BOOM!
After ramming heavily into the spiritual power ward, Shi Nan fell onto the ground, and was unable to stand back up.
Blood ceaselessly poured out of the corner of his mouth as he attempted to get back on his feet. However, he failed after a few attempts, and thus eventually gave up. Sitting on the floor, he glared at Nie Tian.
After throwing the Rage Punch, Nie Tian didn’t even spare Shi Nan another glance, and walked straight out of the central stage.
The spiritual power ward at the perimeter of the stage split open and created a opening for Nie Tian.
Only at that moment did the spectators on the stands come to realize that the battle was over.
A huge uproar rose inside the Blood Fighting Pit.
“Am I seeing right? Shi Nan actually couldn’t withstand a single strike, and now he can’t even get up?!”
“What just happened? It happened so fast that I didn’t see it clearly. I just saw Hua Tian suddenly appear in front of Shi Nan and strike him with his fist. And then, Shi Nan flew backwards!”
“Was it really a battle between an early Heaven stage fighter and a late Heaven stage fighter? If we are determining their strength by their cultivation bases, shouldn’t Shi Nan be the one to have defeated Hua Tian in a flash? How come it was the other way around?”
“Dear lord! I’m afraid the rumors are real! Hua Tian actually did kill dozens of Dark Moon experts and Hunters in the Void Illusion Mountain Range, the hilly area, and the wasteland!”
“It seems that a cultivator’s cultivation base is indeed not the only standard to determine a man’s true strength!”
All the spectators who had paid spirit stones to enter the Blood Fighting Pit were caught up in intense discussions with each other.
“Shi Nan is such a dumbass!” Dong Li said, gritting her teeth, not excited in the least even after winning numerous spirit stones since she had placed her bet on Nie Tian.
For some reason, upon seeing Shi Nan lose so completely and Nie Tian win so effortlessly, she was actually very angry.
“Shi Nan knew absolutely nothing about Nie Tian. He had no idea that Nie Tian has mastered strange movement magics, and that he is always wreathed in a mysterious magnetic field!” Since she had dealt with Nie Tian before, and through her endless pursuit of him, she had gained a clear understanding of the different types of mysterious magics he used.
She believed that if she were to fight Nie Tian, she definitely wouldn’t fail so utterly and quickly as Shi Nan did.
The reason why Shi Nan had suffered such a complete loss was because he didn’t know anything about Nie Tian, yet was blindly confident in himself and didn’t keep his guard up.
Dong Baijie took a deep breath and said with a grim look in his eyes, “He’s even more powerful now. Aside from the magnetic field and the movement magic he just used, he knows another secret magic that allows him to condense the spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth into energy balls. If it weren’t for the fact that there isn’t any spiritual Qi here, and if the battle took place in the Void Illusion Mountain Range, Shi Nan would have suffered an even more thorough loss.”
Upon hearing his words, Dong Li instantly thought of the Hunters who had been bombarded by Nie Tian’s spiritual energy balls, which contained toxic spiritual Qi, and died horrible deaths.
A chill ran through her body as she cursed, “That man is such a freak!”
“Big Brother Shi…”
The handful of guest elders of the Blood Skull who were standing beside Shi Hui wished to speak, but stopped on second thought, their faces filled with mixed emotions.
Shi Hui’s face was very grim as he looked back and forth between Shi Nan, who struggled a few times, but still couldn’t get back on his feet, and Nie Tian, who didn’t even spare Shi Nan a glance after throwing the punch and walked right out of the fighting stage.
“I’ll go back to my cultivation room, Uncle Shi.” With these words, Nie Tian walked through the gate of the Blood Fighting Pit.
Beside Shi Qing, a few Blood Skull experts who managed the Blood Fighting Pit stood aghast as they looked Nie Tian up and down, as if they were looking at a monster.
Shi Qing snapped out of his daze and hastily replied, “Good, good.”
With these words, he looked up at Shi Hui, who was standing on the bleachers, and asked under everyone’s gazes, “Brother Shi, about your agreement?”
Cold words came out through Shi Hui’s gnashed teeth. “Every word I said counts.”
Shi Qing smiled as he nodded. Then, he turned to Nie Tian and said warmly, “It’s done. From now on, Shi Nan’s cultivation room will remain vacant. You’ll be able to use both Heaven stage cultivation rooms however you like, and cultivate wholeheartedly. You won’t need to worry about any further disruptions.”
“If that’s the case, many thanks.” Nie Tian clasped his hands to pay his respects and then walked away from the Blood Fighting Pit.
The Qi warriors who had limited spirit stones and thus had been waiting for the result outside the Blood Fighting Pit, saw Nie Tian walk out and immediately learned the result.
Under the crowd’s shocked and revering gazes, Nie Tian rapidly left and went straight back to his cultivation room, where he resumed his devoted cultivation.
On the balcony of the highest stone pavilion in the Blood Skull’s headquarters…
Cai Lan, the head of the Blood Skull, waved his hand, and the the gigantic, crystal-like prism grew dim and flew back into a corner of the balcony.
Cai Lan rubbed his chin as light flashed across in his eyes, as if he was deep in thought.
The other two Worldly realm Blood Skull officials also narrowed their eyes as they recalled the scene where Nie Tian had defeated Shi Nan in the blink of an eye over and over again.
All three of them remained silent.
Only after a long time did Cai Lan stop pondering and ask with a plain tone, “What do you think?”
One of them said with a impressed smile, “This kid is far beyond ordinary. The way I see it, even the so-called ‘chosen ones’ from the Heaven Palace Sect, Ice Pavilion sect, and other top Qi warrior sects in the other nine realms probably wouldn’t be able to defeat him. Also, I think ‘Hua Tian’ is probably a fake name.”
“Your Honor, this young man is probably here to either take refuge or temper himself,” the other high-ranking official said, “Whichever it is, he probably won’t stay in the Realm of Split Void in the long-term. It won’t be easy if we want to make him one of us. Special means will be required.”
Cai Lan nodded and said, “I’ve broadened my horizons today.”
As a matter of fact, back when Shi Qing had confirmed Nie Tian’s accomplishment of slaughtering multiple Dark Moon experts in the Void Illusion Mountain Range to him, he had been convinced that Nie Tian would come out victorious.
That was why he had authorized their battle in the Blood Fighting Pit.
However, he had never expected that the battle would end so quickly.
The way Nie Tian had defeated Shi Nan was so neat and quick that Shi Nan had already collapsed on the ground before Cai Lan could have a chance to observe Nie Tian’s secrets.
He even secretly blamed Shi Nan for not being able to withstand a single blow.
After all, Shi Nan was also a guest elder that had won the Blood Skull’s recognition. Those who had the privilege of becoming guest elders of the Blood Skull were usually stronger than common cultivators with the same cultivation base.
The trio felt the Blood Skull had lost face because of Shi Nan’s unbearably poor performance. Others might even begin to suspect that all of the Blood Skull’s guest elders might be just as incompetent as Shi Nan.
Cai Lan pondered for a few seconds before adding, “From now on, we need to raise the bar and adopt a more prudent screening process when we take in new guest elders. And no more face-giving! Pass on my order: remove Shi Nan’s title as a guest elder of the Blood Skull. He has brought shame to our entire organization. A man like him doesn’t deserve to be our guest elder.”
“Your Honor, such a decision might arouse Shi Hui’s discontent,” one of the officials said.
“Ignore him.”
“I see.”
That night…
Shi Hui took the severely injured Shi Nan back to his courtyard in the Blood Skull’s headquarters, where he examined his condition. After discovering that three of Shi Nan’s ribs were broken and certain damage had been inflicted to his heart, Shi Hui looked increasingly sullen.
“How come you lost so easily and completely?” Shi Hui said, enraged.
He didn’t care that he had lost some spirit stones. What he cared about was that Shi Nan had brought shame to him and lost his face.
There had been a large audience at the Blood Fighting Pit earlier today, all of whom knew that Shi Nan was his nephew. Shi Nan’s disastrous defeat had been like a vigorous slap to Shi Hui’s face.
The few guest elders who were close to him also had grim expressions on their faces, and seemed every bit as embarrassed and ashamed as he was.
Actually, those guest elders were well-aware that, considering Shi Nan’s true strength, he wouldn’t have qualified to become a guest elder of the Blood Skull.
However, no matter how unimpressive Shi Nan was, he was still at the late Heaven stage, and he shouldn’t have lost to Nie Tian, whose cultivation base was two levels lower than his. However, the result was that not only did he lose, but he also lost completely. This was very hard for them to accept.
“That kid practically teleported to my face and avoided all of my lightning attacks.” Shi Nan’s face was pale, and he could feel a mild pain in his heart every time he spoke. “As soon as he appeared in front of me, my spiritual power fell into a state of chaos, and I felt a splitting pain in my head.
“I simply couldn’t summon my spiritual power to defend against his incoming strike.
“Also, his fist strike was more explosive than any attacking skill I’ve ever seen. I-I…”
Shi Nan ran out of words.
He was also very upset that he had lost to an early Heaven stage young man. He had never imagined Nie Tian to have so many strange skills.
He attributed his failure to his lack of knowledge of Nie Tian.
However, he did lose. No matter how well he might explain it, he wouldn’t be able to change the result.
Just as they were drowning in depression, a Blood Skull member arrived and delivered a message from Cai Lan: “Shi Nan is too weak to be a guest elder of the Blood Skull, and thus his title will be removed, effective immediately!”
After delivering Cai Lan’s order, the man turned around and left without looking at Shi Hui’s outrageous facial expression.
A heated discussion went on between the few guest elders, as they were all outraged by the Blood Skull’s decision.
“Cai Lan has gone too far! Sure, Shi Nan lost the battle, but he’s still your nephew! Cai Lan obviously just doesn’t want to give you face anymore!”
“Big Brother Shi, Cai Lan’s decision is a bit too excessive, don’t you think?”
Shi Hui, however, didn’t say a word as he listened to their discussion. Like an ice-cold rock, he sat still.
After a long while, Shi Hui grew impatient. He waved his hand to beckon them to get out, saying, “You may go now. I know what to do!”
Immediately afterwards, the guest elders sealed their lips and left the room.
After they left, and Shi Hui and Shi Nan were the only ones in the room, Shi Hui let out a cold harrumph and said, “Cai Lan, since you treat me with injustice, don’t blame me for betraying you! Even if leave the Blood Skull, the Dark Moon and the Wild Fire will offer me even better terms! Now that you don’t want to give me face, I’m no longer obligated to work for you!”
Shi Nan’s expression flickered slightly after hearing his words. Yet, he didn’t dare to say anything.