Chapter 4212 – Accepting the Challenge
Translator: Silavin & Tia
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
The battles in the Asura Arena were extremely fierce and dangerous. There were unlucky cultivators who tragically lost their lives in those battles every day. The fact that Yu Luo Sha could make a name for herself and even rank first in the current Earth Rankings indicated that she was not an ordinary person.
It was not that she could not afford to lose or that she had never lost a battle. On the contrary, she had not been a Core Disciple of Asura Heaven from the beginning. She started out as only an ordinary disciple. When she first entered the Asura Arena, she lost more battles than she won. There were also times when she was beaten to the verge of death and nearly lost her life.
It was just that this woman had one unique characteristic. She would get back on her feet no matter what! She would challenge anybody who defeated her. If one time was not enough, then she would challenge them a second time. If two times were not enough, then she would challenge them for the third time. She was extremely tenacious, persevering again and again.
Over the years she spent in the Asura Arena, she won against one formidable opponent after another and her cultivation improved steadily. She had grown from the most common disciple in Asura Heaven to become one of its Core Disciples. At present, she had condensed Sixth-Order Elements and was only one step away from advancing into the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm!
In all these years, she had won against all the opponents who defeated her in the past and trampled all those once mighty enemies under her foot. Amidst those b.l.o.o.d.y battles, she continued to thrive and grow. She rose from the fourth place of the Mortal Rankings to the first place of the Mortal Rankings. Then, she advanced into the Earth Rankings and fought her way to the top.
There was only one exception. And, that was none other than Yang Kai!
Back then, she fought Yang Kai in the Asura Arena and suffered a tragic defeat. When she finished undergoing intense training and returned to challenge Yang Kai once more, he was no longer in the Star City. He had already been thrown into the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary by then.
Unable to locate Yang Kai, she could only go to Pei Bu Wan, but how would he know about Yang Kai’s whereabouts? She also asked the Proprietress about Yang Kai’s whereabouts on several occasions, but she did not know where Yang Kai was either.
Yu Luo Sha had always been a woman with a strong personality. She also gave off the vibe of being extremely stubborn and single-minded, so it was a given that she would not give up so easily.
Inside the hall, Pei Bu Wan was close to tears as he rubbed at the corner of his eyes, “Little Brother Yang, please have mercy. Please save me! I’m about to go crazy because of that girl. She practically comes and questions me every three days. In these ten years, she has not let up even once before. Can you imagine how I lived my life all these years!?”
It was bad enough during ordinary times, but there were also several occasions where Yu Luo Sha kicked the door down when he was spending the night at the red-light district... The tragic experience he went through for the past ten years was simply inhumane.
“Is that the reason why you sold me out?” Yang Kai glared at Pei Bu Wan coldly.
Pei Bu Wan smiled ingratiatingly, “How can you consider that as selling you out? Little Brother Yang, even if I didn’t say anything, the girl would also learn about your return to the Star City. I only informed her in advance.” His expression became serious and his voice became solemn, “Fight her once. You only need to fight her once. It’s enough so long as you fulfil the wishes of that girl. It doesn’t matter whether you win or lose.”
“I’m not interested.” Yang Kai casually crushed the jade slip into powder.
He was only in the Emperor Realm and had only condensed four Element Powers at the moment. Strictly speaking, he was not even in the Half-Step Open Heaven Realm so he did not have the qualifications to enter the Asura Arena’s Earth Rankings. Nevertheless, he could neither muster the slightest interest nor fighting spirit to face another Emperor Realm cultivator. Countless Open Heaven Realm Masters had lost their lives at his hands already, so regardless of how outstanding one’s apt.i.tude, how could a mere Emperor be his opponent now?
Pei Bu Wan panicked, “Little Brother Yang, what are you doing!? Don’t tell me you don’t plan to accept her challenge!?”
Yang Kai was surprised, “Did I ever agree to accept her challenge?”
Yu Luo Sha had left after giving him a challenge letter. She had basically been saying whatever she wanted while he had never agreed to her challenge. It was completely up to his mood whether or not he showed up in three days.
Pei Bu Wan’s expression darkened, “Don’t do that, Little Brother Yang. If you don’t accept her challenge, that girl will never give up. I’m sure you don’t wish to have somebody following you around and watching you all the time in the future, right?”
Yang Kai asked, “Will she really do that?”
Pei Bu Wan nodded sternly, “As far as my understanding of her goes, she will definitely do that. The previous person who ranked first in the Mortal Rankings was stalked by her for half a year. In the end, he couldn’t take it anymore and agreed to accept her challenge. Only then did she stop.”
Yang Kai couldn’t help frowning. If Yu Luo Sha was so difficult to handle, then it would be rather troublesome. Being followed was not a big deal and he had nothing to hide either; even so, it would still be extremely uncomfortable. After pondering in silence for a bit, he finally nodded in agreement, “In that case, I will meet her in three days.”
Pei Bu Wan was overjoyed to hear those words, “Little Brother Yang, you are a righteous man! This Big Brother will be awaiting your arrival at the Asura Arena in three days!”
It wasn’t until Pei Bu Wan departed that Yue He finally asked, “Young Master, are you really going to accept the challenge in three days?”
Yang Kai replied, “Shopkeeper Pei said it too. Yu Luo Sha is stubborn and single-minded. If I refuse her this time, she will definitely come again and again. Rather than dragging things out, I might as well deal with this mess in one go.”
“I see. Then, you’ll have to be careful, Young Master.” She covered her mouth and giggled.
He was surprised, “What do I need to be careful about? Do you think she can do anything to me?”
Yue He shook her head and replied, “I’m worried you might accidentally kill her. It is said that one is responsible for one’s own life and death in the Asura Arena, so n.o.body could take revenge even if death occurs; however, Yu Luo Sha is a Core Disciple of Asura Heaven. It will probably cause a lot of trouble if you really killed her.”
To which Yang Kai responded righteously, “Of course! I’ve always been one to cherish women!” Turning towards Lang Qing Shan and the others, he added, “We might need to stay here for a while, so if you have nothing else to do, you can train yourselves in the Asura Arena. Life or death battles are always the best catalyst for growth. It is useless to have great power without knowing how to wield it.”
Lang Qing Shan and the others hurriedly agreed. Some of them even revealed eager expressions. Every one of them had experienced tremendous growth after serving under Yang Kai for more than ten years, especially Lang Qing Shan. Back then, he was a mere Emperor Realm cultivator who had just condensed his Dao Seal. But now, he had condensed several kinds of Fifth-Order materials and his strength had risen sharply.
It was just that there were few chances to battle another person in the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary for them. That was because Yang Kai dealt with practically everything single-handedly, so they had no chance to display their skills. Therefore, the Asura Arena was the best training place for them now.
After everybody finished eating, they got rooms to rest. What made Yang Kai indignant was that the accountant settled the accounts methodically without giving any discounts. Every room was 300 Open Heaven Pills a night. Of course, now that Yang Kai was wealthy, he wasn’t really bothered by the expense and rented ten rooms in one go.
News of the top ranker in the Asura Arena’s Earth Rankings challenging Yang Kai spread like wildfire and soon reached every corner of the entire Star City, causing a huge uproar.
Yu Luo Sha was famous now, so it was only natural that many people paid attention to her. She was the strongest cultivator below the Open Heaven Realm; hence, this battle drew many people’s attention before it even started.
Many people inquired about Yang Kai’s origins, and when they learned that he won against Yu Luo Sha more than ten years ago, they couldn’t help feeling shocked. Be that as it may, Yu Luo Sha’s battle record had many defeats and many people were not optimistic of Yang Kai’s prospects for that reason, even though they were surprised. After all, Yu Luo Sha’s growth during these past ten years was obvious to all. It could even be said that she improved by leaps and bounds.
All those who defeated her in the past could only look up to her now; thus, they believed that Yang Kai was probably no different. Furthermore, it was said that he went missing for more than ten years and only reappeared again recently. It didn’t matter what kind of opportunities he had during the past ten years; it was still impossible for him to be her opponent. He would only end up suffering a horrible defeat.
The Asura Arena was one of Asura Heaven’s highest earning businesses so they spared no effort to advertise this battle and opened up a betting pool with extremely high odds right from the beginning, attracting many cultivators to frantically place wagers.
Three days pa.s.sed in the blink of an eye.
The Asura Arena was extremely lively and crowded. Countless cultivators flooded the place, just to get a glimpse of Yu Luo Sha’s n.o.ble bearing. Ever since she won first place in the Earth Rankings three years ago, she rarely fought. That was because there was n.o.body below the Open Heaven Realm who could last for longer than an incense stick against her. Therefore, there was none who lacked awareness and dared to challenge her. Now that she was finally going to fight, it would naturally attract people to flock over in droves.
Outside the Asura Arena, Yang Kai leisurely walked over with Yue He. Pei Bu Wan had been waiting here for a long time. He strode over and enthusiastically greeted Yang Kai with a hearty laugh, “Little Brother Yang, you’re finally here.”
It wasn’t until this moment that he finally felt relief was.h.i.+ng over him. Before seeing Yang Kai, he had been worried that the latter would not show up. If that were the case, then not only would the Asura Arena’s vigorous promotion over the past few days have gone to waste, but he would have been troubled too.
Yang Kai gently nodded at Pei Bu Wan in greeting.
“Is he Yang Kai?”
“Yeah, it’s probably him. He doesn’t look like much.”
“Look at the two followers behind him. He seems to be a debauched Young Lord of some family. How much strength would a person like that have?”
A wave of discussion suddenly sounded from the side. Yang Kai glanced over and saw that both sides of the streets were lined with cultivators. They were looking at him and many of them had curious expressions, so he frowned slightly at the sight, “These people are...”
Pei Bu Wan replied, “These people are Yu Luo Sha’s fans. You don’t need to care about them.”
Yang Kai was amazed. He never imagined that Yu Luo Sha would be so popular in the Star City. Upon further consideration though, he realised that it was not surprising. She was beautiful and cut a heroic figure. Which man would not be charmed by her? The main point was that her perseverance in the pursuit of victory could resonate with many low-levelled cultivators, making even more people admire her as a result.
“Hey, brat surnamed Yang! You better last at least a few hits from Senior Sister Yu later. Don’t lose too badly!” Somebody jeered loudly, causing the crowd to burst into laughter.
“You’re a man. You have to survive ten breaths, at least. Don’t embarra.s.s us men!”
“Just admit defeat if you don’t want to die! It’s not shameful!”
“Hahahaha!”
The cultivators in the surrounding chattered away loudly. It sounded like they were cheering for Yang Kai, but their words were filled with sarcasm and mockery. It was obvious they did not think well of him.
Yue He swept a cold glance towards them as the aura of a Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master filled the air. The noisy chatter fell silent in an instant as even the air seemed to freeze and turn solid. The outside of the Asura Arena immediately became so silent that even the sound of a needle falling to the ground could be heard.
Pei Bu Wan’s forehead oozed with a cold sweat as he hurriedly said, “Young Lady, please calm down. Please calm down.”
Likewise, Yang Kai smiled and said, “Don’t stoop to their level.”
Only then did Yue He withdraw her aura with a cold snort.