A shout drew Long Di’s attention, and he turned his gaze to the front where a young expert charged at him encased in energy that took on the form of a rampaging golden lion!

“Now let’s see if I can do this without killing anybody.”

****

“So is that him Qin Ling?” Wei Yun asked.

Qin Ling stared at the stage in cold indifference before she responded. “Yes… it’s him. Did you prepare for his arrival?”

Wei Yun’s brows furrowed in confusion, as it was startlingly similar to what Long Di said to her. “In what way?”

The Divine Daughter’s gaze shifted slightly to another location in the arena. “It’s fine.”

“Divine Daughter, what do you think of my Golden Lion Gate?” A youth, the same one who stared maliciously at Long Di, asked with a smile.

He was quite dashing all things considered. He wore expensive-looking robes and his facial features were refined.

His hair was styled in such a way that it set him off as the wealthy child of a noble family. This was Xiong Weizhe, the most talented genius of Golden Lion Gate.

When Wei Yun had just arrived, he was obsequious in his mannerisms in a bid to show her his best side.

Unfortunately, due to Wei Yun’s beauty, status as one of the Five Nobles, and being from one of the ten great sects, this was something she was extremely used to. Because of this, Xiong Weizhe’s mannerism towards her was more tiring and annoying than anything else.

It was made worse when he finally saw Qin Ling. When he saw the Divine Daughter, he was sure that no woman should be allowed to be this beautiful.

Most of her hair was jet black, and it fell freely to her lower back. However, about one-eighth of her hair was clear ice-like in appearance while still flowing like hair. There was also a faint tinkling sound that rang out as the strands brushed across each other.

In addition, her eyes glowed blue and there was an ever-present chill that accompanied her.

Even the chair she sat on was covered in frost and this was with her, trying her best to restrain the ice power in her body.

It was also this ice power that set her apart from most women. Her cold demeanour and quiet arrogance were akin to a queen far above everyone else.

Every man wanted to dominate such a woman. Xiong Weizhe was no exception.

Qin Ling, however, paid him no mind and he, for the most part, took it with grace. But when he saw that there was someone else who both Wei Yun and Qin Ling paid attention to, his expression changed. This was made even worse when he found out that the next person was a man.

Following their line of sight, he found Long Di and immediately made plans to take care of him.

He saw when Long Di looked up to their location and his ire grew to unassailable heights before Long Di locked sights on him. At that moment, his anger threatened to break through once again.

Myriad thoughts swam in his head and when a path was decided, he smiled at Long Di before the latter switched his gaze to the foe before him.

“It was your own fault for being born,” Xiong Weizhe said in a whisper to himself.

Qin Ling’s eyes subtly slid in his direction before they returned to the stages below.

…

Long Di watched as his opponent charged at him with the shadow of a golden lion covering him.

His cauldrons blazed and whirled behind him as he ran them at full force!

In an instant, he was upon Long Di, and a satisfied grin lit up his face.

Well, that was for a second because, in the next instant, something unclear lit up before his scenery changed.

‘Huh? Wasn’t I just in the ring fighting a boy that I could swear was like part dead fish? Why am I swirling in the sky like a turd in the wind?’ was the last thought going through the expert’s head before it went dark.

“Gasps!”

A great deal of the audience shifted their gaze at that same instant and saw a staggering scene.

At the far end of the main arena wall was the body of a cultivator. His body was embedded within and cracks spread out with him as the centre.

“Hey what happened there?” Someone asked.

“I-I don’t know. I didn’t see,” another responded.

Because of the setup of the matches, it wasn’t easy to see who was fighting who in ordinary circumstances. Ordinary meaning that the person fighting wasn’t someone of note.

Because of spatial manipulation, a thousand stages of incredible sizes can be fit in a place that would normally be able to fit one of such stages.

However, because of the number of stages, not everyone would be able to receive the same amount of attention.

The only ones who received any attention were the Five Nobles and the present Heroes, even though their fights were over in an instant.

“I saw it. It was the one who defeated Zhanshi Yong!” commented one person who happened to pass his gaze over Long Di’s match.

“Really!?”

“Hmph! It seems he has some skill!”

“I can fit my whole fist in my mouth!”

Many people were discussing the different matches they were able to see. The Sun siblings, Shen Ling, Mina and Xiannu Liang were all happy when they saw that Long Di was able to win without too much trouble.

“Aaaah!”

A scream in the crowd ripped everyone’s attention away, and they looked to see a girl who was horrified as she stared at the stage.

Everyone looked on the stage, and their expressions became that of horror as well.

Long Di’s figure instantly disappeared from the stage and reappeared in the combatants' room.

His opponent was also present as well, albeit unconscious and in the corner.

He saw the likes of Heavenly Sun Noble, Violet Flame Noble, and even Mad Sword Haoran all there ahead of him.

“Firecracker,” Long Di greeted Violet Flame Noble, causing the others to look at him strangely.

Long Di didn’t let them rest on it though and commented. “You all finished your fights pretty fast.”

Heavenly Sun Noble smiled before she responded. “Well… most of us didn’t fight.”

Long Di cocked his head to the side at her statement. “Context please.”

She acquiesced and began to explain. “Many people don’t wish to fight any of the Five Nobles. They don’t consider their chances very high and instead yield the win to us.”

“I call hacks.” Long Di declared.

“Well, as the matches continue, we’ll eventually run into those who wish to test their mettle against us!” barked Black Fortress Guo Da.

Shu!

Another person appeared in the room after their match was over.

Apart from Long Di, everyone here was confused. “Someone has ended their match alrea-”

A jarring sight cut off what was going to be said. In front of everyone was a corpse.

“What the-”

Though everyone knew that death was possible, they didn’t expect to see one here and so early in the matches, either.

It was made even more unlikely when one was able to exit the matches of their own volition by injecting their thoughts into their tablets. That or be unconscious for a certain period of time.

Nevertheless, accidents were to be expected, which everyone understood. Yet, this death was… disturbing to say the least.

However, it was not the presence of a dead body that made them so uneasy. Cultivators on their level didn’t get this far by being kind-hearted to their enemies.

The path of the dao was not a clean one and blood regularly moistened the earth that made it up. They understood this, Long Di more than understood this.

So death moved them little. Their hearts were calloused to this, death that is. So no, it was not the death that moved them so. It was the state of the deceased that rattled them.

In their midst was a corpse with an expression of terror marring its face, frozen in time by the stiffness of death.

The body was emaciated beyond any logical sense. The skin was like dried leather and whatever wound there was bled no blood for them to see. The hair was absent any lustre or anything else that marked this person as a recently vibrant youth.

Someone or something not only killed this person, but sucked whatever vitality they had in them while they were at it.

Shu…

A sudden movement caught Long Di’s eyes, and he turned his head to see shuffled movement from the shadows.