The Supreme God of Martial Arts

Just then, the laughter of these candidates was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. A cultivator rushed out of one of the big rooms, covered in blood. His hair was wildly tangled and his clothes were ragged. His body was covered with bruises and cuts from which blood seeped out.

And his eyes were filled with utter terror.

"It's hell!" he screamed as he ran out. "No, I'm never coming here again!" All the cultivators present noticed another strange thing at this point. As far as they remembered, two men had entered that big room moments ago. But now, only one of them had cout. They could only guess that the other one hadn't survived the fight and had been eaten by the beast in there.

Seeing this, the cultivators who hadn't given a try yet swallowed nervously. They felt more stressed after finding out that they could end up being killed if they didn't quit now.

For the less competent ones, this was truly a stern warning. Their faces turned pale and they shook in their shoes, evidently regretting ever coming here. Sof them took several steps back, indicating that they wanted to back out now.

Austin shrugged seeing their reactions. "Well, if that's the case, | think | can only go and meet the monster myself," he scoffed.

Without another word, he turned around and walked calmly to the door of the big room.

Soon, his silhouette disappeared through the door.

"He... Damn, you've got to be kidding me!" one of the candidates exclaimed.

Those who had laughed at Austin minutes ago all stood aghast after seeing what he had just done.

He was going to fight a level eight diabolic beast alone! What in the world did he think he was doing? In fact, it was understandable for those candidates to look down on Austin. After all, he looked like an inexperienced newcomer while most of them had already reached the Sky Realm, the slevel as the beast.

Although they were on the slevel as the beast, a diabolic beast was still stronger and crueler than human beings, so none of them dared to challenge it alone.

Nor did any of them ever expect this slim and seemingly weak young man to have the courage to challenge it alone. But there he was, going into the bloody room to fight the monster one-on-one.

Hadn't he seen what all of them had clearly seen just now? Two cultivators refining at the medium stage of Sky Realm had taken their chance before him.

And what was the result? One of them had been eaten and the other had fled with wounds all over his body, wailing in fear and pain.

It couldn't be more obvious that the beast inside was a strong and dangerous enemy.

The candidates just couldn't believe that Austin had the nerve to deal with something like that all by himself.

After a moment of silence, they cto themselves. A few of them admired Austin for his courage, but most of them shook their heads as they thought about how ignorant the young man was for not cherishing his own life. Sof them even cursed him for keeping them waiting while he went to seek his doom.

Meanwhile, Austin didn't panic at all. The moment he entered the room, he began to calmly size it up. He was surprised to find that the room was actually much bigger than it seemed from the outside and could be as large as 700 square meters.

Then, he caught sight of a huge iron cage in the middle of the room, which was about a dozen meters high and over twenty meters wide.

The bars of the cage were several times the thickness of an adult's thigh and seemed to be made of the famous frosty steel—a kind of steel known for its hardness.

Suddenly, Austin heard a bloodthirsty roar coming from the cage.

The bars on the cage started rattling violently.

There was a smell of hot blood in the stirring air.

Austin instantly sensed that the room was filled with danger.

He took a step forward and narrowed his eyes to see more clearly. Inside the cage, there was a huge black crocodile over ten meters long, with a large maw filled with dagger-like teeth. Lying with its belly touching the floor of the cage, it was devouring a human thigh. The thigh belonged to the unlucky cultivator who hadn't managed to escape its jaws.

It seemed to be eating with relish as blood oozed through its sharp white teeth and overflowed onto the floor, which was completely red.

As soon as the beast noticed Austin, however, it stopped eating and turned to look Austin straight in the eyes. Its own eyes were as big as two bulbs. Any ordinary man would shudder seeing those eyes, which were like icy knives.

For a moment, there was pin-drop silence. Even from a distance, Austin could feel the hot breath of the beast on his face. It smelled of blood and madness.

Austin was absolutely sure of one thing now: this crocodile had a strong intent to kill. It had had many bloody battles and killed numerous men.

Just then, the air shook with an even louder roar from the beast.

A small storm stirred in the room.

The crocodile's eyes were shining with hunger as if it had just seen something very delicious.

Human beings were one of its favorite foods.

Although it was used to eating well-built warriors, Austin was like a yummy dessert that it could get without much effort and swallow in one gulp.

However, instead of terror, there was only joy and anticipation in Austin's eyes.

‘Well, let's see..." he thought. "Taking the vital energy of a level eight diabolic beast could helpincrease my physical strength by five hundred pounds..." Staring at the frenzied monster, Austin weighed the ideas in his mind.

‘That means if | kill this beast and manage to absorb all of its vital energy, | can lift things weighing five hundred pounds more than before right away. All right." He made his decision. 'Five hundred pounds is just a drop in the bucket fornow, but something is better than nothing." It was true that Austin was already a very powerful cultivator now, but he still kept in mind that every little bit helped. He believed that after improving his strength by five hundred pounds now, bit by bit, he would be able to make a breakthrough one day.

On top of that, this was going to be the first tthat he deployed the Beast Energy-extracting Skill against a diabolic beast.

Back in the Holy Tomb, he had obtained a drop of gold blood literally without doing any work, because it had already been collected from the single-horned centaur by the previous elder of the Veritable Demon Sect. The drop of gold blood had been carefully sealed and preserved there until Austin arrived.

So, Austin hadn't acquired it personally and he actually got the physical strength cwith as an extra bonus.

Now, though, this beast in the cage seemed to be the perfect test subject for him. He wanted to see how well he could use the skill that he had always had the itch to try on a diabolic beast.

Austin swallowed earnestly, not because he was nervous, but because he was becoming bloodthirsty and power-hungry at the thought of sucking this high-level crocodile dry of its vital energy.

So, it could be said that the two rivals shared one thing in common. While Austin was making the crocodile's mouth water, he thought of the crocodile as a big feast as well, something that could fill his hunger for more strength.

He who was the predator was also the prey. They both wanted to finish the other one off and enjoy a good meal, which was shown by the insatiable greed in the two pairs of eyes! "Let's see.. first, I'll kill this monster. Then, | have to act quickly and activate the Beast Energy-extracting Skill the moment it dies. If everything goes well, | should be able to draw all of its vital energy from its body and absorb it all!" Austin went through the steps in his mind one last time.

Then, without hesitation, he strode up to the huge iron cage full of confidence.

At the gate of the cage, a cultivator from the Tiger Mercenary Team was standing on guard. He was responsible for opening and closing the gate as well as recording the result of each candidate.

Although he was no more than a guard and a recorder, he had cultivated at the premium stage of Sky Realm.

"Hey, little boy," he greeted when Austin approached. Then, with disbelief in his voice, he said, "Don't tellthat you're going to go in there alone to meet this level eight friend." The truth was, this Tiger Mercenary man had been in a state of shock since the moment he saw Austin enter the room alone.

He had thought that the young man was just here to have a look and would be scared off once he found out what was waiting for him in the cage. But to his surprise, Austin didn't display any sign of fear at all. On the contrary, he kept nearing the cage and seemed to want to go into the cage. Was he really going to fight this monster all by himself? The man couldn't believe it, so he felt compelled to ask Austin to make sure.

"That's right. Just cut the crap and open the bloody gate," Austin demanded, not wanting to waste any twith him.

"Well, well, what an uppity child. You should know your own capacity and cherish your life, you know. Anyway, you asked for it, and | have no obligation to stop you, do I?" the man replied coldly, irritated by the way Austin had talked to him.

Then, he opened the gate of the cage, rolling his eyes. The moment the gate was fully opened, Austin leaped inside. When the man jerked his head around to look at Austin, the latter was already standing face to face with the menacing crocodile.

The man rubbed his eyes in astonishment and looked at Austin again.

"Fine. No wonder you're so cocky. | have to admit that you have good bodily movement skill.

But unfortunately, with this big guy occupying so much of the cage, there's little space to move around, so | don't think your bodily movement skill can help you or save your life. Soon, you'll be regretting ever going in there, you brat," the man mumbled to himself.

The beast roared at Austin when he entered the cage, making the air reverberate again.

It was enraged watching Austin swagger up to it. To show its anger, it roared and stamped its foot, which was thicker than a tree trunk. The whole room shook with its force and the bars of the cage rattled violently.

Following the pounding of its foot, the crocodile made a dash for Austin.

Its huge body was moving fast like an unstoppable tank, ready to smash anything in its way while rushing over to Austin.