The entire venue fell dead silent. It was as if the deafening cheers from a moment before had been strangled in everyone's throats by an invisible pair of massive hands!
In the vast beast colosseum, one could now hear a pin drop.
Only Li Guanqi remained moving, giving his longsword a light flick to scatter the droplets of blood from its edge before walking slowly back toward the portcullis.
Rumble!
The heavy gate dropped shut, and only then did the host in the arena snap back to his senses.
"King Yanluo, victorious!"
That booming announcement hauled everyone's wandering thoughts back to reality.
Following the breathless hush, the crowd erupted into a tsunami of deafening roars!
"King Yanluo! King Yanluo!"
"What a ruthless sword! Absolute, crushing superiority!"
"What terrifying power! That poison cultivator and the other man were killed before they could even fight back..."
"Indeed. His speed, strength, and sword momentum are on a completely different level!"
"The man's strikes are clean and decisive, not the least bit inferior to fighters with dozens of consecutive wins!"
Inside the various private boxes, dignitaries and notables began mobilizing their connections, desperate to gather every scrap of intelligence on Li Guanqi.
At the very same time, Li Guanqi's betting odds shifted dramatically!
Those few who had placed modest wagers on his victory saw their stakes multiply more than a hundredfold.
Because the payout on him had been exceptionally high, quite a few people had thrown down a small gamble on a whim.
Inside their private box, Lin Jinting and the others sat in stunned silence.
Standing before the water mirror light screen, Lin Ruhu wore an equally tight scowl.
Lin Wujiu's frown ran deeper still...
"Old Li's strength... is getting more terrifying by the day."
Down on the second underground level of the colosseum, the entire East District was completely hushed.
On the lowest tier, the Huang rank, only Chen Liu'er pumped his fist and let out a quiet gasp of excitement.
In the other rooms, however, countless cultivators looked as pale as death.
Upon the massive water mirror light screen, the scene of Li Guanqi cutting down those two cultivators replayed in an endless loop.
Yet though the footage had already cycled three full times, the vast majority of them felt a profound sense of despair whenever they pictured themselves in that arena...
Even they would have had no way of evading that sword strike!
The cultivators who had previously hurled insults at Li Guanqi were now ash-faced, their eyes flickering with turmoil.
Light flared atop the teleportation array outside the East District prison cells, and Li Guanqi's figure materialized upon it moments later.
Turning toward Chen Liu'er, he tossed over a small jade bottle. Flustered, Chen Liu'er caught it and bowed repeatedly in gratitude.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist! Thank you so much!"
From the light screen above, the announcer's voice echoed, "Now, let us look forward to the upcoming battles!"
Li Guanqi smiled faintly. Looking around at the silent cultivators in the surrounding cells, he slowly raised his hand.
With an eerie smile playing across his lips, his gaze swept across them, his finger tapping lightly against the empty air.
"Eighty-Three. Seventy-Nine. Just the two of you."
Having said that, Li Guanqi looked up at the barrier screen overhead and said softly, "Pardon the trouble, Manager, but please arrange tomorrow's match."
Before long, the manager's inquiring voice drifted down from the barrier.
"Are you certain about tomorrow? No need to rest?"
Li Guanqi waved a hand with a chuckle. "Thank you for your concern, Manager. I didn't exert any strength today... no rest needed."
"It just so happens... heh, I took down quite a few numbers earlier, so I might as well tighten their schedule a bit."
With that, Li Guanqi paid no mind to whatever thoughts plagued the other prisoners and walked straight toward his own cell.
"You have the right to switch rooms now. Do you want to move?"
Stopping outside Room 96, Li Guanqi chuckled softly. "No need."
"I won't be staying down here for more than a few days anyway before heading up."
The manager grunted in acknowledgement, and silence returned.
The door opened. Li Guanqi stepped inside and immediately entered a meditative state, turning a dark-green venom bead over in his palm.
In stark contrast to Li Guanqi's composure, the occupants of the other cells were enduring excruciating torment.
The man in Room 83 looked utterly wretched, sitting cross-legged on his prayer mat with his fists clenched tight.
His skin was dark, and his pupils trembled as they shrank.
He braced his hands against the ground to rise, yet stopped himself. The pride in his chest forbade him from begging for mercy in humiliation.
Yet the terror in his core stoked his instinct for survival, urging him to open his mouth and plead.
He started to rise again and again, only for the mocking voice of the cultivator in Room 79 to reach his ears.
"He merely poured everything into a hidden strike to produce that alarming display! What's there to show off?"
"Whether he's a mule or a stallion will become clear tomorrow."
"Don't lump me in with those two pieces of trash from before."
In Room 79, a sallow-faced youth in a navy-blue robe scoffed as he leaned against the wall, sneering his derisive remarks.
Meanwhile, Room 62 and Room 51 remained completely silent.
With their discerning eyes, they could naturally tell that Li Guanqi hadn't used his full strength at all!
One could even say that against those two, Li Guanqi had killed them with casual ease, as if waving a hand amidst pleasantries.
Relying solely on his footwork, raw power, and sword momentum, he had brought two Heavenly Immortals down beneath his blade.
In Room 62, Pan Xiong's complexion shifted through a dozen shades. He swallowed hard, then got to his feet.
Ignoring the strange looks from the others, he pressed himself against the iron bars and called out:
"Brother... I'm Pan Xiong from Room Sixty-Two."
"It was my own blindness, my big mouth speaking out of turn... Could Fellow Daoist be generous enough to spare me...?"
At those words, the youth in Room 79 who had spoken earlier narrowed his eyes, his chest rising and falling slightly, a strange gleam in his gaze.
From the cell in the farthest corner, Li Guanqi's calm voice drifted out slowly.
"Oh..."
"Don't apologize. Your turn comes the day after tomorrow."
After that, Room 96 offered no further response.
Hearing this, many cultivators in the Huang rank prison looked toward Pan Xiong with malicious glee.
Some even shouted in mockery, mimicking Pan Xiong's earlier boasting:
"Aiya~ My name is Pan Xiong~~ Room Sixty-Two, six wins~~ Hahahahahaha!"
"Pan Xiong? More like Cowardly Xiong! Hahahaha! How come you're bowing your head and admitting you were wrong now?"
The mocking jeers were gratingly loud, just as they had been when Li Guanqi first arrived.
At this moment, Chen Liu'er's admiration for Li Guanqi was practically overflowing!
He had figured Li Guanqi possessed some skill, and had even suspected he had connections with the higher-ups of the beast colosseum.
Otherwise...
After that first battle, Li Guanqi should have been escorted back under guard by the manager.
How could anyone just walk back to their room on their own like this?
Furthermore, Li Guanqi had promised to bring him medicinal pills, and sure enough, he had handed them over the moment he returned.
Even the manager spoke to him in a cautious tone that felt more like negotiating and offering gentle advice!
Buzz!
Everyone was jolted from their cultivation as an intense spatial fluctuation ripped across the air, tearing open the Huang rank barrier.
A middle-aged man walked in slowly.
"Huh? Why did Li Lei come down personally?"
"Greetings, Lord Lei..."
"Lord Lei."
"Paying respects to Lord Lei."
Expressionless, Li Lei walked straight toward Room 96.
At that moment, many inmates pressed against their iron bars, craning their necks to watch.
When Li Lei reached the door of Room 96, his expression softened into helpless resignation.
Li Guanqi stood up, cupping his hands in salute toward the man. "Senior Li."
Li Lei looked at Li Guanqi with a wry, helpless expression.
"You little brat..."
"Elder Qiu asked me to see if you want to skip straight to the Earth rank."
Li Guanqi shrugged, a faint, cryptic smile on his face as he said softly, "Forget it... I'm quite comfortable staying right here."
Li Lei replied with a sigh, "If you little brat don't head up soon, I'm afraid you'll slaughter the entire first floor of the Huang rank."
Hearing this, Li Guanqi thought for a moment.
"How about this, Brother Lei: Eighty-Three, Seventy-Nine, Sixty-Two, Fifty-One."
"Tomorrow. Just those four. Once I've killed them, I'll go up."
Li Guanqi's voice was calm, his gaze completely devoid of ripples.
Li Lei glanced back toward the cells behind him, fell silent for a long moment, then nodded slightly.
"Fine. Four at most!"
"That'll bring your tally to exactly ten wins."
"But you promised me—once you've killed them, you move up to Earth rank!"
Li Guanqi nodded with a smile. Only then did Li Lei give a satisfied nod and turn to leave.
Once the man departed, the entire first floor of the Huang rank plunged into deathly silence.
The cultivators in the four named rooms slumped to the floor, their faces as pale as ash.
Chen Liu'er watched it all unfold from his room with wide eyes.
"Good grief... Just who on earth is he...?"
Chapter 1768