Chapter 48

There are three types of arenas. The first is for martial arts competitions, the second has rule restrictions, and the third has no restrictions at all, relying entirely on one's means, with no regard for life or death. Generally, the third type of arena is hosted by the city lord's residence, where no one can be held responsible for any deaths, or it would be considered opposing the city lord's residence.

In Qing Shuang City, the city lord's residence holds supreme authority, even the major sects give it some leeway. However, outside of Qing Shuang City, the situation is quite the opposite. After all, the power of the sects is immense, and the city lord's residence can only be considered a minor sect.

In fact, on the Tian Lang Continent, a country is essentially a sect, just in a different form. True sects transcend the state and are not subject to its control. Small sects rely on the state for survival, while the power of major sects far surpasses that of the state.

The strength of a sect is determined by its high-level combat power and reserve strength. Therefore, such talent recruitment events have formed a tacit understanding between major sects and the state, each relying on their own means.

Following the sound, Ye Feng arrived at a vast training ground.

The entire training ground covers hundreds of acres and has dozens of arenas. There are almost always many people here for competitions and gambling, even the life-or-death arenas are in constant use.

Originally, there were already many people at the training ground, but today there were even more. The auction was in the afternoon, and it was said to be the last auction before the Yue Long Gate, and also the largest one. Therefore, most of the martial artists rushed over, and this place was clearly a good place to pass the time, and perhaps even win some silver.

"Ah!"

As Ye Feng walked and looked around, a loud shout suddenly came from the direction of the life-or-death arena.

Hearing this sound, Ye Feng turned his head and saw a head fly up from the arena, while another man held a thick-backed saber and looked on coldly. After the man's body fell straight to the ground, he walked down from the arena and slowly left.

After this man left, the city guards quickly cleaned up the scene.

"Life-or-death arena! Sigh, once up there, it's a matter of life and death, only when one side dies will the other stop!" Seeing this scene, Ye Feng sighed inwardly.

"Master, here, right here!"

Just as Ye Feng was sighing to himself, a shout suddenly came from behind him.

Hearing this voice, Ye Feng turned his head and, when he saw the person standing behind him, he frowned slightly.

"Trash, I thought you were hiding in the Tian Bao Pavilion and didn't dare to come out, ha ha... but you still fell into my hands!"

The person, upon seeing Ye Feng, laughed wildly.

It turned out that the person behind Ye Feng was Zhang Fang. After they left the Tian Bao Pavilion that day, he had been waiting at the entrance, but Ye Feng never came out. The next day, he came again, but Ye Feng still hadn't come out. He waited for three days without seeing Ye Feng, so he found two servants to wait at the entrance of the Tian Bao Pavilion. It wasn't until today that he saw Ye Feng.

The longer he waited, the angrier he became, wishing he could kill Ye Feng immediately.

"Ha ha, Zhang Fang, I'm trash, and I dare to enter the Tian Lang Mountains alone? What about you? Dare you? A thing even worse than trash!" Hearing Zhang Fang's words, Ye Feng smiled faintly and said.

"What? You, a piece of trash from the Flying Tiger Team, dare to say I'm worse than trash? If you have the guts, say it again!" Zhang Fang didn't expect Ye Feng to dare to confront him. After all, he was a high-ranking young master, while Ye Feng was just trash among trash. How could he bear it?

After Zhang Fang shouted these words, many people who had been watching the commotion suddenly had a cold glint in their eyes, staring at Zhang Fang.

"Damn, what are you looking at? I'm the young master of the Zhang family in Qing Shuang City. Keep looking, and I'll gouge out your eyes!" Seeing so many people staring at him, Zhang Fang's heart tightened, but then he thought that this was Qing Shuang City, and he was a member of the Zhang family. How could he be afraid of such trash?

In the eyes of these family descendants, anyone not from a sect or the state was trash, naturally inferior in birth, and thus looked down upon. These people could only be guards and enforcers for families like his.

Without mentioning anything else, how many of these people around him could break through to the Martial Artist realm before the age of sixteen? His future was much broader than theirs, so he naturally looked down on these martial artists.

After Zhang Fang finished speaking, the martial artists around him narrowed their eyes slightly, but then someone laughed and said, "So what if it's the Zhang family? Hmph! No fighting is allowed in Qing Shuang City, but outside the city, your Zhang family's name is worth nothing. Besides, do we, the independent cultivators' alliance, fear your Zhang family?"

Hearing this martial artist's words, Ye Feng turned and looked at him, nodding.

At this point, Ye Feng was no longer a naive country bumpkin. Through reading books in the Tian Bao Pavilion's library over the past few days, he had learned a lot about this world. The Tian Lang Continent was almost divided into three major forces: the first being sects, the second being kingdoms and empires, and the third being the independent cultivators' alliance.

Families were dependent on sects or kingdoms and empires, while the independent cultivators' alliance was a loose organization formed by those who failed the sects and kingdoms' assessments and were unwilling to be slaves.

In terms of numbers, the independent cultivators' alliance was the largest, but their cultivation was somewhat lacking, and no geniuses joined it. Therefore, despite their large numbers, they were the weakest.

Moreover, the independent cultivators' alliance was not a mandatory organization. They were very loose and lacked the cohesion of sects, having no significant impact on sects and the state. Therefore, they were allowed to develop freely.

The independent cultivators' alliance was a spiritual support for some people. After all, having an organization allowed them to stand tall. Joining the independent cultivators' alliance had no restrictions, as long as one was not a prospective or actual martial artist from a kingdom or sect, they could register at the alliance's office and join. In fact, even martial artists from sects and kingdoms secretly joined.

Because the base of independent cultivators was much larger than that of sects and kingdoms, they were almost everywhere. For example, Ma Kui, the martial arts instructor in Ye Feng's village, was a member of the independent cultivators' alliance, which showed its strength. With so many people, they could discover some good places and sell some unique items internally, so many people secretly changed their identities to join, and the independent cultivators' alliance had no restrictions on martial artists.

The independent cultivators' alliance was also filled with killing. During hunts in the Tian Lang Mountains, fighting over materials was a common occurrence.

"Independent cultivators' alliance?" Hearing this martial artist's words, Zhang Fang frowned slightly. Outside the city, the independent cultivators' alliance had no deterrent, but within the city, insulting a member of the alliance could cause public outrage.

Ye Feng would handle his own affairs and wouldn't let others take the lead. Therefore, he laughed lightly, looking at Zhang Fang with a faint disdain, "Ha ha, I've met many people, but you're the first to seek your own humiliation. Since that's the case, how can I, such a good person, not fulfill your wish? Zhang Fang, you're trash, trash among trash, even worse than trash!"

"Good..."

"Good..."

As Ye Feng finished speaking, many of the martial artists around him cheered, feeling very relieved.

Usually, these independent cultivators looked down on those from families. Most of them came from humble backgrounds and naturally didn't get along with these so-called noble families.

"Seeking death!!" Hearing Ye Feng's words, especially the cheers around him, Zhang Fang was enraged. He took two quick steps and reached out to strike Ye Feng's chest.

In the past, Zhang Fang might have hesitated, as the sixth level of Body Tempering was not much weaker than a first-stage martial artist, and his martial techniques were only superficial, so the power he could exert was limited. However, after returning from the outskirts of the Tian Lang Mountains, he had advanced to the middle stage of a first-stage martial artist with the help of two Qi Condensation Pills, and his strength was slightly greater than Ye Feng's. With his martial techniques, he didn't take Ye Feng seriously at all.

Ye Feng, however, didn't care about Zhang Fang at all. He had already slain several fourth-stage martial artists, let alone a first-stage martial artist.

Two months had passed, and Ye Feng was no longer the same as before. Even now, he hadn't encountered anyone who could make him use his full strength. Therefore, as he saw Zhang Fang's hand strike his chest, Ye Feng smiled faintly, and his hand moved as fast as lightning. The people around him only saw a blur before he grabbed Zhang Fang's wrist.

"Ah!!"

Instantly, Zhang Fang let out a scream. Ye Feng's hand was like an iron clamp, gripping his wrist so tightly that it felt like it would break at any moment. Even when he hurriedly channeled his spiritual energy, it had no effect, as if it had sunk into the sea.