It was a sky-high concrete tower decorated with many supporting pillars surrounded by dragon-like statues. There were many figures whose identities were Outer Sect disciples.

These were the ones who were aware of the fact that they weren't strong enough to fight, so they chose to instead come to spectate the battles taking place.

After all, the only way to even enter the tournament was to become a Meridian Opening realm expert.

The amount wasn't much in the Outer Sect, and even though those who don't enter it in three years would be considered the less talented...

In any other sect, someone who can enter the Meridian Opening realm in merely three years would be considered to be a genius among geniuses.

Inside the Heavenly Demon Sect, many are kicked out of the sect for being unable to enter the Meridian Opening realm after six years...

Yet, inside other sects throughout the continent, they would still be labeled as geniuses!

This was simply the difference between the Heavenly Demon Sect and the other lower-level sects inside this continent that was labeled as a waste continent.

...

As the seats of the stadium slowly filled, the harder-than-steel floors of the battle arena slowly rose to ten meters higher than the normal-level ground.

A staircase led to the ten-meter-tall battle arena, and coming from it was three figures, two of which walked respectfully behind the first figure...

The first figure was a certain old man who had a bright and excited smile on his face, fully showcasing his rows of rotten teeth!

"Hello and welcome to the Inner Sect Qualification Tournament, held every three years...!

A tournament hosting the future of the Heavenly Demon Sect.

A tournament hosting geniuses with infinite potential, and unlimited possibilities!!"

The chirpy voice of the old man resounded throughout the arena as it was instantly replied to by the cheers of those present.

Even if they were spectators who couldn't get into the battle arena and didn't have a chance to enter the Inner Sect this year, they were after all about to lay their eyes on battles between powerful figures of the Meridian Opening realm.

Watching these battles would surely empower their desire to reach the Meridian Opening realm even quicker than normal.

...

Somewhere in the stands, one can see an extremely handsome figure with long white hair tied in a ponytail as he sat quietly in the back rows where there weren't many people present.

His silent, almost untraceable aura made it so that it was almost impossible for someone who wasn't seeking him out, to be able to even realize he was there.

Yet, the eyes of the old man shined even more brightly when they landed on this figure of Blade, as his wide smile grew even wider.

This action wasn't caught unnoticed by a distinct few situated at different parts of the crowd in the stands, as they also darted their gaze toward Blade's direction...

What they found, was the presence of an almost otherworldly male figure causing Blade to suddenly feel a Killing Intent that was targeting him!

'What trouble has this old man thrown to me?!' Blade thought in annoyance.

Yet, he didn't show it on his face since he had great confidence in his current strength. It was soo deep that he himself was unaware of its limit.

...

"You should give up, not many would dare look down on you since I was your opponent!"

The arrogant words coming from the lips of a tall man with a body built akin to a modern-day bodybuilder and many scars across his body, entered the ears of a much shorter male with blonde hair and a toned body that was visible through his tight-fitted clothing.

"Give up?

Facing a weakling like yourself?

Why would I do such an embarrassing task?!" The blonde-haired kid retorted with an equally arrogant smirk on his face.

Right after, his eyes turned serious while he took on a fighting stance, just in time to be able to counter the raging bull-like man approaching him.

Raging Bull!

It was the nickname of the tall man mainly because of his unrestrainable rage and his signature technique named...

"RAGING BULL FIST!"

A loud shout caused the ears of the Body Forging spectators to ring.

It originated from the tall man with the body-builder physique as Blade's eyes lit up with interest when his eyes landed on the color of the man's skin changing from a tanned brown, to a darkish red color.

For the first time did he see something like this as the tall man with brown hair sent a punch to the right side rib cage of the blonde male.

BAM!

CRUNCH!

ARGH!

As the left fist of the brown-haired man contacted the blonde-haired male's body, a loud crunching sound of the bones cracking was heard as blood escaped the lips of the blonde-hair kid!

"Javid, didn't I tell you that you should have given up, but your misplaced pride caused your downfall."

With his cold eyes gazing toward the kneeling Javid who still had blood exiting his nose, mouth, and even ears, David had a bright haughty, and evil smirk plastered on his face.

And he had all the reason to be this arrogant!

The Raging Bull Fist technique was something that brought him great confidence in his fists and knowing that he had contacted Javid's body with the full power of his fist, David thought that there wasn't a chance for his opponent to ever stand to his feet.

For him who has already reached the third level of the technique, and with the power of nine bulls, David felt that Javid had no chance of withstanding such an attack head-on...

Tsk!

A light click of the tongue escaped Javid's lips as he gazed toward David's eyes as a small smirk appeared on his face. His figure then disappeared from David's eyes in an instant, causing David's whole expression to freeze!

'Huh?'

Blade's eyes lit up brightly as the sudden realization that Javid seemingly disappeared and reappeared behind David, caused Blade's interest to be piqued even more toward this fight.

These weird sequences are seemingly very common to the people of this world as they reminded Blade of the time when Latin was able to slice his face when Latin's dagger was seeming able to bend in unnatural ways.

David, still in confusion, was unable to sense Javid who appeared behind him as he went on to send an attack with his fist toward the back of David's neck.

CRUNCH!

The strength from Javid's punch landing on the bone behind David's neck caused a loud crunching noise to resound, making one know that this bone behind David's neck was effectively destroyed!

The Occipital Bone...

The occipital bone is the thickest among the cranial bones...

Fracturing the occipital bone requires a great amount of force, when the occipital is fractured the magnitude of the force is sufficient enough to cause death...

And, the force behind Javid's punch was powerful enough to completely obliterate David's occipital bone, as Blade gazed on with interest, as David's limp body fell to the ground.

"Haha, you're arrogance always amused me... And at last, it was this arrogance that caused your downfall!" Javid muttered with a bright smile on his face.

And even though his pale skin and the blood leaking from his lips showcased his weak and close-to-death state, Javid's smile didn't disappear as he went on to exit the arena via the few steps in this arena's corner.

...

"Truly a Demonic and godforsaken Sect, even entities who seem to have previously had friendly relationships with, ruthlessly assault and kill each other, with pure maddening smirks on their faces!"

Sitting alone in the back row of the stadium stands, Blade muttered with a cold pair of eyes as his aura was as cold as an ice burg.

In the past month, Blade constantly found himself growing more shocked as this world opened his eyes to the ruthlessness of humans.

It took some time, but one can say that Blade's mentality has slowly morphed or slowly evolved into a mentality that is necessary for this dangerous plane.

The few days Blade had alone inside his cabin and with time to think about his hectic month was enough for Blade to go over his many mistakes and also plan his future steps.

He realized that even someone like Adrian wasn't to be trusted unless he could downright sift through Adrian's memories and thoughts.

Yes, that was simply how this world was...!

Tsk!

Blade clicked his tongue in annoyance as the sight of David's body shockingly being split into many chunks of meat by an unknown force reaffirmed Blade's will as his cautiousness rose a few notches.

Seeing the old man walking up to the stage with his right hand still outstretched and facing where David's whole body previously laid.

Blade realized that David's state had something to do with Frederick, who he had previously been casually speaking with some days ago.

Blade then thought...

'It seems he has reached a realm of power that has long surpassed even a Meridian Opening realm cultivator!!!'