Qiu Bai's face stiffened, and he stammered, "I don't ask for help from others, that's why I want to duel with you. If you lose, you'll craft an elixir for me..."
Mu Jinyu, hearing Qiu Bai's words, felt this guy was really inexplicable, his own sense of superiority so mistakenly good, said in displeasure, "Stop, stop, stop!"
Qiu Bai closed his mouth and fell silent.
Mu Jinyu sized up Qiu Bai, noticing that he possessed the cultivation of the Sixth Layer of the Divine Transformation Realm, and said, "First, why should I duel with you? Second, if I lose and have to craft an elixir for you, what will you do if you lose?"
"I won't lose!"
Qiu Bai, casting a wary glance at the resplendent sword shadows covering the sky and gathering back his gaze, declared confidently, "As long as you don't use any formations and truly fight me with your strength, I won't lose!"
"As for why you should fight me!" Qiu Bai continued, addressing Mu Jinyu's first question with arrogance, "After all, although you have no chance to defeat me, but what if, just in case I make a mistake, wouldn't you then become the tenth-ranked on the Divine Rankings? That honor is surely worth a try for you, isn't it?"
Mu Jinyu responded, looking at him as if he were looking at an idiot, "Is being tenth on the Divine Rankings something to be proud of? Heh, it's too bad, but I am indifferent to fame and fortune. If I really wanted to compete, a spot in the top five of the Divine Rankings would have been mine long ago, so I don't want to duel with you."
Qiu Bai, hearing this, was extremely irritated. His hard-earned honor of being tenth on the Divine Rankings was belittled to nothing in Mu Jinyu's words—how could he not be annoyed?
Staring at Mu Jinyu, his eyes blazing as if with fire, he declared, "Dragon King, you're just afraid of losing to me and losing face, aren't you?"
Pausing, Qiu Bai let out a mocking laugh and jeered, "Why bother with that? After all, you're just at the bottom of the Divine Rankings, so losing to me isn't that surprising, is it? Who's going to laugh at you?"
"Save your attempts to provoke me, it won't work on me. You don't want to give anything in return and you expect to get something for nothing, asking me to craft an elixir for you? There's no such thing as a free lunch," Mu Jinyu replied, shaking his head lightly, unmoved by Qiu Bai's mockery.
Changing his tune, Mu Jinyu then said, "If you want me to craft an elixir for you, it's not impossible. Come to my Dragon King Hall, serve me for three years, and I will craft an elixir for you."
"Make me your subordinate?" Hearing Mu Jinyu's words, Qiu Bai immediately flared up in anger. What was his identity? He was a powerful tenth-ranked warrior on the Divine Rankings, far stronger than Mu Jinyu, and he was expected to become his subordinate?
"Dragon King, aren't you afraid of biting off more than you can chew, swelling up until you burst?" Qiu Bai clenched his teeth, looking at Mu Jinyu with great dissatisfaction!
Mu Jinyu replied indifferently, "Thanks for the concern, but rest assured, my Dragon King Hall can handle small fries like you just fine."
"Huh?!" Qiu Bai, hearing Mu Jinyu's words, felt so angry he could spit blood.
Was saying he would burst a sign of concern for him? And what did he mean by calling him a 'small fry'?
He was a powerful tenth-ranked warrior on the Divine Rankings!
In the whole of Huaxia, there were only nine stronger than him, and Mu Jinyu dared to call him a small fry?
"Ah ah!!"
The more he thought about it, the angrier Qiu Bai became, and he could no longer hold back his shout, "Dragon King, you can't refuse to fight me today!"
With that, he abruptly raised his hand, and a dazzling divine radiance immediately appeared, conjuring arrows of True Essence like arrows, and with a wave, a dense swarm of True Essence Arrows shot towards Mu Jinyu, an impressive sight like a volley of thousands of arrows!
"Hmph, ignorant junior, is the Dragon King Hall a place for you to be presumptuous?!"
Seeing Qiu Bai make a move, Mu Jinyu remained calm, hands clasped behind his back, not the least bit perturbed.
Then, as his words fell, the myriad sword shadows scattered across the sky like a giant net suddenly rushed down with a whoosh, moving at an incredible speed.
In the blink of an eye, right when Qiu Bai's True Essence Arrows were about to strike Mu Jinyu, they fell in front of him. The sword shadows intersected and directly shattered Qiu Bai's True Essence Arrows into inch-sized pieces!
Ultimately they turned into Spiritual Power currents, which didn't scatter with the wind but were rather drawn away by the Spirit Attraction Formation of Yinlong Mountain!
Become a part of Yinlong Mountain's Spiritual Energy!
Qiu Bai, witnessing this scene, was stunned and extremely shocked!
Originally he knew that the Mountain Protection Array Mu Jinyu had activated was terrifying, so he was apprehensive, but he had not expected it to be this strong!
In his plan, the unexpected onslaught of True Essence Arrows he launched was supposed to be unstoppable by Mu Jinyu in such a hurry...
Who knew this Mountain Protection Array would operate far beyond his imagination? Trapped in this Misty Formation, wouldn't he be like fish on the chopping board, with his life no longer in his own hands?
Thinking of this, Qiu Bai's face turned even paler!
"Huh!!"
Counts of sword shadows shredded Qiu Bai's barrage of True Essence Arrows and, under Mu Jinyu's control, surrounded Qiu Bai with a roaring sound, then trembled to a halt.
All that awaited was Mu Jinyu's command, and Qiu Bai would be torn to pieces!
"Ha, do you still think that I must fight you even if I don't agree? Sorry, you've never had the right to force a duel on me. I could crush you at any moment if I didn't wish to fight!"
Mu Jinyu said indifferently, looking at Qiu Bai, who was like fish caught in the interwoven sword shadow net.
Qiu Bai's complexion alternated between green and white, changing constantly and quite embarrassingly.
He knew that, with Mu Jinyu inside Yinlong Mountain, able to control the terrifying Mountain Protection Array, he indeed had no right to forcibly initiate a battle or push him into a duel.
From the moment he stepped into Yinlong Mountain, his life had been in Mu Jinyu's hands all along!
Only think of the Elixir he needed...
Qiu Bai was also very unwilling to return empty-handed.
Clenching his teeth, Qiu Bai said, "How about this, Dragon King, you don't use the Mountain Protection Array and fight me fairly. If I lose, I'll serve under you, but if you lose, you'll refine a furnace of Elixir for me, how about it?"
"Alright," Mu Jinyu thought for a moment, then nodded, "However, the term is no longer three years, but five years."
"You..." Qiu Bai's face suddenly turned very ugly, feeling that Mu Jinyu was taking advantage of the situation.
Mu Jinyu's expression remained calm as he said, "What's the matter? Don't want to accept it? But you don't have the right to bargain with me. The moment you acted against me just now, your life ceased to be yours and became mine. Is it not worth it to spare your life in exchange for serving me five more years?"
Upon hearing this, Qiu Bai's expression fluctuated, and finally, with no other choice, he could only sigh, "Fine, I agree to your terms. If I lose, I will serve you for five years!"
"Huh!"
With a wave of Mu Jinyu's hand, the myriad sword Qi surrounding Qiu Bai immediately dispersed into Spiritual Energy with the wind.
"Shall we begin now?"
Seeing the sword shadows vanish, Qiu Bai's confidence partly restored, he eagerly asked Mu Jinyu!
Mu Jinyu was about to agree when his expression changed slightly, and with a somewhat playful look in his eyes, he said, "Wait a moment!"
Just as Qiu Bai wondered what to wait for, a barely audible voice arose behind him:
"Where is the Dragon King? I am Chen Mo, the chief disciple of Ye Wushuang, specially here to seek justice for the death of my junior brother, Ye Chen…"