Chapter 758: Heaven-Beating Drum

“Hm?”

Jiang Chen and his group froze, turning to look at the newcomers.

The party of over thirty people was led by a middle-aged man with red hair. The rest were all youths.

Every one of them radiated a vigorous aura, their True Essence surging. They were clearly all experts among the younger generation.

At this moment, the dozens of people were sizing up Jiang Chen’s group with looks of ridicule and contempt.

Jiang Chen frowned. “Who are they?”

Sima Lingkong clenched his fists, his teeth grinding together. He said in a low voice, “They’re from Beishan City. The one who just spoke is Beishan Jing, the youngest son of the Beishan City Lord. He used to be a bully in my Coastal City, preying on men and women alike, so I gave him a good beating. He’s hated me ever since. Whenever he sees me, he always tries to start something…”

Jiang Chen nodded.

From this, he could tell that Sima Lingkong wasn’t a bad person at heart.

Otherwise, given his status, he would have had no need to offend Beishan Jing for the sake of Coastal City’s common folk.

“You all wait here while I submit the entry application!” The red-haired, middle-aged man never once glanced at Jiang Chen’s group. He gave the instruction coolly, a frosty look in his eyes. “Jing’er, remember not to go too far. Just teach them a small lesson. This is Celestial Drum City, after all!”

“Don’t worry, Father!”

Beishan Jing grinned and nodded respectfully.

After seeing the red-haired man off, Beishan Jing, a mocking smile on his face, looked Jiang Chen and the others up and down. His gaze lingered on Yiluo, a lecherous glint appearing in his eyes. He chuckled. “Tsk tsk, Sima Lingkong, your Coastal City might not have many decent geniuses, but I have to admit, you sure have a lot of beauties! What’s the matter? An old friend is here, and you’re not even going to introduce this lovely lady to me?”

Yiluo glanced at Beishan Jing, and a cold glint flashed in the depths of her blue eyes.

Sima Lingkong’s expression darkened slightly.

‘In his eyes, Yiluo was Jiang Chen’s woman. For Beishan Jing to dare openly harass Yiluo was a direct slap to Jiang Chen’s face.’

‘If I stand up for him now, I should be able to leave a good impression on Jiang Chen.’

Sima Lingkong immediately bellowed, “Beishan Jing, apologize to Miss Yiluo at once! Otherwise, I’ll beat you until you do!”

In their past encounters, Sima Lingkong had always held the absolute advantage.

Naturally, he had no fear of Beishan Jing.

Beishan Jing’s face turned ugly. He shot Sima Lingkong a venomous glare, snorted coldly, and sneered, “Sima Lingkong, you really only know how to use your fists. All brawn and no brain. We have so many people here. Do you really think I need to fight you one-on-one?”

“You…”

Sima Lingkong’s expression changed slightly.

Beishan City’s overall strength was a cut above a third-class faction like Coastal City, located at the very edge of the Holy Sanctuary Mountain Range. This was especially true for Beishan Jing’s older brother, Beishan Ba, a peerless genius who had entered Celestial Drum City long ago to train under a Vice City Lord.

If they were to fight him in Celestial Drum City, their own group would be the ones to suffer in the end.

While Sima Lingkong hesitated, Beishan Jing grinned, his expression one of someone with nothing to fear. “Sima Lingkong, do you dare make a bet with me?”

“A bet?”

Sima Lingkong looked completely baffled.

He had no idea what Beishan Jing was plotting.

Beishan Jing gave a sly laugh, his fervent gaze sweeping over Yiluo’s stunning figure. “Isn’t there a replica of the Town Guardian Divine Artifact, the Zhan Tiangu, just outside Celestial Drum City? It’s a Celestial Drum. Let’s compete. We’ll see who can make the Celestial Drum sound, who can strike it more times, and who can make it sound louder. That person wins.”

“The Heaven-Beating Drum?”

Sima Lingkong frowned. “What happens if you lose? And what if you win?”

Beishan Jing licked his lips. “If I lose, I’ll kneel and kowtow to you in front of everyone. But if *you* lose, you’ll kneel and apologize to me, crawl between my legs, and…” He pointed a finger at Yiluo, his gaze burning. “This beauty will belong to me, Beishan Jing. How about it?”

“Bastard!”

Sima Lingkong flew into a rage and roared, “How can Miss Yiluo be used as a wager?”

“Can’t? Or don’t you dare?” Beishan Jing said smugly. “Looks to me like you people from Coastal City are just a bunch of cowards. You don’t even dare to compete? Fine, let’s change the terms. Don’t you have eight people? I’ll put up eight people too. We’ll compete based on the total number of times our eight people can perform the Heaven-Beating Drum. You in or not? Sima Lingkong, don’t make me look down on Coastal City!”

The experts from Beishan City standing behind Beishan Jing chimed in, their faces full of derision. “How about this? We’ll only use four people against you.”

“You cowards from Coastal City, you even got dicks between your legs?”

“Or are you all just a bunch of softies?”

“Hahaha…”

Faced with the crowd’s mockery, Sima Lingkong and the other experts from Coastal City all clenched their fists, their eyes gleaming with a cold light, furious to the extreme.

While Sima Lingkong was still hesitating, Yiluo was the first to speak. “We accept the bet! However, if you lose, I will cut out your tongue and gouge out your eyes!”

HISS!

The mocking laughter died abruptly.

Beishan Jing stared at Yiluo in stunned silence and blinked. “Beauty, wh-what did you just say?”

Jiang Chen also gave Yiluo a surprised look.

He noticed a murderous glint in her eyes. If they weren’t outside Celestial Drum City right now, she probably would have already killed Beishan Jing.

“You win, I go with you. You lose, I gouge out your eyes and cut out your tongue.” Yiluo’s words were concise. She was as cold as an ice fairy, yet her every frown and smile was captivating.

“This…”

Beishan Jing’s face showed hesitation.

He was someone who cherished his own life dearly and would never joke about risking it.

Sima Lingkong’s eyes lit up. “Beishan Jing, are you a man or not?”

Nangong Weiwo, who had been holding in his anger from the Beishan City group’s provocations, added, “Don’t tell me you’re all just a bunch of softies?”

Gai Shi taunted with a grin, “A bunch of women!”

Dongfang Qinglong hesitated, seemingly searching for the right words, before finally forcing out one word after a long pause: “Ditto!”

The faces of the group from Beishan City paled and flushed in turns. More and more people were drawn by the commotion, pointing and whispering about them.

This made the young geniuses of Beishan City feel utterly humiliated and furious.

“Young Master Beishan, take the bet!”

“I refuse to believe we can’t beat them!”

Beishan Jing’s eyelid twitched violently as he cursed inwardly: ‘Bet my ass! If we lose, it’s my eyes they’ll be gouging and my tongue they’ll be cutting!’

But… looking at the growing crowd of onlookers, Beishan Jing knew he was in a bind.

After hesitating again and again, Beishan Jing snorted coldly. “Fine, this young master accepts your bet.” His scorching gaze fell on Yiluo, and he licked his lips. “Beauty, soon you’ll be obediently climbing into my bed. When that time comes, I’ve got plenty of new positions to try out. I’ll definitely make you scream with pleasure. Let’s see if you can still keep up this cold act then!”

“Enough talk. The competition will decide!”

Sima Lingkong snorted coldly.

The group walked toward a massive war drum placed outside the city gate…

[End of the seventh update!]