Hao Xuan sat in the restaurant digesting all the information while Zhurong and Fourth ate like starved beasts.
"Little cat, you are far too young to be able to compare to me!" Fourth said proudly while downing an entire fish, bones and all.
"Meow Meow!" Zhurong replied with a challenging tone and started attacking what seemed like an entire rabbit but it was several times bigger than the ones found on earth. He ate through its behind and entered its body and started eating from inside out.
"Woah! I see you're no pushover," Fourth's expression suddenly turned serious looking at Zhurong's "technique".
Hao Xuan just stared at them speechless, "Both of them, morons," he said inwardly.
"Um, brother, I need to break through to the next realm, are there any challenging missions available?" he asked after some hesitation.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah of course. Hundreds but you don't have to take them. Just go to to the Arena [CH33] and start a "Death Walk". It sounds ominous but it's not that bad. You will basically be pit against one opponent after another, with some humans mixed in as well and they will all be one realm higher than yours."
"So its perfect for breaking through. Since you're at the top of the Earth Realm, you will have 10 opponents back-to-back. The first one will be at Origin Realm stage 1, next at stage 2 and so on until the end where the last one will be at the top of Origin realm. The great thing is that you can choose to record the session or even live-broadcast and all the money from people tuning in will go to you. Honestly, for someone in your situation its perfect."
Hao Xuan thought about it and it really was a great idea. After coming out of the cocoon he hadn't fought at all. He could feel that just his physical body alone was much more powerful than before, this would let him test it out and also with the added pressure of higher realm opponents, he could break through to origin realm and then even refine his Qi during the fights.
"Alright, let's do it!" he agreed after thinking it through.
"Great!" Fourth was ecstatic as well because he would be able to get a piece of the action. He knew what Hao Xuan had just gone through and judging from the changes in his physical appearance alone, he must have gotten stronger. So making a few extra spirit stones by betting on him was basically free money.
They finished up the lunch and left for the arena, but Zhurong was still making pitiful faces so Hao Xuan got a few roasted beasts to go and brought them with.
They reached the Arena in 30 mins or so and went straight in.
"Brother Feng!" Fourth and Hao Xuan both went up to meet the man at the counter. They told him what the plan was and he looked at Hao Xuan for a bit and warned him, but didn't manage to change his mind.
"It will take a few minutes to set it all up so take this key and go to VIP room 4. I'll call you when it's time," he said handing Fourth a purple card that looked like it was made out of glass.
"Wait, do you want to broadcast the fight live?" he asked with a glint in his eye.
"Yes!" Before Hao Xuan could reply, Fourth chipped in.
"Alright, I'll release some information about your rank to get more viewers, is that okay?"
"Sure sure, you know whats best," fourth replied once again in Hao Xuans place and then tried to drag him away, but Hao Xuan turned around and looked at Feng.
"Can I add more opponents?" he asked with a questioning gaze.
"Add? You want even more?" Feng was stupefied. The opponents would already be a rank higher, and he wanted more?
"Yes, for the first fight, I want Nine origin realm stage 1 opponents, Eight for second and so on. Can that be done?"
"Can it be done? It's not a question of whether or not it can be done, but SHOULD it be? This has never happened before, are you sure? You might actually die you know," Feng warned him once again. This was suicidal.
"Yes, if it's not too much trouble," Hao Xuan casually smiled at him and walked off with Fourth, leaving him speechless.
Death Walks were considerably rare and they had to announce it over the network so everyone that had turned their notifications on for the event would get an alert. At the minimum, it would take two hours to get the opponents ready.
*Bzzt*Bzzt*
Spirit bands all over the kingdom were buzzing with notifications. A Death Walk had been initiated and at the Origin Realm at that. The higher the realms, the rarer the Death walks were since no one would want to show off their secret moves in front of billions.
Also, the mortality rate was more than 70% since the last opponent would be exactly an entire realm higher.
"Hey, wake up, there's a Death Walk happening soon!"
"Did you get the notification? Let's go home and watch on the main screen!"
"I wonder who is stupid enough to start one of these again, poor guy. Must be desperate for money."
Conversations like that could be heard throughout the kingdom. It was a set fee for each person to tune in for the Walk and considering that they would either get to see an idiot jump to his death or a monster beat all 10 opponents, it was worth every spirit stone.
Hundreds of millions of people tuned in from all over the kingdom, which had a population of more than 20-30 billion.
***
*Bzzt*
In a military camp, a few miles outside of Fortuna city a soldier shouted, "Everyone, gather up! A Death Walk is starting!"
"Death walk? so what? It's not that special," said another soldier sunbathing.
"Apparently its someone from Red Legion! I heard its one of the captains," replied the first one.
"What?! How did you know that?"
"They just released the information, I'm still not sure whether or not its true though."
"The arena is co-managed by the Royal family and the military, if they said it, then its true," came another voice from the side.
"Lieutenant!" all of them stood up at once and saluted.
"At ease. I just want to watch, same as you," he said taking a seat in front of the large screen. "And call in the newbies as well, they should see what the best of the best our Kingdom has to offer look like," he told one of the men.
"Yes!" the soldier ran out and came back a few minutes later with several people in tow, one of them stood out with a gigantic sword on his back and the body size comparable to a bear.
If Hao Xuan was there he would recognize the figure, it was Maaz, the oldest of the Khan family.
"SIR!" all of the newcomers saluted.
"Relax, sit down, and watch. There's about to be a good show," the lieutenant smiled and casually waved his hand.
***
In a jungle on the opposite side of the kingdom, a man was sitting in a meditative pose in a lake. There was thick spiritual energy all around him and wisps of Qi came out of his body, circled around a few times, and then went back in. This was being repeated every few seconds.
"Sir!" a voice woke him up.
"What's the matter?" the man asked with closed eyes.
"One of the Red Legion captains is going through a Death Walk. Its the newest one," said the voice again.
"Hmm?" the man suddenly opened his eyes and the world around him dimmed for a second.
"I'm coming," he said somberly and stood up, the robe on his back fell down and a tattoo of a massive winged-tiger could be seen moving around the number "6" on his back.
This was the most promising genius of the "Flying Tigers".
***
In a city with towering structures that blocked out the sun, a girl was sitting on the roof of a tower in the middle of a formation.
Moonlight was collected by the formation and being absorbed by the girl. Her entire being was glowing with a white light that wasn't hard to look at but gave people a 'Holy' feeling.
"Sister!" another girl of about 19 years of age came rushing in.
The first girl opened her eyes that had no pupils and were completely white, "What happened? Did you find another pet to play with?" she asked with a smile.
"No no, it's not about that. One of the Red Legion captains is going on a Death Walk!" she said with a grin.
"What?! Who?" the girl asked with furrowed brows. All of them were at a high realm, why would they do something like this?
"Ninth, the newbie."
"Oh, well, since I'm awake I'll take a look," she said and got up. An armor made of white light appeared on her body but disappeared in a flash.
This was the commander of the Valkyries.
***
In a small valley somewhere to the west, a teenager was fighting a giant beast that had a head of a chicken and the body of a lizard but instead of claws, it had human-like fingers.
There were dozens of figures standing all around the valley with their spears pointing upwards.
"Kid, the new Red Legion captain started a Death Walk, you should take a look since he will be your main opponent in the next meeting," a man with short black hair and an aura that pierced the eyes walked into the valley with his hands behind his back.
"Yes," the teenager said respectfully and held the spear above his head and with a shout shot it forward like a bazooka, nailing the 10+ meter long lizard to the side of the valley, killing it instantly.
He was the youngest of the "Spearhead" unit.
***
In a cave in the extreme south, a youth was sitting with his eyes closed. All around him were corpses, some of beasts, some humans. There was a dark energy surrounding his face.
*Bzzt*
His Spirit Band vibrated, waking him up. He saw the notification of the Death Walk and then turned the band off, going back to cultivation.
***
North-West edge of the kingdom, a battle was going on.
Two armies were facing one another.
To the left was an army on a hill with Nine members at the front, and ten thousand behind them. Each of them had the exact same black armor.
On the right was an army of creatures that had lower bodies similar to humans but the top half was that of a hyena.
In the middle was a single person belonging to the left who was fighting against more than two hundred from the right.
Outnumbered 1 against 200, still, nothing could stop his advance. Like a War God, he cut through everything that stood in front of him.
*Bzzt*
The spirit band of one of the nine that were standing on the hill vibrated, he looked at it and then said something to the others around him.
"Alright, let's get it over with then," they nodded their heads and one of them came forward and shouted towards the other army.
"Time is up. Choose, surrender or death!"
The hyenas looked at the man and then started running towards them while screaming, "Kill!"
The man scoffed and turned around, and shouted "Slaughter!"
The ten thousand soldiers behind him marched forward and within 10 minutes, killed every single hyena.
"Child, go watch what the new Red Legion captain has in store. See if he can be used to sharpen your blade," said the man from before to the person who was fighting against 200 hyenas alone.
"Yes sir," the person nodded and took off their helmet to reveal the face of a 17-year-old girl who looked like a porcelain doll with her dainty figure.
***
As soon as Hao Xuan's rank was revealed, it brought storms all over the kingdom.
Including Red Legion, there were Six units formed by Great Generals. Each had different members and functions. These were their geniuses.
***
Fourth knew where the room was so he led Hao Xuan to it. It was located at the very top of the arena and had a massive screen at the front which showed every single battle going on. The residents of the room had the option to switch between any fight whenever they wanted.
Just as Hao Xuan sat down on one of the sofas, Zhurong called out.
"Meow….." he looked at him affectionately.
"How are you still hungry?!" Hao Xuan was more surprised by the fact that Zhurong could eat so much with his little body than be mad at him.
"Fine, but you better share this," he summoned the little baby snakes who appeared on the table, and then with another wave, the entire table was filled with roasted beast parts.
Zhurong didn't wait for anyone and jumped straight in, whereas the baby snakes looked at the food once and then wriggled their way up Hao Xuan's arms and cozily coiled up on his shoulder with satisfied expressions.
Hao Xuan smiled looking at them and patted their heads.
"See? This is how you should behave," he said looking at Zhurong with an annoyed expression but he wasn't even visible anymore as he was buried somewhere under the mountain of meat.
A muffled "Meow," was the only response he got which for some reason pissed him off even more.
"One of these days brat, one of these days," Hao Xuan mumbled with gritted teeth.
There were still some fights going on in the many Arenas.. There was an armored centaur fighting against a giant bull-like beast, a human teenager in silver armor fighting against half a dozen rat-like beasts about the size of calves.
