Chapter 536: 'Change'
"I hope that I can head to the Foreign Lands as soon as possible. So long as I'm able to obtain the Resurrection Pill within the great treasures the Rebirth Martial Emperor left behind... I'll be able to help Xiong Quan recover his Dantian." Duan Ling Tian thought in his heart.
He'd always felt guilty towards Xiong Quan in his heart.
After all, Xiong Quan's Dantian was crippled and lost his entire cultivation because of Duan Ling Tian.
This was something he owed Xiong Quan.
"Roar!" An enormous roar pulled Duan Ling Tian's thoughts back to reality.
Duan Ling Tian saw that within the Caged Battle Arena, after the strong fierce beast bit the human martial artist to death, it was ceaselessly roaring loudly to demonstrate its might.
"He's dead?" Duan Ling Tian's brows frowned when he saw the mangled corpse of the human martial artist.
Seeming to have perceived Duan Ling Tian's surprise, the nearby Luo Zhan explained. "Once one enters the Caged Battle Arena, then no matter if one is a human or a beast, only one can survive... Only when one of the two remains would the caged battle end.
"Only the winner is able to leave the cage!"
Duan Ling Tian frowned when he heard Luo Zhan. "In other words, every battle in this Caged Battle Arena is a battle to the death?"
"It can be said to be so." Chen Shao Shuai nodded and said slowly, "To people with weak strengths, this place is hell... Because, they might be killed by a person or beast at any moment."
Duan Ling Tian nodded.
So this was the Caged Battle Arena.
A place that was filled with blood and slaughter.
Of course, to people who wanted to ceaselessly become stronger, this place was undoubtedly the best touchstone.[1]
The people that were able to survive within the Caged Battle Arena would surely be outstanding powerhouses.
Once one stepped into the Caged Battle Arena, one only had one choice.
Either live or die!
"The person that was killed by the fierce beast now seems to be a slave?" Duan Ling Tian asked curiously.
"Yes." Luo Zhan nodded. "It's not every time that a person dares enter into the Caged Battle Arena... So when there are no people entering, the Caged Battle Arena arranges for the slaves, fierce beast, and demon beasts they reared to enter and slaughter each other!"
"Whereas the Caged Battle Arena would be the bookmaker who opens a wager and obtains benefit from it." Luo Zhan finished in one go.
Duan Ling Tian nodded.
"Does the Caged Battle Arena have any rules?" Duan Ling Tian asked.
Chen Shao Shuai introduced. "Ordinarily speaking, the slaves or demon beasts sent out by the Caged Battle Arena itself are all of similar strength... Whereas people on the spectating area can only step in battle when their cultivations are similar to the slaves, demon beasts, or fierce beasts."
"Otherwise, if a person with a cultivation that far surpassed the slaves, fierce beasts, and demon beasts stepped into the Caged Battle Arena, then it would be a one-sided slaughter and have no meaning at all... The Caged Battle Arena doesn't allow a thing like this to happen." Chen Shao Shuai continued.
"Mmm." Duan Ling Tian nodded.
These rules were understandable, otherwise, wouldn't the Caged Battle Arena lose money to the extreme?
"Besides that, when the person that dares to step into the Caged Battle Arena and battle a slave, fierce beast, or demon beast with a similar cultivation obtains victory, the person will acquire generous rewards!" Luo Zhan added. "The rewards are different according to the cultivation of the person... For example, if a Void Prying Stage martial artist is able to kill the slave, demon beast, or fierce beast of the same cultivation in the Caged Battle Arena, the reward obtained would be far more generous that a Nascent Soul Stage martial artist's!"
"Besides that, the person that enters the Caged Battle Arena is not allowed to use the assistance of any external source of strength... It's 'ANY'!" said Chen Shao Shuai.
"Any?" Duan Ling Tian's brows raise. "Could it be that even spirit weapons are prohibited?"
"Yes." Chen Shao Shuai nodded.
Duan Ling Tian couldn't help but be astonished.
"After all, it was impossible for the slaves in the Caged Battle Arena to use spirit weapons to deal with those fierce beasts and demon beasts of similar cultivation... If it wasn't that way, it would have no meaning." Chen Shao Shuai continued.
Duan Ling Tian nodded.
He was able to understand the reason behind this rule after Chen Shao Shuai said this.
"What rewards would there normally be?" Duan Ling Tian asked curiously.
"There are spirit weapons, money, medicinal pills, cultivation methods, martial skills, and there even would be some rare materials and spirit fruits occasionally as rewards!" As he finished speaking, Chen Shao Shuai's gaze burned slightly with desire.
Spirit fruits?
Duan Ling Tian was similarly filled with yearning when he heard this.
"It's slightly interesting." Duan Ling Tian grinned.
Unknowingly, Duan Ling Tian's group of three had arrived nearby the Caged Battle Arena.
Meanwhile, Duan Ling Tian clearly and thoroughly saw the entire Caged Battle Arena.
This Caged Battle Arena was like a football field of his previous life, and the arena was extremely vast.
Whereas on this vast arena was numerous black iron that crisscrossed across to form an enormous iron cage that sealed the entire arena within it.
"This is... Thousand Year Dark Iron?" In next to no time, Duan Ling Tian recognized the material of this iron cage, and his pupils couldn't help but constrict.
Thousand Year Dark Iron!
Even if it was a Void Prying Stage martial artist, it would be difficult for the martial artist to forcefully break it open.
"This Caged Battle Arena truly has deep pockets." Duan Ling Tian couldn't help but sigh with emotion.
"Hehe... Duan Ling Tian, this Caged Battle Arena possesses powerful backing. It's the business under the brother of the Emperor, Prince Sheng!" Chen Shao Shuai provided the answer to what Duan Ling Tian was wondering about.
"No wonder." Duan Ling Tian came to a sudden understanding.
"Eh, those seats..." In next to no time, Duan Ling Tian noticed that this seating area that was nearest to the Caged Battle Arena actually had fewer people than the seating area behind them.
After a short moment, he obtained the answer.
They'd only just sat down when a middle aged man walked over with an expressionless face and extended his hand towards Duan Ling Tian's group of three.
Duan Ling Tian had wrapped his head around it.
Whoosh!
With a raise of his hand, Chen Shao Shuai withdrew three gold bills and passed it to the middle aged man.
"30,000 gold?" Duan Ling Tian's pupils constricted.
He saw extremely clearly that the three gold bills Chen Shao Shuai passed over were all of the 10,000 denomination.
"Because of their location being at the front, these seats that are near to the Caged Battle Arena have an extremely good field of vision... Thus, one seat is worth 10,000 gold." Luo Zhan noticed Duan Ling Tian's surprise and smiled as he explained.
"One seat, 10,000 gold!" Duan Ling Tian smiled bitterly.
In the Caged Battle Arena of the Azure Forest Imperial Kingdom's Imperial City, gold was actually of so little worth.
Only watching a battle to the death, only the fee for a seat had cost 10,000 gold...
10,000 gold was one million silver!
"Moreover, the people who sit in the front row have the privilege of having priority when undergoing a cage battle." Chen Shao Shuai added.
Right when Duan Ling Tian's group sat down, the fierce beast within the Caged Battle Arena had left already.
A slave with a frosty expression and a slave marked branded on his face walked into the Caged Battle Arena under the lead of an old man.
"This slave is at the seventh level of Nascent Soul Stage... Is there any guest that wants to battle him?" The old man soared up into the sky and stood above the slave, and his voice that contained Origin Energy transmitted far into the distance. "So long as a guest is able to kill him, you'll be able to obtain a 500,000 gold reward from out Caged Battle Arena!"
500,000 gold!
Instantly, many people became agitated in the spectating area, as the temptation of 500,000 gold was great.
"Duan Ling Tian, if you go down into the arena to battle a slave or demon beast with the same cultivation... Would you choose a slave or a demon beast?" Luo Zhan asked Duan Ling Tian.
"Demon beast! Duan Ling Tian didn't hesitate in the slightest.
Luo Zhan looked at Chen Shao Shuai. "Sword Young Master, what about you?"
"Demon beast as well." Chen Shao Shuai similarly didn't hesitate then said slowly, "Although slaves are inferior to demon beasts and fierce beasts of the same cultivation when not using a spirit weapon... But, no matter how strong demon beasts and fierce beasts are, they're only animals! Even if they've developed intelligence, there's still quite a distance when compared to humans.
"So, normally speaking... Slaves have a will to survive that far surpasses a fierce beast and demon beast. When they're facing imminent death, they'd often explode out with unbelievable potential and launch a counterattack!
"I've seen too many similar scenes in the Caged Battle Arena, and between a fierce beast, demon beast, and slave of the same cultivation, the latter is more terrifying!" As he finished speaking, Chen Shao Shuai sighed rather emotionally.
"My thoughts are similar to yours." Luo Zhan smiled, then he looked at Duan Ling Tian and asked. "Duan Ling Tian, you ought to be thinking like this as well, right?"
Under the gazes of Luo Zhan and Chen Shao Shuai, Duan Ling Tian shook his head.
"No?" The both of them couldn't help but be stunned.
"No." Duan Ling Tian nodded, and then he sighed, "The reason I didn't choose slaves isn't because of how great potential they're able to explode forth with when they're facing imminent danger... But instead because they are humans!"
Human!
Humans that had blood and flesh just like them.
"Humans?" Luo Zhan and Chen Shao Shuai went silent.
"Although they don't possess human rights, these slaves are humans after all... They're of the same kind as us!" Duan Ling Tian continued.
At the same time, Duan Ling Tian's gaze became slightly dazed.
He suddenly felt that he'd changed greatly when compared to his previous life.
During his previous life, for the sake of attaining his goal, he would sometimes stop at nothing and was exceedingly ruthless.
But in this lifetime, he'd changed instead.
The current him was simply like a different person when compared to his previous life.
In his previous life, he killed resolutely, irrespective of right or wrong.
In this lifetime, if there was no need, then when he did things and killed, he wouldn't implicate innocent people.
Simply speaking, he'd become humane.
This was a change in his psychology.
Perhaps even Duan Ling Tian himself didn't know that after he came to this world, the him of this lifetime had been unconsciously influenced and changed...
Whereas all these changes came from the people by his side.
In this lifetime, he had parents, he had fiancés, and he had many brothers and friends...
He wasn't all alone like in his previous life.
"Of the same kind, what a notion! I truly never imagined that amongst the people that came to watch the excitement in the Caged Battle Arena, there's still such a compassionate person. Truly laughable!" An ear piercing voice entered into the ears of Duan Ling Tian's group of three.
Subsequently, a young man in embroidered clothes sat at a seat nearby Duan Ling Tian's group of three under the escort of an old man.
The words from before were precisely spoke by this embroidered clothed young man.
"If you're really compassionate, then why are you coming to watch slaves battle? Hypocrite!" The tone of the young man in embroidered clothes was as annoying as annoying could be.
Duan Ling Tian frowned and couldn't be bothered to pay attention to the young man.
Luo Zhan and Chen Shao Shuai frowned when they heard the mocking of the young man in embroidered clothes, and only eased up their frowns when they saw Duan Ling Tian didn't take any action.
TL Note:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touchstone_(assaying_tool)