Chapter 330 - Battle Again

Chapter 330: Chapter 85: Battle AgainLu Hong wasn’t interested in these alliance secrets. Aside from the four Dukes, the other nobles weren’t of high enough status, and even if he knew their minor secrets, Lu Hong had no intention of scheming against them.

To avoid little Weiwei, Lu Hong stayed in the secret chamber until it was over before he got up and left.

Weiwei had been squatting at the entrance of the estate until everyone had left before she saw Lu Hong leisurely walking out.

"Where did you go?" Weiwei pouted unhappily, "I looked for you all night long."

"I’m not sure myself, I just randomly entered a room to sleep, and just now someone woke me up," Lu Hong shrugged his shoulders, casually making up an excuse.

Weiwei had no way of dealing with Lu Hong, so she decided not to bother with these things and adjusted her mood, stepping forward to link arms with Lu Hong, "Where shall we go now?"

"Back to the academy."

"Back to what academy." Weiwei turned up her nose and said, "There are a lot of fun places in the Sevenfold Phantasm, shall I take you?"

"No," Lu Hong quickly refused, this woman definitely didn’t have any good intentions.

"Haven’t you just had a sleep, and you can’t even accompany me?" Weiwei was somewhat angry.

The feeling of being entangled by a woman, truly not so great!

Lu Hong paused for a moment before explaining, "I have a competition tomorrow, so I still want to do some preparations."

"This..." Bringing up the competition as an excuse, Weiwei had no choice but to give in, "Alright then, let me escort you."

"Let’s go together."

With a wave, a carriage came over, and the two got in and returned to the academy.

After saying goodbye to Weiwei, Lu Hong went straight to Anna’s residence.

Before Lu Hong could knock, Anna opened the door to welcome him.

No need to guess, Anna had been waiting for him all night.

Lu Hong embraced the woman, "Sorry."

"It’s nothing," Anna shook her head, "I just couldn’t sleep, feeling that you would come."

"Of course I would come," Lu Hong smiled slightly, "This place is like my second home."

"Kikiki," Anna laughed, teasingly saying, "In our alliance, if a man wants to marry a woman, he has to prepare a house first, who is like you, shamelessly living at a girl’s home."

"What?" Lu Hong raised his eyebrows, "Don’t you like it?"

"Like it, like it," Anna’s eyes and brows danced, she kissed Lu Hong deeply, and after a passionate kiss, Anna said emotionally, "Love me~"

Lu Hong didn’t talk nonsense, picked up Anna and entered her boudoir... a night of tenderness.

The next day, there indeed was a competition, and it was very grand, the first official competition after the budget games, and the public was allowed to watch.

And starting from today’s competition, the underground betting houses also officially opened, taking in all bets, ranging from millions of Gold Coins to half a copper coin, accepting everything.

"Do you want to become a little rich woman?" Lu Hong said to Anna at his side, "Let’s go gamble a bit too."

"Sure," Anna had been teaching at the academy for years and had some savings, she pulled Lu Hong into the crowd.

"I’m betting eight thousand Gold Coins," Anna dumped all the Gold Coins from her Space Ring onto the betting table.

The bookkeeper at the betting house wrote down the ticket, "This lady bets eight thousand on Lu Hong to win, here is your voucher, keep it safe."

Anna took the voucher, waved it in front of Lu Hong, "It all depends on your performance now."

"Just wait to be a rich woman," Lu Hong glanced at his own odds, one to eight, which meant that if Lu Hong won today’s competition, Anna’s eight thousand could be exchanged for sixty-four thousand Gold Coins at the betting house.

Coming out of the betting house, Anna accompanied Lu Hong into the Fifth Realm again.

"Peiduo is very strong, if you can’t beat him, make sure to not overdo it," Anna reminded him again, this sentence having been repeated seven or eight times already.

Although he was tired of hearing it, Lu Hong understood Anna’s concern and good intentions, "Don’t worry, just keep betting on me to win in the future competitions."

"Of course, I will bet on you to win, even if it bankrupts me."

Anna’s tenderness struck straight into Lu Hong’s heart, making him silently sigh with contentment, truly what more could a husband ask for.

"The competition is about to start! Now, please welcome Peiduo to the arena!" the voice of the referee and host echoed out through Magic amplification within the arena.

Peiduo had arrived, so it was his turn to enter.

"I’m going, watch my performance closely." Lu Hong left a kiss on Anna’s forehead and walked into the arena with confident steps.

"Peiduo has arrived, where is the other contestant? Lu Hong, where are you? Please enter the arena quickly!" The referee’s tone was a lot more arrogant than before, as if looking down on others.

Of course, there was a reason for this. Peiduo, being the Marquis’ progeny, was considered one of the significant figures of the alliance. As for this... Lu Hong, unheard of, nobody knew from which backwater he had sprung, to tread upon such a stage was probably just a fluke.

"Here," Lu Hong stepped onto the stage, and as the two contestants were ready, the audience outside erupted into excitement.

Those who came were here to watch the excitement or to make some money. Apart from Anna, there were probably only a few in the audience who weren’t betting on Peiduo to win.

As previously said, Lu Hong’s name was virtually unknown, so who would bet against the Alliance’s star, Peiduo, to favor an unknown contender, unless they felt their money was too much to hold?

"Peiduo! Peiduo! Peiduo!"

The shouts from outside the arena came wave after wave.

"Hey!" Lu Hong called out to Peiduo in the distance, "With so many people supporting you, don’t you think it’ll be rather embarrassing if you lose later?"

"Heh." Peiduo let out a cold laugh, "You’re overthinking it, I just hope you can admit defeat later."

"The match begins!" As the judge gave the order, Peiduo took the initiative to attack, his giant axe whipping up a tempest as it slashed down at Lu Hong.

Lu Hong was not to be outdone, gripping his bronze greatsword to meet the attack head-on.

With a booming crash, Peiduo leaped high into the air, the rebounding force causing his palms to split open. The battle-hardened Peiduo quickly adjusted his mentality and, using the rebounding force, dove from the sky to launch another fierce slash.

The emerald-green wind elements transformed into a sharp blade of the axe, the attack not yet arrived, but the oppressive force of the skill weighed down like a mountain, attempting to suppress Lu Hong.

"Hmph!" Lu Hong was far from intimidated, as his Pure Steel Battle Energy burst forth from his body.

Fatal Strike activated, the raging battle energy soared into the sky, hurtling toward Peiduo.

When their skills collided, Lu Hong seemed to have the upper hand.

Peiduo was slightly taken aback, frantically using his Magic Power to adjust his position, landing a hundred meters away from Lu Hong.

"Mo Na was right, you’re quite capable."

"Oh?" Lu Hong’s mouth curled up slightly, "Are you also sent by the Xinlei family?"

"The Xinlei family wouldn’t make such a big fuss over this, but it’s a pity Piao Miao didn’t take care of it for them, so Mo Na had to come to me for help—it was just a matter of lending a hand."

"Didn’t Mo Na tell you that the last person who said he would solve his problems for him is already dead."

"I don’t know how Katula died, but it was certainly your scheming, or perhaps, you have some unique tricks, but all of these..." Peiduo confidently said, "are futile in the face of absolute power."

"Absolute power?" Lu Hong chuckled, "I didn’t notice that just now."

"It’s just that I didn’t think it necessary, why use full strength against a minor character like you?"

"I really wonder who gave you such confidence." Lu Hong stopped wasting words; such arrogant scions of major families usually fall in line after a good beating.

Quick as an arrow, Lu Hong drew numerous sword flashes, sealing off Peiduo’s movements left and right.

Peiduo grasped his giant axe, the roaring wind shrill as it dispersed the Pure Steel Battle Energy.

Lu Hong then realized that his opponent was hiding his strength. According to the information from Anna, Peiduo was only a Second Transition Level 7, but now it seemed much more, at least Level 9 and above.

"I didn’t want to expose myself, but you’re just unlucky."

"I think you’re the unlucky one." Lu Hong once again activated his Pure Steel Battle Energy, concentrating it on the bronze greatsword.

The two weapons collided fiercely, sending waves of terrifying energy pulses.

The judge had long since left the arena, watching from outside the protective barrier with his heart in his throat. Although he knew the barrier wouldn’t break, he couldn’t shake off a feeling of fear.

What background did this person called Lu Hong have? Peiduo even unleashed the power of Second Transition Level 9, yet he could still battle Peiduo without falling short? If he knew earlier, he would have bet a few Gold Coins for fun.

Anna, sitting in the spectator seats, clenched her fists and watched with a worried face, afraid that Lu Hong would get hurt by Peiduo.

Fortunately, Lu Hong was agile. Peiduo, using the giant axe as his weapon, might have a large attack range and power, but it had a fatal flaw—it wasn’t very flexible.

The more Peiduo fought, the worse he felt. What the hell was going on? The opponent’s brute strength was so astonishing; despite resolving to pursue the path of the wild axe warrior since childhood and constantly pushing his physical limits, very few in the entire alliance could surpass him in physical strength—and those few were famous seniors. Since when did such a tough character emerge?

Following another heavy hit, Peiduo received the attack and couldn’t help but retreat, the split palms bleeding, making it difficult for him to hold his weapon steady.

"Aren’t you going to use your ultimate move?" Lu Hong mocked, "If you don’t use it soon, you might not have a chance."

"I’ll grant your wish!" It wasn’t that Peiduo didn’t want to use it, but Lu Hong was closing in on him, giving him no chance to unleash it; an ultimate move always required some time to gather strength.

Peiduo burst out with all his power, the waves of Magic Power rushing out like a tangible force.

And although Lu Hong spoke, his actions didn’t offer any opportunity; with one slash, he parted the tide of Magic Power and pressed forward, overpowering Peiduo.

"Damn it!" Peiduo, enduring the pain, summoned a magic artifact from his storage ring, and a white halo expanded.

Absolute Defense!

A high-level magic artifact skill from the Holy Court; it called it Absolute Defense and was indeed astonishing in the defensive capability, impenetrable to the average person, giving the user about three seconds of safety.

The white halo pushed Lu Hong back, and Peiduo began to ready his strongest skill.

A green tornado rapidly descended from the sky, Peiduo lifted his weapon high and absorbed all its energy.

With a thunderous boom, the axe smashed heavily into the ground, the resulting vibrations causing the entire arena to tremble. The giant axe, charged with the tornado’s power, contained immense energy.

It didn’t look too friendly; Lu Hong retreated to the edge of the ring, took a deep breath, and crouched down, triggering the second instance of his reduced version of Flash Extreme.

With all his strength, Peiduo raised the battle axe high: "Kid, this is it for you! To die under this move is an honor for you."

"Let’s see then, whose skill is more powerful." Lu Hong took a deep breath, his bronze greatsword likewise emitting waves of heart-palpitating energy.

Anna stood up anxiously, her eyes fixed on the battle before her. As the skills of both sides clashed, magic energy rampaged across the field, completely obscuring the view of the spectators.

Even the judge was really unnerved. He had a duty to ensure the safety of the competitors, especially the son of Marquis Peiduo. If he died unclearly on the ring, the judge would be in serious trouble. But he couldn’t dare to lower the protective barrier either. At his mid-level Second Transition, if he removed the barrier, he probably wouldn’t survive a few seconds in the raging magic energy.

What to do? So conflicted! The judge broke into a sweat, desperately waiting online for advice. Urgent!