Cultivation Starting from Choosing Augments

Chapter 299 - 172: Breakthrough to Foundation Establishment Level 8, Riding the Clouds on Rishan (Part 2)

He didn’t understand the other wagers, so he wasn’t going to risk it. A safe profit of one thousand Spirit Stones would be fine.

Chang Shunping hadn’t thought much of Ye Fei’s chances, but seeing Xiao Chen’s confidence, he immediately started to have second thoughts.

Since proxies weren’t allowed for placing bets, the two of them went to the Good Fortune Gambling House in Lingyuan Market together.

After a moment’s thought, Chang Shunping also bet one thousand Spirit Stones.

Even if he couldn’t quite understand the reasoning, he was willing to trust Xiao Chen’s insight and judgment.

Sure enough, three days later, the duel ended with Ye Fei’s victory.

Despite the Zeng Family’s ancestor even using his family’s heirloom Magical Artifact, he still suffered a bitter defeat on the spot.

Chang Shunping took his betting slip, exchanged it for two thousand Spirit Stones, and brought them over.

At the same time, he couldn’t stop marveling. "Xiao, it’s a real shame you didn’t go."

"Ye Fei was clearly fighting someone from a higher Realm, but who would have thought? Not only did he win, but he won cleanly and decisively. It was a complete steamroll."

Xiao Chen accepted the Spirit Stones with a faint smile.

A Cultivation Realm and actual combat strength were never one and the same.

The grade of one’s Magical Artifacts, their Magic Cultivation, the speed of their Escape Techniques, the range of their Divine Sense, the rank of their Cultivation Technique, the principles of Five Elements Birth and Destruction—all of these could influence the outcome of Magical Combat.

In fact, when Xiao Chen dealt with the Eastern Wanderer, he had only been at the sixth layer of Foundation Establishment.

When he defeated both the Southern Wanderer and the Western Wanderer in a one-on-two fight, he was similarly at the seventh layer of Foundation Establishment.

Outsiders thought his trump card was a hidden Fake Pill.

In reality, Xiao Chen’s true trump card was his Augments.

.

Until the end of the second month, Ye Fei remained a hot topic of conversation.

All sorts of information about him was circulating.

People were surprised to discover that not only was Ye Fei’s own Cultivation high, but he was also accompanied by two female cultivators at the late stage of Foundation Establishment.

At the same time, rumors that he possessed a Wind Spirit Root and was proficient in the Wind Escape Technique spread like wildfire.

The debate over who would be champion immediately heated up, especially after everyone learned that Ye Fei also planned to participate in the Riding the Clouds on Rishan competition.

Originally, most people had assumed that first place would undoubtedly be decided between Xiao Chen and Ning Haochen.

But now, some people felt that Ye Fei’s strength was formidable, and he might just pull off another upset victory.

Then, on the night before, Chang Shunping brought another piece of news—the Windwalker Wanderer had shown up.

"Never heard of him. Is he strong?"

Xiao Chen slowly dispersed the Fire Qi surrounding his body, pausing his cultivation of the Fire Storage Treasure Talisman.

"He’s not just strong, he’s *extremely* strong!"

Chang Shunping said with a serious expression, "As far back as sixty years ago, the Windwalker Wanderer won first place in the Riding the Clouds on Rishan competition with his exceptional Wind Escape Technique."

"For the next ten years, he won consecutively, overpowering all the other Foundation Establishment Cultivators who participated."

"That’s when he earned the name ’Windwalker Wanderer.’ He had so much Flowing Cloud Dew that he couldn’t use it all himself and would even auction the surplus for Spirit Stones."

"Many people tried to challenge him, but every single one of them failed."

"By the tenth year, many of the top cultivators didn’t even bother showing up to Li Mountain, effectively conceding defeat in advance."

Even though the Riding the Clouds on Rishan competition had other rewards besides Flowing Cloud Dew,

those other prizes were more or less dispensable to top-tier cultivators and not worth making a special trip for.

Xiao Chen was a little curious. "So he eventually withdrew on his own?"

"That’s right," Chang Shunping confirmed. "Later, we heard that the Windwalker Wanderer went into secret seclusion to further refine his Escape Techniques."

"He vanished for fifty years. Everyone thought he would never appear again."

"There were even rumors that he’d grown tired of having no worthy opponents in Hezhou and had gone to the Eastern Domain to seek greater challenges."

"I can’t believe he’s suddenly reappeared and announced he’s participating in this year’s competition."

Xiao Chen nodded. "Oh, I see."

"Xiao, you don’t seem worried at all?"

Chang Shunping was clearly concerned. "The competition is tomorrow. I heard Ye Fei has been busy practicing his Escape Techniques every single day."

In stark contrast, from what he had observed, Xiao Chen hadn’t set foot outside his courtyard these past few days, simply holing himself up to cultivate his Fire Technique.

"Why should I be worried?"

Xiao Chen’s expression remained calm. "The competition is tomorrow anyway. There’s no use in getting anxious now, is there?"

He was extremely confident in his Vertical Earth Golden Light.

An Escape Technique at the Great Success Realm was already terrifyingly powerful. With the boost from his Augments on top of that, he couldn’t imagine how he could possibly lose.

Seeing that Xiao Chen wasn’t the least bit flustered, Chang Shunping’s own worries subsided a little.

The reason he was so on edge was because this competition also involved betting.

An established annual competition like Riding the Clouds on Rishan naturally had its own established betting pools.

Unlike the impromptu duel involving Ye Fei, this format was more established, and the betting limits were much higher.

Out of his trust in Xiao Chen, Chang Shunping had previously taken all the Spirit Stones he had and bet a full six thousand on Xiao Chen to win.

He never imagined that a new variable would be thrown into the mix just one day before the event.

The news that the Windwalker Wanderer would be competing had only broken that morning.

In just half a day, countless cultivators had placed their bets.

Even though the Good Fortune Gambling House set an incredibly low payout of eleven Spirit Stones for every ten bet, it couldn’t dampen the crowd’s enthusiasm.

To put that in perspective, even when Xiao Chen was the clear favorite, the Good Fortune Gambling House had only offered a payout of six for every five Spirit Stones bet.

The Windwalker Wanderer having the lowest payout actually meant the gambling house saw him as the most likely to take first place.

However, Xiao Chen just asked, "Since there’s a new development, did the Good Fortune Gambling House lift the betting limits?"

Although the betting pool was larger, to control risk and avoid catastrophic losses, the house had set a betting limit of ten thousand Spirit Stones for this event.

Unfortunately, the Good Fortune Gambling House hadn’t made any adjustments to that limit.

This left Xiao Chen feeling a bit disappointed.