Chapter 38: The Bloody Arena
First thing in the morning, the sun shone high above North Ghu City, suggesting that today was going to be an excellent day. The temperature was just right, even Qi masters who could brave all sorts of extremities would still find this sort of atmosphere to be particularly pleasant.
The bloody arena was open as always. The weaker cultivators fought in the morning, so the crowds never held any VIPs or powerful Qi masters. Perhaps if a Spirit Core realm Elder's disciple were to battle, then some notable individuals would attend to observe the talents of the next generation, but today was not such a day…Ghu Nadda made sure of this. The seating area was still filled though since the ticket price was low. Besides the low price, the bloody arena's rules of 'two walk in, one walks out' guaranteed an interesting spectacle, even if the combatants were only weak juniors.
The audience consisted mostly of True Yuan Qi realm people and a few weaker Qi Temple realm Elders, as well as some groups of Qi Gathering realm children who were taken by their elders to witness the cruel nature of the cultivation world without endangering themselves personally.
A boy dressed in a soft red silk robe walked onto the stage calmly. His appearance was concealed by a bamboo hat, making it impossible to see his appearance, but it was obvious from his stature alone that he was merely a child, or at least he possessed the body of a child.
Wearing masks or treasures to hide one's appearance wasn't too unusual, around one fifth of all competitors would choose to do this. It was also considered rude to make any attempt to see past their camouflage, so nobody even thought to examine Yaan, nor his mysterious bamboo hat.
This was the third battle of the day, it was normal for there to be two peak True Yuan Qi realm warriors facing off. Yaan's opponent was a slender middle aged man who was donning a long black beard, showing his age. Perhaps this was why he was unable to conceal the disdain in his eyes.
"A child? Boy, you may be talented, but you shouldn't look down on an older man's experience! You should leave now before wasting your life. Hurry up and admit defeat or this Elder will attack you in five seconds!"
Such scenes weren't uncommon, but they also didn't happen more than once or twice a day. The battle drew some more focus, especially when the child, hiding his face but not his small stature, ignored the older man's warning and made his way to his starting position silently.
The middle aged man frowned slightly, showing a trace of doubt on his face but quickly hiding it away. Whilst his opponent clearly had a child's body, that didn't guarantee that he was truly young in age…he could very well be an experienced Qi master with extreme talent, someone who stopped ageing early on in life!
The man quickly hid all traces of his uncertainty, returning to his arrogant facade. No matter what, he would continue to act this way in an attempt to mentally pressure his opponent.
Nobody could see Yaan's face and he wasn't speaking because he didn't want to reveal his voice. These items that hid one's appearance were perfectly legal in the arena, but those that hid aura and other such things were not. As such, Yaan's aura was not disguised right now, only slightly distorted. The hat had the effect of distorting his aura to make him unrecognisable as an individual, but it did nothing to hide his cultivation level, nor the aura of his body tempering path.
"Hmm?" A 1st layer Qi Temple realm Elder suddenly sat up and squinted, starring intently at the boy in red. His expression looked uncertain, as if he wasn't sure what it was that he was looking at right now.
"5…
4…
3…"
Unexpectedly, Yaan's opponent began doing the countdown himself, arrogantly ignoring the match maker! As he did so, three others also noticed the robed boy's strange aura and physical body. These people began to pay some attention to him, now intrigued by his unusual characteristics.
"2…1…Hahaha! Boy, you really don't know how to accept my generosity! Well whatever, I'd bet that a young pampered genius like you has lots of-"
Swoosh…
Suddenly, the middle aged man's expression changed greatly. He jumped backwards in horror, but still felt six cold lines appear across his chest. Yaan's movement was simply too fast, too unexpected! Even if he felt some level of caution towards him, the middle aged man could have never predicted that Yaan's speed would be so extreme!
"Peugh!" His left lung was punctured and he coughed out some blood. He stood up and tried to breathe normally, but his lung simply filled up with more blood with every breath, causing his expression to pale greatly as he continually sputtered up crimson fluid. When he saw that red figure arrive before him once again like a hidden spectre of death, his eyes widened and he grit his teeth.
The man quickly formed a hand seal, creating a one foot thick wall that shot up between him and that terrifying boy, just in time to prevent-
BANG!
The man was bewildered as he felt himself flying backwards, but the sense of shock which swept through the crowd was even more extreme. The middle aged competitor didn't see, but they saw clearly…that the red robed figure simply punched straight at the wall with his bare fist!
They couldn't see what spell or treasure he used, and immediately, the audience erupted into chatter as they shared their various speculations.
In the next moment, the boisterous chatter was silenced. The red robed figure seemed to move forwards gently, as if he wasn't moving at all. The man almost felt relieved, thinking that his opponent must have exhausted himself, causing his speed to drop as a result.
That is, until he realised that this death child somehow crossed 50 feet in under a couple of seconds! As Yaan's foot gently landed on the ground directly in front of him, his speed suddenly exploded with an impossible level of acceleration! The man raised a golden talisman, but Yaan's sword shattered the talisman before he had a chance to activate it, barely slowing down before piercing through the middle aged man's soft throat.
The red robed figure held the sword in his enemy's throat for half a second, then ruthlessly twisted as he pulled it out. He felt like this man's vitality was strangely high, so he totally destroyed his windpipe and neck bones before calmly turning away.
Thump!
The dead man's face was eternally plastered with a look of disbelief. His previously arrogant words would now be how people remembered him…the stupid and arrogant man who lost his life due to looking down on his opponent! Only the middle aged man knew that he had never truly looked down on his opponent, but dead men did not have the opportunity to explain their actions.
After making his way back stage, Yaan only removed his bamboo hat once he was out of sight of the crowd. He continued onwards, entering the dungeon below until he found Nadda, waiting for him.
"Yaan, those techniques…weren't those two of the sword arts that I sold to you..?" The ghoul asked slowly.
"Mm, those were just the first two." Yaan nodded.
"How much of those two techniques did you comprehend exactly?" Nadda's eyes slowly widened.
"I mastered the first two stages of Falling Leaf Strike and the first three of Synchronised Pierce." Yaan answered honestly, showing an expression of confusion when he saw Nadda's shocked expression.
"And…the others…?" Ghu Nadda took a deep breath and looked at Yaan like he was seeing him for the first time.
"I mastered the first stage of Air Blade Shield and the first two stages of Flowing River Blade…Cutting Typhoon is much more difficult, I'm still practising it."
If Ghu Nadda wasn't a ghoul and still possessed a beating heart, it would certainly be pulsing rapidly right now.
"This rate of comprehension is incredible…do you even realise that…?"
Yaan blinked in surprise, then pondered thoughtfully before replying.
"My old teacher did say that my talent in sword arts is very good, but before now, I'd only ever practised the Agile Sword Arts. I mastered the first stage of that after a couple of years, but it was much more difficult than a single stage of the ones you gave me. Ah, they're still really useful though, practising different sword arts is giving me some ideas."
Ghu Nadda stared at Yaan dumbly for a long time, unable to believe what he was hearing, seeing, experiencing even.
Even though Yaan hadn't mastered all of the stages of any of the sword arts, that wasn't because he was unable to understand them…it was because Ghu Nadda only gave him these first stages! The latter stages of high level sword arts were too valuable, he could only find the lower stages of good sword arts and thought that these would be plenty to keep Yaan occupied for decades to come.
'It seems that even now, I'm still underestimating him. He really doesn't understand how incredible it is to master sword arts so quickly, does he?' Nadda smiled and shook his head. He understood much better than Yaan, that his talent in sword arts was absurd.
Not to mention that Yaan was only a teenager at 14 years of age, meaning that he couldn't possibly have much experience with sword arts as a whole, but he had only been practising these sword arts for less than year! This sort of talent, if found within the Ghu Clan, would be enough for one of the Grand Elders to take interest personally!
"Yaan, I can maybe get one or two of the next stages, but only for one sword art….which would you like…?"
"Ah, that…you don't need to, I'm certain that I can't afford it." Yaan scratched his nose and laughed sheepishly.
"I'll just lend them to you then…I won't lose any money since I can just sell it on afterwards…"
Yaan hesitated, but after some more persuasion from Nadda, he eventually gave in.
"Flowing River Blade…if you could get the complete 3rd and 4th stages, that would be a great help. I think I might be able to master Cutting Typhoon before the inheritance opens if I can study these two stages."
Ghu Nadda immediately agreed and departed right away to sort this out. He also had other business to attend to, so Yaan didn't bother him anymore with his problems.
Yaan knew that it wasn't just going to be himself and Nadda in their group, there would be another three Ghu Clansmen and one more guest like himself. This would be the group that they entered the inheritance with, and whilst it was possible that they would be forcibly split up after entering the inheritance, it was better than nothing. That was only considering the group of people with whom Nadda was acquainted, of course. Overall, the group of Ghu Clansmen entering the inheritance would number well over 100!
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