Tainted Blood

by Tinalynge

  As Xue Wei walked past the different cages, he noticed that scantily clad young women were walking around with trays filled with snacks and drinks. These were apparently complementary, and many of the girls were subject to harassment as the men took a glass or a snack.

  Even when they were being groped all over, the women said nothing and silently endured it, causing Xue Wei to frown. He was not a knight in shining armor, nor was he willing to become the enemy of the people, but he was rather displeased with the disgrace the women faced.

  As if hearing his thoughts, a strong voice reverberated through the cave. “Where do you think you are touching?!” it said. Moments after, everyone, apart from the ones in the cages, looked towards the voice.

  Xue Wei raised an eyebrow when he recognized the woman. Her red dress and the alluring figure would be recognized anywhere, especially since Xue Wei had seen her only moments before.

  From what the conversations abounding around him told him, Xue Wei understood that her name was Li Chen and that she was known as Cloudsoar City’s succubus.

  When her eyes swept through the cave, they paused on Xue Wei for a moment. Though hesitating at first, she approached him.

  “I did not expect to see you here,” she said familiarly as if she knew him well. She smiled sweetly, and then she clung her arms around his, pressing her chest against him, which caused him to shiver involuntarily. This woman was scary!

  “Since Miss Chen can be here, why can’t I?” Xue Wei answered, unfazed on the outside, but on high alert on the inside. What was this vixen’s aim to try and act so familiar with him? The others were glaring at him as if he was an eyesore.

  “Little brother, I fear you have not been here before,” Li Chen continued, “so let big sister explain it to you.”

  “This place is where you risk your life for riches. You can become rich overnight if you challenge a Primordial Beast and win! In theory, the fights here always last until someone dies, but there is a special rule to counteract that: if someone admits defeat before the fight begins and hands over all their valuables, they can avoid battle.”

  “Thank you, Big Sister Chen, for explaining it to me,” Xue Wei said lazily while looking around. Li Chen was surprised. This man… was he made of stone?

  Then she remembered what her master, the Intelligencer, had told her earlier that day. She suddenly did not think it too strange. The Intelligencer was indeed a magnificent being that she worshipped wholeheartedly.

  Chapter 10 - Lu Yuping and Jia Lu

  Li Chen stopped clinging to Xue Wei. Previously she had looked down on him, but not anymore. She had a feeling that messing with this young man had consequences that even she could not handle.

  Xue Wei kept spectating the various battles in the cages. Everyone cheered for the one they had bet their low-grade essence stones on, but suddenly a roar came from one of the cages that made even Xue Wei flinch. This was the roar of a Primordial Beast.

  “Oh, it seems like it is quite lively tonight,” Li Chen smiled and led Xue Wei towards the cage. No one was willing to make space for them, but by using her high cultivation base, she made an impenetrable barrier appear around Xue Wei and herself. When she moved forward, no matter if people wanted to or not, they were forced aside.

  Some were grouchy about this, but when they saw that the culprit was Li Chen, they could only begrudgingly shut their mouths and try to squeeze in somewhere else.

  There were two human figures inside this cage. One was slender and tall. He seemed extremely graceful as he stood in the middle of the cage with a mocking smile on his face and disdain in his eyes. He held a thin sword in his hands, which seemed as thin as a cicada’s wing.

  Opposite him was a massive mountain-like man. He had bulging muscles all over his body and held a club in his hand. Just by looking at their weapons of choice it seemed that either the thin sword would cut through the club or it would be shattered by the sheer power of the club when swung by such a monstrous man.

  When looking at them, Xue Wei had no doubt about which one was the Primordial Beast. The inborn disdain for humans made it clear, alongside the graceful nature. This was a Primordial Beast of decent standing.

  “Want to know what race he is?” Li Chen by his side suddenly asked. Xue Wei was stumped by the question and narrowed his eyes. She worked as an information broker so it was highly likely that she knew, but it was also likely to cost him.

  “What is the price for this knowledge?” he could not help but ask. It was a lie to say that he was not interested, but it completely depended on the price.

  “I want you to challenge another fifth layer Heavenly Warrior in the cages,” she said with a smile. “I want to see how you fight.” Xue Wei had never expected this condition. He had been allured by the cage fighting. There were not many, if any, places where he could go to fight against someone as a test of his strength where no one would care about the aftermath, including murder.

  Laughing, he nodded his head. “That is a deal,” he agreed readily. Li Chen smiled. She knew who he was, and more importantly, what he was. As a result, it never crossed her mind that he might be losing against another fifth layered Heavenly Warrior.

  What she was unaware of was that he had spent the last year only cultivating. He had been in a coma for seven months and after that he had been in closed door cultivation for roughly four months until now. He had not actually fought since reaching his current rank.

  “This man is a Golden-Furred Cloud Leopard,” Li Chen said casually. “He is considered one of the best fighters in the entire city. He is an Earth Knight. It is not often that you witness him fighting, so since you are seeing it, you should treasure this opportunity.”

  “His name is Lu Yuping. He has fought many people, but so far only a handful have made him take on his true shape. Let us see how far this challenger will be able to push him.”

  Xue Wei nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. He observed the Lu Yuping figure with narrowed eyes. Most of the Primordial Beasts Xue Wei had met so far had been incapable of sensing his strength as a Sovereign Beast unless he transformed or released the strength of the Azure Dragon Spirit in his dantian. At all other times, he would look exactly like a human.

  Still, this Lu Yuping looked at Xue Wei before the battle began, his face displaying some shock and disbelief, which were quickly hidden again as he faced his opponent.

  Lu Yuping swung the sword in a full moon casually before he looked at his challenger. “Do you think you stand a chance against me? I am a true Primordial Beast—and even one that has been at the seventh layer of the Earth Knight realm for quite some time. Do you honestly think you can beat me with your newly acquired seventh layer?”

  There was pride, confidence, and even arrogance in Lu Yuping’s voice as he spoke to the human challenger, but his foe did not give in to the taunts.

  He said nothing. He lifted the club in his hand, getting ready to charge as soon as the battle commenced.

  There was no judge in these cage fights because there was nothing that was considered unfair or wrong. You could use anything at your disposal to defeat your opponent; even outside strength, such as the use of formations and pills, was allowed during the fights.

  However, the fight did not start as soon as the fighters entered the cage. That was the only rule. They both had some time to prepare, and they could engage in psychological warfare as they did. This was not only for the sake of the contestants, but also to ensure that everyone had the time to put their bids on their preferred fighter. Not to mention the entertainment value behind it.

  The broker who dealt with taking the bets finally appeared by the side of the cage. He was in charge of starting the battle when no more people went to place their bets. His appearance brought the atmosphere to a boil. The audience cheered with large smiles, all eyes glued to the two figures inside the cage.

  “Begin!” was all the broker said loudly. Not even half a second had passed before Lu Yuping shot forward like a be
am of light. He was heading straight for his opponent, his sword gleaming in the light that was cast from the light orbs illuminating the cave.

  The human was much bigger than Lu Yuping and his frame resembled a mountain. He was at least two meters tall, his body bursting with thick muscles.

  He narrowed his eyes as he watched the advancing Lu Yuping. Contrary to everyone’s expectation, he threw the club on the ground and took a horse stance.

  His fist let loose a fist attack that Xue Wei did not recognize, but it was magnificent to look at.

  Not only did it cause nine echoes to resound, but it was also covered in Qi that took the shape of a flood dragon and headed straight for Lu Yuping’s heart.

  This fist attack required Qi, but the main reason for the nine echoes was the physical strength he poured into it. It seemed that although his Qi level had just advanced to the seventh layer of the Earth Knight realm, his physical strength had exceeded that long ago.

  Xue Wei frowned slightly. How would this Lu Yuping deal with a fist attack that excelled at both brute strength and speed? With the form of a flood dragon, it quickly arrived in front to Lu Yuping and wrapped itself tightly around him, halting his advance.

  Lu Yuping did not seem too troubled, however. He quickly wielded his sword, lifted it up for a moment, and slashed it down, beheading the flood dragon of Qi with an elegant stroke and dissipating the remainder of the energy into the air.

  Lu Yuping stomped on the ground, causing cracks to appear on the floor, before he shot out at lightning speed toward his human challenger again. But the mountain-like man’s eyes were calm and collected despite witnessing how easily his flood dragon of Qi had been slaughtered.

  Picking up the club by his side, the human challenger did not waste any more time and swung it to greet Lu Yuping. The sheer power behind this swing of the club was so overwhelming that the shockwaves caused even Xue Wei’s heart to palpitate. He might have become a Heavenly Warrior, but he felt weak as a chicken when facing something like this.

  A sharp clang reverberated through the air as Lu Yuping chose to meet the club head on with his thin sword. It was hard to determine whether he expected to be able to cut through it, but he still swung his sword with all the power he could muster.

  In the end, Lu Yuping was forced back several steps, while the mountain-like challenger advanced forward, not letting up, bashing down his club on the Primordial Beast, who only barely managed to keep himself out of danger.

  His arrogant demeanor from before changed drastically to one of disbelief. This man was definitely not your average run-of-the-mill cultivator. His achievements in physical body cultivation were overwhelming; even Lu Yuping, a Primordial Beast, was having trouble fighting him.

  Lu Yuping tried everything at his disposal, but he was forced back repeatedly. The truth is that Primordial Beasts in human shape were rather crippled when fighting.

  Primordial Beasts could not train in the martial arts techniques of humans, but they had innate abilities. These innate abilities usually required the beast to be in its true shape to be used, so when fighting in their human shape, they had to depend on their superior physique.

  Lu Yuping was the same. He had thought that his strength, speed, and senses were highly above every human he could encounter, yet now the truth showed that his opponent had a level of physical strength that could suppress even his superiority in speed. As a result, he was being pushed further and further back.

  “Be proud of yourself!” Lu Yuping sneered as he started to transform. The eyes of the human challenger finally turned solemn. He pressed for an attack, but his club was suddenly stopped by a paw with very sharp set of claws. These claws made indents on the surface of the club as they gripped it, and then the club was tossed aside, causing the challenger to stumble. However, he did not let go of his weapon.

  Lu Yuping had stopped looking down on his opponent. His heart was filled with resentment for this human who had pushed him so far, but he was not going to play with the opponent. Even after having transformed, he felt an immense pressure from this mountain-like challenger. Perhaps he truly had some sort of ability that could threaten even Primordial Beasts.

  “Who is the challenger?” Xue Wei asked Li Chen by his side. Her face cracked a smile as she looked at the young man by her side. “Finally interested in him?” she asked teasingly, causing Xue Wei to roll his eyes. Although he had not known this woman for long, he felt that she held no malice towards him and she was also rather friendly.

  As to why she had changed so suddenly, he did not know, but his guess was that it had to do with the Intelligencer.

  Still, he looked expectantly at the woman, who covered her mouth with a hand as she giggled. “He is quite famous,” she said mysteriously, noticing that not only was Xue Wei listening attentively to her, but everyone within hearing distance had perked their ears and were listening in on the conversation.

  “He is a Primordial Beast Hunter named Jia Lu. He can just about count as someone who came from the center of the continent.” Xue Wei raised a brow in surprise. A Primordial Beast Hunter here? Was that not very unusual?

  Chapter 11 - Your Majesty

  “I am sure that you are confused,” Li Chen chuckled when she saw Xue Wei’s expression. “This is actually not all that uncommon,” she continued, and the younger man waited patiently for the rest of the explanation.

  “Here in Cloudsoar City and within the Chengzi Kingdom as a whole, Earth Knights are considered heavyweights. In fact, they are quite something here, able to establish a power that can dominate a whole region or city. However, back in the center of the continent where he came from, he was nothing more than the lowest ranked Primordial Beast Hunter.”

  “When he could not compete against the Primordial Beast Hunters in the center of the continent, his only other option was to seek further out where the Primordial Beasts were also weaker.”

  “In the end, he, like many other Primordial Beast Hunters, has been tempted by the black markets located in the various cities to participate in these cage battles against Primordial Beasts.”

  “No one here minds that the fighters are Primordial Beasts. In fact, they root for them during the battles, but this is also a Primordial Beast Hunter’s dream as the beasts are on their own, unable to gather support from Fierce Beasts or other Primordial Beasts.”

  “Not only this, the rules state that the winner of the match can take anything off their opponent, including their corpses. So if they manage to bring down a Primordial Beast inside one of our arenas, their earnings will not be limited to merely what was available to them in the wild; they will also receive their winnings from the cage battle.”

  “In the center of the continent, many Primordial Beast Hunters engage in cage battles against Primordial Beasts. In fact, some of the best hunters are very active in the black market society.”

  Xue Wei took a moment to digest the information. He was actually a little astonished. “Do the Primordial Beast Hunters always face Primordial Beasts or are they sometimes up against humans too?” he could not help but ask curiously.

  Li Chen looked at him praisingly.

  “Not too dumb are you?” she chuckled. “Yes, they are also put up against normal humans. In those situations, they often choose to fight and give it their all as well. Although they are the hope of humanity, many Primordial Beast Hunters have a bloody past; more than half have already experienced killing another human.”

  “I see.” Xue Wei was not shocked by this fact. In fact, he himself was rather numb to the feeling of killing by now, and since he had accepted the fact that he was a Sovereign Beast, he felt no special connection to either humans or beasts. They could carry on their little war with one another as they pleased. All he wanted was to get his revenge against the Ice Harpy and return Wang Xiaoyun to his side.

  Xue Wei had been listening to Li Chen’s explanation of the two fighters, Lu Yuping and Jia Lu, but now he returned his focus to the fight that was ongoing
in the cage.

  At the start, Jia Lu had held the upper hand because of his outstanding physical strength, but after Lu Yuping had transformed into his true form as a Golden-Furred Cloud Leopard, he had regained some of his momentum.

  Lu Yuping was from the leopard family, which naturally meant that he was extremely agile and fast. Where Jia Lu previously had been able to hold Lu Yuping down, he could no longer even touch his tail and was constantly a step too late to intercept him.

  However, moving at such rapid speeds was also taxing for Lu Yuping. Constantly pushing his senses to the limit to figure out where the club might hit next in the rather narrow space of the cage tired him out, so Lu Yuping slowly began to slow down.

  Lu Yuping was tired and started making mistakes, showing openings to Jia Lu. One of them was so big that Jia Lu started laughing as he rushed in with his club.