Arena Wagered Battle

A sharp weapon in hand, a murderous intent naturally arises.

Those who have cultivated to the Postnatal realm, feeling the surging power within their bodies, who wouldn't want to unleash it to their heart's content, to fight to their fullest?

Every one of them is a potential warmonger.

As soon as Wang Nian spoke, the sixth-level Postnatal students were all moved, imagining defeating all their rivals on the arena and winning spirit stones.

Zhang Wan even became interested.

He knew very well that these arena wagered battles were disadvantageous to them, the newly advanced Postnatal cultivators.

Participating early on would likely result in a string of losses.

For these newcomers who had only recently broken through to the Postnatal realm and lacked sufficient accumulation, it was impossible not to pay some tuition fees in these kinds of fights.

But even if they lost, they could still gain practical combat experience, so it wasn't a complete loss.

Zhang Wan wanted to play it safe, but playing it safe was always a temporary measure. There would come a time when he would have to act, when he would need to step into the spotlight.

If he continuously avoided fighting people just to keep a low profile and didn't accumulate practical combat experience, then even if he broke through to a profound realm in the future, how much combat power would he possess then? Would he be the weakest powerhouse in his realm?

Just the thought of that made Zhang Wan disgusted.

Although he was happy to rely on his realm to pressure others, he didn't want to be the weakest existence in the same realm. At the very least, he wanted to be a mid-to-upper-tier combatant within his realm!

Of course, interest was one thing.

Zhang Wan had no intention of participating in arena wagered battles without a plan.

What if someone manipulated things behind the scenes and matched him against opponents far too strong for him every single time, instantly killing him? Then what would be the point? He wouldn't gain any practical combat experience at all.

Zhang Wan planned to first understand the actual situation of the arena wagered battles before making a decision.

Moreover, he wanted to purchase a Spirit Planter inheritance, which would also require a considerable amount of spirit stones.

The spirit stones in his hand couldn't be spent carelessly. He had to set aside a sum for this purpose.

Only the remainder could be used for other things.

Zhao Qixin and the others were also swayed by Wang Nian and the other two.

Coincidentally, today was the day resources were distributed, a time when the students were at their wealthiest, and thus when arena wagered battles were most frequent.

Wang Nian, Shen Miao, and Liu Yufei then led the sixth-level Postnatal students to the Heaven-tier training grounds, where there were ten sturdy arenas. Currently, quite a few Postnatal cultivators were battling on them.

Clearly, some Postnatal students couldn't hold back any longer and had already started their arena wagered battles.

Zhang Wan's eyes lit up.

This was the first time he had seen other Postnatal cultivators fighting at full strength since breaking through to the Postnatal realm.

For a moment, he was captivated by the sight.

The intensity of the battles on the arenas varied. Some were like chickens pecking at each other, while others were fierce and closely contested.

But every participant was fighting with all their might, using every skill they possessed.

Watching them made Zhang Wan's blood boil, and he longed to step onto the stage and test his skills.

Zhao Qixin and Yu Shui were even more direct, tossing a low-grade spirit stone each and queuing up to enter the arena.

Zhang Wan also learned from Wang Nian and the others' explanations that although arena wagered battles had few restrictions, they did not allow students with vastly different strength levels to wager battle.

Things like a second-level Postnatal fighting a first-level Postnatal were not permitted.

Even a peak first-level Postnatal fighting a newly advanced first-level Postnatal was not allowed.

This was both an unspoken rule among the Postnatal students of the academy and a regulation of the Beginner Martial Arts Academy.

The academy did not allow disciples to fight privately, but they also knew that it was impossible for students to gain practical combat experience without it. Therefore, they turned a blind eye to arena wagered battles. However, if things went too far, the academy would not stand idly by.

The rules that had formed around arena wagered battles had all been forged through bloody lessons. If anyone tried to violate them, they wouldn't need the academy to make a statement; the other Postnatal students would collectively suppress them.

Even Wang Nian, Shen Miao, and Liu Yufei, who had the highest cultivation and strongest abilities, couldn't withstand the collective anger.

After understanding these points and observing the pairs fighting on the arenas, seeing that the strength gap was indeed not large, Zhang Wan immediately decided to allocate a portion of his spirit stones to participate in these arena wagered battles.

At the same time, Zhang Wan keenly noticed that not all the Postnatal students engaged in these wagered battles were using spirit stones as stakes.

Upon inquiry, he learned that a low-grade spirit stone or something of equivalent value was acceptable.

Zhang Wan secretly thought, "This is quite humane."

But he wondered, "Aren't they afraid that someone will get carried away by gambling and lose their pants?"

Then, he realized that pants weren't valuable enough for anyone to want, and he understood.

At most, the unlucky ones would lose all their current cultivation resources. Furthermore, Wang Nian and the others mentioned that these wagered battles prohibited debt, so there would be no pre-payment of future cultivation resources, which was good.

Afterward, Zhao Qixin, Yu Shui, and the others successively entered the arenas, displaying no weak strength and defeating the newly advanced Postnatal cultivators among the seventh and eighth-level students, which caused a stir among the sixth-level Postnatal students.

They couldn't hold back any longer and each took out a low-grade spirit stone to experience it.

Even Xu Hui couldn't resist and went up for a match.

Zhang Wan, however, was not in a hurry to enter the fray.

He had been watching from below.

His cultivation time was still short, and he only understood the Bronze Iron Body. He didn't know much about the many techniques of the Jade Bone Sect's other nine Prenatal inheritances.

Even if he were to fight, he would have to see what powerful martial skills the other cultivation methods had first.

He watched for the entire afternoon.

Among all the Postnatal students in Grade 6, he was the only one left who hadn't entered the arena.

Zhao Qixin, Yu Shui, and Xu Hui had all entered the arena twice.

But only Zhao Qixin had won both matches, while Yu Shui and Xu Hui each had one win and one loss.

The other Grade 6 Postnatal students had lost their only match.

This was not beyond Zhang Wan's expectations; among the twenty people who had broken through in their current batch, only Zhao Qixin, Yu Shui, Xu Hui, and himself had some strength.

The rest had not even properly learned any martial skills, their strength was too weak.

However, they weren't entirely without hope of winning.

They had a chance to win against newly promoted Postnatal students in Grades 7, 8, 9, and 10.

But their luck today was bad; they had encountered opponents stronger than them, and coupled with it being their first time in the arena, their mental state was unstable, leading to poor performance.

As Zhang Wan watched from below, his eyes were opened, and he gained a lot.

The various combat wisdom, feints, and real moves displayed in the fist and foot combat made Zhang Wan exclaim with satisfaction, desperately absorbing the nourishment and turning it into his own foundation.

The different combat styles also broadened his horizons.

Those fighting styles, whether fierce, cunning, or elegant, combined with their respective profound martial skills and combat wisdom, made for a truly spectacular display.

Zhang Wan learned a lot about how to deal with martial artists of different combat styles.

"What is learned on paper is ultimately shallow; to accumulate practical experience, one must truly spar with these different martial artists."

It was too late today; he planned to fight again tomorrow.

That evening, after some thought, Zhang Wan invested some EXP into his cultivation realm. His mana increased slightly, and his physical body also strengthened a bit.

Now, using EXP to improve his cultivation was not as obvious as before.

In the beginning, when he had just broken through to Postnatal, even one or two points of EXP caused significant changes in his mana and physical body.

But now, he had been cultivating for some time, and his mana and physical strength had a certain foundation. He also didn't encounter veteran Postnatal cultivators like Senior Brother Liu and Vice Dean Huang every day.

Occasionally using one or two points of EXP to improve his cultivation would not cause any trouble.