Hei Gou, understanding the decision that Xue Wei made, grumbled all night. He was displeased with the fact that he could not battle, but he was not the only one feeling annoyed. Xue Wei had also decided to not partic.i.p.ate in the cage battles this time either, so their feelings were mutual. Why had these Diviners appeared now of all times?
Although none of the Primordial Beasts, including Xue Wei, partic.i.p.ated in the battles that day, it was not like no b.l.o.o.d.y battles had played out.
Bai Tianyi decided to partic.i.p.ate in a battle, where he ended up quickly executing his opponent as though he was chopping down weeds.
Although Xue Wei had expected it, he was still stunned when he saw the bloodthirsty smile on Bai Tianyi"s face as he sliced his opponent in half with a gust of spiritual energy shaped like an incredible sword.
The people in the audience who had witnessed that battle were astounded and admired the strength that Bai Tianyi had displayed.
Xue Wei looked around, but no matter how much he looked, he did not see Lu Yuping anywhere. It was clear that he had already been informed of the news about the Diviners making an appearance; and even though he was a strong fighter, he was not dumb enough to fight against Diviners as a Primordial Beast himself.
Xue Wei would not have gone had he known in advance that the Diviners were present. He was not going to risk Hei Gou’s safety for some mere illegal fights.
The Diviners kept inspecting every nook and cranny of the cave’s inside, observing everything and everyone that entered the underground world. Even Xue Wei was given a long glance, but in the end, the Diviners did not find what they were looking for. So when the night ended, all of them left the cave with dark faces and sour moods.
"They are gone," Hei Gou said as he leaned against the cave wall, looking incredibly casual, but he was in truth keeping constant vigil of his surroundings.
"Wait an hour," Xue Wei cautioned, because he could read Hei Gou’s mind. "If they have not returned within an hour, then you can fight as you please."
Hei Gou’s handsome face lit up with a great smile when he heard this. His eyes brightened and he nodded his head excitedly. Despite wearing a face mask, he seemed much more handsome than the average person. It was impossible to hide his beauty even with a facemask.
The hour went by fast, and the Diviners did not return. They had clearly left for good, as their target was not within the cave. Although they usually wouldn’t pa.s.s on the opportunity to catch a Primordial Beast, their att.i.tude showed that the person they were looking for dwarfed even the allure of Primordial Beasts in importance. Including even the opportunity to catch multiple of them at once.
Xue Wei appeared to be pensive; he furrowed his eyebrows when this fact reached his mind, and he could not help but wonder: what exactly was the ident.i.ty of a person who warranted being chased so diligently by such a group of Diviners?
Sighing, he quickly gave up his thoughts and went to one of the cages. It was time for Hei Gou"s battle.
"A fat sheep has appeared! He has never fought here before – he is a complete rookie!" someone yelled out. Due to these few words, the majority of the cave"s guests made their way towards the cage where Hei Gou was supposed to have his battle.
Xue Wei looked at the opponent. He was not too skinny or too burly. He actually looked very ordinary. When Hei Gou stepped into the cage, everyone"s attention turned to him. Some of the women in the cave even gasped and stared wide-eyed at him. The man he was up against also looked rather uncomfortable.
Hei Gou was smiling gracefully. He was not as handsome as he was normally, but he was still out of the ordinary. Sighing, Xue Wei shook his head with a chuckle.
"I"m going," Hei Gou said seriously with a look over his shoulder at Xue Wei, who nodded in return. "Show them what you got," he answered with a snicker.
Because of their conversation, Xue Wei suddenly became the center of attention, and soon that included Bai Tianyi, who conveniently stood beside him.
"Hey, that"s the guy from earlier who we also considered a fat sheep but who completely trampled over his opponent. And the other guy fought last week, where he was so bloodthirsty that he killed one of the Tiger Triplets!" someone suddenly called out.
The gazes directed at Xue Wei were suddenly filled with shock and disbelief. It was clear that the three had a close relations.h.i.+p, and two out of the three had already managed to make a small name for themselves.
"So it was you, huh?" The voice of a man suddenly emerged next to Xue Wei. When the latter turned around, he saw two figures standing right next to him. Both were stronger than him, both Ordinary Knights; one a two layer and the other a four layer.
"What was me?" Xue Wei spoke casually as he faced the two experts. Although he was not stronger than them and would be at a disadvantage against them in any other environment, the truth was that he was safe as long as he was inside the cave.
Furthermore, even if they truly wished to cause problems, he doubted they would be able to keep him back. He had Bai Tianyi by his side, who was also an Ordinary Knight, and he had Hei Gou, whose true shape was a mutated Celestial Dog, alongside his own original shape as an Azure Dragon.
"You killed our younger brother?" One of the two guys seemed very aggressive. His face was already red from anger and he was surrounded by a murderous air. He was the weakest of the two.
Though he was the most aggressive of the duo, Xue Wei was not too scared of him. On the other hand, the stronger one of the two seemed much more dangerous. He was standing idly behind the other Tiger, his hand rubbing his chin. And although he seemed casual and carefree, a smile was evident on his face and his eyes were incredibly cold.
"I killed some guy last week, yes." Xue Wei did not step back. "I never asked him to think of me as a fat sheep, did I?" he continued. This only exacerbated the hatred spewing from the first one’s eyes, whereas the calm and collectedness of the other made Xue Wei feel incredibly uncomfortable.
"You should have killed yourself!" the angry man said. "You should have killed yourself instead of our brother!"
"So your brother can kill me, but I cannot kill him?" Xue Wei mocked back with a smile on his face, causing the angry brother to get so furious that he started trembling.
"Why are you causing trouble with my friend?" Everyone turned to look at the speaker, everyone apart from Xue Wei that is.
Xue Wei had recognized the voice as belonging to Li Chen and thus he did not s.h.i.+ft his attention away from the faces of the two vengeful brothers.
While the angry and aggressive one turned pale with fright and retreated slightly, the eyes of the calm and collected one turned serious and solemn.
"We did not know that this youngster was your friend," the calm one finally spoke up. "To think that the miss is worried about someone this much. In that case, we would, of course, have to step back," he continued with a shallow smile on his face, a smile that was impossible to see through.
The two brothers quickly took their leave and vanished deeper into the cave, evidently seeking to spectate the battles in another cage.
Xue Wei"s eyes did not leave them before they had vanished completely from his sight into the sea of people. He suddenly had a very bad premonition.
"You can sense it too, right?" Bai Tianyi suddenly asked. Xue Wei looked at him before nodding his head. "The angry one is easy to deal with, but the other one will prove to be a th.o.r.n.y issue."
"He is cunning," Bai Tianyi agreed. "Hopefully he does not value his lost brother too much."
"We can always hope he doesn’t," Xue Wei said, frowning. "He was told off by Li Chen, and she has quite the background. He might not feel that we are worth it." Bai Tianyi could not help but sigh.
"It seems that no matter where we go, we end up being chased as public enemies number one, two, and three." Bai Tianyi grinned when he said this, to which Xue Wei replied with a snort before he looked into the cage in front of them.
Although his attention had been drawn to the two remaining brothers of the Tiger Triplets, who had now left, he had not forgotten about Hei Gou"s battle.
Hei Gou had not let him down. The cultivation level of his physical strength exceeded the level of his Qi strength. Although he outwardly seemed weak, he was indeed a wolf in sheep"s clothing.
Without even using any of his innate abilities and only relying on his physical strength and his claws, he managed to reduce his opponent into a sorry mess that was bleeding from various wounds all over his body.
From the look in Hei Gou’s eyes, Xue Wei could see that he too was enjoying the thrill of the hunt. This feeling was better than being drunk; it was so intoxicating that it was impossible to resist, and now the smile on Hei Gou"s lips and his red eyes showed that he was enjoying the slaughter.
"He is a beast," Bai Tianyi commented when he saw the situation in the cage. Xue Wei just shrugged his shoulders. Being a beast was not such a bad thing.
The battle did not last long after this. Hei Gou’s foe had his stomach gutted by the former’s claws, leading to a very painful and disastrous death.
The audience was silent for a moment before they erupted into cheer. "That is amazing!" someone exclaimed. "He dominated the entire fight! Is he really a beginner?"
"Those three came together, but none of them are easy targets. I bet they are from some secret organization and are just here pa.s.sing time."
Lots of a.s.sumptions were thrown around after that. Hei Gou left the cage and went back to Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi.
"That was so thrilling!" Hei Gou was filled with excitement. "I have never felt a hunt like this before. I felt so alive, so invigorated! Killing is one thing, but battling like this is another!"
While Bai Tianyi did not seem to fully understand what Hei Gou was saying, Xue Wei chuckled and nodded his head. "I understand," he said seriously. "We can come here once a week and let go of our inhibitions; we can immerse ourselves in the hunt and whatnot, but we should never let the feeling consume us. Don"t go out and kill people randomly just because you feel like it, understood?"
"Well, I would never cause problems for you," Hei Gou said while acting rather embarra.s.sed. "Especially not while the Diviners are at large. I’m satisfied with a match a week!"
"Sounds good," Xue Wei was satisfied with this reply. "So now that the dog and I have both fought," Bai Tianyi suddenly said, "why don"t you go and fight now?"
"I guess I should," Xue Wei snickered. He had not fought yet, and he truly felt a need to let go of his pent-up frustrations, alongside once more tasting that feeling of killing someone, of hunting them, of having their lives in the palm of his hand and then ending it all.
"I would like to sign up," Xue Wei went straight for the counter and went through the motions. He waited for a few moments for the opponent to appear. When he saw him, Xue Wei raised an eyebrow in surprise.
This opponent was not unknown to him. It was the man who had tried to fight him the first day he had signed up; the man who was so fat that he would be better off rolling along the ground rather than walking on it. But although he seemed like someone that was easy to handle, Xue Wei felt a distinct sense of danger coming from this man.