After a few minutes, we reached our destination. It was a large, domed building that had hundreds of people milling about, with some people demonstrating their skills and others touching a small stone, followed by a symbol appearing on their hand.

My guide led me to a row of seats outside of the main area in the dome, and I sat down.

“What is your name? We’ll need it to evaluate you.”

“H-huh? Oh, my name is Huang Jianzhi.”

“I’m June. Nice to meet you.” She stuck out her hand. I politely shook it.

“What am I supposed to do?” I questioned.

“When they call your name, just follow this path down to the main area and walk to the left side. They’ll tell you what to do from there.” She began to walk away.

“Thanks for your help!” I called out as she walked away, and in response she gave me a smile over her shoulder.

Hmm… as long as I’m here, I might as well try to cultivate. I opt to sit on the ground, rather than in the seat, for the freedom of movement and space.

Just as I was about to begin, I heard a voice.

“Hey you, get the hell outta the isle! There are others here tryin’ to get tested!”

I glanced up indifferently, and noticed a red-faced kid, probably in his late teens, staring down at me with a sneer.

“What the hell do you want?” I muttered.

“The fuck did you just say?”

“I said, what the hell do you want?”

“Get out the fucking walkway!”

“Make me.”

“Fine, I will!”

He walked over, cracking his knuckles, and after a moment, he wound up to swing. Taking a fleeting glance at his form, his strike would have a decent amount of strength, but his sloppy form allowed for me to negate his attack by moving my head slightly to the right. So I did that.

His punch whistled as it flew through the air, and just missed my head by a few millimeters. I remained indifferent to his attempt.

“If you try and attack me again, I’ll kill you.”

“Yeah right, that first dodge was just luck.”

He wound up again, but this time I noticed he was going for a feint. He was going to faint a right hook at my face, but hopefully land an uppercut into my stomach.

I completely ignored his first punch, and clenched my stomach muscles for his uppercut. An solid uppercut to the stomach can kill someone, but not if I clench my abs.

His fist once again comes flying at me, ignoring my warning. His fist was almost to my stomach, and I made no move to counter. His mouth split into a confident grin as his fist struck me. But the grin vanished off his face as soon as his fist made contact with my stomach, which was harder than a rock. He fell to the ground, whimpering in pain and clutching his hand.

I stood up, still with an indifferent look on my face.

“I warned you.”

I bent down, grabbed his neck, and in one quick motion, snapped his neck.

A number of -1,124 appeared above his head.

His body tumbled to the ground.

I absorbed his Death Ki and went back to my cultivation. After a while, my name was called, and I had managed to reach the Chi Gathering Realm, second stage. I could now infuse my attacks with the power of chi, once I had gathered enough.

I walked over to the left as June told me, and greeted a man standing there. He smiled kindly and asked me to please demonstrate the use of any skills I may have.

“One of my skills is combat related, do you have monsters for me to kill, or something?”

He responded, “No, but we have a group of prisoners that you can kill with no qualms to demonstrate your powers.

I shrugged and he led me to them.

“My skill requires me to be attacked. Release one and let me fight them head-on.”

The man nodded, and walked over to one of the prisoners. She was a small girl, with pointy ears and a bushy tail.

“What did she do?” I questioned the man.

“She’s been convicted murder, armed robbery, breaking and entering, arson, and more. She was found guilty of all charges.” He sneered at the girl. “She’s a filthy cross-breed, some person made love with a forest wolf and this was the product.”

I grimaced. Being treated like a criminal because she was a different race? Who would do that? Just then, a memory flashed through my mind. It was me, when I was the lord of the Heavenly Demonic Cult, ordering the death of many people similar to her, for no reason. I decided I’d make it up to her.

“Do you have any other prisoners? I’d like a 2-on-1.”

“Really? Are you sure? Many of these prisoners have climbed past the 20th floor!”

“Hell yeah I’m sure. Bring another out.”

This time, the man dropped the girl and dragged out a small man, who giggled incessantly. I immediately recognized that he was criminally insane, and that he’d probably murdered more people than I could count. He stumbled towards me, before dashing faster than I expected.

I blocked the attack, but only barely. If I hadn’t reached Chi Gathering realm, I would have been struck by that attack. I pushed him back, drew the Black Blade, and activated Strike of Revenge. The blade swung down and cut him from shoulder to opposite hip.

-4,193 appeared above him.

The two parts of his body began to fall to the ground, but I grabbed his top half and absorbed his Death Ki. Then I grabbed the girl and ran. But not the way I came. Instead, I lifted my hammer and smashed it into the wall of the dome, easily breaking it as if it were a piece of wet paper. I leaped through, and I had made my escape with the girl.