Chapter 869: Burgeoning Reputation

Han Li only just barely steadied himself when the Mountain Plowing Ape let loose another thunderous roar, and it rushed directly at Han Li, sending countless loose rocks flying in all directions.

Its punch was too fast for Han Li to evade, so he could only cross his arms in front of his own chest to form a protective barrier.

A loud thump rang out, and Han Li felt a numb sensation shoot through both of his arms, following which he was sent flying like a ragdoll before crashing into the wall.

The Mountain Plowing Ape's punch packed such immense power that he bounced straight off the wall, and his internal organs were churning within his body.

Blood began to gush to the base of his throat, yet before he even had a chance to throw it up, he was struck by another devastating blow that sent him crashing into the wall again.

He gritted his teeth against the excruciating pain in his body, and in the instant that he struck the wall, he twisted around before pushing off against the wall with his legs, trying to leap to safety.

However, he had only just risen up into the air when a giant hand from the Mountain Plowing Ape came swinging down upon him, and he could raise his arms to the heavens to defend himself.

Another loud thump rang out, and this time, Han Li was smashed into the ground, completely inundated by loose rocks.

The Mountain Plowing Ape immediately pressed its advantage, descending upon Han Li before throwing several more punches into the ground.

All of a sudden, the roles from earlier had been reversed, and it was Han Li's turn to defend himself against the Mountain Plowing Ape's enraged assault.

At this point, a cloud of dust had risen up over the entire venue, making it impossible for the spectators to see what was happening.

"Looks like I overestimated him," Chen Yang murmured to himself as he rose to his feet in the VIP booth. "What is the city lord thinking? Does he really want him to die?"

Amid the dust and wreckage, Han Li's entire body was drenched in blood, yet his arms were still raised in front of himself, protecting his heart and other internal organs.

His vision was already blurry with blood, and his teeth were chattering in his jaw. He attempted to draw upon the bloodline power in his body over and over again, but for some reason, it refused to respond.

It was as if the bloodline power in his body had somehow been suppressed and fallen into a dormant state.

If things were to continue like this, then he wasn't going to be able to last much longer.

Right at this moment, his eyes abruptly widened, and a streak of translucent light abruptly shot out of his glabella before vanishing into thin air.

In the next instant, a tiny translucent sword appeared several dozen feet in front of him, and it passed straight through the Mountain Plowing Ape's fist before piercing into its broken eyeball.

All of a sudden, the Mountain Plowing Ape's fist drew to an abrupt halt no more than three feet away from Han Li's head.

The spectators in the stands could only hear the repeated booming impacts of the Mountain Plowing Ape's fists, but they were unable to see anything through the dense smoke. All of a sudden, they felt a burst of formidable spiritual sense flash through the air, following which a strong gust of wind swept forth in all directions, blowing all of the dust away.

With vision finally restored, everyone discovered that the Mountain Plowing Ape had already fallen to the ground, while Han Li's body was mangled beyond recognition, but he was still trudging arduously onto the Mountain Plowing Ape's head.

"He's not your average gladiator. Instead, he's a free gladiator, and he voluntarily came here to participate in arena battles of his own accord. In order to earn more profound points, he chose to battle a scaled beast, so we naturally had to respect his wishes. Having said that, as soon as you enter the arena, your life is in your own hands, and he paid the ultimate price for his decision," the horned man said.

Han Li didn't entirely believe what he had been told, and he strode silently out of the blood pond before making his way directly to the exchange hall.

Due to the fact that he had just defeated a bona fide C tier scaled beast, he had received ten additional profound points compared with his previous battle. This time, he also purchased seven Tarot Beast Cores, leaving nine profound points in reserve.

After returning to his room, Han Li took some time to treat his own injuries, then sat down with his legs crossed on his stone bed as he began to meditate.

The beast core of the Mountain Plowing Ape contained even more starpower than the Tiger Scaled Beast Core, and it had an even greater enhancement effect on his physical cultivation.

......

Close to a month flew by in a flash.

After absorbing the tremendous starpower in the Mountain Plowing Ape's beast core, Han Li had devoured all of the Tarot Beast Cores as well, and not only had he opened a forty-second profound acupoint, a forty-third one was also beginning to budge.

This rate of progress was utterly astonishing, but thankfully, the number of profound acupoints that he had opened wasn't particularly exceptional among the gladiators, and he hadn't participated in many battles, either, so he hadn't attracted much attention.

Even though some people were already aware that he had opened over forty profound acupoints, the increase wasn't significant, so he could still make up some excuses. After all, there were certain methods that allowed one to drastically enhance their powers in a short time at some long-term costs.

However, he knew that this wasn't a permanent solution, so he would have to find a way to conceal his profound acupoints.

After he fully recovered from his injuries, he applied to take part in another arena battle after a month had elapsed since his previous one.

This time, he was up against another gladiator who had opened thirty-eight profound acupoints, as opposed to a scaled beast.

His opponent had fewer profound acupoints than him, but they were more concentrated, mostly distributed over his right arm and hand, so his offensive prowess wasn't inferior to that of the Mountain Plowing Ape.

However, at the same time, he also had very clear weaknesses in the form of his lackluster speed and the relatively frailty of the rest of his body. Hence, Han Li was able to quickly break all three of his other limbs with the exception of his right arm, forcing him to surrender.

From that point onward, Han Li began to build a reputation in the ninth area. As a result, his odds suffered a significant dip, but his battles were always sure to attract enormous crowds.

Han Li had won this battle relatively easily, remaining relatively unscathed in the process, so he took part in another battle in just half a month, much to the horned man's surprise.

Over the following three months, Han Li participated in a total of five arena battles, two of which were very close victories, and he quickly made a name for himself as an incredibly tenacious and resourceful human gladiator.

As a result, many of the other ninth area gladiators had begun trying to befriend him.

One night, Han Li was cultivating the Wingform Ascension Arts when he suddenly heard someone knocking on his door, and he opened the door to discover Chen Lin standing outside.