Chapter 865: Blood Pond

"He won," Hu Bi grumbled as he stood up and pushed the woman in his arms toward Chen Yang. "I don't know how that bastard managed to kill a C tier scaled beast with so few profound acupoints opened, but he did it."

Chen Yang casually brushed the woman away, pushing her down onto the other chair as he asked with furrowed brows, "What happened?"

"That's what I want to know!" Hu Bi spat in a frustrated manner. "I'll get someone to deliver the beast core to your manor tomorrow."

After that, Hu Bi stormed out of the VIP booth, and Chen Yang took a glance at the woman before also departing.

......

At this moment, Han Li's entire body was riddled with wounds, and in particular, his legs were in excruciating pain as he trudged arduously back into the dim hall.

The horned man was already waiting for him in the hall, and he said, "You did very well for your first battle. Honestly, I thought you were screwed. Give me your badge."

Han Li removed the badge that was hanging from his waist before handing it over, and the horned man accepted the badge before waving a golden baton over it.

The number of profound points on the badge was instantly increased by twenty, much to Han Li's elation.

The horned man returned the badge to Han Li, then clapped his hands together, and two tall and imposing armorclad figures stepped into the hall, then grabbed onto Han Li's arms and hoisted him up into the air before dragging him toward a side door.

Han Li was naturally very alarmed by this, and he immediately tried to struggle free from the armorclad figures, only to discover that their hands were as hard and unyielding as iron shackles.

On top of that, their arms were as cold as ice, and it was as if they didn't possess bodies of flesh at all

Upon closer inspection, Han Li discovered that the two armorclad figures had dark green skin that was bulging with veins, presenting a harrowing sight to behold.

On top of that, their eyes were completely empty and lifeless, as if they were a pair of corpses, but they were still breathing, and their bodies were giving off a freezing aura.

"Don't be alarmed. Your injuries are quite severe, and they're taking you away to receive treatment. Otherwise, you'll be in no shape to take part in any further battles," the horned man said.

Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, then ceased his struggles, allowing the pair of armorclad figures to carry him into the side door.

Beyond the side door was a long passageway, and as Han Li continued to be dragged along, he deduced that the two armorclad figures were most likely some type of refined corpse, but he couldn't tell exactly what type of refinement process had been used.

The two armorclad figures led Han Li to the end of a passageway and into a large stone chamber, at the center of was a pond that was over a hundred feet in size and filled with some type of viscous, bright red liquid that very much resembled blood.

The center of the pond was bubbling incessantly, and wisps of red mist were rising up from its surface, filling the entire room with a strong bloody aroma.

However, the smell wasn't rank or pungent at all. Instead, Han Li was struck by a sense of reinvigoration as he inhaled the aroma.

The two armorclad figures strode over to the edge of the pond, then threw Han Li forward without any hesitation.

At this moment, Han Li's entire body was feeling sore and feeble, and he was powerless to resist as he plunged into the blood pond with a loud splash.

As soon as he entered the blood pond, Han Li's skin instantly turned bright red, and his facial features also became slightly contorted.

The liquid in the pond was incredibly hot, to the point that it was scorching every single inch of his skin, making him feel as if he had been set alight.

At the same time, bursts of heat were surging into his body before flowing toward his injuries, which immediately began to heal.

"You only have one hour," one of the armorclad figures declared in a raspy voice.

Han Li hurriedly began to focus on his recovery upon hearing this, inviting more and more of the heat in the pond into his own body.

Fifteen minutes passed by in the blink of an eye.

Han Li's regenerative abilities were significantly enhanced by the blood pond, and at this point, he was already close to halfway to making a full recovery.

Right at this moment, the sound of footsteps rang out, and two more armorclad figures emerged, carrying another gladiator.

It was a youngman with some corkscrew patterns on the left side of his face, extending from his forehead all the way down to his chin, presenting a rather peculiar sight to behold.

The man's entire body was also riddled with wounds, the most severe of which were two giant gashes on his lower abdomen that almost split his body into three. Blood was gushing freely out of the two gashes, and even his internal organs were visible through them.

The two armorclad figures casually tossed the man into the blood pond, and the man had clearly been here before as he immediately began taking advantage of the pond's healing properties to enhance his own recovery.

The two gashes on his waist quickly began to mend, and once again, Han Li was astonished by just how potent the pond's healing properties were.

The man seemed to have detected Han Li's gaze, and as he turned to look back at Han Li, a hint of surprise appeared on his face.

"You're Li Feiyu, right? It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Have we met before?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"My name is Chen Lin, and I'm also from the ninth area. I was there during your run-in with Scarface, and I just witnessed your battle against the Tiger Scaled Beast. I must say, it's very impressive that you were able to kill that C tier Tiger Scaled Beast. Not many people in our ninth area would've been capable of such a feat," Chen Lin praised in an earnest manner.

"You're far too kind, Fellow Daoist Chen, I was merely very fortunate to have emerged victorious," Han Li replied in a modest manner.

Recently, Han Li had spent the vast majority of his time cultivating in his room, and during the few occasions where he had emerged from his room, all of the other gladiators of the ninth area seemed to have been actively avoiding him, so this was the first time that someone from the ninth area that someone had struck up a conversation with him.

Han Li had been meaning to ask someone about what had happened following his altercation with Scarface, and Chen Lin was happy to answer his questions, telling him about how Scarface had complained to Toxic Dragon, and it was only then that Han Li finally realized why everyone from the ninth area had been actively avoiding him.

"You're a very strong man, Fellow Daoist Li, but you should be on your guard when it comes to Scarface. He's an extremely petty man, and he's also on good terms with Toxic Dragon. In order to protect his authority in the ninth area, Toxic Dragon isn't just going to let this matter slide, so make sure to be careful," Chen Lin cautioned.

"Thank you for telling me all of this, Fellow Daoist Chen. How do you think I would fare against Toxic Dragon?" Han Li asked.

"To my knowledge, Toxic Dragon has already opened seventy profound acupoints, which would place him above average among the ten area leaders. To be frank, I don't think you stand any chance against Toxic Dragon as you are now, so my advice would be to submit to his authority and try to appease him," Chen Lin replied after a brief hesitation.

Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he nodded in response.

"Having said that, you don't have to worry about anything in the near future. Toxic Dragon suffered some pretty severe injuries in a battle against a top-level C tier scaled beast recently, and it'll take him two to three months to make a full recovery, so he won't come after you anytime soon," Chen Lin added.

"Looks like my luck isn't too terrible," Han Li replied with a wry smile.

"According to the rules of the arena, each gladiator must participate in at least one battle per month. You've just come out of a battle, so you can rest for a month and take that time to grow stronger," Chen Lin advised.

"Oh? I wasn't aware of such a rule," Han Li said as he raised an eyebrow.

"Only in cases where the arena has conducted an evaluation and determined that a gladiator is too severely injured to take part in another battle within a month will they be given some leeway, and that's exactly what's happened in the case of Toxic Dragon," Chen Lin said.

Han Li nodded in response, then asked some more questions about the arena, and Chen Lin was happy to provide him with answers.

An hour later, the two armorclad figures that had brought Han Li to the blood pond declared, "Time's up."

Han Li made his way out of the blood pond upon hearing this, then cupped his fist in a grateful salute as he said, "Thank you, Fellow Daoist Chen."

"You're welcome, Fellow Daoist Li. Everything I've told you is information that's readily available, so there's really no need for you to thank me," Chen Lin replied as he returned the salute.

With that, Han Li departed from the stone chamber.

After spending a full hour in the blood pond, he had already mostly recovered from his injuries, and he quickly returned to the exchange hall.

From there, he strode over to the stone table, then exchanged all twenty-one of his profound points for seven Tarot Beast Cores before making his way back to the ninth area.

According to what he had just been told by Chen Lin, he was only going to have two to three months to prepare before Toxic Dragon came out of seclusion, so he had no time to waste.

"Fellow Daoist Li, I heard you managed to slay a C tier Tiger Scaled Beast! How impressive!"

"You've only just joined our ninth area, yet you're already putting all of us to shame, Fellow Daoist Li."

As soon as Han Li returned to the ninth area, several people immediately approached him with warm greetings as if they were old friends.

"You're all far too kind," Han Li replied in a placating fashion.

While he despised these fence-sitting gladiators, he didn't want to make enemies out of them.

Right at this moment, Han Li sensed a cold and resentful gaze, and he turned to discover none other than Scarface.

As soon as their eyes met, a hint of fear and hatred immediately flashed through Scarface's eyes, and he made his way into his own room, seemingly afraid of further confrontation.

Han Li thought back to what Chen Lin had told him, and his brows furrowed slightly as he also entered his own room.