The Martial Arts Arena lay south of the Genius Camp.
It was an enormous bluestone platform reinforced with formations.
Dozens of stone pillars stood around it, covered in runes left by Inscription Patterns Realm experts and giving off a faint glow.
Shi Hou and Shi Hao had barely reached the entrance when a clamor of jeers crashed into their ears.
At the center of the Martial Arts Arena.
Dazhuang knelt on one knee, his purple robe covered in gray footprints.
He braced both arms firmly against the ground, a bloody split at the corner of his mouth. He clenched his teeth stubbornly, refusing to lie flat even if it killed him.
Ermeng crouched nearby, his left eye badly swollen.
Snot Boy huddled behind him, trembling all over.
Shi Qingfeng had it even worse. Two youths two heads taller than him had twisted his arms behind his back and pinned him firmly against the bluestone slabs.
Seven or eight senior disciples, all fourteen or fifteen years old, surrounded them.
The youth leading them wore a crooked sneer, his right foot grinding heavily into Dazhuang's back.
"Two heavenly caves?" The youth spat. "And you think you deserve to stay in the Genius Camp? What backwater village did you trash crawl out of, taking up places for nothing?"
Someone beside him loudly chimed in. "How could they have won Heaven Mending Stones with this strength? They must have sneaked in through the back door!"
Dazhuang said nothing. His lips pressed tightly together, and he clenched his right fist until his knuckles turned white, veins bulging beneath his wheat-colored skin.
Even the weakest in the Genius Camp had four heavenly caves.
The gap in strength was plain to see.
Yet his spine remained rigid. No matter how hard that foot pressed against his back,