Dual Cultivation God Returns-Chapter 982: Nine...

The third fight won by Wu Long against an Essence Gathering Realm cultivator seemed to trigger something, as now there was no shortage of people willing to fight him when he once again claimed the right of the winner, even if they didn’t possess an advantageous Elemental Attribute.

On most days, Essence Gathering Realm fights themselves were a rarity in the Death Arena, a monumental event, because the number of cultivators who have reached that cultivation realm was small on the entire Continent even now with the influx of great numbers of outsiders, and even more miniscule in normal times.

The total number of cultivators who reached it was under a hundred in the entire audience of hundreds of thousands packed in the underground Death Arena the day Wu Long entered the fighting pit.

Each and every one of them commanded a great amount of respect and social power, and had hundreds of lackeys who listened to their every word. This was, of course, a small pond, but at least in here, they were the Dragons and Phoenixes.

However, witnessing these mighty titans, revered and feared by everyone around drop like flies at the hands of a mere Mortal Transcendence Realm cultivator deeply wounded that image of untouchability and power. This changed the calculation of risk and reward. Or rather, it quietly changed the mindset from risk-reward assessment to damage control. More and more of them felt compelled to defend the status and prestige that being in the Essence Gathering Realm brought.

They could see that the eyes of the Mortals around them no longer looked at them the same. They could hear the cheers from them that continued to grow in excitement and a kind of worship rise among them. They could feel a real threat to their authority.

This sentiment only continued to grow after the fourth fight that Wu Long won.

Even critics who complained that the Titan Slayer was using too many expensive tools and means that were out of reach for ordinary people had to start admitting that it took considerable skill and intelligence to use those tools the way he was using them, to adapt them to the situations he was put in.

Some of them even began cheering for him instead, claiming that those tools and means were not actually what won him the fights, what did win them were his tactics and strategies. The tools only leveled the playing field so he could display his abilities. They made the fights fair. This further exposed the fact that in a fair fight, without the advantages the higher cultivation realm gave, many of the so-called elite were not special at all.

And with the fifth fight won, this became the prevailing view among the entire audience.

Partly, because the fifth fight was visibly much tougher for the Titan Slayer, not because the enemy was stronger, but because he finally started showing real signs of fatigue, taking more Spiritual Qi replenishment pills and increasingly avoiding direct head-on clashes in favor of evading enemy attacks, which in turn, made him even more reliant on tactics.

It was finally possible to see his limits. But inexplicably, he still issued the next challenge.

Most Essence Gathering Realm cultivators saw this as a golden chance to distinguish themselves, as the competition to become Titan Slayer’s next opponent became heated. Yet, despite the cackling glee with which the one who won that competition stepped into the fighting pit, the Titan Slayer still won.

At this point, the first expert in 3rd level of Essence Gathering Realm grit his teeth and, pushing down the stinging pain of his pride, and ignoring the humiliation of the judging eyes on him for fighting a weakened opponent despite being in the highest cultivation realm among Wu Long’s past opponents most of whom were either in 1st or 2nd level, entered the fight...

... and lost his life.

Biting the sour pill of shame, another one in same cultivation realm tried right after...

...and failed.

Still, he was the first who managed to wound the Titan Slayer with his final most powerful attack, a small gash on the side and an even smaller cut on the thigh. On top of that, the signs of fatigue the Titan Slayer showed in this fight were very clearly recognizable, and severe. And yet, the entire arena gasped, since the Titan Slayer claimed the right of winner again despite that.

At this point, many of the Essence Gathering Realm cultivators decided to not fight even if they thought they could win against such a severely disadvantaged enemy even if it was this mysterious masked man. It was a mixture of their own pride and growing respect for the "most incredible warrior" as they called him, that they’ve ever seen.

However, moments like these always exposed opportunists with no scruples, and there was, of course, one in this arena as well. A 1st level Essence Gathering Realm cultivator, who thought it was the perfect chance for him to not only gain fame, make allies, and most importantly, all the spoils of wins that the Titan Slayer accumulated so far.

He went into the fighting pit, to receive the most brutal and humiliating death in the shortest fight so far when Wu Long demonstrated a new advanced Metal Attribute Control Art he didn’t reveal so far, or rather, showed a degraded version before.

It was spearblade-like sharp projectiles attached to chains which resembled spine-like bone structures, and now there were not 3 but 12 of them all moving independently through great distance, and much faster than any attack he displayed so far.

Nine fights, nine Essence Gathering Realm experts, nine deaths.

Murmurs went through the spectators, when for some time after the Titan Slayer issued yet another challenge, no volunteers came forward.

This was no ordinary crowd. They were the audience of a Death Arena. And they smelled fear.

Amid the crowds of Mortals, the Titan Slayer was now quietly pronounced under another name, the Grim Reaper of the Arena, for he was crushing the most powerful fighters this arena could offer one by one in succession.

And now, none of them were brave enough to step in.

All eyes turned to the only eight people in the audience who were above 3rd level Essence Gathering Realm and not related to the Crow King’s Nest.

Seven of them in 4th level, and one in 5th. They all felt the pressure of hundreds of thousands of eyes on them while looking at Wu Long with heavy gazes.

It looked like he was on his last leg, and yet as the last fight showed, it was a deceptive impression. Rather, to some it felt like he was even more dangerous now than before.

More than that, he clearly demonstrated intelligence which was inconsistent with how reckless it seemed to issue the challenge. This led all of them to believe he had full confidence in winning, even if he fought one of them. And smart people did not have such confidence without basis.

Yes, the pressure on all of them was immense. Not stepping up now meant admitting fear, and enduring a great deal of shame.

But all eight of them lived long enough to reach their cultivation realms in a precarious position of rogue cultivators in this environment with scarce resources precisely due to one commonality - caution and intuition. And what both of those great traits were saying at this moment to all eight of them, was that the audience was right.

Right now, a Grim Reaper... Death incarnate itself stood in that fighting pit. As if summoned here by the aura of death lingering in this place. It ruled this arena on this night, and dealt death to anyone foolish enough to stand opposite it.

The only correct move was to silently watch it. One could not make it go away, they had to wait for it to do so on its own and pray that it did not take interest in them on the way. The fighting took all night, and soon it was time for dawn. They could only hope that it would vanish when the night ended, like the dark spirit it was.

It was still heavily raining outside, and thus darkness lingered well into the morning. But as light finally broke through the thick stormy clouds to start weakly illuminating the surroundings of the Crow King’s Nest and finally signal the start of the new day, exactly one hour passed since the Grim Reaper issued the last challenge. A long hour during which the entire underground Death Arena was deathly silent for the entire time.

A sound of a different gong, much deeper with an old and heavy feeling to it filled the whole arena, causing members of the audience to feel goosebumps.

"N-No contest! It is the declaration of no contest!", was heard among the audience, as more and more people began exchanging looks of astonishment and disbelief.

On this night, a Token of No Contest, also called the Death God’s Token in the Death Arenas and Battle God’s Token in official arenas in homage to the Battle God who remained uncontested, the highest-order token obtainable in Death Arenas and official arenas of the Cultivation World, was issued for the first time in the history of Crow King’s Nest’s existence.

The Crow King himself, a middle-aged man with long and messy raven black hair and beard, and a powerful presence of a 6th-level Essence Ignition Realm cultivator, came out to award the token in person.

There was first surprise, and then both curiosity and praise in his eyes as he looked at Wu Long.

However, those who expected him to offer the Grim Reaper of the Arena an invitation to join the Crow King’s Nest or at least try to build some kind of relationship were taken by surprise when all he said was, "Congratulations, it is an honor to award this token, and I thank you for the opportunity to do it"

It also seemed to some that the Crow King was strangely polite in his speech, but he said too little for them to discern whether there was any real difference in his attitude.

With this, however, the hopes of the eight Essence Gathering Realm experts came true. The Grim Reaper vanished soon after the day broke over the Crow King’s Nest, spiriting away just one soul he didn’t arrive with, a Disciple of a recently extinguished Righteous Path Sect.