Xu Jie's True Face

Quite a few fourth-year students near the bottom of the rankings who had come to watch were beginning to squirm in their seats.

It was not as though they had never seen ruthless people before.

But someone as vicious as Xu Jie had completely exceeded the bounds of their understanding. He was practically no longer human!

"Number ninety-four, get on the stage!"

Xu Jie was stingy with words, as though he wished he could use one word as two. He spoke coldly, waiting for his opponent to appear.

"I forfeit!"

A loud shout rang out, drawing everyone's attention.

Countless people in the spectator stands turned toward the source of the voice, where a tall, powerfully built young man had risen to his feet.

At that moment, however, the fourth-year student's face had flushed the color of pig liver. Under the gaze of so many people around him, he looked utterly ashamed.

But he had no choice!

Everyone wanted to live!

Xu Jie struck far too viciously!

Anyone could see that he was deliberately using the rules of the ranking battles to kill people without restraint!

No one wanted to throw their life away...

The gap between rank ninety-seven and rank ninety-four was not great. Both were at Blood Moving Realm Layer 9; if he went up there, he definitely would not be able to withstand a single slash from Xu Jie.

Xu Jie was not merely fast as lightning when he attacked!

His grasp of force-generation techniques, timing, and even the minute control of his strength had reached an utterly inconceivable pinnacle.

Like the butcher who carved up an ox, he could dismember livestock with his eyes closed and leisurely composure—not one movement too many, not a shred of force too little.

To the point that...

Even now, no one could tell what Xu Jie's cultivation level actually was!

His attacks were too fast, too ruthless, too decisive, too sharp!

Every swing of his blade was a killing move; every strike could claim a life!

That was why this fourth-year student was truly afraid.

No matter how humiliating it was, he did not dare go onto the stage and fight Xu Jie. That would not be a fight—it would be suicide!

"Death Match!"

Faced with his opponent's cowardly retreat, Xu Jie spat out two words with chilling brevity.

What?

The male referee below the stage was stunned on the spot. Thinking he had misheard, he hurriedly asked again.

"Xu Jie, what did you just say? You want to initiate a Death Match?!"

The ranking battle rules did indeed include Death Matches!

A challenger moving upward in the rankings could choose to initiate a Death Match.

The challenged party, however, could not refuse. Even if they knew they would die, they had to go up and fight!

This rule had actually been established by Martial Arts University specifically to ease the hatred accumulated through students trampling over one another.

Its purpose was to ensure that the world's broader direction of raising martial artists like venomous insects in a jar did not stray from the primitive principle of survival of the fittest.

And Xu Jie had exploited this rule, proposing a Death Match on the spot.

As the higher-ranked challenged party, that fourth-year student had no choice but to enter the arena and fight him.

"Death Match!"

Xu Jie looked at the male referee and confirmed his demand once more, plunging the atmosphere across the venue to freezing point.

Had Xu Jie truly gone mad...

At that moment, everyone looking at Xu Jie had a trace of trembling fear in their eyes.

This person had become a demon!

The fourth-year student in the stands first froze where he stood, then roared hoarsely.

"Xu Jie, don't push people too far! I've already forfeited!!!"

Xu Jie's heart was cold as iron and his eyes like ice. He merely watched the fourth-year student, like a trapped beast at death's door, with indifference.

There was not the slightest trace of humanity in his eyes, only the cold ruthlessness with which one regarded prey.

"Xu Jie!"

Just as the entire venue had fallen silent and even the school authorities did not know what to do, a clear, chilly cry rang out.

Chu Mingyue, who had been sitting alone at one side of the instructors' seats, suddenly rose and called Xu Jie's name.

Once Xu Jie turned to look at her, Chu Mingyue gave a slight shake of her head, signaling with her eyes that he should stop while he was ahead.

"Pfft!"

Xu Jie suddenly laughed. It began as a low chuckle, then turned into wild laughter, carrying three parts cruel indifference, three parts arrogant abandon, and four parts demonic disdain.

"Hahaha! Hahahahaha!!!"

Inside and outside the field, no one made a sound. Only after Xu Jie finished laughing did they hear him ask lightly from atop the arena.

"May I ask which rule of the ranking battles my current actions have violated? Or which school rule or regulation my earlier actions violated? Wasn't this what you chose? Tell me!"

This was the first time since transmigrating that Xu Jie had revealed his true face, his expression savage and his gaze icy.

A fierce, tragic Baleful Intent burst forth, and everyone who felt it shuddered with fear!

Xu Jie suddenly turned his head, ignoring Chu Mingyue's stunned pretty face. He fixed a savage glare on the male referee, his voice like an evil ghost crawling out of the Nine Nether Hells as he enunciated each word.

"I said, Death Match! Can you not understand?"

"..."

When the male referee of the Pulse Opening Realm met Xu Jie's eyes at that moment, cold sweat actually broke out across his back, his mind seized by that Baleful Intent.

So he subconsciously picked up his walkie-talkie and stammered.

"Have... have the student ranked ninety-four enter the arena!"

"No! I won't go! I want to forfeit! I want to withdraw from school!!!"

The fourth-year student in the stands had clearly been frightened out of his wits by Xu Jie's true face. He actually declared in public that he wanted to withdraw from school.

Xu Jie, meanwhile, gradually calmed down. He put away that wickedly arrogant, demonic, domineering bearing and returned to his former cold, indifferent expression.

He said nothing more, nor did he look at the fourth-year student who had been scared into wetting himself. Instead, he looked toward the school leaders on the main platform.

At that instant, the teachers and students of the entire school finally saw Xu Jie's true face clearly!

This was a demon!

Not a human!

In the end, after a brief discussion, the school leaders decided to let the ranking battles continue!

They had no choice.

They were punishing Xu Jie now. If they chose to compromise with him at this moment, where would the school's dignity be?

Therefore, even if Xu Jie kept killing, the school could not stop him. At the very least, they had to let Xu Jie complete all ten ranking battles!

Thus, in utter despair, that fourth-year student was mercilessly carried onto the arena by two instructors to face Xu Jie and his blade.

The fourth-year student dropped to his knees on the spot, looking ashen-faced and utterly dejected, stretching out his neck to await execution. Xu Jie's brows furrowed slightly at the sight.

"Stand up! My blade does not kill trash!"

How had someone like this become a martial artist?

Even if he knew the result would be death, so what?

If he had to die, then he should die standing!

Compared with the fourth-year student before him, Xu Jie even felt that Zhao Tianyu had been rather gutsy.

At least Zhao Tianyu had never begged for mercy, even at the very end of his torment!

Zhao Tianyu had merely been inferior in skill; his bones were not soft!

"Stand up!!!"

Xu Jie's figure flashed before the fourth-year student in an instant, and he lifted the other man with one hand.

"Hehe!"

Suddenly, Xu Jie shook his head and laughed, because the fourth-year student at that moment—

had been frightened so badly that he looked utterly lost, as if his soul had left his body. Foam even dribbled from the corner of his mouth, leaving him with a foolish, vacant expression.

"Get lost!"

Xu Jie truly had no mood to kill someone like this.

With a swing of his arm, he threw the fourth-year student out of the arena, then tilted his head toward the male referee below the stage.

"Next!"

"..."