While Xu Qing was observing the environment of the fighting area, the sounds of cheering from the crowd echoed out. The entrance, where Xu Qing and the others had walked into earlier, now let out a booming sound as a huge gate slammed down.
It smashed heavily against the ground surface, causing clouds of dust and soil to kick up.
This sound was like a bugle horn being blown and caused the surrounding scavengers to become even more excited.
Xu Qing also noticed that on that tall platform right in front of him, there was a middle-aged man clad in cotton clothes. A group of people followed him, and he sat in the highest seat.
Because the distance was very far, his appearance was somewhat blurry.
Evidently, the status of this person was extraordinary.
Despite the far distance, Xu Qing could sense that the spirit energy fluctuations from the other party were extremely dense, surpassing everyone he had ever seen before.
This caused Xu Qing to feel wary. At the same time, he had a guess in his heart. This person was probably the camp leader of this campsite.
This was because Xu Qing saw the guy with the three-stroke beard from yesterday bending beside him, carefully giving the latter a report.
As the camp leader sat down, the guy with the three-stroke beard stood on a tall platform and made a gesture to those below.
Very soon, at the boundary of the Beastfight Arena, a wooden gate was opened. Now, waves of roars from ferocious beasts sounded even clearer without the obstruction of the wooden gate.
And as the sounds echoed out, a group of scavengers emerged.
They were split into four teams of three, each carrying a large metal cage as they slowly walked out.
Inside each metal cage, a ferocious beast could be seen roaring and prancing around, as though they wanted to tear the cage into pieces.
Xu Qing rapidly glanced over and his gaze swept past the four metal cages.
He saw that there were two giant wolves, one larger and one smaller. However, both their teeth were extremely sharp. Their bodies were pitch black, and their gazes were blood-colored.
There were also large amounts of drool dripping from the corner of their mouths. As they stared at Xu Qing and the other four, they revealed savage expressions.
There was also a red-furred bear. Its thick arms were even larger than the thigh of an adult human. As for its expression, it was filled with violence as it continued to rattle the cage.
The small team of three scavengers carrying it evidently found it very strenuous to do so.
As for the ferocious beast in the last metal cage, its aura was clearly much weaker in comparison.
It was a gibbon.
Its body was covered in pustules, which looked like they would explode with a single touch. This was especially so since the gibbon seemed to be in very great pain. It kept slamming itself against the metal cage, causing a number of pustules to keep breaking. It was a shocking sight.
Their appearances sent the surrounding audience into another uproar.
In just a moment, the expressions of the two youths beside Xu Qing paled. That little girl also had intense terror in her eyes. As for that youth who was originally a scavenger, he was also much more nervous at this moment.
“Why are there only four creatures?” Xu Qing was astonished as he glanced at the tunnel inside the wooden gate.
At the moment he looked over, the four ferocious beasts in the cages who were struggling and roaring instantly fell silent. It was as though they were intimidated.
And at the same time, a gigantic metal cage twice the size of the previous cages was slowly carried out by six scavengers from the wooden gate.
As the gigantic metal cage appeared, the surrounding audience immediately exclaimed out loud.
“Giant-horn python!”
“This time around, the camp leader actually managed to capture a giant-horn python. But then again, in his eyes, this python can’t be considered valuable at all.”
“To these brats, whoever draws this python will surely die. Even if we encounter it in the wilderness, we will require two people to stake their lives before we can kill it.”
The ferocious beast inside was actually a gigantic python.
The thickness of its body was comparable to the waist of a human adult, and the color of its body was a mix between gray and black. If one looked closely at the dark patterns, they looked like jagged mountain peaks.
At this moment, it lay motionless in the cage. Its large head then slowly lifted, and its yellow vertical pupils shone with sinister coldness as it looked outside.
Under its stare, regardless of the giant wolves or gibbon, they were all trembling.
Only the red bear let out a low roar after being provoked. It looked like it didn’t mind retaliating, but its body was actually slowly retreating. It retreated until it reached the back end of its metal cage.
“Please don’t let me draw it, please don’t let me draw it…”
Behind Xu Qing, the two youths immediately shivered. When the two of them were praying in low voices, a sharp glint of light appeared in Xu Qing’s eyes.
He knew about giant-horn pythons. When he was in the slum, someone had hunted one and dragged the corpse back.
At that time, he heard the experienced person saying that the strength of this python was very great. Once something was entangled by it, even giant logs of wood would be snapped. Besides, the python’s skin was very thick.
However, its body was clumsy and its speed comparatively couldn’t be considered fast.
In addition, its gallbladder contained very good medicinal potency. It would cleanse part of the taint in one’s body. Also, the snake meat was very nutritious.
When Xu Qing thought about this, he recalled that Captain Lei had told him that he liked eating snakes.
Xu Qing had also caught plenty of snakes when he was younger. Hence, he couldn’t help but lick his lips.
Also, the mutation point on his body grew darker and darker the more he cultivated. Yesterday during his cultivation, he faintly felt some piercing pain radiating from it.
Xu Qing was thinking that if he could eat the snake’s gallbladder, much of the taint in the mutation point might be neutralized.
While he was staring at the giant-horn python, the lot-drawing started.
A scavenger arranged by the guy with the three-stroke beard carried five bamboo sticks with him as he walked over. Each of the bamboo sticks contained the names of the ferocious beast in this martial training session.
The oldest youth was the first to draw. When he saw the bamboo stick he drew, he clearly heaved a sigh of relief.
After that, it was the two other male youths and the little girl.
The expressions of the two youths were slightly bitter as they prayed while drawing the lots. However, the gaze of the little girl was filled with despair when she looked at the lot she drew.
The bamboo slip in her hand was none other than the one that corresponded with the giant-horn python. Hence, the last of the five bamboo sticks was the smaller wolf. This was also clearly the weakest ferocious beast among the five.
Xu Qing took that bamboo slip and frowned as he pondered.
Very soon, the scavenger departed. They, the combatants, were then arranged behind a corner barricade. As the cheering of the surrounding audience rang out, the first match began.