Chapter 87 – Mighty and Unrivaled General Bean: The Beast Arena

After the banquet, as was tradition, the disciples of the Four Great Sects were to remain in Vermillion Bird South for a while longer.

To keep the guests occupied, Azure Profound Sect opened up its internal dueling grounds for disciples to spar and exchange techniques.

This had always been the custom—Azure Profound Sect loved holding all sorts of strange banquets and sparring events after the illusion trials concluded.

These seemingly mundane events to pass the time were in fact full of hidden agendas. After every Immortal Sect Grand Tournament, a number of strong disciples would mysteriously transfer into Azure Profound Sect.

Though other sects knew Azure Profound was secretly poaching talent, they couldn’t openly oppose it due to the sect’s status. So, the other two main sects followed suit, while only Returning Immortal Sect never kept people after the illusions ended.

The dueling grounds were divided into several zones: sword cultivators and body cultivators shared a space, while talisman, alchemy, and artifact cultivators each had their own areas.

Ambitious disciples rushed to the dueling grounds the moment they opened, challenging opponents regardless of status—even top seats would sometimes participate.

As soon as Wen Yun heard there was fighting to be had, he ran straight over. Xu Xianxing had always wanted to observe the Pearl-Seeking Instrument up close, so he went to the artifact cultivator arena.

Ji Mingyue wasn’t an exception either. Only Baili Que disliked sparring with strangers outside of illusions, but these days he had been constantly hounded by Baili Yu and chose to hole up to avoid being followed again.

After not seeing any of them for days, Lian Mu decided not to stay cooped up. After some thought, she planned to slip out on her own.

Her sword still hadn’t been reforged, so sparring was out of the question. Not that she wanted to watch others fight either—she just wanted her sword fixed as soon as possible.

For now, she had to sell Green Bean and use the money to buy materials.

After settling on a price, she took out the bamboo token Bai Su gave her and dripped a drop of blood onto the carved flower pattern.

Green Bean hadn’t been fed properly these past few days and had grown restless. Ever since it fully opened its eyes, it shifted from dazed to creepy, staring at her daily with a look like it wanted to devour the entire room.

“Stay still, I found you a good home. You’ll get food soon.” Lian Mu held it down, pinning it in her palm. Green Bean struggled and scratched at her fingers with its pincers.

Blood seeped into the engraved lines, and the token glowed with a soft blue light, forming a five-petal flower pattern.

The moment her fingertips touched the token, her vision abruptly blacked out.

The world around her twisted and then reassembled.

In the blink of an eye, she was no longer in her Azure Profound Sect lodgings, but in the middle of a bustling marketplace, noise crashing into her ears—

“Feihai Treasures, honest and fair! Today’s prices slashed to the bone—don’t miss it, friends!”

“Original ore from Mount Li, cut once to change your fate—get rich tomorrow! Fresh materials just in, come take a look!”

“Final match in the sixth-tier arena! Entry tokens only a thousand spirit stones—first come, first served!”

The sudden teleportation left Lian Mu a little dizzy. She stumbled back, only to be caught by someone.

“It’s you.”

She steadied herself and turned. The person wore a silver mask—it was Bai Lingque, Bai Su’s subordinate.

Bai Lingque released her, speaking calmly, “Newcomer, this is Feihai Pavilion.”

Lian Mu looked around before asking, “Where’s Bai Su? I came to see her.”

“The Boss isn’t in today. You can settle somewhere for now. I’ll inform you when she returns.”

Bai Lingque seemed to be the designated guide for newcomers. After giving his instructions, he turned to welcome the next arrival.

Lian Mu: “…”

Looking around again, she noted how different this place was from Star-Plucking Tower. Feihai Pavilion was more like a full street, and everyone wore masks. Shops lined the roads, offering all kinds of wares.

She counted—spirit pets, ore cutters, spirit material vendors… basically everything was here.

“You must be new, little friend?” A long-sleeved vendor tugged her arm.

“I’m here to trade with someone from Feihai Pavilion.”

She had a mask on too, so nobody knew who was who—she spoke plainly.

The man glanced at her and her token. “Ah, so you’re one of the Boss’s invited guests. Unfortunately, she’s away these days. You might have to wait a bit.”

“When will she return?”

“Four or five days, probably.”

Lian Mu fell silent: “…”

Four or five days? That was too long—she needed money now.

“Do you have a place that buys spirit pets?” she asked. “I’m in urgent need of money.”

The man frowned slightly. “If you mean the spirit pet you and the Boss discussed, I’d advise against selling it early. But if you’re truly strapped, try the beast arena—bring your pet and see if you can make a profit.”

Beast arena?

Lian Mu: “Where is it?”

He pointed down a road. “Just a short walk that way. Since you were brought in by the Boss, if you have any problems later, come to me. My name’s Seventy-Two. Just call, and I’ll be there.”

His expression was sincere. Lian Mu nodded, but said no more, heading off in the direction he indicated, curiosity piqued.

After a walk around, she realized this place was nothing like Star-Plucking Tower. There weren’t just open markets for spirit pets and materials, but also a special area for unique shops—it reminded her of the stone gambling from her world.

But here, they gambled on spirit ores. A single chunk might contain all sorts of treasures—basic ones like spirit stones or attribute metals, or rare refined jades if you got lucky.

As she passed one shop, she paused to watch a chubby customer crack open a chunk that yielded a seventh-tier refined jade. Not top-tier, but sizable.

She recalled what Xu Xianxing had said—if she wanted to improve her sword within its current tier, she needed repeated refinement. Refined jade was a key material.

So she asked, “How much is a stone like this?”

The shopkeeper had just finished ringing up the previous customer. Hearing her, he turned and looked her over. “One hundred thousand spirit stones.”

Lian Mu pointed to a human-sized boulder by his side. “That one?”

The shopkeeper gave her a strange look. “Rookie? That one’s a hundred thousand.”

He bent down and picked up a palm-sized rock, handing it to her.

Lian Mu: “…”

Forget it. She needed to earn some cash first.

Shocked by the price, she made her way to the beast arena. As expected, it was packed—a clear money-making hotspot.

Eager to see how things worked, she imagined magical beasts fighting cultivators, death matches for victory.

If it was beast-slaying, she had plenty of experience and felt confident she could earn big here.

But the moment she peeked into the nearest ring, she froze: “?”

“Go! Bite it! Snap its leg!”

“Yeah! Bully my pet, will you? I’ll release a bigger one next match—you’ll all be dead!”

Masked cultivators crowded around a sunken circle where two thumb-sized bugs—familiar-looking—were bashing into each other.

Lian Mu halted in her tracks. A nearby cultivator stopped her: “Keep it down—don’t disrupt the contestants. This round’s almost over.”

Lian Mu fell into a moment of silence: “…”

Crickets count as beasts?!

She felt like she might have misunderstood something. After pulling someone aside to ask, she finally realized this place wasn’t meant for people to fight at all.

“Beast battles” were more like cricket fighting. Both participants would each bring out a spirit pet and toss them into the arena to fight. Before the match began, spectators would place bets on who would win. Each match started at a minimum of five thousand spirit stones, and only the winner would walk away with the prize.

The arena was divided into ten tiers. The higher the tier of the spirit pet, the bigger the potential payout. What Lian Mu had just witnessed was merely a Tier Nine match. The spirit pets on both sides were unimpressive—honestly, it really did look like a cricket fight.

Lian Mu was immediately hooked by the payout. Five thousand a match—and she just so happened to have a spirit pet. Since she hadn’t sold it yet, why not use the chance to earn a tidy sum?

“I’d like to sign up too,” Lian Mu said.

“Of course, I’m the one in charge of registration,” the man replied, pulling out a ledger from his sleeve. “There’s a rule in Feihai Pavilion: beast battle tiers are not interchangeable. If your spirit pet dies in a high-tier match, you can’t replace it with a new one. You’d have to start over from the bottom. Can you accept that?”

Lian Mu nodded. “That’s fine.”

She only had Green Bean anyway—there was no second pet to fall back on.

“Alright then. Show me your spirit pet and write down a name in the ledger.”

Lian Mu brought out Green Bean and let him record it with an image stone. Then she wrote a name boldly in the ledger: Invincible General Bean.

The man: “…”

That name… seriously?

He gave her a faint glance. The pet was tiny and clumsy—completely unworthy of a name that grandiose.

It’d probably get crushed in the very first match.

He didn’t dare say it out loud, only quietly tucked away the ledger and handed her a small jade pendant. It displayed Green Bean’s registered name in the beast arena.

Lian Mu pocketed the pendant and immediately dashed toward the match assignment area.