Noda's expression changed at Ye Bufan's words, his eyes darting around.
"You think you can win against two of us? That's just dreaming," Noda said.
"What? You want to win the spirit mine and the life-bound magical artifacts of our cultivators from the Nine Provinces, but you don't want to put up any stakes yourself? Are you trying to be a scoundrel?" Ye Bufan mocked without reservation. "If Mr. Noda can't produce anything, I'll have to exclude you from this bet."
"Noda, what the hell are you doing? If you want to bet, bet. If not, get lost," John Sir was impatient and cursed at Noda.
Noda looked at Ye Bufan, then at John Sen, caught in a dilemma.
Three seconds later, Noda gritted his teeth and said to Ye Bufan, "Fine! I'll bet! I'll use my life-bound magical artifact as the stake. Is that acceptable?"
Noda took out his life-bound magical artifact and looked at Ye Bufan with displeasure.
Ye Bufan nodded and said, "Yes."
"Alright, place your bets! We're about to start!" John Sir shouted. He was eager to begin, fearing that someone might suddenly decide to place a bet, which would mean he'd have to share his winnings. This, to John Sen, was not worth it.
"Let's begin," Noda said.
John Sen and Noda exchanged glances. Without waiting for Ye Bufan to prepare, they both vanished from their positions.
"Die!" John Sir threw a punch at Ye Bufan's vital point. Just as the punch was about to land, Ye Bufan disappeared before his eyes.
John Sen was greatly surprised. Noda's voice then rang out, "Careful behind you!"
Ye Bufan appeared behind John Sen. John Sen turned and threw a hook, but Ye Bufan vanished again.
This time, Noda didn't know Ye Bufan's exact location. He searched the air frantically for Ye Bufan's whereabouts.
"Are you looking for me?" Ye Bufan's voice came from above Noda.
Noda was shocked. Ye Bufan had appeared behind him without him noticing, and he hadn't sensed Ye Bufan's approach at all. This put immense pressure on Noda.
"Boom!" Ye Bufan stomped on Noda's shoulder. Noda immediately felt as if thousands, even tens of thousands, of pounds were pressing down on him.
"Pfft!" Noda could no longer endure it. He spat out a mouthful of blood and fell rapidly towards the ground.
Seeing this, John Sen rocketed upwards and flew towards Ye Bufan. Ye Bufan also charged towards John Sen.
"Bang!" Ye Bufan pushed a palm towards John Sen, while John Sen threw a punch at Ye Bufan. Immediately, a massive energy burst in mid-air.
"Be careful!" Song Mingqin exclaimed. After Noda landed on the ground, he quickly got up and, while Ye Bufan and John Sen were fighting, launched a surprise attack on Ye Bufan.
"Buzz!"
Noda suddenly heard a buzzing sound near his ear. He hesitated for a moment and instinctively dodged to the side. At this point, he didn't dare to separate from John Sen.
John Sen vigorously shook his hands, a pained expression on his face.
"Hiss! Kid, you cheated!" John Sen roared at Ye Bufan.
Ye Bufan looked at John Sen and said, "How did I cheat? Clearly, you're just not good enough. Your bones are broken, and now you're blaming me?"
"You!" John Sen pointed at Ye Bufan, so angry that he didn't know what to say. John Sen also muttered to himself, as he had underestimated Ye Bufan to some extent.
"Again, let's continue!" John Sen looked at Ye Bufan. He had already placed his bet. If he lost now, he wouldn't be able to get his things back.
John Sen moved again. He took out an unknown pill from his pocket and swallowed it. The broken bone in his hand was immediately enveloped in a green halo. Then, John Sen's slightly deformed hand quickly recovered under this green halo.
"The people of the Ao Alliance have quite a few good things," Qu Fei commented, looking at the pill John Sen had taken.
Song Mingqin sighed, "While we were still studying foreign medicine, they had already begun researching what our ancestors left behind. Things that should have belonged to our Nine Provinces are now best utilized by these foreigners."
"Not anymore. Haven't we caught up?" Bai Zizhen stepped forward and said, "I dare say that Ye Bufan's alchemy skills are unmatched by anyone abroad."
"But we only have one Ye Bufan," Yan Yuzhu said. "We can't put all our hopes on him."
Bai Zizhen looked at Ye Bufan, who was playfully toying with John Sen and Noda in the distance, and said, "There are some things we have to rely on him for, as most of us can't achieve them."
"With the shackles gone, we can overcome any difficulties together," Song Mingqin stated. "True progress comes from self-reliance."
"Immortal Sword Master Mingqin is right," Yan Se said. "But for now, it requires time."
"Buzz—"
The sound of swords whistling frequently passed by John Sen and Noda's ears, keeping them extremely tense. In their intelligence reports, Ye Bufan was skilled with a sword. The whistling sound of flying swords breaking through the air made both of them exceedingly cautious.
"No, this sword sound doesn't feel real. It feels like this kid is playing with us," Noda said.
Ye Bufan looked at Noda and said, "Whether I'm playing with you or not, you'll find out if you try."
Saying this, Noda immediately stopped moving, but to be safe, he still activated his protective qi.
"Clang—"
The flying sword broke through his protective qi and left a wound on Noda's arm.
"This is boring, I'm not playing with you anymore." Ye Bufan had one hand behind his back, while the other formed a sword seal, hovering in mid-air, pointing towards Noda.
Silently, two green snakes made of sword qi appeared behind Ye Bufan and immediately pounced on Noda.
Facing Ye Bufan's sword qi, Noda's expression became extremely grim. As the sword qi engulfed him, Noda felt as if his body was being torn into a thousand pieces. He had no power to fight back.
"Impossible! How can he be so strong! This is absolutely impossible!" Noda's eyes widened as he looked at Ye Bufan, struggling to break free from Ye Bufan's sword qi green snakes.
The green snakes formed from sword qi transformed into a single sword from top to bottom and heavily struck Noda. Noda crashed onto the floor, spitting out blood with a "puff."