The next day, inside the beast fighting arena. There was a huge platform at the very center with a measurement of one hundred meters on each side. This was where the savage beasts were forced to battle against each other.
Standing on the platform was Jiu Shen and he was eyeing the one hundred young men that were standing before him. All of them were exhausted beyond belief since they had cleaned the place for one whole day without rest and they could only take a short break every once in a while. They weren’t even allowed to sleep by Jiu Shen, making these young men silently bear hatred towards him, but how could their feelings escape Jiu Shen’s senses? Even so, he didn’t care about what they felt since he knew that their anger would only turn into gratitude in the future.
Jiu Shen gazed at them one by one and remembered their faces silently in his heart before he spoke in a cold tone. “I know all of you feel resentful and angry for being forced to clean this place without rest, but you can’t do anything about it because all of you are weaklings!”
His cold words penetrated the hearts of the young men, but they could only clench their fists with furious looks. They were still afraid of Jiu Shen, so they could only aim their raging expressions on the ground.
Looking at them, Jiu Shen smirked and his eyes flashed with a cold glint. “All of you are just a bunch of weaklings with nothing noteworthy to be proud of! Even if you are forced to do things, what can all of you do with your puny strength?! Are you willing to remain as trashes in your entire lives?!” Jiu Shen’s voice wasn’t that loud, but it reverberated within the hearts of these young men like a clap of thunder.
Hearing his words, a few of them lifted their heads with red eyes. No one among them was willing to remain mediocre in their lives, but before they were even born in this world, they were already branded as servants of the Silveria Imperial Family.
The few young men that lifted their heads still had traces of fear in their eyes, but the fact that they dared to look at Jiu Shen showed how much courage they had.
One young man with a slightly darker skin tone and thin physique courageously glanced at Jiu Shen with his eyes that had already turned red from exhaustion and furiousness. The boy gritted his teeth as he resentfully looked at Jiu Shen who was looking at them with a cold grin.
Sensing the boy’s piercing gaze, Jiu Shen was slightly amused and he could not help but take a clearer look at him. Among this batch of young men, this boy had the thinnest and frailest body, and he was also the only one that distanced himself from the others when they were asked to clean the beast fighting arena. He was like a lone wolf, silently enduring everything.
After realizing that Jiu Shen was looking his way, the thin boy felt scared in his heart, but his gaze was still fixated on Jiu Shen’s face like a rebellious little cub.
“Boy, state your name.” Jiu Shen said as he looked at the young man with interest. Even his newly accepted disciple Can Ye didn’t dare glance that way to him.
The dark-skinned young man felt his heart thumping wildly as he faced Jiu Shen, and with a slightly trembling voice, he said. “Yang Zenke…”
“Yang Zenke is it? From now on, you’ll do more than twice they do.” Jiu Shen said emotionlessly.
Yang Zenke’s face twitched when he heard those words, but he could do nothing about it since he was technically Jiu Shen’s servant. They were trained to follow orders since they were young, but he hadn’t experienced something like this before.
With an indignant look on his face, he let out a sound through gritted teeth. “Why?!”
Seeing his rebellious look, Jiu Shen chuckled coldly and replied. “Because among your peers, you are the weakest. So you need to work twice as much as them so that you won’t be left behind. I did not get all of you just to have some little servants. I intend to train you all as warriors! And I don’t need a wimp to become a warrior!”
A warrior? The young men exclaimed in their hearts. Although they had no idea what kind of warrior Jiu Shen was talking about, all of them could not help but lift their heads with anticipation. In the Profound Dragon Continent, only the strong experts were respected, while the weak people were fated to be trampled upon by the others.
Sensing their eagerness, Jiu Shen smiled at them, but his smile was slightly unnatural, making the young men shiver in their hearts. “Indeed. I want to train you as warriors, but to undergo my training, you will experience pain that is worse than death, and your road will only be filled with hardship. Now, are all of you still willing to be trained as warriors?!”
The young men revealed stubborn expressions as if they were provoked by Jiu Shen’s contemptuous glance.
Without waiting for the rest to speak, Yang Zenke clenched his fists tightly and roared. “I’m willing! As long as I become strong, I’m willing to suffer pain!”
His young face contorted as he shouted with all his might. The other young men also woke up from their stupor when they heard his loud shout.
“I’m willing!”
“I’m willing!”
“I’m willing!”
Their young but vigorous voices reverberated within the arena. Jiu Shen smiled as he glanced at this scene. ’Elyk, to think that you gave me a bunch of fearless little cubs. I think I have to thank you in the future for this.’ He muttered in his heart as he looked at the passionate looks of the young men.
“In that case, I will train you all until you break your bones! But before that, I will let you eat to your hearts’ content and allow you to have an ample amount of sleep to prepare for tomorrow’s intense training!” Jiu Shen said as he took out countless spiritual fruits from his space earring and placed them neatly on a huge table. These fruits were from the Spirit World, and he had just prepared them last night. Although these fruits were merely low-level spiritual fruits, it was still enough to nourish the bodies of these young kids. He also had high-level spiritual fruits in his possession, but the young men wouldn’t be able to handle the potent energy within the high-level spiritual fruits, so he could only provide them with the lowest level spiritual fruits.
Seeing the spiritual fruits served before them, the young men’s eyes brightened. They were attracted by the aromatic smell of the spiritual fruits, and since all of them were beyond exhausted, they needed to replenish their energies as soon as possible so that they won’t be sick.
Normally, cultivators wouldn’t be sick, but these kids were yet to begin their cultivation journey. Except for their slightly stronger bodies, they were still mortals with no cultivation prowess, so all of them were still susceptible to sickness. That was also why Jiu Shen prepared these low-level spiritual fruits last night. He brought out a few hundreds of spiritual fruits and they should be enough for the entire day.
“You can eat, and you can do anything you want for the rest of the day, but you’re not allowed to go out of this place.” Jiu Shen said before he vanished from the platform with a swooshing sound.
Swoosh.
Everyone was astounded at his sudden disappearance, but their gazes were instantly locked onto the fruits that piled like a mountain on the huge table.
“Let’s go eat first!”
“Yeah, right! He said that we will begin the intense training tomorrow, so we should be in tiptop condition.”
Jiu Shen could have taken them inside the Spirit World, but he didn’t want to expose it to the young kids too soon since there might be moles among them. Although he trusted Emperor Elyk, he didn’t want to risk it. The guy might be beneath him in terms of strength, but he could not afford to be careless in exposing his secrets. He had to gain the kids’ acknowledgment and trust before he would decide on taking them inside the Spirit World.
