STNS: Chapter 508 (Patreon)

Yōuměi did not know how long she sat in that jail cell with nothing to do but count the cracks in the walls. She had never felt so lonely before in her entire life. To make matters worse, she couldn’t leave the cell. She had already tried Shadow Walking out of the cell, but there was some kind of barrier that prevented her from leaving. Attempting to escape had resulted in her entire body experiencing a surge of so much pain that it felt like her entire body was being melted from the inside out.

And so she sat there until someone opened the door to her cell. It was a man she had never seen before. His rugged face was marred in scars and looked weathered like he had experienced the weight of centuries. Yōuměi couldn’t figure out how old he was because he looked ancient, but his hair was pure black like hers.

He was much stronger than she was. She couldn’t sense his cultivation at all.

“Come out! It’s time for your first fight.”

Yōuměi hesitated for a moment, but when the man gave her a threatening look, she hurried out. She only briefly glanced at him out of the corner of her eye as she hurried past him. The look he gave made her shudder.

“Such a beautiful girl. It’s a shame you’ve been forced to fight in this arena.”

Her shuddering intensified.

Yōuměi had already realized it, but walking through the darkened corridor made it more obvious that she was located underground. Her quarters was just one jail cell set next to many others. There were quite a few cells and each one contained a single person. Quite a few of them catcalled as she was led out of the underground chamber.

She was soon led to a large, open gate. Beyond the gate was an arena, shaped like an oval. The arena floor was covered in a thick layer of sand.

“Go on. Get outside,” the guard ordered.

Yōuměi bit her lip but stepped onto the arena floor, where her ears instantly flattened against her skull as loud cheering filled them. She hadn’t been expecting so much noise. It hurt.

The seats were tiered and made from stone or packed earth. She couldn’t tell. Several areas had tapestries and cushions. Rich people sat there, she guessed. While most of the arena floor was just sand, there were several obstacles like pillars and archways.

“Ladies and gentleman! We have a new contestant entering the arena today! This young magical beast has offended Dàrén Zhao Xian and been subjected to battle in the arena! Will she survive?!”

Someone was acting as an announcer. Yōuměi couldn’t see this person anywhere, and she couldn’t find him based on her hearing because it sounded like he was talking from all around. There must have been some kind of magical device that projected sound. Yōuměi had seen similar things being used before.

At that moment, the gate on the other side opened and someone stepped out. It was a man. He was really tall, easily towering over Yōuměi, and his body was covered in muscles. While he looked human enough, it was clear that he was anything but. His skin was a deep red like molten lava, and his hair, long and wild, flowed like fire. It was bright orange near the top but shifted to fiery red near the bottom. It looked like a flame to Yōuměi. He wore armor made of interlocking scales that also looked like flames.

“Unfortunately for our new contender, she is going up against none other than Hóngyàn, a fan favorite!”

She didn’t know who this Hóngyàn was, but everyone in the audience seemed to, for the cheering became ten times louder. While Yōuměi wanted to cover her ears, Hóngyàn was eating the attention up. He smiled and waved at the crowd. However, when he got to her, he couldn’t help but laugh.

“Ha ha ha! This is to be my opponent? Is the arena insulting me?! Why would they send a child to fight against me?”

“...”

“What? Got nothing to say?”

Yōuměi didn’t know what to say. This was the first time she had ever been in a situation like this. She was scared.

But maybe it would be a good idea if I said something? What would Master say?

An image of Master came into her mind, and she imagined what he might say to an opponent. She had watched him fight many opponents in tournaments before. He always seemed to have something to say.

“Yōuměi doesn’t have anything to say to a layabout like you.”

Hóngyàn narrowed his eyes. “It seems you have a bit of spunk after all, but now that you’ve decided to talk back, don’t expect me to go easy on you. I’ll be sure to teach you a lesson.”

Yōuměi thought she should have some sort of snappy comeback, but she couldn’t think of anything, and the battle started soon after.

“BLAZING SURGE!!!!”

Hóngyàn shouted the name of his technique. While most people did say the name of their technique, she’d never heard anyone shout it so loudly before.

A massive torrent of fire surged toward Yōuměi in a wave. It swept over everything in its path. Yōuměi could feel the intense heat even from a distance and knew it would burn her to cinders. She sought to leap into a shadow. There were a few by the pillars and she quickly hopped into one.

That was a mistake.

When the flames swept over the pillar, the light from the fire made the shadow dissolve quickly. Yōuměi screamed as her body was revealed. The flames had diminished before reaching her, but the fire still burned her skin. It cracked and popped in several areas.

“Are you stupid?” Hóngyàn laughed. “Do you not know how to fight strategically? You can’t battle someone with a fire element by hiding in shadows! That’s just asking me to annihilate you!”

Yōuměi slowly crawled to her feet. Her body was in so much pain that even standing hurt. This man’s flames were very powerful. She didn’t think he was more powerful than Master, but he might be a match for Big Sis Jingshu.

“Now, try and dodge this! INFERNO BARRAGE!!”

Yōuměi had no time to recover. Hóngyàn created multiple fireballs and launched them at her one after the other. Too afraid to dive back into her shadow, all Yōuměi could do was run and hope to outpace the fireballs that were nipping at her heels. She was fast. With her Qi now available to use, she ran swift as the wind, avoiding the fireballs with ease.

“FIERY CLOAK!”

Yet just as she believed she would escape injury, he appeared before her. His body was enveloped in powerful flames. The heat coming from it caused burns to appear on her skin just from being close to him. She tried to reverse course and avoid him, but he was hot on her trail, literally leaving flames along the ground in his wake.

“EMBER STRIKE!!!”

Flames enveloped his limbs as he closed the distance. Yōuměi didn’t even have time to scream in pain as he launched a barrage of powerful punches and kicks into her body. She tried to defend herself with her shadows, but his attacks plowed right into her. Yōuměi wanted to cry, to scream, but she remembered her purpose. Master was missing his legs and she needed to find the ingredients that would help him get them back.

With that fueling her, Yōuměi used the last bit of her strength to launch her own attack during a short pause.

“Shadow Stakes!”

Manipulating both her shadow and Hóngyàn’s, she created numerous stakes that erupted from the ground and tried to impale her opponent. They didn’t, but they did distract him. Hóngyàn briefly looked away, and in that time, Yōuměi closed the distance and bit down on his arm.

“GYA?!”

The surprised Hóngyàn screamed in shock as her teeth sank into his forearm. Blood dribbled down the wound. However, while she had broken his skin, Yōuměi felt intense heat well up in her mouth. It felt like she was swallowing lava. Despite how much it hurt, despite the tears gathering in her eyes, she clung to his forearm, digging her fangs deeper into his flesh.

Hóngyàn laughed. “Look at you! You’ve got some spunk, after all! But spunk alone won’t save you! Good night, little one!”

Yōuměi didn’t understand what he meant, but she felt something heavy slam into the back of her head, and all she knew after that was darkness.

***

When Yōuměi woke up next, she was in an unfamiliar room. She blinked at the ceiling. It was much nicer than her jail cell. Where was she?

“Finally awake?” a somewhat familiar voice said.

Shock raced through her. Yōuměi scurried to her feet, raced over to a corner of the room, and hissed at the man who had spoken. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow as she crouched on all fours and glared menacingly, but he just smiled as he sat there. His clothes were different. He wasn’t wearing armor anymore. A pair of loose-fitting pants and a plain white shirt with buttons hid his muscular physique.

“Now, now, there’s no need to glare at me like that. I’m not going to hurt you. See? I even had someone bandage your wounds.”

Now that he said so, Yōuměi realized that she was not in any pain, which she should have been. Her injuries had been severe. She glanced down at herself. She wore a loose white dress that went down to her knees, and she could see bandages wrapping around her arms, legs, and felt them on her torso. They felt a little wet. She knew it wasn’t water but a type of aloe to soothe burns.

“Why did you help Yōuměi? What do you want?” she asked.

She didn’t care that she was being rude. Yōuměi might not be smart, but she knew enough about the world to know that nobody did anything for someone without expecting something in return. This man helped her after their battle because he wanted something.

“Yōuměi won’t naked hug you,” she said after another moment passed.

Hóngyàn wrinkled his nose. “Don’t insult me. I’m not interested in children. I prefer women with a mature figure.” He raised his hands and moved them as though indicating the type of body he liked in women, but then crossed his arms and smirked. “I just took an interest in you. You’re new, and you’re very young. By all rights, you shouldn’t be forced to fight in this arena. It made me curious. So,” he gestured to her, “Why don’t you tell me why you’re here?”

What should Yōuměi do? Should she tell this man about what she did?

Yōuměi sniffed the air several times. She could detect lies from a person’s scent. When someone lied, they emitted a smell caused by their sweating. She couldn’t smell anything from this man, but that could just mean he was a really good liar. She didn’t know if she trusted him. However…

Yōuměi won’t get anywhere on her own.

She understood that; she had learned that there was only so much someone could do by themselves thanks to her time traveling with Wu Jian. There were many times when he had teamed up with others to accomplish something he would not have been able to by himself, like that time when he fought the assassin in that fiery realm, or that other time when he went up against that dark guild master. Each time, he had not been alone.

“Yōuměi… will tell you what happened,” she said at last.

“Splendid!” Hóngyàn clapped.

She frowned. This man acted very differently now that they were not in the arena. He looked no different, but it felt like she was talking to a completely different person. However, that was neither here nor there.

And so, Yōuměi began her tale.

“It all started when Yōuměi, Master, and Yōuměi’s big sisters ended up fighting against a really powerful person…”