Blue King seemed to notice Pei Xuanjing's worry and reassured, "Don't worry, Mr. Lei…"
He spoke of the agreement among the human race's kings and lords that once one ascends to such a status, they are considered a pillar of humanity. Even if one has grievances, they cannot turn openly hostile, else they'll face judgment from the united human kings and lords.
Therefore, even if Xuan King was a formidable power, he could not defy this rule.
Everything that happened today; he could only swallow it, regardless of how unsatisfied he was.
Pei Xuanjing was skeptical, but he had no choice but to nod. With so many powerhouses present, even if he ascended to kingship, he couldn't face them all, especially with the Demon Race watching eagerly.
"Alright, with Mr. Lei's breakthrough today, we shall prepare a banquet for you in the Boundary City to celebrate." Blue King continued with a smile.
The other kings and lords also agreed jovially, especially those who carried grudges against Xuan King.
Xuan King looked sullen and silent, not uttering a word of objection.
"Humans, do you take the Demon Domain for a place where you can come and go as you please?" The Giant Eagle King raged.
These human race kings and lords were having a discussion as though they hadn't even considered the demon kings present. This was simply absurd. If they let them leave like this, the demon kings would lose face.
Upon hearing this, Blue King's smile vanished, and he turned to the Giant Eagle King, saying sternly, "And what would you have us do?!"
As the lord who defended the Boundary City, he was known for his sternness. He wouldn't converse with these demon kings as gently as Pei Xuanjing would.
The Giant Eagle King, now in his human form, looked stern. As powerful as Blue King was, he was not a rival he could easily contend with.
"Naturally, there will be a price to pay!" The Wolf King stepped forward.
As one of the leading forces of the Demon Domain, the aura from the Wolf King almost matched that of Blue King.
"Wolf King, do you want to provoke a war between our races?" Blue King demanded in a frosty voice.
The Wolf King refused to back down, "Our Demon Race has never been afraid!"
The strong from both sides squared off, looking ready to fight at any second.
Next to them, the Fox King made a suggestion in a low voice to the Wolf King, "Wolf King, let's have the inter-racial battle a hundred years ahead of schedule and have the newly ascended man participate. As long as he's killed, it doesn't matter even if we lose this time round."
For the many demon kings, their biggest fear wasn't anything else, but Pei Xuanjing who just devoured the Jiaolong Blood Pill.
Because rumors had it that once one ingested the Jiaolong Blood Pill, there's a chance to break through the shackles of the Emperor Realm. If the human race had an Emperor Realm powerhouse, the Demon Race would be in danger!
"The inter-racial battle has been moved forward, he must participate." The Wolf King pointed at Pei Xuanjing, with an authoritative voice.
"What if I refuse?" The Blue King queried coldly, refusing to be threatened.
The inter-racial battle was a previously agreed upon decision between the human and demon races. Since neither side could best the other, they decided to pit their strong against one other every hundred years. This was a way to settle the grudges accumulated over the past century, and to decide who would dominate the next century.
But such a battle typically involved experienced kings and lords. Pei Xuanjing had just broken through, so he wasn't necessary for this battle. He could have a chance to participate in the next century.
To allow a newly ascended king to fight against demon kings was akin to sending him to his death, something Blue King couldn't accept.
"If you refuse, then we'll provoke a full-scale war between our two races today with no end until one side is completely annihilated!" threatened the Wolf King.
Pei Xuanjing poses a substantial threat to them. Even if there was a slight chance of him potentially breaking through to the Emperor Realm, it would be a massive threat to the Demon Race, hence their urgency to neutralize him.
"Blue King, agree with him, I can participate." Pei Xuanjing spoke up.
After learning about the inter-racial battle from the other kings and lords, he decisively urged Blue King to agree.
Everyone might think of him as a newly ascended king, but they didn't know that he had already reached the equivalent of a mid-term king in the Way of Essence Refinement's Spirit Realm. And if you added his ample Primordial Qi from the Path of Qi Refinement and his secret weapon, the Yin Spirit, he didn't fear even the top-tier demon kings.
"Hmm?" Blue King looked at Pei Xuanjing: "You better be sure…"
Unless necessary, he didn't want to risk it, because every king was a pillar of the human race.
Pei Xuanjing nodded and said, "It's fine, I'm confident!"
[At twenty years old: You broke through the realm of kings and lords, agreeing to participate in the upcoming inter-racial battle between humans and demons.]
"Good!" Blue King no longer argued, after all, unless necessary, he did not want to provoke a full-scale war between humans and demons. That would be harmful to both races.
Both sides settled on their agreement and departed separately.
The Demon Race wasn't afraid of the humans not keeping their promise because if the humans broke the pact, the demon army would undoubtedly launch an attack.
Pei Xuanjing returned to the Boundary City with Blue King and the others, first holding a celebration feast for Pei Xuanjing's ascendancy to kingship, then dealing with the matter of Xuan King's daughter and the human sacrifice.
Given the clear evidence in this matter, even Xuan King couldn't say much. He had to take responsibility for it.
The final outcome was that the elder and the daughter involved in the sacrificial rites were executed. As the instigator behind the scene, Xuan King had to bear some responsibility for this incident. He needed to participate in the upcoming large-scale battle between the humans and the demons in order to atone for this crime with his blood.
Once this decision was made, Pei Xuanjing believed in the sincerity of Blue King's invitation.
He felt the result was acceptable.
Because participating in the inter-racial battle was no simple matter. No one involved in it could guarantee a survival.
In the following days, Pei Xuanjing went into closed-door cultivation, waiting for the battle to approach.
There were originally still ten years to go before the inter-racial battle occurred. Although it was moved forward, there was still some preparation time required. Therefore, Pei Xuanjing had half a year to prepare.
At Pei Xuanjing's level, even without personal accomplishments, he had access to a wide range of skills in the Town Guard Mansion simply based on his raw strength. So, Pei Xuanjing certainly wouldn't miss this opportunity.
After viewing many of the skills of this world, Pei Xuanjing became more confident about the Way of Cultivation in this realm.
Although he was also on the Way of Essence Refinement, the methods of body cultivation of the powerhouses in this world were quite different from his.
Pei Xuanjing's body cultivation initiated by building a foundation with the Dragon Elephant Art, leveraging True Qi for sculpting his physical body and enhancing his sinews and bones.
Upon reaching the peak of the Mortal Realm, he further spiritualized his body, going through three transitions of rebirth to effectively enter the Spirit Realm. The path beyond the Spirit Realm involved opening and refining his own body's hidden treasures to strengthen his physique, making it perfect and flawless.
However, when the warriors of this world enhanced their physique, they exhibited greater emphasis on one aspect: bloodline.
According to the records or folklore of this world, all the bloodlines of the human race in this world are inherited from the earliest human ancestors. If these individuals could one day restore their bloodlines to the pure lineage of the human race, they would possess powers equivalent to the human ancestors.
Therefore, the strong ones in this world, while strengthening their bodies, also refine their bloodlines. Among their descendants, those who inherit the purest martial artist bloodlines have the best talent, and the accomplishments they can achieve in the future are even higher.
"The Way of Bloodline?" Pei Xuanjing mumbled these words, his eyes flickered, and some thoughts emerged in his heart.
In Pei Xuanjing's former world, or the world in Great Ming, there is a phrase which reads: Every lord, king, general, prefers to have offspring.
But these records and myths of this world and what he is witnessing now all prove one point: this is a world where 'king-lords' prefer to have offspring.
The stronger the bloodline a strong being possesses, the higher the chance of producing offspring with strength.
To put it bluntly, an ordinary person, without opportunity, would be inferior to others in terms of innate talent right from birth.
Pei Xuanjing frowned slightly, he did not like this kind of world.
However, this method of bloodline doesn't necessarily mean it doesn't provide a great deal of insight for him.
In the original cultivation method of the Great Ming World, the richness of a Mortal Realm martial artist's Blood Qi does have some association with their level of refinement. But after progressing to the Spirit Realm, the Dao of Refining Foundation focuses on refining the apertures, whereas the Dao of Qi Refining emphasizes drawing on the limitless Primordial Qi to move the Heavenly Earthly Force. Interest in Blood Qi gradually declines, and eventually gets abandoned, rendering it useless.
"But what if I can apply this pure bloodline techniques to condense my own Blood Qi?" Pei Xuanjing proposed brazenly in his heart.
The original idea of refining apertures is a way to develop the body. The growth of one's own Blood Qi is merely an instinct that grows as the body does, with much less focus.
If I can apply this technique of pure bloodline to refine my own Blood Qi, could this suggest that I can become even more powerful?
Once the idea was set, Pei Xuanjing naturally began to boldly experiment.
Half a year later, Pei Xuanjing emerged from seclusion and followed Blue King to a region outside the Border City. That place was going to be where the grand competition between the human race and the demonic beast was held.
A building similar to the ancient Roman Gladiator Arena stood there, surrounded by a grandiose style of giant stone seats that surrounded dozens of miles.
In the center was a gigantic arena featuring countless traces and black and red stains, presumably left by dried blood. This was where the grand competition between the human race and the demonic beast was held.
"This, is the arena where our human race and the demon race fight!" Blue King introduced to Pei Xuanjing.
With a serious look on his face, he said, "On the stage, there are no rules for the powerful warriors of both races to duel, and the one who survives is the victor. The loser can't even preserve his corpse."
It's simple, brutal, with no clear rules, only full of sheer survival of the fittest, survival of the most adaptable.
If they're not of the same race, their hearts will be different.
Between races, there isn't much civility or humility, only collisions of strength against strength. Only the strongest race has the right to dominate everything and set the rules.
The weak, have only compliance and submission!
"I understand!" After a moment, Pei Xuanjing understood the conflict between the human race and the demon race in this world more clearly.
Being a member of the human race, even in this world where he is an incarnate, he detests seeing humans falling prey to demonic beasts.
Soon after the humans arrived, the demonic beasts also arrived, and the two distinct sides occupied half of the area each.
Once both parties arrived, without much talking, they each sent out participants to the field.
In such a big competition, common soldiers or centurions have no qualification to participate, only thousand leaders, military generals and king-lords could act.
According to the agreement, each race sends a different number of powerful warriors from each realm to compete. The race that wins the most victories in the end would be crowned victorious in this century's grand competition.
Of course, different realms represented different values in the competition. For instance, the competition among Thousand Leader level had up to a thousand fights, but accounted for only one-sixth of the competition's outcome. The generals level had a hundred fights but accounted for one-third of the outcome. As for the decisive victories, they were the king-lords' ten fights.
This calculation for the competition might sound complex, but it is actually very simple. Because this arena is essentially an artefact, and the victory or defeat of the competitions between the humans and the demons is decided by the artefact. It's very fair and every fight's outcome can be clearly seen.
Pei Xuanjing sat high in a stone chair, his face cold and expression calm. He watched impassively as the human and demon race fought on the stage, utterly unsettled.
Thousand Leader level human warriors confront Great Demons. Such Great Demons already possess significant intelligence and, coupled with the Demon Race's unique talents, each one is not easy to deal with.
In Pei Xuanjing's simulated life experience, he perished at the hands of such a Great Demon.
All eyes from the human race and the demon race were fixed on the fights on stage; it concerned the fate of their race for the next hundred years. No one dared to take it lightly, not even the human king-lords or the demon kings.
The grand competition between the human race and the demon race has always been the fiercest fight. It doesn't have victories or defeats, only life or death. Every member of the human race and the demon race who stepped onto the stage either killed their opponent or was killed by their opponent. There was no third option.
So, from the very first fight, even if it was only a Thousand Leader level battle, it was awfully brutal. The losing human warriors were swallowed up by the brutal demons, leaving no corpse behind. The defeated Great Demons were dismembered by the humans, their essences refined, their flesh and blood consumed.
In the ten-day fight, the competition among the Thousand Leader level and generals had ended. The human race was definitely ahead, and was leading slightly.
But no one dared to take light of it, because the final outcome was still to be decided by the king-lords of the human race and the demon kings.
The first human king-lord to go into battle was of average strength, but unexpectedly, this king-lord was directly defeated and ended up dead, causing the morale of the human camp to plummet.
Therefore, in order to boost the morale, the human race sent out the Xuan King. Originally, everyone had high hopes for this powerful king-lord, but they didn't expect the demon race to send out the Tiger Clan Demon King who directly killed him with his formidable strength, leading the king-lords to lose the second battle as well.
Two consecutive defeats at the beginning of the king-lord battles. This undoubtedly cast a shadow over all of the human race.
Pei Xuanjing frowned slightly and said to Blue King, "Let me take the third battle!"
Pei Xuanjing snatched the weapon by his side, leapt into the air, and landed on the dueling stage.
"You finally came here to die!" The Grey Bear King glared at Pei Xuanjing, his eyes filled with murder.
In this battle, he actively sought to fight. Initially, this human had persisted for so long in his hands using only the strength of a mere Demon General, which was nothing short of an insult to the Grey Bear King.
Today, he was going to rip his enemy apart alive and extinguish the hopes of the human race.
"It's not decided who will die yet, isn't it?" Pei Xuanjing laughed coldly, and rashly made his move!
For him, he just wanted to kill this Demon King!
Pei Xuanjing's mysterious skill started performing, his body sparkled brilliantly, long strides brought along a fearsome force that screamed in the wind. The dueling stage trembled due to it, the sword hanging around his waist remained unused; he made a fist and fired out.
With a punch, the air exploded continuously. It was as if even space would shatter.
"Suicidal fool!"
The Grey Bear King roared, his giant bear paw slapped down, gusts rolled in, demon qi overwhelmed the heavens, like a ferocious beast from ancient times.
Boom!
The collision of the two made the earth shake and the heaven tremble.
All the spectators could only see Pei Xuanjing and the Grey Bear King's fists collide.
The Grey Bear King let out a rage-filled howl, his huge body was surrounded by an appalling demon qi, a giant grey bear shadow seemed to roar and howl behind him.
Pei Xuanjing's face grew cold and stern. Whether it was his palm or a punch, his bubbling Blood Qi turned into a raging windstorm, setting the Wind and Thunder forces in motion.
Everyone was shocked, in their eyes, it has not been long since Pei Xuanjing ascended to the King and Lords' realm. Even if he consumed the Jiaolong Blood Pill which gave him an extraordinarily strong foundation, he was still far behind the terrifying Grey Bear King.
Therefore, when they saw that the Grey Bear King was the representative of the Demon Race, the hearts of many human Kings and Lords were filled with worry, thinking that this battle was dangerous and might repeat the fate of the previous two battles.
But now, it seemed like the two were evenly matched with possibilities of victory on either side.
At this moment, the acupuncture points inside Pei Xuanjing's body started shining, as these points were connected together. This connection seemed to increase the force on Pei Xuanjing's body by several times.
Within his body, the overflow of Blood Qi was boiling. On top of his strong physique, there was a faint flickering of lightning.
The next moment, Pei Xuanjing made a dominating, violent punch!
Countless sounds of explosions resounded, stirring the infinite wind. Like lightning, the punch crossed over and struck out.
Boom!
This punch was a torrent of powerful energy, magnificently majestic.
The Grey Bear King waved his terrifying bear paw to meet Pei Xuanjing's punch.
This massive bear paw cracked under the impact of the immense force, sinking in while became unrecognisable mush.
"Ah!"
The Grey Bear King bellowed, this punch was far more terrifying than before. He found it unbearable and stumbled backward.
However, there could be no moment of carelessness in a fight between such powerful opponents.
Pei Xuanjing's figure flashed like lightning shooting across the sky, and he instantly unsheathed the sword hanging from his belt.
This was a precious sword gifted to him by the Blue King. Although it wasn't exactly a top-tier divine weapon, its sharpness and toughness were enough for Pei Xuanjing to demonstrate his terrifying power.
As soon as he held the sword, Pei Xuanjing's aura transformed, a towering sharpness surged from his body out of nowhere, with the cutting edge so fierce that it seemed as though it could pierce through Heaven and Earth.
CLANG!
His movements were extremely smooth, gripping the sword, drawing it, taking it out of its sheath, and making a slashing move; without any pause, his actions flowed like water!
Sword Drawing Skill!
This killing move was once again made by Pei Xuanjing's hand. Although he couldn't borrow much Heavenly Earthly Force, the physical strength of Pei Xuanjing at this moment was frighteningly beyond imagination.
As the sword was unsheathed, the resplendent sword light appeared, and the terrifying sword intent exploded. It seemed like it would sever everything.
"No!" A trace of despair flickered in the Grey Bear King's eyes.
This sword was extremely fast, almost coming at the speed of light. It seemed to pierce through time and space, and it silently reached its target before he could even react.
The icy sword light illuminated the sky. The overbearing light seemed capable of chopping everything, as if even space was being severed.
The next moment, countless sword Qi pierced the Grey Bear King's massive body, and numerous streams of Blood Qi erupted from his body. Watching Pei Xuanjing with resentment in his dying gaze, he lost his vitality and his enormous body fell to the ground, stirring up dust in the air.
This battle ended. The human race won while the powerful Grey Bear King of the Demon Race died in battle!
[At the age of 21: You have killed the Grey Bear King, the strong figure of the Demon Race!]
All of the human race's kings and lords, and the demon kings, were startled by what happened in the arena. Such a terrifying sword left them in shock, unable to recover for a long time.
All of this happened in a flash. One moment ago, the two were evenly matched and hard to distinguish, but the next moment, Pei Xuanjing injured the Bear King – this sudden turn of events was hard for many to accept.
Many demon kings who saw this began pondering what it would be like if they were in the Grey Bear King's place and whether they could block that sword.
Although the Grey Bear King was not the top strong figure in the Demon King Realm, but relying on the natural vitality, he still held a significant position in the Demon Race. Otherwise, the other demon kings would not have allowed him to take the shot.
Yet Pei Xuanjing killed the Grey Bear King with such a shocking force, leaving many people stunned.
"King Lei is brave!"
The Blue King also felt surprised by Pei Xuanjing's courageous act, but he quickly regained his composure and shouted.
"King Lei is brave!"
Countless human race martial artists cheered for Pei Xuanjing.
Without a doubt, Pei Xuanjing's gallant demeanor swept away the gloom of the human race and once again stirred up their passions.
However, the Demon Race was glaring at this scene. All demons present were looking at Pei Xuanjing with eyes filled with hatred, their desire to kill almost becoming tangible.
Pei Xuanjing didn't care about all this. He returned his sword to its sheath, and then his Mysterious Skill operated, using the subtlety of the Ten Thousand Spirit Body Forging Skill to absorb the essence of the Grey Bear King's Blood Qi after death.
It must be said that the terrifying energy contained in a demon king was indeed dense. Even in such a short time, the energy that Pei Xuanjing absorbed was enough to sustain him in opening several more meridians.
"In this way, this fight was worth it" A mysterious smile appeared in Pei Xuanjing's face.
"Mr. Lei, you may step down!" The Blue King smiled and said to Pei Xuanjing.
However, to his surprise, Pei Xuanjing slightly shook his head.
Right when the Blue King was puzzled, he heard Pei Xuanjing's booming voice:
"Is there anyone else who wants to challenge me?"
The moment this sentence came out, the whole audience was in a uproar!
Both the Demon Race and the human race looked at him with astonishment.
He doesn't want to give up his seat and wants to continue the challenge!
Has this man gone mad?
"Human race, don't be so arrogant!"
"Human race deserves death!"
The many demon kings from the Demon Race were immediately outraged.
Even though they knew that Pei Xuanjing's actions intended to rectify his previous mistake and it was an opportunity for them to kill him, they viewed it as an insult to them. How could they not be furious?