330: Chapter 325 Distinguished guests arrive, we are sorry for not welcoming them properly.

Su Lin stepped over the two guard corpses bleeding from their facial orifices, his steady pace never faltering for a moment.

The heavy hidden door at the deepest part of the Paradise Pavilion's main hall, no longer maintained by its spiritual power hub, was pushed open silently by Chu Weiwei at Su Lin's side.

Behind the door was a wide, bottomless staircase that spiraled downward.

The staircase was crafted entirely from a rough, dark-red stone. Every ten zhang, a night-luminescent pearl emitting an eerie green glow was embedded in the walls. Rather than providing much illumination, the green light cast the entire passage in a hue that made it look like the path to the Yellow Springs leading to the underworld.

“Young Lord, the smell down here is truly nauseating.”

Chu Weiwei furrowed her delicate brows slightly and raised a fair hand from the long sleeve of her purple palace dress, gently fanning the air in front of her nose.

As they continued deeper down the stairs, the scent from the Paradise Pavilion above—a mix of cheap rouge and decadent wine—had completely vanished.

It was replaced by a bloody stench so thick it felt as though it had been accumulating for centuries.

This metallic tang of blood was laced with the burnt smell of shattered Magic Treasures, the foul rot of severed limbs, and the hair-raising aura of resentment emitted by countless dying beings in their final moments of despair.

If an ordinary Half-Immortal caught even a single whiff of this atmosphere, they would likely lose their mind on the spot and fall into a state of madness.

Su Lin walked at the very front, his expression entirely concealed behind a white jade mask carved with intricate star charts.

He ignored the sickening, turbid air, his deep gaze calmly fixed on the end of the stairs.

Following at the very back, Su Hongling had now fully stepped into her role as the 'burly guard'.

Her massive frame, nearly a zhang tall, was tightly encased in heavy black armor. Every step she took on the dark-red stone stairs produced a dull, heavy metallic thud.

After descending for about the time it takes to burn half an incense stick, the surrounding air became increasingly viscous, to the point where one could see faint mists of blood drifting before their eyes.

Finally, the stairs reached their end.

What appeared before the three of them was an incredibly vast underground buffer plaza.

The plaza floor was paved entirely with obsidian capable of absorbing sound and spiritual power fluctuations. Directly ahead stood two massive bronze gates, fifty zhang high.

Carved onto the bronze gates in crude, bold lines were totems of countless ancient Vicious Beasts biting and devouring one another.

From the gap between the giant gates, deafening clamor and the roars of beasts faintly leaked through, as if the madness and slaughter of the entire world were imprisoned behind them.

In front of the massive bronze gates stood two perfectly aligned rows of fully armed silver-armored guards.

The aura of these guards was far more formidable than the doormen of the Paradise Pavilion above; every single one of them was at the Early Stage of the Earth Immortal realm, and each held a long halberd that glinted with a bloodthirsty chill.

At the very front of the guard Formation sat a large red sandalwood desk.

Behind the desk sat a middle-aged man dressed in a grey-black brocade robe, sporting a goatee.

His cultivation had already reached the Late Stage of the Earth Immortal realm. His narrow eyes flickered with shrewdness and ruthlessness as he listlessly flipped through an account book.

Hearing the heavy footsteps from the stairs, the goateed man slowly raised his head.

When he saw Su Lin’s group of three emerging from the shadows of the passage, his narrow eyes squinted slightly.

He had been stationed at the entrance of this Blood Arena for years and had received countless high officials, nobles, and desperate outlaws, honing an incredibly sharp eye.

The man in the lead, wearing a white jade mask and a black-gold robe, emitted an aura that was ancient, decaying, yet seemingly capable of crushing the surrounding space—the pressure of a half-step Heavenly Immortal. This caused the goateed man's heart to suddenly seize.

The maid in the purple palace dress behind the man appeared delicate, but the inadvertent air of disdain she projected was not something an ordinary power could cultivate.

As for the black-armored guard at the very back, who stood like an iron tower, though his aura was extremely restrained, the invisible sense of oppression made even this Late Stage Earth Immortal manager feel his breath hitch.

“Distinguished guests have arrived; please forgive my lack of a proper welcome.”

The goateed man did not dare to be arrogant. He immediately put down the account book, stepped out from behind the sandalwood desk, and forced a professional yet cautious smile onto his face.

He cupped his hands slightly, his tone carrying a hint of testing: “I am the Outer Gate Deacon of this Blood Arena, Manager Manager Wu Liang.”

“Seeing the Young Master’s extraordinary bearing, I assume this is your first time visiting this crude place beneath Tianhai City.”

“I wonder if the Young Master has come today to try his hand at the betting area, or if he wishes to personally purchase slaves?”

Su Lin stopped in his tracks, standing as tall and straight as a pine tree.

His black eyes behind the white jade mask merely swept over Manager Wu Liang coldly, showing no intention of acknowledging him.

If any other Loose Cultivator had shown such high-and-mighty arrogance, treating him like air, Manager Wu Liang would have already ordered them to be beaten out.

But facing this mysterious person who radiated the pressure of a half-step Heavenly Immortal, he didn't dare feel even a hint of anger. He could only stand there awkwardly, maintaining his fawning smile.

“My Young Lord has always disliked noise, and he has even less interest in squeezing onto the stands with low-born commoners to breathe in that filthy, bloody air.”

Chu Weiwei naturally stepped forward, positioning herself between Su Lin and Manager Wu Liang.

Her clear voice carried the laziness and disdain of someone long accustomed to a high position, and her chin tilted up slightly.

“I heard that your Blood Arena has top-tier exclusive viewing boxes that can block all outside detection and interference.”

“My Young Lord is in the mood today to watch the most brutal of caged beast fights.”

“Go, open your highest-grade Heaven-rank VIP box. If the view is poor, or if some blind trash dares to disturb us, my Young Lord won't mind tearing this pathetic place of yours down.”

Hearing these extremely arrogant words, Manager Wu Liang was not angry; instead, a flash of realization—'as I thought'—passed through his eyes.

In this Taihuang Immortal Domain, the more terrifying the background and strength of a scion from a great Hidden Family, the more they acted without restraint.

The other party’s total disregard for others only served to solidify his identity as someone not to be provoked.

However, the Blood Arena had its rules. The Heaven-rank boxes were reserved for the deputy city lords of Tianhai City and big figures like the chairmen of top-tier merchant guilds.

“This young lady must be joking. The Young Master’s status is noble, so naturally, our Blood Arena should receive him with the highest standards.”

Manager Wu Liang’s smile became even more sycophantic, but he still bowed slightly, his tone carrying a merchant's shrewdness: “It’s just that our Blood Arena's Heaven-rank boxes have always had an unwritten rule.”

“To ensure the absolute privacy of the box and to provide our distinguished guests with the top-tier protective Formations and spirit fruits and immortal brews, the entry threshold for asset verification...”

He rubbed his hands together and held up one finger: “Requires an immediate payment of ten thousand High Grade Immortal Stones.”

“Once the verification passes, the Young Master will enjoy the highest level of priority for all consumption inside, including purchasing slaves and placing large bets.”

Ten thousand High Grade Immortal Stones.

When this number was announced, the silver-armored guards standing nearby couldn't help but gulp secretly.

This was a massive sum of money, enough to bankrupt a medium-sized cultivation Family.

In this outer city area, many Earth Immortals working hard for hundreds of years might not even save up a few hundred High Grade Immortal Stones.

Manager Wu Liang stared intently at Chu Weiwei’s expression, wanting to discern their background from her reaction.

If the other party couldn't produce the money or showed any hesitation, he would have to re-evaluate the identities of these three.

However, not even a hint of surprise appeared on Chu Weiwei’s face.

She even let out an extremely contemptuous sneer, filled with mockery for Manager Wu Liang’s 'never seen the world' attitude.

“Ten thousand High Grade Immortal Stones? And here I thought the threshold for this so-called Tianhai City underground gold-melting pot would be high.”

“Just these scraps, and a manager like you feels the need to ramble on for so long?”

Chu Weiwei turned her head slightly, her voice suddenly turning cold: “The Young Lord’s time is extremely precious. If you delay the Young Lord’s enjoyment of the show, how many heads do you have for us to cut off?”

With that, she didn't even reach for her Storage Pouch, but simply flipped her jade-white wrist with total indifference.

“Clang!”

An incredibly heavy boom, sounding as if it could smash through the black stone slabs, exploded in the plaza.

A piece of metal Ore the size of a millstone, deep dark-gold in color with violent currents of Chaos Qi faintly swirling on its surface, was tossed by Chu Weiwei right at Manager Wu Liang’s feet.

The moment this Ore appeared, the concentration of Immortal Qi in the entire underground plaza suffered a slight disturbance. The ancient aura from the depths of the Void Realm weighed down on the surrounding silver-armored guards, making it difficult for them to even breathe.

The sycophantic smile on Manager Wu Liang’s face instantly froze.

His narrow eyes stared fixedly at the millstone-sized metal Ore at his feet. He felt as if he had been struck in the back of the head by a sledgehammer, his mind falling into a blank state for ten full breaths.

“Tai... taihuang chaos gold?!”

Manager Wu Liang’s voice had completely changed pitch, turning as shrill as a duck whose tail had been stepped on.

Disregarding his dignity as a Late Stage Earth Immortal, he fell to his knees with a thud before the Ore. He reached out with trembling hands, wanting to touch it yet fearing his own impure spiritual power would defile such a peerless divine material.

“Such a large piece... this must weigh over a hundred jin! My god!”

Manager Wu Liang’s eyes were nearly bulging out of their sockets. As an outer gate manager of the Blood Arena, he had handled countless rare treasures, but he swore he had never seen such a massive, high-purity piece of taihuang chaos gold in his life!

In the Taihuang Immortal Domain, this kind of immortal gold, which only formed in the core of extremely dangerous void storm regions, was a priceless treasure. Even a piece the size of a fingernail could cause a bloodbath at a top-tier auction. This was because it was an indispensable core material for forging top-tier Immortal Artifacts capable of resisting high-dimensional Law suppression, or even for repairing world barriers.

For an ordinary Hidden Family, possessing a small piece as a Family heirloom would already be considered having a deep foundation.

Yet this mysterious purple-clad maid had casually tossed out over a hundred jin like it was a broken stone?!

This could no longer be described as being as rich as a nation; this was practically smashing half a top-grade Ore vein directly into his face!

“Even if this piece of taihuang chaos gold were taken to the most elite auction house in Tianhai City, it could conservatively fetch an astronomical price of fifty thousand High Grade Immortal Stones!” Manager Wu Liang roared inwardly, feeling his heart about to leap out of his throat.

“What? Is this stepping stone not enough to pay for the tea in your Heaven-rank box?”

Chu Weiwei looked down from above at the trembling Manager Wu Liang, her tone carrying the absolute coldness of someone crushing others with wealth.

“Enough! It’s enough! More than enough!”

Manager Wu Liang snapped back to his senses and scrambled to his feet, ignoring the dust covering his grey-black brocade robe. He swallowed hard several times, his sycophancy escalating into a state of extreme, ancestral-like devotion.

“This lowly one was blind and failed to recognize Mount Tai! I did not know which ancient clan’s god-tier wealthy Young Lord had graced us with his presence!”

“My words just now were disrespectful; I deserve ten thousand deaths! I beg the Young Lord and this young lady to be magnanimous and forgive this lowly one this once!”

As Manager Wu Liang bowed and scraped frantically, he very carefully took out a specialized spatial artifact and stored the millstone-sized chaos immortal gold inside, terrified that a heavy movement might scrape off even a speck of dust.

“Young Lord! Young Lady! And this guard brother! Please! Please, come inside!”

Manager Wu Liang turned and let out an exasperated roar at the fifty-zhang-high bronze gates: “Are you all blind?! Open the middle gate immediately! Welcome our distinguished guests!”

The silver-armored guards on both sides had long been stunned by the chaos immortal gold. Hearing the manager’s roar, they snapped out of it and hurriedly activated their hand seals.

Accompanied by the deafening sound of mechanical gears meshing, the two massive bronze gates slowly slid open to either side.

A bloody stench ten times stronger than before, earth-shaking roars, and the frenzied shouts of countless Cultivators surged out from behind the gates like a tsunami.

Manager Wu Liang personally led the way, his waist bent so low it nearly touched his knees, his posture humble to the extreme.

Su Lin’s expression remained unchanged as he stepped across the bronze threshold with a steady and somewhat arrogant pace.

Chu Weiwei followed closely behind, her purple palace dress kept free of dust by her spiritual power. Meanwhile, Su Hongling, in the form of the black-armored guard, carried her massive great sword and followed at the very back with steps that made the ground tremble slightly, fulfilling her duty perfectly.

Stepping through the bronze gates, their vision suddenly widened.

Presented before the three of them was an ultra-giant circular colosseum that had completely hollowed out the underground rock layers, so massive it was difficult to describe.

The spatial layout of the entire Blood Arena was in the shape of an extremely oppressive funnel.

At the very bottom was a central area—a black stone plaza spanning several thousand zhang. The surface of the plaza had been thoroughly soaked in blood over the years, taking on a terrifying, dark-reddish-black hue.