Shameless Xiuka

Kasha, having secured her victory, gestured happily to the crowd; it was clear she was a very lively girl.

The audience responded in kind, congratulating her on the win.

The Announcer clapped twice to celebrate the victor before speaking up: "Thank you to contestant Kasha for the spectacular duel! Next, we welcome Lan Peiling of the Rose Mercenary Group to face off against Jedons of the Giant Rock Mercenary Group!"

The Announcer checked his list and then yielded the stage to the two fighters.

Jiang Yun watched the pair on stage and felt it was a classic case of Beauty and the Beast; the aesthetic was just too bizarre. If the Rose Mercenary Group was a collection of heroic and spirited young women, then the Giant Rock Mercenary Group was composed entirely of hulking, brawny men.

Just as Jiang Yun was sizing them up, he suddenly felt a gaze land on him and turned his head to follow it.

Jiang Yun saw that it was a woman, and it was easy to tell she was exceptionally beautiful. Although she wore a veil, her figure gave away a hint of her appearance.

She fit Earthling aesthetic standards perfectly, and her skin was remarkably fair.

Logically, someone this beautiful should have been quite eye-catching, yet the people around her kept their attention fixed on the match, ignoring the beautiful woman as if she were just an ordinary person.

What caught Jiang Yun's attention most, however, was not that, but the fact that this woman's combat power was actually incredibly high, even though it appeared to be only around 8,000 on the surface.

Interesting!

A woman with such formidable combat power had to be the legendary leader of the Rose Mercenary Group, Black Rose. It was no simple matter for such a beautiful woman to be known by that name.

Clearly, there was more to her than met the eye!

What interested Jiang Yun most was why Black Rose would hide her true combat power. If she were this strong, how could she only be one of the three major factions? Did the other factions possess such overwhelming strength?

This contradicted the findings of the Blazing Squad's investigation, though Jiang Yun didn't dwell on it too much; after all, in the universe, it was normal to keep a few cards up one's sleeve.

Besides, who knew if others had increased their power over time?

Black Rose was startled when she saw Jiang Yun turn his head. What powerful mental energy!

She was shocked because very few people could ever detect her surveillance. She hadn't expected this man to discover her gaze so easily, and her illusions had no effect on him either.

Jiang Yun also detected a special energy surrounding her—was it some kind of superpower, or the application of mental energy?

Jiang Yun didn't make any sudden moves; instead, he nodded at Black Rose, signaling his goodwill. Black Rose seemed slightly taken aback, then nodded back at Jiang Yun in acknowledgment.

Jiang Yun turned his head back and watched the match intently, his heart remaining calm.

Black Rose, however, felt a ripple of emotion within her, as she felt a strange sense of affinity toward Jiang Yun, which piqued her curiosity.

Her race was naturally close to nature, and Jiang Yun emanated an aura that she found strangely intimate.

That was the reason she had looked at him, but she hadn't expected to be seen through so easily.

Watching Jiang Yun focus on the match, Black Rose stopped overthinking and turned her attention to the fight as well.

On the stage, the grueling battle everyone expected did not occur; instead, the match became one-sided. Lan Peiling quickly suppressed her opponent and, after a brief struggle, secured the victory.

The arena erupted in thunderous applause. As expected, beautiful young women were popular everywhere!

Lan Peiling showed no joy upon winning; instead, she cast a provocative glance at Xiuka.

That single look made Xiuka's blood boil. To Jiang Yun, the young woman looked quite pretty, but in Xiuka's eyes, she likely appeared as something else entirely.

Xiuka's appearance was similar to an Earthling's, but his skin was red, much like the red ox-headed and horse-faced demons Goku encountered when he fell into Hell while running along Snake Way.

Unlike Xiuka's irritation, Lan Peiling was in a fantastic mood for having riled him up so much. If not for the crowd, she might have burst into loud laughter.

It was no wonder she was so happy; there was a reason they and the Lone Wolf Mercenary Group were bitter enemies.

The cause was that Xiuka had once snatched a mission target away from the Rose Mercenary Group—a rare and precious beast with a single horn that possessed immense medicinal value.

However, the beast was not weak, boasting a combat power of several thousand. During a coordinated hunt, the group had been on the verge of taking it down.

But Xiuka had led his men to crash their hunt. On Qiu Long Planet, snatching such capture missions was strictly forbidden.

This was an unspoken rule in the mercenary world. If someone could just run out and steal your target whenever you were about to finish a mission, it would be infuriating; thus, it had become a standard convention.

Violating it would lead to being ostracized by everyone.

As Xiuka approached, he had scattered a powder that caused the beast to go berserk. Caught off guard by the sudden frenzy, the Rose Mercenary Group lost several sisters to the rampaging creature, which then broke out of the encirclement only to be killed by Xiuka on the perimeter.

Lan Peiling had been the one leading the group at the time. Afterward, they went to Black Rose to demand an explanation from the Lone Wolf Mercenary Group, but they flatly denied their actions.

They claimed the beast had broken out of the encirclement on its own and was only killed by them afterward.

Such occurrences were permitted.

But the shameless Lone Wolf Mercenary Group refused to admit their actions and instead turned the tables, accusing the Rose Mercenary Group of intentionally looking for trouble with baseless excuses.

The leader of the Lone Wolf Mercenary Group, Xiusi, naturally supported his younger brother, while the other mercenary groups, wary of Xiusi's reputation, chose to sit on the sidelines and watch the tigers fight, having no intention of intervening.

Because of certain special circumstances, Black Rose could not exert her full strength, and her surface-level power was roughly on par with Xiusi's.

Thus, the matter was left unresolved, and the two mercenary groups became sworn enemies.

When it was Xiuka's turn to fight, he had cleanly and efficiently finished off Kasha of the Whirlwind Mercenary Group, then fixed his gaze on Lan Peiling, acting provocatively.

Others were aware of their grudge, and to them, this friction only made the match more spectacular and exciting.

Soon, the duel between the two began. As they stepped onto the stage, they both unleashed their auras; both had combat powers of around 6,000.

For a moment, they were evenly matched, and invisible vortices even began to appear around them. Anyone unaware of the situation might have thought they were already locked in a life-or-death struggle.