by Tinalynge
This was his trump card and also the reason why he still held the upper hand.
Xue Wei could use his superior speed to evade all damage altogether. On the other hand, getting hit just once would seriously injure him.
Still, he fought as if he did not really care for any injuries he might sustain. He fought as if all that mattered to him was killing the opponent regardless of the loss.
He was like a rabid dog, fighting back with everything he had. Suddenly, at some point, Xue Wei was like a blur in the air and headed straight for the criminal.
The audience could not see Xue Wei’s actual figure, and even the figures of his copies. All they could see were black blurs flashing by, and on the other side was the criminal with his clumsy movements as he tried to avoid the attacks.
Xue Wei suddenly came to a standstill, which allowed the audience to see that he had not come out of it completely unscathed. His body had wounds all over, and his clothes had become disheveled.
But his wounds were nothing compared to the wounds that the criminal had been inflicted with.
He had multiple cuts all over his body, and many of them were very deep. Blood dripped from all the wounds, dying the clothes of the criminal almost black.
Standing and staring from across each other, the criminal and Xue Wei were filled with hatred, but the criminal was also feeling fearful.
Xue Wei was like a beast, completely filled with hatred and no reasoning.
"Let us end this," Xue Wei growled as he rushed forward again, and the sword in his hands was like a snake of lightning that swept down from the clear sky.
While he was attacking, the criminal also seemed to gather all his focus and Qi in a last-ditch attempt at killing Xue Wei.
The Qi shrouded the criminal like a thick, protective layer that tried to block the sword that was descending upon him. At the same time, he punched out his fist.
The palm connected with Xue Wei's abdomen just as the sword sliced through the protective layer of Qi and lacerated the body of the criminal. The Qi sword dissipated into his body and traveled through his meridians, destroying them from the sudden influx of chaotic energy.
As the meridians ruptured due to the invading Qi, the criminal felt agony so deep he couldn’t describe it with words.
Blood started oozing from his nose, ears, and eyes. He stumbled forward and opened his mouth, only to have blood bubble out. He shrieked in pain before collapsing on the stage.
Xue Wei had been thrown backward by the fist that had connected with his abdomen, and he too had thrown up a bit of blood. He pressed his hand against his side, feeling as if his organs had been shifted out of place.
His face was pale, and he felt as if his entire body had been ripped apart from the hit.
Xue Wei had been fully focused on attacking, so although his body was sturdier than any other first layer Earth Warrior, it was not enough to bridge the gap between the first and third layer.
Xue Wei had used almost all of his Qi in the wanton attacks he had rained down on the criminal in an attempt to break through his defenses and wound him for good.
It was in a desperate moment he had disregarded all his defenses to ensure that his final attack would land, and when it did, he too had taken serious damage.
Now, his final Qi was made into a sharp sword once more, and Xue Wei went towards the criminal slowly.
The criminal was not unconscious, but he was riddled with wounds, one more serious than the other, and it was impossible for him to move.
Xue Wei dug the sword into the criminal's hand and twisted it. "So you are going to teach me instead of my parents?" Xue Wei sneered.
He lifted his sword, watching the blood well up from within the wound, and then chopped down, cleanly chopping off the criminal’s legs with a cold expression on his face.
After that, he severed the criminal’s arms and looked on as the criminal slowly bled to death.
While watching the criminal bleed out, he said nothing. He just stood there, observing him.
The wind picked up and Xue Wei looked into the sky, after which he sighed. He shook his head. Instead of sitting down and waiting for another battle to begin, he left the formation and the arena, walking back to his tent where he sat down and started thinking back on the fights he had had.
At first he had released his killing intent and allowed for the wildness within him to shine through because he thought it would make his fighting skills better than they were when he was cool-headed, but he realized now that it was not the case.
"I am way more emotional when the killing intent has free reign," he mumbled to himself. "It affects my fighting style, and although it allows me to explode forth with more power than usual, I completely forget about regulating my energy consumption, which makes me last for a shorter time."
"If I were to fight a battle with a cool head, I am able to properly make use of my Qi, but I am also unable to display the same ferocity and the same amount of strength."
"I guess each battle is different, and depending on the battle I am fighting, I will have to determine if it is feasible to release the killing intent."
"Although I could overwhelm the third layer criminal with my killing intent and make me gain the upper hand, I fear that if I had faced him without it, I would have long since been defeated."
"The third layer expert is my limit. I will be able to fight someone at the third layer, but if they are a genius at the third layer, then all I can do is rely on my overwhelming strength and Forbidden Rush Movement technique to flee."
Xue Wei nodded his head and started cultivating. He had reached a deeper understanding of the different skills he commanded, and of himself, and now was the best time to gain enlightenment.
While Xue Wei was busy cultivating, the rest of the camp was filled with a bustling atmosphere, and everyone was talking about what they had seen in the battle.
"He is the Crimson Devil! No two ways about it, that man is too inhuman to be one of us!"
"Did you see his red clothes? He must wear red so that the blood of his enemies does not show when it splashes back on him."
"Did you see how he tortured the final person? I cannot believe that he is only as old as we are. I have never even killed someone before, but this lunatic already murdered a whole group of people, and they were even stronger than him!"
"Did you see his fights? They left my heart growing cold and my body shivering."
"Although he is a bloodthirsty killer, I cannot help but wonder if he will be a good comrade or not. I mean look at him going on a killing spree in the middle of a beast horde. He will make it safer for the rest of us, but what if he gets so blinded by his killing intent that he cannot distinguish foe from friend? I really don't know if it is good or not for him to join us."
The entire camp was bustling with conversations like these discussing the battles.
Those who had seen the battles retold what had happened to those who had not seen them, and many of the stories became more and more ferocious and out of hand the more they were spread.
Xue Wei was referred to as a real devil lord, and no one referred to him by name any longer – everyone now called him the Crimson Devil.
Those who had enmity with Xue Wei cleverly managed to hide this enmity, and those who wanted to reel him in for the sake of establishing a better connection between their families and Xiao Lei’s all tried to get closer to him.
The days went by slowly. Some people sent messages home to inform them about the battle between Xue Wei and the captive beasts and humans, and the Crown Prince also gained knowledge about the fights.
His lips rose into a grin, and he nodded his head when he got the message.
"It seems that trying to reel him in was a good decision. Showing friendship to him will become one of the better things I have done," he nodded his head, very pleased with himself.
Chapter 33 - Group of Geniuses
Time slowly went by in the genius camp. The geniuses spent all th
eir time training together with the captains, learning survivability and about the different Fierce Beasts and Primordial Beasts that they might encounter.
When they had spare time, they would be either at the training ground practicing their skills, challenging one another to gain better cultivation resources, or spending these resources to buy martial arts.
Some bought raw materials, but sparingly, as they wanted to save up their points for martial arts techniques.
Although the families had a few techniques that were outstanding and their younger generation had learned one or two of these skills, it was nothing compared to the allure of a Profound or a Superior martial arts technique.
Having one more ability was the same as having more versatility in battle situations, which made it easier for one to survive.
Xue Wei was different. He did not find any interest in the martial art skills because he had gotten quite a few from the Heritage Ring that his uncle had left behind for him.
As a result, he spent all his points on raw materials. He soon found that although he was ranked lowest of all in the entire group, his cultivation base was skyrocketing due to the assistance of the herbs he had purchased with the contribution points.
Although he could gain more points if he challenged someone above him, he had no urge to do so. Currently, he had plenty of points, and he got more every month. It was enough to sustain his use of herbs, and challenging the other geniuses was something he would rather avoid for a certain reason.
Xue Wei had realized that the more he fought, the harder it was to keep the sudden urge to kill at bay.
The more he fought, the more it broke out, and it was starting to change his entire view of society and other people.
Xue Wei had always been a gentle person. He wanted the best for his dear ones, and although he did not care about the others, he was not so cold-blooded as to wish that they would die.
Unfortunately, things were changing within him. When he encountered someone who was annoying him, that could be someone who was slow in the dining hall queue, or someone who bumped into him when they were walking in the city of tents, then an urge to kill them would flare up within his body. On top of that, the urge was so strong that he had to use every last iota of his willpower to extinguish it again.
He could feel the killing intent smoldering within him – it was changing him, and it was making him feel worried and a little scared of himself. Was he trustworthy?
While Xue Wei pondered this, he also knew that these feelings should be easier to control if he grew stronger, so he threw himself and all his focus into cultivating and enhancing his strength.
Xue Wei was not the only one who was giving it their all; everyone in the Genius Camp was training hard, and slowly the months went by.
After two months, Xue Wei had managed to break into the second layer of the Earth Warrior rank. After another three months, he had reached the third layer. Another three months following this and he was amongst the seven fourth layer Earth Warriors in the entire camp.
Xue Wei was still at the bottom of the rankings at his level but everyone in the entire camp considered him the strongest. When he was a one layer Earth Warrior, he had been capable of killing a third layer Earth Warrior, so how absurd was his strength now?
Ever since back then when he was a first layer Earth Warrior and fought multiple times in a row in the arena, Xue Wei had not fought against any living being. No one was silly enough to find faults or problems with him either, and he had not joined the arena again.
The summer had turned to fall; fall had turned to winter; and winter had turned to spring. Xue Wei had almost been at the camp for a full year, and during all this time he had soaked in all the knowledge related to survival on the battlefield from the captains.
He had spent many days in front of the Black Gold dummies training his martial art techniques and had managed to perfect all the abilities he had received from his Heritage Ring.
He had already perfected the Seed of Mirage, Kick of Forgotten Kings, and Mind Infestation earlier, but he had also managed to learn and perfect the Arcane Fist and even gained an understanding of the Heart of Fire.
Every time he became stronger, he would also spend time focusing on his old skills – the Forbidden Rush movement technique, the Shattering Mountain Palm, and the Azure Light Finger – and ensure that they properly scaled with his strength, optimizing the usage of said strength.
Although it had almost been a year since the fight against the criminals in the arena, Xue Wei’s title as the Crimson Devil had stuck, and sometimes people would lament about how magnificent and bloody his fighting had been.
Every time someone was in the arena, they would be compared to the Crimson Devil. If someone claimed to be the strongest, they would be reminded that the Crimson Devil existed, and they would quickly stop.
Xue Wei was aware of this fact, but he said nothing about it. He simply did not care about how the others viewed him.
During this year, Xue Wei had often gone to visit Luo Zhirou and Shen Mu. Both of them were in the ninth layer Ordinary Warrior camp, unable to break through to the Earth Warrior rank. And although Xue Wei sometimes gave them some of his medicinal plants, they still were far from their breakthrough.
In the Genius Camp, Xue Wei was a loner. He did not do anything to start a friendship with any of the other young geniuses, and the others felt he was unapproachable, making it impossible to connect with him.
Many of them had been told to try and reel him in, become friends with him, or at least make him owe them a favor so that they could use him, or his uncle, in the future.
Unfortunately, everyone who tried was met with an ice-cold look in Xue Wei's eyes and an unapproachable attitude. It was simply impossible to become friendly with him, and none of them were as thick-skinned as Shen Mu had been and clung to him no matter how grumpy he was.
"These people are not interested in me," Xue Wei sighed to himself and shook his head. "What they want is the power my uncle possesses and the potential I am showing. I do not wish to be someone else's tool, and even less do I wish to become a burden to Uncle. Although I might be a little lonely, I would rather be lonely than succumb to these fake people!"
Having reached this conclusion, Xue Wei once more focused fully on cultivating. Like this, the year eventually passed.
The summer soon arrived, and with the summer everyone gathered at the fields outside the camp. Here, the commander looked at the nine thousand geniuses that had remained alive.
One thousand and seventy-four had died during this year in the Genius Camp; they had all died from fighting in the arena. Although the majority had managed to survive the arena battles, a few had not been that lucky.
"This is the end of our recruitment camp!" the commander announced with a strong voice that spread across the entire area. "You have spent some time learning how to survive. You have learned about Primordial and Fierce Beasts! You have fought bravely in the arena battles, a place where you have also lost comrades. This was the place where you all were to build friendships, and you have now become a strong battalion."
"But this is just the beginning!" the commander spoke, and everyone was silent as they listened to his words. "You will now be placed in groups of five. The five in these groups will be brothers and sisters!! Your family, and those you can entrust with your lives!"
"In a battle, you will fight side by side with these four other people, and you will be willing to trade your life for theirs!"
"Fight as brothers, fight like sisters, fight as a family. Don't let anyone injure the dear ones around you!"
"You will be given three days of spare time. After these three days have come to an end, you are to depart the capital together with General Xiang. The Primordial Beasts never hesitate to fight us, and the beast hordes are increasing. You will be needed to fight together with last year's genius camp at the Northern Taiga!"
Xue Wei felt a sudden rush of emotions within him. He came f
rom the Northern Taiga, a small town called Lingyun town. Maybe it was even possible for him to return to his birthplace and see what it was like this day today? .
Could it help him regain his memories? Could it perhaps allow for him to feel like a complete person again? He did not know, but he had some hope.
However, now was not the time to think about it. The commander started calling out the names of the groups that were teamed together, and Xue Wei was amongst the middle of the people that were called out.
He found himself in a group of five, where two were one layer Earth Warriors, one was a two-layer Earth Warrior, and the last was a three-layer Earth Warrior.
The third layer Earth Warrior was named Tie Haolong; the second layer Earth Warrior was a woman named Song Yuyan. The two one layer Earth Warriors were named Xiao Jie and Gu Dixing.
