A deep gong echoed again.

  “Third challenger—Bone Mauler!” the announcer roared, voice ragged from strain.

  The gates slammed open.

  A squat, muscle-bound man stomped forward. His arms were grotesquely large, covered in jagged, rune-burned scars. Dozens of bone fragments jutted out of his skin like armor, rattling as he moved.

  He flexed once, and one of the bones cracked free, he caught it midair and licked the tip with a snake-like tongue.

  The crowd loved it.

  “Crush him!”

  “Bone him alive!”

  “Feed the blind freak his own ribs!”

  A group of drunk cultivators spilled Qi-drenched wine over the railings, howling as they pounded on the bars.

  In a high booth, the man with snakeskin arms hissed a breath through his nostrils. “That one has slaughtered Qi Lords barehanded.”

  The eerie-eyed woman next to him didn't blink. “This… will be interesting.”

  ---

  Jin Yu stood calm, centered, his blindfold perfectly in place.

  His opponent cracked his neck. “Hope you heal fast, freak.”

  Jin Yu tilted his head. “Hope you die slow.”

  Bone Mauler rushed in without warning, slamming a hammer-like fist down.

  Boom!

  The stage cracked, but Jin Yu had already side-stepped with ghostly ease, dragging a finger along his sword.

  A single, sharp hiss.

  Bone Mauler blinked.

  A red line appeared across his abdomen. Blood followed.

  “WHAT—?!”

  Bone Mauler screamed and lunged again, faster. He threw bones like knives, Qi-reinforced spikes.

  Jin Yu weaved.

  Another flick of the blade.

  Crack!

  The man's arm twisted unnaturally, bone shattering from inside out.

  Jin Yu stepped in. A blur. A flash of steel.

  Thud!

  Bone Mauler’s knees hit the ground before the rest of him did. His eyes were wide, his lips moving, trying to curse, but his throat had already been cut.

  The crowd fell into a heartbeat of silence—then detonated.

  “TOO EASY!”

  “He didn’t even try!”

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Freak’s playing with them!”

  “Not fair! I bet 20 spirit coins on Bone Mauler!”

  A young cultivator wailed, throwing his betting slip against the wall.

  But others roared with bloodlust, slamming their fists together, cheering the Nameless One.

  "Nameless! Nameless! Nameless!"

  Jin Yu stood still as attendants dragged the twitching corpse away.

  His fingers curled.

  Challenge progress: 10%

  He frowned.

  Only ten?

  He tilted his head toward the next gate.

  ...So the real ones are still waiting.

  He cracked his neck.

  “Tch. Stop sending me toys.”

  The blood hadn’t dried yet.

  The gong sounded again.

  The announcer’s voice rang out, this time with a theatrical lilt:

  “Fourth challenger—Whisper Fang, the Crimson Widow!”

  A hush fell.

  Then, murmurs.

  “A woman?”

  “Don’t be fooled—she melts organs.”

  “She killed a man with a kiss last week.”

  From the shadows emerged a slender figure clad in blood-red silk that shimmered with faint runes. Her face was veiled, but her smirk gleamed behind it. A pair of serrated daggers glinted at her hips, and her fingers shimmered with poison Qi.

  She moved like a phantom dancer, hips swaying, lips curving.

  “Poor blind boy,” she purred as she approached. “You won't know which way the pain is coming.”

  Jin Yu didn’t respond.

  He just raised his sword, not to attack, but to rest on his shoulder.

  Casual. Almost… bored.

  The crowd stirred. Split again.

  “Slit his throat, Crimson!”

  “Don’t let her touch you, Nameless!”

  “We want pain!”

  “Rip her in two, freak!”

  From the upper booths, the bird-eyed man leaned forward.

  “She’s fast. This might draw blood.”

  The snakeskin man snorted. “He hasn’t blinked once. Even blind, he sees more than her.”

  The match began.

  She moved instantly, blurring forward, dagger aimed for his ribs.

  Jin Yu pivoted.

  Steel clanged once.

  Then a spark, then a sudden twist—Whisper Fang nearly slashed his throat. Nearly.

  He ducked and stepped in with a knee that hit her ribs like a battering ram.

  Crack!.

  She gasped, but spun, spraying poisonous mist from her sleeves.

  Ding!

  Hostile Qi detected!

  Absorbing....

  Progress bar: 66.5%....67.5%....68.3%....

  Jin Yu’s robe hissed and sizzled. He ripped it off with a single arm twist, exposing his lean torso marked with light scars.

  His blindfolded head turned slightly.

  “You’re better than the others.” he said.

  She grinned, even while coughing. “Then die slower.”

  She threw a dagger, not at him, but the ground.

  It exploded in a flash of light and red smoke.

  “Smart.” someone in the crowd murmured.

  From behind, she lunged at his back.

  Too late.

  Jin Yu’s sword reversed, sliding smoothly into her gut without him turning.

  She choked on blood, wide-eyed.

  “What—when—?”

  “You breathe too loud,” Jin Yu said simply.

  She collapsed.

  The crowd broke into two halves—one roaring approval, the other booing, outraged at her failure.

  “I wanted gore!”

  “He didn’t even look at her!”

  “He's not even trying, damn it!”

  “No, no,” laughed an old drunk. “This is art.”

  Jin Yu stood alone again.

  Challenge progress: 20%

  He glanced at the floating bar.

  Still so little?

  He exhaled softly.

  Next… next should be different.

  A slight red flicker crossed his eyes.

  He was starting to feel hungry.

  The announcer lingered this time, voice low, uncertain.

  “Fifth challenger… Ghost Voice of the Screaming Silence Sect.”

  A ripple of unease passed through the arena. Even the more unhinged spectators quieted for a beat.

  “That lunatic?”

  “Didn’t he make someone bite their tongue off just from laughing?”

  “Finally… someone serious.”

  From the far gate, barefoot steps, then screeching laughter, too high-pitched, like rusted metal scraping.

  "KAKAKAKAKAKAKAKA"

  A thin monk emerged, bald and cracked like dry earth. His mouth stretched unnaturally wide, and his skin pulsed with erratic black Qi. His milky-white eyes stared nowhere, and yet directly at Jin Yu.

  Ding!

  Influence +10,000

  Ding!

  Influence +10,000

  Ding!

  Influence +10,000

  (Emotion provoked: Bloodlust)

  The laughter didn’t stop.

  "KAKAKAKAKAKAKA"

  “Ahh… the blind one. Will you scream too?”

  Jin Yu didn’t answer. He just tilted his chin slightly, sword already loose in hand.

  Ding!

  Hostile Qi detected!

  Absorbing....

  Progress bar: 68.3%....68.7%...69%....

  The gong rang.

  Ghost Voice vanished.

  Jin Yu twisted, catching a sudden palm strike to the chest with his forearm. Qi erupted from the blow like a coiled spring, sending him stumbling back three full steps.

  His ribs ached.

  He wiped a small trickle of blood from his lip, and grinned.

  “You hit harder than the others.”

  Ding!

  Progress bar: 69%....69.3%...69.7%....

  The monk’s smile widened.

  And then he screamed.

  SCREEEEEEEEEECH!

  Not a yell. Not a war cry.

  But a raw, violent Qi-based howl.

  The air trembled. Stone cracked beneath their feet. The crowd flinched. A few weak-willed spectators grabbed their heads and collapsed, bleeding from the ears.

  Ding!

  Progress bar: 69.7%....72.2%....

  Jin Yu’s blindfold and long hair fluttered from the blast, but held.

  He clenched his jaw.

  Then disappeared in a blur.

  They clashed. The monk’s attacks were wild, dancing with chaos, but Jin Yu read them like a language.

  His blade grazed the monk’s cracked flesh, small wounds. Light bleeding. More laughter.

  "KAKAKAKAKAKAKA"

  A sharp elbow to Jin Yu’s ribs staggered him again.

  Ding!

  Progress bar: 72.2%....73.1%....

  Jin Yu spat blood and grinned wider.

  “You’re feeding me.”

  The monk faltered for the first time.

  Then, Jin Yu ducked low, spun behind him, and pinned the monk’s foot to the ground with the edge of his sword.

  The monk raised his hands to deliver a crushing double strike—

  Jin Yu stepped in and headbutted him full in the face.

  CRACK!

  The monk reeled.

  Jin Yu didn’t give him a chance to recover.

  His sword rose, and fell in a clean, diagonal arc.

  Shoulder to hip.

  The monk split.

  And for the first time, he didn’t laugh.

  The arena roared alive again.

  “ARRRGHHH!!”

  “GRIND HIS BONES!”

  “RAAAAGHH—MORE BLOOD!!”

  Feet stomped. Fists pounded railings. The madness climbed.

  “KILL! KILL! KILL!”

  Some gasped. Some grinned. Some muttered in concern.

  “He bled, but… he looks stronger.”

  “Did you see the smile? He likes it now.”

  “This… thing… is evolving.”

  Challenge Progress: 30%

  Breakthrough Progress: 74.1%....

  Jin Yu exhaled, a quiet tremor running through his chest.

  “I’m getting closer,” he muttered.

  He turned to the booths above.

  “Next.”