Sign-In System: Starting With Invincible Physique

Chapter 290: Chapter 290: An Impending Storm - II

Chapter 290: An Impending Storm - II

By the next morning, entire Inner Province was engulfed in an unprecedented storm.

It spread with an unnatural speed that completely engulfed every major city, sect, and commercial district.

"Have you heard?! The flawless pills from the Celestial Elixir Pavilion are forged from demonic arts!"

"They look one hundred percent pure on the outside, but they are laced with a hidden, demonic addiction! If you consume them, your body, and mind will become entirely dependent on their corrupted essence! You will eventually rot from the inside out unless you keep buying more!"

"It’s a trap! Grandmaster Korryn is trying to turn the entire dynasty into his mindless slaves!"

The words dropped like a nuclear bomb across the commercial districts.

The sheer absurdity of the claim should have made it laughable, but fear was a highly contagious poison.

Human nature was inherently suspicious and prone to jealousy.

A faction producing a limitless supply of flawless pills was simply an existence that broke all common sense.

Deep down, many people were already wondering how such a miracle was even possible.

The rumor provided them with the perfect, malicious excuse.

Countless cultivators who had previously looked at the Pavilion with awe and reverence suddenly felt a chill run down their spines.

"I knew it!" a rogue cultivator shouted in a crowded tavern, slamming his cup onto the table. "How could anyone mass-produce one hundred percent flawless pills? Even centuries-old Grandmasters cannot extract impurities so perfectly! It has to be a forbidden, demonic method!"

"Exactly! There is no such thing as a free meal in this world! Zero impurities? It defies the fundamental laws of alchemy!"

But not everyone was easily swayed.

The cultivators and noble heirs who had actually consumed the pills immediately fought back.

"Bullshit!" a young swordsman roared, drawing his blade in defense of the Pavilion. "I was stuck at a major bottleneck for three years! I took one Epic-Grade pill from them, and my foundation is completely solid! There is absolutely no demonic aura in me!"

"They are just jealous! The other merchant houses are spreading lies because the Pavilion is taking all their business!"

The debate raged fiercely across the Inner Province.

The streets, the taverns, and the auction houses were completely split into two fiercely opposing camps.

But just as the defenders of the Celestial Elixir Pavilion were beginning to stabilize the public opinion—

A devastating blow was struck.

A formal, public statement was released directly from the Imperial Palace.

It was not issued by a random official, but by the sole Emperor-rank Alchemist of the Solathane Dynasty.

The statement was brief, yet incredibly venomous.

"I have personally examined the so-called ’flawless’ pills circulating in our markets. While I cannot definitively confirm the presence of demonic corruption, I can state with certainty that there is something fundamentally wrong with the ingredients of these elixirs. Cultivators should exercise extreme caution."

After this statement, the entire Inner Province exploded into an uproar.

He hadn’t explicitly confirmed the rumors of demonic addiction, but his vague, ominous warning was far worse.

It was the ultimate validation the panicked masses needed.

"Alchemy Emperor said there is something wrong with them!"

"It’s true! The rumors are true! Celestial Elixir Pavilion is selling poison!"

In the span of a single morning, the reputation that Vulcan and Rhain had meticulously built was dragged through the mud, instantly becoming the most fiercely debated and controversial topic in the entire Solathane Dynasty.

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Meanwhile, thousands of miles away from the political turmoil of the Inner Province.

Deep within the lawless territory of the Crucible Arena, Rhain knew nothing about the catastrophic upheaval happening outside.

Rhain sat cross-legged on his meditation platform, his dark grey eyes closed as he silently cultivated.

The pitch-black void within his dantian spun fiercely, continuously solidifying the overwhelmingly dense essence he had recently acquired after stepping into the Core Formation Realm.

As the morning light dimly entered through the high, barred windows of the stone suite—

[Ding!]

The mechanical voice of System echoed clearly within his mind.

[Daily Sign-In available. Would you like to sign in?]

Rhain’s eyes fluttered open.

’Sign in,’ Rhain confirmed internally.

[Sign-In Successful!]

[Congratulations! You have received the Epic-Grade Artifact: Blood-Drinking Knife.]

[Item automatically sent to System Inventory.]

Rhain’s consciousness briefly swept into the system space.

It was a wickedly curved, short knife that radiated a dense, bloodthirsty aura—a weapon uniquely suited for point-blank kills.

"Not a bad addition." Rhain murmured softly.

He stood up, adjusting the demonic Asura mask over his face.

Rhain pushed the stone doors open and stepped out into the main suite.

Standing obediently near the entrance, fully clad in his repaired spike-armor, was Skullcrusher.

He looked up as Rhain exited the room.

He hastily bowed his head, showing the utmost submission to the man who held his life, and his soul, in the palm of his hand.

"Master," Skullcrusher greeted, his gruff voice carrying deep reverence. "Are we heading out?"

Rhain looked at Skullcrusher, and nodded.

"Let’s go."

--------------------

As Rhain approached the colosseum at the center of the metropolis, he could hear the deafening noise.

It was significantly louder than yesterday.

The moment Rhain and Skullcrusher crossed through the massive iron gates and stepped into the spectator stands, they immediately noticed the difference.

The tiered seating, which had hosted roughly a thousand people the day before, was now packed to the brim.

Nearly five to six thousand masked killers filled the massive stone benches.

And the instant Rhain wearing the demonic Asura mask walked into the light, with the hulking figure of Skullcrusher trailing obediently behind him like a tamed hound, a ripple of intense commotion swept through the crowd.

Countless fingers pointed in his direction.

"That’s him! That’s Asura!"

"He actually came again! I thought he would take his winnings and hide in the inner city for a month!"

"Look at Skullcrusher... A Gold Rank 1 veteran, acting like a chained dog! How the hell did a Silver Rank 1 bug manage to enslave a Domain Master?"

Frantic whispers and heated murmurs echoed across the stands like a buzzing hive of locusts.

Countless eyes—filled with intense curiosity, deep suspicion, and naked greed—locked entirely onto the dark-robed youth

"I still don’t believe it," a scarred man wearing a wolf mask scoffed loudly. "A first-level Core Formation bug subjugating an early-stage Domain Master? He must have used some kind of forbidden, suicidal poison or a hidden trick. There is no way he did it with pure strength!"

"Trick or not, he survived," another spectator shot back, his eyes gleaming with excitement. "Do you realize what this means? We might be looking at another legend! He could be exactly like the Ninth Seat!"

The mere comparison to the monstrous Ninth Seat sent a collective chill down the spines of the surrounding cultivators.

In the upper tiers of the colosseum, dozens of underground bookmakers were frantically shouting at the top of their lungs.

"Place your bets! Place your bets on the rising demon, Asura! Will his first victory prove to be a fluke? Or will he survive another day?"

"The odds on Asura dying in his next match are three-to-one! Place your Blood-Iron Tokens now!"

Immediately, several masked figures started bidding.

"I bet ten Blood Iron tokens on Asura’s defeat."

"I bet twenty. Asura will win!"

"Hahaha! I bet fifty Blood Iron tokens that Asura will die today. Beginner’s luck never lasts in the Crucible Arena. The moment he steps into that pit against a real, prepared Domain Master, he is going to be ripped to pieces!"

Ignoring the blatant hostility and the frantic speculations raining down upon him, Rhain walked leisurely down the stone steps and took a seat in the middle rows.

Skullcrusher simply crossed his massive, heavily muscled arms and stood directly behind Rhain’s chair.

The sheer, oppressive aura of an early-stage Domain Master rolling off Skullcrusher’s body acted as an impenetrable wall, instantly forcing any opportunistic thugs who had thoughts of approaching to hastily back away in terror.

Down in the massive, blood-soaked sand pit, the morning slaughter was already underway.

Rhain leaned back in his seat, his dark grey eyes resting placidly on the arena floor as he watched the preliminary matches.

BANG! CLANG! BOOM!

For the next hour, a series of brutal, uncompromising death matches took place.

Cultivators tore each other apart with savage ferocity.

Limbs were severed, and heads rolled across the dirt.

The crowd roared with manic delight at every spray of fresh blood, their hunger for violence insatiable.

Yet, despite the gruesome entertainment, the spectators were merely going through the motions, their eyes constantly darting back toward the demonic masked man sitting quietly in the stands.

They were all waiting for one specific moment.

Finally, after the twelfth match concluded and the mangled corpse of the loser was casually dragged away by the arena guards, the amplified voice of the referee boomed across the colosseum.

"The time has come!" the referee’s voice instantly silencing the ten thousand spectators. "The next match is a cross-rank challenge!"

The crowd instantly erupted.

They knew exactly what was coming.

"Defending the challenge is a veteran of the blood pits! A merciless executioner with forty-two confirmed kills in this very arena!" the referee roared, pointing toward the heavy iron gates. "A Gold Rank 1 fighter... DEATHBLADE!"

"YEAAAHHH!"

"TEAR HIM APART, DEATHBLADE!"

A man wearing a skull mask leaped from the stand, landing in the arena with a heavy thud.

He wielded two massive machetes that was stained with dried blood.

The pressure of an early-stage Domain Master Realm expert exploded outward, enveloping the whole arena.

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