Ah, I should not have celebrated too early. Why does she even want to fight against me? I am a nobody!

The other two Energy Tempering cultivators on stage ten were even more confused, but also relieved. They thought that they were the focus of the freakishly strong girl because they were the strongest left.

Who could have predicted that she would set sights on someone not even in the Energy Tempering stage. Wasn’t that bullying?

The one sided beating had already attracted much attention from the crowd and stage became the center of attention for a short moment. Now, with that declaration, more and more gazes also landed on Yasha, trying to understand what the young girl saw in this unremarkable youngster.

It did not take long until someone recognized Yasha from the registration process.

“Wait a second, isn’t this youngster the one who did not have to go through the tests and could simply bypass them?”

“You know that boy?”

“No, I don’t know him, but I have already seen him once before during the registration process. It seems like he is not so simple after all.”

“Really? Tell me more.”

Similar discussion erupted elsewhere in the crowd, but there was still not one person who guessed Yasha’s identity, thus his name and origin was still a mystery to the masses. This did not stop the crowd from cheering loudly and anticipating the upcoming battle.

The beautiful girl on the other hand ignored all the strange gazes and discussions. During her previous fight she had noticed Yasha watching her fight on the sidelines.

At that time, for a fraction of a second, she had the feeling of being eyed by an apex predator waiting in the shadows for the opportune moment to strike.

But that dangerous feeling vanished as fast as it came. This feeling was enough for her to challenge Yasha. Her intuition never failed her before.

The only reason she even bothered coming to this tournament was to challenge the strongest of the younger generation. And to her, Yasha felt like a formidable opponent.

Not wasting any more time, she charged at Yasha.

Yasha could only sigh and accepted his fate. Looking at the girl and the short sword, his worries and doubts quickly vanished and his battle instinct kicked in, intently watching every small detail of her movements.

Even though he felt a strong urge to fight for real, he knew that he should try his best to get through the first round without an exhausting battle.

With precise steps, he dodged the first attack, quickly followed by the next barrage of sword strikes. While dodging, he made sure to avoid the scars left behind her sword.

Seeing that Yasha seemed to effortlessly dodge her attacks, she was shocked at first, but regained her composure quickly after and continued her attacks with even more ferocity.

She now moved so fast that most people in the crowd and even most participants could not follow her anymore.

On the other side, Yasha was also astonished and felt pressured for the first time since stepping on stage ten.

It seems like this is my current limit. Even though I already circulate my spiritual energy, it still isn’t enough to dodge all her attacks.

Just like that, with Yasha doing his best to dodge and run around the stage, the fight dragged on. After all this time it was becoming harder and harder to avoid the sword scars.

Yasha long realized that those scars were a real pain to deal with, as the difference in spiritual energy was simply too much.

Although he could virtually see all her movements and knew where he should attack and dodge, his body could not keep up with his mind. The risk of touching one of those scars was rising the longer the fight went on, because of that.

It was really infuriating to have the feeling of knowing how to counter her moves, but being too slow to execute it.

As a result, Yasha ended up with more and wounds light wounds, his blood staining the stage.

Desperate, Yasha looked around, hoping that the other battles were close to finishing. But he was disappointed, as the other battles had come to a stop, because the young girl chased Yasha around the whole stage and left sword scars wherever she went, making it difficult for the others to fight properly. Thus, they simply waited for the fight to end.

Seeing this, Yasha grew even more exasperated. Fuck, this is really bad. I have misjudged this girl, she is even stronger than I anticipated.

With her power, there is no way she is simply at the early Energy Tempering stage, she must have already reached the peak Energy Tempering stage, just like Jiule and the others, but she is hiding her power for some reason.

I should not have let it come to this point.

As if this wasn’t enough already, he could feel his blood heating up every time the short sword sliced into his skin, enraging the Asura blood, he desperately tried to suppress. With every wound, he could feel his control over the Asura blood dwindle away.

When I use my power actively to attack her, I should be able to win this, but at this point, I am not sure if I can keep controlling the Asura blood. Maybe I…

The fight continued with Yasha being chased around the arena by the young girl and could be described as one of the most intense fights so far, even if it was only one person attacking.

Seeing that Yasha was able to avoid this kind of onslaught further fanned the flames surrounding his origins and resulted in the weirdest rumors.

Some said he was from a mysterious sect of another kingdom and was sent to test the Azure Dragon Kingdoms young geniuses. There were even some who said that he was from an evil sect. However, the most common rumor was that he was the disciple of a powerful person and this was his first outside experience.

Never slowing down, the beautiful girl got even more fiercer while, Yasha lost more and more control of the battlefield. At this point, there were only eleven persons still standing on stage ten, as two more were unable to avoid the myriad sword scars left behind by the girl.

Only one person needed to be eliminated, but Yasha could celebrate about this fact, as the burning desire inside his mind and veins to fight the girl reached an unbearable height.

The blood inside his veins was like an unstoppable and ferocious river of lava that burned everything in its path.

The burning battle intent gradually transformed into a desire to defeat her, to crush her. How could an Asura back down from a fight? How could he loose miserably?

It was the same sensation as always when he was on the verge of loosing himself in battle. Yasha knew what was coming.

By now he experienced the unfathomable force of the Asura blood enough times, to be able to judge the situation in his body more accurately. He was quickly approaching the point of no return.

If he now let down his guard, it would mean to lose himself in battle. To kill his opponent no matter what. In the easiest and most efficient way.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Together with his burning blood, his mind was flooded with a huge will to battle. It spread through his mind like ruthless wild fire, threatening to destroy everything.

On the outside, Yasha had more and more problems to fight with her due to the ongoing war inside inside of him. His movements got sluggish and he was not as agile and relaxed as before.

Many thought that he simply reached his limits and that he could not hold on much longer. But there was something most people did not recognize. Yasha’s aura grew heavier and fiercer, just like a volcano, which was about to erupt at any moment. And there was something dangerous, mysterious, and forbidden about him.

The person who experienced the whole brunt of Yasha’s transformation was naturally the cold girl. Her eyes lit up, as she saw Yasha changing.

She knew there was something odd about him and now she was finally about to reveal what was lying behind this black robe.

Realizing that things were spiraling out of control now, Yasha pushed himself to calm down, leading to more injuries. What should I do? What should I do?!

Until the last moment, Yasha never gave up and gave it his all in the fight against his own blood, but it was still not enough. No matter what he tried, he could not quell the raging fire burning inside his body and soul.

Tired, he closed his eyes and shortly after, the burning desire to draw blood flooded his mind and overcame all other emotions.

This was the last thing Yasha could remember, before his vision was flooded with a red light. Without him suppressing the Asura blood, it galloped through his veins and filled him seemingly unending power.

Now, that it wasn’t suppressed any longer, it evoked the feeling of an enraged lion that was trapped for too long and it looked like it could not believe that someone dared to disregard it. Thus, it showed no mercy and didn’t hold back, not caring for any potential damage it would leave behind.

At that moment, even though he did not actively drew upon his bloodline powers, it burst out of Yasha’s body and ravaged his body, as well as his surroundings and he showed the world the power of the primeval Asuras, the war gods of eons ago.

The spiritual energy inside of him churned and even burned lightly. A faint black halo covered his body and filled every part of it with berserk strength.

But this was power came with a price. Even though Yasha possessed a powerful body, it could not handle the berserk energy rampaging through his body, damaging his blood vessels and meridians.

They became swollen and cracked in many places, a gruesome sight to behold. They could not contain the endless power erupting from the Asura blood.

With a roar he opened his eyes, which glowed with a murderous, blood red light. In the exact same moment, a powerful shock wave spread out and enveloped the entire coliseum.

The invisible force came crushing down like a tidal wave, surprising even those on the other stages and immediately hurled all participants of the stage that could not defend against the sudden shock wave.

As a result, most participants were thrown off their respective stage. On stage ten, only the cold girl managed to barely hold on.

On the other stages, those who managed to remain on their stage immediately stopped everything and looked at stage ten, completely astonished at the sudden turn of events.

Even the six prodigies were no exception looked directly at Yasha.

In his frenzied state, the stage beneath Yasha’s feet cracked and broke down in many places. Contrary to before, the stage was not able to repair the damage in an instant, remaining broken.

His murderous eyes locked on the cold girl who struggled to lift her head. The instant she saw those scarlet eyes boring into her, she immediately became terrified and her legs grew weak. Those eyes reeked of a piercingly cold and apathetic disregard of life.

Her mind was overcome by a fear she had never felt in her life. From the moment she started her cultivation path, she was seen as a prodigy and was trained as one.

She had to overcome numerous tests and and was trained to keep a steady heart, no matter the situation, as cultivation not only meant to train the body.

Training the heart and mind was equally important and her mentors put great emphasis on this aspect. This was one reason she managed to reach the peak of Energy Tempering at only sixteen.

After witnessing the horrors of simply being stared at, all her mental fortitude crumbled into dust, questioning her earlier decision.

Why did I provoke this demon?

Looking at Yasha, she had the impression of standing before an infernal demon of the netherworld, moments before it decided her fate.

In front of Yasha, all her determination and will to resist crumbled to ashes. Just one gaze was enough to crush her will to fight.

Everything she believed in, her dreams and believes, they all turned into fear. All she wanted right now was to run.

Forget about this tournament, forget about her cultivation path. In front of such an insane and murderous power, only fear was left behind.

On the other side, while Yasha glared at the young girl, his expression changed from absolute coldness to struggling and uncertainty, making it clear, that even though Yasha looked like a bloodthirsty demon right now, a sliver of himself still struggled against his bloody self.

After all that, he had not yet lost himself completely. With slow and steady steps, he walked forward.

---

Meanwhile in the VIP arena

“I demand an explanation! Why was the battle not stopped already? Its clear that this guy down belongs to the demon faction! He must have infiltrated our kingdom and must be killed on the spot, before he kills Alice!”, raged a middle-aged woman.

She wore a white dress with a beautiful sword embroidered into it. The sword wrapped around her delicate body like dragon soaring into the skies.

“Calm down Aurelia. There is no such thing. This guy is not from the demonic path. His cultivation and techniques are just a bit special…” It was Arslan who spoke out for Yasha.

He was shocked at what he saw. Especially the murderous and even evil aura emanated by Yasha. How could the kind and quite boy from the night at the bonfire transform into such a demonic figure?

Seeing Yasha transform into that terrifying figure, Arslan slowly connected some dots and could guess why Yasha left them alone.

He also understood why he had such a strange feeling whenever he looked at Yasha. In the beginning, he did not what this represented, but now he realized that there was a terrifying force hidden or sealed inside of Yasha, something that he did not understand.

After hearing Arslan’s words, who was a respected figure in the Azure Dragon Kingdom, many were surprised. Not only because of Yasha, but because of the name Aurelia.

If you recognized the name Aurelia, then you also knew the name Soaring Sword Sect. This was the name of another powerful, under normal circumstances hidden, ancient sect, which did not care about such trivial matters like the kingdom’s tournament under normal circumstances. Yet, right now, they were here and one of its disciples was about to lose miserably.

Aurelia’s expression grew uglier. She stared at Arslan and retorted, “Do you wanna fight with me old man? You should know the consequences, if you defend a demon! Demons are our enemies and besides, my Soaring Sword Sect is not afraid to fight your Moon Flower Sect.”

“So young and powerful, yet so inexperienced. It’s such a pity. The stronger the star shines, the earlier its light diminishes… You have not been to the Northern Frontier, nor other real battlefields against the demonic forces,” answered Arslan. He spoke slowly, and looked like he already managed to see through the whole situation.

“Those are just some baseless accusations. Are you not ashamed of yourself? Look carefully. On the surface, he looks like a demon, but he still regained control over his emotions. A real demon would have already killed your little disciple countless times. They show no mercy to their foes.” Towards the end Arslan grew colder. He did not know who Yasha really was, nor what was happening to him right now, but he was sure that Yasha was not part of the demonic faction, thus he decided to help him out a bit and spoke out for him.

“However, I can agree with you, that we have to keep a close watch at him just as a safety measure. As of now, he is no threat for your disciples life, so calm down.”

All the other powerful persons in the VIP area could only nod in response to Arslan’s analysis. Although they managed to detect the slight favoritism hidden inside his words, many of them were of the senior generation and have already experienced the cruel struggle between humans and demons.

Many have fought with their lives on the line against demons and just as many have seen their close brothers and sisters die on the battlefield.

Looking at all the calm and emotionless faces around her, Aurelia knew that she took the shorter end and could only back down. There was no way for her to antagonize all, or most parties present. But she would remember the disgrace she felt today.

One day, I will have surpassed all you old geezers. Your prime time for cultivation is already over, whereas mine only starts now.

She was only about thirty two and in comparison to the long life of the Dantian Stage, the fourth major cultivation stage, that was nothing. She had enough time to surpass all of them.

Even though Arslan could persuade most of the parties here, some of them also silently supported Aurelia.

Although Arslan supported Yasha, he was still growing more uneasy, as he had taken a huge risk in speaking out for Yasha just now. If Yasha really did not turn back to his previous self and ended up killing Alice, then his sect would have to shoulder the responsibility of his actions.

By killing Alice, Yasha would be turned into a demon by the all the elders present and he would have no choice but to back down.

The hatred between demons and humans was etched into their bones. Not executing a demon right away and even speaking out for it — that was a grave sin.

For some odd reason, Arslan trusted Yasha and simply hoped that he knew what he was doing. He had done everything he could. The rest depended on Yasha.

---

The crowd was completely silent and all eyes were fixed on Yasha, who was only one step away from the Alice. Alice, the disciple of Aurelia, was already completely crushed by Yasha’s fearsome gaze and his evil aura.

She had not received any physical wounds, but her soul and mind, were nearly completely shattered by her fear. Only a bit more and her mind would crumble from the intense fear she experienced, which would turn her from a martial genius to an idiot.

The blood red light emitted from Yasha’s eyes was now so intense that it looked like he was crying tears of blood. With a struggling expression on his face, Yasha formed a fist and threw out a punch. In that moment time seemed to stop.