Shi Lin! Can You Hear Me?

By the time Li Guanqi noticed, it was already too late to dodge. A colossal force shoved him straight down into the pit. Suspended in midair, Li Guanqi nearly cursed out loud, for a flight-restriction array was actually active here! What was more, Li Guanqi felt an inexplicable force abruptly emerge within his body. This force completely sealed his sea of consciousness and dantian! "The seal will only lift when you are fighting or back inside your room." *Whoosh!* Li Guanqi plummeted rapidly for dozens of zhang. Relying on his immense control over his body, Li Guanqi spun in midair, twisting to adjust his posture, and landed firmly on the ground in an instant. *Thud!* As the dull impact sounded, a man draped entirely in a black robe stepped forward slowly. A powerful oppressive pressure washed over Li Guanqi, sending a wave of shock through his heart. It seemed this beast colosseum truly was a place of crouching tigers and hidden dragons. "Move. Your room is further inside." Li Guanqi shrugged. Having already resolved to fight all hundred battles, his state of mind was remarkably calm. He walked past cage after cage, but the eyes looking his way held none of the curiosity one might have expected. Mostly, they were numb... Calm, vacant gazes merely glanced over Li Guanqi before drifting away. All they cared about was the outcome of their next battle. Many sat cross-legged with eyes closed, cultivating in their cages, piles of immortal crystals stacked beside them. Before long, Li Guanqi arrived at an iron cell deep within the corridor. He had caught no glimpse of Shi Lin along the way, his mind's eye sweeping across their surroundings. He discovered that this bottom tier housed the greatest number of Huang-rank rooms, numbering over a hundred. The iron cell door swung open, and Li Guanqi walked straight inside. The room could hardly be called filthy, yet it was certainly not clean. Spanning merely a zhang or so across, the room was extremely cramped. The floor was paved with pitch-black stone slabs—he could not tell what material they were made of, but they were remarkably hard. Inside lay only a prayer mat upon the floor, flanked by icy walls without a trace of sunlight. The grating, woven from wrist-thick iron bars, looked ordinary enough, but every single bar was densely inscribed with runes. The moment he stepped inside, Li Guanqi sensed an aura warning that they were not to be approached! This aura... likely had to do with the contract he had signed. Although every fighter could cultivate inside their room, none could touch the bars in the slightest. "Until your match, you may cultivate in this room." With that, the man turned and left. Li Guanqi stood inside, surveying his surroundings with curiosity. He reached out to touch the wall, the freezing surface giving him the distinct sensation of cold metal. Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes and clenched his left fist. In an instant, his blood surged, and dragon scales materialized over his hand. Sinking his breath into his dantian, he let the immortal primal energy roar through his body, twisted at the waist, and threw a thunderous punch! *Boom!* A deafening crash erupted as a wisp of smoke drifted outward, yet the wall bore nothing more than a faint white fist mark—not even the finest crack appeared! "Quiet down, dammit!" "Motherfucker, which fresh bastard is this? What the hell are you making a racket for!" "Make another sound and I'll kill you!" A man's coarse roar suddenly echoed throughout the bottom level. Immediately afterward, a slightly shrill voice chimed in. "Heh, another one who doesn't know his place..." A sharp glint flashed in Li Guanqi's eyes. He walked slowly toward the door and peered out into the distance, first glancing at his own cell number. Huang Rank 96. Li Guanqi spoke in a tranquil voice: "I'm in Room 96. The one who cursed at me first... what room are you?" "Oh, right—and the one chiming in to enjoy the show, too." At these words, many in the cells of the Huang-rank tier snapped awake from their cultivation. One figure after another drifted toward their cell doors, turning their gazes toward Room 96. From a room roughly a hundred zhang across from Li Guanqi, a burly, bare-chested brute stepped out of the shadows. He had a square jaw, a broad nose, and fierce tiger eyes that glared at Li Guanqi with a sneer. "I'm Pan Xiong, Room 62 of Huang Rank, six victories!" "Got a problem?" "Look at you, like a plucked chick. I could tear you apart with one hand!" Not far from him, a gaunt youth with sallow skin and single eyelids stepped forward slowly. "Huang Rank 79, four victories." "Are you challenging me?" The corners of Li Guanqi's mouth curved slightly upward as his eyes swept over the two of them. Seeing this, Pan Xiong burst into a loud, mocking laugh. "Hahahaha! He's a blind fucker, to boot!" Li Guanqi paid no heed to the man's words, his gaze continuing to scan the surrounding cells. He noticed that the East District truly held only cultivators, meaning Shi Lin could only be in the demon beast zone of the West District! Li Guanqi's chest heaved slightly. Turning toward the nearby West District, he let out a thunderous bellow! "Shi Lin!" The roar was deafening, reverberating through almost every Huang-rank cell in the East District! In the West District. A blood-drenched figure lay slumped in the corner of a room. Fiery-red hair veiled most of his face as Shi Lin lay curled sideways on the ground. His back pressed against the stone wall, his hands crossed over his head. His eyes stared numbly toward the cell door, as though all the noise outside had nothing to do with him. Traces of blood from his own kin still stained the corners of his mouth and chin. Scenes of him devouring the corpse of the Chang Hu replayed relentlessly in his mind. Even now, his body was still refining the beast's core. Yet right then, a faint shout caught his ear. And that voice was calling his name! "Shi Lin!" Another call sounded, and Shi Lin pushed himself upright in an instant. "I'll fight all hundred battles to get you out!" "If you can hear me, stay alive, dammit!" Li Guanqi's voice somehow pierced straight through the barrier dividing the East and West Districts, reaching Shi Lin's ears. Shi Lin gritted his teeth, his pupils refocusing as the figure of a young man surfaced in his mind... The guy who had stood sword in hand, shielding his back. Shi Lin scrambled forward on all fours to the front of his cage, turning desperately toward the East District. "Ahhh!" The moment his hands touched the black iron bars, an agonizing pain shot through him. His hands were seared into a mangled mess of flesh and blood, yet he thrust his head forward with all his might, straining his eyes toward the East District. There, a hazy white-robed silhouette stood inside a cell, shouting at the top of his lungs. Somewhere in the nineties... And Shi Lin was in the nineties too, which meant they were not far apart at all! "Brother Li! I'm here!" "I'm right here! Ha! Hahahaha!" In that moment, Shi Lin completely forgot to wonder why Li Guanqi was even here. He only knew that in this entire Immortal Realm, someone still cared about him! Someone still treated him... as a person. Yet Li Guanqi's roaring shouts stoked even more displeasure, and a chorus of curses erupted against him from all sides.