The reason Jiang Chen didn't have Deputy Palace Master Gao notify the bounty poster right away was that he wasn't yet sure whether Lin Yanyu could handle the eighty-million bounty.
He worried that calling the bounty poster over prematurely would affect Lin Yanyu's state of mind.
That was why he'd had Deputy Palace Master Gao tell those people to come back the next day.
One day for Lin Yanyu—that was Jiang Chen's bottom line.
Time ticked by, second by second. Over at Jiang Chen's side, because a champion had emerged from his arena, his popularity had skyrocketed overnight. Both his main arenas were bustling with activity.
Jiang Chen kept to his usual approach: first giving the sub-arena hosts a chance to handle tasks. Only when they couldn't manage would he step in and take over.
Even so, after a full day, Jiang Chen's earnings were quite considerable.
Lin Yanyu didn't disappoint. As the day neared its end, he finally found his breakthrough. While the details weren't yet fully polished, Jiang Chen could already tell that Lin Yanyu was genuinely close to completing the bounty.
"Yanyu, well done. If you can finish this bounty on your own, the entire reward is yours. I won't take my half."
Jiang Chen sent him an encouraging message through voice transmission.
Normally, when a sub-arena host completed a task, half the bounty went to the main arena host. To encourage Lin Yanyu, Jiang Chen had voluntarily offered to give up his share.
The next day, Jiang Chen first had Deputy Palace Master Gao summon the bounty poster for Lin Yanyu's task. An eighty-million bounty was on the lower end among supreme-tier tasks.
Even so, the bounty poster was thrilled. He was effusively grateful to Lin Yanyu and paid out the reward on the spot.
This became the first supreme-tier task completed during this Bounty Arena.
Seeing that Jiang Chen's side had finished their first supreme-tier task, Deputy Palace Master Gao's earlier concerns eased somewhat.
Next, Jiang Chen had Deputy Palace Master Gao invite the people from the Xiayu Heavenly Sword Sect.
That ancient Form-Intent Pill was a bounty posted by the Xiayu Heavenly Sword Sect—one that no one had been able to resolve for eight hundred years. Put bluntly, it had practically become an age-old puzzle of the Purifying Flame Palace.
Deputy Palace Master Gao hadn't had high expectations to begin with. He'd been somewhat skeptical when Jiang Chen accepted the task, but now, seeing Jiang Chen's demeanor, he realized that this eight-hundred-year riddle might finally have a glimmer of hope.
The Xiayu Heavenly Sword Sect clearly took this task very seriously. For this reason, they had stationed personnel permanently in Pill Fire City.
Every time the Bounty Arena was held, the Xiayu Heavenly Sword Sect's people would always attend. Even after eight hundred years, with their stationed personnel replaced batch after batch, the sect had never given up on this task.
That went to show just how obsessive the Xiayu Heavenly Sword Sect was about this bounty.
The Xiayu Heavenly Sword Sect's representatives appeared at the Purifying Flame Palace as if out of mere obligation. No one had solved this puzzle in eight hundred years—they certainly didn't expect it to be solved this time.
So when Deputy Palace Master Gao called them in, the Xiayu Heavenly Sword Sect's representative could hardly believe his ears.
"Deputy Palace Master Gao, you haven't made a mistake, have you? It's really our… our Heavenly Sword Sect's task?"
"Elder Lu, your Heavenly Sword Sect's task ranks in the top ten at the Purifying Flame Palace, without question. In terms of time span, it could even rank in the top three. Do you think I could get that wrong?" Deputy Palace Master Gao said with a bitter smile.
The bare-faced old man called Elder Lu rubbed his nose in embarrassment, then broke into a look of pleasant surprise. "Deputy Palace Master Gao, so what you're saying is, someone really can complete our task? Who is it? Is it the Green Phoenix Pill King?"
Faced with Elder Lu's curiosity, Deputy Palace Master Gao didn't let the cat out of the bag. "You'll know once you go in. By the way, is your bounty spirit stone payment ready?"
Elder Lu hurriedly replied, "Of course it is—it's been ready all along. Our sect master attaches extreme importance to this task and reminds me about it every year. How could I possibly show up without the bounty?"
Deputy Palace Master Gao didn't tease him further. Instead, he said, "Follow me."
Elder Lu's heart was a turbulent mix of excitement and anxiety. After all, this task was far too important to their Heavenly Sword Sect.
In fact, their sect master had even allocated an additional batch of holy spirit stones, preparing to raise the bounty to eight hundred million.
Thank heaven—before they could increase it, someone had actually accepted the task.
Could they save those three hundred million holy spirit stones? Elder Lu thought to himself, thrilled.
Before long, Deputy Palace Master Gao brought Elder Lu to the front of Jiang Chen's main arena.
Elder Lu looked bewildered. "Deputy Palace Master Gao, this is…?"
"What do you mean 'this'? We're here," Deputy Palace Master Gao said, exasperated by Elder Lu's reaction.
"We're here?" Elder Lu was stunned. "This… this person is so young?"
"Arena Master Shao, I've brought the guest. Per regulations, the Purifying Flame Palace only serves as the intermediary. The transaction itself is between you two—we won't get involved at all."
With that, Deputy Palace Master Gao waved his hand and departed.
The Purifying Flame Palace had always handled this well. Bounty tasks generally involved proprietary secrets, and posters naturally didn't want outsiders privy to the details.
This was especially true for matters involving pill recipes—such information was exceptionally classified. The Purifying Flame Palace naturally wouldn't involve itself.
Elder Lu chuckled foolishly, rubbing his plump white hands together. "Allow me to introduce myself—my surname is Lu, and I'm an elder of the Xiayu Heavenly Sword Sect. Arena Master Shao can call me Elder Lu, or simply Old Lu."