At the time of the incident at the restaurant Rex had moved to the outskirts of the city and accompanying him was a man in his early thirties wearing the normal clothes a worker on the Qi Stone mine would wear. Both of them were silent as they moved through the sparse forest and after 20 minutes of walking they came at the northern side of the North Blue Mountain which was mined for it's Qi stones for more than 300 years. They still didn't speak even a single word to each other as the man led Rex to a cave on the mountain.
'So this is it huh?'thought Rex as he entered the dark cave and noticed that the cave expanded to two meters instantly' I would have thought it would be more hidden, but I guess I was wrong.' Beside that he also barely noticed the faint smell of blood and that someone staring at him from somewhere close, but he didn't know where.
' Heh, of course a place like this would have someone watching the entrance. The person watching me should be at least at the peak of the Qi Gathering realm and should be using some concealment art, but although he has hidden his figure he is making his presence known. Heh, someone would be stupid to not guess the meaning.'
As he kept feeling someone staring at him the entire way, he didn't do anything suspicious and just followed the man until they came in from of an iron door. The man immediately went forward and tapped the door a couple of times in rapid succession before waiting. Rex thought that someone would come out and ask for the password, but what happened was completely different.
On the top of the door there quickly formed a glowing eyeball that stayed up there on the air for a couple of second, staring at them before disappearing as quickly as it formed, and the door opened with a creak. The man once again didn't speak a single word and went inside the door, Rex following slightly after with a slight smile.
' Well, this is a cultivation world after all.'
As soon as both of them entered the door disappeared behind their back, replaced with nothing but rock, but Rex didn't care as they once again carried on through another narrower tunnel. This time the road was lit by some sort of red crystals embedded on the walls, and tunnel was clearly man-made going by the symmetry of the place and the wooden beams every ten meters, but Rex wasn't focused on that for long as he stared to hear something. At first it sounded like gibberish, but as he walked further and further into the tunnel he started to notice different voices screaming, shouting and wailing. It was a symphony of violence that made Rex nervous at what was going to come.
'Haaa, I've come here I can't have second thoughts now.' said Rex to himself as he noticed the light at the end of the tunnel. In a couple of more steps he was at the exit and when he was at the last step he almost jumped as he entered a completely different world. A gust of wind literally hit him in the face as the noise was amplified at least 10 times over.
"Woooooo, did you see that! Did you see that! He fucking destroyed him, hahahahahaha....
"Fuck! Fucking piece of shit! He fucking lost! "
"Yeaaa, kill him killlllllll...
*Bam* *BANG*
"Woooooooooo....
Rex raised his head to see that the cave had finally opened onto a circular dome about 100 m in diameter and 15m tall which was illuminated by a dragon shaped chandelier which shined below with gold, red, blue, and green from it's mouth at the 11 stages below that were surrounded by numerous cheering, sweaty people. The 10 stages were where placed in a circular manner and were of different sizes with the six on the outermost circles about 7x7m², the next four about 15x15m², and the main stage that stood in the middle about 300x30m².
' So this is it huh, the 'Hidden Stage' of Blue Mountain City, the red stage where the underground battles are held. A place blood, money, honor and power intertwine.'
"Uaaaaaaa.....I wo.....
*Bang*
"Nooooooo.....
Rex cast his gaze to one of the outermost stages and saw that two men were beating each other to a pulp. They punched, kicked, clawed and grappled with each other, each trying to come out victorious over the other, but there could be only one winner.
"Gaaaaaaaaaa...." yelled out one of them in pain as he had his arm broken futility trying to block a kick with his arm.
"UOOOOOOOOO...
The crowd surrounding that stage cheered up at the victory and others lamented the loss, such was the reality of this place.
"Tch.... fucking useless...
Rex suddenly heard someone speaking, and it took him a second to remember that the man was still next to him.He was curious at the comment so he decided to ask him about something.
"Hey, do you know the one who just lost? "
"Hmmm...." lazily mumbled the man as he turned to face Rex " You could say. He is someone like you, someone who came to me for guidance into this place and someone who wanted to fight in the ring. Unfortunately it seems that he will be unavailable for the time being." said the man seeming to worried, but his eyes shined as he saw the youthful figure of Rex.
"Haha, fortunately you're here so with the money I'll get from bringing you here I don't have to worry about my expenses for the next month. Hah, come, come."
The man's words somewhat irritated Rex as it showed that the man didn't have any hope in Rex winning, but that wasn't lasted for only a second as they headed down a flight of stairs to the right, passed by a couple of guards and finally arrived at a crowded place far from the ring. There Rex saw more than 10 stand's managed by young and beautiful women who were always smiling at the people who were trying to place bets. They carefully and dutifully received the gold from the hands of their customers who believed they would win and almost never gave it back, but that didn't matter to them. They each believed they would make it big someday going by the tales of someone setting themselves for life in only a single day, but that rarely happened.
"Hey, young man, i suggest you stick to fighting and not meddle in that crowd or you will definitely regret it. Trust me, I know!" said the man and Rex just noded thinking about how much money circulated in this place daily.
' The Underground Arena is a place created by the underground organizations of the North Blue Mountain City, a place where they can conduct their illegal buisnes under the radar and even make money from the fights and beats. It serves as a breeding ground of malice, but I can't help but wonder how easy it was to come here. Could the army and the Empire be so useless as not to notice something so obvious, or maybe....'
Rex once again looked to the crowd of people who were trying to bet away their money and he understood. ' Money, money, money, such a wonderful and horrible thing at the same time. With enough money I can imagine that the official/s who govern this place would keep an eye shut, partly because of the luxury they can get and partly because of power. More money means more cultivation resources, and more cultivation resources mean more power and longevity. Who in their right mind wouldn't want too live longer or be more powerful?!'
And so, as Rex thought about the situation they had arrived at a stand that was free and somewhat desolated, and instead of a young beautiful woman there was chubby middle aged one. She had narrow eyes, wore heavy makeup and har curly hair tied in a ponytail, but the most obvious feature was that she was missing an eye, clearly in a fight going by the faint wound surrounding that eye.
"Qin, Mr. Qin, it's been a while." said the woman the Rex's guide while also taking a glance at Rex.
"Yeah, it's been a while, but I don't think it's been long enough."
"Oh, don't be rude Mr Qin, I've missed you so much. Not a day has passed since I thought about you."
"That's disturbing to hear. I hope you don't have to do that anymore. " said Qin as he turned to Rex " This young man has come to register for a fight, and it's his first time doing so, so I hope you don't mind me being here."
"Haha, of course not.
Now, shall I begin to explain the rules of the fights, rewards and the categories? It's only going to take a while."
Rex nodded at those words, but he couldn't help but think was strange between the two of them. ' They clearly aren't friends... but why should I care.'
....
Five minutes later Rex had finished his registration and left when a thing young man , with long hair in a ponytail came to the same stand.
"Cousin, it seems that Mr Qin has brought us another gift. That kid seems like someone who isn't that strong.....
"Not that strong?" said the woman with a deep voice " Heh , he indeed doesn't seem strong , but he is at the peak of the Qi Gathering realm , the same as you."
"What?! " said the man in surprise as he became serious" That kid who doesn't seem more than 16 is at the peak of the Qi Gathering realm, the same as me? How is that possible? "
"I don't know, but it's true, I tested him myself and his Qi is definitely at the peak of the Qi Gathering realm. I don't know how he managed to get someone that talented, but we definitely need to rope him in. "
"WHAT?! " yelled the man out loud receiving an angry glare from the woman.
"S-sorry about that, but are you sure? Someone that talented is not affiliated with anyone, how is that possible? You can't have missed it right?"
"Hmph, you are right, he may be lying, but I'm sure he isn't affiliated with anyone from Blue Mountain City. He may be someone from somewhere else, but that doesn't really matter right. Even if he is involved with some organization we just have to extend a hand towards him. I don't believe he will refuse to make some money, but don't forget to be discreet.
If it's found out what we are doing we could get in trouble."
"I know, I know.... I'll be careful."