Seeking the Body Sect!

Time was running out. The White Tiger Duke Mansion could discover the truth about Konoha at any moment and send even stronger pursuers after him.

He needed protection, needed to grow stronger quickly, needed... a place where he could take revenge without fear.

"Since I can't find them," Dai Tu said, staring at a brightly lit building across the street as an idea suddenly came to him, "then I'll make them come find me."

A huge wooden plaque hung above the entrance of that building, bearing three scarlet words:

Death Arena.

The Heaven Dou City Death Arena was the largest underground arena in the entire Heaven Dou Empire.

There were no rules here, no referees, no surrender. Once you stepped onto the stage, you either won or died.

The audience consisted of thrill-seeking nobles, mercenaries, and desperate outlaws. They placed bets, cheered, and screamed for blood and death.

When Dai Tu entered the Death Arena, the wave of heat and deafening clamor made him frown.

The air was thick with the stench of sweat, blood, cheap alcohol, and an even more primal scent—the frenzied hunger for violence. The massive circular arena was packed with at least two thousand people.

They waved their fists, shouted, and roared, their voices echoing beneath the dome until they made his eardrums ache.

The stage stood at the center of the venue, a circular stone platform thirty meters across. Its surface was covered in dark red stains—blood that could never be washed away.

At that moment, a bald, heavily muscled man over two meters tall smashed a smaller man's chest apart with a single punch.

Bone fragments and pieces of organs sprayed through the air. The smaller man did not even have time to scream before he crumpled to the ground, twitched twice, and went still.

"Roar!!!"

The bald brute raised his bloodstained fist and roared at the sky.

The stands erupted in thunderous cheers.

"Butcher! Butcher! Butcher!"

"Send in another one! Tear him apart!"

"I bet fifty gold coins! Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Dai Tu watched it all expressionlessly, passing through the frenzied crowd toward the registration desk beside the stage.

A one-eyed old man sat at the desk, puffing on a pipe. He lifted his eyelid, glanced at Dai Tu, and said in a hoarse voice,

"Kid, this isn't a place to play house. If you want to register, pay ten gold coins as a deposit first. If you die, there's no refund."

Dai Tu took out his last ten copper coins and placed them on the table.

The one-eyed old man snorted. "Copper coins? What do you think this is, a market stall?"

Dai Tu said nothing. He merely raised his head and looked at the old man.

A scarlet gleam flashed through his eyes.

The one-eyed old man stiffened all over. It felt as if something had pierced his soul. An icy, violent, destructive aura surged along with that gaze, numbing his limbs and stopping his breath for an instant.

By the time he came back to his senses, Dai Tu had already withdrawn his gaze and said calmly,

"I have no money. But I can fight. If I win, you take ten percent. How about it?"

The one-eyed old man stared at Dai Tu for a long time. At last, he exhaled a plume of smoke and grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth.

"Interesting. Fine, I'll give you a chance. Your next match is against Venom Scorpion, a two-ring Soul Grandmaster. His martial soul is a venomous scorpion tail, and he's already won seven matches. If you survive, you'll be one of the Death Arena's men from now on."

Dai Tu nodded and turned toward the stage.

Someone in the stands noticed the young newcomer.

"Who's that brat? He looks like he hasn't even been weaned yet."

"Haha, does the Death Arena take children now?"

"Venom Scorpion! Tear him apart! I bet a hundred gold coins!"

"Venom Scorpion! Venom Scorpion! Venom Scorpion!"

On the stage, the contestant known as Venom Scorpion was already waiting.

He was a lean man in his thirties, with a scar slashing diagonally from his forehead to his chin, making him look particularly vicious. Behind him, the phantom of a jet-black scorpion tail swayed, its stinger glowing with a faint blue light.

"Kid," Venom Scorpion said, licking his lips as a cruel gleam flashed in his eyes,

"I'll kill you as slowly as I can. I'll start with your toes, crush your bones bit by bit, and listen to you scream. That sound... it's the most wonderful thing."

Dai Tu ignored him.

He simply walked calmly onto the stage and stopped ten paces away from Venom Scorpion.

The referee called out in a syrupy voice, "Next match—newcomer Black Eye versus seven-win streaker Venom Scorpion! Odds are ten to one! Place your bets while you can!"

"Clang!"

The bell rang.

The battle began.

Venom Scorpion moved almost the instant the bell sounded. He darted forward like a ghost, turning into an afterimage as the scorpion-tail phantom behind him shot out like a venomous snake, aimed straight at Dai Tu's throat.

Fast, vicious, precise.

This was a killing move, without the slightest mercy.

Excited screams erupted from the stands.

But in the next second, those screams stopped abruptly.

Because Dai Tu had vanished.

No, he had not vanished. He was still standing there, but Venom Scorpion's tail had "passed" through his body without causing any harm, as though it had pierced empty air.

Venom Scorpion froze.

Before he could understand what had happened, he saw Dai Tu raise a hand.

His five fingers curled slightly, aimed at him.

"Kamui: Distortion."

Dai Tu spoke softly.

"Crack—"

The sound of bones shattering rang out, making everyone's teeth ache.

Venom Scorpion's tail twisted into a knot from the middle. Then came his right arm—every bone from shoulder to wrist snapped one after another, while the muscles beneath his skin warped grotesquely as if wrung by an invisible hand.

Finally, his left leg bent backward at the knee, and his ankle rotated one hundred and eighty degrees.

The entire process took only two seconds.

Venom Scorpion did not even have time to scream before he collapsed like a pile of mud. His eyes were wide with terror and confusion, as though he still could not understand how he had lost.

Silence.

Dead silence.

The two-thousand-strong audience was utterly silent. Everyone stood with mouths agape and eyes wide, like ducks being strangled.

Then, an even more frenzied roar erupted.

"Black Eye! Black Eye! Black Eye!"

"What did he do? I couldn't see anything!"

"A soul skill? Was that a soul skill? But I didn't see him release any soul rings!"

Dai Tu lowered his hand and looked toward the referee.

The seductive woman stood stunned for several seconds before snapping out of it. She hurriedly raised Dai Tu's hand, her voice trembling with excitement. "The winner—Black Eye!"

He won the first match.

Then came the second, the third, the fourth...

Dai Tu remained on the stage without stepping down. He wanted a winning streak, wanted to become famous quickly, wanted the name "Black Eye" to spread through Heaven Dou City's underground world.

His opponent in the second match was a strength-type Soul Elder with a rhinoceros martial soul. Dai Tu bound him with Wood Spirit Entanglement, then snapped his neck with a single Kamui: Distortion.

The third was an agility-type Soul Elder with a cheetah martial soul. Dai Tu used the Mangekyo's perception to see through all his movements, then used a precise Kamui: Intangibility to evade his fatal pounce before twisting his spine apart in return.

The fourth, fifth, sixth...

The opponents grew increasingly powerful. There were even three-ring Soul Elders, but the outcome was always the same.

Dai Tu did not even need to use his full strength. The Mangekyō Sharingan's perception allowed him to see through every attack trajectory.

Kamui: Intangibility made him immune to all physical attacks. Wood Spirit Entanglement could restrain enemies and absorb Soul Power. Kamui: Distortion was his killing move.

Simple, efficient, brutal.

The frenzy in the stands reached its peak.

"Ten straight wins! Ten straight wins! Ten straight wins!"

When Dai Tu snapped the neck of his tenth opponent, a five-ring Soul King, the entire Death Arena erupted.

Gold, silver, and copper coins rained down onto the stage. People screamed Black Eye's name, and the waves of sound nearly tore off the dome.

Dai Tu stood at the center of the stage, ten corpses of various shapes lying at his feet.