The arena owner's low, raspy voice made the manager's pupils contract sharply, his body trembling uncontrollably.
The Boss's plan was actually to deploy that one.
Niu Xuanfeng!
One of the three Hall Masters of the Demonic Sect that dominated the martial world ten years ago, his brute force skills were considered invincible.
In terms of pure frontal combat power, even fellow Hall Master, Pig No Taboo was not his match.
In the martial world of that era, Niu Xuanfeng was at the peak of the first tier.
When he swung his two battle-axes, he could carve through thousands of troops as if they were nothing.
"But... didn't he die ten years ago?" The manager asked, shocked and panicked, "Even if we dug up his corpse two years ago, at best we could make a puppet out of it. A mindless existence... how could it deal with an agile fighter like Lantu?"
The Boss smiled slightly, a look of complete control on his face, "I told you, he has been tamed into a 'beast'. Are you still unaware of our arena's signature methods?"
Hearing the Boss's icy tone, the manager's heart trembled, thinking of an incredibly cruel possibility.
If it was really what he thought... then this once-powerful expert couldn't even find peace in death, forced to endure endless humiliation!
In the center of the arena, Lantu stood, her face veiled by a light gauze, dressed in a simple long gown, ethereal and graceful.
Around her, ice-blue internal energy condensed into snowflakes, forming sharp ice spikes that unnoticeably created a formation resembling a rose of ice and snow.
Ten mutated fierce beasts of various shapes, all vicious-looking, lay severely wounded and near death on the ground.
The Bloody Frenzied Bull, the Swamp Python, the Meteor Hammer Gorilla that Hantian had struggled against three days ago were all among them.
The foes he had fought with all his might were all sent flying effortlessly by Lantu with a single, seemingly casual palm strike, devoid of any formal martial technique.
The depth of the Ice Soul Sword Master, the Palace Master of Jade Toad Palace, was evident.
'Ninety more matches. As long as I keep winning like this, I can find a miracle doctor to save Hantian,' Lantu thought, looking at her soft palms, encouraging herself.
The spectators in the stands shared her sentiment.
"Heroine! Keep winning! I've bet a hundred taels of gold on you!"
"So strong! I've never seen such pure ice-attribute internal energy. She hasn't even used a single martial arts move yet, just crushing them with her inner power."
"A fighter like this... she must be a hidden disciple sent by the Santai Pavilion for training, right? In today's martial world, aside from the legendary Seven Swords and the Santai Pavilion, who else could possess such strength?"
After the previous ten matches, everyone was utterly confident in Lantu. Forget ninety beasts, even five hundred would be helpless before this invincible heroine.
"The eleventh beast fight will begin shortly! Spectators, please place your bets!" Two arena lackeys announced the next match amidst the roaring crowd.
"Bet, bet, bet! My entire fortune of a hundred and thirty gold taels, all on this Frost Fairy!"
"Pfft, your entire fortune? I borrowed eight hundred gold taels, plus my own twelve hundred, two thousand total, all on her!"
The spectators went mad betting on Lantu, afraid that the already low odds would drop further if they were late. Even at the current odds, with a large enough bet, they could make a good profit.
Who wouldn't take money that seemed handed to them?
Ingots of heavy gold and silver were slapped onto the betting tables, flowing into the arena's coffers. The manager frantically counted, cold sweat pouring from his forehead.
"Boss... they've bet a total of... one million gold taels! If we lose this one, we'll probably lose a whole year's profit!"
Hearing this, the Boss sneered, his voice low, "Losing is impossible. Even if one of the Seven Swords themselves came, without using their weapons, as per arena rules, they couldn't defeat Niu Xuanfeng!"
Half a minute later, in the arena, the staff brought out a massive black iron cage, densely wrapped in thick chains.
The cage itself was forged from Hundred-Tempered Divine Iron. An ordinary treasured sword couldn't even leave a scratch on it.
The chains wrapped around it were Sealing Chains secretly made by a Santai Pavilion's master for the arena owner, engraved with mysterious patterns that suppressed internal energy.
Yet, even so, the black cage shook violently. The Hundred-Tempered Divine Iron shell was constantly hit from the inside, bulging out with irregular protrusions.
The spectators felt a pang of dread just watching. Just the sound was enough to tell them that the beast the arena was sending out this time was on a completely different level from the previous ten.
'Could the Frost Fairy actually lose?'
Seeing this, Lantu's expression also grew serious. She raised her Ice Soul energy, sensing that this enemy was stronger than all the previous ones combined!
"Time's up! Open the cage!" An arena lackey shouted, then quickly ran to a spot dozens of meters away from the arena.
Over a dozen people worked together to pull the chains off the cage.
Clatter, clatter.
As the black chains fell away, a terrifying, overwhelming demonic energy erupted from the dark cage.
Even Lantu's face changed dramatically. She retreated three steps before steadying herself.
'This aura...'
'Why... does it feel somewhat familiar?'
"Roar!!!"
Following the earth-shaking bellow that shook the entire arena, the black cage was smashed open with a violent explosion.
The force was so immense that many spectators sitting close had their ears bleed, their eardrums ruptured.
Such power truly belonged to a peerless fierce beast!
On the arena stage, as the smoke slowly cleared and Lantu saw the true form of the beast, her pupils abruptly contracted.
"Niu... Niu San-Ge...?" Broken memory fragments seemed to surge in her mind, sketching countless incomplete pictures.
'Brother Niu... Run! Pig No Taboo is...'
"AAAAAHHHH!!! My head!!" The memories had barely surfaced when Lantu felt a splitting headache, a pain so intense it felt like her soul was being torn apart.
Before her stood a monster, neither fully ox nor fully human. Its upper body was humanoid, but its lower body was grotesquely grafted onto the body of a demonic ox, emitting low, menacing growls.
This was the arena owner's method: using cruel secret arts to stitch a human and a beast together.
This creature possessed Niu Xuanfeng's innate divine strength and martial arts, amplified by secret arts into overwhelming demonic energy.
Its mind, however, was the wild, destructive instinct of the demonic ox, bent on destroying everything in its path.
…
…
(A/N: In this story, the worlds of Hongmao and Lantu and Brave Return are anthropomorphic settings.)