Arena

In the Virtual Universe, Lin Yuan teleported back to the Nine Flame Sacred Land region of the Nine Flame Continent.

Upon landing, Lin Yuan recalled that every time he connected to the Virtual Universe, he appeared on the street; he had yet to purchase any property here.

Property in the Virtual Universe was not expensive, and the several billion Universe Coin he had left were more than enough.

Lin Yuan headed straight for the Fire Cloud Pavilion, the most popular residential area in the Nine Flame Sacred Land region.

Lin Yuan quickly selected a small villa in the Fire Cloud Pavilion, made the payment, and set it as his login location, preparing to log out of the Virtual Universe.

"Lin Yuan? You bought property here too."

Lin Yuan looked up to see the chubby Cohen.

"I have property here as well, not far from yours."

Cohen walked toward Lin Yuan as he spoke.

"What a coincidence. I just finished paying for this villa."

Lin Yuan replied.

"Brother, since I ran into you, you should be free, right? Come with me to a place; I don't think you've been there yet."

The chubby youth said with a mysterious air.

"Most of my consciousness is still in the real world focusing on cultivation. Where are we going? It isn't drinking again, is it?"

"What are you thinking? Of course, it's a place related to cultivation. Come on, follow me."

The chubby youth led Lin Yuan toward the interior of the Sacred Land region.

The two arrived at a very spacious area, where a series of arenas stood in the center.

At this moment, many people were fighting on the arenas, and some were surrounded by quite a crowd.

The chubby youth grinned and introduced it to Lin Yuan:

"This here is the Nine Flame Sacred Land Arena. It's where the students of the Nine Flame Sacred Land fight and spar; some even place bets on the matches."

On the arena closest to Lin Yuan, two students were currently locked in a fierce battle, surrounded by a group of spectators.

Lin Yuan looked over to see two Domain Lord level students: one was a four-meter-tall Wolf-man Race warrior, and the other was an Ape-man Race youth.

The Wolf-man warrior's weapon was a pair of sharp claws, while the Ape-man youth held a battle blade. The two were fighting with great intensity, the booming sounds constant and the space itself trembling faintly.

The Wolf-man warrior was extremely fast; suddenly, hundreds of wolf-man phantoms appeared on the arena. The Ape-man youth fought desperately to defend himself, but he couldn't hold out and was torn apart by the Wolf-man warrior's claws.

Cheers erupted from the crowd below.

"You're still too weak. The Ranking Tournament is in ten years, so you'd better hurry up and improve yourself, or you'll fall out of the core layer in the next tournament."

The Wolf-man warrior said to the Ape-man youth, whose figure was just beginning to reform.

The Ape-man youth remained silent, his expression looking rather grim.

Hearing what the Wolf-man warrior said, Lin Yuan turned to Cohen and asked:

"Is the next Ranking Tournament in ten years?"

"That's right. That's why the Arena is much livelier than before; many students come here to spar every day."

"Do I have to participate as well?"

"Of course. You just joined the Sacred Land, so the Sacred Land provides you with privileges based on the top ten, but that's only until the Ranking Tournament is held."

"From the moment you participate in your first Ranking Tournament, your future ranking will depend entirely on your own ability. That's how it was for me."

The chubby youth explained to Lin Yuan.

"Wouldn't it be the same if I just went to the Killing Field to cultivate?" Lin Yuan asked, puzzled.

"Arena combat is different from the Killing Field. When you cultivate in the Killing Field space, your physical state is relaxed; it's only suitable for trial and error, learning, and experimenting with secret techniques. But real-person combat in the Arena is the best place to test your true strength."

Lin Yuan nodded.

"How about the two of us have a match? I've been wanting to test your skills for a while now, brother."

The chubby youth Cohen said with a chuckle, as if he were inviting Lin Yuan for a drink rather than a duel on the arena.

"Sure."

Lin Yuan was actually quite curious about Cohen's strength. Being ranked fifth in the Universe Level core layer, his strength was definitely not to be underestimated.

The two chose an arena and leaped onto it together.

On the arena.

The chubby youth Cohen hovered in the air, gripping his Blood Edge God Weapon.

Lin Yuan used his Thousand Mountain Axe.

"Let's begin." Lin Yuan said, his expression turning serious.

Lin Yuan activated his domain and charged straight at Cohen, wielding the Thousand Mountain Axe.

In life-and-death battles, Lin Yuan had faced many spirit reader controllers. If he encountered a controller of similar strength and didn't close the distance quickly to end the fight, he would likely fall into a grueling struggle.

"Mountain Collapse!"

Lin Yuan's Thousand Mountain Axe glowed with an earthy yellow light as he swung it with immense weight, executing the secret technique from the Thousand Mountain Secret Code: Mountain Collapse.

Cohen also activated his domain, its intensity not a whit inferior to Lin Yuan's.

Cohen retreated rapidly through the air, and the blade-shaped Blood Edge God Weapon in his hand suddenly released nine flaming red blades that flew toward Lin Yuan in unison; Lin Yuan could sense the fluctuations of the Law of Fire Origin emanating from them.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The blades and the Giant Axe collided repeatedly, gradually slowing Lin Yuan's forward momentum.

Lin Yuan was inwardly astonished; these nine blades alone were enough to prevent him from closing in on Cohen.

"How about that? This is the first level of the Blood Edge God Weapon, the Fire Blade Style. Not bad, right?"

The little fatty said smugly.

"It is indeed strong. Take this!"

Suddenly, Lin Yuan's figure vanished, leaving only a shadow behind, and in the next instant, he appeared right in front of Cohen.

"Mountain Collapse!"

The little fatty Cohen was shocked by the sudden burst of speed Lin Yuan had just displayed, and though he barely managed to maneuver the Blood Edge God Weapon to block, the force was so heavy that the little fatty was sent flying backward.

The little fatty's eyes turned sharp.

"Blood Blade Style!"

The little fatty manipulated the nine blades to form a single blood-colored war blade, which then struck toward Lin Yuan. This was the second-level technique of the Blood Edge God Weapon that Cohen had mastered.

Lin Yuan sensed that the fluctuations of the Law of Fire Origin permeating the blood-colored blade were even stronger than before, and they were now fused with a trace of the Law of Space Origin.

Lin Yuan immediately flashed his figure to dodge the attack of the blood-colored war blade, but the blade was moving too fast; with his current speed and movement technique, he could not evade it.

Lin Yuan steadied his stance, and a heavy, earthy yellow aura released from the Thousand Mountain Axe in his hand, merging with his domain.

"Earth Tremor!"

The space covered by Lin Yuan's domain began to grow heavy, and he swung his axe to meet the blood-colored war blade.

"Boom!"

The massive impact made the webbing between Lin Yuan's thumb and forefinger go numb, but he still managed to block the terrifying attack of the blood-colored war blade.

The battle gradually fell into a stalemate.

During the fight, Lin Yuan was familiarizing himself with the axe techniques he had previously mastered; he had now perfected the two simplest forms of the Thousand Mountain Secret Code—Mountain Collapse and Earth Tremor—as well as the first layer of the Ten Thousand Shadow Steps, Single Shadow Step, resulting in a fundamental improvement in both his movement speed and the power of his techniques compared to before.

Even so, he was only fighting to a draw with Cohen. Lin Yuan began to admire the little fatty; if it had been the version of himself that had just arrived at the Nine Flame Sacred Land, he surely would have been soundly beaten by this little fatty.