"Looks like your little theory was right" Rong Jia said as she sat up in her chair, staring deeply at the stage.
"Sect Master?" Bai Shun looked back, unsure as to what she had seen.
The Sect Master stood up from her seat and walked forward towards the balcony of the seating area, overlooking the stage.
"…" She frowned in silence for a few seconds before speaking "Jin Bao has not only been in contact with a black sect, but it's also highly likely that he's directly involved with them".
"But he's part of the Jin clan!" One of the younger looking elders spoke out, his expression filled with disbelief.
"So? Does being part of a great clan remove ones greed? He's been under pressure from his clan recently, it's not too much of a surprise that he turned to unfavourable means to claw his way back." She glared at him as he backed down.
"The only question is, was he always involved in them, or was it only recent?" A voice came from behind as steps echoed out, a balding man with a fine moustache strolled into the seating area like he had always been there.
"Su Wen, where have you been?" One of the other elders asked, curious, other than the exceedingly busy elders they had all arrived here with the sect master to watch, Su Wen wasn't one of those people.
Su Wen smiled slightly "Just a request from our Sect Master".
"Did you find anything?" Rong Jia asked without even turning her head.
Su Wen shook his head "All of the villages he went to were clean, just normal humans with no sign of any cultivators, I asked around 'gently' and there were no signs of Jin Bao having visited, not a single person even remembered his visage, nor any sort of request being put out."
"The mayors?" She prompted him to continue, the major of a village or town is the one that puts forward the requests to the sect in the first place.
"Gone without a trace, each and every one of them and their families; There was panic at first but there were plenty of people to fill the spot, so no-one cared too much in the end".
"Tch, ran off and left behind their tail" She clicked her tongue as she looked at Jin Bao coughing in the arena but then she frowned "No, more like the cicada was left behind while the oriole watches from a distance".
She understood, the young scion was likely bait, a test, a side experiment all wrapped up in one, they didn't care for him at all from the start.
Even if they interrogated him, they'd get nothing, those black sects use special techniques to prevent such leaks, he was useless to them.
"Sect Master, if this is true then shouldn't we stop the match?" Bai Shun asked, slightly nervous.
She glanced at him from the side.
"Yun Hua died because she wouldn't embrace her true potential" She said, startling Bai Shun out of nowhere.
A look of shock passed his eyes combined with confusion; he didn't get why she was bringing Yun Hua up.
"You too, you're slowly bringing out your strength, but it's hidden behind that servile attitude of yours, if you cower in front of superiors all the time you'll never become the superior one." She pointed at him, staring him down while looking deeply into his eyes.
He knew what she said was true as he gulped his saliva, he had been raised as part of a branch family for the Bai clan, he had to kiss up and obey the main clan before he could take their name and attend the sect, this kind of attitude was ingrained in him; Even he hated it, but it was his norm, his way he had lived up until now.
But he asked himself again, why was she asking this?
She then pointed over to the stage, directly at Shu He.
"He is the same, I can tell; He's holding something back, part of himself, part of his potential. He's too soft, like a hedgehog that can only hurt someone by accident".
"But he's only 12 years old!"
"So what? He's already walking the path of a cultivator; age doesn't matter when you're at the end of an enemies blade, the others didn't hesitate to strike at the vital points of their opponents with full force, yet he holds back even when the formation is active" She rebuked.
"This is the perfect chance, Chao Shi brought him here because he had confidence in his talent, so we'll use this moment to mould it." She spoke coldly before turning to one of the elders.
"Da Ru, disable the formation" her words caused many to flinch.
"Haaah, it'll take a while to get it back up after" The old man scratched his white beard while sighing, he seemed to have known where the conversation was going from the start.
"That doesn't matter, we'll have to take a long break after this anyway".
"Zhi Wu, go ahead and keep a closer eye on the stage."
"Got it" The muscular elder from the battle division nodded as he stood up to make his way down.
"Su Wen, keep an eye on the audience, you know what to do."
Su Wen nodded before disappearing suddenly like he was never there.
"Sect Master…" Bai Shun murmured, sweat dripping from his brow.
She merely glanced at him beside her but said nothing.
It had been decided, this was no longer a normal match.
Nor was it a mere death match.
It was an execution.
---
He was now his enemy.
He was his enemy but…
What good was that distinction?
Under the rules and the formation, Shu He could do nothing more than win the match, no matter what he did he couldn't truly harm Jin Bao, he couldn't remove that thing inside of him, he couldn't even incapacitate him to question him.
But other thing he asked himself was – is he prepared to kill someone?
He had never done such a thing, to him Tai Min was more of a monster than a person and even then he didn't deal the finishing blow, it was Chao Shi.
The thought of taking someone's life felt weird to him, his sensibilities of a modern person from his past life was telling him that it was wrong, it was a horrible thing to do, that no matter what he shouldn't do it.
Yet, strangely he felt he didn't have as much aversion to it as he should have.
Maybe it was because he spent so much time in a hospital, that he was used to the idea of death, the number of times he had watched fellow patients pass away as their families mourned, maybe it was the fact that he suffered so much that when he was finally passing away he felt… relief.
Or maybe it was because he had already died and experienced rebirth that he wasn't so scared of the concept, humans feared the unknown after all, yet death wasn't unknown to him.
Maybe if the person he was facing was an innocent with their lives ahead of them, he might feel against it, but he disliked Jin Bao, no.
He hated him with all his heart.
Someone who would use such a cruel 'technique, someone who was related to the person that took his parents away from his.
His loving parents that he had desired so much, his peaceful life with a healthy body that he had wished for on his death bed, taken away by the desires of others.
'Right!
What's wrong with that?!
If someone took their lives because of a whim, why can't I do it!'
He didn't need a reason, he didn't need to validate himself, he didn't need some moral high ground.
He wanted it.
It was his will.
He suddenly felt something click inside of him, like a switch had been flipped deep inside.
He felt the golden flame pulse, warming his entire body, his entire existence; He couldn't help but begin to laugh.
"Hehehe… hahahahahahaha".
It was as that flame inside him was telling him what he was doing was right, that all that mattered was what he wanted.
As it always had.
"What are you laughing at?!" Jin Bao yelled at him while his expression twisted.
Shu He didn't respond, he didn't want to.
He felt great for some reason, the warmth embraced him welcomingly, it was like a piece of him that had been missing returned to its rightful place.
The golden flame he had a hidden fear for was flowing through his body, it felt like the sun itself had blessed him kissing him with its purest light.
He stared at the stage, his eyes shining the purest gold they had so far.
'But even if I want to, how can I?'
The lights covering the slabs and a cube around the stage were in full force, no matter what he did his attacks would get blocked and the match would end.
'Can I overpower it?' He questioned in his bout of insanity.
But then, something changed all of a sudden.
The lights faded and receded, stunning him as he watched with rapt attention.
It was like a pair of shackles binding him was being removed right in front of his eyes.
His body shook as he gazed upwards as he felt a stare on him, he locked eyes with the Sect Master that was watching him from the stands.
Those eyes were telling him 'Don't Run'.
He laughed even more.
Run?
Why would he!
"I've had enough of that laugh!" Jin Bao raised his sword and 3 of the 'eyes' flattened out and elongated along it causing a sharp gust to surround his blade before he started dashing across the stage.
Shu He responded with a direct arrow.
*Clang*
The arrow was chipped apart by the wind blade as it smacked against the metal before flying off.
But Shu He didn't stop, like a pitching machine he shot arrows one after another, he resembled a slow firing machine gun as they shot with tiny variations of angle.
*Clang* *Clang* *Clang*
*Fwoosh*
After parrying a handful one managed to get through, Shu He had aimed for the weakest holes in his defence which was smaller now with only 4 'eyes', the arrow tore a gash in Jin Bao's cheek as he twisted his head at the last second, his eyes widening as he felt the blood dripping from his cheek.
He grit his teeth and dashed under the continuing fire until-
"What now?! No more arrows!" Jin Bao reached him and slashed downwards, Shu He dodged to the side, but the lashes of wind still landed on his body creating cuts across his torso, his uniform barely managed to stay together with threads.
He winced slightly but gained his footing and quickly stepped in before Jin Bao could recover from his slash.
*BANG*
His fist that was free impacted deeply into his side making Jin Bao spit up saliva.
His face was also filled with pure shock as he held the side that hurt.
'That's right, you've realised it now?' Shu He couldn't help but grin.
"Y-you-" His eyes shook as he stared as Shu He before he looked around and found the Sect Master watching the match closely, he then noticed the elders positioned near the stage and reality sunk in for him.
"No… No! No! No!" He began shaking, yelling, and turning a shade paler.
He had been found out; he was left out in the open with no escape.
But why weren't they capturing him right now?
He then stared back at Shu He.
Because of him?
Was he being used as a test?
Him, a scion of the Jin clan, for a mere commoner?!
"No! No! No! No! No! No! No!" He screamed like a broken record, his mind twisting and cracking.
And then he turned silent, holding his head while staring upwards like a picturesque art feature of suffering.
*Crack*
The audible sound echoed throughout the entire arena.
The wind shield around him grew heavily in intensity as the amount of 'eyes' grew forming an almost impenetrable barrier around him.
Gasps and shock leaked from the audience as they watched the weird occurrence.
Blood dripped from all orifices of Jin Bao as visible black veins began creeping through his body, his muscles seem to become mutilated as they were pierced and restructured, before long the blood stopped dripping like it had run out and Jin Bao's skin was pale as paper with black veins coursing through it.
His eyes regained focus as his expression twitched, one could still see a semblance of sanity lingering inside of him hidden under pain and suffering.
'It's different, it's not like Tai Min' Shu He observed his newly transformed opponent.
He wasn't a lifeblood cultivator, what he had there was most certainly not a spirit heart from a different species, it was something different, far more sinister, it was like a parasite that had invaded its host sharing its torment.
"Raise the barrier!" A yell resounded as Shu He watched a translucent barrier surround the stage directly.
It appears that the Sect Master judged it to be a threat to the audience.
And now for Shu He, this was well and truly a cage match to the death.