80 Third in command, second in command. (1/2)
Li Yang quickly made his way to the mountain where the arena was located, taking the stairs that were located at the side of the mountain up to the halfway point, which was where the entire mountain had been cut in half horizontally. The cut created a completely smooth and flat surface, but the arena wasn't just placed on this flat surface.
At the center of the cut-off part, a large circle had been dug into the mountain, several sets of stone stairs leading into the hole. About 100 meters down this hole was where the arena was actually located, a square stone stage that was about 2 kilometers in every direction. Surrounding this stage was an elevated seating area that had been dug into the side of the hole, rather thick metal chairs covered in a soft yellow fabric lined up in a neat fashion.
Li Yang used one of the flights of stairs to enter the audience area, sweeping his head to scan the entire area. There were currently two women battling in the arena, while the audience seating was nearly completely filled. Li Yang opened his mouth, his voice reaching everyone in the arena.
”Is Kong Lingxin or someone who can get in contact with him here?”
Li Yang didn't actually know how Kong Lingxin looked, so he could only rely on someone else to tell him whether or not he was here. The spectators cast a few glances at Li Yang, a middle-aged man with slicked-back brown hair nodding his head at Li Yang.
”Senior Brother Lingxin isn't here right now, but I can get in contact with him. Who is calling for him?”
This arena was mostly frequented by outer disciples, with the inner disciples more focused on cultivation or completing missions. Because of this, almost everyone here knew who Kong Lingxin was, as it wasn't easy to become the third in command of one of the top outer disciples. Li Yang's eyes landed on the middle-aged man, giving a slight nod of his head.
”Perfect, send him a message and tell him that Li Yang is awaiting him in the arena.”
A few surprised exclamations sounded out among the audience. Someone was actually calling out Kong Lingxin? The middle-aged man took out an orb of jade, inserting some of his Qi and whispering a few words to it. Once Li Yang saw that the man had sent the message, he headed down to the stage and sat down on one of the stone chairs that surrounded the edge of the stage, calmly waiting with closed eyes.
Li Yang continued to quietly sit at the side of the stage, the hours quickly slipping by. Only after a little over half a day passed did some sounds come from the audience, Li Yang's eyes opening and landing on the man who had come down to the stage, looking directly back at him.
”You're Kong Lingxin? Took you a bit of time to get here.”
The man who came was almost two meters tall but strangely slim, almost malnourished. He looked to be approaching his thirties, but his hair had already turned gray, hanging loosely down to his shoulders. Had it not been for his green eyes which were filled with vitality and strength, he might be mistaken for someone sickly.
Another point that Li Yang found strange was the fact that Kong Lingxin was only at the early stage of the Ascending Heaven realm. But since he had managed to become the third in command with that cultivation, Li Yang guessed that he likely had some special techniques or skills. Kong Lingxin smiled politely at Li Yang, cupping his hands in greeting.
”You'll have to forgive me, I was in the middle of some cultivation and was at a rather vital point. I don't imagine you have called me here because you wish to pay the tax you owe?”
Kong Lingxin's words were mostly spoken as a formality, as Li Yang wouldn't have called him to the arena if he wished to pay the tax. And just like he guessed, Li Yang stood up and shook his head, pointing at the now empty stage with his thumb.
”Nope. My wife has often told me that I need to take good care of those who work for me, so since you have beaten up my men, I am now going to beat you down.”
The two entered the stage, leaving a good bit of distance between each other. Li Yang couldn't see or sense any judges keeping an eye on the stage, but he was certain that the clan had an elder hidden away, keeping watch on the stage and making sure that no disciples were killed. Li Yang was about to start the fight, but Kong Lingxin raised his hand, interrupting him.
”Tell me, Junior Brother Yang, do you know why we have these taxes in place?”
Li Yang stopped in his tracks, curiously cocking his head to the side. He hadn't expected the question, but he still gave his honest response.
”Because it is an efficient way to acquire more resources without doing much.”
He didn't see any other reason as to why they would have a tax in place. It was to make the strong stronger and force the weak to stay weak, making sure that there was no competition. After hearing Li Yang's response, Kong Lingxin actually shook his head, clicking his tongue a few times as he waggled his finger.
”Wrong. The reason we have taxes in place is to make clear the hierarchy of the outer disciples. As long as there is a hierarchy in place, the people below will see how good those above them are living, causing them to strive to reach that height. This makes it so that the weaker disciples are encouraged to work harder on their cultivation, in hopes of reaching the higher ranks. If we allow people to not follow this hierarchy, others will start to believe that there is no need for it, losing their drive to push forward, forever content with staying at the bottom.”
Kong Lingxin wore a righteous expression as he spoke, seemingly fully believing his words to be right. He wanted Li Yang to understand why the taxes were important and why he should just pay, but the only response he got was a sneer.
”What a joke, don't underestimate people like that. Even without a hierarchy, cultivators will always strive for greater heights, it is in our nature. Don't bother coming up with excuses to justify yourself, just be honest and say that you wanted more resources.”
Cultivators had been around long before Li Yang was born, and if he were to die, they would continue to be around long after his death, and they would always try to climb the mountain that was cultivation. It was in the nature of cultivators to always strive for higher peaks, reaching further than before. If anyone called themselves a cultivator but didn't think like this, they were nothing more than liars, a mockery of actual cultivators.
Kong Lingxin's expression didn't change after hearing Li Yang's statement, giving a shake of his head and preparing a counter-argument.
”You aren-”
But before he got to finish whatever counter-argument he had prepared, the calm, if slightly impatient voice of Li Yang interrupted him.
”Enough words. As I said, I called you here to beat you down, not to listen to your flimsy excuses.”
Li Yang wanted to return to his cultivation, and every moment he spent here was a moment where he wasn't properly raising his strength. Kong Lingxin seemed a bit annoyed at getting interrupted, but he nodded his head, his eyes narrowing as he prepared for battle.
”Very well. Then allow me to educate you on the strength of Senior Sister Yijun's third in command.”
Kong Lingxin swiped his interspatial ring and brought out his weapon, a long and thick gray ruler that was almost two meters long and one meter wide. Looking at the energy fluctuations of the weapon, Li Yang guessed that it was likely a weapon that had reached the early stage of the Spiritual grade, quite a bit better than any of the weapons he could currently use.
Li Yang didn't pull out a weapon, but as he took his stance, crimson flames suddenly shot out from all his pores, his strength increasing drastically. The flames that shot out from his pores thanks to the Burning Hope technique were crimson in color, but that was only a cover-up that Li Yang had prepared. The actual flames he used to activate the technique were some golden flames he had borrowed from Jinwu.
This Burning Hope technique that Jing Yimu had taught him increased the strength of the user based on the strength of the flames used, so there were very few flames better than the Golden Crow flames. Li Yang did not make it a habit to underestimate his enemies when he fought them in an actual battle, so he used almost all his strength when fighting Kong Lingxin.
Li Yang took the first move, stepping forward, the sound of rumbling thunder resounding across the arena as he shot forward, his body turning into a blur. He quickly arrived at Kong Lingxin's side, punching out with a fist covered in fire and lightning.
But Kong Lingxin seemed to be able to keep up with Li Yang's speed, as he swung his heavy ruler, sending a diagonal slash at Li Yang's chest. Li Yang's eyes narrowed slightly when he saw that Kong Lingxin didn't intend to block his attack. He glanced at the attack but didn't feel confident in taking it with his body, so he chose to dodge it.
He kicked off from the ground and jumped up, his feet landing on the ruler as it swung beneath him. He crouched his body, his left hand gently brushing past the bottom of the ruler, close to where Kong Lingxin was holding it. While his left hand was brushing past the bottom of the ruler, his right arm shot out, looking to grab onto Kong Lingxin's throat.
But as his hand got closer, the flesh on Kong Lingxin's throat started to wriggle, turning into a bloody spike that pierced towards Li Yang's hand. Li Yang clenched his hand, turning his grab into a fist and slightly altering its course. Now, rather than aiming to grab at his throat, his punch was angled slightly upwards, clashing with the spike of flesh.
When he hit the spike, he felt like his hand clashed with a block of solid iron, sending a slight amount of pain jolting up his arm. Li Yang quickly pulled back his arm and kicked off from the ruler, jumping back and putting some distance between them again. He looked at his own hand, as well as the spike of flesh that was sinking back into Kong Lingxin's body, raising an eyebrow in surprise.
Kong Lingxin clearly cultivated the law of flesh, granting him superb control over his own flesh and the flesh of those weaker than him. But even if he cultivated the law of flesh, it didn't make his body that much stronger. So for that spike of flesh to be that hard, it was clear that Kong Lingxin had trained the toughness of his body to a rather high level, even stronger than Li Yang's own body.