Starting as a stray dog, I embarked on a journey of cultivation.

The incense in the remnant soul's hand burned out, and the embers dissipated.

"The second round of betting has ended, and the results will be announced immediately!"

As soon as the words were spoken, the jade tablets that everyone had thrown in flew out from the crack in the stone table again, hovering in mid-air, arranged clearly.

Gou An's gaze swept quickly across the entire field. As he had predicted, the situation was exactly as he had expected. The other six people all chose to wait and see, using their chance not to bet this round, and did not place a single bet.

Throughout the entire stone chamber, only he and the old sheep demon each placed their bets.

Upon seeing the amount, Gou An was slightly startled and somewhat surprised.

The old sheep demon was exactly the same as him, having also put in three jade tokens.

Just then, the spiritual energy that had been sealed around them loosened slightly, allowing everyone to turn their necks.

Gou An turned to look at the old sheep opposite him. The two demons looked at each other, their eyes filled with helplessness and astonishment.

Gou An instantly understood the cause and effect.

His original plan was extremely meticulous.

The safest approach in this round is to simply invest one chip.

Gou An could predict that Lao Yang would guess that he had invested one chip, and thus choose to invest two chips to take his guaranteed one chip.

If you throw three balls, you can easily beat your opponent and reap the two balls that the old sheep threw.

Little did he expect that Old Sheep's thoughts completely overlapped with his own, leading to this final outcome.

The two players traded evenly, and both have been wiped out in this round.

For a moment, Gou An felt a pang of regret; sometimes, thinking too much is not a good thing.

The moment you become greedy, you are more likely to lose more.

Gou An silently remembered this lesson and prepared to write it into his own Gou Dao Jue (a martial arts technique).

After one round of the game, he and Lao Yang each had seven jade tokens left, making them the ones with the fewest tokens among all the players.

The situation reversed instantly.

Quickly review the situation with a calm mind.

The final round is already decided. As long as the remaining eight people all guarantee to cast one bet, everyone can pass safely and no one will be eliminated.

However, if someone invests more now, they might be able to reap the rewards.

However, Gou An didn't have many chips at the moment, so he gave up the idea of ​​continuing to take risks and only sought to secure his advancement.

When the third round began, he decisively invested only one jade token to play it safe.

But when the final settlement results were announced, Gou An's pupils shrank, and his face was filled with shock.

As expected, most people in this round only aimed for a minimum bet, placing only one bet, even Old Sheep Demon was no exception.

But among the crowd, the oldest and seemingly most composed human cultivator went all in, throwing out his last nine chips!

Gou An still remembers that his Taoist name was Qingfeng Shangren.

An elder from a second-rate sect!

Meanwhile, another cultivator named Yunbai Zhenren also harbored his own thoughts, throwing out eight chips, keeping only one for himself to save his life.

Clearly, Master Yunbai wanted to take a gamble, while deliberately keeping a backup plan to avoid the risk of being eliminated at the bottom.

But in the end, Master Qingfeng was more cunning and ruthless.

He had already anticipated everyone's desire for stability, and even calculated that some people would gamble a little to protect themselves, so he simply went all out and won all the chips in one fell swoop.

Although it was a risky gamble, he made the right bet.

With the three rounds of competition concluded, the final rankings have been finalized.

With his exceptional performance in the final round, Master Qingfeng accumulated 23 chips, securing a commanding lead in the competition.

The four demons—the old tortoise, the crow, the black snake, and the rat—each have eight chips remaining, placing them in the second tier.

Gou An and Lao Yang Yao each have six chips left, placing them in the third tier.

Yunbai Zhenren has only one chip left, barely making it to the bottom.

As for the fox demon and the other youngest human elder, their stakes were completely wiped out, and they were guaranteed to be eliminated in this round without any suspense.

"Three rounds of betting are over!" the remnant soul announced. "The results are in; two players have been eliminated on this floor!"

Everyone present thought that being eliminated would at most mean being expelled from the ancient tower and missing out on the secret realm.

But the remnant soul's next words instantly sank everyone's hearts.

"In accordance with the rules of the pagoda, all those who are eliminated will have 50% of their cultivation points deducted as punishment for failing the challenge, in order to stabilize the operation of the secret realm."

As soon as he finished speaking, two panicked cries rang out from inside the stone chamber.

"What?"

"what?"

The eliminated elder and fox demon turned deathly pale, their eyes filled with disbelief, and their bodies instantly turned ice-cold.

The remaining eight people who managed to get through the ordeal also had their hearts pounding, cold sweat breaking out on their backs, and a sense of crisis instantly overwhelmed them.

"This is unfair!" The elder cultivator forcefully suppressed his panic and questioned sharply, "Why weren't the rules explained beforehand?"

Faced with fierce questioning, the remnant soul remained unmoved, his tone indifferent and somewhat aloof: "In the many trials of secret realms in the world, the losers often pay with their lives."

"I've only taken a portion of your cultivation, which is already exceptionally lenient. How is that unfair?"

"When you decide to venture into this secret realm, you must be prepared to lose everything!"

These words left everyone speechless.

Everyone suddenly realized that the Crimson Flame Mountain Lord had deliberately concealed the most fatal rule, only telling them that there was no danger to their lives in the tower, but never mentioning the cruel price of losing half of their cultivation if they were eliminated.

Cultivation is the foundation that all cultivators and demon cultivators accumulate through arduous practice over time.

Among those present, the older ones had cultivated themselves for five or six hundred years, while the younger ones had spent decades in deep meditation.

Having half of one's cultivation drained in a single day is equivalent to wasting half a lifetime of hard work, something no one can accept.

"Fifty percent cultivation is far too harsh! Thirty percent at most! Please, senior, have mercy!" The human cultivator elder was still unwilling to give up and pleaded urgently.

The remnant soul immediately let out a cold sneer: "You think this is a place where you can haggle?"

"Either obediently accept the punishment and have your cultivation drained."

"Either I annihilate your souls directly. You choose one."

As soon as the words were spoken, a vast and terrifying pressure suddenly swept through the entire stone chamber, pressing down on everyone and making it difficult to breathe and stiffening their bodies.

Even though it was just a wisp of a remnant soul that had survived for a long time, the aura and sense of oppression it exuded far surpassed that of a Golden Core cultivator.

Gou An was shocked and trembled in his heart. He instantly concluded that the master of this remnant soul was at least a Nascent Soul cultivator in his lifetime.

It's even possible that it was created by an immortal who transcended the mortal realm, deliberately setting up this secret place to amuse mortals!

On the verge of despair, the fox demon and the human elder still tried to fight to the death, but the remnant soul gave them no chance whatsoever.

The remnant soul raised its hand and grabbed, instantly locking the two figures in place with an invisible binding force.

The fox demon and the human elder were both stiff and unable to move, unable even to beg for mercy.

Gou An focused his attention and clearly saw wisps of pure cultivation energy being forcibly stripped and extracted from the two people's bodies, turning into two streams of shimmering white energy that continuously flowed into the remnant soul phantom.

As their cultivation levels rapidly declined, their auras weakened and became listless at a visible rate.

His hair turned white rapidly, his skin became loose and shriveled, and his vitality completely dissipated. In just a few breaths, he aged and deteriorated several times over, looking extremely miserable.

Everyone present witnessed this cruel scene and was terrified, remaining silent and not daring to utter a single word.

Only after half of his cultivation had been completely extracted did the remnant soul stop.

As the binding force dissipated, the two of them were completely exhausted and collapsed to the ground, feeling utterly drained.

The next instant, two beams of white light enveloped the two, instantly teleporting them out of the tower and completely separating them from the secret realm.

"All dealt with." The illusory remnant soul moved slightly, and its voice rang out again: "The remaining eight of you may ascend the stairs to the next floor."

Just then, Master Qingfeng suddenly spoke, breaking the silence: "Senior, may I voluntarily give up the challenge at this moment?"

The remnant soul turned its head slightly upon hearing the voice, its empty, ethereal form looking at him, and replied indifferently, "Of course."

"However... voluntarily withdrawing is equivalent to being eliminated from the challenge, and will still result in 50% of your cultivation being deducted!"