Ten days, fifty wins!

Qian Renxue said nothing, holding the Angel Blade across her body.

Mo Qinglian struck first.

His broadsword swept toward Qian Renxue's waist with a whistling rush of air, carrying Soul Power of over rank seventy.

The blow was heavy and powerful. Qian Renxue dared not meet it head-on and used Angel Saint Step to dodge sideways.

But Mo Qinglian was far more experienced than her previous opponents.

His slash was a feint. His real killing move came from his mouth.

"Hah-ptui!"

The instant his broadsword swept across, he opened his mouth and spat out a needle coated in deadly poison, shooting it straight at Qian Renxue's face.

"Disgusting!"

Qian Renxue tilted her head aside. The poison needle, slick with saliva, flew past almost against her ear.

But what made Mo Qinglian deadly was his chain of attacks.

The poison needle had barely passed when his broadsword swung back, cleaving toward Qian Renxue in a reverse strike.

Bang!

Unable to dodge completely in time, Qian Renxue hastily raised her Angel Blade, and the heavy broadsword slammed into it.

Agony shot through her arm, accompanied by a dull sound from her bones.

Her right arm hung limply. Although it had not broken, it was badly injured.

A flicker of smugness crossed Mo Qinglian's eyes. "My move contains three layers of hidden force. Your right arm must be crippled now..."

Before he could finish-

A faint layer of platinum light shone from the injury on Qian Renxue's right arm.

It was the Soul Bone Skill, Wildfire Cannot Burn It All Away; the Spring Breeze Brings It Back to Life, taking effect.

The restorative power granted by the Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor Soul Bone swept over the injury like a spring breeze, healing the damaged muscles and bones at a visible speed.

Qian Renxue's gaze turned cold and sharp. She closed her right hand around empty air, and the Angel Blade formed again. Her injury had clearly healed.

Mo Qinglian's eyes widened.

Even a rank seventy-nine Soul Saint could not withstand his Self-Created Soul Skill, Threefold Hidden Force Transformation. This girl had taken his slash squarely, yet recovered completely in just a few breaths?

"Impossible! You!"

Qian Renxue gave him no chance to finish.

The instant her right arm healed, she closed in.

She activated Flight, rising into the air, and brought the Angel Blade down from above with the sharp resolve of judgment.

Mo Qinglian raised his sword to block, but this time, that was not Qian Renxue's killing move. Using the techniques of Angel Saint Seizure, she locked his broadsword in place, twisted downward, and yanked.

The web of Mo Qinglian's hand shook violently, and the wooden sword flew from his grip.

Qian Renxue reversed her blade and slit his throat.

Cheng Ran: "Speed maxed! Full vision! He thought he could escape alive? No! Qian Renxue caught him! That Flash into a basic attack hit his vital spot with surgical precision! Beautiful! Not a shred of suspense, another kill secured! That's a top hunter's instinct! Congratulations to Qian Renxue on winning the match!"

Mo Qinglian clutched his neck and fell to his knees, his eyes filled with disbelief.

A dense white light rose from his corpse.

The sins of the hundreds of lives Mo Qinglian had taken all became Qian Renxue's experience points.

Qian Renxue straightened, and the Angel Blade dissipated. "After all the generations of inheritance and effort in my Angel Clan, what makes you think a few decades of bitter training should let you surpass me?"

Cheng Ran: "...Xiao Xue, I have to criticize you this time! Do you know how dangerous that was? If he'd been even more underhanded and fired poison needles from his little brother at the same time, you'd have been done for!"

Qian Renxue →_→: "Lord Evil God, no normal person would think of launching a sneak attack that way. Except you..."

She looked down at her fully restored right arm. The injury had not even left a scar.

"Don't worry. Any later, and this wound would have healed already."

But warmth filled her heart.

She knew Lord Evil God was concerned about her.

Even if his way of expressing concern always began with scolding her.

Cheng Ran took on Yao Lao's role and earnestly instructed her, "Xiao Xue, don't brush this off. Be careful next time. Do you know the top three reasons villains have died throughout history?"

"First, talking too much. Second, underestimating the enemy. Third, not using their ultimate move. Next time this happens, open with your strongest move and kill them outright, understand? Don't give them a chance to speak."

Qian Renxue only half understood. "You mean we're the villains?"

Cheng Ran: "What do you think? Heh heh heh..."

At the highest point of the Hell Slaughter Arena stood a viewing box screened by black curtains.

Inside, a figure sat upright on a stone chair.

He was tall and powerfully built, his skin as pale as paper and his eyes blood-red. A faint, almost imperceptible blood-colored mist lingered around him.

The King of Slaughter.

The absolute ruler of Slaughter City.

He almost never concerned himself with the Hell Slaughter Arena's daily matches. Those antlike creatures fighting to the death meant nothing to him.

But today, on a passing whim, he had watched.

From the thirteenth match through to the end.

His gaze had remained on the blonde girl in white.

Her beauty meant nothing to him. After decades in Slaughter City, he had long since grown tired of such outward appearances.

What truly kept him watching was the way she fought.

A rank sixty Soul Ancestor, without Soul Skills, had cleared out eight opponents within thirty breaths before turning the tables and killing a Soul Saint above rank seventy.

And there was that aura about her.

The King of Slaughter could not say what it was, but he instinctively found it uncomfortable. It was a power utterly opposed to Slaughter City.

With every person she killed, that power grew stronger, as though devouring, inch by inch, the foundation that sustained this city.

The black-robed attendant beside him bowed his head and bent at the waist. "Your Majesty, shall we bring her up?"

Qian Renxue's retreating figure as she left the arena was reflected in the King of Slaughter's crimson eyes.

After a long while, he slowly spoke. "No hurry. Let her keep fighting."

That evening, Qian Renxue left the arena and handed her Identity Card to the registrar to have another mark carved into it.

Fifteen wins. Thirty-five more matches would bring her to fifty.

After fifty wins, the caliber of her opponents would rise dramatically. True experts, desperate outlaws, and even some old monsters living under assumed names would begin to appear.

That would be the true golden period for leveling up.

Time slipped silently away as she farmed enemies and leveled up.

Before she knew it, it was her tenth day in Slaughter City.

Qian Renxue handed her Identity Card to the registrar.

The registrar's hand trembled as he carved the fiftieth mark into it.

He raised his head and gave Qian Renxue another look.

Fifty wins in ten days.

Such speed was unheard of in Slaughter City's thousand-year history.

The previous record belonged to Tang Hao. He had reached fifty wins in roughly three months and had already been called a "monster."

Yet this blonde girl had done it in ten days.

"Congratulations on your fiftieth win." The registrar slid the Identity Card back, a rare note of respect in his voice.

Qian Renxue took the Identity Card.

Cheng Ran: Contestants with fifty wins won't appear in the same match as you. You've reached diamond in ranked play, but the system won't match you against opponents in your own tier.

Qian Renxue: Then what about my opponents from now on?

Cheng Ran: People with more than fifty wins won't share your match, but those with forty-something wins still will. Anyone who has survived past forty wins is no pushover.

Qian Renxue nodded, left the registration office, and stepped onto the streets of the inner city.

Ten days of intense fighting had brought a subtle change to her bearing.

Through these ten days of killing to stop killing, the sacred essence of her Angel Martial Soul had been tempered again and again. Just as true gold stood the test of fire, the killing aura had not eroded her mind; instead, it had become a whetstone.

Her gaze had changed. Those golden eyes now held something that could only settle there after countless brushes with life and death.

Fifty matches in the Hell Slaughter Arena, fighting almost without pause, had turned over a thousand criminals into pure Soul Power within her.

Meanwhile, on the mountain behind Holy Soul Village...