Chapter 1127 – Life and Death Stage!

Dark Demon Planet, Lofty Demon Island, Life and Death Stage

Normally, only a few people were present in the Life and Death Stage. Only people hostile towards each other would duel there. In the Life and Death stage, injuries and deaths didn't matter, only enmity was taken into account. Average people wouldn't use the stage to take care of their enmity.

The Life and Death stage was a huge metal platform with a width and length of 100 meters. Each corner of the stage had a column with crystal stones, covering the stage with a barrier that won't let energy go through. This way, the spectators on the sides wouldn't be harmed.

Surrounding the stage were seats that could accommodate thirty thousand people. The VIP seats were based on the north side. People of status would sit in this area. Meanwhile, the other three sides were saved for the civilians. Anyone can sit on these three areas to watch the duels.

Usually, unless it was related to them, normal people wouldn't come to this place. This was because the killing aura in this place was too heavy.

Lofty Demon Island's area is huge, but the Life and Death Stage was placed on a small corner of the island. To be exact, the stage can't be regarded as part of the island. Instead, it was on a huge reef just outside. It was only connected to the island by bridges.

This day, in the normally desolate life and death stage, were a lot of people. There were numerous cards stopped at its parking lot outside. The spectator area was also packed with people. However, the northern area was empty. Naturally, this meant that the Patriarch had yet to arrive.

Then at exactly 9 a.m, melodious bells began ringing. The original bustling life and death stage suddenly turned quiet. The members of the Ashley Family were too familiar with these bells. This was the Ashley Family's World Bell!

The Ashley Family had plenty of special traditions, for example, there's the World Bell as well as the Police World Drum!

The World Bell was used whenever people with influence arrive and the area needed to be quiet. As for the Police World Drum, this would be used to issue a warning whenever danger came. Then all of the family's combatants would have 30 breaths to get ready. If they weren't ready in 30 breaths, they would be executed.

Along with the Ashley Family's strong regulations, as soon as the World Bell rung, the audience immediately turned silent. Those who dared deliberately open their mouth would be executed.

The World Bell rang three times and then people began falling straight down from the sky. At the lead of these people was a man wearing a black mage robe and holding a black cane. He already had some white hair, but his face was ruddy, looking stern and defiant.

On his side were people with Mage Robes as well as Warrior Clothing. Desbarres was also among these high-level people.

The person at the lead was the Ashley Family's current Patriarch, Thunder Ashley. There were eight people around him. Two of them were managers of the internal government, two were external affairs directors, and the other four were managers of various manpower branches. But there was something that was common among these eight people, all of them handled their own camp. They were all Thunder Ashley's eight most trusted people.

The group stood on the life and death stage. Thunder Ashley looked around him and then announced, "Six Realm Beginner Compet.i.tion, Ashley Family's internal qualifiers, officially begins!" Then he moved along with his entourage towards the northern spectator area.

When the group entered their reserved seats, a transparent gla.s.s immediately emerged from the ground, separating them from other people. Some of the other core members of the Ashley Family also entered and sat on their own seats.

At this time, a middle-aged man appeared on the stage. This person was also a fatty. But compared to Desbarres's ferocious face, this man was much more lovable, with a round face and a thick smile. He looked like someone you could fool. However, to those who knew this person, if you dared to make a fool of him, then you would die. This fatty was also quite famous. His name was Cadjo. He was someone Thunder Ashley grew up with. His current position was the Ashley Family's general manager, he is also the Chief Manager of Desbarres and the others.

With Desbarres's ferocious face as well as his kill count, he was named as the Killer Fatty. However, in the Ashley Family, there was another fatty with a much higher fame than him. This man was Cadjo. He killed more people than Desbarres, but his face wasn't as ferocious. He was the type of person who had a smiling face with a terrifying heart. Because of this, he was given the nickname of Smiling Demon Cadjo!

As soon as one hears these nicknames, one would know its meanings. Desbarres was given the name Killer Fatty while Cadjo was named a Demon. From this point, one could see the difference between the two.

At the same time, one shouldn't look down on Cadjo's position of General Manager. He was the person Thunder Ashley trusted the most, his relations.h.i.+p with Thunder Ashley's children was also quite good. Thunder's children treated him with great respect. It can be said that, in the Ashley Family, Cadjo was the number 2 after the Patriarch.

Cadjo stood on the stage with his big and wide smile. On the other hand, everyone in the Life and Death Stage were giving him their full attention. n.o.body dared to look at him in contempt.

Cadjo looked around the stage before he said, "Today is a grand event for our Ashley Family. The Ashley Family's talented individuals will go on this stage and fight for the family's honor. I invite the 71 brave individuals from the External Hall's camps to stand on the stage!"

Just as his voice fell, two teams came out into the Life and Death stage. Some of them wore Mage Robes while the others wore Warrior Clothing. On their bodies were badges with a dark mist skeleton emblem. This was the Ashley Family's badge. However, there were small differences in their badges. For example, below the dark mist skeleton in Zhao Hai's badge were two criss-crossed bones, making it look like a pirate flag. This meant that Zhao Hai was from the Ashley Family's Bone Symbol Camp.

After the contestants entered the life and death stage, they quickly stood in groups according to their camps. The other groups had ten people while Zhao Hai stood alone, looking somewhat pitiful.

Cadjo also saw Zhao Hai, but he didn't say anything and just said, "We'll have the computer arrange everyone's numbers." Then after he said that, a s.h.i.+p appeared on top of the stage which released a light screen that formed a projection in mid-air.

Names began to appear on the screen, from number 1 to 71. Zhao Hai's number was at the middle, number 36.

After the numbers were shown, Cadjo looked at the projection and said, "For the first battle, we'll draw two numbers from the list."

Just as his voice fell, the projection began to roll two numbers. Finally, two numbers appeared, number 2 and number 58. Not only did the names of two partic.i.p.ants appear on the screen, their faces and details were also displayed.

Zhao Hai also looked at the screen and saw that both were three-year ascenders and level 2. One was a Mage and the other was a Warrior.

When Cadjo saw that both sides had been decided, he said, "Alright, I'll have to ask the other partic.i.p.ants to leave." Zhao Hai and the others who were in the life and death stage left and sat on the seats reserved for them.

At this moment, people in the VIP room began discussing the battle. Desbarres was sitting next to Thunder. From this point, one could see Desbarres's position in Thunder Ashley's heart. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have sat this close to the Patriarch.

Thunder looked at Zhao Hai through the gla.s.s, then he turned to Desbarres and said, "Fatty Des, you're too stingy in sending fellows. You protect your people too much. That isn't good. And this time, you only sent one. Do you want to lose sooner to ease your worry? Also, I've read reports about this kid. He just ascended four months ago. Are you making it too easy?"

Desbarres smiled faintly and said, "Patriarch, rest a.s.sured. I will not disappoint you this time. I might have sent only one person, but I can guarantee that you will be surprised."

As soon as he heard Desbarres, Thunder couldn't help but stare. At this time, a nearby person said, "Fatty, there's no point in bragging. Your camp hasn't sent more than eight people to partic.i.p.ate in the compet.i.tion. And every time, you're defeated early. This time, you even sent a young kid. I don't even believe people who ascended for four months to be able to use spiritual qi."

Desbarres didn't need to look to know who was talking. It was one of the four managers, Dia. Dia was brought into the Ashley Family's management 20 years ago. Him ad Desbarres had always disagreed with each other. The two were always fighting each other in the dark.

Nevertheless, Desbarres wouldn't fight him too seriously. After all, Dia was also a member of the Ashley Family. If they were to fight for real, then the family would be heavily affected. For someone who grew up in the Ashley Family, this wasn't something that Desbarres wanted to see.

Since Desbarres didn't want to fight him head on, Dia began to think that Desbarres was afraid of him. Because of this, he would frequently make a jab at Desbarres during public situations. Seeing that it was difficult for him to retaliate, Desbarres chose to endure.

Thunder also knew about Desbarres thoughts. To be honest, he didn't like Dia. Thunder and Desbarres grew together, so he understood his friend the most. Thunder was aware that the Bone Symbol Camp was lacking a super expert. But in terms of comprehensive combat power, the other seven camps couldn't contend with the Bone Symbol Camp. Because of this, Thunder just turned a blind eye at Desbarres's pa.s.siveness.

Upon hearing Dia, Thunder couldn’t help but wrinkle his brows. Desbarres gave Dia a glance before he sneered and said, "Dia, how about we make a bet. I bet ten million that Zhao Hai will take first place in the compet.i.tion. If he gets first, then you'll give me ten million. Conversely, if Zhao Hai fails to get first place, then I lose ten million to you. What do you think? Do you dare?"

Chapter 1128 – Going on Stage

As soon as Dia heard Desbarres, he couldn't help but stare. This was the first time Desbarres bet on something. Moreover, Dia was clearly aware of how sly Desbarres was. One shouldn't look at his ugly and terrifying face as well as his fat build, this fellow wasn't stupid. Conversely, the way this person plots was truly terrifying.

People who liked to plot would make sure that they won't suffer losses. And Dia knew that Desbarres was someone who only took profits and not loss. And now, this person actually proposed a bet. There was certainly something going on.

Dia couldn't help but turn towards Zhao Hai. Zhao Hai was currently on the side of the stage looking at the battle. There was nothing much to look at. Although the Mage was level 2, he was still having problems using Magic Theory. Perhaps he was too used to using his magic in the lower realm. However, this method was no longer powerful in the upper realm.

The Warrior was also having similar problems. Although he can already send out his sword qi, it was obvious that he was burdened every time he used it. Therefore, he wasn't sending his sword qi out and instead did melee combat with the Mage. The Mage was constantly moving as he shot magic towards the Warrior. It was a common type of Warrior vs Mage combat from the lower realms.

Zhao Hai looked at the two and shook his head. He then closed his eyes. All partic.i.p.ants already had information about each other. However, this was the first time they saw each other in battle.

As for Zhao Hai's information, the only thing people knew was that he had ascended four months ago. He was a complete greenhorn. In their minds, Zhao Hai had offended Desbarres. Because of this, the Camp Lord sent him to this stage. This was basically murder using a borrowed knife.

In fact, after seeing this information, even Thunder had the same idea. But when he heard the bet Desbarres was about to make, he couldn't help but doubt this thinking. Then he turned to Desbarres in confusion.

Desbarres was intently waiting for Dia's reply. Dia looked at Desbarres and said, "Desbarres, how are you so sure?"

Desbarres coldly snorted and said, "Why do you care? Will you bet or not?" At the same time he showed glee in his eyes. As soon as he saw Desbarres's eyes, Dia knew that he was bluffing. Zhao Hai couldn't be an expert. Desbarres was just using this to make him afraid of doing a bet.

Dia thought himself smart when he deduced this. He immediately felt a great opportunity. He turned to Desbarres and coldly snorted, "Why wouldn’t I? Of course I'll bet!" Desbarres willed his expression change, but he still said, "Alright, then it's decided." He didn't care about Dia after he said that.

Seeing Desbaress's appearance, Thunder couldn’t help but feel worried. This fatty just dug a pit, and Dia happily jumped into it.

Thunder grew up with Desbarres. Because of this, he could understand the fatty's manners. He knew that Desbarres wouldn't go into matters that he didn't have control over. Since he made a bet with Dia, then it's certain that he believed his contestant would win.

With this thought in mind, Thunder couldn't help but feel more curious about Zhao Hai. He knew that Desbarres wouldn't lie about the time Zhao Hai ascended. Every ascender was a.s.signed a robot and was managed by the ascender reception tower. These two places were controlled by the three major forces and were not subject to anyone's jurisdiction. Even the Ashley Family wouldn't be able to touch it. Therefore, Zhao Hai's basic information should be true.

Since Zhao Hai's records weren't a problem, then this meant that Zhao Hai was a true four-month ascender. Moreover, he was invited by Desbarres one month after he ascended. There's also the ten million machine coin bet that Desbarres made. From this point, Thunder Ashley could gauge Zhao Hai's strength.

Thunder turned towards Zhao Hai. Zhao Hai was currently closing his eyes. He was motionless, as though he fell asleep.

Seeing Zhao Hai's state, Thunder couldn't help but knit his brows. Zhao Hai's action was unsatisfactory. As a partic.i.p.ant who is about to fight, he shouldn't give up the opportunity to observe his opponents. Generally, two kinds of people do this. The first kind are those who were arrogant. They think that they are invincible and didn't bother observing their opponents. The other kind are those with absolute strength. They would know at a glance how strong their opponents would be. They don't care how strong their enemy was as they are confident in winning.

Thunder thought that Zhao Hai should be the latter type. But even so, he still hoped that Zhao Hai would pay attention to the matches. This was because there were experts who lost to opponents weaker than them just because they were uninformed. And those who partic.i.p.ate in this compet.i.tion had one or two tricks up their sleeves. If one doesn't pay attention, then they would suffer under their opponents.

It didn't take long before the first battle ended with the Warrior's win. However, this result didn't make Thunder happy. This was because the skill of the two combatants wasn't high, even to the point of being weak. If they partic.i.p.ate in the Machine Field's qualifiers with this strength, then they would come back defeated or even dead.

To any power in the Machine Field, the realm qualifiers was very important. Only through the qualifiers could a family get a lot of benefits. The higher their placement, the more benefits the family would receive. In the past years, the Ashley Family's talents weren't too good. They weren't even able to join the top 100 in the last compet.i.tion. This made Thunder very disappointed.

It was also for this reason that Thunder turned a blind eye on the camp's brutal elimination methods.

As battles go on, Thunder's expression turned more serious. Although the levels of the combatants were quite good, they still fall short compared to the talents from the other powers.

Being the Patriarch of the Ashley Family, Thunder also attached great importance to the talents of the other powers. It was especially true whenever the beginner compet.i.tion was approaching. With their interests on the line, each power would look into the partic.i.p.ants from other groups. It was because of this that Thunder understood how high the average strength of talents were.

Thunder also knew that this didn't mean that the eight camps weren't training their newcomers seriously. In fact, the camps from other powers weren't any better than the Ashley Family's. There were even some who were much worse than the Ashley Family's. Other families were just taking a different approach in training their partic.i.p.ants.

Actually, this approach wasn't anything special. The key point to this training were the innately talented ascenders. From the day they entered the camp, all of the camp's resources would be immediately spent on them. Naturally, a program like this would produce more compet.i.tive talents compared to the Ashley Family. However, this also came at a disadvantage. Since most resources were focused on a select few, the cultivation of the other members would lag behind, causing the overall strength of the camp to go down.

Thunder knew what these people were thinking. In their minds, ascenders simply weren't included in their groups. These ascenders were merely tools in order to further the family's benefit. This mentality caused their method to be fundamentally different than the Ashley Family.

The Ashley Family attached great importance to their External Hall. And because of this, they were somewhat famous in the Machine Field.

What Zhao Hai didn't know was the fact that discrimination existed in the Machine Field. However, this discimination didn't target different races. Instead, its focus was on the lower realm ascenders.

A large part of the World of Cultivation's natives held a feeling of superiority over lower realm ascenders. In their opinion, those born in the upper realms were a cut above those in the lower realms. Because of this, not a lot of them placed great importance towards ascenders.

Thunder looked at the partic.i.p.ants in today's compet.i.tion. If compared to other camps, their strength was actually very good. However, when it came to compet.i.tions, they fall short. Thunder began to consider reorganizing the family's camps and carry on targeted training.

The compet.i.tion carried on, but Zhao Hai had yet to fight. With 71 contestants, there would be 35 battles while one partic.i.p.ant would get a bye. n.o.body protested this setup, after all, luck was part of one's strength.

Zhao Hai wasn't anxious. He just sat there and recalled the runes he studied. At this point, Zhao Hai couldn't help but praise magic rune study. Runes could be said to be the essence of magic formations. Only once someone understood runes could they become better at using magic formations.

At this time, 24 battles had already happened. Although the first battle didn't last long, more than 20 battles lasted quite a long time.

However, the spectators didn't complain. This was because the battles were becoming more and more intense.

This intensity was caused by both sides becoming more and more ruthless. After 24 battles, three already died while 5 were heavily injured.

Just in the recent 24th battle, a Warrior in the Body Symbol Camp broke the opponent Warrior's sword and killed them on the spot.

Although Zhao Hai had his eyes closed, he was still aware of the things happening on the stage. He didn't feel any discomfort from what happened. If he wanted to survive in the Machine Field, then he would have to kill people. Moreover, hadn't he killed people before?

At this time, the sign for the 25th battle appeared on the huge screen. Then an announcement was heard, "25th battle, Bone Symbol Camp Zhao Hai versus Ghost Symbol Camp Luo Zhi!"

Then after a short pause, another announcement was made, "Zhao Hai from the Bone Symbol Camp is a newcomer that has ascended just four months ago. He was able to gain the recognition of Camp Lord Desbarres a month after his ascension. After closing up for two months, not only did he adapt to the Machine Field's spiritual qi density, he was also able to break through to level 2 Mage. One couldn't deny that he is an absolute talent!"

"Ghost Symbol Camp's Luo Zhi has already ascended for four years. He's also a rare talent in the Ghost Symbol Camp, being able to succeed in task after task. He is a level 3 Warrior. And because he has killed a lot of people, people outside the family called him Blood Ghost Luo Zhi. This battle is a showdown between two talents!"

When Zhao Hai heard his name, he opened his eyes and slowly walked towards the stage. As for the spectators, they were all humming in discussion. All of them were talking about Zhao Hai as well as his short time in the Machine Field.

Although he was able to hear these discussions, Zhao Hai wasn't fazed by it. For Zhao Hai, entering this compet.i.tion was basically him bullying other people.

Before long, Zhao Hai got up the stage. His opponent was already standing there. Blood Ghost Luo Zhi wasn't tall and didn't look strong. However, he had an indifferent face. He wore blood red Warrior Clothing while his sword was at his waist. His sword was a little longer than normal. Its length was approaching a small spear's. It doesn't seem to look like a sword.

Zhao Hai looked at Luo Zhi and couldn't help but knit his brows. Although this Luo Zhi didn't look anything special, his killing aura was very strong. One could see that he was skilled in killing people.

When the stage's s.h.i.+eld was raised, Luo Zhi took his long sword out and waited for the signal. It didn't take long before Cadjo announced the start of the battle.

Upon hearing the signal, Luo Zhi didn't immediately charge like the other Warriors to get to the Mage's side. In Luo Zhi's mind, he was a level 3 Warrior against a recently ascended rookie. As long as he sent his sword qi flying, the other side would certainly be cut in half.

However, what made Luo Zhi surprised was the fact that his Mage opponent didn't erect a s.h.i.+eld like other Mages. Zhao Hai was just calmly standing there, his expression showing that he seemed to not care about his situation.

Luo Zhi stared, then he sneered and said, "Kid, you're quite unlucky to run into me in your first battle. You might be a genius before this battle, but after I'm done, you will be a dead genius."

Zhao Hai just calmly looked at the opposite party. He didn't take his magic staff nor did he release a protective s.h.i.+eld. This caused Luo Zhi to feel that he was being despised!