An official horse carriage moved along slowly behind a squad of eight soldiers and the arrested Xiao family.
When the pedestrians saw the official emblem on the side of the carriage they quickly moved to the side to make way. They threw curious glances at the party and began whispering.
"Who is that?"
"That's Official Mo Chen's carriage. I heard he's a third ranked official and a censor and has come to our town to do his annual inspection."
"Isn't that the Xiao family? How did they end up offending him?"
An hour later, the Xiao family was thrown into a jail cell in the Beast Arena.
Xiao Fei was held in her mother's arms. "Mom, what's going to happen to us?"
Su Li crouched down and looked at her daughter with all the love and care a mother could have. She brushed her daughter's hair tenderly. "Fei'er don't worry. Your father and me love you more than anything in the world and we will not let anything happen to you."
"Right, don't worry, nothing will happen to us. I will protect our family!" Xiao Feng said reassuringly and embraced his wife and daughter.
An hour later, two fierce-looking guards came over to the cell and unlocked the gate. "Get out!"
The two guards lead the Xiao family through a narrow corridor made of sandstone bricks until they reached a steel gate.
Bright sunlight came through the steel gate and made a grid-patterned shadow on the sandy floor.
The guard managing the gate pulled a lever and the steel gate shot up into the ceiling with a loud clang.
"Move!" The two guards shouted and pushed them forward with their spears.
Xiao Feng, Su Li, and Xiao Fei walked out onto the sandy arena and the steel gate shut close behind them with another clang.
Hot air wafted into their faces and the bright sunlight blinded them temporarily.
When Xiao Fei's bright eyes had adjusted to the light, she was overwhelmed by the tens of thousands of spectators that were buzzing with energy.
A rotund, middle-aged man in fine embroidered clothing stepped out on a small stage and announced: "The Xiao family has been charged for the crime of deceiving an official and must thus fight for their innocence through a trial by combat!"
The spectators started booing and shouting:
"How dare they? Kill them!"
"Yes, kill them!"
"Rip them to pieces!"
Mo Chen sat in the VIP-section and was leisurely drinking a cup of tea and wore an expression of indifference, but when he heard the spectators shouts a rare smirk pulled at the corner of his lips.
The rotund man waited for the spectators to calm down before he continued and shouted: "Commence!"
Clamourous cheers rose among the spectators.
Xiao Feng had just returned from a weapons rack placed near the wall that circled the arena and gave a sword to Su Li while he kept one sword for himself.
"Stay behind me!" He shouted and shoved his wife and daughter behind him as he took a battle stance, facing the steel gate that was about to open.
Xiao Fei tried to take a peek from behind her mother, but her mother kept pushing her back. So, she didn't see the steel gate on the opposite side open and a Rank 1 Desert Lizard crawling out onto the arena, but she could hear it make a guttural roar that made her frightened.
She hadn't been afraid at all until this very moment, because she had complete trust in her loving parents and that no matter what danger they faced, her parents would protect her and keep her safe. However, this time she was truly afraid and she anxiously pulled at her mother's dress and whimpered, "Mom..."
Su Li had never held a sword before and was just as afraid as her daughter and could only place her hope and trust in her husband. But she knew that while her husband was a hunter, a Rank 1 Demonic Beast was a completely different game than what he typically hunted. To battle a Rank 1 Demonic Beast one would typically need to be a martial arts cultivator, but she and her husband were just ordinary people.
To make an annology, a Rank 1 Demonic Beast was at least twice as strong and fierce compared to a common fierce animal such as a lion or a tiger, plus they were more intelligent and lacked the instinctual fear of humans.
The Large Desert Lizard flicked its long and thin, purple tongue like a snake and its red eyes stared menacingly at the three members of the Xiao family, it had been starved for days and couldn't wait to fill its stomach.
A drop of perspiration dripped down Xiao Feng's left cheek. His knuckles whitened as his grip around the sword handle tightened.
His heart was beating rapidly inside his chest as he knew his lovely wife's and daughter's survival depended on him, but he had no confidence to face this demonic beast at all. When he went hunting, his game was typically hares, deers, birds, and wild boars and they never or very rarely tried to fight back. But this demonic beast had no innate fear of humans, instead it was more intelligent than an ordinary animal, and could perceive whether a human was a cultivator or not and calculate whether it should fight or flee.
There was a standoff for several moments, when the Large Desert Lizard suddenly began running towards the Xiao family.
Xiao Feng wanted to keep the fight away from his family and thus began running too.
The man and beast collided halfway, a sword was swung and parried by a pair sharp claws, then the Large Desert Lizard swung its long head to the side, smashing into Xiao Feng's chest which threw him several feet off to the side.
Xiao Feng landed face down on the ground and coughed out a mouthful of blood into the sand.
The Large Desert Lizard ignored him and kept running toward Su Li and Xiao Fei.
Xiao Feng had lost his breath and when he looked up and saw the Large Desert Lizard running toward his wife and daughter he panicked and tried to get up on his feet, but his legs wouldn't listen and his feet kept slipping on the sandy ground and his lungs still wouldn't let him take a breath.
Xiao Feng's pupils shrank when he saw the Large Desert Lizard lunge toward his lovely wife and daughter.
Xiao Fei had no clue of what was happening as her mother kept pushing her behind herself. But then, suddenly her mother turned around and pushed her away forcefully.