A man armed with a sharp weapon naturally develops murderous intent.
Once someone reached the Houtian realm and felt the surging power within, who wouldn't want to unleash it to their heart's content and fight to their heart's content?
Every one of them was a potential warmonger.
The moment Wang Nian spoke, all the sixth-level Houtian students grew restless, fantasizing about defeating all challengers in the arena and winning spirit stones.
Even Zhang Wan became interested.
Of course, he knew that these arena betting battles were disadvantageous to newly advanced Houtian practitioners like them.
If they participated too early, they would probably end up suffering defeat after defeat.
In this kind of fighting, newcomers like them, who had only recently broken through to the Houtian realm and lacked sufficient accumulation, would have to pay some tuition.
But even if they lost, they could still gain practical combat experience. It wasn't a completely losing deal.
Zhang Wan wanted to play it safe, but playing it safe had always been an expedient measure. Sooner or later, there would be times when he needed to act and stand in the spotlight.
If, for the sake of keeping a low profile, he refused to fight anyone and accumulated no practical combat experience,
then even if he broke through to a profound realm in the future, how much combat power would he actually possess? Would he become the weakest expert among those at the same level?
Zhang Wan found the mere thought of that scene distasteful.
Although he was happy to use his cultivation realm to crush others, he didn't want to become the weakest person among those at the same level. At the very least, he had to become a mid-to-upper-tier fighter among his peers!
Of course, being interested was one thing.
Zhang Wan had no intention of joining the arena betting battles without a plan.
What if someone manipulated the matches behind the scenes and kept pairing him against opponents far stronger than him, allowing them to kill him instantly every time? Then what would be the point? He wouldn't gain even the slightest bit of practical combat experience.
Zhang Wan planned to first learn more about the actual circumstances of the arena betting battles before deciding.
Besides, he wanted to purchase a Spirit Planter inheritance, which would also require quite a few spirit stones.
He couldn't spend the spirit stones in his possession recklessly. No matter what, he had to save up a sum for that purpose.
Only the remainder could be used for other things.
Zhao Qixin and the others were persuaded by Wang Nian and the other two.
As it happened, resources were being distributed that day. It was when all the students were at their wealthiest, and arena betting battles were at their most frequent.
Wang Nian, Shen Miao, and Liu Yufei led the sixth-level Houtian students to the Heaven-Class Training Ground. There were ten sturdy arenas there, and quite a few Houtian martial artists were currently fighting fiercely atop them.
Clearly, some Houtian students could no longer hold back and had already begun participating in arena betting battles.
Zhang Wan's eyes lit up.
After breaking through to the Houtian realm, this was the first time he had seen other Houtian practitioners fight with all their strength.
For a moment, he became completely absorbed in watching.
The battles on the arenas varied in intensity. Some were like chickens pecking at each other, while others were brilliant and deadlocked.
Yet every one of them fought with all their might, bringing out every bit of their ability.
Zhang Wan watched until his blood surged, and he wanted to go up and test his skills.
Zhao Qixin and Yu Shui went even further, each throwing out a low-grade spirit stone and lining up to enter the arena.
Under Wang Nian and the others' explanations, Zhang Wan also learned that although arena betting battles had few restrictions, students whose strength differed too greatly were not allowed to fight.
For example, a second-stage Houtian practitioner was not allowed to fight a first-stage Houtian practitioner.
Even a first-stage Houtian practitioner at the peak was not allowed to battle a newcomer who had just entered the first stage.
This was both an unspoken understanding among the Houtian students of the academy and a rule of the Beginner Martial Arts Academy.
The academy did not allow disciples to fight privately, but it also knew that students had to accumulate practical combat experience. Therefore, it turned a blind eye to arena betting battles. However, if things went too far, the academy would not simply stand by.
The several rules that had formed around arena betting battles had all been forged through blood and tears. Once someone tried to violate them, the other Houtian students would join forces to suppress them without waiting for the academy to say anything.
Even Wang Nian, Shen Miao, and Liu Yufei—the ones with the highest cultivation and greatest strength—could not withstand the wrath of the crowd.
After understanding all this and watching the two fighters on the arena, who indeed did not differ greatly in strength, Zhang Wan immediately decided to set aside a sum of spirit stones to participate in the arena betting battles.
At the same time, Zhang Wan keenly noticed that not all the Houtian students in these betting matches were using spirit stones as stakes.
Only after asking did he learn that either a low-grade spirit stone or something of equivalent value was acceptable.
Zhang Wan thought to himself, This is rather considerate.
But with things set up this way, weren't they afraid that someone would get carried away with gambling and lose even the pants off their back?
Then he thought about it. Pants weren't worth much, and no one would want them, so Zhang Wan understood.
At worst, those unlucky people would lose all the cultivation resources they had on hand. Besides, Wang Nian and the others said that these betting battles prohibited credit and advance borrowing against future cultivation resources. Since that wouldn't happen, things were still fine.
After that, Zhao Qixin, Yu Shui, and the others entered the arenas one after another. Displaying considerable strength, they defeated newly advanced Houtian practitioners among the seventh- and eighth-level students, sending the sixth-level Houtian students into a frenzy.
Unable to restrain themselves, they all took out a low-grade spirit stone and went up to experience a match.
Even Xu Hui couldn't hold back and went up for a bout.
Zhang Wan was not in a hurry to enter the arena.
He continued watching from below.
He had only cultivated for a short time. He understood only the Bronze Iron Body and knew little about the many techniques of the other nine innate inheritances of the Jade Bone Sect.
Even if he was going to fight, he had to first see what powerful martial techniques the other cultivation methods possessed.
He watched for the entire afternoon.
Among all the sixth-level Houtian students, he was now the only one who had not entered an arena.
Zhao Qixin, Yu Shui, and Xu Hui had each gone up twice.
But only Zhao Qixin had won both matches. Yu Shui and Xu Hui had each won one and lost one.
The other sixth-level Houtian students had simply suffered defeat in their first match.
This did not surprise Zhang Wan. Of the twenty people in their batch who had currently broken through, only Zhao Qixin, Yu Shui, Xu Hui, and he himself possessed any real strength.
The others had not even properly grasped a martial technique yet. Their strength was simply too weak.
However, it wasn't that they had no hope of winning at all.
If they encountered newly advanced Houtian practitioners among the seventh-, eighth-, ninth-, or tenth-level students, they still had a chance to win.
It was just that their luck had been bad that day. Their opponents were stronger than them, and since it was also their first time entering the arena, their minds had been unstable and their performance poor.
Meanwhile, Zhang Wan gained a great deal of insight and learned much from watching below.
The various combat strategies, feints, and genuine moves revealed in the clash of fists and feet made Zhang Wan cry out in delight. He desperately absorbed their nourishment and transformed it into his own foundation.
The various, distinct combat styles also broadened his horizons.
Those fighting methods—some fierce, some cunning, some graceful—combined with the profound martial techniques and combat wisdom each fighter had mastered, producing a truly dazzling spectacle.
Zhang Wan learned a great deal from them about how to deal with martial artists of different combat styles.
"Knowledge gained from books is ultimately shallow. If I want to accumulate practical combat experience, I still have to genuinely fight these different martial artists."
It was already too late that day, so he planned to come back and fight the next day.
That night, after thinking it over, Zhang Wan invested a little experience into his cultivation realm. His magical power rose somewhat, and his physical body also grew slightly stronger.
Now, using experience to increase his cultivation was no longer as obvious as it had been at the beginning.
When he had just broken through to the Houtian realm, casually using one or two points of experience had caused extremely obvious changes in both his magical power and physical body.
But he had now cultivated for a period of time, and his magical power and physical strength had established a certain foundation. He also no longer encountered veteran Houtian practitioners like Senior Brother Liu and Vice Dean Huang every day.
Occasionally using one or two points of experience to improve his cultivation would no longer cause any trouble.
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