Long Yuyin's words dripped with mockery toward Nie Li.
Hearing Long Yuyin's taunts, Nie Li was finally provoked beyond patience. "Long Yuyin, you think you're some kind of genius, some kind of extraordinary talent? If not for the massive cultivation resources your family pours into you, you'd be nothing! Just like you said yourself — the Dragon Seal Family can turn trash into geniuses. Without the Dragon Seal Family, you're no different from a piece of trash!"
Long Yuyin never expected that Nie Li would actually dare to say that to her!
"You dare call me trash!" Long Yuyin's eyes filled with a frigid killing intent as she glared at Nie Li. Ever since she was young, not a single person had ever dared call Long Yuyin trash!
"Long Yuyin, strip away the family behind you, and you're nothing more than a complete and utter waste. You think your Crimson Dragon bloodline is something impressive? Ha — in my eyes, the Crimson Dragon bloodline is no different from garbage!" Nie Li sneered. The sight of Long Yuyin looking down from her lofty perch filled him with fury.
Under normal circumstances, Nie Li's temperament would not have allowed him to be so easily provoked. But the thought of how Long Yuyin and the others had driven his master to death with their vicious words in his previous life burned through his mind.
"Why wouldn't I dare? Others may fear your status, but I, Nie Li, am not afraid of you. A venomous woman like you deserves to have her tongue cut out and be thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil!" Nie Li said coldly.
"You dare call me a venomous woman…" Long Yuyin's face turned iron-blue. She pointed at Nie Li. "You dare insult me like this — I'll exterminate your entire clan!" Long Yuyin had never been spoken to in such a manner before. Everyone who looked at her did so with reverence and fear. She had long grown accustomed to looking down on people her own age, and not once had anyone ever hurled such vile words at her the way Nie Li was doing now.
"Long Yuyin, for someone as cowardly underneath all that bluster as you are, you only deserve to wield your family's power. Strip away your family, and you're nothing but trash. A genius? What a joke! If you've got the guts, face me one-on-one. Tenth place on the Sacred Spirit Heavenly Ranking — is that really so impressive? I'll show you soon enough that what you're so proud of is nothing but a laughingstock!"
Long Yuyin's chest heaved with rage. This was the first time anyone had ever infuriated her to this degree.
"You're only good at running your mouth. I'll show you exactly how wide the gap between us is! One-on-one? Ha ha, what a joke. No one has ever dared speak to me, Long Yuyin, like this. I'll make you concede defeat with every fiber of your being!" Long Yuyin glared at Nie Li in fury, her fists clenched tight. "If you lose, I'll give you three lashes — do you dare accept?"
Nie Li hadn't even reached the Mandate Realm. Three lashes from Long Yuyin would be enough to take his life!
"Why wouldn't I dare? Same terms returned to you — if you lose today, I get three lashes on you as well!" Nie Li fixed his gaze on Long Yuyin, his eyes narrowing slightly, a sinister coldness gleaming within. "Do you dare accept?"
Although Nie Li knew that Long Yuyin possessed the Crimson Dragon bloodline and that three lashes would hardly affect her, for a woman like Long Yuyin, receiving three lashes would be more unbearable than death itself.
"What a joke — as if I could lose?" Long Yuyin let out three cold laughs.
"I'm asking — do you dare?" Nie Li stared at Long Yuyin with icy composure.
Meeting Nie Li's sharp, unyielding gaze, Long Yuyin refused to back down. She gave a contemptuous snort. "Why wouldn't I dare? I'll be waiting for you at the top!"
With that, Long Yuyin continued climbing the steps — the one hundred and twenty-sixth, then the one hundred and twenty-seventh.
With each additional step, the repulsive force of the Heavenly Dao grew stronger.
Before long, word of the bet between Nie Li and Long Yuyin spread throughout the Sacred Spirit Celestial Realm and beyond.
"What? That kid Nie Li actually agreed to a bet like that?"
"Yeah, that kid's clearly gotten full of himself after one taste of success — he's lost all sense of his place! No matter how strong his talent is, there's no way he could surpass Long Yuyin before today!"
"One hundred and ninety-nine steps — and once you pass the one hundred and twentieth, every single step upward is harder than ascending to heaven. That kid Nie Li is way too arrogant!"
"Three lashes from Long Yuyin will absolutely kill him!"
The crowd gathered outside the Sacred Spirit Celestial Realm grew larger and larger, all eager to see how the bet between Nie Li and Long Yuyin would turn out!
Meanwhile, somewhere inside the Tianling Court.
"That kid Nie Li — his talent is decent enough, but he really has no sense of his own limitations. How could he possibly afford to offend the Dragon Seal Family? If he loses, three lashes from Long Yuyin will likely take his life. And even if he wins, all he gets is humiliating Long Yuyin for a moment — no real benefit, but he'll have made an enemy of the Dragon Seal Family!" Nanmen Tianhai couldn't help but frown.
Huang Yu sighed. "Young people being a bit impulsive is only natural. Long Yuyin is far too arrogant — she must have said something that provoked him."