Although Sima Tao had come up with the idea for a competition on the spur of the moment, he had abundant life experience as a necromancer, and knew that, considering this Bai Hao could perform fifteenfold spirit enhancements, he was obviously at the celestial rank, just like himself and Sun Yifan.
He had never even considered that he could be an earthly necromancer. After all, the number of earthly necromancers who existed in the Wildlands could be counted on one hand. Furthermore, they were the type of people who wandered from place to place and were rarely seen.
Celestial necromancers couldn't conjure eighteen-colored flame. At most, they could handle seventeen-colored flame. Of course, even those who could only did it with difficulty, making that type of flame unsuitable for wagers.
Sixteen-colored flame was a different story, though. Sima Tao was very familiar with sixteen-colored flame, and could produce it quite consistently. Considering his level of experience and skill, he was very confident in being able to win a competition involving that type of flame.
Sun Yifan was essentially thinking the same thing, and quickly nodded in response.
“Let’s compete in sixteen-colored flame,” he said, smiling coldly inside. “How about this: we can all start from one-colored flame and work up to sixteen-colored flame. Whoever can conjure three flames first will be the winner!”
Sima Tao laughed heartily. “Perfect! That’s an even more simple method than the usual one. And fairer too. All of the Fellow Daoists who are here to watch can serve as witnesses!”
Although they had made a show of giving Bai Xiaochun the option of giving an opinion, they had spoken so quickly that he had been given no such opportunity.
And yet… nobody present was willing to point that out. After all, the method suggested by Sun Yifan was just as Sima Tao had said, very fair.
The truth was that both Sima Tao and Sun Yifan were people who had been famous for years already, and had deep reserves of skill. In contrast, Bai Xiaochun was a newcomer to the necromancy scene, and nobody would think to describe him as being very skilled.
Bai Xiaochun’s heart thumped when he heard the details of the wager, and he immediately got a bad feeling. When it came to fifteen-colored flame, he was actually very confident. In fact, he could succeed with virtually one hundred percent certainty. But sixteen-colored flame was different. Even with the improvements Bai Hao had made to the formula, he was still only capable of roughly a thirty percent success rate.
Furthermore, he hadn’t had the opportunity to discuss the matter of flame conjuring with anyone else besides Bai Hao. Although Bai Hao was skilled, not even he had ever been in much contact with other celestial necromancers. Therefore, not even he was sure of what success rates were common when it came to sixteen-colored flame.
After all, success rates were not often discussed by necromancers with outsiders. Usually, they kept things like that a secret.
Most other people in this situation would either bow their head in defeat, or impulsively take the bet. But not Bai Xiaochun. He blinked a few times, then looked at Sun Yifan and Sima Tao and angrily said, “That’s not a fair bet. I can only manage a twenty percent success rate with sixteen-colored flame! How am I supposed to win like that!?”
His words caused many jaws to drop in the audience. After all, many people had at least heard of the supposed success rates for sixteen-colored flame. Although none could be absolutely certain, they at least had a general idea.
“Twenty percent success rate? Seems a bit exaggerated.”
“Sixteen-colored flame is one of the most advanced forms of multi-colored flame, and has a very low success rate. Only earthly necromancers can produce it consistently. Celestial necromancers are all different, but for the most part, they can’t make it very easily.”
As the audience chattered, Sima Tao threw his head back and laughed sarcastically. “Nice try, Bai Hao! To tell you the truth, I only have a twelve and a half percent success rate when it comes to sixteen-colored flame. Brother Sun is a bit more adept than me, but even he can’t get past fifteen percent.”
Sounding utterly serious, Sun Yifan said, “If you can manage a twenty percent success rate, then you don’t have to worry at all. You’ll definitely win!” With that, he looked at Bai Xiaochun as if to say, what, did you really think that was going to scare us or something?
“Fine, you’re on!” Bai Xiaochun said, eyes glittering.
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Chapter
740: Evenly Matched
Bai Xiaochun’s comportment immediately caused Sun Yifan and Sima Tao to hesitate, and even exchange glances. Although it seemed like he was simply trying to put on a brave front, they were now more on guard than before. The truth was that Simao Tao had actually held back a bit of the truth. Both he and Sun Yifan could achieve success rates of nearly seventeen percent!
In fact, if they got lucky they could sometimes reach twenty percent! However, that was the limit for a celestial necromancer when working with sixteen-colored flame. The only exception would be… if they managed to improve the formula they worked with!
But doing something like that was incredibly difficult. All necromancers in the Wildlands knew that even earthly necromancers who tried to alter flame conjuring formulas would have to spend a huge amount of time and energy to do so, and even then might not succeed.
After all, the current formulas had been derived by constant refining and augmentation from generation to generation. Countless tests and confirmations ensured that the current formulas were the most reliable.
Considering all of that, Sima Tao and Sun Yifan calmed themselves, and immediately called for help to set up a competition arena in front of the three shops.
It wasn’t a large arena, and had just enough space for the three of them to do their work. In that short time, however, so many soul cultivators showed up that there were now row upon row of them waiting to watch what would happen.
There were even people floating in the air to observe. By now, there were definitely more than 100,000 people present, with more beams of light appeared every moment. The city guard was shocked, and immediately dispatched a few hundred people to make sure that order was kept.
Zhou Hong was present, of course, as were Little Wolfgod, Li Tiansheng, Miao Lin’er, and even the second prince. Virtually all of the chosen that Bai Xiaochun had kidnapped in the Necromancer Kettle had arrived.
There were also other chosen and heirs to the noble and aristocratic houses, people like Chen Xiong who hadn’t been in the Necromancer Kettle. Everybody came to watch and comment on Bai Xiaochun’s performance.
This competition was already sizing up to be much bigger than the previous one. Not only was the audience larger, but the fact that there were so many chosen present got everyone else in the audience even more excited.
Chen Manyao was also there, alone in the crowd and away from the second prince and the other chosen. She stood there by herself, quietly watching Bai Xiaochun.
To see so many people crowded together watching him made Bai Xiaochun a little nervous. Although he was capable of a thirty percent success rate with sixteen-colored flame, that still didn't leave him completely confident. And yet, there was nothing else he could do.
“Too bad we can't compete in fifteen-colored flame!” he thought. Although he wasn’t feeling very confident, he had to brace himself and hope that Sima Tao and Sun Yifan weren’t capable of much more than fifteen percent or so.
Bai Xiaochun’s visible nervousness caused Sima Tao and Sun Yifan to feel more relaxed than ever. They sat cross-legged on either side of him, meditating to settle their qi and clear their minds.