Batian Martial Soul

Chapter 14565 Wild Beast

“Miss,” Ling Xiao broke the silence first, his breathing had mostly calmed down, and his tone was steady, “I certainly meant no harm.”

"I have stumbled upon this place by mistake, and I only seek to understand the rules and find a way to survive. I am not someone who is going to my death."

Su Miao's eyes remained sharp, but her tense shoulder line relaxed slightly.

Seeing that Ling Xiao had taken a half step back and that the aura of desperate fighting he was holding back was slowly receding, which did not seem fake, she then flipped her wrist and the short dagger disappeared into her sleeve, its cold light vanishing.

"The deathmatch arena has rules so strict they're almost inhuman." Her voice remained cold, but it carried less hostility and more of a candid honesty.

"To take the 'battle token' onto the stage, you must first hunt down a 'wild beast' on your own."

"Even if you win, you still need enough 'Source Crystals' as a wager, or money to buy your life. The loser either dies or becomes someone else's vassal, with no chance of ever rising again."

"A wild beast? Any one will do?"

Ling Xiao pressed for an answer, a flash of understanding crossing his eyes.

"Yes."

“But it’s definitely not a monster from the outside world.” Su Miao raised her hand and pointed to the deeper darkness on her right, where even the faintest light of day could not penetrate.

"That area is inhabited by wild beasts."

"They are even more suppressed by the rules here, their intelligence is as chaotic as a stubborn rock, but their physique is ridiculously strong, and their killing instinct is etched into their bones. Those who survive are all ruthless characters who have survived a hundred battles."

"Winning is not easy; obtaining their 'reverse scale tokens' is even more difficult."

Ling Xiao pondered for a moment, then clasped his hands in a fist salute to Su Miao.

"Thank you for the advice, young lady."

After saying that, he turned around and strode into the darkness without the slightest hesitation.

"You really want to go?"

Su Miao's voice came from behind, carrying a hint of barely perceptible surprise.

Ling Xiao's steps did not stop, and his voice came on the night wind, carrying a hint of the arrogance and decisiveness of a demonic cultivator.

"Since we're here, let's make the best of it."

"Desperate situations test my resolve, which suits me just the way it is."

"That wild beast is not as simple as you think."

"I fought them three times, won only once, and almost lost half my life in the process."

Su Miao's tone was slightly somber, and she unusually said an extra sentence.

Ling Xiao suddenly turned around, his face not showing any ease, but with a challenging smile. Deep in his eyes, a pure demonic intent suddenly bloomed, not an outward display of cultivation, but the willpower pressure formed by the demonic soul!

The surrounding vegetation withered instantly, the dust stagnated, and even the night breeze seemed to be forced to pause for a moment by this invisible force!

"I am a demonic cultivator." His tone was calm, yet it carried an undeniable certainty.

"Although this place forbids all magic, it cannot seal my demonic heart, nor can it extinguish my murderous intent."

"Demon cultivator?"

A genuine look of surprise flashed across Su Miao's eyes as she re-examined Ling Xiao. Her gaze lingered for a moment on the demonic aura surrounding him, a fierce and tenacious energy that originated from his very soul, something that no ordinary martial artist could possess.

She remained silent for several breaths, then suddenly nodded.

"Okay, let's go together."

"With each other's help, the hunting efficiency is much higher."

"please."

Ling Xiao nodded, neither humble nor arrogant.

The two walked side by side, their figures quickly merging into the darkness of the deeper wilderness, leaving only two shallow footprints.

"What is your name, young lady, and why are you trapped here?"

Ling Xiao spoke first, breaking the silence.

"Su Miao." She gave her name, her tone still indifferent.

"As for the second question, I don't want to answer it."

"What about their cultivation level?"

Ling Xiao tentatively pressed for more information.

"I don't know."

Su Miao answered crisply and decisively.

"The laws are forbidden here, and all external realms are stripped away and confused."

"What state we were in before is no longer important. What matters is how much power we can unleash now and how many deadly moves we can dodge."

Ling Xiao nodded knowingly.

The rules of this Soul-Slaying Death Arena are indeed designed to completely strip away all external influences, leaving only the purest martial arts and will.

Su Miao suddenly asked a question in return.

"And you? Real name? Background?"

"Ling Xiao."

“From the Realm of Annihilation.”

Ling Xiao told him frankly, without hiding anything.

"The Realm of Annihilation..."

Su Miao paused almost imperceptibly for a moment, then looked up at Ling Xiao with a hint of inquiry in her eyes.

"In the Realm of Annihilation, there is a Holy Temple of Annihilation, whose power is immense. You and they..."

"There are some past grievances."

Ling Xiao's tone was calm, but it concealed a hint of coldness that was not easily detected. He had never forgotten the blood feud with the Holy Temple.

Su Miao glanced at him but didn't ask any further questions, only saying...

"There is also a trial participant from the Realm of Nirvana here, named Huyan Zhan."

"This person possesses superhuman strength and ruthless fighting skills. He has won seven consecutive matches on the deathmatch stage and is an extremely formidable opponent."

"If you go on stage, you will meet him sooner or later."

Huyan War?

Ling Xiao kept this name in his heart.

His past opponents were mostly old monsters from the Holy Temple, and he knew very little about the prodigies of his generation. Now, in this deathmatch arena, he can finally see the strength of all sides.

As they talked, the terrain gradually rose, and a jagged mountain range loomed in front of them, its walls steep and sheer, covered with craggy rocks.

The night wind swept through the crevices of the rocks, making a strange, whimpering sound, like the wailing of ghosts. In the darkness, it seemed as if countless eyes were watching from the shadows, their eyes gleaming with a bloodthirsty ferocity.

"arrive."

Su Miao stopped and lowered her voice to a whisper.

"Wild beasts are nocturnal and hide during the day; this is when they are most active."

“They are most deeply affected by the ‘Spirit Extinction’ rules, their intelligence is dulled, and they only know how to hunt and guard their territory.”

"When I fight them, the odds are even, but to take the reverse scale on the back of their neck as a token is as difficult as climbing to the sky. That is their strongest point of defense, but also their fatal weakness that will trigger their ferocity. Once touched, they will fall into a relentless madness."

Ling Xiao nodded, bent down and picked up a withered branch as thick as an arm from the ground, peeled off the leaves and leaves, held it in his hand, and his eyes became sharp.

"I'll go test the waters."

He walked alone into the mountain pass. Darkness surged in like a tide, and his five senses seemed to be suppressed by an invisible force. His vision was limited to a few feet.

After walking only a hundred steps, a dark shadow slowly rose up beside a huge rock about ten feet high, blocking the way as if it were blotting out the sky.

The monster resembled a giant wolf, but was more than three times larger than an ordinary demon wolf. Its body was covered with a dull, rough carapace that looked like stone and iron, with blackish-red mucus seeping from the gaps in the carapace, and sharp bone spurs about an inch long growing from its joints.

A pair of eyes, shimmering with a murky dark red in the darkness, stared intently at Ling Xiao, a low growl emanating from his throat—the intimidating presence of a predator locking onto its prey. The ferocious aura emanating from him was enough to make any martial artist who had lost their cultivation tremble and their legs go weak!

Ling Xiao stood firmly, his right hand pointing diagonally at the ground, the withered branch clenched in his palm pressed against the dust, his breathing suddenly slowed down, and his mind completely sank into the newly formed "Demon Soul".

Unable to use even a fraction of his demonic energy, without the aid of magical treasures, and even with his physical body suppressed to a mortal level by the rules, his only reliance at this moment was his understanding of the "origin of martial arts" honed by the thirteen ancient sages, his ultimate grasp of timing and distance, and his precise control over every bit of his own strength.

Even more terrifying was that his demonic intent remained—a primal killing instinct etched into his soul, an undying ruthlessness born of desperation. Even without projecting his cultivation, the surrounding air exuded a chilling aura that kept strangers at bay. (End of Chapter)