Chapter 53: Qi Temple Realm Attack
After Yaan's overwhelming victory in his first match, the majority of the Bloody Arena's Innate Qi Realm gladiators were unwilling to fight him. Eventually, an arrogant girl at the Peak Innate Qi Realm challenged him. Yaan gladly accepted, he was not afraid of those at the Innate Qi Realm.
Compared to how confident she seemed to be in her own abilities, she did not put up much of a fight.
She attacked as soon as the match began, using a spell which shot multiple icicles directly at him.
After Yaan cut down the girl's icicles with his sword without even needing to use a technique, the girl became enraged and created hundreds of icicles to drop down on him from above.
After a quick glance, Yaan did not place much focus on the icicles. He used the Air Blade Shield Art to deflect everything within six feet of him, then using the movement aspect of the Agile Sword Art, he jumped onto the icicles which had fallen down in front of him and ran across the cold, spiked landscape.
The girl seemed to be caught off guard and hastily blocked by using another spell to summon a wall of ice, but Yaan's Flowing River Blade Art was too strange. Even though he stabbed straight into the wall, the blade somehow curved around like a whip and pierced into her forehead!
A red mark appeared between her eyebrows as a look of shock plastered her pale face. Her body seized up, then a moment later, she dropped to the floor.
The girl was very much dead…and her grandfather was enraged.
His beloved granddaughter…was dead?
"Bastard!" He leapt up from his seat in the crowd and roared out loud.
He lost control of himself in the heat of his emotions, and due to his sudden and rash actions, the guards were unable to catch him before he had already shot down, past the crowd, and onto the stage. He arrived before Yaan in an instant, raising his hand and forming a giant golden palm, dozens of feet in the sky.
Whoosh!
The palm rapidly descended and Yaan felt an extreme sense of life and death crisis. The arena guards were a second too late, they wouldn't arrive in time to stop this attack! It was rare for people to dare ignore the Ghu Clan's rules, but the real problem was that the old man showed no signs of being so crazy beforehand, he simply attacked without thinking!
Yaan's expression became ferocious. He stared the old man charged forwards, as if he was ignoring the calamitous palm from above.
"Overestimating yourself, little bastard!" The old man snorted angrily.
Everyone thought that Yaan was done for. Even if there was something strange about his cultivation, an Innate Qi Realm cultivator couldn't hope to survive an attack from a Qi Temple Realm cultivator, even if they were a recently ascended one…right?
At the last second, when the palm was just fifteen feet above him and the old man was still twenty feet away, a shockwave exploded out from Yaan's body. Everyone felt bewildered when they saw the grey shield which seemed to be formed by a typhoon of water…
What the hell kind of spell was this? It clearly didn't even contain any Innate Qi, so how did it exist?!
Only one person saw through the truth. A Ghu Clan elder watched Yaan from afar. He knew that Ghu Nadda had assigned a clan guest, and that supposedly, this guest of his harboured serious potential.
"A typhoon of blades! This sword art is wide spread amongst sword focused cultivators at the Qi Temple Realm, but to use it like this…there is no Innate Qi strengthening the art, but it is imbued with the essence of the sword and the six directional blade…"
The elder's eyes shone as he stared forwards intently.
The wind and water was just an illusion. Well, the air was certainly moving, but only because a single sword had become this typhoon, creating such an incredible illusion that it looked real to almost everyone present!
The old man who attacked Yaan paled slightly, but he quickly recovered, before roaring out loud and throwing out a chain of beads. However, his expression paled even further when each of the beads was sliced in half, one after the other.
Whoosh!
As rapidly as it came, the typhoon vanished. Unknowingly, the old man had been cut across all of his major tendons. He dropped to the floor and looked up in terror, only to see a disguised figure in a silk red robe staring down at him.
Yaan did not hesitate, he would not give this person the time to recover. He stabbed down with his sword, penetrating the old man's brain, then proceeded to mercilessly slice downwards, through his body, and into his dantian.
Like this, he had no chance of surviving, no matter what strange methods he may possess.
Yaan was breathing heavily. Although it might seem as if he dominated that fight, he needed to exert his full strength to destroy that chain of beads. Each destruction created a rebound force that tore through his body, ripping apart his tempered flesh.
He was covered in injuries and quickly swallowed a Rank 3 Vital Recovery Pill before sitting down, not caring about the crowd around him. Just one of these pills was actually extremely effective for him. Five minutes later, the worst of the injuries were already healed over.
Yaan slowly turned his head and cautiously stood up. Strangely, the crowd had completely dispersed, but…he was not alone.
An old man watched Yaan as he picked himself up from the floor, causing Yaan to feel extremely cautious.
Who was this person, what did he want?
With Yaan's experience, he immediately saw that the old man was actually a Demon Core Realm powerhouse!
"No need to worry young friend, I am Ghu Nadda's teacher and great grandfather. I just wanted to see what sort of person drew the interest of that lonesome child, but I think I understand now. Hmm…take this immediately after ascending to the 3-Star Realm, it should help a bit." With that, the old man flicked his hand. A red arc shot out at an untraceable speed, and before he could grasp what was going on, Yaan found that he was now holding a blood-red pill in the palm of his hand.
His eyes widened as the pill's bloody aura assaulted his body. He quickly hid the pill in his pocket, then, after realising that the old man had left, he made his way to the exit.
He realised that the Ghu Clan elder could have interfered at any time, saving him from the old man, but he chose to sit back and watch. Basically, this strange pill was his compensation.
Yaan rested for five days as he reflected on the unexpected fight against the Qi Temple Realm old man. Honestly, he felt shocked that he was capable of such power!
He had…defeated a Qi Temple Realm elder!
He had felt a severe threat to his life in that moment…after recalling that feeling, he realised that this was the catalyst which allowed him to fully form the Cutting Typhoon Art. He was still far from mastering this art, but he had at least attained a level of comprehension where, with some practice, he should be able to reliably produce that typhoon again at will.
After spending three days doing just this, he was visited by Ghu Nadda who brought good news.
"I got what you asked for, the 3rd and 4th stages of the Flowing River Blade Art..."
"Thanks Nadda…really, I wouldn't have improved so quickly without your help." Yaan replied honestly and smiled. It had probably been a few years since he last smiled like this...
Ghu Nadda paused for a second…he was surprised to see Yaan smiling.
Usually, Yaan carried with him a lonely, solemn aura, the aura of someone who had experienced too much loss, and didn't know what else to do but to continue walking forwards.
For a long time, Yaan really had felt like this, and really, he still felt this way, even now. However, despite the dangers, the suffering and everything else that he had endured these past years, he actually felt that his current life was quite peaceful.
He wasn't obsessing over revenge, or hate, or his past mistakes and regrets. He was simply trying to walk forwards, one step at a time. There were many things that he didn't understand about this world, and even more he didn't understand about himself, but…he felt that so long as he continued to move forwards, then he was at least living. During his hate-filled life back at the Heavenly Path Sect, he wasn't truly living, he was just clinging onto the past, being driven insane by resentment and confusion.
He had plenty of good reasons for leaving the heavenly Path Sect, but part of Yaan knew that his main reason for leaving, was because he couldn't stand to face that place and those people any longer.
But so what?
Right now, he preferred this city where nobody knew him, where people didn't ask questions about his past. Sure, cultivation was arduous, and for a demon it was outright dangerous and painful. But even so…this suffering was nothing compared to the soul-crushing turmoil which had enveloped every fibre of his being whilst he was pursuing revenge in the Heavenly Path Sect.
He didn't know how long this would last, but for now, Yaan enjoyed this sort of 'peace'. Even when that peace was actually filled with pain, blood and violence, his heart at least, felt peace for the first time since his family's demise.
It was lonely…it was extremely lonely…but at least it was better than before.
Over the following month, Yaan continued to participate in the Bloody Arena. He accepted any challenges from Innate Qi Realm cultivators. Even if they wanted to fight as a group, he accepted the challenge without needing to think about it. After all, he had even defeated a Qi Temple Realm cultivator, he no longer feared those at the Innate Qi Realm.
Yaan also allowed 1st Layer Qi Temple Realm cultivators to challenge him, but he reviewed each and every challenge, before declining all of them in the end. Every one of those cultivators seemed to have some sort of grudge against him, or they just wanted him dead, for whatever reason.
All of these people were old monsters with decades of experience, and naturally, he wasn't stupid enough to accept such high risk, seemingly personal battles.
He was only fighting as part of his training after all. Some degree of risk was acceptable, but he wouldn't fight in a match where his death was almost guaranteed.
Although he had killed a cultivator at the Qi Temple Realm, that person had only recently reached the 1st Layer. Plus, that old man was blinded by rage, he attacked without even bothering to defend himself. He had severely underestimated his opponent.
Against a normal 1st Layer Qi Temple Realm cultivator, Yaan believed that he would be more likely to lose than to win.
And so, with Nadda's assistance, he announced that he would only accept the challenge if they had reached the 1st Layer within the last five years. He also added another condition – they could only bring two spiritual treasures into the battle, and they were not allowed to use medicines.
There were no takers after a few days, so Ghu Nadda added some incentive. He announced that if anyone defeated the mysterious red-robed child in battle, they would be awarded with ten Rank 4 recovery pills!
This promise from a Ghu Clan representative set off a shockwave amongst the weaker cultivators in the city. The youngsters viewed the unknown boy with reverence and awe, whilst the 1st Layer Qi Temple Realm cultivators who met the qualifications to challenge Yaan, were now unable to suppress their greed.
An average recently ascended Qi Temple Realm elder wouldn't even possess a single Rank 4 recovery pill worth of disposable wealth. A Rank 4 recovery pill was definitely more than they could afford, perhaps even after selling everything they owned. And now, they had been presented with the chance to earn ten times this amount in a single match against a junior at the Innate Qi Realm!
Yaan had now fought in many battles in the Bloody Arena, stacking up an impressive record.
Even so…even though he had defeated a group of nine Innate Qi Realm warriors…even though he had already killed a 1st Layer Qi Temple Realm elder…the other Qi Temple Realm cultivators still didn't take him as a serious threat.
Before, they simply saw no need to challenge Yaan, unless they had a personal vendetta against him. Now though, with the Ghu Clan offering this incentive, everything had changed.
Just one day after the announcement, 14 eligible candidates immediately issued challenges. Yaan scanned through the list of information regarding these competitors, as provided by the Ghu Clan. Before long, he had chosen his first opponent.
Naturally, he started with the weakest.
"Shin Jinni…" Yaan muttered. As he examined the Ghu Clan's information on this person, his lips curled upwards into a smile.
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