A Card In Hand

Chapter 98: You Dare Challenge Me? You’re Not Worthy!

Nine-Layer Ancient Prison.

This ancient ruin, discovered thirty thousand years ago, has always been considered by summoners as both the greatest opportunity and the greatest challenge for training.

The Nine-Layer Ancient Prison has many spatial entrances.

After descending to the third layer, summoners from the Tianfeng Continent are no longer the only creatures from the lower realms venturing into this perilous place.

The deeper one goes, the more diverse the races from other worlds one encounters, and the stronger the competitors become.

Elves, dwarves, gnomes, goblins, lizardmen, gnoll, Black Marsh Frogmen, and other creatures of the lower realms.

They would enter through the spatial portals of their own worlds.

Competing with humans.

When human summoners venture to the sixth layer, they also encounter evil monsters from the Abyssal and Hell dimensions.

“Upon entering the Nine-Layer Ancient Prison, you must be vigilant of your surroundings. Any slight anomaly could be a deadly ambush. They could be a snake, a centipede, a spider, a scorpion, a wild bee, an unknown little bug, or even a fish swimming in shallow water that looks perfectly normal. The moment you let your guard down, they might launch a fatal attack,” warned Guardian Zheng Yue, stationed at the entrance of the Nine-Layer Ancient Prison at the end of the Jingjing War God Mountains, seriously advising Li Ao and others to stay safe.

Despite each summoner receiving a free copy of the thick ‘List of Safety Precautions and Emergency Responses – 3000 Items’ handbook upon entry, Guardian Zheng Yue, still tirelessly reminded the newcomers to approach the Nine-Layer Ancient Prison with a respectful and cautious attitude.

The newcomers nodded, expressing their intention to treat it with solemn respect.

What kind of place is the Nine-Layer Ancient Prison?

It’s an ancient ruin that even the Unparalleled War God had not fully explored!

It not only harbors enemies from various worlds and dimensions but also countless independent spaces and numerous terrifying monsters with bizarre abilities that could kill someone without them even realizing how they died.

As a thousand-year-old demon, Li Ao was very familiar with the Nine-Layer Ancient Prison; after all, he often hid here to recover from his injuries in his past life.

The first six layers were manageable for him.

But descending to the seventh layer without legendary strength was akin to seeking death.

At some of the deepest secret realms of the ninth layer, Li Ao felt that the level of terror was comparable only to the God Annihilation Grounds.

Some secret realms still preserved the state of the ancient ruins quite well, where the laws of nature were destructive.

If a celestial envoy or celestial general were to descend, they could easily perish due to carelessness.

“I have already repeated the precautions to you. I know you young people dislike listening to us old folks ramble, so I won’t say much more. I understand your eagerness to venture in, as I was once just like you. I do not underestimate you, but as a collective resolution by all guardians, we wish to send a guard to accompany the newcomers for three months. After gaining experience, we will withdraw the guard and grant you complete freedom to explore,” Guardian Zheng Yue then assigned a guard captain named Bai Ya to accompany Li Ao and the group as their guard for this mission.

“Captain Bai Ya, welcome to join us!” Li Ao, elected as the representative of the newcomers, neatly completed the welcoming task.

“Unless we encounter particularly dangerous situations, I won’t interfere with your daily life or combat training. If you have any questions during your exploration, feel free to ask me, and I will answer what I can. If you’re busy and have your own matters to attend to, then pretend I’m not here,” Captain Bai Ya made it clear to everyone that his role was to accompany and protect without affecting their daily activities or training.

Captain Bai Ya is a middle-aged man.

With his bronze skin and sharp gaze, he was clad in a silver heavy armor with two oddly-shaped long swords crossed on his back.

To most, the Captain of the White Crow seemed merely a Champion-level high-ranking summoner, but only Li Ao knew his true strength was that of a King-level.

If one had to choose a victor between the Captain of the White Crow and Supervisor Lei Bao, Li Ao would bet all his chips on the White Crow Captain without hesitation.

“Your native cards are the pass to the future. Once successfully registered, you won’t need a temporary pass anymore. Remember, the first recording time must exceed three seconds to fully capture your personal information.”

Under the leadership of the White Crow Captain, the students officially began entering the Nine-Layer Ancient Prison.

They passed through the thick, heavy Sealing Door and were greeted by a twisted and broken space passage.

“Be careful to stay in the safe areas of the space passage; these fragmented voids are relatively stable and won’t change for a short time. Pay attention to where you step, and avoid going into unstable areas. You can recall some of the larger war beasts for now, like this Rock Bear, who knows to avoid danger on its own. Such war beasts can be safely brought inside. Those lining up behind, no rush, I will guide you batch by batch. The total time won’t exceed ten minutes; there’s no need to hurry all at once,” instructed the White Crow Captain as he praised Li Ao’s Rock Bear.

The Rock Bear was rather unfortunate; Li Ao paid no attention to it, so it had no choice but to follow on its own.

While other summoners either recalled their beasts early or led them nervously by the hand, at least keeping in step with their owners, the Rock Bear had none of these luxuries.

Moreover, with Li Ao’s team members like Shuanghan, Cang Yue, and Lie Feng always closely following him, the Rock Bear struggled to keep up and had no choice but to temporarily follow behind the great Fuxi.

“Big Bear, once I get the Earth elemental war beast crystal cores, they are all yours. I’ll get you to Bronze-grade as soon as possible!”

Fuxi, feeling a bit derelict in his duties as a boss whose subordinate’s war beast was still at the Iron-tier, was determined to upgrade it. After all, most rookies had moved past Iron-tier ages ago, and if others didn’t know better, they might think he was harsh on his subordinates.

The Rock Bear roared happily at the prospect of upgrading.

Who would want to remain a lowly Iron-tier?

Without any action from its master, the Rock Bear’s anxiety was futile.

As for the Shadow Halberd and the Demonic Rock Giant, the Rock Bear didn’t even consider it might be the first to upgrade!

Fuxi patted the Rock Bear’s forward-facing head with a smug expression, “I was a bit of an inadequate boss before, my combat power wasn’t high enough, and many things were just wishful thinking. Ah, but now it’s different, my combat power has reached a formidable 666, making me a high-ranking Elite-tier summoner. If I don’t take good care of you and little Li Ao, what kind of boss would I be?”

He boasted to the Rock Bear as a young summoner with floating golden hair and a sickly pale complexion flew towards them.

He must have found Fuxi’s words grating, for he halted abruptly, levitating in front of Fuxi with a look of disdain and let out a derisive sneer, “A combat power of 666 is considered strong? I can’t believe how inflated newcomers are these days! No, it’s more than just inflated; you’re bloated like a ball!”

Hearing this, the companions of the young summoner, who had also come to a stop, burst into laughter.

Fuxi felt extremely uncomfortable inside.

I didn’t provoke you.

I was just speaking to the Stone Bear. What’s wrong with boasting to it? Is it illegal? How is my boasting any of your business?

But then he thought, why should I get angry with such trivial people?

If we started fighting just because of a disagreement…

Not to mention whether this was the right place for it.

Even in a place well-suited for a fight, if I were bullied, wouldn’t Li Ao rush over to help?

Once Li Ao joined in, it wouldn’t end well. These guys would get beaten into trash, and it wasn’t unlikely some might end up dead!

I can’t let Li Ao get involved; he’s too impulsive.

Too strong a combat power.

It’s not necessarily a good thing.

Because only a freak genius could withstand it.

These guys, however, had nothing to do with being freak geniuses… With such people, why should I lose my temper? My refusal to argue isn’t because I’m scared of them, but because I am kind, I am magnanimous, I’m mercifully sparing their lives!

Thinking this way in his heart.

Fuxi immediately felt a surge of nobility.

A radiant smile spread across his face: “You’re right, I’ve become bloated like a ball, but you wouldn’t deny someone the pleasure of boasting, would you?”

“Fatso, if you want to leave without trouble, apologize to me, or I will definitely show you what real combat power is,” the pale-faced young summoner arrogantly rebuked Fuxi.

“I apologize to you; indeed, I misspoke. I shouldn’t have claimed to have strong combat power, I shouldn’t have boasted!” Fuxi admitted his mistake.

“Be smarter next time. It’s fine to dream during the day, but don’t blurt it out carelessly, or trouble might follow,” the young summoner said, patting Fuxi’s face condescendingly twice. “I’m giving you this lesson for free. If you’re unhappy, feel free to find me anytime. From the Sky Dragon Clan, protector of the Black Border Forest and Green Stone Swamp, lord of the North Bay Cold Spring Port, of the Ducal House of Silver Crown, the eighth son, Baron Bai Sen, nicknamed Split Fang.”

Fuxi didn’t remember the long string of titles, barely recalling that his name was Split Fang.

“What do you mean by this?” Fang Yan, Wu Ding, and others noticed something was wrong and quickly came to support.

“A bunch of trash!”

Split Fang, the young summoner, didn’t flinch, his attitude even more arrogant.

“Split Fang, are you looking for trouble?” The toad-man Chi Ming, who thought they had walked away, rushed back upon hearing his classmates report that Fuxi had been intercepted, only to discover it was Split Fang, a senior from the previous year.

“Get lost, you stinking toad, I hate your ugly, attention-seeking kind the most!” Split Fang shouted loudly at Chi Ming.

Before Li Ao had transformed into the Great Demon King, the toad-man Chi Ming would not have wanted to provoke Split Fang.

After all, the opponent had higher combat power and came from the noble ducal family.

The Dragon Clan and the Great Luo Dynasty almost had a marriage alliance every generation.

It could be considered a branch of the royal family.

However.

Now, Chi Ming looked down on even Prince Jinxi, so how could Split Fang, who was only a year his senior, scare him off in public?

Chi Ming knew the opponent’s combat power was above his own, but instead of fear, he felt excitement: “Then let’s have a match. It’s pointless to just talk; the world of summoners is ruled by strength!”

“What a joke, your combat power is higher than mine? Are you living in a dream?” Split Fang immediately scoffed at the idea upon hearing it.

“High combat power doesn’t necessarily mean you truly possess such strength!” Chi Ming knew the opponent must have boosted his combat power by piling on war beasts.

“You want to challenge me? Ahahaha!” Split Fang couldn’t contain his laughter upon hearing this.

Their companions.

Also laughed uproariously.

Suddenly, Split Fang’s laughter stopped as abruptly as if cut by a knife, then he disdainfully spat out at Chi Ming, “You’re not worthy!”

Li Ao, Shuanghan, and Cang Yue, who were at the forefront, were halted by several classmates who called out to them loudly.

Cang Yue’s temper flared upon hearing what had transpired, infuriated, “Fuxi that damn fatty is only for me to bully, what right do you have to bully him?”

With a whoosh, he shot back to where the confrontation was taking place.

The mournful cry of the Ancient Grey Wolf echoed.

Claws swept down from above.