Sure enough, the problem lies with the Shu Sect!
When Hu Ke'er saw Yang Yu appear, she had a hunch that this matter was related to the Shu Sect. It seemed that her deduction was right.
"It's impossible. Your master must come with me. I've been waiting here for a month. Don't wear out my patience. Otherwise, I'll burn down your shop!" Yang Yu said forcefully.
"Hey hey hey, threatening to burn down the shop just because of a disagreement. You're being so unreasonable! No wonder senior brother said that you guys always do things that are beneath your dignity!" Hearing Yang Yu's words, Hu Ke'er couldn't help but retort angrily.
"You little girl, what do you know? If you keep getting in my way, I'll take you back with me too!"
"Humph, do you think you can lay a finger on my junior sister?" Hearing Yang Yu threaten Hu Ke'er, Chen Tianyi immediately stepped forward and shielded Hu Ke'er behind him.
"Oh, it seems that you, fellow cultivator, want to try my flying sword?" Yang Yu summoned his flying sword, which was ready to strike.
"Wait!" Just as the situation was getting tense, Hu Ke'er suddenly spoke up. She slowly walked in front of Chen Tianyi and looked at Yang Yu. "How about we have a gambling duel? If we win, you'll cancel the ban on Uncle Blacksmith from forging!"
"Hmm?" Yang Yu was taken aback when he heard Hu Ke'er's words. "If I win, can you make this old blacksmith go back to the Shu Sect with me?"
"I'm afraid not." Hu Ke'er shook her head.
"Get out of here. Don't waste my time. If you lose and can't give me anything, what's the point of this gambling duel?" Yang Yu waved his hand, signaling Hu Ke'er to leave.
"I can give you spirit stones."
"Spirit stones? We of the Shu Sect are wealthy and have plenty of them. Unless you can give me a huge amount, otherwise..."
"Take a look at this." Before Yang Yu could finish his sentence, Hu Ke'er took out the high - purity spirit stone she had refined earlier. Yang Yu's eyes widened immediately as he stared fixedly at the spirit stone in Hu Ke'er's hand.
"How can the purity of this spirit stone be so high? It's even comparable to the origin stone. No, the origin stone still has a lot of impurities. Why does your spirit stone seem to have no impurities at all?"
"Hehe, you don't need to worry about that. Anyway, if you win, I'll give you this top - grade spirit stone. How about it?"
"Hmm... okay!" Yang Yu rubbed his chin and hesitated for a while. Then he looked at the spirit stone in Hu Ke'er's hand, gritted his teeth slightly, and nodded in agreement.
"In that case, you can have a fight with my senior brother. The one who wins is the one when the other admits defeat or can't stand up. How about it?" Hu Ke'er blinked her eyes, glanced at Chen Tianyi, and then said to Yang Yu.
"Sure, no problem!" Yang Yu readily agreed.
"However, since we cultivators can fly, it's not okay to just keep running away. So we should set a venue, right?"
"Yeah, that's fine." Hu Ke'er put forward another requirement, and Yang Yu agreed without even thinking.
"Then let me draw one." As Hu Ke'er said, she casually picked up a branch and drew a large circle on the ground. "If you fly up or go out of this circle, you lose."
"No problem. Then let's start!" Yang Yu said impatiently.
"Wait!"
"What now?!" Yang Yu said impatiently when he heard Hu Ke'er stop him.
"I need to prepare some props for my senior brother before the fight."
"Whatever. Your senior brother is just an outer - sect disciple. I already knew from when he summoned his flying sword just now that his cultivation base is only in the Qi - Refining stage, a whole major realm lower than mine. How could he possibly beat me? I advise you guys to surrender quickly!"
"Senior brother, is what he said true?" Hu Ke'er, who originally thought her side was sure to win, looked at Chen Tianyi with a worried face after hearing Yang Yu's words.
"He's right about the cultivation base, but I have many trump cards. It won't be that easy for him to beat me." Chen Tianyi smiled slightly, seemingly quite confident about defeating the opponent.
"Well, since that's the case, senior brother, use the weapon I made." As Hu Ke'er said, she put the flamethrower on Chen Tianyi's back and then handed a large handful of beads engraved with detonation talismans to Chen Tianyi.
"Senior brother, you just need to turn this valve to turn on the switch of spiritual energy. Then light the flame at the end of the rod, and you can spray out a super - strong flame. If this still can't suppress that guy, just throw out a handful of beads. It will definitely blow that guy out!" Hu Ke'er explained the usage of the flamethrower to Chen Tianyi. Originally, she also wanted to take out the flintlock gun for Chen Tianyi to use, but since there were no bullets yet, the flintlock gun was just a lump of iron and useless.
"Don't worry. I saw your fight with Wang Ning before." Chen Tianyi nodded as he said, and then slowly walked into the circle.
"Okay, I'm ready."
"Then let's start!" Hearing that Chen Tianyi was ready, a sneer appeared on Yang Yu's lips. As his voice fell, the purple flying sword shot down towards Chen Tianyi like a thunderbolt!
"Bang!" Just as the purple flying sword was about to land on Chen Tianyi, the cyan flying sword soared into the sky and met the purple light head - on. The two flying swords entangled with each other.
"Senior brother, use the flamethrower!"
"Okay!" As soon as the two flying swords intersected, a dazzling light burst out. The purple and cyan lights eroded each other, but the purple light was much tougher. Seeing this, Hu Ke'er quickly told Chen Tianyi to use the flamethrower.
"Boom!" Chen Tianyi responded and quickly turned on the flamethrower. He aimed the end of the rod at Yang Yu. With a gentle wave of a flame talisman, a spiritual flame spurted out from the rod.
"Damn it, what is this?" Seeing the flame spurt out from the stick in Chen Tianyi's hand, Yang Yu was startled and quickly retreated.
"Hehe, it's too late to dodge now!" Seeing Yang Yu's panicked look, Chen Tianyi sneered and then threw out a large handful of metal beads in his hand.
As the saying goes, strike while the iron is hot. Now Yang Yu was at his most panicked. As long as he was a little careless and didn't dodge the detonation talismans, this gambling duel would be a sure win!
"Explode!" With a soft shout from Chen Tianyi, there were "bang bang bang bang" sounds. When the smoke cleared, most of Yang Yu's luxurious Taoist robe had been blown off. His face was charred black, and his hair on his head stood up one by one, just as if he had been struck by lightning.
"Argh! Stinky boy, my Taoist robe! I'll kill you!" Seeing his clothes, Yang Yu felt extremely embarrassed and shouted angrily in a fit of rage.
"Wait!" Just as Yang Yu was about to pounce on Chen Tianyi, the corners of Hu Ke'er's mouth curled up slightly, and she said proudly, "You've already lost!"