Douluo Continent: Kunxu Descends, Second-Player Players Are Stunned

Chapter 99

Yu Xiaogang gasped.

More than 30,000 gold soul coins were used to cast this one sculpture?

The Spirit Hall is incredibly wealthy!

Upon reaching the third floor, the deacon opened the door to Room A. The room was very large, clean and tidy, with three small rooms, two beds, a table, two chairs, and the window facing east, offering a view of the inner city streets.

"Sect Leader Tang has a key to the room. If you leave and then come back in, you'll need to find him."

Yu Xiaogang's expression changed.

Otherwise, how could he contact the people in the academy to discuss tactics?

I wish I hadn't tried to take advantage of this!

If he hadn't wanted to get to Wuhun City as soon as possible and use his memories from his previous life and his intelligence to gather information, he wouldn't have ended up in such an embarrassing situation!

"May I go out first?"

"As you wish." The butler nodded, left, and closed the door behind him.

Yu Xiaogang walked to the window and opened it. A breeze blew in, carrying a faint fragrance, she couldn't tell if it was from the flowers by the street or the aroma of food wafting from some restaurant.

The streets were bustling with people. Some carried food stalls, others pushed carts selling daily necessities, and groups of Soul Masters dressed in various sect costumes walked by. There were also many people wearing the robes of the Spirit Hall's stewards, hurrying about.

The most eye-catching things were the inns along the street.

In front of each inn, there were queues, some as long as a hundred people, others as short as twenty or thirty. Those in line craned their necks, clutching gold soul coins, their faces showing anxiety and helplessness. Occasionally, one or two people would emerge from the inn, holding a brass plaque, drawing envious glances.

Above the doors of those inns, there was a prominent wooden sign displaying the room rate for the day.

Yu Xiaogang squinted, trying to decipher the words.

Class C Room: 12 Gold Soul Coins/night.

Class B Room: 35 Gold Soul Coins/night.

Class A Room: 80 Gold Soul Coins/night.

Top-tier room: 200 Gold Soul Coins/night.

He rubbed his eyes and looked at it again.

That's right, it's 200 gold soul coins per night.

The best inn and the best room in Tiandou City cost no more than five gold soul coins a night.

At that moment, Yu Xiaogang suddenly felt that she didn't need to waste money.

If you can't get a top-tier room, there's absolutely no point in staying in any other room.

Only the "Top Rank" symbolizes status!

The next morning, Yu Xiaogang went to the Martial Soul Hall's office in the east of the city.

The streets are even more lively than yesterday.

He didn't know if it was another group of people arriving, or if the people who had been queuing yesterday had finally finished their procedures and were now flooding the streets. He squeezed through the crowd, crossed two streets, and saw a huge building in the distance, four or five stories high, covering a vast area. A tall flagpole stood in front of the building, with the Spirit Hall's flag fluttering in the wind.

That's the service hall.

A long queue had formed in front of the gate, even longer than the queue at the city gate yesterday.

The queue meandered around the hall twice and then extended out to the street corner, stretching as far as the eye could see. The people in line were a diverse group: disciples of sects dressed in luxurious clothes, rogue soul masters carrying weapons, and many merchants, each clutching a stack of papers and looking anxious.

Yu Xiaogang walked towards the back of the line.

After walking a few steps, someone suddenly stopped him.

"Brother, need to complete the formalities?" The man, dressed in an ordinary cloth shirt, approached with a fawning smile and lowered his voice.

"Should we use the express lane?"

Yu Xiaogang was taken aback: "What fast passage?"

The man looked around, then pulled a small, palm-sized brass plaque from his pocket. It had the words "Priority Processing · Twelve" engraved on it.

"We have this, no need to queue," he said, his eyes narrowing into slits as he smiled.

"Go straight into the lobby, there's a dedicated window to serve you, and it'll be done in fifteen minutes."

"How much is this?"

"Not expensive," the man said, "Thirty gold soul coins."

Yu Xiaogang gasped.

Thirty gold soul coins, just to avoid queuing?

"Too expensive." Yu Xiaogang shook her head and walked past the man.

Walk to the end of the line, stand still, and start waiting.

The sun slowly rose, its heat making everyone's foreheads feel hot. The queue moved forward very slowly, barely touching the ground every now and then. Yu Xiaogang stood on tiptoe to look ahead and saw that quite a few people, like him, couldn't stand the queue and had been persuaded by those holding priority signs to pay for "fast track" tickets.

As soon as those people left, the line moved forward a little, but more and more people kept joining from behind, so the length of the line remained almost unchanged.

An hour has passed.

Two hours have passed.

The sun was directly overhead, making people dizzy and lightheaded. Yu Xiaogang took out a dry biscuit from her bundle, ate a couple of bites with water from her water pouch.

Finally, it was his turn.

The hall's doors were wide open, spanning five or six zhang (approximately 10-13 meters). Upon entering, a blast of cool air hit her, a stark contrast to the sweltering heat outside. Yu Xiaogang looked up and saw that each of the four corners of the hall held a massive ice jar, filled with blocks of ice, from which wisps of white steam rose.

The ice was crystal clear, without a single impurity; it was obviously high-quality ice collected from the far north and stored in a cellar.

The hall was packed with people, with at least a hundred people queuing in front of the various windows.

There were at least thirty or forty windows, and behind each window sat a steward, busy and quickly registering something. Above the windows hung wooden signs that read "Tian Dou Competition Zone", "Xing Luo Competition Zone", "Other Competition Zones", "Business License", "Expedited Processing", and so on.

The most eye-catching windows are on the second floor against the wall; there are only five, but the fewest people are in line.

The wooden signs hanging above the five windows were gold and read "VIP Access".

Next to the VIP passage, there is a separate small room with a larger gold plaque hanging on the door—"Supreme VIP Reception Room".

As Yu Xiaogang was looking around, she suddenly saw a familiar figure emerge from the small room.

Ning Fengzhi.

He was still wearing that moon-white long robe, gently waving a folding fan, a faint smile on his face. Behind him followed the two guards, each carrying a stack of things, which appeared to be the completed competition documents.

Ning Fengzhi looked up and saw Yu Xiaogang, who was exhausted.

He paused for a moment, then nodded and smiled as a greeting before walking straight out the door, without even offering to help.

Yu Xiaogang withdrew her gaze, found the "Tian Dou Competition Zone" window, and joined the queue.

The steward behind the window was a young woman, dressed in the uniform of the Spirit Hall, with her hair neatly combed and a standard smile on her face.

"What kind of service do you need?"

"Competition registration".

The girl took a form out of the drawer and filled it out quickly.

"Team name?"

"Thunder Middle School Team".

How many people?

Does this include the coach?

"Include it if you want."

'

"Please pay the entry fee." The girl lowered her head and continued filling out the form. "Three hundred gold soul coins per person, totaling 3000 gold soul coins."

Yu Xiaogang was stunned.

"How many?"

"Three thousand gold soul coins." The girl repeated, her tone flat. "You need to use the venue for your competition, this is the venue fee! In addition, each participant needs to pay an insurance fee of one thousand gold soul coins. In case of injury during the competition, the Spirit Hall will cover part of the medical expenses."

"The medical insurance payment channel isn't here; you need to go to the other side to pay!"

Yu Xiaogang opened her mouth, but couldn't say anything.

Damn it, I have to queue up and pay again!

There are only a few teams competing, so why are there so many people in line?

It's definitely some scalpers causing trouble!

Make him do it again—Yu Xiaogang almost fainted from anger.

The girl glanced at him, still smiling, and mechanically repeated: "If you don't pay the insurance fee, you will have to pay for your own medical expenses if you are injured during the competition. If you are seriously injured and near death during the competition and refuse to surrender, the referee will not forcibly stop the competition."

Yu Xiaogang was furious.

This is absolutely a threat!

But the situation was pressing, so I said, "I'll hand it over."

The girl took the money, counted it, took out a receipt from the drawer, stamped it, and handed him a competition certificate.

"You can use this pass to participate in the competition," the girl explained. "During the competition, this pass allows you to enter and exit the venue for free, and you can also enjoy special accommodation and food discounts for participants."

"Discounts on food and lodging?"

"Yes." The girl nodded, pointing to a line of small print on the back of the competition certificate, "With this certificate, you can enjoy a 20% discount at designated inns and a 10% discount at designated restaurants. A list of designated locations is attached."

She handed me a piece of paper with the names of dozens of inns and restaurants listed on it.

Yu Xiaogang took it and glanced at it, then froze instantly.

He didn't recognize any of the inns' names. But he roughly knew their locations; they were all in the outer city.

There wasn't a single inn in the inner city.

He looked up, as if to ask something, but the girl had already started calling out to the next person.

"Next."

Yu Xiaogang silently put away her competition certificate, turned around and walked out, preparing to finish lunch and continue queuing to pay her medical insurance fee.

As he reached the entrance, he couldn't help but look back at the five VIP passageways once more.

Those queuing in front of the five windows were all well-dressed individuals, some wearing luxurious sect robes, others adorned with valuable soul tools, each with a calm and unhurried demeanor.

The VIP reception room next to the VIP passage was always closed; I wonder what kind of important person was being received inside.

He recalled Ning Fengzhi's expression when he came out of that room—a calm, satisfied look, as if he had done something utterly ordinary.

Damn it! That jerk of a dad!

Why not just recharge at the Spirit Hall? That way he wouldn't have to wait in line!