-air, and projected his divine sense.

After a long while, Falling Flower Dance was already smiling from ear to ear. Mocking the dazed Wuyun, she laughed, "Ha, you lost. As long as I do not restrain my tribulation aura, you can accomplish nothing around me."

Wuyun rolled his eyes. The divine sense he had overexerted was blocked layer upon layer—so that was the reason.

Old Bear Three and the Gnu both tried to persuade them otherwise. At a time like this, they were still infighting?

Yet Falling Flower Dance reached out her hand and beckoned twice, whereupon Wuyun obediently handed over the imperial staff.

The King of Struggle looked rather dejected, but Little Bug consoled him from the side: "It's fine. Even if she uses that staff, it doesn't look very dignified on her. She'll have to return it to you in the end."

"I don't like using weapons that a woman has handled." The King of Struggle stared at Falling Flower Dance brandishing the staff for a moment, his spirits sinking.

As soon as he finished speaking, Little Bug eagerly chimed in, "Splendid! Form is emptiness; if you don't want it, give it to me."

Hearing this, the King of Struggle hesitated and struggled even more internally.

Having lost this wager, Wuyun grew even more drunkenly unsteady as he swayed. "Do you dare to wager again?"

Falling Flower Dance swung the staff in her hand, unleashing waves of imperial might that shattered Ju Mo's probing divine sense. Smugly, she said, "I have two imperial artifacts. At worst, I'll detonate one, and I can escape on my own. What other good things do you have to bring out? Rather than letting this pig benefit, it's better to let me profit."

Wuyun burst into laughter. "I can subdue Ju Mo and make him kowtow and beg for forgiveness. If you lose, you must call me young master, attend to me when I change clothes and bathe, serve me food and drink, and feed me wine and dishes!"

As the words fell, a master-servant contract was formed. Falling Flower Dance generously imprinted it with her divine soul. Having agreed, she playfully remarked, "Let us begin! I have been a vegetarian all my life. If you win, I am willing to personally stew some pig kidney soup to reward you!"

"You know so many recipes! I love eating braised pig large intestines, and pig tails stewed over a low fire!"

The two pointed fingers at each other, the atmosphere thick with gunpowder.

The King of Struggle worriedly began to speak, but before he could, Little Bug sighed, "For our sake, Senior is willing to sell himself into servitude as a slave. It truly moves me."

He put on an act for a moment, which amused the green leaf, who quickly tapped him on the head a few times and said sternly, "Be serious! Regardless of whose hands we fall under, we must seize the chance to survive."

Once the wager commenced, Falling Flower Dance watched Wuyun performing his ritualistic dance, and suddenly the words of the supreme being before death echoed, rumbling in her mind.

She did not believe in Wuyun's ability, yet with the facts laid out before her, she had no choice but to believe.

After Wuyun chanted for a moment, the immense pressure surrounding them abruptly collapsed. The power of the star core diminished, growing scarcer as it began to contract.

"If we don't strike now, when are we waiting for?" Wuyun acted as though he had won a great victory, directing Falling Flower Dance. The latter repeatedly shook her head, responding, "You haven't won yet; he isn't obediently listening to you!"

"Very well, I shall make you lose and submit wholeheartedly!" Wuyun roared. The true form of Ju Mo suddenly appeared before them. Having just suffered a backlash from the star core's power and sustained heavy injuries, he was filled with puzzlement when he was abruptly teleported right in front of Wuyun.

A surge of joy filled his heart. Just as he was about to deploy his immortal artifact to obliterate Wuyun, he saw the other party toying with a miniature version of his own flesh and blood. A wave of sharp pain racked his body, rendering his limbs weak, and even his divine sense became blocked.

Wuyun drove needle after needle into the shrinking left general held in his palm. Every time a needle entered the shrinking pig demon, it instantly manifested within Ju Mo's true body.

Those dark golden needles were illusory, forged from the colors found within the channels of spatial rifts. Ju Mo was dumbfounded. After attempting to self-detonate several arrays within his own body to no avail, his injuries only worsened.

This scene bore a striking resemblance to how he had previously treated Wuyun, devouring his flesh and blood. Retribution had come for him so swiftly.

"Kneel!" Wuyun pinched the legs of the pig demon in his hand, forcing him to his knees, and then ordered him to sever eight parts of his body and send them over—a tragedy as grim as the initial capture of Niu Ding.

Once the site had been salted and pickled, the Gnu suddenly appeared. Displaying his immortal artifact, with a flash of his hand and a drop of his blade, he decapitated the left general. Furthermore, Old Bear Three, Dragon One, and the others swarmed forward, sweeping away the immortal king's body entirely.

Having divided up the soulless corpse, the Gnu repeatedly complained that the pig stench was too heavy, mixed with a fox-like musk and a snakey fishy odor.

Wuyun had won a complete victory. Simultaneously, he coughed up dozens of mouthfuls of fresh blood, his body growing frail. Just as he was about to declare his victory and demand that Falling Flower Dance honor the wager, the latter pettily retorted:

"I am at the peak of the Immortal King realm, while you are merely a brash youth, at best borrowing Quasi-Immortal realm cultivation. How could you possibly control me? As long as I refuse to admit defeat, this soul contract will not take effect."

Faced with Falling Flower Dance's flat denial, Wuyun did not argue. Tearing open space, he unleashed a wave of arcane technique and chanted a few incantations, causing Falling Flower Dance's emanating might to ripple through the spatial rift.

In an instant, the space surrounding the entire planet grew viscous. Yes, exceedingly viscous. The air filled with shadows, micro-dust-like substances appeared in the vacuum, and a catastrophe akin to the divine lightning of the nine heavens slowly manifested.

The moment the Imperial Tribulation emerged, the subordinates within the planet who were attempting to rescue the left general fled in panic. Yet with space locked down, they could only rely on flight, moving at a sluggish pace.

In sheer terror, Falling Flower Dance felt a primordial aura of death pierce directly through her divine soul. It was the soul coercion of the Imperial Tribulation, making her acutely aware of her own insignificance.

"With the Imperial Tribulation out, I am certain to die!" Falling Flower Dance muttered these words. She had not prepared herself for the Imperial Tribulation, and coupled with the damage to the stellar forces, she had no way to evade the ensuing onslaught of the tribulation.

For the Imperial Tribulation could alter fate and twist calamity. During the tribulation, not only would there be disasters, but various bizarre and malevolent monsters from alien spaces or the demon race would also come forth.

At the very least, two Immortal Emperors were required to act as guardians to successfully cross it. Otherwise, even if she barely succeeded and was acknowledged by heaven and earth, she would be gravely injured, and her natal weapon would fail to be baptized by the heavenly tribulation into an imperial artifact. In that case, what meaning would there be in becoming an Immortal Emperor!

As a massive shadow enveloped the entire planet, Falling Flower Dance gazed madly at Wuyun, her expression speaking volumes—even if I die and my soul disperses, I will drag you through the Imperial Tribulation with me.

Everyone else was reeled into the imperial staff, leaving only Wuyun behind. It was not that the King of Struggle didn't wish to enter, but that Falling Flower Dance refused. Her magnified body expanded like a titan giant, standing thirty thousand meters tall. A surge of karmic merit surfaced, blending with the power of faith and intertwined with the karmic laws of life, which, combined with her second-tier natal immortal artifact halo, radiated the most formidable power.

Clutching Wuyun tightly, she swept away the frustration of being trapped moments before and declared, "Even if I fail to survive the Imperial Tribulation and perish utterly, I will not wait upon you to dress and feed you. Being so young, it's not a bad deal for you to die with me!"

Though intoxicated and stubbornly refusing to relent, when a giant face manifested in the sky, Falling Flower Dance froze.

This face—to the Gnu and the others who looked upon it—was half-revealed, featuring two massive, dark red eyes that reflected two figures of Falling Flower Dance.

It was clearly an imperial tribulation, yet it differed from the one the Gnu had crossed. It was said that as long as one defeated and cast off a pair of eyes during the imperial tribulation, one could become an Immortal Emperor, unrestrained in cultivation, with body and soul reaching the imperial realm.

Why was Falling Flower Dance's tribulation different? Not only had a pair of eyes appeared, but half of a gigantic skull had also manifested, resembling the visage of a bizarre deity.

Seeing this, Wuyun laughed heartily. Seemingly sharing some connection with Falling Flower Dance, he chanted playfully like an actor on a stage: "You broke your oath; in the imperial tribulation, you shall face double punishment. You are doomed, you are doomed."

As he chanted, Falling Flower Dance tightened her grip, squeezing Wuyun until wine-foam sprayed wildly, dampening her crystal-jade-colored arm.