Everybody in the academy quickly learned that Lin Feng had challenged Hei Mo to a life and death battle.
The military students were not the only ones who had heard the news but people who were studying political strategies as well as the assassin students had also heard about it.
People were starting to pay attention to Lin Feng. Who exactly was he? He had appeared from nowhere and had been accepted in the academy with all the privileges but without the disadvantages. The vice-principal personally went to invite him, why?
As people were trying to understand who Lin Feng really was, they were stupefied to see that the pieces of information they found about him were contradictory. It seemed like Lin Feng had a high status in society but then again it seemed like he was of a low social class… and it was like that for all the information which could be found. There were many contradictions when it came to him as if he had been artificially created and as if someone was trying to make everybody confused to what his real identity was.
If it was really the result of someone’s external actions, that would be truly terrifying. That would be like delegating all the power to Lin Feng.
But Lin Feng knew nothing about these things that were happening.
Yuan Shan and Wen Ao Xue were not at the academy.
At that moment, there was a huge wall was in front of them. That huge wall was surrounding a small town. That was a small town within the Imperial City.
The wall in front of their eyes was so wide that they had the impression that it was endless.
“Let’s go inside.” said Wen Ao Xue to the others. They started walking towards the big gate of the small city.
“Please let us be on our way.” said Wen Ao Xue while handing a purity stone to the entrance guards. Surprisingly, it was a purity stone of medium quality.
Besides, Lin Feng noticed that it wasn’t only Wen Ao Xue who had to pay a tax but everyone who wanted to enter.
Very quickly, a sea of faces appeared in front Lin Feng and the others. The colourful market was vast and bustling.
“What’s this?” Lin Feng’s pupils shrank. The scene reminded Lin Feng of an antique market.
“This is the busiest part of the Imperial City. Whatever you need or whatever you want to do, you can come here and you’ll find it. Everything is possible here.” explained Wen Ao Xue to Lin Feng.
Liu Fei, who was standing next to Lin Feng, seemed excited and said: “I’ve already heard about that place but I’ve never come here before. It seems even more lively than I had imagined. No wonder that the Imperial City is so wealthy, I now understand why.”
Lin Feng nodded and Wen Ao Xue was smiling.
“Lin Feng, you can find many beautiful women here with whom you can have lots of fun.” said Wen Ao Xue with a smile on his face. Lin Feng was stunned and Liu Fei looked furious. Liu Fei’s look made Lin Feng shiver. He tried to smile but it looked incredibly awkward. Why had Wen Ao Xue said such a thing?
“Besides, you can come to this district very easily as long as you have enough purity stones. You can buy weapons and even people, for example you can get pure virgins here as well as slaves. You can also find some really valuable martial skills and agility techniques.” said Wen Ao Xue.
Lin Feng was stupefied. Weapons, women, slaves, skills and techniques… Nobody could resist to the temptation of obtaining such things. No wonder that this place was so full of people.
So as long as one had enough purity stones, one could do get almost anything they wanted here. There was nothing that was not for sale here.
“We should come to the Market District all the time.” thought Lin Feng. Amongst the things that Wen Ao Xue had listed, Lin Feng was interested in many of them.
For example, slaves!!
“Of course, a true cultivator wouldn’t go the first place I spoke about, where you can go to enjoy women… Only wealthy yet degenerated and depraved people go to such places. Genuine cultivators go to other districts, one is the Market District and the other one is a place where the military students of our academy always go.” said Wen Ao Xue and then stopped keeping Lin Feng in suspense.
“What district?” asked Lin Feng who was obviously very curious. What is the place where the military students of the academy always go?
“A place full of people which is often a horrible place where one’s mind cannot be at peace, but such a place is a place to train and gain experience: it’s a battle arena.”
“You’re talking about Prisoner Arena!” suddenly said Liu Fei.
“Indeed, it is precisely the Prisoner Arena. It is such a crazy place that even some military students of our academy don’t dare to go there.” said Wen Ao Xue and then added: “Lin Feng, that place would be perfect for you. If you want to quickly become stronger then this is the place to go.”
“Prisoner Arena…” whispered Lin Feng. He then asked: “What kind of place is The Prisoner Arena?”
“The Prisoner Arena? Well, you have to go and see for yourself.” said Wen Ao Xue while laughing. They immediately started walking. Lin Feng was extremely curious at what this battle arena would be like.
The marketplace was like a city within the city. It was extremely vast and there was no end in sight. They were walking fast but even after half an hour had passed, they still hadn’t reached the Prisoner Arena.
But at that moment Lin Feng heard a multitude of voices. Suddenly, in front of him, there was a huge gathering of people. He could only see their backs but couldn’t see what they were looking at.
Lin Feng and his friends started to move closer to look at what was happening. The sounds of the voices were getting louder and louder. That place was huge and shaped like a ring. It was gigantic. In the middle of that gigantic ring shaped stadium, there were multiple different craters. All of them had flights of stairs to go down or come back up.
“Lin Feng, this is the Prisoner Arena. As you can see there are hundreds of thousands of people within the arena. It’s like this every day, all day.” said Wen Ao Xue pointing at the sea of people.
“Hundreds of thousands of people!” said Lin Feng amazed. That was a huge amount! Besides, it was like that every single day! It was almost oppressive and actually hard to imagine!
They then moved down the stairs and looked at the crowd in the distance.
The crater was so deep that it looked like a gorge and there were many viewing platforms.
In the middle of the middle of the canyon, there was a huge silver cage full of silhouettes.
“Prisoners!” Lin Feng progressively understood why that place was called the Prisoner Arena… It reminded him of the previous world in ancient Rome where aristocrats used to watch slaves and wild beasts fight in the coliseum.
But the scene before Lin Feng’s eyes at that moment was much more impressive. It made him shiver from head to toe as if his soul was shaking with excitement.
“In that cage, there is a battle every day, either a cultivator versus a ferocious beast or a cultivator versus another cultivator… and the only way to be freed is to kill the opponent during your battle.” said Wen Ao Xue to Lin Feng. That was a terrifying premise. No wonder some people had chosen to keep their distance from this place.
Every battle resulted in the death of either a cultivator or a ferocious beast.
“Every year, some students of our academy die here. The number of corpses is always increasing.” said Wen Ao Xue while looking at the gigantic cage. He then slowly said: “There are only the strongest and the most courageous cultivators who would dare to go in there… They are true fighters… because in that cage, the conditions are the same as on a real battlefield.”