18: Section 18

Why are you always doing these suggestive things?

Give me the real deal!

Alas!

As expected, one's birth status and innate talent at birth account for a large part of life's choices. With the talent from the last instance...

I probably would have subdued Daji, that Prodigy, long ago.

But now...

I can only watch the simulated scenes passively develop.

There's no room for my own choices at all.

【After Daji left, you felt a little guilty.】

【You couldn't help but wonder if what you said earlier was too hurtful to her.】

【But before you could think too much, the bronze collar around your neck, as if alive, began to ruthlessly tighten around your throat.】

【At the same time, the force was controlled just right, making you feel suffocated while still being able to barely breathe in fresh air.】

【The guilt you felt towards Daji earlier disappeared at this moment...】

【The bronze collar didn't loosen until the next morning, and you gradually regained your strength.】

【After you got out of bed, you found that all the palace maids in the royal palace had been replaced, and you couldn't help but feel a chill at Daji's methods.】

【Through the palace maids' chatter, you learned that Daji had gone somewhere unknown after replacing the palace maids last night, and only returned in the morning, with no color in her face when she came back.】

【Upon learning this, a hint of worry flashed in your heart, wondering what Daji had experienced to be like this.】

【On the third day after the palace maid incident, the bronze collar on your neck was removed by a female priestess, who also told you that you no longer needed to stay in the royal palace; instead, you would be sent to the Blood Hunt Garden.】

【The Blood Hunt Garden is a place where people fight wild beasts or slaves for the entertainment of nobles.】

【Slaves sent into it are destined to die in the Blood Hunt Garden; no slave can survive.】

【Only the fate of death awaits you.】

【And throughout this entire matter, Daji never came to see you.】

【When you learned this, you couldn't help but feel a sense of loss.】

【You could only calmly accept your fate.】

【The Blood Hunt Garden is located on the south side of Chaoge City. You had never been here before, but you had heard some rumors about it.】

【That is, in this Blood Hunt Garden, there are not only fierce beasts, slaves, and prisoners of war, but also many ingenious bronze mechanisms and sorcery creations.】

【Now, you too have become a slave who will undergo blood combat here, until the day you die in battle.】

Chapter 22: The Blood of Tu Mountain Can Prolong Life

【When you arrived at the Blood Hunt Garden, someone was just fighting a fierce beast in the blood arena.】

【The blood arena was an earthen square the size of two football fields, with dozens of giant bronze cauldrons placed around its edges.

These giant bronze cauldrons were not only used to lock the humans and beasts inside to prevent them from running wild, but also contained many cooked human and beast remains. These were the fallen humans and beasts, offered to ancestors and ghosts.】

【The audience on the surrounding high platforms were mostly bored nobles and some wealthy commoners.】

【Only by directly facing bloody slaughter here could they find some excitement in life.】

【Of course, gambling and betting also emerged from this, with the most valuable currency in Shang Dynasty being cowrie shells and jade. Each time, the accumulated bets of cowrie shells and jade piled up like a small mountain.】

【Initially, you were confined with a group of slaves, all of whom had a look of utter despair on their faces, their eyes dull, staring blankly at you as you were brought in.】

【At such a moment, you clearly knew that you had lost all chances of escape.】

【Soon, a blood combat match began.】

【Loud cheers came from the surrounding viewing platforms, and you and nine other slaves were pushed into the blood arena.】

【The moment you stepped onto the ground of the blood arena, you felt as if the earth was made of accumulated flesh and blood.】

【The long process of decay made the blood arena reek, with flies and mosquitoes flying everywhere, some even boldly landing on your face.】

【With a roar, you also saw what you and the other nine slaves were about to face.】

【It was a Zhen Beast.】

【In the mountains of Zhang'e, there is a beast whose form resembles a red leopard, with five tails and one horn. Its sound is like striking stone, and its name is Zhen.】

【This Zhen Beast had previously swallowed hundreds of slaves' flesh and blood, and its body had evolved hard, fine scales. All the spectators watched everything before them with excited eyes.】

【At this moment, the bets were piled in a cauldron, shimmering with dazzling jade light.】

【In their eyes, the bets in this cauldron would bring them rich returns.】

【At this moment, blood, violence, and money occupied everyone's minds.】

【Inside the arena.】

【You noticed that the Zhen Beast seemed to have gained intelligence; it didn't immediately attack you and the other slaves.】

【Instead, it circled around you, slowly toying with you until you died.】

【This created an immense sense of oppression, and two slaves had already lost control, their legs giving out as they collapsed to the ground.】

【But some of the nobles in the stands were growing impatient.】

“Go on, eat these slaves!”

【As they spoke, these nobles threw dried meat into the blood arena, some even accurately hitting the Zhen Beast.】

“Roar!”

【The Zhen Beast looked at the people in the stands with ill-intent, but the next second it hid its gaze, then changed its playful strategy and charged towards where you slaves stood.】

【Everyone else had already run away, leaving only you standing in place.】

【The atmosphere reached its peak at this moment.】

【Everyone looked at you with flushed faces, eagerly awaiting the moment you would be torn apart by the Zhen Beast.】

【But you disappointed everyone.】

【Not only did the Zhen Beast not tear you apart, but you instead rode on its back.】

【Your performance astonished everyone.】

【They didn't know when such a powerful slave had been brought in.】

【The Zhen Beast constantly leaped back and forth, trying to shake you off its back, while also emitting a thick purple mist. You immediately felt a foul stench, followed by an abnormal purplish-red discoloration of your body.】

【However, your arms clamped tightly around the Zhen Beast's neck, and the Zhen Beast struggled wildly from the pain of suffocation.】

【Even though your body was like a wild ox, facing the formidable strength of this exotic beast, it began to seem insufficient.】

【Perhaps it was just an illusion.】

【Out of the corner of your eye, you saw a figure in the audience that should not have been there.】

【It was a woman completely shrouded in a black robe and veil, revealing only a pair of exquisite eyes.】

【The woman was looking at you coldly, her beautiful eyebrows furrowed.】

【You recognized the woman.】

【Daji.】

【She came here, abandoned you, and then came to watch your bloody combat.】

【You were furious, yet helpless.】

【You could only vent your anger on the Zhen Beast.】

【And under your restraint, the Zhen Beast's body gradually went limp.】

【You won this match.】

【The audience was surprisingly furious; they believed such a thing was absolutely impossible.】

【They all raised their hands and shouted in unison.】

“Execute him!”

“Execute him!”

“Execute him!”

【And after you got off the Zhen Beast's body, the Zhen Beast's venom began to take effect in your body.】

【You fell unconscious.】

The screen for Su Mo went black.

Then, the screen began to show light, and the surroundings were no longer the slave camp of the Blood Hunt Garden, but a familiar room in the royal palace.

Seeing this, Su Mo was a little surprised.

Was he brought back by Daji again?

He wondered what she was trying to express by going back and forth like this.

Or perhaps she saw that his simulated self was disobedient and wanted to discipline him.

...

【You woke up and found that the bronze collar was back on your neck.】

【Looking at the familiar surroundings, your heart was filled with doubt.】

【Because you clearly knew that you had fainted in that blood arena.】

【According to tradition, whether dead or not, you would be sacrificed, scalped, and thrown into a cauldron full of boiling water.】

【The moment you woke up, Daji opened the door and walked in. Today, she was draped in a red silk cloak, and her spirit seemed much better than before.】

【Seeing you, Daji's eyelashes trembled slightly.】

“You're awake?”

“Follow me.”

【Without further ado, she turned and left.】

【Although your body was very weak, you couldn't refuse now. You followed Daji and stepped into the palace where she lived, a place you had never been before.】

【Upon arriving at the palace, you found that besides the four pillars supporting the building, there were only nine bronze cauldrons and a transparent crystal coffin.】

【The bronze cauldrons were covered with patterns of gluttonous beasts, and something seemed to be flowing from the beasts' eyes.】

【You didn't understand why such ominous beast patterns were carved on these cauldrons.】

【And inside the transparent crystal coffin lay a person.】

【The person's chest was covered with blood-red crystals, which from a distance looked as if red crystals were flowing out of his heart.】

【Although it had been almost ten years since you last saw him, you recognized him at a glance: this was King of Shang, Di Xin.】

【You hadn't expected that King of Shang, Di Xin, would remain in the crystal coffin after falling unconscious, and you wondered what was sustaining his life.】

【As you were pondering, Daji had already approached the crystal coffin, pulled out a bone knife, and cut her own wrist. Crimson blood flowed from her wrist, dripping onto King of Shang, Di Xin's chest, staining a large area.】

【Seeing your puzzled gaze, Daji chuckled.】

“The blood of Tu Mountain can prolong life.”

Chapter 23: As a King, One Naturally Exercises the King's Authority

【You found Daji's smile to be tragically beautiful.】

【After dozens of drops of blood fell, the bleeding from Daji's wrist stopped. You looked closely, and it was still fair and delicate, with no sign of a wound.】

“Why?”

【You were very puzzled as to why Daji would harm herself to prolong the life of this King of Shang, who knows how much longer he would remain unconscious.】

“Why what?”

【Daji retorted.】