Hell Slaughter Arena

Jiang Mingyang slowly approached the Hell Slaughter Arena.

The Hell Slaughter Arena was an unusual building. It was round, or more precisely, shaped like an uneven cone: widest at the bottom, then narrowing as it rose. At roughly thirty meters above the ground, it stopped tapering and continued upward at the same diameter until it reached fifty meters.

Two enormous stone tablets stood outside the Hell Slaughter Arena.

The tablet on the left bore the rules of its matches: entrants registered with their personal identity badges, then waited for a match to begin.

Fighting was forbidden while they waited. Each group entering the arena consisted of ten people. Only one from each group would come out alive.

The tablet on the right bore the condition for watching: spectators had to contribute one cup of Bloody Mary.

It could be their own blood or someone else's.

Once inside, they could watch for as long as they liked. Matches ran continuously; as soon as ten people had registered, a new one could begin.

Having killed the three people who had ambushed him earlier, Jiang Mingyang naturally had no shortage of Bloody Mary.

As Jiang Mingyang reached the entrance, a hulking man with an axe tattoo and a pair of cross-shaped scars on his chest, left by a heavy blade, flashed him a terrifying smile from afar.

With a politeness as fierce as his appearance, the man said, "Could you please give me your Bloody Mary? Thank you!"

Jiang Mingyang's expression changed. He nearly laughed in anger. Were robbers this polite now? How could a mouth warmed to thirty-seven degrees say something so cold?

Without hesitation, Jiang Mingyang summoned his martial soul, the Tianya Sword. The Spiritual Holy Sword born of his Sword Heart struck the hulking man in an instant.

Hit by Jiang Mingyang's indescribable sword strike, the man lost consciousness at once and fell to the ground, his eyes vacant.

The people nearby hurried away. They kept their distance and did not dare give Jiang Mingyang a second glance.

To them, Jiang Mingyang had merely summoned his martial soul and made a light slash at the air, and the man had collapsed. It was chilling.

Anyone who came near the Hell Slaughter Arena was an outlaw unafraid of life or death, but being an outlaw did not mean wanting to die.

Most people who came to Slaughter City were greedy. They came here to indulge themselves.

Resources were plentiful in the Inner City, and there were still so many pleasures left to enjoy. No one wanted to die now, and there was no reason to provoke an opponent they could not defeat.

Jiang Mingyang walked over to the man, cut open a major artery in his neck, and slowly collected the Bloody Mary.

Once he had collected enough, Jiang Mingyang stood, walked away, and entered the Hell Slaughter Arena without hesitation.

After Jiang Mingyang left, no one rushed to claim the man's corpse as they would have in the Outer City. Quite some time passed before someone took it away.

The Inner City had ample resources. Everyone received large amounts of food each day—more than they could eat. Far more.

Still, the human heart was an elephant trying to swallow a snake. The weak would have their food stolen, so there was no need to worry that no one would deal with a corpse.

Inside, the Hell Slaughter Arena was even more rudimentary than it looked from outside.

There were no barriers within. Rings of spectator stands rose around the perimeter, while below lay a vast open floor over a hundred meters across.

When Jiang Mingyang entered the stands, they were not even twenty percent full.

That did not strike him as strange. No one could spend every day watching matches in the Hell Slaughter Arena.

Slaughter City had no shortage of beautiful women. In this world ruled by strength and filled with killing and desire, anyone could guess where else people spent their time...

No match had begun yet. Only eight entrants had gathered, and it took roughly another half hour to make ten.

Then the match began. Compared with the Soul Master Tournament, where competitors pulled their blows for fear of hurting their opponents, every move in the Hell Slaughter Arena drew blood.

A free-for-all between ten people was nothing like an ordinary one-on-one fight.

Each fighter had to guard against nine others while secretly looking for an opening. Everyone kept several schemes in mind, and everyone was adept at surprise attacks.

It was also difficult for the scenes from novels to occur: one person defeating nine, or nine joining forces to eliminate one opponent first.

That was impossible. Everyone had to watch the people around them. As for someone strong enough to fight nine at once, well, perhaps if they had some kind of cheat...

The wait for a match was long, but the match itself was short.

After about half an hour, only one person remained in the arena.

Jiang Mingyang learned a great deal from watching the whole thing. This was a true fight to the death.

Once someone gained even the slightest advantage, they built on it step by step until they crushed their opponent. There was no back-and-forth like children playing house.

The match ended quickly. Jiang Mingyang had plenty of time, so he stayed to watch the next one.

After all, the Hell Slaughter Arena imposed no time limit. If a spectator could stand it, they could keep watching.

Suotuo City

It was just past noon, and the sun blazed overhead. Two young people, a boy and a girl, entered through Suotuo City's west gate. Both looked to be in their teens and carried no luggage.

The boy was plainly dressed and looked about twelve or thirteen. He stood roughly 1.7 meters tall and wore a neat, light-blue fighting outfit.

The girl's silky black hair was gathered into a tidy Scorpion Braid. Even braided, it hung past her calves.

They were Tang San and Xiao Wu, whom Jiang Mingyang had met once before.

They had come to Suotuo City because the so-called Grandmaster, Yu Xiaogang, had said there was an excellent academy here and hoped Tang San would attend it.

Tang San's father, Tang Hao, had also said he could study and grow stronger anywhere. So Tang San had brought Xiao Wu to Suotuo City.

Tang San had complicated feelings about Yu Xiaogang, the so-called Grandmaster.

After his long conversation with Jiang Mingyang, Tang San had begun to question whether Blue Silver Grass should follow the Control System path. He had raised the matter with Yu Xiaogang on their way back to the academy.

Yu Xiaogang had been there when Jiang Mingyang spoke and had been deeply moved by what he heard.

Yet after returning to Notting Academy, he had not changed the plan he had made for Tang San. He still insisted that Tang San follow the Control System path.

By all rights, that should have been the end of it.

But on Tang San's second night back at Notting Academy, his father, Tang Hao, appeared.

Tang San was preparing for bed that night.

A voice suddenly called, "Xiao San, come outside."

Tang San was overjoyed when he heard it. "Father!" He hurried out of the dormitory.

Tang Hao stood in the moonlight, his beard as scruffy as ever. He looked much as he had before.

What had changed was his bearing. He seemed entirely different now, profound and unfathomable.

Tang Hao said, "Xiao San, that boy was right. Your Blue Silver Grass is unusual. The Healing System path suits it best.

"Your mother's Blue Silver Grass excelled most at healing, too."

Tang San nodded. "I think that makes a lot of sense, but yesterday, Teacher still said I should stick with the Control System path."

Tang Hao smiled. "Xiao San, let me tell you a story. Once, the young heir of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan...

"That man is your teacher, Yu Xiaogang.

"Yu Xiaogang has a solid grasp of the fundamentals, no doubt about it. But he has never seen what high-level soul masters can truly do, so he cannot choose the path that suits you best."

Tang San fell into thought, then asked, "Father, how do you know all this?"

Tang Hao smiled again and said slowly, "Let me tell you another story. Once, the heir to the title of Clear Sky Douluo in the Clear Sky Sect was a man named Tang Hao..."

Tang San was stunned. I'm the son of a Titled Douluo? I'm one of the most privileged heirs on the Douluo Continent?

He blurted out, "Then... Father, does that mean I should follow the Healing System path?"

Tang Hao nodded. "I know a fair amount about soul masters, and I think that boy made a convincing case.

"Besides, your mother followed a path much like the Healing System.

"I also made inquiries. That boy has always received the finest education and has his own insights into soul masters. There is a good chance he was right.

"I asked some friends who are well versed in theory, too. They all said the Healing System offered better prospects, though its weakness was a lack of combat ability.

"But you have Twin Martial Souls. If you take the Healing System path, that weakness disappears. You'll be able to take a hit and fight back. It's a good choice."

Hearing how much Tang Hao had done for him, Tang San was deeply moved. He nodded firmly.

Tang Hao stroked Tang San's head with relief, then leaped away.

Watching him go, Tang San murmured, "Father, have you been protecting me in secret all this time? And why would a mighty Titled Douluo live like that? Does it have something to do with my mother?"

No answer came from the empty air, but Tang San turned and left with the resolve of someone who had received one.

From then on, one more person in the world called Yu Xiaogang "Grandmaster" instead of "Teacher."

Six years passed in the blink of an eye...

The Grand Ancestor said: "Wine and women have taken their toll on me. How haggard I've become! From this day forward, I give up drinking!"

"Quotes of the New Era Grand Ancestor"