Chapter 123: The Summon of the Beast

"Well. Show me what all you have got," Tsumi said as she looked at Yan.

Yan stood stunned. Before he could even react, cracks began spreading across the sky, the ground, and everything around him. A crackling sound echoed through the surroundings.

The space around him fractured like a mirror shattering from all sides.

Then everything broke apart.

Yan found himself falling. He flailed his arms, desperately trying to grab something, but there was nothing.

Tsumi calmly fell alongside him.

Then Yan took a deep breath and looked Tsumi in the eyes, no longer trying to grab anything.

"Not bad," Tsumi said.

The shattered fragments began to reassemble, converging around Yan as their center.

As the surroundings restored themselves, an arrow coated in Foundation-level fire qi shot straight toward Yan's face.

He tilted his head, but the arrow still grazed his cheek, leaving a thin burn mark. He found himself on an unfamiliar battlefield, with bodies lying around and soldiers fighting all around him.

A man charged at him with an axe. Yan unsheathed his sword to face off.

But right at that moment, Yan's eyes fell on a machine behind the man.

Their blades collided, and Yan pushed the man aside.

He saw an unfamiliar wooden machine loaded with arrows. They put fire to a string connected to the machine.

The fire was just lit.

Yan deduced that it was extremely dangerous. He searched around the bodies lying on the battlefield and grabbed a bow and an arrow, keeping his sword on the ground.

Then he aimed the bow toward the burning wire, which had already consumed half the string.

Yan then released the arrow. The arrow flew straight.

It targeted the string.

But right then, the surroundings began to crack. Yan immediately grabbed his sword. The surroundings broke again.

And this time Yan did not fall. The scenario changed.

White smoke drifted around. Yan felt warm and looked down. His clothes had gotten wet from the hot water covering half of his body.

Then he glanced ahead. Several women were bathing nearby.

Rotating his head, he found he was in a pond with hot water.

"Who are you? How did you get here?" one woman, who was nearer to Yan than the others, shrieked as soon as she saw a male appearing in a place that was almost impossible to access by any males.

The others looked over. The one bathing in the pond, the two girls playing near a tree at the edge, and the one who had climbed the tree to pick up the daily clothes, all looked over.

The one on the tree, immediately jumped into the pond, splashing water upward.

Yan stayed silent for a moment as all eyes were on him.

"Ladies! I mean no harm." Yan sheathed his sword and tied it to his waist.

"I asked you how you got here!" the woman yelled again, but this time she released a late-stage Core Formation realm aura, and the water around her and Yan began to heat up more.

"I don't know. I found a strange symbol and stepped on it. The next thing I knew, I was here," Yan explained.

"Where did you find it?" she moved closer.

"I was in a cave in Sunset Forest. It was there," Yan said.

"Sunset Forest? Where is that? Stop lying." The water around them began to bubble up, and steam rose around her as she came closer.

Yan raised his brows.

"I am telling the truth. Sunset Forest is in the Noir Kingdom."

"Noir Kingdom? Kingdoms in this age? Again with the bullshit." She came nearer and lifted her hand as fire qi surrounded her palm.

"I'm telling the truth. What reason would I have to lie when my life is at stake?"

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Yan paused, then thought of one possibility.

"Wait! Listen to me. I think I might have come from a different part of the world that you currently don't..."

Then Yan vanished instantly.

Yan found himself floating in black space. Tsumi stood in front of him.

"You failed the third test," Tsumi said, looking at Yan.

"If you fail the next one, you will be back with those women," Tsumi said.

The surroundings changed.

Yan stood at the center of an arena. The ground here was covered with sand.

Opposite Yan, a man wearing blue robes and holding a spear stood. He was emitting a late-stage spiritual qi foundation aura.

Next to Yan, a beast lay injured and trembling a lot. It looked like an elephant with a tiger's head, and its giant wings were far larger than its body. It had multiple wounds from the spear and was weak in condition.

"Did that space beast summon a warrior?" The crowd in the arena stood up.

After a moment...

"Fight!"

"Fight!"

Cheers erupted in the arena.

The opponent moved first. Wind qi surrounded his spear, hands, and legs.

He reached Yan in no time. The spear was aimed at Yan's head. Yan bent backward and avoided it, but the opponent's right leg moved toward Yan's torso immediately afterward.

It was faster. Yan pulled his hand back, and the leg collided with Yan's hand. Yan defended, but pain flowed to his arm.

The opponent took two steps back and looked at Yan. Similarly, Yan looked at him.

"That's unexpected. You are a body cultivator like me." The opponent moved, his spear aimed at Yan's stomach, but Yan's right hand, coated with ground qi, moved first.

The wind-coated spear reached Yan in no time, but Yan's hands caught it.

The wind qi collided with ground qi, pushing Yan two steps back, but Yan stopped the attack. Immediately gripping the spear tightly, Yan pulled the man toward him, and his other hand formed a fist and moved toward the opponent.

The opponent leaned his head backward, dodging the punch, and immediately created a burst of wind qi at the tip of the spear with his left hand.

Yan was pushed back ten steps. Then Yan pulled the sword from his waist and coated it with ground qi.

He saw the opponent coming at him.

Clang!

The blades of Yan and the opponent collided. The wind qi made Yan slide backward, while the physical force carried by ground qi pushed the opponent backward.

Clang!

They collided again.

Yan moved first and defended himself from the right side.

Then he pushed the opponent back.

"I don't know how you are doing it, but you can anticipate every move of mine before I make it," the opponent said.

"Interesting! I haven't had any opponent who could match me like you do until now," the opponent said.

But Yan did not say anything.

Their weapons collided again.

"I've fought many non-Wind-Letter-based cultivators before. They train themselves to predict attacks to compensate for the speed of wind qi cultivators. But none have been as accurate as you." The opponent raised his spear.

Then he slashed it down. A wind burst shot from its tip, touched the ground, and dust rose. The resulting repulsion raised him into the sky.

The spear, surrounded by wind, came at Yan from the sky.

In that moment, Yan recalled how Mutai channeled ground qi to his legs and made a long jump.

Ground qi surrounded his lower legs. Then Yan crouched, kicked the ground, and jumped.

He jumped backward. The spear fell, and dust rose.

But the spear stopped just before it could touch the ground. Immediately, Yan jumped forward, and his sword slashed at the neck of the opponent.

The opponent bent backward, but the sword still grazed his nose. Blood spilled along with a few hairs.

"Wooooah!"

The crowd in the arena cheered, but the battle continued.

Clang!

Yan noticed the opponent bleeding from his nose, but his attacks intensified.

Clang!

When the spear and sword collided, the spear tip burst out with wind qi, pushing Yan's sword back.

Pulling his spear back, the opponent rolled and closed the distance. The spear was then aimed at Yan's left side, which was defenseless.

The spear coated with wind qi was about to hit Yan.

The crowd clenched their fists.

Then the sand beneath Yan loosened and became slippery. Yan slipped, but the spear tip still grazed across his neck line. A line of blood formed before Yan fell to the ground.

Then Yan rushed up from below, his sword, coated with ground qi, aimed at the opponent's grip on the spear.

The opponent tried to pull his weapon back, but the sword still struck just above his grip.

The grip loosened, and the force pushed the spear away.

The opponent immediately kicked as a reaction. Yan got hit in his stomach.

Yan staggered for a moment, but then he turned around and punched the opponent's face. Yan dropped his sword and grabbed the spear away from the opponent.

The opponent sent a punch at Yan, pushing him away.

Then Yan threw the spear away, while the opponent kicked Yan's sword away.

Ever since Yan drew the opponent's blood, he noticed that the opponent began to use his qi more heavily.

"Woooooh!" The arena cheered.

The opponent coated his fists with wind qi, and Yan coated his fists with ground qi.

The opponent's hand moved toward Yan's cheek. Yan's hand moved toward the opponent's cheek.

Midway through his attack, Yan stopped his hand, squatted a bit, and dodged the opponent's fist.

Ground qi concentrated on his legs as he jumped, and his fist moved upward toward the opponent's chin.

The opponent tilted his head, but Yan flung his fist, coated with ground qi, sideways just when the opponent thought he had dodged.

PAAT!

And it connected with the opponent's cheek. His cheek turned red, his head turned sideways, and he staggered on one leg.

Then he saw another punch connect with his stomach. The opponent clutched his stomach tightly.

Then the opponent saw a knee kick coming. The opponent reacted, wind bursting from both his hands, pushing Yan away.

The reaction of the burst forced him back eight steps as well.

Again they both moved toward each other.

Whenever Yan's fist connected, the opponent took larger damage, but he was able to land more hits on Yan.

Time passed. Half an hour passed.

The opponent landed more hits with his speed, but Yan did more damage with a single hit.

Both of them were bleeding and had multiple wounds.

Yawn!

The spectators in the arena yawned.

Right at that moment, the opponent stopped using wind qi. No, he was almost out of qi. But Yan was not.

Yan coated his hand with ground qi and moved it toward the opponent, but he was slower and looked exhausted.

"Ha... ha..."

Although his qi was not depleted, his speed had decreased as well. The opponent assumed he could dodge well.

The sand beneath the opponent turned slippery, and he began to fall.

That was not the end. Yan, who had looked slower a moment ago, became faster.

Yan's fist connected with the opponent's face.

Everyone in the arena stood up. Time seemed to pause.

Then blood splattered as the impact sent him flying backward.

"Wooooooh!"

"The summon of the beast has won!"

Cheers started in the crowd.

But the cheers stopped because, while they were still watching, the winner disappeared.