Chapter 860: Arena

Following Chen Yang's departure, the gray-robed young man turned back to face Han Li with a cold sneer on his face.

All of a sudden, he grabbed onto Han Li's shackles to hoist him to his feet, then slammed his other fist into Han Li's lower abdomen with a dull thump.

His fist was extremely powerful, and Han Li felt as if a steel knife had been driven into his stomach.

His internal organs instantly began to twist and churn, and his face turned bright red, then deathly pale, as sweat began to pour down his forehead.

"Did that feel good?" the gray-robed young man chuckled.

Han Li's head remained lowered, and he offered no response.

The gray-robed young man was very pleased with Han Li's submissive demeanor, and he pulled out a key to unlock Han Li's shackles as he said, "Good boy. No matter who you are, if you end up in here, you have to follow my orders. Otherwise, that punch will only be an appetizer for what's to come."

Han Li was very much taken aback by this, and he slowly rose to his feet with a perplexed expression.

"Are you thinking about running away? Why don't you take a look at your own chest first?" the gray-robed young man chuckled coldly.

Han Li looked down upon hearing this, and only then did he notice the slight bulge on his chest. He hurriedly inspected the bulge with his spiritual sense to discover a black centipede pressed tightly against his heart.

"That is a Black Tribulation Centipede that's unique to our Green Goat City. If you dare to run away or try to expel the centipede from your body, it'll immediately tear your heart to shreds," the gray-robed young man said.

Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, but to the gray-robed young man's disappointment, he didn't appear particularly fazed.

The young man harrumphed coldly as he tossed a black badge at Han Li and continued, "This is your number badge. Come with me, I'll give you a tour of this place."

Han Li caught the badge to find that his name, "Li Feiyu", was inscribed on one side, while on the other side was a large "9" followed by the number "332" in slightly smaller text.

After that, the gray-robed young man led him out of the stone chamber, and even though the young man had his back facing him, Han Li didn't consider a sneak attack.

Judging from the force of that punch from earlier, the young man was quite strong, and at the very least, he had most likely opened roughly the same number of profound acupoints as Han Li.

The two of them quickly emerged from the stone chamber, then made their way down a long corridor before arriving in a spacious hall that was over ten thousand feet in size, and the walls were constructed from some type of black stone material with black patterns engraved upon them.

The walls were also giving off a faint black sheen that gave them an indestructible appearance.

The front of the hall was connected to the outside, and waves of cheers could be heard ringing out from beyond the wall.

At the very back of the hall was a white stone table that was several dozen feet in length, seated behind which were seven or eight crimson-robed figures who appeared to be employees of the arena.

At this moment, there were many people gathered in a line in front of the stone table, all of whom wore the same attire, consisting of a wide cape and shoulder-length shorts.

The walls on the right and the left of the hall were lined with doors, beyond which were passageways that led to certain places.

"Remember this place. This is the main hall of the arena, and it's the most important place for you. The battles take place on the platforms outside, and all of these people are gladiators, just like you," the gray-robed man said.

"There seem to be quite a few gladiators here," Han Li remarked.

"Of course. There are many gladiators in our arena, some of whom are slaves like you, while others are residents of Profound City looking to hone their abilities. All of the gladiators are split up into ten areas, and you're in the ninth one," the gray-robed young man replied.

"I see. Why are all of these people lined up here?" Han Li asked.

"Take a look at your badge, what do you see under your name?" the gray-robed young man replied with a question of his own.

Han Li pulled out his badge, and under his own name, he saw a small number: "10".

"What's this?"

"That's your profound points total. You receive compensation for participating in arena battles regardless of the outcome. Of course, if you win, then you'll earn far more profound points. All newbies like yourself receive ten free profound points, and you can use these points to exchange for things like weapons, beast cores, and pills here.

“As for what the prices of certain items are, you can find them on the list over there," the gray-robed young man introduced as he pointed at a list on the wall next to the white stone table.

Han Li turned his gaze to the list on the wall, and his eyes instantly lit up slightly.

Weapons and pills weren't of particular interest to him, but beast cores were certainly very appealing to him.

The gray-robed young man was very pleased with Han Li's reaction, and he continued, "On top of that, you can also exchange your profound points for chances to enter the star pond to cultivate."

"What's the star pond?" Han Li asked.

"It's a pond that was constructed by City Lord Du through special means, and it can harness the power of the stars in the sky. The star pond is extremely rich with starpower, and cultivating inside it is far more effective for opening profound acupoints than devouring beast cores," the gray-robed young man replied.

However, a mocking sneer then appeared on his face as he continued, "Having said that, it costs a hundred profound acupoints to enter the star pond, so you're not even close."

Han Li was unbothered by the young man's mockery, and he began to contemplate his current circumstances.

It seemed that he wasn't in a particularly terrible situation at the moment, as long as he could obtain more beast cores, he would be able to continue to grow stronger.

As for the problems concerning the Black Tribulation Centipede, Violet Spirit, Shi Chuankong, and Daoist Xie, he would just have to think of solutions later.

If Chen Yang were telling the truth, then he was confident in his ability to resolve all of those problems as long as he could prove himself to be of sufficient value.

For now, his top priority was to survive in this arena.

The gray-robed young man seemed to have gleaned his thoughts, and he encouraged, "All of the weapons, beast cores, and other items here are of a higher quality than what you'll find outside, and that's not even to mention the star pond, so as long as you have what it takes, you can live a far better life in the arena than outside."

Han Li nodded in response.

"That's about all I have to show you, you can familiarize yourself with this place in your own time. This passageway leads to the lobby for the ninth area, and you'll have your own room there. If you have to fight in an arena battle, your badge will inform you," the young man said as he pointed at a passageway on the left side of the hall.

Han Li turned to discover a large "9" inscribed above the entrance of the passageway.

The other passageways were also marked with numbers, as well as some other special symbols, one of which was none other than the star pond.

However, that passageway was tightly shut.

All of a sudden, the gray-robed young man leaned in closer to Han Li, then threatened in a cold voice, "I brought you here, so just fight your battles and don't try and funny business. Otherwise, you're going to regret it!"

Han Li lowered his head and nodded in response, and the gray-robed young man's expression eased slightly upon seeing this.

Following the young man's departure, Han Li remained standing on the spot for a moment, then made his way out of the hall.

As it turned out, the hall was suspended in mid-air, while down below as a massive plaza, at the center of which were three ovular platforms arranged in a triangular formation.

Around the three platforms was a wide and deep trench with smooth walls that were hundreds of feet tall and directly perpendicular to the ground. A row of black railing was present on top of the wall, and it was constructed from the same indestructible-looking material as the walls of the hall.

Behind the railing were rows upon rows of spectator stands that were filled with countless seats.

At the very center of the stands was a wide platform where bets were submitted, and above the platform was a huge board that displayed the names of the gladiators and their odds.

"I'll put fifty profound coins on Cai Zheng!"

"I'll put seventy profound coins on the Scaled Wolf Beast!"

There were many people gathered around the betting platform, placing their bets.

At this moment, three arena battles were taking place, two of which were battles between gladiators and scaled beasts, while the third one was between two gladiators.

Before long, one of the battles had concluded with a gladiator being torn to shreds by his scaled beast opponent, and his blood and scraps of his body were strewn all over the platform.

The spectators in the stands were extremely excited to see this, and some were even looking a little deranged as a chaotic crescendo of thunderous voices rang out in response to the outcome.

The gray-robed young man had told Han Li that one would earn profound points for participating in arena battles regardless of whether they won or lost, but he had failed to mention that a loss very likely entailed death.

Han Li observed the arena battles for a short while, then made his way back into the hall to look at the list on the wall.

Just as the gray-robed young man had said, profound points could be exchanged for many things here.

"Five-hundred-year-old Fierce Head Beast Core, five profound points."

"Eight-hundred-year-old Titan Bear Scaled Beast Core, ten profound points."

"Pig-faced Beast Core..."

"Wyrm Scale Pill refined using a thousand-year-old Wyrm Scale Beast Core as the primary ingredient, eighteen profound points."

"Golden Edge Tiger Bone Blade refined from the bones of a two-thousand-year-old Golden Edge Scaled Tiger, thirty-eight profound acupoints."