Chapter Five: A Gambling Duel Delivered to the Door

Lin Shiyu shook his head with a wry smile and said to Chen Fan,
"Junior Brother Chen, you have no idea how harsh those people were when they pressured Yuan Cheng into agreeing to a match. We're here today to advise you to keep calm. Lately, everyone knows that you have become the Master's disciple, so there will probably be people coming to challenge you too. You must be cautious and never accept a challenge on a whim just because someone provokes you..."

Chen Fan raised an eyebrow and couldn't help but ask, "I haven't even started practicing the true techniques yet. Would disciples who have mastered them challenge me?"

Lin Shiyu's expression became subtle.
"In our White Cloud School, there's an unspoken rule: the challenger cannot be much stronger than the challenged. Since you are the Master's personal disciple, they won't go too far. At most, they'll send someone who has only started cultivating internal energy, or someone who is just at the first level of martial cultivation..."

"Besides, you're even younger than Yuan Cheng, so those who challenge you will be more restrained for the sake of appearances. But you must still be careful. Feiling County is not the same as Yandu City—you mustn't agree to anything lightly..."

On hearing this, Chen Fan glanced at Feng Yuancheng, who quickly looked away.

But Chen Fan simply smiled.

Clearly, Feng Yuancheng hadn't told these people that he was already defeated by Chen Fan; they had all underestimated him!

"To think the martial competition in Feiling County, such a major event with every school involved, is hardly known at all in Yandu City..." Chen Fan sighed inwardly, but also realized that, having just arrived in Yandu, he was nothing more than an unknown nobody.
Yandu City controlled over a dozen counties; why would city dwellers care about events happening in some remote corner?

After chatting idly with the others for a bit, he sent them away and returned home.
Yet in his heart, he was actually looking forward to someone challenging him.

With his "talent" on display, if others didn't challenge him, he would challenge them anyway.

However, he waited the whole day without a single challenger appearing.

...

It wasn't until early the next morning that someone finally knocked on Chen Fan's door.

Chen Fan was overjoyed and immediately opened the door.

Several disciples stood at the threshold, all smiling and looking amicable.

One of them was even a young woman!

All of them had one thing in common: they wore the waist badges of core disciples.

Each was a genius who had mastered the "White Cloud Pine-Crane Palm"!

The leader had a refined, handsome face, dressed in white, and greeted with a smile,
"My name is Xiao Chunkong. Pleasure to meet you, Junior Brother. If I'm not mistaken, you must be the Master's personal disciple, Chen Fan?"

Chen Fan raised his brow, not one for beating around the bush. "You must be here to challenge me, right? Who's up first? State your age, your level, and the stakes..."

The group was taken aback by such directness.

The smile on Xiao Chunkong's face froze ever so slightly, surprise flickering in his eyes before he narrowed them. "So you've heard already, have you? Well, I won’t waste words, then."

He had prepared all sorts of lines, even planned to provoke Chen Fan into accepting the match, but hadn't expected Chen Fan to be so forthright.

As he spoke, he gently rested his hand on the shoulder of the young woman beside him.

"The challenger is my younger sister, Xiao Yurong. She is seventeen and a half, and though she has started practicing the White Cloud true technique, she's only been at it for a month."

Seventeen, having practiced the true technique for only a month.

That was too short a time; even if she had begun cultivating martial arts, she couldn’t be very formidable yet.

Clearly, these people had chosen a young woman to challenge him on purpose, trying to put Chen Fan in a spot where it would be hard to refuse.

But Chen Fan had no intention of refusing at all!

He narrowed his eyes, glanced at the girl, and raised an eyebrow at Xiao Chunkong. "What's the wager?"

Xiao Chunkong had deliberately omitted his sister's background.

But Chen Fan didn’t believe she could be any stronger than expected.

If she was stronger than Feng Yuancheng, wouldn't she have been taken as the Master's disciple as well?

No matter how talented Xiao Yurong might be, she couldn't possibly have mastered two top-tier strength cultivation manuals, and with only a month’s experience in the true technique, her martial skills couldn’t be particularly formidable.

At best, she might match Lin Qingyu’s level from before.

But defeating Feng Yuancheng, who had reached the first stage of martial cultivation, was certainly beyond Xiao Yurong’s abilities.

Chen Fan glanced at the people behind Xiao Chunkong, wondering which of them had so easily defeated Feng Yuancheng.

Xiao Chunkong smiled,
"As the Master's personal disciple, you receive generous benefits. How about we wager the medicinal pills you can currently claim? We won’t ask for much—just three months’ worth!"

Chen Fan narrowed his eyes.

A single pack of blood-nourishing herbs was worth five taels of silver, six packs per month came to thirty taels, and a bowl of the enhanced White Cloud secret decoction cost another two or three taels, for over ten taels in all.

The most expensive, ironically, was the stamina pill, which was useless to Chen Fan.

Each stamina pill cost two taels, thirty pills a month meant sixty taels.

Altogether, the monthly value of Chen Fan’s benefits was about a hundred taels in silver.

Three months’ worth would be three hundred taels!

And this was just the value, not the actual market price. Some things, when scarce, could cost much more.

Chen Fan shook his head. "I will only wager stamina pills."

Xiao Chunkong was momentarily taken aback and frowned. "What do you mean, Junior Brother?"

Chen Fan narrowed his eyes and said,
"I receive thirty stamina pills a month. I am willing to put up five months' worth—that's a hundred and fifty pills—in exchange for sixty baths' worth of White Cloud’s secret herbal packs. If you agree, I’ll fight your sister. If not, you may leave!"

The stamina pill was useless to him, and the White Cloud decoction was issued monthly and could not be taken in excess, making it pointless to wager.

But the bathing herb packs were what he needed daily; they were exactly what he lacked at the moment!

At these words, everyone's eyes lit up.

Xiao Chunkong laughed heartily. "Excellent! If you insist, I have no objections."

The stamina pill was the most useful of these items; everyone could take it.

Ordinary people did not have Chen Fan's rapid martial progress and did need to accumulate vital energy quickly. The blood-nourishing herbs did not increase training speed and were not as universally practical.

Chen Fan nodded slightly.

Xiao Chunkong, a bit impatient, said, "No time like the present. Let's register the match. You probably haven't seen the White Cloud School's dueling arena yet, have you?"

He was exceedingly courteous in his speech.

He led Chen Fan away, and on their way, they encountered many disciples.

When faced with these core disciples, the ordinary disciples were all extremely respectful.

Within the space of a cup of tea, they arrived at a special area of the White Cloud School.

The dueling platform stood before Chen Fan.

It was not as large as the one he'd seen during the Feiling County competition, but at a hundred or two hundred square meters, it was more than enough for a bout.

At the moment, the platform was empty, with no other disciples around.

"Let's go register, Junior Brother—"
Xiao Chunkong and the others hurried him along.

Chen Fan saw through their intentions, but wasted no time and completed the registration with them.

There was a staff member in charge, who drew up an agreement for both parties. The wager would be settled according to this contract.

The agreement allowed them to set the time, and both sides chose today.

After a quick review, Chen Fan signed his name in bold, sweeping strokes.

The young woman, Xiao Yurong, frowned deeply and gave Chen Fan a long look before signing as well.

Seeing the signatures, Xiao Chunkong and the others grew more delighted and could no longer conceal their glee.

"Junior Brother Chen Fan, if you lose, there's no use regretting it—"
Xiao Chunkong's eyes gleamed with pride.

With everything in black and white, going back on the agreement would be tantamount to conceding defeat!

Chen Fan sneered, saying nothing.

Just then, hurried footsteps suddenly echoed from outside, and several figures rushed in, crying, "Junior Brother Chen Fan, you mustn’t—!"