Pillar of Light(doom)

Ye Xian lounged comfortably with Ye Ling'er and Sheng Qianying, enjoying the free entertainment.

"Ye Xian, I challenge you to fight me!"

A young man in green robes leaped onto the stage like an overeager tiger. His shoulder-length black hair flowed dramatically, and his eyes sparkled with confidence as he pointed at Ye Xian.

"You're not qualified," Ye Xian said without even looking up from his cozy spot between two beauties.

Lu Shi's veins nearly popped from his forehead as Ye Xian casually humiliated him in front of the audience.

Bad enough to be dismissed publicly, but his family members, clan mates, and pretty girls were all watching! This was supposed to be his moment to shine.

"Not qualified?" he repeated, voice shaking with rage. "Ye Xian, you dare look down on me?!"

Ye Xian leaned back in his chair, the perfect picture of relaxed arrogance.

"No, no. Looking down would mean I bothered to look in the first place."

"OHHHH!"

Someone in the crowd hollered. A few people actually choked on their drinks.

Lu Shi stomped onto the arena floor like an angry toddler.

"I, Lu Shi of the Lu Clan, challenge Ye Xian of the Ye Clan! Unless you're too scared?"

"You don't need to provoke me to fight."

"Then come down and fight me, Ye Xian!" he bellowed.

"What's in it for me to fight you?" Ye Xian asked casually.

"What?"

"Is your hearing bad, or is your brain just not working today?" Ye Xian said with mock concern.

Lu Shi's face turned red as a boiled lobster. He glared daggers at Ye Xian, steam practically coming out of his ears.

"If you know how to do anything besides talk nonsense, then come down and fight!" Lu Shi barked like an angry dog.

"What do you want, Ye Xian?"

"If you want to fight me, we both bet 20,000 ki stones. If you can't afford this tiny amount, then forget the fight and crawl back to wherever you came from."

"20,000!"

The arena erupted in chaos. The gathered audience gasped and whispered frantically, completely stunned by the astronomical amount Ye Xian had just casually thrown out.

Some people's jaws literally dropped. Others started calculating if they'd ever seen that much money in their entire lives.

Lu Shi's mouth twitched like he'd tasted something sour. Looking at Ye Xian's smug face made his fists itch—he desperately wanted to wipe that arrogant smirk right off.

The problem was, 20,000 ki stones wasn't exactly pocket change. Lu Shi's eye twitched as he did quick mental math.

"Well?" Ye Xian's voice drifted over lazily. "Cat got your tongue? Or should I say, poverty got your courage?"

The crowd snickered. Someone in the back actually shouted, "20,000 ki stones is the monthly budget of the entire Lu clan. How could he bet that?"

"Then how is Ye Xian able to bet that amount?" another voice called out.

Hearing this, Lu Shi's expression relaxed. If I can't have such an amount, and not even big brother Lu Yin has that much, and Lu Aotian definitely doesn't have it either, then how could Ye Xian have such an amount?

He was about to lash out at Ye Xian when he was interrupted by another voice.

"Didn't you hear that the Meng clan patriarch gave him a spatial ring of earth grade and twenty thousand ki stones?"

"What, really?!"

"I even heard the clan patriarch has his men secretly protecting Ye Xian."

There was an uproar in the audience. They glanced at Ye Xian and saw a ring with intricate design on his finger.

The twenty thousand ki stones were one thing, but the earth-grade spatial ring was more valuable than 20,000 ki stones, which was the monthly budget of the Ye clan.

Lu Shi couldn't help but look at his older brother Lu Aotian, who also had an ugly expression. His father, the Lu clan patriarch, stood there looking at his son's pathetic expression.

He threw a spatial ring at Lu Shi, who caught it and nodded at him. Then he sent him a ki transmission message.

'Shi'er, break this brat. Win the fight and break his bones.'

Lu Shi smiled as he had already decided to break Ye Xian's bones after being humiliated earlier.

Patriarch Lu didn't give the spatial ring without thinking. He had observed Ye Xian's cultivation, which was around Ki Refining Realm 7th stage, while his son was in Ki Warrior Realm at the same age.

In the patriarch's eyes, Ye Xian's offer of 20,000 ki stones wasn't a show of confidence—it was fear disguised as bravado. A bluff. He likely hoped the Lu clan wouldn't be able to match the bet, letting him walk away as the "winner" without fighting.

But now that the Lu clan had met the bet. There was no escape. With the cultivation gap clearly in Lu Shi's favor, the patriarch was sure of victory.

The spatial ring, freshly bought from the capital just last month, had been loaded with the exact 20,000 ki stones.

Lu Shi smirked.

"Now what, Ye Xian? Will you fight, or run back to wherever you came from?"

He was convinced Ye Xian had thrown out the massive number just to scare him off. If he backed out now, it'd look like Lu Shi couldn't match the bet and Ye Xian would win by default.

Ye Xian stood up slowly. But before stepping forward, he glanced back—Ye Ling'er and Sheng Qianying were holding the edge of his robe, worry written all over their faces.

"I have a plan," he said as he jumped from the audience seats and climbed up onto the stage.

Even though Ye Xian said he had a plan, both ladies still felt worried.

The truth was, Ye Xian had mentioned the ki stones only to drive Lu Shi away. He genuinely didn't think Lu Shi was worth his time.

But now that the Lu clan had foolishly brought the full amount… why not take advantage?

He'd already used that many ki stones in his own cultivation. So technically, he had nothing to lose—and plenty to gain.

"That's it. Ye Xian, are you ready to lose?" Lu Shi said.

"Why are you so confident? Do you see yourself as one of those beautiful women I wouldn't dare to hurt?"

Ye Xian said, standing several meters away.

"You really need a beating," Lu Shi growled, taking a heavy step. His figure blurred as he appeared right next to Ye Xian in a moment.

Lu Shi snarled and threw a punch with full strength. The wind howled around his fist as it smashed toward Ye Xian's head.

Kaach!

A loud crack echoed through the arena.

A body flew into the air, flipping off the stage and landing hard on the ground.

All eyes turned toward the fallen figure.

It was Lu Shi.

Gasps spread across the crowd like wildfire.

Everyone looked back at the stage. Ye Xian stood there, completely calm and untouched.

Right as Lu Shi had attacked, Ye Xian had responded with a simple kick to the face, sending him flying like a rag doll.

Lu Shi lay groaning, blood dripping from his nose. One eye was already swollen, and his fancy green robes were now filthy with dust.

Ye Xian calmly patted his robe, then looked at the crowd.

Sheng Qianying covered her mouth, stunned. Ye Ling'er just stared in shock, equally speechless.

It wasn't just them. The entire crowd was stunned. Eyes wide open, they stared at Ye Xian in disbelief, then turned to look at Lu Shi lying sprawled on the ground.

Someone whispered, "Wasn't Ye Xian supposed to be weaker?"

A Lu clan cultivator rushed to Lu Shi's side, checking him with panic in his eyes. The Lu patriarch's face turned stiff and cold, his jaw clenched.

Ye Xian jumped off the stage and walked over. He bent down, took off the spatial ring from Lu Shi's finger, and transferred all the ki stones into his own empty spatial ring—filling it with 20,000 ki stones.

Seeing this, everyone fell silent. The Lu clan patriarch felt his heart bleed. It was one thing that his son had lost so pathetically, but now he had also lost the entire monthly resources of the clan.

The patriarch was just about to lash out, trying to talk about "honor" or "courtesy," when the ground began to tremble.

A low rumble echoed across the arena.

Audience members stumbled from their seats as the vibrations grew stronger.

Then, without warning, a blinding pillar of light shot up from the City Lord's mansion. It blasted straight through the ceiling and rocketed into the sky.

At its peak, the light spread outward like a massive flare, then collapsed back down—covering the entire mansion in a shimmering dome of glowing energy.

Everyone's eyes were stuck to the scene. Just then, a crack appeared on the arena stage and split it open.

A figure leapt out of the fissure and landed in front of a nearby Lu clan member. In one terrifying motion, he grabbed the man's head and ripped it off like opening a bottle cap.

The severed head flew into the sky, trailing a crimson arc of blood that glittered in the lantern light and the glow of the dome, which lit everything like it was day.