First Blood

"Begin!"

At the referee's shout,

Lu Hao sprang forward and swung his blade straight at the young man.

The young man didn't foolishly try to block it with his fists. Instead, he began retreating,

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while Lu Hao pressed forward. The next moment, he leapt into the air and brought his blade down at the young man again.

The young man hadn't expected Lu Hao to have such skill, but his experience in the Life-Death Arena let him quickly raise both arms, ready to catch Lu Hao's Big Ring Blade.

Seeing his opponent foolishly try to catch his blade, Lu Hao sneered. An ordinary martial artist who had only tempered his lower body might indeed be stopped by the man's arms due to a lack of strength.

But Lu Hao had cultivated Blood Battle Mad Blade. He infused his Vital Blood into the Big Ring Blade and brought it down with a fierce strike.

The blade fell,

and the young man's tempered arm was left with a huge gash from the force of Lu Hao's Vital Blood.

Lu Hao gave him no chance to catch his breath. One slash was followed by another. This time, Lu Hao unleashed half his Vital Blood, though the resulting power was only a third of what he had invested.

Even so, the strike was already close to the level of a finishing move.

The young man felt the power of the blow. If he couldn't block it, he would die. With a roar, he gathered Vital Blood into his fists.

He believed his fists could withstand the blade. He had unexpectedly obtained a book of boxing techniques that included a method for strengthening the flesh and skin of his fists. Their toughness was now no weaker than that of a weapon.

The blade came down, unleashing nearly fifty cards of Vital Blood. The young man had overestimated his fists and underestimated the power of Lu Hao's strike.

The blow, nearly as powerful as a finishing move, split the young man's fist down the middle. The force of the Vital Blood also left him covered in mangled flesh.

"I was wrong! I was wrong! I surrender! I surrender! Please, sir, be the bigger man and spare me!"

The young man collapsed to the side, crying and shouting.

Lu Hao paused, but only for a moment. Then he stepped forward.

One slash. Decapitation.

[Enemy killed. Slaughter Points +197]

Seeing the familiar panel pop up again,

Lu Hao blinked.

Why so many Slaughter Points?

He was baffled. Back when he had slaughtered pigs, each one had only given him two Slaughter Points. Yet this First-Rank martial artist had given him 197.

Lu Hao glanced at the headless corpse across from him. Was there something special about the man?

He didn't dwell on it and slowly walked off the platform. As soon as he stepped down, he saw Viper watching him.

"Lu, are you feeling any discomfort? It's normal to feel uneasy after killing someone for the first time. You don't have to force yourself to act like you're fine."

Viper walked over to Lu Hao and asked with concern.

"Uncle Wang, I'm fine. It doesn't feel strange to me. I've fought in so many Standard Matches, and bloodshed and death aren't all that different. There's nothing I can't accept."

Lu Hao truly didn't feel anything. After all the killing he'd done in the past, he had already forged an unyielding heart. To him, killing people now was no different from slaughtering pigs.

What he was thinking about now was another question: why had a First-Rank martial artist given him so many Slaughter Points?

Viper led Lu Hao to the lounge and told him to take some time to collect himself. In Viper's view, no amount of reassurance from others could help someone get past killing. He had to do it on his own.

Lu Hao focused his thoughts and opened the panel.

[Slaughter Point System]

[Host: Lu Hao]

[Vital Blood: 113/254 cal]

[Spirit: 186/299 Hz+]

[Storage Space: 10 cubic meters]

[Slaughter Points: 314]

His Vital Blood had reached 254. Over the past month, without the panel's help, Lu Hao had tempered thirteen bones—averaging one every two days or so.

His spiritual power was still at 299, with no breakthrough. Lu Hao guessed he would have a chance to break through only after reaching Second Rank.

He now had 314 Slaughter Points, enough to temper six more bones.

Thinking over why his Slaughter Points had increased,

Lu Hao pondered for a long time before realizing that the 197 might be the young man's Vital Blood value. As for why slaughtering pigs had yielded so little,

strictly speaking, pigs didn't have Vital Blood values. Those two Slaughter Points might have represented all the strength concentrated in a pig's body.

Lu Hao thought it over, said goodbye to Viper, and headed for the morgue. He wanted to see whether the young man's corpse had changed.

If he had taken the young man's Vital Blood, then the corpse should have shown obvious signs of aging. If it had, Lu Hao would have to be careful about how he gained Slaughter Points in the future.

After greeting the two guys at the entrance, Lu Hao walked into the morgue. By now, half the staff knew he had an unusual status. Viper was always assigned to follow him around.

If Lu Hao and Viper hadn't looked nothing alike, the underlings would have thought Lu Hao was their boss's illegitimate son.

As soon as he entered the morgue, Lu Hao spotted the young man he had beheaded.

He walked over and examined the corpse closely, even reaching out to touch it and feel its condition.

The result put Lu Hao at ease. The young man's corpse showed no unusual changes and was in the same condition as the corpses Lu Hao had handled before.

He had been afraid it would change in some unusual way. If so, he wouldn't be able to gain Slaughter Points openly in front of others anymore. After all, if every enemy Lu Hao killed looked as though their Vital Blood had been drained,

even a fool would notice something was wrong.

This was much better. He could gain Slaughter Points without anyone noticing, letting him keep a low profile and grow stronger at his own pace.

After checking the body and finding nothing amiss, Lu Hao left. Though he still didn't know what determined how many Slaughter Points he gained, he wasn't too concerned. He would figure it out sooner or later.

Back in the lounge, Lu Hao planned to spend ten Slaughter Points to restore his Vital Blood. Once it was back to its peak, he would fight in another Life-Death Arena match.

After all, a First-Rank martial artist could provide nearly 200 Slaughter Points, while all Lu Hao had to spend was ten. Even a fool knew that was a good deal.

An hour later, Lu Hao walked out of the lounge and told Viper that he had restored his Vital Blood with a Blood Vitality Pill and wanted to fight again.

Viper didn't approve of Lu Hao's reckless behavior, but at Lu Hao's insistence, he arranged a Life-Death Arena match against a mid-stage First-Rank opponent.

An hour later, Lu Hao came down from the arena. This opponent had been far more difficult to deal with than the young man he'd faced earlier. After realizing that Lu Hao's blade technique was impressive, the man avoided clashing head-on and kept circling around him.

Unfortunately, Lu Hao's leg technique hadn't yet reached the level of Adhesion Force. Otherwise, the man wouldn't have been able to escape Lu Hao, even if he wanted to.

After nearly seventeen or eighteen exchanges, Lu Hao spotted an opening and knocked his opponent to the ground with a kick, then finished him off.

Lu Hao was also left with quite a few wounds. His opponent had inflicted them.