The stingy are greedy, this is inevitable; if they were not greedy, they would not be stingy.
And two million spirit stones, for the Heavenly Array Pavilion, winning would be a considerable income, making money and saving face, most importantly, satisfying Feng Zhenzi's greedy desires.
If they lost… it wouldn't matter much, just two million spirit stones! A drop in the ocean! A drop in the ocean!
Feng Zhenzi thought to himself, gritting his teeth.
As for Young Master Lei, did he have two million spirit stones?
He certainly didn't.
When he set up the teleportation array for the Wan family, he borrowed money from little Sister Yu to buy materials. After entering the Water Immortal Secret Realm, although he killed a group of Mahayana cultivators and seized some treasures and spirit stones, the consumption in the war was even greater.
After he and little Sister Yu divided the money, he planned to repay the debt, but he had little left after pooling resources. However, Xiao Yu did not accept it.
"Yesterday, Old Madam's birthday, I gave away the nanmu ruler worth a hundred million as I pleased, so why would I lack a mere two million spirit stones?
If nothing else, the treasures on those Mahayana cultivators I killed, if I were to take out just a few, would be far more than this price."
Young Master Lei was boasting, using others' prestige to boost his own.
"Alright, old man... I'll bet with you, but don't renege on your word then."
"Don't worry, my reputation as Wan Lei has always been excellent.
By the way, about the materials, all the materials needed to set up the array for this competition will be provided by your Heavenly Array Pavilion."
"You want us to provide the materials? Why don't you scrape the Heavenly Array Pavilion clean?"
"This array is being set up in your Heavenly Array Pavilion, so it will naturally remain yours. I can't take it away.
I don't want any salary, I'm setting up an array for you for free, and I'm even taking the risk of losing two million spirit stones. Is it too much for you to provide the materials?"
The crowd was speechless, cornered by Wan Lei's words. They wanted to refute but didn't know what to say, and instead felt that perhaps they were treating Wan Lei unfairly?
"Then it's settled. Let's go get the array materials now and start setting up the array."
Feng Zhenzi stroked his beard and led the way towards the Heavenly Array Pavilion's warehouse.
Upon entering the Heavenly Array Pavilion's warehouse, Wan Lei stared dumbfounded at the dazzling array of piled-up array materials.
At this moment, his mood was like that of a strong man who had been starving for three days and suddenly entered a high-end buffet restaurant.
I want it, I want it, I want it all!
Unfortunately, Young Master Lei's idea of taking the opportunity to search for treasures was ultimately shattered. An elder of the Heavenly Array Pavilion was always by his side, recording everything, and knew exactly how much he took.
There was no other way, so Young Master Lei could only take two of each item…
Soon, the materials were ready. The group flew to an open space outside the Heavenly Array Pavilion's mountaintop. Wan Lei and Feng Zhenzi set up the array from opposite sides.
Wan Lei had a plan. He first set up an illusion array, ostensibly to prevent the Heavenly Array Pavilion from learning his array formations, but actually to prevent them from knowing how many materials he used and how much he had embezzled…
"Zhen Xing, who do you think has a better chance of winning this competition, Wan Lei or Old Thief Feng?"
Elder Ming Ji asked with a smile to an elder of the Heavenly Array Pavilion beside him.
This person had given Ming Ji a formation bead in the past, named the Heavenly Thunder Annihilation Array, which Ming Ji had given to Wan Lei through an auction and renamed the Wan Lei Annihilation Array. It was with this great formation that Wan Lei had passed through five levels and defeated all opponents in the Wan Jiao List.
"In my opinion, Pavilion Master Feng has a better chance. After all, the Pavilion Master has been immersed in the path of formations for over a thousand years, and the Heavenly Array Pavilion has been passed down for thousands of years. In terms of formation attainments, in the Lei Feng Realm, we are second to none."
"Oh, it's rare for you old fellow to be so confident. How about we place a bet as well?"
"At most ten thousand spirit stones. I'm not the Pavilion Master, I'm not so easily fooled."
"...You're so stingy, all of you in the Heavenly Array Pavilion are cheapskates."
As everyone chatted and placed bets, time passed quickly. By evening, Wan Lei's formation was completed.
When the illusion array was removed, it revealed a simple, unadorned, light blue flowing light array. At first glance, there was nothing special about it.
As for the people around, they were all on good terms with Wan Lei, so they naturally wouldn't be the kind of background characters who would question and belittle the protagonist from the sidelines, only to be slapped in the face later when the protagonist made a comeback.
It was good enough that they didn't mock Feng Zhenzi.
As for Feng Zhenzi, he worked until noon the next day before finishing his setup.
As soon as Feng Zhenzi's formation was set up, Wan Lei outside felt a surge of killing intent and deathly stillness, a feeling that brought him back to the Land of Destiny, where purple rain poured down.
Deathly stillness,肅杀 (sù shā -肅杀 means solemn and murderous), darkness.
"Wan Lei, my formation is called the Annihilation Void Myriad Deaths Array!
This formation gathers countless yin and deathly things, refines the essence of death, and condenses sword energy and lightning…"
Feng Zhenzi introduced in great detail how powerful his formation was. The people around listened with increasingly grim expressions.
Judging by their looks, he was aiming to kill Wan Lei.
In the end, Feng Zhenzi smiled proudly.
"Of course, you and I are not enemies, so I naturally wouldn't take your life. The command to surrender is already set within the formation. If you can't hold on, just shout surrender, and the formation will naturally let you out."
Hearing this, Wan Lei couldn't help but smile, but then felt that laughing in such a serious competition was inappropriate, so he quickly suppressed his smile.
This scene was seen by Feng Zhenzi, who immediately felt that he had been looked down upon.
"Does young friend Wan Lei think your formation is stronger than mine? Please enlighten me."
"Primal Chaos Infinite Array, a containment array, possesses no offensive capabilities."
Young Master Lei said concisely.
This formation, at first hearing, didn't seem very powerful, but the inheritance of the formation left by the squirrel from the immortal realm was protected by this formation.
At that time, it had held out for a long time under the fierce attacks of two Mahayana Lei beasts and tens of millions of Lei beasts, holding on until Wan Lei broke through to the master level.
But this scene, in the eyes of outsiders, made them feel that Feng Zhenzi was inferior to Wan Lei.
It was a competition, and Wan Lei had only set up a containment array to trap his opponent. On the other hand, Feng Zhenzi was talking about annihilation and myriad deaths, wishing to kill his opponent, and didn't understand how to yield to a junior.
At this moment, people from the other three pavilions had already rushed over upon hearing the news. Many elders and disciples had arrived, and even the three pavilion masters had all arrived.
Their arrival was naturally to witness their old friend's embarrassment, not to watch Feng Zhenzi abuse a junior.
"Old Thief Feng, aren't you ashamed to be competing with a child in his early twenties?"
"Exactly, truly shameless. If people didn't know, they would think all four of our Heavenly Pavilions were like you."
"Bah, you even set up a killing formation and are so proud of it. Disgusting!"
The three old pavilion masters showed no sign of being old and steady. Instead, they acted like playful children, openly mocking their friend.