On the east side of the spectator stands, two figures stood on an elevated platform with an excellent view, one that few dared approach.
The young man in front was tall and slender. He wore a dark navy robe with its collar open, exposing skin covered in intricate dark-gold markings.
His handsome face held an indelible air of wickedness. Most striking were his eyes: his pupils were not human circles, but two narrow vertical slits.
Yuan Shi, the Taotie cub.
He had taken human form, but the aura of an Ancient Times Fierce Beast that looked down on all living things still clung to his bones, making the air around him unbearably thick.
Yuan Shi's slit pupils fixed on the familiar figure atop Arena Nine. Deep in his eyes, dark-red killing intent churned like magma.
"It's that human."
Yuan Shi absently rubbed the bluestone railing. His fingertips gouged deep furrows into its surface, sending stone dust trickling down.
The humiliation of being forced to sever his claw to survive in the First Realm region of the Blessed Land still replayed in his mind.
"Even if he turned to ash, I'd know him by his scent," Yuan Shi forced through clenched teeth. Black Demon Aura nearly spilled out of him unchecked.
Standing half a step behind Yuan Shi was an old man.
The old man wore a drab gray robe. His face was wrinkled like orange peel, his back hunched, and he looked like a country farmer with one foot in the grave.
Yet a closer sense would reveal that no breeze passed within three feet of him, as though the space he occupied were an abyss of absolute stillness.
Yuan Li.
A mixed-blood great demon of the Taotie clan and a Fifth Realm Grandmaster, he had come as Yuan Shi's