"Well, that was fun."
After tidying her dress, Ling stood back straight as she stared at Jiang Feng's exhausted figure, with his hands on his knees.
"Was it really that bad?"
Saying so, Ling moved forward as she bended a little, trying to look at Jiang Feng's expression. Noticing this, Jiang Feng stopped resting and replied with a sigh.
"Normally, I wouldn't even leave my room unless necessary."
"Then what a good thing I have done! Come on, let's move on."
Making Jiang Feng follow behind her, the two arrived at a large underground colosseum filled with monsters of all kinds.
Not excluding the rabbits from before, there was now the addition of gigantic snakes the size of three cars combined, bears with glowing dark fur and metal claws, and last of all, wolves which height reached the average of a human.
All of these monsters were separated with their own region, each possessing more spiritual energy than the rabbits Jiang Feng fought earlier.
Standing at the top of the seatings, Jiang Feng looked around for a safe passage to descend. The possibility of all the monsters down there swarming at him was high, so not risking it was a better choice.
Thus, the two began surveying the place as they moved around.
Their steps was light and so was their voices, all so not to alert the enemies below.
Soon, they found a stairway leading to the arena in the seatings. Jiang Feng stood at the front with Ling behind him as they walked down, arriving before a metal gate that blocked the monsters behind it.
A stone lever fixed onto the wall was seen near the gate, its uses being obvious enough for Jiang Feng to understand.
Retreating back to the seatings, Jiang Feng sat down and started to format a plan. Ling sat next to as her eyes stared at the four statues on the wall surrounding the arena.
Their face was a total blur, with cracks all over the stone body. Minor trembles spread from these stone statues, but it died down as quick as it appeared.
The stone statues were also carved in a weird pose, their hands with overgrowing fingers hugging their shoulders, heads low as if in an embrace, and legs crossed while tip-toeing.
Just as Ling was about to have a closer look, Jiang Feng suddenly stood up and caught her attention.
"I'm going to head down now."
"Take care. I'll be watching you from up here."
"Got it."
Splitting ways with Jiang Feng, Ling moved to the edge as she leaned forward, her hands crossed and placed on top of it.
Before the metal gate, Jiang Feng was preparing himself mentally as his hand held the lever.
"I can do this."
Whispering to himself for motivation, Jiang Feng pulled down the lever as a switch flicked and gears began spinning in the walls.
Creaking sounds began resounding throughout the colosseum as the monsters within the arena turned towards the source, where the metal gate was slowly being lifted with Jiang Feng's figure appearing before them.
Smelling the scent of a human, bloodlust began overflowing the place as the excitement within monsters rose.
For just a second, Jiang Feng even saw the illusion of a bloodied sky before him as the monsters stood on top of deceased human bodies, shredding them into pieces.
Shaking his head to escape from the nightmare, Jiang Feng steeled his will and held his sword before him, Flame Creation casted on it again. His figure was also covered by a thin layer of spiritual energy, his bodily functions enhanced by it.
Stepping out from the area once protected by the gate, Jiang Feng was immediately pounced on as he faced the agile rabbits and fierce wolves.
A simple swing block the attacks as it knocked them back, with some already on the road to death as their bodies burned, lighting up the dark place.
It was also at this time a gigantic snake arrived, widening its huge mouth in an attempt to devour Jiang Feng whole.
With no way was Jiang Feng allowing that to happen, as he jumped back quickly and made a roll, negating the impact on his fall.
The snake head hit the hard ground as cracks formed, its mouth in pain as it came back to its sense quick, pursuing Jiang Feng again.
Taking advantage of the snake's large frame, Jiang Feng began running around as he dodged the attacks of the wolves and the rabbits, only killing a few when necessary. The gigantic snake naturally followed behind him, unknowingly helping him to deal with some of the troubles.
However, such plan was quickly rendered futile as the other snakes arrived, attacking him from all sides.
Forced into a corner, Jiang Feng had no choice but to use Flame Creation on a higher level.
Jiang Feng's spiritual energy began exploding in waves from his body, crashing onto the gigantic snakes in seconds as they lit up, left to burn in agony.
The pain felt by the snakes made them lose control as their body rolled around and tails smashing the ground all over, squashing the rabbits and wolves around them that looks like dolls once compared.
'Things are going much better than expected.' Jiang Feng thought inwardly.
Chaos was spreading before him and so as the flames, creating a scene of hell limited to only the arena. It was also at this time Jiang Feng get to face the final type of monster he had yet to face, the bears.
A pack of the dark bears jumped through the tall flames on the snakes, landing before Jiang Feng as they cornered him. Their claws were as long as a tree stick, making it more likely for Jiang Feng to be clawed by them.
Being cautious of that, Jiang Feng took the initiative to attack the bear before him.
The bear was also quick to react to deflect the attack using its paws, immediately followed by a roar as it called for its people.
The other bears responded to its summon as they all sprung into action, each aiming to strike Jiang Feng with their sharp claws.
With no space left to dodge, Jiang Feng could only expend about a fraction of the spiritual energy he had left to enforce the durability of the cover on him.
Such actions proved to be useful as the thickened layer of spiritual energy blocked all the clawing attacks, at the price of thinning back to its original appearance.
It was also at this time did Jiang Feng make a counter.
By using Spiritual Energy Manipulation, Jiang Feng spent another part of his spiritual energy to group up all the bears and swung at them with his flaming sword, incinerating them with the full power of Flame Creation.
ROAR!!!
Like the ending of the gigantic snakes, the bears with the glowing dark furs all fell to the ground as their bodies turned into ashes within seconds.
Jiang Feng had also exhausted himself as he fall flat onto the ground, gasping heavily as he looked around, entertaining himself with the joy of victory.
Once he made sure there was no more threats, Jiang Feng began recovering his spiritual energy through cultivation as his eyelids closed.
Ling also took this chance to silently approach him as she jumped off the edge of the seatings and into the arena, slowly floating to the ground.
"A good plan you've made to deal with these monsters. The other cultivators I met at your stage would have called on a few others before considering battling these monsters."
Conjuring out a foldable chair she bought during their visits between different cities, Ling gave her praise to Jiang Feng as she sat next to him.
"A little planning and some logic would've been enough for this all."
Responding to Ling's praise, Jiang Feng's eyes opened as he turned to look at her.
Just as they were about to continue to have their conversation, the arena trembled as the flames disintegrated. The deceased bodies of the monsters also turned into dark particles as they left behind nothing and began flowing to the top of the arena.
"This is!!!"
Exclaiming in shock, Ling was unable to hold herself back as she stood up reflexively, her fingers curled into a fist as they trembled with a weak sense of hatred.
Looking at how Ling was gritting her teeth, Jiang Feng's expression also began to turn serious as he turned to look at the cause of such a change in Ling. His eyes stared at the flowing particles as they mixed into the four statues on the edge of the walls of the arena.
A sense of familiarity overwhelmed him as fragmented memories of black monsters in all shape, covered by a purple outline flowed into his mind.
The images of a specific one similar to the statues also repeatedly flash through his eyes, with the name and details of this monstrosity appearing in his mind, as they escaped his lips the next second.
"Chaos Vampires."