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Xu Qing also noticed a raised platform straight ahead. Walking onto the platform was a middle-aged man in a brocade robe, followed by a host of attendants.

He was so far away that Xu Qing couldn’t make out much in the way of details. However, it was obvious the man was important. Despite the distance between the two of them, Xu Qing sensed spirit power fluctuations coming off of him, and they were far above the level of his own.

That alone put Xu Qing on guard. Although he couldn’t be sure, it seemed highly likely this man was the camp owner. Lending further weight to this speculation was the fact that the goateed man from yesterday was next to him, whispering something into his ear.

The camp owner nodded, then sat down. The goateed man remained standing next to him, looking down into the arena.

Another huge wooden gate opened, and from within came the sound of howling animals.

At the same time, a number of scavengers appeared.

There were four groups, each of them made up of three people. And they were pulling out large iron cages, within which were snarling beasts that lunged and snapped at the restraining bars.

Xu Qing’s eyes swept over the cages.

He saw two giant wolves, one larger than the other. Both had razor-sharp teeth, pitch-black bodies, and blood-red eyes. Saliva dripped down their jaws as they stared, with brutal ferocity, at Xu Qing and the other four combatants.

There was a bear with crimson fur and limbs thicker than the thighs of an adult human. A vicious expression covered its face as it repeatedly shook its cage. It took a lot of effort from the scavengers to keep the cage steady.

In the final cage was a beast that seemed less imposing than the others. It was a gibbon, its skin covered with painful boils. In a ghastly display, the creature repeatedly threw itself at the iron bars, causing some of the boils to burst.

The arrival of the beasts caused the crowd to roar.

The two young men in Xu Qing’s group looked even more pale in the face, and the girl seemed absolutely terrified. Even the older young man, who was already a scavenger, seemed nervous.

How come there are only four? Xu Qing thought, looking back at the open passageway.

As he did, the four howling beasts suddenly went completely quiet, as if they’d been intimidated into silence. At the same time, an iron cage twice the size of the others appeared, pulled along by six scavengers.

Someone in the crowd shouted, “A giant horned anaconda!”

“I can’t believe the camp owner brought in a giant horned anaconda! I guess it makes sense, though. As far as he’s concerned, a beast like that isn’t worth much.”

“Whichever of these brats gets that snake is dead for sure. Even if one of us ran into that thing out in the wild, we would need a partner to take it down. And even then, it wouldn’t be a sure thing.”

The anaconda, thicker than an adult’s waist, was dark gray, with markings that seemed to depict a host of horn-shaped mountains. It sat coiled in the cage, its huge head raised and its yellow eyes staring out coldly at the world around it. When the snake’s gaze shifted to the wolves, and the gibbon as well, the other creatures trembled in fear. As for the red bear, it roared at the snake, but at the same time, slowly backed away until it was on the opposite side of the cage.

“Don’t let me get the snake. I absolutely, positively must not pick the snake....” Behind Xu Qing, both of the young men shivered and muttered prayers to the same effect.

As for Xu Qing, his eyes glittered. He had seen this kind of giant horned anaconda before. Back when he lived in the slums, he remembered a hunter had brought in a dead one. According to what Xu Qing had heard, this kind of snake was so strong it could wrap itself around a tree and snap it in half. It had very tough scales, allowing it to absorb more damage, but at the same time, wasn’t very fast. Furthermore, its gall bladder had remarkable medicinal properties, and could dispel filth from the body. The snake flesh itself was also very nourishing.

Having reached this point in his train of thought, Xu Qing was reminded of Sergeant Thunder and how he’d mentioned liking to eat snakes.

Then Xu Qing thought about how he’d often caught snakes as a child, and he licked his lips.

Along with his progression in cultivation, his mutation blotch had been growing darker. And during his session the previous night, it had even started hurting. He had the feeling that if he could eat this snake’s gallbladder, it would probably help the situation.

He kept his eyes fixed on the giant anaconda as the time drew near to draw lots.

The goateed man had another scavenger bring forth five bamboo sticks, upon which were inscribed the names of the beasts.

The oldest young man was the first to draw. When he saw which beast he was to fight, he breathed a visible sigh of relief.

Next were the two younger men, and then the girl.

The two young men seemed to pray fervently as they drew their lots. Afterwards, they had pained expressions on their faces.

The girl simply looked despairingly at her result. She had drawn the giant horned anaconda. The last bamboo stick was left to Xu Qing. It was for the smaller of the two wolves, which was clearly the weakest of the five beasts. Looking at the stick he’d drawn, he frowned.

The scavengers left, and the combatants were taken to a small pen off to the side where they could watch safely. The crowd roared as the first battle was announced.

The first to engage in battle was one of the younger men. Trembling, he stepped out into the fighting arena to face the red bear.

The battle went quickly. The young man wasn’t a match for the bear at all. He held his own for only a few blows, then fell to the ground and was torn to pieces.

Blood sprayed everywhere. About half the crowd cheered, while the other half hurled curses at the dead combatant for losing them money.

The sight caused the other young man, who was supposed to fight next, to shake with fear, and ask if he could back out of the trial.

The crowd hissed in displeasure as a scavenger took the young man away.

Third in line was the young man who was already a scavenger. He had been paired with the larger of the two wolves. Given his experience as a scavenger, he was much more ruthless than an average person.

After several shocking rounds of combat, he gained the upper hand and killed the wolf, though he was gasping for breath by the end of it. Thus, he became the first victor in the trial. The gate opened, and he left, doubled over in pain.

Fourth in line... was the girl.

As the giant horned anaconda was released from its cage, she gritted her teeth and walked past Xu Qing, despair in her eyes.

Before she could walk out into the arena, though, Xu Qing said, “Let’s switch.”

The girl stopped walking and stared at him in shock. Before she could do or say anything, he handed her his bamboo stick and took hers, which had the words ‘giant horned anaconda’ inscribed on it. Not even taking note of the gratitude in her eyes, he walked out toward the snake.

The crowd howled, as many of the spectators had been paying attention to the order of combatants.

That said, other than the people who had already placed bets on either him or the girl, no one cared very much. The camp owner didn’t mind and was content to let things play out as they happened.

Xu Qing kept his eyes on the huge snake as it slowly crawled out into the open, its scales grating against the iron bars as it did.

Though it instinctively focused on him, he was different from the prey it was used to. As a result, it didn’t immediately attack him. Instead, it coiled up outside the cage, then lifted its head high into the air as if trying to decide what to do with him.

The cheering of the crowd grew louder, while the jeering faded.

Xu Qing’s expression remained the same as ever as he strode forward. Perhaps because he had entered the snake’s strike range, or perhaps because of the atmosphere generated by the crowd, the giant anaconda’s yellow eyes seemed to grow colder. It smacked the ground with its tail, causing a boom to echo out in the arena, then struck, its mouth opening wide to reveal rows of razor-sharp teeth. A noxious aroma blasted out as it lunged toward Xu Qing to devour him.

Xu Qing looked coldly at the incoming snake. Just as the beast was about to hit him, he jumped to the side. He didn’t immediately launch a strike; instead, he ignored the giant head as it passed him, then focused like a skilled hunter on the snake’s abdomen.

The massive jaws snapped onto nothing but air.

Then the snake growled as it slashed its tail at Xu Qing. Acting on instinct, it sent its head and tail into movement as if it were hunting in the wild, making a circle as it seemingly attempted to wrap itself around him.

Xu Qing remained quiet and focused on the abdomen. As the tail neared, he clenched his right hand into a fist and struck out.

BAM!

He had only trained in the Sea and Mountain Incantation up to the first level, but even that gave him a significant boost to the strength of his fleshly body. He struck the tail, sending it flailing off to the side. The anaconda was clearly hurt, but it wasn’t a fatal blow. In fact, it seemed to make it angry. Eyes burning, it struck again at Xu Qing with its massive jaws wide open.

However, that was when Xu Qing’s eyes glittered as he found the opening he’d been looking for, and he stepped right toward the snake.

With his right fist, he unleashed a vicious punch. Then a second, and a third....

Fists rained down furiously!

His onslaught forced the snake into retreat. Then it shrieked as it tried to wrap itself around him. However, his punches were so forceful it had no hope of succeeding.

Finally, the blows landing on its abdomen, caused the weak scales there to shatter, and blood to spray out. The thing was obviously badly hurt.

Seeing this, Xu Qing didn’t give it a chance to shift positions.

Eyes flashing coldly, he used his left hand to pull out his dagger, which he plunged right into the anaconda’s flesh.

Then he ripped the blade through the creature.

Blood sprayed everywhere as the giant horned anaconda shrieked. A shocking and ghastly wound opened up on the serpent’s belly, revealing the gallbladder inside.

The snake was huge, but that was because of its mutations. As a result, the gall bladder was actually small, roughly the size of a chicken egg.

Without the slightest hesitation, Xu Qing plunged his hand inside, grabbed the organ, and ripped it out. The snake howled.

Blood rained down onto the sandy soil underfoot.

Ignoring the gore, Xu Qing held the gallbladder for a moment as he looked around at the scavengers. Then he put the organ in his mouth and swallowed it.

Meanwhile, the snake, which was still alive, thrashed about, howling. Eyes wild, it once again lunged at Xu Qing, as if hoping to swallow him alive.

He looked at it coldly, and at the very last minute, jumped up. Then, in midair, he extended his right hand, within which was a black iron skewer.

Eyes burning with killing intent, he dropped down and used his own momentum and body weight to back the skewer, plunging it right into the spot where the snake’s heart was.

The skewer shattered the scales like a hammer crushing an ice cube.

Rumbling echoed in the arena as the giant horned anaconda trembled wildly. Then its head and tail slumped to the ground as it made a final, despondent cry. Finally, it smacked its tail a final time on the ground.

As the sound echoed out... the dust settled, and the crowd of scavengers looked down, astounded.

Quite a few of the spectators were on their feet, staring at the young man with the iron skewer, standing atop the corpse of the anaconda. They wouldn’t have reacted this way if the snake had been killed by an adult. But this was a skinny kid who had efficiently extracted the gallbladder, then killed the snake, all the while maintaining a cold and indifferent facial expression.

Even in a scavenger basecamp, this was an unusual thing.

The little wolf and the red bear, who were still in their cages, were so terrified that they just huddled there, shaking.

It was almost as if this wasn’t a trial, but a hunt.

As the spectators looked on, Xu Qing put away his iron skewer, stuck his hand into the gaping wound on the snake to pick it up, then walked toward the exit, leaving behind a long trail of fresh snake blood.

Upon reaching the exit gate and seeing that it wasn’t open, he looked over his shoulder.

A moment later, the goateed man who stood on the platform above waved his hand, and... the gate rumbled open.

Outside, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, was Sergeant Thunder. He gave Xu Qing a grin.

“Can I stay at your place?” Xu Qing asked.

“Sure.”

With a nod, Xu Qing tossed the snake corpse onto the ground between the two of them.

“You like snake meat, right? Please, eat.”

Sergeant Thunder gaped for a moment, then threw his head back and laughed heartily. Picking up the snake corpse, he led Xu Qing back toward his house.

***

Xu Qing was gone, but the crowd in the arena was still cheering. Meanwhile, in one corner of the arena was an old man in a violet robe. Next to him was an expressionless middle-aged man who looked like a servant, and had a pentagram tattoo on his forehead.

Whether it was their clothing or their bearing, they were obviously different from the people around them. In fact, no one seemed to even notice their presence, not even the camp owner.

The old man had a ruddy complexion, and also seemed to radiate destructive power. He obviously wasn’t an ordinary person. As he sat there watching Xu Qing leave, a smile broke out on his face.

“What an interesting young man.”

Deathblade\'s Thoughts

Some of you might have been following my work for years, others might be new. So I figured I would do a quick intro and update about the Deathblade Clan. We consist of:

Deathblade. I also go by the pen name Jeremy Bai.

Madam Deathblade (MDB). My wife, born and raised in North China. Her favorite things are: Chinese palace drama TV shows; good food; me.

Battle Boy. My son, who was originally called Baby Deathblade (BDB). He’s now 7 years old going on 12. He\'s a very chill kid who loves reading, gaming (especially Minecraft), Naruto, Adventure Time, and many other things. He picked the online gamer handle Battle Boy, so that’s what I’ll call him for the time being.

Princess Deathblade (PDB). My daughter who is 2 years 11 months going on 16. Unlike her brother, she’s a fireball of destructive energy.