[Title At The End]

[He's a powerful Spirit Beast turned human.]

Like a meteor slamming down onto an ocean, large waves swept up Yao Guai. The stress, the anxiety, the pressure, all of it came bearing down and his vision turned extremely blurry. Blood trickled down his nose and he clutched his head with one palm.

[Yao!]

'I-I'm fine!' Ignoring his own body's protest, Yao charged forwards causing small cracks on the stone floor were his steps would land. The boy, clad in green and the red-haired youth both turned into a fleeting shadow, In the middle of the arena they met.

Yao twisted his body, a right leg tore through the air whistling while crushing the wind resisting it. At a speed far surpassing the human eye, two legs collided!

RUmblE!

The arena quaked! Small stones buffeting the crowd produced from the strength of the clash.

Yao Guai hissed deep inside, his leg was painful as if it had collided with an iron plate. His enemy's expression wasn't too favorable either, a frown creased in slight pain could help but slip.

Both of their strengths seem to be on par with each other. Both young children possessing low cultivation able to rely on tyrannical muscle strength to contest. More than twenty whole days passed by already and Yao Guai's strength climbed up all the way to one thousand five hundred kilograms of force.

Using his soul power, Yao Guai's strength doubled into three metric tons. Half of his full power two dozen days ago.

"This human is strange. He smells even stranger first brother." Scarlet Devil mumbled, his eyes were focused yet he wasn't really paying attention to Yao Guai. Absorbed in his own world, his body moved nearly automatically.

Turning into a fleeting red blur, Scarlet Devil shifted into assault. Red lights burst from his body as it underwent a qualitative change. A red mane of fur grew along his neck, covering it in a bush of luxurious red hair.

His hands turned sharper, red claws two inches long jutted out from the finger tips. The baleful aura around the devilish child intensified and killing intent grew more lucid.

Yao Guai's heart went cold. Relying on prediction further complemented by his muscle memory, the man swerved to the side evading being torn apart by a swipe from those claws. Yao attempted to fight back and sent a punch of its own.

Scarlet caught Yao's strike, slowly, the boy twisted Yao Guai's arm intent on rotating said arm until the elbow gave in and snapped.

"Fuck!" Crying out, Yao swept with his left leg aiming at his enemy's liver.

The boy let go, Yao quickly spun on his heel and kicked straight at the air launching a roundhouse kick.

Snorting, Yao's opponent crossed his arms, blocking that kick but was sent flying into the air. Like a beast the boy spread his arms then clawed on the stone floor. Cutting through concrete, effectively halting his momentum.

It was the perfect opportunity to follow up with an attack. Yao specialized in chaining combos unrelentingly preventing the opposition from recovering.

The battle shifted, It was now Scarlet Devil who struggled against a flurry of kicks and punches. Like a cyclone Yao kept on moving, he kept on striking even though his vision was blurry.

As sharp as the man's eyes were his mind was elsewhere.

'Lose… I will lose.' Doubts painted everything black, all sorts of negative thoughts criss crossing to form one painful net wrapping around Yao Guai's brain. It filtered everything, only his body, the enemy, the fight and his thoughts existed.

Sun's begging voice could not be heard, nor the cheers of the crowd as the air shook under such applause.

The risk was higher than before. In his previous fights even if he was forced under such dire straits he didn't feel this much pressure. His confidence wavered not yet faced with a spirit beast turned human, doubts started breaking Yao's self belief bit by bit.

Spirit beasts turning human was a rare occurrence. They could do it once turning into a hundred thousand year or a two hundred thousand year spirit beast. Some could even reach seven hundred thousand years of strength yet consume a heavenly treasure to bypass the restriction of greater than two hundred thousand year spirit beasts unable to metamorphize.

At weakest Yao's enemy was a hundred thousand year. But even so it was still deadly, their human bodies even if untrained possessed cruel strength. Their martial souls too were more potent than usual.

If Yao slips up he will lose, forced to use his martial soul or to call out Sun.

He didn't want to reveal all his abilities, if he did then his plan would go awry.

'I need to win. Win win win!!!' Heart pounding, the Green Emperor started becoming less and less human, falling down into a pit of rage as his body screamed for slaughter.

Yao pushed to the limits grew faster and faster. His moves flowed more fluidly at the cost of his body heating up. Though it was futile, his enemy struggled to go offensive but Scarlet devil was having a more easy time being defensive.

[Yao stop it! Your body! You're overtaxing yourself!] Sun was starting to grow desperate. How he wished he could go out there and fight. His friend needs him but he refused to even accept help.

This stubbornness pissed him off. It pissed him off so much Sun started hating himself for not being able to do something. He was a spirit beast, a spirit beast trapped inside a card resting in the pocket dimension. Unless summoned he is stuck there forever.

In a sense, he was useless.

"First brother this child is getting more restless. I can't fight back, if I get hit we will all suffer." Scarlet Devil narrowed his eyes. He could defend himself well as his fighting style was more reserved and protective of one's body, yet he did not try to launch a counter attack, weary of presenting a chance to be exploited by Yao.

His tone grew colder. "As special as he is, he will lose. Second, please let third take over." The child kept mumbling to himself. Yao Guai was doing his best but the green emperor who prided in being able to furiously assault his foes couldn't still break this turtle shell defense the red child retreated onto.

He felt shame. Yao felt his pride trampled upon.

All of a sudden the red haired kid's expression shifted, from outmost seriousness it mellowed down. Turning a shade brighter as a smile etched itself on the little child's lips. "Ya! Ya! Ya! You look delicious! And you seem fun! How far can you go? Lemme see! Let me see!" Joy exploded out of the child's lithe body.

A playful fighting style cast away the former defensive one and the red child's body focused more on agility and maneuverability. Body dancing amidst a storm of attacks, the kid engaged with a deadly game that sent his mind into euphoria.

"This is fun!" It was exhilarating to the spirit beast child. The dance of death was so dangerous that if Yao hits him, he would get beaten down onto the ground, ruthlessly dominated and trampled by a human their race commonly looked down upon.

Laughing happily, Scarlet Devil sauntered forwards and dodged all the hits. He managed to slap Yao Guai's head a few times and as strong as those strikes were Yao only felt like he was being petted.

'This… Isn't going well!' Yao Guai was starting to lose his mind.

And then his vision warped back. The arena disappeared, the cheers, the roaring wind caused by his attacks and the threat of injury Scarlet Devil radiated, it all vanished into thin smoke.

Falling into a trance he recalled this scene as the world was replaced with the interior of a mansion. Grandiose wasn't enough to describe the shining marble walls reflecting golden chandeliers suspended from within the air.

Clutching a silver trophy, a child seemingly twelve years old ran through the spacious corridors of the mansion. Catching up to a middle-aged man sporting grey hair and a fully closed beard. His wizened eyes turned to look at the child full of smiles presenting the silver trophy.

"Second place…" He mumbled and raised his hand.

Turning into a fist it slammed onto the Kid's face.

"GAH!" Yao Guai reeled back into reality, a fist broke through his unyielding assault hitting him square in the left cheek.

Slamming his fingers onto the floor, they bled as they scraped the ground in order to force himself to not be thrown off the arena. On the opposite side of the Green emperor was Scarlet Devil. His eyes blank devoid of all emotions.

Gone were the seriousness, gone was that playful air that wanted to have fun.

All that was left was terrifying calmness. The calm before the storm.

"Second, Third brother you did good. I'll end things now, this human can't be left alive." Boy now Yao Guai's capabilities threatened Scarlet Devil. He was a spirit beast and his enemy was humanity, if Yao, this human matured then maybe only Di Tian their slumbering king could match up against him.

'If things get worse we may witness the birth of a god.' Scarlet Devil's heart stirred, his soul split into three different personalities united.

Yao could be seen gasping for breath, blood trickling down his nose, his ears and his eyes as the last hit shook his head too much and gave him an injury. His fists balled up, the Green Emperor weakly planked on the ground as he was recovering.

That memory stirred something within him.

As Scarlet Devil approached with the intent of striking the human down, his mind buzzed. Stunned, he slowed down a little and Yao Guai shot up to his feet.

His green eyes sharper than the sharpest edge, practically glowing already as the intensity of emotions contained inside could no longer be suppressed.

Hate, Shame, Indignation, Sadness, Frustration, Fear, Anxiety. It mixed not into a rainbow color but into a shade of deep dark black.

Dark, darker and darker.

Yao Guai snapped.

"I was never enough was I old man? I had enough." Yao mumbled in a near inaudible growl. His body shifted to the side and he allowed Scarlet devil to puncture a whole into his left chest.

Scarlet Devil's eyes shook. "You've lost it!" His arm had pierced through the child's tough flesh, broke a lung then exited through the back as it penetrated bone.

The spirit beast tried and tried he did. He couldn't dislodge his arm, it was stuck in Yao Guai's body.

The man who was gravely injured didn't even shudder. He was still lost in his own world, a world that had no light nor joy.

"I did everything. That wasn't enough?"

"I succeeded, didn't I? Was a twenty year old millionaire as a son not befitting of our family name already?"

"Success this success that. Win win win… You want a billionaire, fair enough…" Yao's voice became a pleading shaking tone. It was weak, so weak that he seemed to be convincing himself more than anyone else. Eyes shrinking into dots, insanity colored Yao's manic pupils.

Yao Guai turned to look at his opponent dead in the eye. Both green eyes now hollow and his lips curled up into a smile. "How do you want me to win exactly?"

Scarlet Devil shivered, he finally pulled back his arm but it was grabbed by Yao Guai. Yao Guai smiled, a smile so sweet and a smile so sick everyone watching felt threatened.

Raising the the spirit beast turned human, Yao Guai used the leg as a handle.

BaNg!

Treating the red haired kid like a whip, Yao Guai slammed the body down. And he raised him by the leg again.

BANG!

Yao Guai didn't have it in his heart to stop, once he killed this spirit beast he'll get a wonderful spirit bone. Just that thought filled him with a sense of twisted happiness.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Scarlet Devil's mind shook, his body slowly broke apart. Blood started pooling at the ground riddled with spiderweb cracks. 'This is bad…'

'First brother do something!!!'

'First brother I'm afraid! We're going to die!'

Three personalities started knowing a new emotion. It was fear.

"GRAGHHH!" Roaring, the spirit beast child rose up, he sent a slash at Yao Guai who caught that arm, ruthlessly twisting it into an impossible angle. Bones snapped and ligaments tore off.

Everyone who was watching the fight dared not to speak, this was no longer a fight. It was a brutal slaughter.

Forcing his lips apart, the dying spirit beast roared out in unwillingness and terror. "ZI JI! KILL HIM!"

ROAR!

A draconic roar that shook heaven and earth broke out, from one of the seats situated in the Soutuo Great Arena rushed a beautiful woman. She turned into a glowing purple blur, from the sky then descended a dragon.

Regal scales entirely black as ink, four hundred meters long nearly dwarfing the Soutuo Great Spirit Arena that stood for hundreds of feet high in the air while spanning for more than two hundred meters in diameter.

"Enough!" A wave of powerful purple spirit power soared from the air and traveled all the way towards Yao Guai. Seeing this, Yao Guai threw away his enemy then jumped back intent on retreating, and his singular spell card glowed. Turning purple in color as power welled up from his body.

"Sakuretsu Armor…"

A few dozen meters away from the green haired child manifested a suit of crystalline demonic samurai armor. It raised its claws and slashed at the incoming purple beam of raw soul power coming from a two hundred and eighty thousand year spirit beast.

For one second the trap card held up, blocking the powerful attack and as the armor struggled to advance it raised its arm wanting to slash apart the dragon that had unleashed her furious assault.

The armor's effect was to annihilate whoever attacked Yao Guai.

Yet instead this armor crumbled under the harsh baptism of light. The gap between a rank 13 soul master and a hundred thousand year spirit beast was far too much. It was the real literal difference between heaven and earth itself.

Yao Guai coughed up blood and his body swayed. Eyes darkening his saw three more figures shoot up from the spectator's seats as people ran away.

Three men, one looking malnourished as dark aura radiated off him. The other man looked a bit feminine yet his handsome face clearly told he was a man. And the last one was a white haired man in his thirties.

One turned into a ghost, the other summoned a golden chrysanthemum and the last one sprouted six heavenly wings from his back.

For a brief moment Yao saw spirit rings.

Yellow, Yellow, Purple, Purple, Black, Black, Black, Black, Black

Yellow, Yellow, Purple, Purple, Black, Black, Black, Black, Black

Black, Black, Black, Black, Black, Black, Black, Black, Red.

Heaven and earth seemed to pale as Soutou Great Spirit Arena crumbled that night.

Title: Saved By Spirit Hall