Chapter 5

Guan Tian Tower is the most prestigious tower in Tai Zhou City, standing seven stories tall. It belongs to the Si Fang Association and is named after the top floor used for divination and observing celestial phenomena. With vermilion beams, painted pillars, green tiles, and flying eaves, its structure is ingenious and majestic, with the Si Fang Association’s grounds right behind it.

On the third floor, a viewing platform faces the arena direction. Standing on the platform, one can have an unobstructed view of the scenery below the tower.

Jiang Ming Yue’s gaze swept lightly over the surging crowd below. His deep black eyes showed no ripples in response to the dense, eager or greedy gazes falling on him.

“Young Master Ming Yue truly deserves the title of the number one beauty. Your appearance seems to have overshadowed even this competition,” said Ye Xi Feng, also dressed in white robes, sitting beside him. With a perfectly curved smile on her lips, she gazed at the man’s perfect profile, seemingly teasing him.

“Young Mistress Ye is joking. Everyone is here for the competition. Ming Yue is merely a spectator,” the man’s voice was like the first melting of an ice river, naturally carrying a hint of coldness.

Ye Xi Feng didn’t mind and looked at him with even more interest. “Oh? Does Young Master Ming Yue not plan to participate in this competition today?”

Jiang Ming Yue’s cold eyes turned slightly, answering with another question instead: “Ming Yue has a doubt. I heard that Si Fang Association went to great lengths to obtain the Deer Skin Map, losing quite a few talented individuals. Why is it now being used as a prize for the competition?”

Sitting on the other side was an elder of the Si Fang Association. Seeing the conversation turn to this point, his murky eyes looked towards the two, the wrinkles on his already wrinkled forehead deepening. He coughed lightly, wanting to interrupt the two’s conversation, but heard Ye Xi Feng laugh naturally: “That was in my mother’s generation. Now, this Deer Skin Map is of no use to me if kept in our Si Fang Association. It’s better to give it to someone who needs it.”

She raised her lips, eyes filled with mirth, half-jokingly said: “If Young Master Ming Yue wants it, I don’t mind giving it to you.”

Jiang Ming Yue turned his face slightly, his eyes like bottomless deep pools, quietly looking at the woman for a while. He lightly moved his gaze away, the corner of his mouth curling into a faint sneer: “Ming Yue appreciates Young Mistress Ye’s kindness.”

Ye Xi Feng’s smile remained unchanged as she propped her chin, staring at him unabashedly until a middle-aged woman in a gray robe walked up behind her and said in a low voice: “Young Mistress, the time has come. Can we begin?”

Ye Xi Feng waved her hand, finally sitting up straight: “Let’s begin.”

“Yes.”

The weather was already hot, and with the crowd pressing in, some people had already become impatient. Many had started cursing, yet despite this, no one was seen leaving.

A middle-aged woman in a gray robe walked onto the vast arena and used her inner force to transmit the rules of this grand competition to everyone’s ears.

“This grand competition will be conducted in two rounds. The first round will be divided into five small arenas. Each arena will have two stages of competition, with only one winner for each stage. Two winners from each small arena will advance to the second round. Weapons are allowed, but hidden weapons are prohibited. Life and death are not taken into account…”

On the outermost tree, Shen Yao Xing was leisurely munching on an apple. When she heard “life and death are not taken into account,” she frowned: “Isn’t this Si Fang Association supposed to be on the righteous path? How come they don’t care about life and death in a mere martial arts competition?”

Meng Xin Yi, leaning against the tree trunk, looked towards her upon hearing this, seeming unable to understand her words: “Blades and swords have no eyes. Isn’t this normal? If everyone were to be mindful of life and death and hold back, wouldn’t this grand competition become a joke? Moreover, this is not just an ordinary martial arts competition. Participants should be prepared for the consequences of defeat.”

Shen Yao Xing felt very uncomfortable hearing this. She felt the apple in her hand was no longer sweet. What she disliked most was how these ancient people treated human life as worthless, as if the weak had no value for existence.

The person on the arena finished explaining the rules and left. Soon after, the ground began to shake slightly. With the arena as the center, five small arenas slowly rose from the ground, at some distance from the main arena. The small arenas were not circular, but oval with pointed ends, looking like blooming lotus flowers when viewed from above.

When they were fully raised, the scene was quite spectacular.

“I didn’t expect Si Fang Association to actually use the Lotus Platform!” Even the usually calm Meng Xin Yi was somewhat excited, gripping the tree trunk tightly at this sight.

“Lotus Platform?”

“It’s said that the Lotus Platform was created by the most famous master in the world of mechanisms. The last time it was used was thirty years ago.”

It indeed looked very high-tech. Shen Yao Xing propped her chin, holding the half-eaten apple in her hand, her gaze surveying the equally excited people in the arena. They looked exactly like people who hadn’t eaten pork in 800 years suddenly seeing a pig run in front of them, so excited they wanted to hug and kiss it.

The competitors were randomly assigned to a small arena below, divided into two waves to enter the stage. Each wave had about a dozen people. Although called small arenas, they were more than spacious enough for over ten people to stand on.

Most of the participants were women, but there were also a few men. Once on the arena, no one cared whether you were male or female, and they wouldn’t go easy on you just because you were a man.

Blood splattered on the arena, while the audience below watched with boiling blood. Even those who couldn’t bear to watch were unwilling to leave. Blood, screams, and roars mixed together, comparable to hell on earth.

Shen Yao Xing’s face was grim. She hadn’t expected the martial arts competition to be like this. This wasn’t a competition; it was clearly a killing game.

Among them, the one with the heaviest hand was a woman wearing black and red clothes with a giant axe on her back. Her face and body were already stained with blood. Her features were rugged, her arms extremely thick. Even without weapons, she could make people spit blood with just her fists and feet. She didn’t deliver fatal blows, just beat people half to death before kicking them off the arena. Those beaten, even if they didn’t die, would probably have to lie in bed for the rest of their lives.

In stark contrast was a man in black on another arena. His skin was extremely white, holding a sharp sword in his hand. His moves were clean and decisive, not dragging things out at all. His footwork was strange, every move fatal, like a ghost, not even giving his opponents any chance to beg for mercy.

His arena was the fastest to determine the winner.

The man in black stood expressionless in the center of the arena, holding his blood-dripping blade, with corpses lying at his feet. The entire arena was dyed red.

Those in the audience with weak stomachs had already vomited. Even those with strong stomachs had turned pale, especially those closest to the arena. They probably would never forget this scene that should only appear in nightmares for the rest of their lives.

“The… the third arena has determined its winner. Please, winner, move to the promotion platform.” The middle-aged woman’s voice trembled slightly, gritting her teeth to finish the announcement.

Outside the arena, Meng Xin Yi frowned slightly, looking at the man in black on the arena, and said in a deep voice: “He was the one who injured me that night.” Then she suddenly smiled bitterly: “It seems he was already showing great mercy then.”

Otherwise, she would probably already be a corpse.

Shen Yao Xing’s face was now very pale. From afar, she could already smell the scent of blood. Since she came to this world, it wasn’t that she hadn’t seen dead people, she had even seen worse deaths. She was just shocked that this person could kill so many people without changing his expression, as if he was just cutting vegetables.

Shen Yao Xing stepped on the tree trunk with one knee, covering her eyes with one hand, and took a few breaths before lowering her hand.

“Do you… want to go back to the inn first?” Meng Xin Yi looked at her with concern.

Shen Yao Xing shook her head, her hand trembling slightly as she brought the apple to her mouth and took a bite. A faint smell of blood entered her nostrils. She felt like what she was chewing wasn’t an apple, but…

“Ugh” Shen Yao Xing still couldn’t help but vomit. Fortunately, the arena was quickly cleaned. She jumped to the top of the tree, breathed some fresh air for a while, and the nauseous feeling finally subsided.

She exhaled, standing on a branch at the top of the tree, looking down at the arena, continuing to eat the apple in her hand.

Suddenly, her sharp eyes caught a familiar figure on the arena, a young man in an apricot-colored robe with a slender figure. He was seen holding a long whip, wielding it skillfully.

Isn’t this the little boy whose clothes were stripped off that night? Unexpectedly, he’s also participating in this heartless competition.

Fortunately, there were no extremely vicious people in his arena. Most were men, and perhaps because he looked too weak, no one took him seriously. No one actively attacked him, instead, he whipped quite a few people.

Compared to other arenas, this was simply a breath of fresh air. Shen Yao Xing watched with great interest. Those men seemed to have some kind of telepathy, all attacking the few women on the arena together, and in the end, they actually managed to knock those women off the arena.

“Ha” Shen Yao Xing laughed out loud. She had heard of several women making a drama before, but now it was several men making a drama. The young man in the apricot robe was wielding his whip with ease among the men, his body agile. After several rounds, only three people were left on the arena. Two men were fighting as if dancing with swords, completely ignoring him. The young man stood foolishly behind the two, seeming a bit at a loss.

Seeing the two men fight to the edge of the arena, he quickly lashed out with his whip, striking one man on the back. With a cry of surprise, that man turned his head in anger, not knowing that the person in front of him was about to sneak attack. The man hurriedly dodged and raised his foot to kick the other person off, but his ankle was grabbed, and the two fell off the arena together.

Confusedly, only the young man was left on the arena.

He stood on the arena with a dazed expression, his deer-like eyes wide open, seemingly unable to believe it himself.

Not only was he dazed, but the audience who had watched everything was also dazed.

“This… this little one won?”

“What’s going on! How is there a little kid in there!?”

“Didn’t he use some underhanded trick!? He hasn’t even grown all his teeth, how dare he stand up there!?”

…

The crowd burst into angry accusations, not knowing what they were angry about, just feeling that such a person shouldn’t be standing on the arena. But the result was as such, no matter how unfair they felt, it was useless.

Shen Yao Xing, who had watched the whole process, laughed so hard she nearly fell off the tree.

This twist was really fucking amazing.

The competition didn’t end until the afternoon, with the second round scheduled for two days later.

Shen Yao Xing glanced at the young man following closely behind her and couldn’t laugh anymore.

She turned back with a scowl: “Don’t follow me.”

The young man pursed his lips, took a deep breath, and gathered his courage to ask: “That day… was it you who saved me?”

…