“Su Mei, is she that sweet and beautiful looking young woman?”
“She was chosen as the banner holder at such a young age? How come I’ve never seen her before? Could it be that she’s a disciple of a senior from the World Spiritist Sacred a.s.sembly?”
After Su Mei’s name was announced, quite an uproar resulted. After all, she was a newcomer. Furthermore, she possessed very powerful strength. It was only natural for the people to notice her.
After this, the other powers all announced their respective banner holding disciples. For the majority of them, they had chosen the same disciples as they had on previous occasions. Even if they chose different disciples, it was not much different from the previous times either.
All of the disciples chosen as the banner holding disciples were the most excellent disciples of the Nine Powers. Practically everyone knew all of the chosen disciples. It was only when the Cyanwood Mountain’s headmaster Dugu Xingfeng spoke that the crowd became astonished.
“Our Cyanwood Mountain’s banner holding disciples shall be Chu Feng and Qin Lingyun,” Dugu Xingfeng said.
“Chu Feng? Who is Chu Feng?!”
“I’ve never heard of a Chu Feng before. How could he be ranked before Qin Lingyun?”
Everyone was alarmed. The order in which the banner holding disciples were announced was oftentimes an indication of their strength. For example, with Su Mei and Lin Yezhou, Su Mei was announced before Lin Yezhou. That meant that the World Spiritist Alliance’s Alliance Master most likely believed that Su Mei was stronger than Lin Yezhou.
And now, among the Cyanwood Mountain’s disciples, Qin Wentian was not present. Thus, Qin Lingyun, the second ranked disciple, should be the first to be announced with Jiang Furong behind him.
It was one thing for Jiang Furong to not be a banner holding disciple. However, the crowd had simply never heard of Chu Feng before. Furthermore, this Chu Feng was actually placed before Qin Lingyun. As such, how could the crowd not be astonished?
Thus, the crowd all turned their gazes to Chu Feng. They all knew that this unfamiliar face was most definitely Chu Feng.
“He’s actually only a rank six Martial King. How could he be qualified to be a banner holding disciple with that sort of cultivation?”
After the crowd sized Chu Feng up, they were even more shocked. Rank six Martial King, this was truly not a very strong level of cultivation.
“Could it be that there’s been a mistake? Could it be that that man is not Chu Feng? Perhaps a disciple might have changed his name?” Some people began to feel that they might have guessed the wrong person.
However, right at this moment, Chu Feng and Qin Lingyun stepped forth simultaneously and respectfully gave thanks to Dugu Xingfeng.
“Holy c.r.a.p! It’s really him?!”
“What’s wrong with senior Dugu? Could it be that he has gone blind? Why would he choose a piece of trash like him to be a banner holding disciple?”
At this moment, the crowd were all dumbfounded. However, in terms of being dumbfounded, the person who was the most stunned was Qin Lingyun. In his heart, Chu Feng was nothing more than a little bug that he could crush to death with one foot.
However, it was precisely this little bug that he had never placed in his eyes that had ended up stepping on his head right now. Naturally, this caused him a great amount of displeasure.
Although he was displeased, he did not dare to complain. After all, he was not bold and arrogant enough to go against Dugu Xingfeng. Thus, he could only endure and prepare a way to deal with Chu Feng.
Suddenly, an old man from the Sword Crafting Villa stood up and said, “Haha, now that the Nine Powers’ banner holding disciples have all been announced, let’s do the usual and have a gamble.”
Once this man spoke, Chu Feng’s eyes immediately started to s.h.i.+ne. That was because this man was no ordinary character.
He was an old man with a very dirty appearance. His clothing was also very dirty. He appeared to be no different from a beggar. Thus, before he spoke, no one would notice him, as he gave off a feeling of nonexistence.
However, once he spoke, Chu Feng, who was very keen, immediately became aware that this old man was extremely powerful. Not only was he a peak Half Martial Emperor, the airs of an expert that he gave off seemed to be even denser than the Sword Crafting Villa’s headmaster.
“Senior brother Fu, do you know who this senior is? He seems to be extremely powerful,” Chu Feng asked Fu Feiteng through voice transmission.
“Oh, that is Elder Wuliang. He is quite similar to our World Spiritist Alliance’s Elder Miao.” [1.Wuliang means inglorious/unscrupulous. Most likely his t.i.tle.]
“Although he is not the Sword Crafting Villa’s headmaster, he possesses extraordinary status,” Fu Feiteng said.
“So that’s the case. In that case, what does he mean by the gamble?” Chu Feng asked.
“Regarding that, the Nine Powers’ headmasters and elders will always gamble with one another in the Nine Powers hunt. This sort of gamble is something that Elder Wuliang initially brought forth. However, as all of the headmasters were very fond of it, it has become a tradition in the Nine Powers Hunt now.”
“As for what sort of gamble it is, it’s actually very simple. Basically, they will bet on which disciple among the eighteen banner holding disciples from the Nine Powers will be able to obtain victory in the Nine Powers Hunt,” Fu Feiteng explained.
“That’s a gamble indeed. Merely, that’s quite an advanced level gamble. Never would I have expected that these grand characters of the Nine Powers would be fond of this sort of stuff too.”
“Sure enough, people cannot abstain from secular things. Even though they possess very high levels of cultivation, they are still people. They will have the seven emotions, the six desires, the interest in fun and the things that they love.”
[2. The seven emotions and six desires are somewhat different depending on the source. According to buddhism, the seven emotions are: joy, anger, grief, fear, affection, hated and l.u.s.t/thought. Another version says that they are: pleasure, anger, sorrow, fright, worry, fear and thought. The six desires are: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch and thought. Not sure if I’m correct as it seems that the sources I’m finding are a bit different.]
Chu Feng knew that gambling was very common among the ordinary people. It was the most commonly seen amus.e.m.e.nt. It was also a good method to maintain relations.h.i.+ps with others.
However, there were also a lot of people who ended up becoming addicted to gambling and losing their entire family’s fortune, ruining themselves and becoming homeless due to gambling.
The reason for that was because they idled away their times with gambling and had no other motivation. Some even believed that gambling was the shortcut to becoming rich.
This was also only human behavior. After all, ordinary people did not have the talent for martial cultivation. If they wished to live good lives, they had to have money.
However, it was different for cultivators. The riches of ordinary people were mere worldly possessions to them, inferior to even sc.r.a.p metal. What they sought after was stronger strength or treasures capable of increasing their strength.
Thus, to ordinary people, martial cultivators were akin to immortals and G.o.ds. As for people like the headmasters of the Nine Powers, they were even G.o.ds among immortals, immortals among G.o.ds. Thus, how could they be polluted with this sort of mortal behavior?
Unfortunately, the reality wasn’t like that. Even though they possessed extremely high cultivations, they were still people. As long as they were people, they would have the hearts of mortals. With hearts of mortals, they would have desires. As for gambling, it was one such way to satisfy their desires.
“Haha, senior Wuliang, you’re still so fond of gambling,” At this moment, the Eight Desolate Mountain Ranges’ headmaster spoke. Although he said those words, his face was filled with uncontainable excitement.
In fact, it was not only the Eight Desolate Mountain Ranges’ headmaster who was acting this way. The other powers’ headmasters, including Dugu Xingfeng, and the elders with extraordinary status had also become very excited.
“Enough of the rubbish, are you going to gamble or not?” The Sword Crafting Villa’s Old Daoist Wuliang said.
“Of course, why wouldn’t I? Not like I’m afraid of you,” The Eight Desolate Mountain Ranges’ headmaster said.
“The gambling stake will be the same as before. Don’t tell me you can’t afford it, okay?” Old Daoist Wuliang pointed out.
“Even if you double the gambling stake, this old man will still be able to partic.i.p.ate,” The Eight Desolate Mountain Ranges’ headmaster was filled with confidence. After that, he said, “Since there’s only one victor in this year’s Nine Powers Hunt, I shall place my bet on little friend Wan’er.”
The Eight Desolate Mountain Ranges’ headmaster had placed his bet. However, to Chu Feng’s surprise, he did not bet on his own banner holding disciples and instead bet on the Ten Thousand Flower Gardens’ disciple Nie Wan’er.
However, other than some outsiders, no one was shocked by his actions. Furthermore, those headmasters seemed to be very accustomed to this.
This came as a great surprise to Chu Feng. Chu Feng had thought that they would, for the sake of face, bet on their own disciples. However, he now discovered that he was mistaken.
This Eight Desolate Mountain Ranges’ headmaster was a very pragmatic person. He knew that his own disciple was inferior to the Ten Thousand Flower Gardens’ beautiful twin sisters. Thus, he decided to place his bet on the Ten Thousand Flower Gardens’ disciple instead.
After the Eight Desolate Mountain Ranges’ headmaster finished placing his bet, one of the Eight Desolate Mountain Ranges’ elders also decided to place his bet. However, unlike his own headmaster, he placed his bet on their own disciple. No matter what, they were their disciples. Thus, he did so to encourage them.