Lying on the ground, the corpse had unnaturally purple skin, which was a stark contrast to the usual pallor of death. Black blood oozed from every orifice—eyes, nose, mouth, and ears—forming dark, viscous puddles on the floor. The body was dressed in the distinctive black uniform of the Void Piercing Sect, now stained with the eerie black ichor. The lifeless eyes stared blankly, adding to the grotesque scene.

It wasn't like I was a paragon of justice. I hung out daily with the worst of murderers, Song Song. But it was still surprising. I expected Song Song to kill people and be cruel. Yet, this was Hu Jin, the guy chosen by the heavens, and he committed blatant murder in broad daylight.

If murdering was his only choice, I could have understood. But he had an endless wave of Blazing Sun Sect disciples around, and asking help from any of them or the elders would have been better.

He just made a shit ton of trouble for himself.

I turned toward the Sect Leader, his calm demeanor betrayed by the deep, rich chocolate color of his eyes that hinted at mystery. But then, a twisted smile marred his face, curling his lips into a sinister grin that sent shivers down my spine.

What the fuck?

Before I could get a read on him, he disappeared right in front of my eyes as if he had never been there.

I had no time to wonder about what was happening. Instead, I grabbed Fu Yating by the hand and pulled her closer.

"We need to get away from here," I said, afraid the disciples from our Sect and the Void Piercing Sect might start a brawl. There was a good chance the Core Elders would stop such a thing from happening, but who knew for sure.

We pushed through a crowd of tall, fat, short, and handsome men and women alike to get opposite from where they were looking. Some of the disciples from the Blazing Sun Sect I shoved aside looked like they wanted to fight me. Yet, when they saw my face, they backed off and let me pass. This was the advantage of being associated with someone like Song Song—nobody wanted to mess with that bag of crazy cats.

My cousins thankfully followed behind in silent agreement. They were the kind of people who avoided trouble unless it was necessary. With that mindset, we reached the dark hallways below the arena, where a bright glow marked the exit.

But I turned right and said, "Follow me! I know another exit."

If something happened, the disciples would storm out of the apparent exit, which could turn into something troublesome.

We walked through the damp stone hallways. Despite being close to summer, the temperature below the ground was always cold, and our breaths formed misty puffs in the air.

I couldn't help but think about Hu Jin and the highly lethal poison technique he used. Many historical figures used poison as a weapon to varying degrees of lethality. Still, only a handful reached the peak of power. Some did so due to Extreme Physiques related to poison.

Once I excluded those with poison-related Extreme Physiques, only one figure stood at the pinnacle of the poison technique.

The Great Sage of Divine Slaying Poison—his epithet was a mouthful. He gained that name because rumors said he had slain an immortal using his poison. He sounded perfect to become a ring grandpa, and he wasn't known as a good guy either, bordering on demonic cultivation. Ideal for someone favored by the heavens.

I didn't know much about Hu Jin, but Ye An hated him for stealing something. If he was a thief, I doubted he had a righteous master.

As we traversed the familiar tunnel, a route I often took with Song Song to avoid the Colosseum's bustling crowds, I instinctively halted and signaled for my cousins and Fu Yating to do the same. The dancing shadows and the distant flickering torches were a familiar sight. But they felt different from usual.

Why did it feel like there was someone with us?

My senses picked up nothing, but every instinct screamed that someone else was there. I looked around and counted my three cousins and my fiancée. Despite that, I tried to concentrate on my sense of hearing to detect if anyone was there. But it was useless, as the loudest sound was my own breath.

But despite my efforts, I heard nothing.

"Be careful of the dancing shadows," I warned them.

Shadows... The first person that came to mind when I thought of shadows was that girl Song San defeated. But why would she be here? We had no enmity between us.

We began walking again, this time slower, making the least noise possible.

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"You are no fun," Song Song's voice suddenly whispered in my ear. I flinched, almost turning around with a jade dagger to stab the talker in the eye.

But despite my almost overreaction, she didn't seem bothered and continued speaking, "I had this whole plan ironed out where you would think you were followed by a monster in your shadows. But you had to be a try-hard and ruin my fun."

"Fun at others' expense isn't real fun," I said, as the only one who refuted her. My cousins kept their mouths shut, and even my fiancé didn't make a peep. That was a good decision on their part. "Do you have nothing better to do?"

"Truly? No, not really," she shrugged and let go of me. "Though I'm in a pretty bad mood because of these fights."

"The tournament?" I raised a questioning brow as we kept walking, and there was a smidge of light in the distance. "But you won the damn thing."

"Yet I didn't prove myself as the best," she grunted angrily. "Ask anyone who the strongest this year was, and the first person they will think of is that shadow bitch."

I knew poking that hornet's nest or trying to change the flow of the conversation when she was so angry wouldn't work. The best choice here was to delve deeper.

"She won the last tournament, right? Did she win decisively?" I asked, hoping that wasn't the case. Because if it was, then Song Song was going to stick to this topic like a fly to a pile of shit.

"Nobody could even injure her," her eyes lit angrily.

Well, that didn't work. Now, the best way to do this was to try and find a solution to her problem. Unlike most girls her age, Song Song cared little for words of reassurance that meant nothing.

"The best solution would be to get to a higher stage of cultivation or get some Sky Grade Techniques. It is a straightforward problem, so there aren't many ways we can mend it," I said while moving some vines to the side and being greeted by lush greenery and the afternoon sun. "Get to six or seven-star Foundation Establishment, and you won't have to worry about anything."

"By the time I achieve that, she will have advanced too. That shadow bitch is only some years older, but she is good," Song Song complained.

We strode into the greenery, and the tall grass almost reached our hips. As we walked through it, it brushed against our fingers.

It was strange seeing Song Song so jealous of another woman. I wasn't sure how healthy it would be to have a rival for someone like Song Song. She thrived without competition, but with a rival, she might be prone to rushing things or building an unstable foundation.

No matter the talent, a cultivator's lacking foundation could doom anyone's journey. There was no way I would let Song Song end up like that.

"Remember to be careful. Cultivation is not a race; it's a marathon. I would hate to see you unable to surpass a bottleneck just because you left your foundation unstable," I said, spilling my honest thoughts about the situation.

Thankfully, I would never have to struggle with what she was going through. I only concentrated on my own pace, as I knew people like Hu Jin would eventually leave me in the dust. He would probably leave everyone in the dust after building momentum.

Song Song seemed rather displeased by my words, but she at least seemed to be contemplating them.

"How about you guys and gals?" I turned toward my cousins and fiancée. "What are you going to do from now on?"

"I'll probably just do more training after I leave. There isn't much to do for me. Body Tempering is oftentimes just a grind," Fu Yating said. "It will probably take me a couple more years to be a Qi Gathering Cultivator."

"It's the same for me," Liu Bo shrugged. "It's just more training and cultivation, though we will also have to prepare for that expedition."

"Are you sure you should go there?" I asked. With the four clans there, even if nothing dangerous lurked, there were bound to be some fights.

"I know the dangers," Liu Bo muttered as if reading my thoughts. He was more intelligent than he looked or usually acted. "But as cultivators from some clan with no real foothold here where the strongest Sects and Clans reside, we have to make our own opportunities and take whatever we can get."

It was a brave thing to do, and Liu Bo was always the one who didn't mind danger as long as it was for the family. He had also transported Falling Moon Claw to the Clan.

But at the same time, he was just a two-star Qi Gathering Cultivator. They had only come to the Blazing Sun Sect some years before me. Though I wouldn't say I got any significant advantage here from being from the Liu Clan, at least I had someone who looked out for me. They had none and had built the mindset to survive this place. But they still had to fight and endanger their lives to get what they desired.

The other two were not much better than Liu Bo either. Liu Heng was a three-star Qi Gathering Cultivator. At the same time, Liu Qian, who was a once-in-a-century level of talent within the Clan, was a five-star Qi Gathering Cultivator. She might be special in the Clan, but she was barely above average in cultivation talent here.

Not long after, we separated. My cousins went their own way, and we walked toward Song Song's mansion. The place was less gothic during the day and didn't look as scary as at night when soft winds pushed the vines and made it look like shadows danced.

Speedy raised his head when he saw us approaching. The little guy had stopped growing and was now the size of a small car. He was a fully matured monstrous beast and whatever else that entailed.

"With this whole hassle of a tournament over, I'm going to enter in-door training," Song Song suddenly said. "If you need anything, you know where the things are."

She didn't say it out loud explicitly because Fu Yating was with us. But I knew she meant the places where we hid our storage rings full of spirit stones, medicinal herbs, and other cultivation resources.

"How long will you be gone?" I asked.

"However long it takes me to break through to three-star Foundation Establishment," Song Song shrugged. "Foundation Establishment is the stage in cultivation where one begins to enter closed-door cultivation if they want to advance fast."

"Do you need me to bring you food?"

"No, I already have boxes of ration pills," she said.

Ah, those things. They tasted like wet cardboard, and I wasn't sure how legitimate they were.

Song Song must have predicted my thought process as she said, "I don't need flavorful food to distract me from my cultivation."

With that said, Song Song walked into the mansion.

With only Speedy and Fu Yating around, I turned toward my fiancée and asked, "Do you want to do something?"

"Well, I have training. If you want to help me with that, I could use a sparring partner," Fu Yating offered.

"Sure," I nodded.

Now that Song Song will enter in-door cultivation, I should visit the librarian and the old man. I hadn't seen them in a while. I might even say hello to that creepy owl.