Chapter 27 Gu Ziyuan's Amazing Gamble

Inside Biyou Palace, the Evil Qi had almost solidified into substance.

That golden Decree hanging outside the palace, every word was heart-piercing, like red-hot iron spikes.

They pierced deep into the Dao Heart of every Jie Sect Disciple.

"Fight! Let's fight them to the death!"

"I would rather die standing than bow my head to those arrogant hypocrites!"

"Eldest Senior Brother! Give the order! So what if they have twelve Grand Unity Golden Immortals? When have we Disciples of the Jie Sect ever feared death!"

Roars rose and fell, faces flushed with anger, and as their magic power surged, the entire hall hummed.

Sitting at the head was Daoist Duobao, his face as dark as water.

Beside him, the Golden Spirit Holy Mother, Holy Mother Wudang, and others also had their brows furrowed, silent.

Fight?

With what?

The opponents were twelve Grand Unity Golden Immortals who had just achieved a Breakthrough and were at the peak of their Aura. While on the Jie Sect's side, among the Personal Disciples...

Only Duobao was an established Grand Unity Golden Immortal. Most of the other Junior Brothers and Junior Sisters were still lingering at the Taiyi Golden Immortal realm.

This was a meticulously planned overt conspiracy.

Use absolute strength to force a challenge, then use absolute strength to trample your dignity into the mud.

To go would be to seek humiliation.

To not go would mean the Jie Sect becomes the laughingstock of the Great Desolation from then on, and its Luck of ten thousand immortals coming to pay homage would vanish instantly.

Caught in a dilemma, it was a dead end.

Just as this atmosphere of fury and grievance reached its peak...

A calm voice drifted in from outside the hall, clearly reaching everyone's ears.

"This battle, the Jie Sect accepts."

Shua!

In an instant, all the noise, roars, and clamor within Biyou Palace vanished.

Thousands of gazes turned simultaneously toward the hall entrance.

Gu Ziyuan, dressed in green robes, stepped in slowly.

He didn't walk fast, his expression calm, as if he weren't entering a volcano about to erupt, but attending an ordinary tea party.

His Aura was clearly that of the Profound Immortal Early Stage, appearing as small as a drop in the ocean among the hall full of Golden Immortals and Taiyi Golden Immortals.

Yet it was he who spoke those earth-shattering words.

"Junior Brother Ziyuan?"

"Junior Brother Gu, have you gone mad?!"

Bixiao was the first who couldn't hold back, rushing in front of him in a flash and saying urgently: "Those are twelve Grand Unity Golden Immortals! Not twelve cabbages!"

The concern and anxiety in her tone were undisguised.

Gu Ziyuan looked at her, a faint smile appearing on his face.

"So what if they are Grand Unity Golden Immortals?"

He looked around the room, his gaze sweeping over faces that were either suspicious, worried, or confused.

His voice wasn't loud, but it carried a strange, soul-steadying power.

"They are merely chess pieces on the board, just with a bit more weight."

As soon as he said this, the whole room fell silent.

Chess pieces?

Treating twelve Grand Unity Golden Immortals as chess pieces?

What arrogance!

Daoist Duobao's brow furrowed, and he asked in a deep voice, "Junior Brother Ziyuan, what do you mean by that?"

Gu Ziyuan bowed to Daoist Duobao from a distance, speaking neither humbly nor arrogantly.

"Eldest Senior Brother, what the Chan Sect sent is a challenge, but it is also a game of chess. They want a chaotic battle to suppress us with power; we must not do as they wish."

He paused, his words shocking.

"This battle should not be a chaotic brawl where everyone rushes out. Instead, I should lead it, setting up an unprecedented grand Formation to have a fair and square match against the Chan Sect's Twelve Golden Immortals!"

A match?

Everyone looked at each other, their minds unable to process it for a moment.

Gu Ziyuan's voice continued, clear and firm.

"I will use the Three Immortals Island of the East Sea as the chessboard to set up a 'Zhou Tian Xing Dou Chess Array' and invite the Chan Sect's Twelve Golden Immortals into the Formation!"

"For this battle, there is no need for all Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters to take action."

His gaze fell precisely on several Personal Disciples.

"Only Eldest Senior Brother Duobao, Senior Sister Golden Spirit, Senior Sister Wudang, Senior Sister Guiling, and I, plus the three Senior Sisters Yunxiao, Qiong Xiao, and Bixiao."

"Eight people in total, that's enough."

Boom!

These words were like a bolt of Chaos Divine Thunder exploding within Biyou Palace!

Everyone thought they had misheard.

"Nine people?"

"And one of them is a Profound Immortal?"

"To face twelve Grand Unity Golden Immortals?!"

This was no longer just arrogance; it was complete suicide!

"Nonsense!" Golden Spirit Holy Mother's Phoenix eyes turned cold as she shouted sharply, "Gu Ziyuan, this is a major matter for the Sect. How can you speak so recklessly!"

"Junior Brother, I know your Way of Chess is profound, but this is no child's play!" Daoist Duobao also felt the plan was too absurd.

Faced with everyone's doubts, Gu Ziyuan's expression remained unchanged.

"Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters, within the Formation, I am the Dominator."

A light called 'absolute confidence' flickered in his eyes.

"The number of people is not the key. The key is who can control the 'rules'!"

"What I need is not for you to fight them to the death, but to guard the key Formation Eyes of the Zhou Tian Chess Array for me, providing magic power support, and let me play the game against them... a contest of wits!"

His words were clear and logical.

The suspicion in everyone's hearts was gradually replaced by a strange sense of shock.

Using heaven and earth as the chessboard, Grand Unity Golden Immortals as pieces, and the Sect's Senior Brothers as Formation Eyes... what a grand undertaking!

Seeing the hesitation still in their eyes, Gu Ziyuan took a deep breath. He knew he had to use a strong dose of medicine.

He took a step forward, standing in the center of the hall, and spoke loudly to Daoist Duobao and all the Jie Sect Disciples present, his voice like a great bell!

"I, Gu Ziyuan, today, here, make a bet with all of you!"

"If we lose this battle, I, Gu Ziyuan, will commit suicide before the Formation! I will take full responsibility for all the blame!"

His voice was resolute, leaving no room for retreat.

Everyone's breath hitched at that moment.

Then, his tone shifted, and a terrifying light burst from his eyes.

"If we win!"

"I want the Chan Sect's Twelve Golden Immortals to perform three kowtows and nine prostrations before the mountain gate of our Jie Sect's Jinao Island!"

"I want them to admit personally to all the living beings of the Great Desolation—"

"That those 'born with fur and horns, or from moisture and eggs' can also attain the Supreme Dao!"

This final vow was like a spark on a prairie, instantly igniting the dry grass in everyone's hearts!

Humiliation, anger, grievance... all negative emotions at this moment transformed into boundless fanaticism and Battle Intent!

Enough!

They had had enough of the Chan Sect's high-and-mighty attitude!

They had had enough of the slander of being 'heterodox paths'!

Gu Ziyuan's heaven-shattering gamble wasn't just betting his life, but the breath held in by the ten thousand immortals of the Jie Sect for countless eons!

"Good!!"

Someone was the first to roar out.

"It's a bet! Junior Brother Gu! We believe in you!"

"Dammit! If we lose, it's just death! If we win, I want to see those hypocrites kneel and kowtow with my own eyes!"

"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

The crowd was impassioned, their blood boiling!

Daoist Duobao looked at the green-robed figure standing at the center of the storm.

Seeing those calm but burning eyes, all the hesitation in his heart vanished at that moment.

He slammed the armrest and stood up abruptly.

"Good! Junior Brother Ziyuan! We'll do as you say for this battle!"

Just then, a vast and boundless, yet gentle-as-water Saintly pressure quietly enveloped the entire Biyou Palace.

A majestic voice came from the cloud bed high in the Nine Heavens, echoing deep within everyone's Primordial Spirit.

"Approved."

With those two words, the matter was settled.

The Jie Sect's reply turned into an azure sword light that soared into the sky.

It shattered the golden Decree hanging over Jinao Island, then tore through the Void Realm, heading straight for the Three Immortals Island.

When the news spread, the Great Desolation was shaken once again.

All the Mighty Beings who learned of the Jie Sect's way of responding fell into a long silence.

Nine people against twelve Grand Unity Golden Immortals.

The commander was an obscure Profound Immortal.

Has the Jie Sect... gone mad?