~~~

Hundreds if not thousands of faces stare at Liu Jin from all sides of the arena. It is as if everyone in Cloudburst City has come to watch, civilians and soldiers alike. The civilians are all packed in the lower rows, while the soldiers are higher up, and the officers higher still.

“Last time, we were insulted,” Murong Bang tells the crowd from his box seat. The rest of the delegation is sitting behind him. “Our entertainment was called meaningless. Our show was deemed worthless by the one who stands before you!”

The crowd takes that as their cue to boo and throw trash at Liu Jin. A few have very good aim, but Liu Jin’s aura blasts the foul-smelling projectiles away.

“Enough, you worthless dogs! Enough!” Murong Bang yells. He takes a swing from a bottle of wine, emptying it completely before smashing it against the railing. “You know what? He was right!”

That boos and rotten tomatoes halt. The crowd looks at each other and murmurs in confusion. Liu Jin even senses some fear brewing.

“What point is there in watching two kittens claw at each other?” Murong Bang spits to the side. “None! Today, I give you something better. Today, I give you a tiger!”

Murong Bang gestures at Liu Jin with a sweep of his arm.

“This one is not just strong,” Murong Bang continues. “There is meaning in his struggle. He has come to me to warn me of great danger. He is here because those Beyond the Dead Plains lurk beneath our feet.”

Liu Jin’s eyes go wide. He sees a ripple go across the delegation and the high-ranking officers present. Nobody expected Murong Bang to talk of those beyond the Dead Plains in front of so many civilians.

“Surprised? Confused?” Murong Bang asks, clearly enjoying the moment. “It’s natural. What do dogs know of geography? You have heard horror stories about the Dead Plains, no doubt. All children hear them at some point. However, the real terror lies on the other side. Even the Black Dragon spoke of those on the other side of the Dead Plains with caution.”

A hush falls over the crowd. There are no gasps. No whispers. No laughter. It is as if all the seats were suddenly empty. The mere mention of the Black Dragon by Murong Bang is so strong that it robs everyone present of the ability to speak, lest the Black Dragon hear and come for them.

“This one is here because he wants my help against those forces,” Murong Bang says. “He knows if they act, damnation is close at hand. Is that not admirable of him? He is not from this country, yet he seeks to save us by having us put a stop to all our many petty grudges. Gallant, is he not?”

Murong Bang claps his hands sarcastically.

“Still, no matter how foolish, this boy stood up to me. That takes more stones than the rest of you have combined. That’s valuable. There is meaning in him being here today. There is meaning in watching his struggle. Today, he will fight two rounds. If he fails, I will deny him completely. I will focus all my strength on attacking the lands of that fool Dan and watch him crumble under the weight of the Death Fashioning Scripture.”

He says their name without fear, though perhaps they are long past the point where that’s of any concern. What matters is that Murong Bang fully intends to sabotage the entire Storm Dragon Empire if Liu Jin does not win. If General Dan falls, Murong Bang’s lands will follow, and Murong Bang is not foolish enough to ignore that. He might win. He might not. His land and people will be ravaged regardless.

And yet, the crowd cheers, perhaps too foolish to comprehend the magnitude of Murong Bang’s declaration.

“Open the gates!” Murong Bang shouts.

Gears turn as the rusted gates around the arena are raised up, unleashing Liu Jin’s foes.

They are neither beggars nor soldiers but beasts the size of horses. They walk on four legs and are covered in orange fur and black stripes. Their claws are sharp, and smoke comes from their mouths. Liu Jin has little trouble recognizing what they are. Old Jiang educated him on all manner of Spirit Beasts.

Thunder Smoke Tigers.

Ten of them in total.

“Tigers for a tiger!” Murong Bang roars as electricity crackles around the tigers’ bodies. The crowd goes wild. “Let’s see which one prevails!”

The tigers roar and leap at him, large claws glinting under the sun and electricity coursing through their bodies.

[Art of the Roaming Thief]

In the blink of an eye, Liu Jin appears behind one of the tigers. Blue lightning coats his spear as he stabs the Spirit Beast and easily pierces its hide. Liu Jin is in the True Realm while these creatures are merely in the early levels of the Spirit Realm. The difference is enough that Liu Jin briefly considers letting them live. The only thing that stops him from doing so is the near certainty that Murong Bang would find a way to make him regret it.

As Liu Jin pulls out his spear from the tiger, he is surprised by the sight of black blood pouring from its wound.

No. Liu Jin’s eyes narrow. Not black blood.

Maggots.

The tiger howls as dozens of black maggots pour out from its wound. Liu Jin is so surprised that he almost fails to dodge when a tiger jumps at him from behind. His spear lashes out, wounding the beast.

More maggots pour out.

Liu Jin frowns as he blurs between the tigers. Each stab from his spear results in maggots spilling from their bodies. The audience screams as some of them crawl over to the seats.

He understands now.

The tigers were never his foes. In fact, Liu Jin is pretty sure the tigers are barely alive. They were infected by the maggots a long time ago, and now it is the maggots that control their bodies. The Qi he senses from them is actually the Qi of the maggots. Each tiger is infected by a colony, and each member of the colony is so similar to one another that their Qi feels like one creature.

Liu Jin roars as he cuts one of the tigers open, instantly killing the beast. Multiple maggots explode out of the Spirit Beast as though its body were a water balloon. There are thousands of them. Wiggling and squirming around.

Disgusting. Absolutely Disgusting.

Liu Jin glares at Murong Bang. The man laughs, even as the audience screams when the maggots spill over to them. There is no barrier to protect the spectators in this place. Murong Bang knew this would happen. He planned it this way.

Liu Jin blurs as he kills every single tiger. Each kill releases more maggots into the arena. There are so many of them it seems the arena has been flooded by black water. With their hosts dead, the maggots immediately turn to the nearest body that can sustain them.

Liu Jin’s lighting changes from blue to white. All the maggots that try to get close to him are instantly fried and incinerated.

It occurs to Liu Jin that is all he needs to do. The maggots cannot reach him like this, and all the people he cares about in this stadium are too strong to fall prey to these creatures. That only leaves the spectators. Some would say their death would be no big loss. Indeed, Liu Jin is not inclined to disagree.

But if he lets people die because it is convenient to him, what exactly does that make him?

Nothing good, that’s for sure.

[Ground Contraction]

Liu Jin moves.

One time. Ten times. A hundred times. Liu Jin runs in circles around the arena countless times to corral the maggots and prevent them from reaching the seats. He leaves behind a trail of dead maggots wherever he passes as the lightning coursing through his body instantly kills them. With every lap, the black is painted away, and the arena’s sand is turned into brilliant glass.

By the end of it all, Liu Jin stands alone.

There is a single moment of silence before the crowd erupts into cheers. However, all of Liu Jin’s attention is focused on Murong Bang.

“Not bad,” Murong Bang says. His Qi carries his voice to every corner of the arena. The people shiver. Feeling Murong Bang’s Qi is like having a wolf at your throat. “It is not every man that resists being eaten by maggots. Curious thing, isn’t it? Any man is stronger than a maggot, yet so many are eaten by them. It should be unnatural, but it isn’t. The weak work their vile ways and feast on the strong so wearily often.”

Murong Bang stands up.

“You have wasted your energy. You paid too much care to the maggots around you and let yourself be weakened,” Murong Bang tells him. “Do you think you are in any condition to fight what comes next?”

Liu Jin takes a deep breath. Murong Bang is not wrong, holding the white lightning for such a long time is not exactly energy efficient. However, that does not matter.

“I must, so I will,” Liu Jin replies.

“And if I were to jump into the ring right now and declare myself your opponent?”

“I would fight you, and I would die,” Liu Jin replies.

Murong Bang rubs chin. “You do not sound afraid, brat.”

“I do not believe you will do that,” Liu Jin explains. “That would defeat the point. Whether I conserved my energy or not during the previous fight would have no bearing if you were to be my next opponent. I would lose regardless.”

“You have stones to talk to me like that. I could jump down right now just to spite you,” Murong Bang tells him. His lips pull back in a grin that’s all teeth. “In fact….”

Murong Bang’s Qi rises.

The arena trembles. The people faint one after another, and the buildings quake without end. The whole city shakes. Even the sky seems to darken, as though Murong Bang’s power were blotting out the sun.

It feels like the entire city is on the verge of breaking just because Murong Bang is flaring his aura.

“Ah, there it is,” Murong Bang says as Liu Jin struggles to remain standing.“I knew the look on your face would be worth it. Are you feeling confident now? Do you feel hope?”

Liu Jin says nothing. He merely sees the inevitable and readies himself as best as he can.

Murong Bang nods approvingly.

“Good.”

Murong Bang’s aura fades. The skies clear. The tremors stop. Liu Jin can suddenly breathe again and realizes he had stopped at some point.

“Maybe one day you’ll be worth killing with my own hands, but today’s not that day. Release the next beast,” Murong Bang shouts, raising a glass at the dumbfounded Liu Jin. “I had been planning to send this one to Dan’s lands so it could wreak some havoc, but this seemed like a good occasion. Be grateful.”

The arena starts shaking again.

It is not Murong Bang’s Qi that’s doing it this time. This phenomenon is caused by purely physical force.

Something is moving under his feet.

Liu Jin barely jumps back in time as the glass breaks and something gigantic surges from under the ground. The creature that comes out is undeniably lizard-like and big enough to swallow Liu Jin whole. It stands on four legs and has a long whip-like tail. Its head is brown and flat, with two big yellow eyes and barbs growing from its sides. The rest of its body is covered in incandescent blue scales.

It reeks of poison.

The Spirit Beast hisses, and a cloud of poison gas comes out of its mouth. As Liu Jin moves to avoid it, the creature’s name comes to his mind.

Blue Plague King.

[Ground Contraction]

Swiftly closing in, Liu Jin thrusts a lightning spear into the Blue Plague King’s side, but it is not strong enough to pierce its hide. The creature glares at Liu Jin and swipes at him with its long tail.

Liu Jin frowns as he dodges. The Blue Plague King is emanating thick purple miasma through its skin. If it is left unchecked, its poison will spread throughout the entire arena, which will…

A scream rises from the crowd as one of the spectators falls dead, confirming Liu Jin’s suspicions. The Plague King will kill most of the spectators just by existing if nothing is done. Liu Jin quickly spreads his lightning around to consume the poison before it reaches the audience but that is only a temporary solution. The Plague King is simply producing too much poison.

This should not be possible for a normal Plague King unless…

“Quite simple, is it not?” Old Jiang asks as he holds up a small red scarab for Liu Jin to see. “It looks exactly the same as a normal Poison Scarab, but its lethality is on a completely different level.”

Liu Jin looks at the scarab warily. Just as his master said, it does not look any different from a normal Poison Scarab.

However, that scarab is the result of a vicious struggle that lasted five weeks.

His master placed more than a hundred scarabs inside a jar and sealed it. Lacking any food, the poisonous scarabs had no choice but to turn on each other for substance. They preyed on their poisonous bodies and absorbed each other until a single one remained.

His master called it a Poison Jar Ritual.

“I do not understand, master,” Liu Jin says. “Why would someone go through the trouble of making something like that?”

“To make something lethal, of course,” Old Jiang explains to him, amused. “We used scarabs this time, but any sort of animal and even different types of animals can be used. You can even use humans.”

Liu Jin makes a disgusted expression. Old Jiang laughs.

“Ho, it seems it is too soon to talk to you of such things,” Old Jiang says, stroking his long beard. “For now, it is enough for you to know that is possible. That way, you will not be surprised if you encounter this art.”

A Poison Jar Survivor. This Blue Plague King is a Poison Jar survivor.

Liu Jin cannot stop the surprised look on his face nor the way his gaze instinctively seeks out Murong Bang, who looks back at him with knowing eyes. How could a man like Murong Bang know how to do something like this?

No, the answer to that is obvious enough.

The Blue Plague King speeds toward Liu Jin, opening its mouth to swallow him

Liu Jin jumps in.

For a moment, there is a stunned silence. Three seconds pass after the Spirit Beast gulps him down. Its eyes move around, trying to pick its next prey.

It never gets the chance to.

In the first second, Liu Jin’s Poison Qi spreads throughout its body, immediately overwhelming its defenses. In the second, Liu Jin locates all its poison glands and destroys them, stopping it from producing any more poison. In the third, its vital organs are destroyed.

The Plague King falls over dead.

The audience looks around confused before they start screaming when Liu Jin cuts his way out through the beast’s belly.

Murong Bang laughs and claps.

“Wasn’t he good?” He asks the crowd. “Hasn’t he proven himself?”

The crowd, the ones who haven’t died, fainted, or ran away, clap and cheer with Murong Bang. It is as if they do not care how close they came to dying. Perhaps they are used to it.

“Yes, he has done well,” Murong Bang says, “and in recognition of his valor, I will give him what he desires. I will let that fool Dan fight in peace!”

Liu Jin hears the words but doesn’t believe them. Can it really be so simple? Just kill a few creatures, and that’s it?

No, that doesn’t sound right.

“In fact, to help him fight the Death Fashioning Scripture, I will go a step further,” Murong Bang says. “Clap for him! Clap for the newest Hundred-Man Commander of our army!”

Liu Jin blinks.

What?

~~~