The Dawn of the New World

"HOW DARE YOU?! You have no right to even be in his presence let alone address him in such a manner! You disrespectful, filthy little thing..."

Dai Zhi erupted in a belittling and derogatory tirade, interrupted only when the Abysswalker himself raised his hand gesturing for him to stop.

But Dai Zhi had proven to be a spark that started a discussion among the spectators who were quickly taking his side.

"He's not wrong. How can an outsider address the Lord Inquisitor directly?"

"Very true. Even my father would not dare do so in his presence."

Hao Xuan swiftly grabbed the brief window of opportunity to explain himself before someone else could speak up. .

"Disrespectful? How can that possibly be true? In fact it is quite the opposite. Why would you or anyone else be the witness while in the presence of such an esteemed entity from the Church? Are you not undermining him by saying you are enough? Should we not let this highest of honors go to one such as him? I think it is only natural."

Hao Xuan glanced at the cultivators sitting outside the domed hall and hinted towards Monk and Ensis to start talking in his defense. Thankfully they were quick to pick up.

".....That does make sense," Ensis started.

Monk rubbed his chin pretending to be in deep thought, "Yeah, I mean he is already here. The right to supervise should obviously fall on the senior-most person, and that is indeed the Lord Inquisitor."

"I think that's only natural."

"Certainly."

Others soon chimed in with their own opinions, especially the ones from the Hall that were looking for any reason to go against Dai Zhi. The public opinion shifted within a matter of seconds.

Hao Xuan smiled inwardly. This was how he wanted to take away Dai Zhi's reason for attacking him after the fact.

Hao Xuan found out the hard way that he was never meant to make it out of the arena. No matter which opponent he chose they came at him with the intent to kill. He had no choice but to kill them to survive.

And when he did, Dai Zhi would claim that Hao Xuan had the opportunity to stop but chose to kill his opponents in cold blood despite it being a friendly competition and in turn, had forfeit his life.

Even when Hao Xuan clearly informed him and the opponents that he would not responsible before the match, Dai Zhi would still find a way to turn it against him. And being the one with the most power here, no one could or would go against him.

The only one that could stop him was the last person Hao Xuan wanted to interact with, the Abysswalker. Hao Xuan needed to make sure he was the one to act as his insurer because that way even Dai Zhi would not dare to pull any underhanded tactics afterwards.

Seeing the Abysswalker silently contemplating the possibility, Hao Xuan threw in another little chunk of bait. He offered what the Abysswalker wanted to see the most.

"If Lord Inquisitor accepts it would relieve a lot of pressure from my side, allowing me to focus more on the battle and fight to the best of my abilities."

'Come on, that's what you wanted to see right? You want to see me fight and I'll give it to you!'

The Abysswalker's eyes lit up immediately. With a light chuckle, "As you wish. I promise with my name and title on the line that no one will blame you for whatever happens during the battle. You have my word."

He looked amused by the fact that Hao Xuan even had the balls to make such a suggestion. Dai Zhi tried to speak up but was silenced before a single sound could come out of his mouth.

Dai Zhi's expression turned ugly. Now there really was nothing he could do to Hao Xuan without a good reason.

He threw a baleful glare towards Hao Xuan before glancing in Stasa's direction.

'Do not hold back. Kill him by whatever means necessary!'

'I know senior brother, trust me.'

As arrogant and haughty as Stasa was acting in front of the crowd, he still had his emotions completely under control.

"Please send us in, Brother Dai Zhi!" Stasa said the words and instantly both he and Hao Xuan disappeared from their positions.

They appeared a hundred meters above the colosseum.

Stasa waved his hand to summon a giant blue-steel sword beneath his feet which kept him afloat while Hao Xuan fell straight down.

*Boom*

He landed in a cloud of dust while Stasa slowly descended with the sword, hands clasped behind his back like some kind of a hero from an old wuxia novel.

The hologram shifted towards them but it did not pick up any second, thanks to Dai Zhi's intervention.

Stasa stared at the dust cloud before surveying the thousands of faces watching them from the stands.

"Come out, I know a fall like that won't hurt you."