章節 65: Arena of Grudges - Crushing Victory
Shu He had been wandering about in the entertainment district for a couple of hours now, unsurprisingly he had splurged more points than he had ever intended to do, but at least he still kept an eye on them and pulled himself away from the more expensive shops.
"This place is wonderful… but it's also an easy way to burn a hole in your pocket" He murmured to himself as he sat peacefully sipping a cup of tea that was red in colour.
He breathed out and as he did a fine steam wafted out like he was a kettle, his face turning slightly red, but it wasn't a painful effect, it felt like he was resting in a warm bath, his fatigue melting away with every drop pouring down his throat.
'I think I've had enough of a look here today; it's starting to get late in the afternoon so I should move on… and I really shouldn't return here until I have secured enough points to waste' He planned out his next move in his head.
He rested up while watching the passerby's walk past, many of them with cheerful faces, people of all ages were here, from teens to adults and even the occasionally white-haired person, though there were no children wandering the streets.
That was a given though, the sect had an age requirement of 10 years old at minimum and the first stage of cultivation was preferred, most would be couple of years older before entering as well.
Shu He's eyes glazed over slightly as he looked through the crowd, in to the past.
'I wish I could have showed this to my parents'.
His mother and father… and his mother from his past life, all of their figures reflected in his golden eyes for a moment before disappearing.
He rubbed his eyes with his free hand, wiping away the beginning of a teardrop.
He calmed himself with another sip of tea.
'The past is the past, I need to focus on the present'.
He basked in the calm chatter of the surroundings, the sound of the wind and joyous footsteps.
"WOOOOOO" Suddenly a loud cheer boomed from a nearby place.
Shu He couldn't help but frown.
'Who's disturbing the peace?'
"YEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHH"
Another loud cheer sounded out.
Shu He took another sip to finish off his tea and stood up.
"What's that racket?" He murmured.
Part out of curiosity, and part out of annoyance of having his peace disturbed, Shu He decided to go and check out the source of the noise.
He quickened his footsteps when he kept hearing the cheering and jeers come his way, he made his way towards what he assumed was the centre of the district, as he did he noticed that there were more and more people as he went.
Eventually he came up to a crowd of people that seemed to be surrounding something, it wasn't too tightly packed, so he managed to squeeze his way through in order to get closer to the front to see what was going on.
As he did he heard a voice above all the others.
"Bitch! I'll have you begging on the floor when I'm done with you!"
Shu He could tell he wouldn't like whoever this voice belonged to already.
"Hah! You'd have a better chance asking a donkey to service you with that face!"
He couldn't help but feel like he recognised the higher pitched voice that followed.
"My face again!? My face is perfectly fine! It's your face that's ugly!"
"I wouldn't really call a cows ass fine looking..." The higher pitched voice mocked the other before laughing.
Shu He managed to pull himself to the front to take a look.
What was before his was a large stone square made of the same pure white stone that a lot of the sect's buildings were made from, split into a square tiled style of stage, there seemed to be some sort of formation running around the perimeter.
And on the stage, there were two figures; On the left was a man about 5 foot high, his face not entirely pleasant to look at with a disproportionately small nose, large lips and eyes and combed brown hair.
And on the left, a figure that Shu He was definitely familiar with.
Long black hair, ruby eyes with a smug expression resting on her face as her arms were crossed.
It was Mei Ling, the girl who had reached the door on the steps along with him and Gang Bo.
"What's this? Some sort of spat?" He asked the surroundings, hoping someone would answer.
"It's a fight" A voice answered him, but not one he was expecting.
He turned to the side of him to see a white-haired blue-eyed girl standing calmly beside him.
"Uh, Bai Lian right? Where did you come from." He hadn't seen her when he got here so he asked.
She looked at him and tilted her head "I saw you pushing through and thought I'd come over, there's no one else in the crowd I knew after all, Shu He".
"I see… What do you mean a fight? Why are they fighting? Why here?"
"Mmm me and Mei Ling were walking around exploring the place when that… fellow interrupted us and started ordering her to follow him, so the argument that followed led us here" She explained, a slightly sour expression rose on her face when she looked at the odd faced man.
"Huh? What kind of garbage brained idiot is he?!" Shu He couldn't help but exclaim, saying it out loud for everyone to hear causing everyone to look his way, including the two on the stage.
"Pffftaahhaahhahaah I agree Shu He good one!" Mei Ling began to burst her gut laughing.
The man stared at Shu He, face red as a tomato before he pointed at him, his finger shaking like mad.
"BRAT, YOU'RE NEXT AFTER HER!" He yelled; his voice cracking as he did so.
"Oh… ooops" Shu He spoke calmly before turning back to Bai Lian.
"So, who is he anyway?" He asked.
"You don't even know me?!" The man looked incredibly shocked.
"That fellow is Jin Bao, he's from the Jin clan but… he's a son of a concubine so he's not part of the direct heritage, they say he was talented and had a bright future…" She spoke calmly, avoiding eye contact with the man himself.
"Shut up! Be quiet!" Jin Bao yelled at her, causing her to turn to him yet her eyes turned blank.
"Huh? Did I just hear that right? You, a mere wastrel wants to order me, the Bai clan's direct descendant to silence myself?" A chilly wind began whipping up near Bai Lian.
A face of shock became written on Jin Bao's face realising he had overstepped his boundary.
"I-I-" He bit his tongue trying to get words out of his mouth.
"Ignore him Bai Lian, I'll deal with him" Mei Ling said as she cracked her knuckles.
Shu He couldn't help but feel Mei Ling was far more in her 'zone' now than when she was during the entrance exam.
'I guess the clothes and the fancy speech didn't match her after all' He thought.
"…Alright" Bai Lian murmured; the chill receded as if it never existed.
"You'll deal with me? You're a damned side branch piece of trash, I don't know how you got into this sect, but I'll send you back where you belong!"
Mei Ling paused for a second and her eyes narrowed, she didn't like people trashing her home the most.
"…If that's how you want it, then I'll do you a favour and remove what's making you such a donkey's ass of a person."
Everyone heard her statement, but no one really knew what she meant.
Yet.
"So, this is like a fighting ring? Like the training areas?" He asked and Bai Lian nodded.
They had been shown the training area in their induction tour, at that place were arenas that could be used for sparring and not just any sparring but full-on combat sparring with real weapons, they had a special formation inside that layered the duellists with an invisible shield, once it was broken they had lost.
Of course, the shield had a limit so there were some restrictions, but it was a great way to cultivate combat instincts.
"It is and it isn't, this is called the Arena of Grudges; There's no shields first of all".
"What? Then isn't this incredibly dangerous?"
He was surprised, there was one rule in this sect above all others.
You could not kill a fellow sect member either inside or outside the sect, those found having done so are subject to imprisonment and torture until death.
So, such an arena seemed contrary to that rule!
"Let me finish…" She said before looking at the two in the arena "No weapons are allowed inside the arena, it's hand to hand combat only; your cultivation is supressed to the second stage, so externalisation is impossible" She pointed out that neither of the two had any weapons on them.
"So, it's basically a slug fest?"
"A 'slug fest'? What's that?" She looked at him curiously.
"Ah it just means that they'll just beat each other to a pulp with their fists".
"Oh, yes that's quite accurate; There's a judge over there that will stop it if it seems to be getting dangerous, but most people will walk away with some injuries". She pointed a man laying lazily on his side near the arena, he was wearing the robes of an elder.
'Well, he doesn't inspire much confidence…'
The man yawned before tapping on the plate before him, a light lit up and a glow surrounded the arena.
"All right betting has begun, the odds are 1:5 in favour of Jin Bao, the bet is 10 points and as always you can only place a single bet, you have a minute to do so".
"Betting, seriously?" Shu He couldn't believe his eyes, do they monetise everything in this district?
"Not gonna bet?" Bai Lian asked as she held her token forward into the formation light, a '-10' showed up on it for a moment before disappearing.
"Ugh… might as well" He thought for a second before holding his token out.
"How do I choose who I'm betting on?" He realised a problem.
"Top side first for former, bottom side for latter"
Shu He placed the bottom side of his token in the formation as the '-10' appeared on his as well.
Needless to say, they both bet on Mei Ling.
He didn't know if Bai Lian had a reason to be confident about her victory, but using his sight he didn't feel that Jin Bao was much of a threat, he felt almost sure he could deal with him.
At least in the formation, outside Jin Bao was likely of the third level of cultivation, so he'd have an advantage of being able to use techniques.
After a minute the glow receded.
"All right the bets have been received, you two go ahead and take you places."
The two did as instructed, they stood opposite each other directly.
"I'll make sure you'll regret this by the end!" Jin Bao heckled.
"No, I'll make sure you'll be the one filled with regret" Mei Ling spoke calmly, yet her expression carried a smile that had a poisonous touch to it making Jin Bao feel a chill for a second.
"Begin" The elder casually signalled the start of the fight.
*WHOOOSH*
Without a moments notice, Mei Ling disappeared from her spot, closing the distance between the two in seconds, she ran with her torso almost parallel to the ground.
'Fast! And sharp!' Shu He was surprised to see how well she moved, even though she was still a young girl she had clearly had lots of training.
Jin Bao wasn't entirely a dullard though, he saw her approaching and backed off to gain some distance, but her speed was too great.
'Stupid girl, my cultivation may be supressed, but my body is stronger than yours!' He threw a straight punch right at her face just as she was about to reach him, it was a mere millemeter away from impacting square on her skin yet-
*Swish* She span her torso, twisting her face causing the fist to barely graze her skin.
"?!" A expression of panic lit up on Jin Bao's face, she had slipped past his fist and was now inside of his defences, he tried to pull back and distance himself once more, but she grabbed the collar of his robe with both hands and-
*BANG*
She used her legs to launch herself up, her knee smashing straight into his chin and sending him flying upwards.
But she wasn't done, she vaulted on his body in mid-air and then span downwards.
*CRASH*
She delivered a powerful double axe kick to his face.
"Uagh?!" Jin Bao crashed back on to the stone ground, his nose spouting blood clearly broken.
Mei Ling flipped and landed calmly, flicking her long hair with her hand.
The entire link of movements barely took place over a couple of seconds, yet everyone here was capable of seeing it.
"UWAAAAAA!!!"
"Amazing girl!!!"
"That was great!!!"
"You showed that bastard!!"
The crowd cheered gleefully, at least the ones that bet on her.
"Get up you useless trash!"
"You're pathetic how could you let that happen!"
The other side heckled at Jin Bao, but they weren't as loud.
"U-u-uuugh" Jin Bao was still conscious, but the blow to his chin and head had left him disoriented.
*Step* *Step* *Step*
Mei Ling slowly walked up to his pitiful body and looked down on him.
"Y-y-uuuu" He let out a pitiful moan.
"I said I'd make you regret it didn't i?" She lifted her foot.
Many in the crowd were confused at what she was doing, but the few that did realised began to look on in abject horror.
Her foot slammed down.
*CRUSH*
An almost popping sound echoed in the arena, the faces of many men turned white as they watched.
The area her foot had slammed down on… was Jin Bao's crotch.
An almost inhumane squealing sound left his mouth as he fainted.
The elder watched with a wide-open mouth before he finally spoke "I guess that match is over"
Shu He stood with his legs hiding his family jewels securely between them.
"Holy fucking heavens!" His mind so scared he spoke a phrase he had never heard of.
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ShiroN3K0 Ouch.
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