The Beast Pit
Xu Shulou adjusted herself into a relatively comfortable position, leaning against the cage door as she sat down.
The man carrying the iron rod seemed to enjoy watching them panic. Seeing that the newcomer paid him no attention, he found it dull and walked away, muttering curses under his breath. At the far end, he dragged something out of a cage.
"What's that?"
"Someone who took her own life yesterday," a woman with a wounded forehead spoke up from across the way. "They're only getting around to disposing of her now. How diligent of them."
Too late... Xu Shulou watched as the girl was dragged away, sighing inwardly.
———
Xu Shulou's disguise had been fairly successful—at least, no one suspected anything unusual about her. A round-faced girl nearby whispered to her, "Hey, newcomer, where were you captured from?"
"You Family Village, outside Yunzhou."
"What a coincidence! Someone else from You Family Village was brought here not long ago," the girl said, seeming naturally chatty. "I was taken from Fengjing."
"Fengjing? That's north and south of Yunzhou. Their kidnapping range is impressively wide."
The wounded woman interjected, "It's not their range that's wide. Some cultivators have long-term arrangements with this place. If they’re short on spirit stones, they just grab mortals from wherever and sell them here."
Seeing that she was knowledgeable, Xu Shulou pressed further, "May I ask, miss, do you know who—or which faction—runs this Beast Pit?"
"No idea," the woman shook her head, wincing slightly as the motion aggravated her injury. "All I know is that it must be run by cultivators."
The talkative girl who had first spoken to Xu Shulou sighed. "These days, cultivators are downright inhuman... Not long ago, an old Daoist told me I could cultivate too. I didn’t believe a swindler like that. Even if it were true, I wouldn’t dare get involved with cultivators..."
Xu Shulou cleared her throat. "Not all cultivators are inhuman, you know."
The girl scoffed. "Oh? Have you ever met a good one?"
Xu Shulou smiled faintly and nodded.
"Really? Tell me about it!"
"..." She had come here to gather information, but now the round-faced girl was urging her to tell a story. Xu Shulou lowered her gaze, thinking for a moment. "The cultivation world actually has more good people than bad. There are those who stand at the forefront, protecting the common folk with great compassion, and those who perform small acts of kindness just because they can. It’s too much to recount in full. If you ever get the chance, see it for yourself."
"I’ve already seen the faces of cultivators here," the girl murmured, lost in thought. "When I was sent into the 'pit,' I looked up and saw nothing but oily faces under the lights, staring at me in excitement, shouting, 'Fight! Fight harder!' The memory alone makes me sick. I don’t want anything to do with them!"
Xu Shulou chuckled. "Who knows? Maybe one day you’ll become so powerful that you can change all this."
"How could I?" The girl shook her head, though a flicker of longing passed over her expression.
"You’ve already fought in the pit?" Xu Shulou asked.
The girl’s face darkened with worry. "Mine was just a beginner’s match—small-scale stuff. I got knocked down, dazed, and couldn’t get up for ages. That was the end of it. But I’ve heard there are fights where the spectators demand the women battle naked. The girl who killed herself yesterday had been in one of those... And then there’s the death matches—fights to the death, no weapons allowed. Just two women tearing at each other with their bare hands until one dies. Once, after my fight, I accidentally saw them disposing of a body. A woman’s throat and the flesh under her chin had been ripped clean off. I’m terrified..."
"The death matches bring in more spirit stones, so the pit bosses spare no expense in providing beauties for the spectators," the wounded woman said coldly. "You don’t need to worry too much. It’s the one next to you who’s in danger."
Xu Shulou touched her own face and glanced around. No wonder, aside from the round-faced girl’s friendliness, the others barely acknowledged her. They probably assumed she wouldn’t last long and didn’t want to waste their emotions.
Xu Shulou smiled bitterly. "Do any of you know how long this Beast Pit has been operating?"
"Not sure," the wounded woman replied. "But it’s been at least a few months. I heard that three months ago, they had women fighting tigers and leopards. The spectators complained the odds were too uneven, so they switched to pitting women against each other."
"You mentioned someone else from You Family Village not long ago. Where is she being held? I might know her."
"If she’s still alive, she’d be in one of the nearby cages," the wounded woman answered. "All the women are kept here."
"What about the men?"
"No idea. Unless the spectators demand it, men rarely appear in the pit," the girl said, her expression grim. "I overheard once that the men... have even worse uses."
The women in the cages paled at her words. Worse than the Beast Pit? What could that possibly be?
Xu Shulou turned to her most pressing question. "When is the next death match?"
"Tomorrow night," the wounded woman said. "But they’ve already chosen the participants. You’ve got a few more days to live."
She nodded toward a nearby cage. Xu Shulou followed her gaze and saw a beautiful woman leaning against the bars, her eyes hollow. She showed no reaction to their conversation.
After a moment’s thought, Xu Shulou rapped her knuckles against the iron bars of her cage. When the woman looked over, she gave her a reassuring smile. "Don’t be afraid."
"..."
Shortly after, the man with the iron rod stormed in. "Who’s banging on the cages? What’s the meaning of this?"
"It’s me," Xu Shulou volunteered eagerly. "I’d like to request participation in tomorrow night’s death match."
"What?" The man froze, then theatrically rubbed his ear. "Did I hear that right? You want to join the death match?"
"Yes."
The man grabbed Xu Shulou’s wrist through the bars, checking once more that she had no spiritual energy, before asking in confusion, "Why?"
"I just arrived today, so I’m still in peak condition. I might stand a chance against my opponent. It’s the perfect time to gain experience," Xu Shulou reasoned. "If I wait too long and end up half-dead like that girl over there, I’d probably lose the moment I stepped into the pit."
"Hmm... That does make some sense." The man scratched his head, considering for a long moment. Then, eyeing the listless girl, he seemed to realize she’d make for a poor spectacle tomorrow. "Fine! You’ll fight tomorrow in her place!"
As he walked away, he muttered under his breath, "How bizarre..."
The looks the caged women gave Xu Shulou instantly changed. The round-faced girl shrank back, no longer daring to approach her. Meanwhile, the beautiful woman in the other cage, now spared from tomorrow’s fate, suddenly burst into tears. "I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die!"
"You won’t die," Xu Shulou told her firmly. "I promise you—at least not tomorrow, not here."
The wounded woman shot her a cool glance. "Why make empty promises? You can take her place once, but can you do it forever?"
Xu Shulou tapped the bead at her neck, then discreetly retrieved a bottle of medicinal salve from her qiankun bracelet, tossing it to the woman. "For your wounds."
This healing medicine was rather ordinary among spiritual remedies, but what made it rare was that it could be used by mortals. Xu Shulou always kept such items stocked in her Qiankun Bracelet.
The woman gave her a strange look. "Why don’t you keep it for yourself?"
"I enjoy helping others," Xu Shulou replied with a smile. "Let the other injured girls take turns using it too."
When the situation called for it, Xu Shulou could transform into a comforting presence. The girls in the cage, who had been anxious and somewhat afraid of her, gradually loosened up under her lighthearted demeanor. Within half an hour, they had spilled all the information they knew, and by the time an hour had passed, they were even telling Xu Shulou the names of the yellow dogs back in their villages.
———
Xu Shulou closed her eyes to rest for a while in the cage, and soon, the second evening arrived.
She was led out of the cage and taken to a small room, where a woman came in to apply makeup on her, styled her hair into an elegant updo, and had her change into a moon-white gauze robe.
A man waiting impatiently at the door cursed under his breath, grumbling about the perverse tastes of the spectators—demanding that these women fight to the death, yet insisting they do so while looking beautiful.
Xu Shulou was soon brought to the arena. Seats lined the edges, tiered higher and higher, already filled with numerous spectators. Across from her, another woman stepped out, her expression composed—likely someone who had already endured several fights.
Seeing that both combatants were quite lovely, the surrounding spectators erupted into applause.
Xu Shulou lifted her gaze and scanned them one by one. The woman opposite her scoffed coldly. "Stop looking. If you’re hoping someone there will save you, I advise you to abandon that thought. Only regular patrons can enter this death arena—people who long ago stopped seeing mortals as human."
"All regular patrons, are you sure?"
The woman gave her a strange look. "Of course I’m sure."
Someone in the crowd already began shouting, "What are you two talking about? Are you fighting or not?"
Xu Shulou smiled faintly in their direction. "Don’t rush. We’ll fight now."
The woman across from her clenched her fists and assumed a fighting stance, but Xu Shulou simply waved at her. "Come here, stand behind me."
"Behind you? Why?"
She soon found out why. Xu Shulou raised a hand to grasp the Spirit-Gathering Pearl around her neck, and in an instant, all the spiritual energy stored within erupted in a dazzling burst of light, nearly blinding everyone present.
Before the spectators could react, Xu Shulou channeled the energy with both hands, forming a spiritual force field that yanked them all from their lofty seats and pulled them into the center of the arena, plastered against the glowing mass of condensed energy.
After practicing the Cang Sheng Sword Technique, Xu Shulou had gained a deeper mastery over spiritual energy. With a flick of her finger, the glowing orb detonated—the full-force explosion of a cultivator’s spiritual power was more than enough to inflict serious damage.
These people had never witnessed such a reckless, explosive use of spiritual energy. One by one, they were blasted off their feet, coughing up blood, unable to rise for a long while. Only two, slightly more advanced in cultivation, managed to escape—but Xu Shou quickly made them her priority, ensuring they suffered even worse than the others.
There were about fifty or sixty spectators, none particularly powerful. Then again, why would a Tribulation-stage grandmaster waste time watching something like this? Setting aside the matter of temperament, those at the pinnacle of cultivation would probably find mortal combat too dull—they’d rather watch low-level cultivators fight instead.
The woman hiding behind Xu Shulou was utterly stunned.
"Don’t worry, I’m not planning to kill you," Xu Shulou said softly.
Seeing the man with the iron rod brighten with relief, she added, "Ah, except for you. You’ll have to die first."
"……"
Xu Shulou struck him down with a single palm strike, then turned to the fallen spectators. With swift, decisive movements, she severed their meridians. "Since you love watching mortals fight so much, from now on, you’ll live as mortals, trapped here to battle each other every day."
They stared up at her as though beholding a demon.
A young male cultivator, nearly paralyzed with terror, shrieked, "How dare you! Do you know who my father is?"
Xu Shulou shrugged. "Why should I care? Could he possibly be more infamous than me?"
