Douluo Continent: The Ruler of Time, Reigning Supreme

Chapter 206 Public Betting
The trainees looked at the paper in their hands as if they were seeing the challenges they were about to face. Some had solemn expressions, some had fighting spirit burning in their eyes, and many more had sweaty palms and lingering worries written between their brows.

The group moved slowly forward, and Huo Yuhao stood quietly between Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao, his expression unusually calm.

His gaze did not fall on the forms in front of him, but rather swept across the crowd and locked onto the proud and conspicuous figure in the line—Dai Huabin.

Wang Dong could clearly feel the icy aura emanating from Huo Yuhao.

He nudged Huo Yuhao's side with his elbow, and gestured with his chin toward Dai Huabin.

Huo Yuhao took a deep breath, and the suppressed feeling in his chest, a mixture of hatred and determination, seemed to find an outlet at this moment.

He didn't speak, but simply nodded heavily to Wang Dong.

Then, to everyone's surprise, he resolutely left the group.

This action instantly shattered the oppressive calm of the scene.

Almost all the students' attention was drawn to him without prior arrangement.

The senior students who were distributing the assessment forms stopped what they were doing. Wang Yan, Han Ruoruo, and several teachers from Class Two, who were supervising the event in the distance, also frowned and turned their gazes toward them.

Huo Yuhao seemed oblivious to all of this.

He walked step by step toward Dai Huabin.

His steps were not fast, but unusually steady.

His shoes left shallow marks on the sand.

His slightly pale face was devoid of any extraneous expression. Only his eyes, which had always carried a hint of inferiority, were now as cold as ice, clear, firm, and possessing a chilling sharpness.

Dai Huabin, who was in line, naturally noticed this unusual commotion.

When he saw Huo Yuhao walking towards him, he was first taken aback, then the corners of his mouth involuntarily turned up, revealing a smile full of contempt and sarcasm.

Huo Yuhao stopped about three meters away from Dai Huabin.

The whispers in the room vanished completely at that moment, and everyone held their breath.

"Dai Huabin."

Huo Yuhao spoke, his voice not loud, but exceptionally clear, carrying a composure and coldness beyond his years.

"Our bet is up to you today. I'm here to confirm it with you one last time in front of all the teachers and students."

He looked directly into Dai Huabin's arrogant eyes and said, word by word, "Do you regret it?"

Dai Huabin was slightly taken aback. He felt that Huo Yuhao might really have some serious mental problems.

Such a humiliating bet made in private would be avoided by any normal person, yet he actually brought it out into the open. Did he want to lose badly enough?

But what he felt most deeply was a morbid sense of pleasure.

He nodded, his voice filled with condescending arrogance and condescending tolerance:

"Of course I won't regret it. What, you want to beg for mercy now? But it's too late. It's settled then. In this promotion assessment, whoever gets a lower final score will kneel down in front of the other, kowtow, admit defeat, and publicly acknowledge that they are a complete waste."

He deliberately emphasized the words "kowtow and admit defeat" and "trash," his mockery growing stronger, as if he could already see Huo Yuhao kneeling and begging for mercy.

"Okay." Huo Yuhao nodded, his face still showing no emotion, as if Dai Huabin's humiliating words were nothing more than a gentle breeze to him.

He slowly looked around, his gaze sweeping over the faces that held curiosity, sympathy, or schadenfreude, before finally settling on the teachers' seats in the distance. He spoke again, his voice rising a few decibels.

"Then please have all the teachers and students present bear witness that this bet will be decided today, based on the final score of the upgrade assessment, right, Dai Huabin?"

He was like a seasoned hunter, calmly setting a trap and then handing the choice to his prey.

Dai Huabin was somewhat bewildered by his actions, but he was caught in a dilemma. Under the gaze of hundreds of people, he could only subconsciously answer, "That's right."

Upon receiving this affirmative answer, Huo Yuhao's tightly clenched lips finally curled into a cold smile.

"I'll be waiting for you here after the assessment is over."

He sneered, uttered these chilling words, and then turned away cleanly from Dai Huabin, whose expression was beginning to change, and walked back to his own group.

After he left, the Colosseum was deathly silent for several seconds before erupting into chaos, as if a drop of cold water had been poured into boiling oil.

"Are you crazy? Huo Yuhao actually dares to openly challenge Dai Huabin?"

"Such a big bet? Kneeling and admitting defeat... If you lose, how will you face anyone at the academy after this?"

"Where did he get the courage? Dai Huabin is almost a level 40 Soul Master, with the White Tiger Martial Soul, a top-tier offensive type. Huo Yuhao is only in his twenties, right?"

"Now there's something good to watch."

The whispers that erupted among the trainees were like countless tiny needles pricking Dai Huabin.

He finally snapped out of his daze at being dominated by Huo Yuhao, his face so dark it was almost dripping with water.

He felt like he'd been played. Regardless of winning or losing, he'd been dragged down to the same level by this good-for-nothing in his eyes, placed on opposite ends of a scale for others to judge.

An uncontrollable rage burned within him. He stared intently at Huo Yuhao's retreating figure, forcing out a sentence through clenched teeth:

"You reap what you sow. Since you want to embarrass the entire School of Foreign Languages, then I'll grant your wish."

"Hua Bin, be careful."

Zhu Lu quickly walked to his side, her delicate eyebrows furrowed tightly, and she lowered her voice, her tone full of worry.

"I have a bad feeling about this Huo Yuhao... Where did he get the guts to make this kind of bet with you in public?"

Although Huo Yuhao had a record of being evenly matched with Wu Feng and ultimately winning by a narrow margin, Wu Feng was no match for Dai Huabin.

Wu Feng possesses a top-tier beast spirit, as does Dai Huabin, and their spirit power levels are far superior.

Huo Yuhao had such difficulty defeating Wu Feng, so what makes him think he could, and how dare he, risk his dignity to gamble with Dai Huabin?
No matter how Zhu Lu thought about it, she felt there must be a conspiracy involved.

This is illogical, and it doesn't fit Huo Yuhao's long-standing character of restraint.

"conspiracy?"

Dai Huabin snorted coldly, blinded by anger and pride, and completely ignored Zhu Lu's advice.

"In the face of absolute strength, any conspiracy or trickery is a joke. He's nothing but a clown trying to gain attention this way. I'll make him understand that trash will always be trash."

(End of this chapter)