Tainted Blood

by Tinalynge

  Right at that moment, Lu Yuping’s eyes turned blood-red. Lu Yuping was a Primordial Beast with the strength that equaled a seventh layered Earth Knight. It was impossible for Lu Yuping to be without innate abilities, but up until now he had used none of them, only fled.

  Unfortunately, this realization came too late for Jia Lu. An instant after he had charged at Lu Yuping, whose eyes had turned red, a red crescent moon blade appeared above the latter’s head that descended straight on the former.

  This crescent moon blade moved so fast that Xue Wei only saw a blur before both Lu Yuping and Jia Lu came to a standstill.

  Lu Yuping seemed extremely worn out. His golden fur was soaked with sweat and he was out of breath. Jia Lu, on the other hand, stood completely still, his eyes showing disbelief.

  For a few moments, the only sound you could hear was Lu Yuping’s hurried breathing. Then, suddenly, Jia Lu collapsed, his head severed neatly from his body.

  Silence enveloped the place for only a brief moment, but then a loud cheer erupted, followed by an uproar. Although the odds for Lu Yuping winning were rather high and the payout from the betting quite small, every little bit mattered to these people, so they were ecstatic now.

  Lu Yuping left the cage in his beast shape. He was larger than any mortal leopard by more than three times and his figure was awe-inspiring as it moved through the underground world’s cave.

  He vanished into a room that was carved at the end of the cave. After around half an hour, he reemerged as a human, neatly dressed in new robes with a haughty expression on his face.

  He swept a glance through the cave and suddenly his eyes landed on Xue Wei. A bit of hesitation was evident on his face, but he seemed to eventually gather courage and walked towards the younger male.

  Xue Wei frowned. He had never before met a Primordial Beast who could sense his bloodline as a Sovereign Beast before, but then he was reminded of Wan Qiang’s ability to see through him despite him wearing a face mask all those months ago.

  Was his cultivation rank too low to keep himself disguised? He was unsure, but when he saw the veneration in Lu Yuping’s eyes, he knew that he was not in danger right now at least.

  Lu Yuping walked towards Li Chen and Xue Wei with graceful steps that were almost as light as air. His bearing was that of a sovereign coming to visit his subjects, but his entire demeanor changed the moment he stood in front of Xue Wei.

  He bowed slightly, something that the rest of the experts within the cave had never seen him do before, and then he straightened his back.

  “Your majesty,” he said respectfully with compressed voice communication to Xue Wei, “I recognized you right away. Your demeanor is that of a god descending to the mundane world, your aura so overwhelmingly powerful that even I, a Primordial Beast with a strength equivalent to an Earth Knight of the seventh layer, feel great pressure.”

  “Your majesty, please listen to the prayer of a humble servant—please bestow upon me some of your blood. I have been stuck at this layer for many years now. If I wish to advance, then I need to rely on external resources.”

  “It is because of these external resources that I went to these cage battles. Here I get pills, medicinal herbs, spirit fruits, and even essence stones, but after relying on them for some time, I have realized that it is impossible for me to advance normally. I need something much more powerful. Something sacred for every Primordial Beast. I need the blood of a Sovereign Beast.”

  Xue Wei was taken back by the request that Lu Yuping made. He narrowed his eyes. “I do not seem to know you though,” Xue Wei replied and did not deny the fact that he was a Sovereign Beast. Instead, he acknowledged it wholeheartedly and spoke with Lu Yuping as one would with a business partner. If Lu Yuping could take out something that was of use to him, then a bit of blood was no big deal.

  Xue Wei did not know exactly what marvelous changes his blood caused to Primordial Beasts, but he was not completely clueless either. He had seen how Hei Gou had transformed from an average beast into a top-notch one.

  Not only had it changed his bloodline, but it had also mutated his body. His strength had risen and he had gained a higher Qi-level than before. He could imagine that the same changes happened to every one of the Primordial Beasts if they were to get their hands on his blood.

  “I am a loyal subject to your majesty!” Lu Yuping said eagerly. “I have been so ever since I heard about the resurgence of a Sovereign Beast.”

  Xue Wei frowned. “Resurgence of the Sovereign Beast? Where did you hear this?” He was unhappy about the fact that these Primordial Beasts seemed to know about him, or more precisely, they seemed to know that the Sovereign Beasts had returned. But where had they returned from? Xue Wei was puzzled.

  Seeing his frown, Lu Yuping quickly went on to explain, “We have not had a Sovereign Beast to rally and control us for the last thousands of years.” He sighed. “Back when they united the continent and made the beasts the leading race, they ruled it for a few hundred years, but after that they all seemed to vanish.”

  “No one knows if the Sovereign Beasts decided to seclude themselves deep within the danger zones where even the Primordial Beasts cannot enter, or if they died out, or even whether they left the continent or not.”

  “Then a few thousand years went by and we ended up having the humans rebelling against us. The Sovereign Beasts never emerged in all that time. They only watched as we were overwhelmed.” There was the slight trace of a grudge in Lu Yuping’s voice.

  “Since then, Sovereign Beasts have only appeared every now and then to save us from extinction. They have not been an active part of our lives, or so I was told.”

  “But the funny thing is that a few days ago, I heard a rumor from my friend, a Blue-Blooded Heavenly Lion, about how a young Sovereign Beast had appeared on the continent.”

  “I did not believe it, but I was hoping for it,” Lu Yuping admitted readily. “Now that I have seen you, I feel that the royal air coming from you can only come from a noble being such as a Sovereign Beast.”

  Xue Wei had received quite a bit of information from this conversation, but he did not trust it completely. Lu Yuping was not weak, but he was far from being one of the high-ranking experts in the Primordial Beast world. His knowledge was likely to be flawed. It was better to wait for the information he could get from Li Chen and the Intelligencer.

  Returning to the subject at hand, Lu Yuping wanted his blood, but Xue Wei was not going to just hand it over. Although he had a body filled with it, he understood that it was rather precious.

  At the same time, he was aware that flat out declining the request could possibly push Lu Yuping to forcibly steal his blood with force out of desperate need. It was a difficult position.

  Sensing Xue Wei’s hesitation, Lu Yuping understood what was going on in his mind and quickly smiled. “I will not ask for it for free,” he said sleazily, “I will, of course, compensate you for everything. I can give you pills and essence stones.”

  Xue Wei narrowed his eyes ponderously. Then he agreed after a few moments. Although he was not short on pills, the ones he had were mainly either suitable for Heavenly Warriors or meant to provide a smoother breakthrough into the Ordinary Knight rank. The pills that Lu Yuping possessed clearly contained energy fit to benefit the cultivation of an Ordinary or even an Earth Knight.

  Chapter 12 - Entering the Cage

  Xue Wei agreed with Lu Yuping, but he knew better than to just share his blood right then and there. That was simply too risky with so many people around them.

  In the end, the two decided to return to Xue Wei’s hotel where no one would be watching them later.

  “There are still a few hours until the cage battles come to a close,” Lu Yuping said smilingly. “Why don’t you enjoy yourself to your heart’s content for now, and when it’s time to close we will go together?”

  Xue Wei had expected Lu Yuping to leave him after this, but he walked around with them, conversing casually with Li Chen. />
  Xue Wei had by now observed quite a few battles and knew what they were about, more or less. He felt that it was time to try it out for himself.

  Xue Wei had complete faith in his own ability. He was not arrogant, but he had a steady foundation that had been strengthened with multiple spiritual fruits, herbs, and pills, alongside cultivation.

  His foundation was rock solid and the skills he possessed were top notch in a backwater Kingdom. What he had achieved may not be the cream of the crop here, but it was not bad at all.

  Xue Wei did not know too much about the martial arts that were available in the center of the continent, but the majority he had seen in the Cloudsoar city were all profound ranked martial arts, equal to many of his own skills.

  One has to remember that a Heavenly Warrior could not properly use skills like these; only at most half their potential could be brought out in the hands of a ninth layered Heavenly Warrior.

  If one wanted to bring out the full might of the skill, they had to reach the Earth Knight level first. Since this was the case, only superior martial arts showed their true value in the hands of a Heavenly Warrior.

  Xue Wei only had superior and profound martial arts. He was able to fight without being dragged down by his martial arts not being powerful enough.

  “Well then, let’s sign up for a battle,” Xue Wei said casually, but his words made Lu Yuping pale with fright. “No you can’t!” he exclaimed with shock, forgetting to use compressed voice communication. His blundering shout made the people around them give them puzzled looks.

  Xue Wei closed his eyes and shook his head with a slight smile on his face. It was quite embarrassing. “I will be fine,” Xue Wei said with a smile to Lu Yuping. “Don’t tell me that you think I won’t be able to win? As long as it is not a Primordial Beast or a Primordial Beast Hunter, then I’m good.”

  Lu Yuping looked at Xue Wei with uncertainty. His rationality let him understand that Xue Wei had the ability to win most fights at his level, but deep within he was worried and scared that something might happen to him.

  His higher-ups in the hierarchy of Primordial Beasts would never let it go if something happened to Xue Wei while he was present, and he would never be able to live down the guilt. A Sovereign Beast was the hope for every beast out there. If Xue Wei was hurt or killed while Lu Yuping was right next to him, then it was likely that he would end up as the enemy of all beasts.

  Xue Wei understood his misgivings. It was easy to guess what he was feeling and what he was thinking about. Still, Xue Wei had already made a promise to participate in a cage battle, so he was not going to change his decision no matter how Lu Yuping tried to persuade him.

  Smirking, Xue Wei looked at Li Chen. “Big sister Chen, I promised you that I would participate in a battle,” he said cheekily, pushing all the blame onto her. “I am a man and a man cannot go back on his words. I will go sign up now!”

  As soon as he said this, before Lu Yuping had time to say anything, Xue Wei turned and started walking toward the sign-up table. In the end, Lu Yuping ended up glaring at Li Chen, but he knew about her background and dared not show his displeasure.

  Xue Wei reached the table then. It was a rather inconspicuous, simple-looking table, the kind you would not notice unless you were looking for it. Ahead of him, three young men were currently signing up.

  “Oh, are you here to sign up?” the clerk sitting behind the table asked without looking up. Xue Wei, who had been raised to mind his manners, cupped his hands. “Yes, I am here to participate in the fun,” Xue Wei said with a smile and bowed slightly.

  His behavior would have been considered polite in the rest of the world, but here it was considered strange. This was a place for outlaws. No one bothered to be polite to a mere clerk.

  The other three young men who were standing and waiting for their turn to fight glanced at Xue Wei to determine if he was a threat. From looking at his polite behavior and the fact they had not seen him before, these people quickly understood that he was here for the first time.

  There was a term to use for those who wanted to fight the first day they were in the cave: fat sheep. They were just waiting for the slaughter.

  Even if they had seen a few battles, they did not know the strength of most of the contestants and believed blindly in their own ability. This blind belief caused them to die early, losing all their items and becoming one of the many corpses that were used to feed the Fierce Beasts that fought in the cage battles.

  Xue Wei was aware of this, but he did not mind. In fact, he welcomed the idea that they perceived him as a fat sheep. The more they underestimated him, the less danger he was in. Although he was rather certain of his own abilities, he still wanted every advantage that he could get.

  None of those three experts in front of him were really his equal. All three of them were also Heavenly Warriors, but one of them was a third layer while the other two were second layer.

  Xue Wei had to wait for some time. There were no experts of the same layer as him available currently, but the clerk rather than pit him against a Fierce Beast had the women who served food and snacks share the news that a fat sheep had appeared.

  The clerk was certain that the news would instantly make others jump at the first opportunity to sign up to fight him.

  And right he was. Only a few moments after, three people approached the table. All three were at the same cultivation level as Xue Wei.

  One of them was a small but extremely fat man. He seemed as if he could roll rather than walk. His face sagged with more than five chins and his eyes resembled those of a pig.

  Another one was skinny, very skinny. He was almost twice as tall as the fat man, but his body was so much thinner. He resembled a bamboo pole.

  The last person was neither fat nor thin. He seemed to be healthy, lean but with muscle, and he dressed neatly. He had a small goatee and seemed rather calculating.

  These three men saw each other at the same time and all of them seemed to be considering what exactly they should do. Running was below their dignity, but they did not want this fat sheep to be given to someone else.

  As a result, all three sped up. Even the fat man managed to move rather fast contrary to one’s expectations.

  Xue Wei narrowed his eyes. Of these three, he felt the most danger from the fat man. Although he seemed the most useless of the three, there was a dangerous air around him.

  Fortunately, he was not the first person at the table. The man with the goatee had reached the table first and slammed his hand down onto the table.

  “I, your daddy, want to fight against that fat sheep!” he declared out loud, not caring that his highly provocative words could be heard by everyone.

  One did not have to give their name when they signed up. No one used their real name in this place anyway, unless they had a strong backing like Li Chen or was a fighter like Lu Yuping with a long winning streak.

  Where others disguised their faces and hid their names in the cave, this was the only place where Lu Yuping could be himself. As soon as he exited the cave, it was the other way around—he would become the one who had to use a fake name and a face mask.

  What one had to do was to announce their current cultivation level. Then if there was another person within the same tier already signed up, then they would fight, if not that person would have to stand by the table until someone showed up, or until they released a Fierce Beast.

  Xue Wei looked at the man who referred to himself as ‘daddy’ and smiled while shaking his head. This man seemed to be the least dangerous of the bunch. He seemed to be the most normal one of the three, and the air around him was also the least dangerous.

  Still, Xue Wei did not relax. He understood that this man could be hiding his strength. He could, in fact, be a wolf in sheep’s clothes trying to lure Xue Wei into lowering his guard.

  “Enter cage number four,” the clerk said disinterestedly. This was a Fat Sheep. The amount of times they managed to defeat the opponent was li
mited, and the younger man seemed like he was nothing special.

  At least, that was what he thought at first. When the clerk glanced at Xue Wei one last time, he saw that Li Chen and Lu Yuping both had walked up to him and were standing by his side.

  This scene was seen by many, including the man with the goatee, who seemed as if he had just eaten a fly.

  Everyone in the underground world knew Li Chen. The Intelligencer’s right-hand woman and the one who held the most power in the entire black market, only overruled by the Intelligencer, whom few had the privilege to see.

  The other person was Lu Yuping. He was known as one of the fiercest fighters in the entire cave. Everyone knew he was a Primordial Beast.

  For him to have caught the attention of both Li Chen and Lu Yuping, was he really a fat sheep on the chopping block waiting to be slaughtered and robbed?

  The goatee man was not willing to give up. This was a life and death battle. Xue Wei having an impressive background would not change the unforgiving nature of the cage.