Unsealing Emptiness

Chapter 373: Death Arena.

‘...You want me to follow you?’

Ozul looked down at her, wondering what she was up to now.

Not giving him the time to contemplate whether to follow her or hunt down a human for the Spiritual Core, Jinx lept towards a tree and threatened to disappear into the woods in a matter of seconds.

Sighing for an umpteenth time, Ozul finally decided to follow him.

He followed her trail from the depths of the forest. He didn’t even care to remember the path he was taking.

What felt like an hour passed in a few moments and he slowly began to feel the Spiritual Traces of humans.

After the Spiritual Traces, he also began to notice the trees gradually decreasing until he was on a plain with human streets and some old houses.

.....

They had arrived in a town.

Whether it was the same town or a different one, he wouldn’t know.

Currently, he was battling his existential crisis. If it wasn’t for Jinx, he would have at least wasted a couple of days in isolation to battle his mind before he made a move.

Jinx turned around corners with fewer and fewer people.

Later, Ozul arrived on a street with little light. He had already composed himself while on the way when he sensed the Spiritual Essence spikes coming from the direction Jinx had led him.

At some point, Jinx turned a corner and as he followed suit, he was taken aback as she seemed to have disappeared suddenly.

In place of Jinx had appeared a crowd of people, which he assessed, consisted mostly of cultivators.

Curious as to why there was such a commotion in the middle of nowhere, he stepped forward catching people’s attention.

“Who is he?”

“He has no Spiritual Essence, what is he doing here alone?”

With his abnormal hearing, he listened to the murmurs of people around him. It seemed to be a place for cultivators.

Soon enough, he understood what this place was as he read the sign boards and listened to the conversations of the people around him. It was a fighting arena where people fought to the death.

It seemed like the crowd had gathered here since the gates of the arena hadn’t opened yet. He also found the gates in question as they were guarded by two women who were both in the Nascent Soul Realm at the first stage Soul Nurturing.

At first, he was confused as to why Jinx had brought him here, but as he heard the rules of this arena, he understood the reason.

He got to know that the arena had a betting system where both participants would hand over some of their valuables as well. The winning person would win not only the other person’s life but everything that they had on them before stepping up to the platform. This included even the corpse of their opponent.

‘This is exactly what I wanted...’ As long as he could own the corpse of a human cultivator, it meant that he also held ownership of their Spiritual Core.

This seemed to be the most effective way possible for him to get his hands on a Spiritual Core right now.

He thanked Jinx in his heart before leaving the area.

He couldn’t let others see his face during the fight.

Some time passed as he kept an eye on the place. After the gates opened, the crowd of cultivators quickly dispersed. Seeing no one else on the street, Ozul contemplated whether it was easier to just kill the two women at the entrance and be done with.

After all, considering the nature of this business, he knew there won’t be a commotion in the public.

But he quickly rejected that thought. Even if it wouldn’t cause a public commotion, he didn’t know whether those two women had some kind of artifact on them that could cause him trouble.

‘I can’t take any chances since the owner of this arena could be someone troublesome.’

He was certain that the town where Raven, Blaze, and Zier were residing wasn’t the same as this one. He didn’t even know the name of this town, much less have any idea who could be behind this fighting arena.

Sighing once again, he stepped towards the gates and was stopped by the two female guards who each held a long spear in their hands.

“Entry requires a fee,” one of them spat coldly.

“I want to participate.”

The women eyed each other for a second before one of them nodded and the other turned out, “Follow me,” she said before bringing him inside.

Right as Ozul stepped inside the gates, the clamor and screaming of the crowd reached his ears. It was nothing like that in the alley. He knew they had used some sound barriers as well.

What he didn’t know, however, was that these type of death competitions were all frowned upon. Some countries had even banned it and severely punished those who dared to organize them.

One of the kingdoms that prohibited such practices was the Blue Lion Kingdom, which is where he was at the time.

They arrived in front of another woman who, for some reason, had her face covered just like Ozul. She stood behind a counter and appeared to be some sort of manager.

“He is here for participation,” the woman with the spear told her before turning around and heading back towards the gate.

The other woman who had her face covered sized up Ozul and asked, “Do you have anything else to bet other than your life?”

Realizing that he had nothing on him right now, he shook his head in response.

“Hm... That’ll be hard considering how scrawny you look. Alright, you can follow this path and rest on the benches. I will inform you if any of the participants agree to fight you,” the lady instructed before throwing a wooden badge at him.

A spear was etched onto its surface. It served as proof of his identity as a participant.

Ozul sat on the first bench he saw and waited patiently.

Many other participants passed by but they were all wary of each other.

Some hours passed by quickly. He saw many of the participants called together as two. Some would return immediately while others never returned.

Only when he was called by the masked lady did he realize what was happening.

She was calling them to confirm if they agreed to fight each other till death. Those who never returned were the ones who agreed and one of them died, while the other left happily with their loot.

He was called together with another man who didn’t have a significantly huge build. Ozul assessed him to be at the first stage of the Core Formation Realm.

There were many others who were at the same stage, but he seemed exceptionally weak amongst all of them.

He was called here because that man had agreed to fight him and he only had to say yes before the fight would begin.

...

The fight started as both of them were brought to the stage. It was surrounded by the cheering and booing of the crowd.

It ended pretty quickly as Ozul acted as if he was struggling a little before he coated his hand with The Purity. It looked like he had won with his physical strength alone as all he needed was a punch to break his opponent’s ribs which punctured his internal organs and he died on the spot.

Before they even announced his victory, he took the corpse off the stage and arrived at a spot where there weren’t any people around.

He quickly tore through that man’s chest and struggled through his internal organs to find the Spiritual Core.

He took it out from that man’s chest and examined it very carefully. It emitted weak albiet purer pulses of Spiritual Essence than in the environment.

‘This would barely make a difference...’

Since he had nothing else to bet, his opponent also hadn’t put forth any of his belongings. Hence, the only reward for him was this delicate little ball which held his lifetime’s efforts of gathering Spiritual Essence.

‘If it’s so easy to get one... I might as well get a better one,’ Ozul knew what he had to do.

He went back to the reception and placed the Spiritual Core before the masked lady.

“I will bet this as well this time. I will fight anyone who is at least at the second stage of the Core Formation Realm or greater.”

The masked lady gave him a strange look as she used a piece of cloth to pick up the Spiritual Core. She nodded towards him and said, “I will let you know when someone accepts.”

Before he turned around to head towards the sitting area, she didn’t fail to mention, “Although, since you beat up the previous guy so easily, some are more willing to try their luck on you. It won’t be long this time.”

Ozul didn’t respond and proceeded to ‘rest’.

True to her words, the masked lady came to him merely half an hour later. She called him and another woman cultivator who had scars all over her body or at least the parts which were exposed.

As he stepped up the stage, this time the cheering drowned the booing. More people were excited this time.

Ozul paid them no heed and got ready for the battle.

...

The woman fought like a frecious beast on the verge of death.

Though he could have killed her anytime he wanted, he pretended to have a hard time as he blocked most of her blows.

Only after a few minutes did he decide that it was enough so he finished her off with two punches to the gut. This time too he coated his hands with The Purity instead of using it separately.

He did all of that so he wouldn’t catch anyone’s eyes.

There were no doubt quite a few strong people around this arena, though he needed to focus on them for quite a bit if he wanted to pin their exact location amidst such a big crowd. There were thousands of people here.

Ignoring the crowd’s raucous applause, he dragged the woman’s corpse to another discreet place off the stage and mercilessly ripped her chest apart.

He took out the Core and he was satisfied at least to see that the pulses of Spiritual Essence from this one were enough for him to at least test his theory.

Having found what he wanted, he didn’t waste any more time here and exited the arena.

Walking out the gates, he turned around the corner and seemingly disappeared into thin air.

.....

If he looked at his actions right now, he wouldn’t be far from imitating the mysterious cat whose talent to vanish into thin air had so captivated him.