Sounds of explosions rumbled on while the defensive barrier around the arena shook, looking like it was about to fall apart. Of course, that was a false appearance, as the barrier was of the emperor grade. How could Kings destroy it? By the time everything settled, the devil apeman had already been split into two, leaving a pool of foul blood on the arena's surface.
As for Xiang Shaoyun, he was standing there with his Purple Lightning Saber in hand, gasping for breath. His arms were shivering, and it was obvious he had exhausted a lot of his energy in his attack.
Everyone sank into a long silence. None of them had expected Xiang Shaoyun to reverse the situation and slay the devil apeman.
Not far away, the Dark Devil Sect member opened his eyes and muttered, "You dare kill my devil slave? Fine, you shall be my new slave instead."
But right after he said that, a middle-aged man appeared noiselessly beside him and said, "Jun Shijie, he is not someone you can touch. Forget whatever it is you are thinking."
The slave owner raised his head and shot the middle-aged man a glance. "Zhang Sheng, as far as I know, that kid has not joined your city hall. Why are you interfering? Aren't you meddling too much?"
"Although he has not joined the city hall, a genius like this can not be killed. This is a rule of the city hall; it's also a rule of the various organizations," said Zhang Sheng.
Jun Shijie sneered, "Yes, there is indeed such an unspoken rule. Fine, I will spare him for now. If he offends me again, don't blame me for showing no mercy."
He then shut his eyes and ignored Zhang Sheng.
Zhang Sheng did not bother saying anything else and left noiselessly. Inwardly, he thought, I guess this kid is lucky in a way to have caught the eyes of the governor.
"Who else dares to battle me? Come!" Xiang Shaoyun remained on the arena and called out for more challengers despite the intense battle he just had.
"Interesting. Really interesting. The more I look at this kid, the more likable I find him!" mused Ugly Gambler before placing a bet of 100,000 mid-grade spirit crystals on Xiang Shaoyun.
It was clear he now only had 50 percent confidence in Xiang Shaoyun's chance of winning. Bets that could go both ways like this were what he loved most. The people were even more amazed when they saw that Xiang Shaoyun wasn't using any spirit medicines or spirit crystals to recover.
However, they were not aware that Xiang Shaoyun had an astral cosmos sea. Thus, he didn't need to physically take out the items he needed to use. In any case, his current injuries were not bad enough that he needed to heal up with some spirit medicines. He could still fight in his current condition.
He wanted to squeeze out any potential he had. His recovery after each exhaustion could grant him a certain amount of growth, which was why he had insisted to fight on the fifth arena.
His act of killing the devil apeman had awed a number of people there. Thus, regular fifth-stage Kings no longer dared to face him. Eventually, another dwarf got on the arena, trying to take revenge for the dwarf Xiang Shaoyun had killed on the fourth arena.
Once again, Xiang Shaoyun activated his gift of instincts to sense the energy flow around his opponent. Although he couldn't sense other energies as well as devilish energy, he was slowly gaining more mastery and was now able to slowly detect the changes of the energy flow. Since he already had his weapon drawn, he did not show any mercy when attacking. The dwarf was unable to withstand his relentless barrage and was eventually killed.
A few additional terrible-looking wounds had appeared on Xiang Shaoyun's body from the fight. He stayed on the arena for two days, winning 10 consecutive victories yet again. The name Xiang Shaoyun had now spread all over Bloodsin City. He used the stage name "Overlord", and this was the name the young Kings of the city committed to memory.
After the 10 victories, Xiang Shaoyun dragged his badly injured body off the arena. He was too weak to keep fighting, and he did not wish to continue anyway. The battles he had had were already enough for him to familiarize himself with the characteristics of the various races.
He had also comprehended the way of sensing energy flow, granting him the ability of prediction. His next plan was to enter a temporary seclusion and create the first stance of his new technique. And then, it would be time for him to venture into the Devil Domain.
The moment he left the arena, the three Skeletons quickly rushed toward him to protect him from any possible dangers. It was also done on Xiang Shaoyun's command. He was worried that his performance had been too eye-catching. He might have gotten more new enemies from all the people he had killed on the arena.
Sure enough, before the three Skeletons could get near him, a certain person arrived even faster with an attack. This person had been lingering near the arena the whole time and had attacked without any warning. The attack came so fast even the three Skeletons couldn't react in time.
Just as the assassin's sword was about to strike Xiang Shaoyun, an even faster figure flashed over and stopped before Xiang Shaoyun. That person shouted, "Scoundrel! You dare be impudent before this old man?"
It was none other than Ugly Gambler. With a wave of his hand, he sent a chain flying out and slashed the assassin into two, shocking the crowd around them. Everyone quickly retreated for fear of suffering Ugly Gambler's wrath even though they hadn't done anything.
Nobody had expected that Ugly Gambler would make a move. The assassin was at the very least a top Emperor, yet Ugly Gambler had slashed him into two with one hit. It was obvious how strong Ugly Gambler was. Ugly Gambler ignored everyone's surprised gazes and sent his aura toward the assassin's corpse, instantly ripping off the assissin's clothes and revealing the tattoo of a ferocious rat.
"So he's a member of the Rat Assassins. No wonder he's so impudent," said Ugly Gambler with a sneer.
"A member of the Rat Assassins? Who spent so much to hire one of them to assassinate Xiang Shaoyun?"
"The Rat Assassins are like a plague capable of penetrating everything. Nobody will ever know where they are hidden at any given time, and they rarely fail an assassination. This Xiang Shaoyun is lucky to have Gambler protecting him."
"That's right. Although the Rat Assassins don't have much influence in the Bloodsin City, in the entirety of the Western Desert, they are considered a large and powerful organization that few people would want to offend. Anyone who offends them will have to be constantly watching out for assassins."
"Looks like performing too well is not really a good thing after all. If this Xiang Shaoyun does not have a backer, he will have a hard time moving forward."
...
"We have failed you, Young Master Xiang," the three Skeletons quickly apologized when they finally arrived before Xiang Shaoyun. If he had been assassinated, all three of them would have died as well. The mere thought of that caused them to shiver in fear.
Ignoring them, Xiang Shaoyun wiped his sweat off and stepped forth.. He said to Ugly Gambler, "Thank you, Lord Gambler for saving me."
He had already learned from the three Skeletons that Ugly Gambler was one of the renowned Seven Villains of the Bloodsin City.
"Hehe, words don't mean much. I will give you a chance to repay me. Make a large bet with me," said Ugly Gambler with a sinister laugh. He then grabbed Xiang Shaoyun, and the two vanished into thin air.