Condemning the Heavens

His fighting ability was at its peak. But together with this sudden strength came a wanton consumption of Qi.

Xue Wei had let reasoning fly out his mind. Instead, consumed by the desire to kill this expert in the most painful way possible, he no longer thought rationally and forfeited any considerations for later battles.

Everyone could see that when the criminal had mentioned his parents, the young man had gone insane, and his murderous thoughts had soared to the heavens.

All of them knew of Xue Wei and the fact that he had no parents, and thus they were not too surprised about his reaction, but they now all kept in mind to never insult the Crimson Devil’s parents or even mention them in front of him.

Their eyes were glued to Xue Wei as he fought against the criminal, and when they saw how the wind picked up, affected by the chaotic Qi, and how his hair whipped about in the wind, they all felt as if they witnessed the emergence of a different person.

All of them had seen Xue Wei before. He had been calm and casual. He had never before done anything that could warrant such behavior. Amongst the audience, quite a few were feeling worried about what could have happened if they had acted on their impulse to make things difficult for Xue Wei.

In the arena, Xue Wei was fighting against the criminal. He had used the overwhelming killing intent to make the criminal panic and render him incapable of fighting back, which gave him the advantage. However, the longer it took, the more used to the situation the criminal became, so his will to survive caused him to fight back.

When he began retaliating, it was simple attacks at first. But soon, their fight became more and more intense as the killing intent had less and less of an effect on him.

Xue Wei used the Forbidden Rush and the sword created from the Inner Might techniques to their limits. His five copies were flying in the air in an attempt to confuse the criminal.

It was clear that they did not have sufficient strength to injure the criminal, so trying to do that would be futile and a waste of energy.

Since that was the case, Xue Wei had decided to use the group of copies as a way to confuse the criminal instead. Although the criminal had regained his composure and the ability to fight back, he was not able to see the difference between Xue Wei and the copies when they were moving fast while using the Forbidden Rush movement technique.

This was his trump card and also the reason why he still held the upper hand.

Xue Wei could use his superior speed to evade all damage altogether. On the other hand, getting hit just once would seriously injure him.

Still, he fought as if he did not really care for any injuries he might sustain. He fought as if all that mattered to him was killing the opponent regardless of the loss.

He was like a rabid dog, fighting back with everything he had. Suddenly, at some point, Xue Wei was like a blur in the air and headed straight for the criminal.

The audience could not see Xue Wei’s actual figure, and even the figures of his copies. All they could see were black blurs flashing by, and on the other side was the criminal with his clumsy movements as he tried to avoid the attacks.

Xue Wei suddenly came to a standstill, which allowed the audience to see that he had not come out of it completely unscathed. His body had wounds all over, and his clothes had become disheveled.

But his wounds were nothing compared to the wounds that the criminal had been inflicted with.

He had multiple cuts all over his body, and many of them were very deep. Blood dripped from all the wounds, dying the clothes of the criminal almost black.

Standing and staring from across each other, the criminal and Xue Wei were filled with hatred, but the criminal was also feeling fearful.

Xue Wei was like a beast, completely filled with hatred and no reasoning.

"Let us end this," Xue Wei growled as he rushed forward again, and the sword in his hands was like a snake of lightning that swept down from the clear sky.

While he was attacking, the criminal also seemed to gather all his focus and Qi in a last-ditch attempt at killing Xue Wei.

The Qi shrouded the criminal like a thick, protective layer that tried to block the sword that was descending upon him. At the same time, he punched out his fist.

The palm connected with Xue Wei’s abdomen just as the sword sliced through the protective layer of Qi and lacerated the body of the criminal. The Qi sword dissipated into his body and traveled through his meridians, destroying them from the sudden influx of chaotic energy.

As the meridians ruptured due to the invading Qi, the criminal felt agony so deep he couldn’t describe it with words.

Blood started oozing from his nose, ears, and eyes. He stumbled forward and opened his mouth, only to have blood bubble out. He shrieked in pain before collapsing on the stage.

Xue Wei had been thrown backward by the fist that had connected with his abdomen, and he too had thrown up a bit of blood. He pressed his hand against his side, feeling as if his organs had been shifted out of place.

His face was pale, and he felt as if his entire body had been ripped apart from the hit.

Xue Wei had been fully focused on attacking, so although his body was sturdier than any other first layer Earth Warrior, it was not enough to bridge the gap between the first and third layer.

Xue Wei had used almost all of his Qi in the wanton attacks he had rained down on the criminal in an attempt to break through his defenses and wound him for good.

It was in a desperate moment he had disregarded all his defenses to ensure that his final attack would land, and when it did, he too had taken serious damage.

Now, his final Qi was made into a sharp sword once more, and Xue Wei went towards the criminal slowly.

The criminal was not unconscious, but he was riddled with wounds, one more serious than the other, and it was impossible for him to move.

Xue Wei dug the sword into the criminal’s hand and twisted it. "So you are going to teach me instead of my parents?" Xue Wei sneered.

He lifted his sword, watching the blood well up from within the wound, and then chopped down, cleanly chopping off the criminal’s legs with a cold expression on his face.

After that, he severed the criminal’s arms and looked on as the criminal slowly bled to death.

While watching the criminal bleed out, he said nothing. He just stood there, observing him.

The wind picked up and Xue Wei looked into the sky, after which he sighed. He shook his head. Instead of sitting down and waiting for another battle to begin, he left the formation and the arena, walking back to his tent where he sat down and started thinking back on the fights he had had.

At first he had released his killing intent and allowed for the wildness within him to shine through because he thought it would make his fighting skills better than they were when he was cool-headed, but he realized now that it was not the case.

"I am way more emotional when the killing intent has free reign," he mumbled to himself. "It affects my fighting style, and although it allows me to explode forth with more power than usual, I completely forget about regulating my energy consumption, which makes me last for a shorter time."

"If I were to fight a battle with a cool head, I am able to properly make use of my Qi, but I am also unable to display the same ferocity and the same amount of strength."

"I guess each battle is different, and depending on the battle I am fighting, I will have to determine if it is feasible to release the killing intent."

"Although I could overwhelm the third layer criminal with my killing intent and make me gain the upper hand, I fear that if I had faced him without it, I would have long since been defeated."

"The third layer expert is my limit. I will be able to fight someone at the third layer, but if they are a genius at the third layer, then all I can do is rely on my overwhelming strength and Forbidden Rush Movement technique to flee."

Xue Wei nodded his head and started cultivating. He had reached a deeper understanding of the different skills he commanded, and of himself, and now was the best time to gain enlightenment.

While Xue Wei was busy cultivating, the rest of the camp was filled with a bustling atmosphere, and everyone was talking about what they had seen in the battle.

"He is the Crimson Devil! No two ways about it, that man is too inhuman to be one of us!"

"Did you see his red clothes? He must wear red so that the blood of his enemies does not show when it splashes back on him."

"Did you see how he tortured the final person? I cannot believe that he is only as old as we are. I have never even killed someone before, but this lunatic already murdered a whole group of people, and they were even stronger than him!"

"Did you see his fights? They left my heart growing cold and my body shivering."

"Although he is a bloodthirsty killer, I cannot help but wonder if he will be a good comrade or not. I mean look at him going on a killing spree in the middle of a beast horde. He will make it safer for the rest of us, but what if he gets so blinded by his killing intent that he cannot distinguish foe from friend? I really don’t know if it is good or not for him to join us."

The entire camp was bustling with conversations like these discussing the battles.

Those who had seen the battles retold what had happened to those who had not seen them, and many of the stories became more and more ferocious and out of hand the more they were spread.

Xue Wei was referred to as a real devil lord, and no one referred to him by name any longer – everyone now called him the Crimson Devil.

Those who had enmity with Xue Wei cleverly managed to hide this enmity, and those who wanted to reel him in for the sake of establishing a better connection between their families and Xiao Lei’s all tried to get closer to him.

The days went by slowly. Some people sent messages home to inform them about the battle between Xue Wei and the captive beasts and humans, and the Crown Prince also gained knowledge about the fights.

His lips rose into a grin, and he nodded his head when he got the message.

"It seems that trying to reel him in was a good decision. Showing friendship to him will become one of the better things I have done," he nodded his head, very pleased with himself.