Slaughter

When the Arena Master arrived in the hidden room, he simply lifted a hand and stated, "You all know that the Crimson Arena doesn't truly belong to us, and it was never meant to belong to us. If some talented lad can get this inheritance then that is his own fortune. Also, even if we tried to interfere, do you think the Crimson Arena would let you disturb its main purpose?" The other elders' faces paled at this last question. Naturally, the Crimson Arena would never let these elders interfere in its purpose. Even if they tried, the Crimson Arena would be able to disintegrate their bodies and souls without an effort. After all, this was a great demonic artifact that even Transcendence realm cultivators wouldn't be able to influence.

While this small commotion was going on in the hidden room, a new opponent had already stepped into the arena. This opponent seemed to be in his twenties, and he carried himself with great confidence. Gaofeng's new opponent was far stronger than the previous one.

Since Gaofeng had won so convincingly the arena directly sent out a cultivator at the peak of the Heaven-Ascension realm. Gaofeng was itching to test if he could similarly destroy this opponent without utilizing a true killing technique, or if this would actually be a difficult opponent. Only time would tell.

The countdown started once again, and when it was finished Gaofeng rushed forward in the same fashion as last time. He utilized Shimmer to increase his own speed and to blind and confuse his opponent, and went for the same angle of attack. The exposed back of his opponent's neck.

Contrarily to the last time, however, his opponent was able to react to his move. A dark protective barrier appeared all around Gaofeng's opponent. This barrier blocked the light from hitting his eyes, but when Gaofeng hit the barrier it cracked and was destroyed in a second. Even this short second, however, was enough for the man inside to react and to move forward away from Gaofeng's fist.

Gaofeng's outstretched arm brushed against his opponent's back as he was fleeing away from Gaofeng. Even such a minor scrape was enough to cause Gaofeng's opponent major damage, however, and he soon crashed into the ground. Because Gaofeng's fist had been imbued with Shimmer, Gaofeng's fist didn't simply sting, but his opponent's back had actually caught on fire in the brief instance he was brushed by the fiery fist.

He man desperately tried to get rid of the fire which was rapidly consuming his flesh, but in the end he had no choice but to cut off a large piece of flesh from his own back to save his life. At the moment he was able to get rid of the flame, however, Gaofeng had attacked once more.

After the initial strike, Gaofeng didn't give chase right away. He knew that he would be able to suppress his opponent and likely kill him in one more strike, but first he played his own move and the effects back in his mind repeatedly. Through this analyzation, he realized that his physical strength had likely already reached the Dao Consolidation realm.

However, mere physical strength didn't necessarily equate to fighting prowess, as he still hadn't achieved the equivalent level of body cultivation. When he used Shimmer in coordination with his body, however, he didn't need that level of body cultivation to have Dao Consolidation fighting prowess.

When Gaofeng struck his opponent for a second time, he didn't even utilize Shimmer. He only used a normal fist with no techniques to smash into his opponent's pain-riddled face. The face was smashed into pieces, akin to a watermelon dropped from a large height, and Gaofeng's opponent's vitality rapidly left his body.

At this moment, a dark shadow left the dead man's body, and the shadow manifested behind Gaofeng. It wanted to strike a killing blow with its sharp claws dripping with a poisonous green liquid, and thus completely sealed away its aura for maximum potency.

Gaofeng, however, observed the shadow's every move with his True spiritual sense, and knew exactly when the shadow would strike. The shadow looked ready to pounce, and was just about to make its move when Gaofeng actually turned around and looked directly at it. Gaofeng's look was that of vast space and blazing flames, and the shadow was frozen in place.

The shadow truly couldn't handle such force, even if Gaofeng simply used his eyes, because it was meant as a final resort which only focused on aggression while its defenses were pathetically weak. This shadow was a product of one of the techniques of his now dead opponent, and would revenge its master at all costs, but now its plans were spoiled, and it dissipated into a black powder which was spread by the breeze within the arena.

Similarly to the last time Gaofeng had killed his opponent, he utilized Bloodbath to once again absorb his dead opponent's blood. Bloodbath improved greatly as he continued absorbing the blood, and suddenly he broke through to the second level of the ability. He had been at the peak of the first level since he initially gained the ability, and now it had finally broken through. Unlike most of his other abilities, Bloodbath didn't require any comprehension at all. It only needed a massive amount of blood to sate its hunger.

Not only did Gaofeng's blood once again strengthen when Bloodbath leveled up, but his entire body was filled with a great warmth, and he felt his physical strength rapidly increasing. In the midst of this breakthrough, the red light of the arena once again appeared, and Gaofeng was doused in it. The addition of this red light seemed to accelerate his already rapidly increasing physical strength, and helped his blood be further refined.

A minor transformation of Gaofeng's body also happened, as his already long and sharp nails turned even longer, sharper and they were angled a bit more, making them actual claws. This transformation happened simultaneously to his feet and hands. His muscles were also affected by this transformation. Gaofeng's biceps, especially, grew more pronounced, and this change also greatly affected his thighs and shins, making Gaofeng have the proportions of a martial expert who had intensively trained his body for twenty years.

Gaofeng's skin also changed. It became far firmer and sturdy than before, and gained an additional tinge of red. This change made Gaofeng almost seem netherworldly, and it caused the spectators to widen their eyes in awe. Was this youth perhaps a demon or a devil who had arrived in their humble mortal world?

The mentality of the people in this valley was quite different than that of the rest of the world, as they were actually all demonic cultivators. In reality, this didn't mean much except that the methods they had for cultivation weren't necessarily traditional and could include sacrifices, blood, and generally a more ruthless mentality surrounding the martial world. However, they weren't monsters who indiscriminately killed either, at least the majority wasn't.

When a demonic cultivator underwent qi-deviation, there was a possibility that they would become devilized and turn into true devils who didn't care for human life, but such situations were extremely rare. The martial world of Atamura, however, looked down upon all demonic cultivators as the spawn of the devil, and wouldn't accept them into their forces or kingdoms.

Such discrimination caused the demonic cultivators to have to band together to survive, and this had actually created a unified Demonic Empire on the Atamura continent. The empire stretched for almost thirty percent of the entire continent, and was by far the largest and most powerful of all the empires, but if the other Empires worked together, the Demonic Empire wouldn't be able to remain standing. Although, such a war would cause disastrous losses on all sides, and thus a fragile peace was maintained. The Shangsheng family didn't care about conflicts between empires, however, and were actually rather rooting for these wars to happen.

The Shangsheng family also had branches within the Demonic Empire, and maintained a neutral stance towards all sides on the surface. If one looked beneath the surface, however, there would be many conspiracies and deep schemes which would be revealed.