When the Earth Awakens, I Become the Female Sword Saint

Chapter Nineteen: Underground Fighting Arena

The address on the paper was on a relatively dark street, at the bottom of an old building, with a narrow staircase leading down to the basement. There was a lightbox at the entrance, making it look like an underground bar.

Lingdu had many fashionable and quirky people, so wearing sunglasses at night wasn’t too strange.

Yuyin observed the street for a moment and saw several ordinary men who looked like programmers, as well as couples, walking down. It felt like they were indeed the audience.

So Yuyin put her hands in her pockets and walked down as well.

A black spirit cat with three snake tails leaped onto a lightbox, lying there to watch Yuyin go down before jumping away.

Yuyin pushed open the basement door, which was a lounge with a few tables and chairs, and a bar counter dimly lit, serving Guan Yu.

Yuyin noticed there was a heavy double door ahead, wrapped in leather, guarded by two crew-cut men in black T-shirts at the entrance.

Yuyin approached, but was stopped by one of the men. She took out a piece of paper, not removing her sunglasses, but her tall and graceful figure, even in loose clothing, could not be completely concealed.

The crew-cut man looked at the paper and asked, “First time here?”

Yuyin nodded. Although she didn’t speak, others could tell she was a woman.

The crew-cut man didn’t make things difficult for Yuyin; instead, he asked her to add him on WeChat. It seemed they used this method along with visual assessment to identify whether someone was a first-time visitor. If someone really used a new WeChat account to sneak in for free, it could be done, but if discovered, it would be hard to explain.

Of course, Yuyin wouldn’t use her own photo as her WeChat avatar; her avatar was a picture of rain.

After adding each other on WeChat, the crew-cut man opened the door and let Yuyin in.

As she stepped through the soundproof door, a wave of enthusiastic cheers greeted her, reminding Yuyin of those movies depicting underground fights; it was indeed like that.

The inside was large and dimly lit, a sunken underground square surrounded by stands. The crowd surged, everyone standing, cheering, shouting, and waving their arms, as if even the stands and ceiling were shaking along with the excitement.

All the lights focused on the center of the sunken square, where a ring, measuring only about five or six meters square, was surrounded by tall barbed wire.

From a distance, two muscular men wielding weapons were fighting inside.

The clash of weapons sparked cheers from the crowd, heavy punches and kicks landed with force, blood and sweat splattering, further igniting the audience’s excitement.

Yuyin couldn’t help but be swept up in the atmosphere; she took off her sunglasses, and in the dim, chaotic crowd, no one noticed her.

Is this what real combat is like?

It was completely different from what Yuyin had seen in movies or sports broadcasts—there were no fancy techniques or elaborate moves, just vigilance and ferocity, with punch after punch and weapon after weapon striking, shaking the heart.

However, although these two bloodied men completely overwhelmed Yuyin with their presence, their movements seemed a bit clumsy to her.

But they excelled in strength; if hit by that heavy hammer, it would be over.

Yuyin’s chest rose and fell rapidly. She didn’t join in the shouts of the spectators but gradually calmed down, feeling the atmosphere that was close to a real battlefield.

“Impressive… Although it’s just a match, that North Asian guy just now might be crippled…”

Yuyin watched as a robust Eastern man with a deformed leg was carried away by medical personnel, while a Western man with a Peking opera mask and two somewhat ridiculous Chinese tattoos raised a large hammer, howling wildly amidst the crowd’s cheers.

“I won! I won again! Betting on that Tang Menglong was the right choice! I made 500 spirit pills!” A bespectacled man beside Yuyin excitedly told his friend, and the two embraced in joy, seemingly having both won.

“Tang Menglong?” Yuyin looked at the Western giant from afar, realizing he had taken an Eastern name to cater to the audience.

Unknowingly, Yuyin had watched several matches, and there were also some pole dancing performances in between that added to the atmosphere. The sensuality of women and the masculinity of fighters were displayed here without reservation, in a raw and wild manner.

Gradually, Yuyin began to get used to the fighting atmosphere.

It was almost midnight, and thinking about school the next day, Yuyin decided to leave, although she wanted to familiarize herself more with the combat atmosphere.

The exit was on the other side, and Yuyin walked out through a safety door, into a dim underground passage where the flickering lights made a “crackle, crackle” sound.

Yuyin noticed posters stuck under the lights.

On them was the muscular man from the paper, smiling with his white teeth and giving a thumbs up, with large letters below reading:

“You can too!

No threshold for underground martial arts, come and join the tide of combat with the King of Freedom!

Anyone, as long as they are of age, can sign up, no threshold! Regardless of win or lose, each match guarantees 5000 yuan!

What are you waiting for?”

Yuyin felt as if the oily-skinned King of Freedom was winking at her through the poster, causing her to shiver.

She shook her head, put on her sunglasses, and walked towards the exit leading to the surface.

“Anyone can participate, even if they lose, they can still earn 5000 yuan?”

“Hehe, sounds tempting, but as a girl, I can’t possibly rely on underground fighting to make money, right?” Yuyin smiled slightly.