Chapter 155: The Reason

As the match began on the arena, the cheers from the demonic spectators in the stands suddenly soared, deafeningly loud and heating up the atmosphere.

"Yan Kuo, do your best! Absolutely don't let a Mirror Demon win first place!"

"How can that guy dodge so well?"

"I'm dying here, will Wen Ying fight or not? Why's he just hiding all the time?"

"Don't you have a brain today? It's obvious that the Giant Demon is a warrior type. Only a fool would engage in a direct clash with a Mirror Demon. Did you forget what our teacher taught us in class?"

"You're the one without a brain!"

The audience nearly came to blows. Lan Jiaying turned her head, her black dragon exuding an aura of anger. The demons who had been swept by the demonic energy immediately quieted down.

"Wen Ying, hiding won't work forever!" Yan Kuo slammed his palm onto the arena floor, creating a spiderweb-like crack that extended all the way to where Wen Ying stood. A trail of black mist followed, surging upward like an octopus's tentacles, wrapping around Wen Ying.

Just as the demonic energy tendrils were about to pin Wen Ying down, Yan Kuo tensed his calf muscles, forcefully stomping and launching himself forward like a bullet. This move was designed for targets that kept running and couldn't be hit.

Wen Ying surveyed the area, and from the shadows, a dozen silver-white vines emerged, entwining around Yan Kuo's demonic aura tentacles. However, they failed to restrain them, causing Yan Kuo's punch to once again miss its target. The repeated failures agitated Yan Kuo, making him even more restless this time. His attacks became disorderly, and while he initially paid attention to defense, after being dodged by Wen Ying multiple times, he gradually shifted his focus entirely to offense, neglecting his defense.

The old demon referee, sitting as still as a monk, shook his head.

Yan Kuo didn't think that relaxing his defense would make much of a difference. Could Wen Ying possibly defeat him with a single blow?

In the stands, Wu Fei watched the agile silver-white vines on the arena and leaned slightly, whispering to Levimo, "Levimo, when did Wen Ying change the color of his magic vines?"

Levimo gently shook his head. "I'm not sure. But these silver-white vines seem more nimble than the green ones he used before. It feels like..."

"They have a life of their own, right?" Phaeros, sitting on the other side of Wu Fei, said coolly.

Levimo looked over. "Yes."

Lilith commented, "Most likely, Aruda has done something again. There's no such silver-white... vine in the wood elemental magic, is there? Or maybe it's a branch. Whatever it is, it looks like both. Do you know about Perseus?"

With the question directed at him, Perseus, who was naturally quite reserved, had become talkative only when provoked by Wen Ying. He glanced at Wen Ying on the arena, remembering his unusual fighting style from the last match. Now, it seemed that he had either grown accustomed to it or learned to conceal it, as he no longer unintentionally employed that sinister claw style during combat.

"I'm not sure."

Lilith's response was both unexpected and unsurprising. She gave him a meaningful glance, but Beros remained unperturbed.

A silver-white magic card encircled Wen Ying, forming an invisible shield that blocked Yan Kuo's leg sweep with a resonant tolling sound like a bell.

Yan Kuo relentlessly attacked the barrier in quick succession. Hearing the cracking sounds of the colorless shield, he felt a surge of delight, his lips curving up involuntarily. But when the barrier shattered, he found himself staring into a pair of profound, shimmering silver eyes.

The moment their eyes met, Yan Kuo froze, his swinging fist suspended in mid-air as his gaze lost focus and failed to converge.

Wen Ying chuckled and kicked him out of the arena.

Yan Kuo, who had just been kicked off the stage by his "beloved," scrambled to his feet, confusion etched on his face. "???"

"What just happened?" a demon wondered.

"I saw a magic card disappear beside him. He must have used it," a demonic succubus ventured uncertainly.

"It seemed to be a natural magic of our succubus clan," another demon from the same clan added.

"A devil mirror using a succubus's innate enchantment magic... It just feels a bit off, doesn't it?"

"Wen Ying wouldn't be bewitching Essence, would he?"

"In fact, Wen Ying isn't ugly. It's just his hair that makes him appear so."

"Does Beros truly have feelings for him? There are too many rumors going around lately. Some say Wen Ying is infatuated with Beros, while others insist it's the other way around."

"Think about it, Beros has shown no interest in anyone before. He'd even beat them up and toss them out if they approached him, despite many of them being incredibly attractive. Now I understand why he remained indifferent to those beauties."

"…Because his aesthetics differ from ours?" the demon whispered ever so softly, casting a cautious and fearful sidelong glance toward Balthos, terrified of being overheard by him.

The adjacent demon wore an expression that suggested he found the situation trainable, or perhaps, that the person in question was ripe for guidance.

Yan Kuo snapped out of his stupor, his face flushing crimson as he angrily retorted, "Have you no shame? To resort to such tactics, where is your dignity as a demon?"

Wen Ying nonchalantly dug his ear, "This is a round-robin tournament, not a one-on-one match. Compared to dignity, it's better to come in first place."

Although his strength had increased, there was still a chance of failure, considering Lan Jiaying and his companions were no pushovers. Naturally, he needed to conserve his energy and magic. Dealing with such a clumsy giant would be most efficient by ambushing him with Essence's magic and kicking him down.

Yan Kuo's eyes turned crimson with rage. "Do you think you can use the same trick twice?"

As he spoke, he looked toward the second demon who was about to challenge.

Although it was a round-robin tournament, each demon had only one chance to challenge, and the champion would get a half-hour break after each match.

The second demon to step forward had already left the spectator stands and was standing below the arena.

Wei Yun, the Dragon-Snake Guard, was a dark-skinned female with an aura of maturity. She had accompanied Lan Jiaying to Aruda's castle before and had been tricked by Wen Ying into donating a vial of blood.

Wen Ying remembered her well due to her forked tongue, snake scales on her face and arms, giving her a primal, beast-like appearance. Her strength seemed to match this image; despite being female, her arm muscles were well-defined and evenly toned, with visible abdominal muscles beneath her exposed midriff.

This one was a hybrid of a mage and a warrior, with a sharper mind than the previous fool. She wasn't easily provoked, and Wen Ying swiftly processed all the information he had on Dragon-Snake Wei Yun.

During the half-hour break, he pondered over how to send this sister down in the most efficient way possible.