Chapter 3: Who Else?

The wolf was beside himself with excitement.

Ever since he had met Du Gu Bieli, he had felt an almost blind trust in him. He believed his every word. In truth, Du Gu Bieli also needed time to organize and fuse the cultivation methods and combat skills from his memories, distill their essence, and then teach according to each person’s strengths, tailoring his instruction to suit their talents as much as possible.

A custom approach was, of course, more difficult. But he had the confidence, so he spoke in advance to encourage the wolf, lest he grow complacent and lose his drive.

Keeping the wolf company, Du Gu Bieli began to focus inward, sorting through his memories. When the bell rang, he collected his little sister and the child, and Xiao Hua also returned, bruised from head to toe. After a brief exchange of greetings, they each returned to their rooms.

He took out the Wind and Cloud Token, let his spirit penetrate it, and immediately sensed a connection between himself and the token, as if they were one flesh and blood. Then his consciousness sank, and a flood of information surged forth. His mind wavered, unable to distinguish east from west, north from south. In the midst of it all, an unseen force seemed to manifest as a great hand, tugging at his soul, lifting it from his body.

It felt as brief as a second, and yet as long as ten thousand years. When the daze passed, he found himself standing in a vast plaza, bustling with people, as real as reality itself.

He looked down at himself, then at his surroundings, and only after a long while did he realize he had left the real world and entered the Wind and Cloud Arena. Sweeping his gaze around, he saw crowds gathered in the distance above, shouting and cheering in great excitement. If one looked closely, each person had a symbol above their head, very much like the markings used during the selection tournament to display credentials and the number of tokens, though now it showed names, origins, battle records, and rank.

Looking up, he saw above his own head the words: Butterfly Academy, Du Gu Bieli, Soldier Class, with a glaring zero beside battle record.

From the information he’d received, he learned that all of these could be hidden and customized freely, displayed or concealed at will. What he didn’t know was that ordinary Wind and Cloud Tokens lacked this feature and always had to display the information. The reason, of course, was Wuying: the token he possessed, thanks to Wuying’s status, was special.

With a thought, Du Gu Bieli left only his battle record and rank above his head, even blurring his own appearance. In the blank for his name, a string of numbers appeared: 999.

The Wind and Cloud Arena was a unique space, jointly created by the six great kings, with the plaza at its foundation. Scattered throughout the plaza were many arenas. Standing at the edge, one could see that all around flowed a river of blood-red magma, with skulls occasionally rising and sinking, warning entrants not to trespass.

At the very center of the plaza, a bridge extended upward to another plaza. That was where crowds gathered: the Challenger-class arenas. There were always people ascending to fight—some waiting for random matches, others choosing opponents, and some arranging private duels.

The original purpose of the Wind and Cloud Arena was simply to cultivate talent, broaden practitioners’ horizons, and discover promising individuals. But as time passed and various families and factions joined in, the purpose gradually changed. For example, when two families found themselves in conflict, they sometimes chose to settle matters in the Wind and Cloud Arena.

This quasi-real world was, of course, hierarchical. Each entrant could only roam and challenge in plazas corresponding to their own or the next highest rank. The purpose was simple: to let participants understand the direction, characteristics, and gaps of future cultivation.

Du Gu Bieli was currently in the Soldier's plaza, but he was alone—Wuying had not lied about that. The academies had not yet distributed the Wind and Cloud Tokens for this year, so naturally no one else was present. Families and factions had to wait until the academies were done before receiving new tokens.

The structure of the Wind and Cloud Arena resembled a pyramid. The higher the plaza, the fewer their numbers. Each plaza floated on the boundless river of blood, linked by bridges.

Alone and with no matches to be had, Du Gu Bieli glanced through the relevant information, then, without hesitation, strode across the bridge straight to the Challenger plaza, passing unimpeded along the way.

Standing at the back of the crowd, he watched two people battling fiercely in the arena. He shook his head and sighed, muttering to himself, “What a dreadful standard. Too bad I can’t go to the higher Commander-class plaza…”

A few spectators nearby, cheering one of the fighters, heard his words and turned around, intending to scold him. The moment they caught sight of the glaring zero above Du Gu Bieli’s head, one of them cried out in surprise and, with a sneer, said, “So it’s just a Soldier-level kid making comments about Challengers? Look at your own record before you open your mouth. Kid, you’re lucky you ran into me. If it were someone else, you’d get beaten black and blue, and then they’d track down your real identity and teach you a lesson you’d never forget…”

“Thanks for the warning,” Du Gu Bieli replied coolly, clearly unconcerned, though his words were polite.

“There are fools everywhere,” the man shook his head and ignored him, turning back to cheer. On the arena, the tide suddenly turned—the two fighters unleashed their ultimate moves simultaneously, struck each other, and fell off the stage together.

A draw!

Many spectators sighed in admiration. “As expected, both are formidable.”

Du Gu Bieli’s lip twitched. He turned and left immediately, crisp and decisive, not lingering for a moment. He feared that if he watched or listened any longer, he’d be sick—those two’s fight was, in his eyes, as childish as a playground scuffle.

Soon, two more took the stage as spectators came and went. The Challenger who had just scolded Du Gu Bieli said to his friends, “Come on, let’s check out another arena.”

A group of hot-blooded Challengers marched toward a nearby platform. On the way, the Challenger suddenly remembered something and laughed, “Brothers, you don’t know—I just ran into something amusing… Imagine, a mere Soldier-level brat acting all profound…”

“Haha…”

“Why didn’t you call us?” someone complained. “We should’ve taught him a lesson, then stepped on his face and said, ‘See, kid, if you haven’t got the skills, don’t come to the Wind and Cloud Arena and show off…’”

“Haha…”

Joking and laughing, they arrived at another arena just as a match ended. The victor, not satisfied, continued to shout, “Who’s next?”

Whoosh—

A figure leapt lightly onto the stage.

Below, the Challenger glanced up, immediately stunned. “He actually got on stage? Brothers, that’s the guy I was talking about—look, quick, look!”

“A little Soldier-level, and he dares get on the Challenger’s stage? Doesn’t he know that here, strength isn’t the same as in the real world? Challengers suppress Soldiers!”

“Maybe he’s a rookie—his first time in the Wind and Cloud Arena.”

“Heh, someone’s about to teach him a lesson. Let’s watch and cheer—rare chance, and when I get home, I’ll tell my family for laughs…”

Du Gu Bieli stepped onto the arena, feeling somewhat helpless.

If he wanted to enter a higher-level area, he had to climb step by step and prove himself with victories. No matter how vexed, he had to face it. His only wish was to finish quickly and leave as soon as possible.

His opponent, a Challenger named Shi Feiyang, frowned when he saw a Soldier on stage and barked, “Did you get your head slammed in a door? Get lost, now!”

“Challenge. Accepted. It’s within the rules,” Du Gu Bieli replied icily. “If I break them, I’ll step down myself. If you’re afraid, step down yourself.”

“Well, well, you’ve got guts,” Shi Feiyang laughed angrily, clapping his hands. “Come on, then—let’s see what makes you so arrogant.”

“Enough talk. Let’s fight,” Du Gu Bieli crouched, powered forward, and shot toward Shi Feiyang with a punch.

Shi Feiyang scoffed and raised his hand to block, about to speak—when suddenly the fist blurred, splitting into a dozen, as if a dozen attackers coordinated in perfect harmony. Before he could tell real from fake, his chest was struck—force surged in, sending him stumbling back.

Du Gu Bieli unleashed a flurry of blows, seized the moment to leap up, and swept his leg across, landing a crisp smack on Shi Feiyang’s cheek. Shi Feiyang only heard a ringing in his ears, his vision went dark, and the world spun.

Du Gu Bieli landed, pivoted, and kicked.

Shi Feiyang doubled over helplessly, then both his feet left the ground—he tumbled out of the arena, rolled seven or eight times, and lay dazed, unable to get up.

The arena fell suddenly silent.