Three, and you can't even handle a single one of them?

Master Santong didn't get angry; instead, he put on a deeply earnest expression. "I really have no choice. As a person with a strong sense of social responsibility, I simply cannot stand by and watch such a divine artifact fall into the hands of those with ill intentions!"

"Well said! Someone with such lofty morals is truly different!" Xiang Nan said, holding back a laugh.

Sensing that the timing was right, Master Santong proposed, "Xiang Nan, we've been through life and death together after all. I've been protecting you for so long, yet I haven't even seen what that divine artifact actually looks like. How about you take it out and let me feast my eyes?"

"Want to see it?" Xiang Nan asked, his eyes filled with amusement.

"Yeah, I do," Master Santong nodded expectantly.

"Not happening!" Xiang Nan raised an eyebrow and immediately turned his face away.

"Hey, hey, buddy, don't be so stingy."

"I am just this stingy! Did you only find out today?"

"Come on, just let me look at it. What on earth is this thing I've been risking my life to protect? Don't worry, I'll just take a look. Besides, don't you have a spatial storage item? Once I'm done looking, you can put it right back, and I promise not to stop you."

Unexpectedly, Xiang Nan stood up and dove straight into his tent. "I'm sleepy. Time for bed."

Did he really take him for a fool? A tier-five master—once the item was brought out, would he still be given a chance to let it be put back?

Only someone out of their mind would believe him.

Besides, Xiang Nan had never trusted this Master Santong from the beginning. Offering courtesy for no reason usually meant hidden intentions, and his acting skills were terrible; who would dare trust him?

However, Master Santong turned out to be as clingy as taffy, and his skin was just as thick. He actually squeezed his way into Xiang Nan's tent and began to plead bitterly.

"Just let me take one look. Looking at it won't hurt..."

Xiang Nan was annoyed to no end by his nagging. To make matters worse, the man was strong, and Xiang Nan might not even be able to beat him in a fight.

"You really have to see it?" Xiang Nan glared at him helplessly.

Master Santong said with absolute certainty, "I must see it." Then, he added uncertainly at the end, "Alright?"

The corner of Xiang Nan's mouth twitched. "It's not completely out of the question, but I have conditions."

Hearing this, Master Santong realized there was still hope and hurriedly asked, "What conditions?"

Xiang Nan rolled his eyes. "You also know I made a bet with the president of the Supreme Martial Arts Academy that I must win first place in this Spirit Void exploration..." As he spoke, Xiang Nan glanced sideways at Master Santong.

How could Master Santong not understand? He quickly chimed in, "You want me to help you win this first place?"

As everyone knew, this year's championship required not only gathering the most spirit pearls but also finding the legendary Spirit-Suppressing Stone.

Finding enough spirit pearls to rank first wasn't too big of an issue, but as for that Spirit-Suppressing Stone—though it was supposedly lost inside the Spirit Void, the realm was so vast that heaven knows where it might be hidden.

Yet, judging by Xiang Nan's attitude, if he didn't help him secure the championship, this kid definitely wouldn't take out the divine artifact.

The brat wasn't old, but he was awfully cunning.

"What? Is there a problem?" Seeing Master Santong hesitate, Xiang Nan flashed a look of disdain and said indifferently, "If you're not willing, forget it. A forced melon is never sweet."

"Who said I'm not willing? No problem, leave this to me." Master Santong agreed immediately.

He'd agree first and figure things out later; what if they actually found it? Man proposes, heaven disposes.

To repay that person's favor, he had to take a gamble.

"Then it's a deal. I'll help you win the championship, and you let me see that divine artifact. Don't go back on your word when the time comes."

"If you don't trust me, forget it. Pretend I said nothing."

"I trust you, I trust you," Master Santong quickly replied. Without saying anything more, he crawled out of the tent alone.

...

Gradually, the ordinary fierce beasts around the Six Greenfish Islands of the Spirit Void were nearly wiped out.

A few powerful squads had even ventured into the Gloomy Forest, where it was rumored that the bizarre and venomous plants there had nearly cost a few people their lives.

However, after two squads were eliminated, several others still returned from the Gloomy Forest laden with rewards.

Among them were the squad led by Lu Ming, as well as a few squads spearheaded by the Supreme Martial Arts Academy.

A week passed.

Every remaining squad held quite a few spirit pearls in their possession.

Meanwhile, the signal-active zone of the Spirit Void kept shrinking. Soon, the Six Greenfish Islands were zoned out of the signal area.

Everyone was concentrated in the Central Island of the Spirit Void and the Gloomy Forest. This forced the more than one hundred original squads into closer and closer quarters.

Once people gathered together, trouble inevitably followed.

They hunted beasts on the one hand and stirred up trouble on the other.

Especially with the bet between Xiang Nan and the Mad Yama, a natural animosity had formed between the Kyoto Martial Arts University and the Supreme Martial Arts Academy.

Whenever students from the two academies crossed paths, it was a war of words followed by fierce contention.

The students of the Supreme Martial Arts Academy had always been arrogant, worshipped martial might above all else, and played dirty. Whenever they clashed, the students from Kyoto Martial Arts University usually came out on the losing end.

Over the past few days, squads from Kyoto Martial Arts University were continuously eliminated. Among those who survived, quite a few came to Xiang Nan to make amends and express their desire to form an alliance, hoping to help him become the champion of the Spirit Void exploration.

Actually, whether Xiang Nan won the championship or not wasn't a major issue for them; the crucial point was that the people from the Supreme Martial Arts Academy were simply too arrogant. Yet, because the other side was too strong and they couldn't beat them, they were forced to seek a backing and form alliances.

Initially, many people hadn't been optimistic about Xiang Nan's strength, adopting a wait-and-see attitude or treating it as none of their business.

However, ever since he was backed by a tier-five powerhouse, the situation was completely different.

Master Santong had originally sneaked in as foreign reinforcement following a squad from another academy.

He never expected to defect the moment he stepped inside, directly abandoning his original squad to throw in his lot with Xiang Nan.

Although his name still wouldn't appear on the official squad roster, he didn't care; his goal was never the Spirit Void exploration anyway.

Now, with Xiang Nan's promise, he had only one objective: to push Xiang Nan's squad all the way to the championship.

Of course, there were also quite a few squads whose abilities were merely average and knew they had no hope of winning the championship themselves. Rather than failing, they figured they might as well gamble and place all their chips on Xiang Nan—win or lose, they would at least earn a favor.

By now, everyone had finally woken up. Xiang Nan was not only the young master of the Eagle Alliance, but also the true master behind Treasure Spirit.

Who didn't suffer from rheumatic aches or bone pains these days? Having a doctor friend made people feel their lives were more secure, let alone the fact that Xiang Nan was surrounded by so many legendary tales. Besides, even the nation's premier general had been saved thanks to his resurrection grass.

For a time, Xiang Nan became the pride of Kyoto Martial Arts University.

Only idiots like the Lu family still regarded him as a sworn enemy, acting like fools rushing to their own doom.

The students of Kyoto Martial Arts University thought this way, and those from the Supreme Martial Arts Academy weren't fools either.

Those students already looked down on everyone from aloft and had always despised Kyoto Martial Arts University.

Sparked by this bet, they were all holding their breath. The champion of the Spirit Void exploration could only belong to a squad from the Supreme Martial Arts Academy!

Therefore, inside the Spirit Void, whenever a Kyoto Martial Arts University squad crossed paths with a Supreme Martial Arts Academy squad, a single disagreement would immediately trigger a brawl.

Students from the other academies seized the opportunity to fish in troubled waters, waiting for the two sides to exhaust each other so they could reap the benefits.

Yet, as the fighting dragged on, everyone's eyes turned red, and they began attacking anyone they laid eyes on.