Indeed, there was this matter!

The cheering crowd rapidly calmed down as they turned their gazes to the now singled out group of Hall Masters, wondering if they would honor the agreement made. After all, this was a demonic sect, and while things might have seemed honorable and by the book so far, that was only out of fear for the sect's strict rules on very specific things.

Indeed, the faces of Tang Huo and co. were not good. The bet was made without the intention of paying because they never expected Li Ling to actually win!

At most, he could only be defeated while severely injured, while Shen Taixu would either be lightly or moderately wounded, but never this kind of outcome!

Now they were here in front of what consisted of almost everyone of relative importance in the Six Paths Halls, as well as an actual core disciple from the middle layer!

If they defaulted, while there wouldn't be any direct punishments, the reputation loss and its fallout would cause severe repercussions that would be felt across all areas of their lives!

The five began sending voice transmissions between each other rapidly, shirking responsibility and making excuses about lacking enough credits to pay. The group who were seemingly united just before against Li Ling, even allowing Tang Huo to speak for them, were now as if a bunch of strangers meeting for the first time.

What made Tang Huo feel extremely angry was the fact that they were attempting to shirk responsibility by saying that he spoke for them wrongly. After all, Tang Huo was the one who announced everything; none of the others actually physically said anything.

As such, the entire debt would fall on Tang Huo's head to pay!

If 50,000 Blood Credits was something he could barely fork out with a pained expression, digging into his savings, then 250,000 of them was impossible; he simply didn't have enough!

As such, Tang Huo's eyes showed cruelty as he spoke up immediately. "Indeed, we did make such an agreement. I am willing to pay out my share of 50,000 merits right here, right now."

Tang Huo did as he said and manipulated his own Asura Blood Token for a Hall Master and sent over 50,000 Blood Credits to Li Ling.

Li Ling raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Indeed, Hall Master Tang is righteous, very fitting to be my esteemed Hall Master."

His piercing eyes, which held very little mirth and more malice, then trained on the remaining Hall Masters. "And what about the remaining Hall Masters? Surely none of you esteemed gentlemen are planning to escape liability?"

The other Hall Masters showed expressions of fury and hate towards Tang Huo after he tossed the table over, forcing them all to make a decision individually. Tang Huo ignored their looks and sat down with his arms folded and eyes closed, thinking of ways to repair his relationship with Li Ling, because he had to get some positive outcome from this entire farce.

They could only be silent under the growing tension and pressure for a few seconds before Cao Tian was forced to step forward and explain. "Well, this matter might require some clarification. After all, if Path Lord Li might remember, the one who spoke was Tang Huo, even erroneously speaking on our behalf."

Immediately, there was an uproar in the crowd, as they couldn't believe that after Tang Huo paid up honestly, it was the others who instead defaulted. Seeing that Cao Tian spoke and the others were not rebutting her, it was clear that they also held this position.

For them, it wasn't the shamelessness or lack of honor; that was a given for demonic sects. What made the crowd uproarious was the consequences of doing this, since they would be offending Li Ling, someone who had the means to take down Shen Taixu.

And if he could take down Shen Taixu, he could certainly take them down too!

Li Ling initially thought so too, so he was confident that after dealing with this fellow and showing his power, these Hall Masters would obediently hand over his startup funds for charging to the Nascent Soul realm and beyond.

But who would have thought they were this stupid? Was this the famed 'IQ debuff' effect that came with aligning oneself opposite the hero of the story? Li Ling rubbed his chin with amusement, speaking his opinion in the simplest words.

"No problem. Next week, I challenge Hall Mistress Cao to a life and death match." Li Ling declared, to which the crowd simmered over.

Indeed, they guessed that this would be the outcome. The rules for dueling in the cultivation world differed between righteous sects and demonic sects, very significantly.

For one, in righteous sects, one person of a higher realm could not challenge one of a lower realm, and this was largely maintained in demonic sects minus the fact that one could only challenge a person one major realm lower.

In righteous sects, a lower cultivator could challenge a higher one for the most part, but the higher-ranked cultivator—upon accepting—had to reduce their cultivation to the level of their foe, while demonic sects abhorred suppression of power.

In righteous sects, duels could be accepted or rejected, though when a lower cultivator challenged a higher-ranked one, they needed a good reason to refuse. In demonic sects, you couldn't refuse a duel that was non-fatal if you were at the same level and could not refuse a life and death duel if you were higher ranked than the one challenging you.

There were a slew of minor rules and considerations to streamline the duel and challenge process for both types of sects, with the Six Paths Demon Sect even having its own flavor and special rules, like the removal of weapons and consumables for certain battles.

Whether it was Cao Tian, Gu Mugui, Yan Moqing, or Hu Wulei, none could refuse a life and death duel initiated by Li Ling!

He just singled out Cao Tian because she was the one to speak up in dissent first, so this was to show his resolve and commitment to his prize!

Cao Tian and the other three Hall Masters understood this as their expressions changed drastically. Hu Wulei and Gu Mugui had uncomfortable expressions with a hint of defiance, being combat-capable fighters no weaker than Shen Taixu and were not afraid of fighting to the death.

Yan Moqing was also combat capable, but she preferred to pass judgment and let others do the fighting for her, not to mention her style lent itself more to long-distance 'sinister' methods like curses and karma killing. Not to mention, after seeing Li Ling's ability, she was even more certain that she absolutely could make the most use of him.

Cao Tian wore an ugly expression since she was the one challenged, feeling as if she had lost too much face. As such, her ferocity was triggered and she bared her teeth in what was a mixture of a sneer and a threatening frown.

"Path Lord Li Ling, don't get ahead of yourself just because you took down Hall Master Shen Taixu! That was just a toothless duel with limits, but a life and death match has no such things! Think carefully before you make a choice you will regret!"

Despite being the one unwilling to fight, she made it sound as if she was warning Li Ling from the point of an elder, a typical operation for one as savvy as Cao Tian who led the True Human Hall.

Li Ling heard this and raised an eyebrow. "Then I will challenge all the prodigies of your clan one by one and kill them all on the stage. I believe Miss Cao Xian is around this very outpost, isn't she?"

Li Ling turned his head to pinpoint Cao Xian who sat among the Path Ascenders in the crowd, her face changing greatly as the focus suddenly came upon her. After all, Shen Taixu was far stronger than she was and yet he was beaten to the point where he had to be rushed away while Li Ling looked like he had simply gone for a bath, so she definitely would be killed if she fought him despite having third realm power!

Meanwhile, Li Ling's threat was extremely potent, piercing down to the depths of Cao Tian's core as she was someone who valued family above all else. Hearing Li Ling's threat, she paled because she knew he could make good on it and truly force their clan into a tough spot where even their Matriarch, her mother, would be unable to easily do anything.

As such, Cao Tian closed her eyes and made her decision, operating her own True Human Hall token to send 50,000 sect merits to Li Ling, causing the dangerous smile on the young man's face to soften greatly.

"Good job, Hall Mistress, you are truly a beacon of light for us minor sect disciples!" Li Ling praised insincerely, making Cao Tian want to vomit in disgust.

Then Li Ling glanced at the remaining three who seemed slightly defeated, wearing bitter smiles. Without prompting them, they each paid up, causing his previously dry merit account which only had about 10 Blood Credits left to swell to a quarter of a million!

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