Behind-the-Scenes Manipulation? Who's the Clown?

As the host's voice fell, the entire audience erupted.

For a moment, the laughter and shouts seemed ready to swallow everyone whole.

Under the gaze of the crowd, a burly, imposing figure was the first to stride onto the stage.

He was a muscular middle-aged man over two meters tall, bare-chested, with layers of chocolate-colored muscle. His sharply defined physique radiated immense power.

A gruesome scar ran across his face from forehead to chin, crisscrossing it and splitting it in two.

His face was the kind that could make children burst into tears in broad daylight.

Put him in Nanshan Kindergarten or Beihai Nursing Home, and he would be a world-ending powerhouse.

This man was none other than Mad Demon, the Suotuo City Soul Fighting Arena's ace with ten consecutive victories!

He was also the entire arena's cash cow.

The moment he stepped onto the platform, he flung his arms wide and howled at the sky!

His arrogant presence instantly filled the venue, pressing the spectators in the front rows to hold their breath without thinking.

Yet, seeing Mad Demon's ferocious appearance, the spectators below were not afraid. Instead, they began chanting his name with fervor.

"Mad Demon! Crush your opponent, Mad Demon!"

"Ten consecutive wins! Ten consecutive wins!"

Everyone shouted Mad Demon's name, certain he would win. Not a single person favored Wine Sword, who was about to appear.

"Mad Demon's finally coming on! He's a ruthless fighter from our Great Soul Arena, invincible among his peers."

"Yeah, look at that murderous air. I'm afraid he's going to cripple another opponent today. I bet Mad Demon will tear that newcomer's arms and legs right off."

"Wine Sword? Who's this nobody? Never even heard of him."

"We've waited so long and he still hasn't come out. Did he get scared and chicken out of coming onstage?"

"Hahaha, isn't it obvious? He must be scared. A newcomer runs into a ruthless fighter like Mad Demon in his first match. He must have had eight lifetimes of bad luck."

The entire venue was packed with voices of ridicule and contempt.

The voices piled atop one another. In everyone's mind, this was bound to be a one-sided crushing with no suspense at all.

Wine Sword, who was only at level forty-five, was fighting Mad Demon, who was invincible among his peers. His fate was certain to be miserable.

Just as the ridicule throughout the venue reached its peak, a tall figure slowly emerged from the fighters' passage.

Su Zui had changed out of his white robes and was now dressed in black nightwear.

He stood tall and walked with unhurried steps.

Although Su Zui wore a mask, his figure alone was enough to tell that the youth must have been fair and handsome.

Yet before Mad Demon, Su Zui looked tiny, his head barely reaching Mad Demon's chest.

The sight instantly sent the ridicule throughout the venue to another level.

"Oh my heavens! That's Wine Sword? He's so young. He looks fifteen or sixteen at most."

"He's so young. He probably only broke through to Soul Ancestor recently. I've never seen such a young Soul Ancestor."

"How could he be only fifteen or sixteen? He probably just looks young. Have you ever seen a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old Soul Ancestor? I certainly haven't in all my life!"

Amid all the ridicule, a few girls' excited cries could still be heard.

"Oh my heavens! This Wine Sword looks so handsome!"

A yellow-haired fellow nearby heard the girls' cries and immediately started speaking sarcastically.

"Oh, so handsome, is he? Sneaking around in a mask—who knows how ugly he really is? He might not even be as handsome as me."

One of the girls frowned at the yellow-haired fellow, then turned and tossed him a mirror.

The yellow-haired fellow stared at the girls in bewilderment.

"Wait, what's that supposed to mean?"

"You fucking idiot, take a look at your own ugly mug. Looking at you makes me sick."

Naturally, all the voices in the venue reached Su Zui's ears.

But Su Zui paid them no mind.

He merely lifted his eyes and calmly studied Mad Demon in the center of the platform, surveying the killing intent coming off him. He already understood.

Mad Demon crippled his opponents in every match. He was ruthless and merciless without a doubt.

Facing such a person, Su Zui breathed a sigh of relief instead.

After all, against an ordinary opponent, he would have had to hold back his sword Qi to avoid seriously injuring them through a momentary mistake.

But against the brute before him, he had no need to deliberately hold back.

On the platform, Mad Demon looked down at Su Zui.

Looking at the almost excessively youthful air about him, Mad Demon's eyes nearly overflowed with contempt.

He opened his great mouth and burst into laughter, his voice dripping with ridicule.

"Hahahaha, kid! Look how small you are. Have you even been weaned yet?"

"But that's all right. I'm feeling generous today, so I'll teach you a good lesson now that you're up here. I'll beat you so badly you can't even take care of yourself, and send you crying home to suckle again."

Su Zui lifted his eyes, a trace of a cold smile on his face.

"Oh? From the sound of it, you often beat people until they can't take care of themselves."

Hearing Su Zui take the bait, Mad Demon thrust out his chest, his arrogance reaching its peak.

His face full of swagger and pride, he roared without restraint.

"That's right, kid. Here in the Suotuo City Great Soul Arena, I am the heavens!"

"Everyone who fights me meets the same end. I tear apart the tendons in their hands and feet myself and cripple all their cultivation, leaving them to watch helplessly as they become cripples and howl in despair and regret!"

Then Mad Demon changed his tone and looked at Su Zui with some amusement.

"But honestly, I'm really curious. Just who did you offend, kid? You got matched with me in your first fight. But now that you've run into me, I'm definitely going to cripple a genius like you."

Hearing Mad Demon's words, Su Zui tilted his head slightly and swept a thoughtful gaze over the surrounding stands.

On closer thought, what Mad Demon had said made sense.

He had been matched against the fiercest opponent in the entire Soul Fighting Arena in his first fight. If there had been no behind-the-scenes manipulation, it hardly seemed to add up.

Though Su Zui was not afraid of their behind-the-scenes manipulation, he disliked this inexplicable hostility.

I don't think I've ever provoked the forces behind the Soul Fighting Arena, have I? Then why are they targeting me?

Forget it. I can investigate those things later. The most important thing now is to finish this match first.

Su Zui turned to Mad Demon and said coldly, "You talk too much. Today, I'll cut out your tongue and make sure you can never speak again."

At those words, Mad Demon froze.

Two full seconds passed before wild laughter suddenly burst from his throat.

He rocked back and forth with laughter, tears nearly spilling from his eyes.

He had never expected this newcomer to keep talking tough even with death at his door.

"Hahaha, kid, are you trying to make me die laughing? A greenhorn like you probably hasn't even grown all his hair yet, and you want to cut out my tongue?"

As his words fell, Mad Demon spun around, spread his arms toward the entire audience, and loudly proclaimed:

"Everyone, you heard that, didn't you? This peerless expert on our platform says he's going to cut out my tongue. I'm so scared!"

The entire audience was instantly amused and burst into laughter.

"Hahaha, a newborn calf really isn't afraid of a tiger! He doesn't even have a beard, but he's first-rate at talking big."

"A mere newcomer Soul Ancestor dares to provoke Mad Demon, who has ten consecutive wins? He's courting death!"

"I bet three Gold Soul Coins that this kid won't last three moves."

"Why would it take three moves? I say Mad Demon can knock the kid's teeth out in one."

For a moment, the whole venue roared with laughter.

No one believed Su Zui's wild words. They all thought he was a clown trying to draw attention to himself.

Mad Demon seemed to particularly enjoy being the center of everyone's attention.

The smugness on his face was impossible to hide, and killing intent surged in his eyes.

He had already made up his mind to cripple Su Zui with lightning speed and make the kid pay dearly for his arrogance.

The next second, Mad Demon wasted no more words. Soul Power burst from his entire body.

Boom!

A surge of violent Soul Power swept through the surroundings like a hurricane. Mad Demon's bloodthirsty, murderous presence soared into the sky, and his eyes had turned bright red.

Then came white, yellow, purple, purple!

Four brilliantly colored Soul Rings rose one after another from beneath his feet.

One white, one yellow, and two purple! Two whole Thousand-Year Soul Rings.

Seeing Mad Demon release his Soul Rings, the cheers in the stands exploded once more.

Then Mad Demon directly activated Martial Soul Possession.

With an angry roar, Mad Demon's body suddenly swelled and rose, reaching two and a half meters in an instant.

At the same time, a layer of thick, hard, gray-black fur covered Mad Demon from head to toe.

His fingertips became sharp wolf claws that gleamed coldly, and a mouthful of silver fangs pointed straight at Su Zui, flashing with a chilling light.

Mad Demon had now transformed into a werewolf, half man and half wolf.

With Martial Soul Possession complete, the violence in Mad Demon's heart surged.

In Mad Demon's mind, he was absolutely invincible in this Soul Fighting Arena while using Martial Soul Possession.

He was in no hurry to deal with Su Zui. Instead, he deliberately tilted his head and aimed his ear at him, his face full of arrogance.

"Kid, didn't you just say you were going to cut out my tongue? Say it again if you've got the guts. I'd like to see how you're going to do it."

Before he had finished speaking, the whole venue burst into laughter once again, jeers still flying through the air.

But at that very moment, two streams of intensely concentrated black sword Qi shot without warning from the shadow beneath Mad Demon's feet.

The two streams of sword Qi were unbelievably fast. There was no sound of wind, no warning, not even the slightest fluctuation of Soul Power. They were like two ghosts.

Swish! Swish!

Two crisp, sharp sounds of air being cleaved rang out at once!

Cold light flashed, and blood sprayed everywhere!

Two gruesome lines of blood instantly slashed across Mad Demon's cheeks. Scalding blood gushed out, staining the scars and wolf fur on his face red.

At the same time, two outer ears, still spurting blood, drifted gently down onto the platform with a faint sound.

Both of Mad Demon's ears had been severed!

In an instant, the No. 2 Main Soul Fighting Arena, which had been boiling with noise, seemed to have its throat gripped tightly by a pair of invisible hands.

The thunderous cheers, the overwhelming jeers, and the endless chatter all stopped abruptly.

It was as though the tens of thousands of spectators had all been frozen at the same moment.

They had still been laughing and sneering just before, but now those poses were welded in place.

Two seconds later, a heartrending, agonized scream tore through the silence!