Fan Shun did not know what Truesight was, but he could feel its effects through the branches of the treants. He suddenly realized that Jin He was still able to resist and that his branches were continuously and endlessly shattering.
The treants continuously shattered, but more of them simply rose up from the ground.
The Sixth Mainlanders were all familiar with Bu Kong’s ability, Decompose, but Jin He seemed to be doing the complete opposite. They all believed that Fan Shun still held the upper hand, and only those people who were familiar with Gods’ Origin and Truesight understood the difference in what Jin He was doing. Jin He was not losing. The longer the battle took, the worse Fan Shun’s loss would be.
One hour, two hours, three hours.
Sweat poured down from Fan Shun’s forehead. He still kept producing more treants in an attempt to trap Jin He, but all of his efforts were useless.
Jin He sat quietly beneath the ground, and all of the branches shattered the moment they tried to pass through the ripples.
Finally, after half a day, Fan Shun stopped his attacks and gasped for air. Although he had been using his innate gift, he needed to support it with star energy, and he had wasted quite a bit of star energy in his attempts.
The countless people watching the broadcast were all staring at the ground, from which Jin He suddenly flew up and into the air.
Countless people from the Fifth Mainland cheered.
In contrast, in the Upper Realm, the people from the Sixth Mainland were dead silent as they stared at Jin He like a monster. He had been attacked by the Brahman Realm’s Realmling for so long. But despite that, he appeared to be perfectly fine!
Jin He raised his head to look at Fan Shun. “It’s over.”
After that, a sword slowly appeared in Jin He’s hand, and the people of the Sixth Mainland grew sluggish as they witnessed creation.
There was a bang as sword qi swept out, only to be blocked by a massive tree. Jin He swept past the big tree and stabbed out at Fan Shun.
A huge treant appeared behind Fan Shun and wrapped itself around the Realmling. Then, it clapped its hands together in an attempt to kill Jin He. However, Jin He used Truesight to weaken the treant before stabbing his sword at Fan Shun’s heart. The blade easily pierced the Realmling’s body, and blood fell from the sword.
Jin He had not used any impressive swordsmanship—just Truesight, a sword, and an excellent judgment of the situation.
“I know that you’re from the Progenitor of Secret Arts’ Territory and that you have the Secret Technique of Resurrection. However, how many swords can you survive?” Jin He smiled as his sword slowly disappeared, only for another one to appear in his hand. He stabbed out once again.
Fan Shun’s injured heart had visibly recovered, but he was quickly stabbed through by another sword. Although it was possible to evade this attack, Fan Shun did not do so. Instead, he raised a hand and grabbed Jin He’s arm. The treant behind the Realmling then clapped its hands together once again. More arms appeared on the treant. There were ten, then a hundred, then a thousand. All of the arms swung at Jin He.
Jin He shattered the wooden arms, but he could not destroy Fan Shun’s arm. Fan Shun’s hand then transformed into wood as his power level rose higher and higher. Thorns emerged from the void and tried to stab Jin He.
Jin He quickly fell back, but he was still a step too slow. His abdomen was pierced through by several of the sharp thorns, and a trickle of blood dripped out. Jin He was ruthless even to himself; he created a power vessel from nothing and attacked Fan Shun from close range. Blood stained the battlefield red.
This brutal fight left many people at a loss for words.
The giant tree disappeared from the battlefield as Fan Shun clutched at his heart while breathing heavily. He used the Secret Technique of Resurrection once again in order to assuage his injuries.
Meanwhile, Jin He stood back up and glanced down at his abdomen. He frowned, as he had actually been badly injured. He had underestimated the Brahman Realm’s Realmling.
It was not without reason that people had said that the Sixth Mainland’s Realmlings stood on par with the Ten Arbiters.
Fan Shun stared at Jin He as he slapped the ground with a hand once more, causing giant treants to reappear. Fan Shun wanted to end things here.
Jin He’s eyes went wide, and he charged at Fan Shun while coldly asking, “Your heart, is it feeling alright?”
Fan Shun was caught off guard, unable to understand Jin He’s question, but suddenly, his expression changed drastically, and he looked down towards his heart. His heartbeat was actually slowing down.
“What did you do?” Fan Shun shouted sharply.
The corners of Jin He’s mouth curled up. “So, do you want to die?”
Fan Shun’s face went pale. “What the hell did you do?”
Fan Shun was not alone in his confusion, as most of the people watching did not know what Jin He had done either. Even Liu Tianmu, who was also one of the Ten Arbiers, did not understand what had happened, and the same went for Unseen Light and Ling Gong.
Jin He was very mysterious. He had managed to become an Arbiter through his ability to use Truesight, but that was all anyone really knew about him.
Lu Yin stared at Fan Shun’s heart and saw that the number of runes there were continuously decreasing. If all of the runes in his heart completely disappeared, then Fan Shun’s heart would be rendered useless, resulting in his death.
What had Jin He done? Had it been related to those two swords?
As the end of ZENITH drew closer, the participants would start to reveal their hidden strength, as no one wanted to lose. This was true for Yōu Ye’er, Liquor Hero, Bu Kong, and even Jin He, who was still fighting. No one would be able to keep their strength hidden, but even if they revealed themselves, would the others understand what was happening? That was another question entirely.
Jin He smiled and made a gesture. “Don’t talk too much, and be careful about your heart, as it could burst at any moment.”
Fan Shun gritted his teeth and endured the physical pain and mental anguish of dying at any moment as he stared at Jin He.
Jin He raised his hand, and another sword appeared in his hand that he swept out with. The sword qi cut through the void to arrive in front of Fan Shun.
Everyone felt their hearts lurch as they stared at Fan Shun.
This was especially true of Bu Kong, Zhi Yi, and the others from the Sixth Mainland. Fan Shun was one of their Realmlings, and it would be humiliating for a Realmling to lose to an Arbiter like Jin He.
As the sword qi drew closer, all Fan Shun’s bangs were chopped off. He quickly jumped up, and the sword qi swept past him to tear apart the ground.
Jin He was surprised. “You still have enough strength to escape? You must really want to die.”
After that, Jin He rushed forward with a raised hand, ready to attack again. This next sword was much faster than the previous ones. Jin He had estimated that Fan Shun would not be able to deal with this attack, and any attempt at evading would make his heart give out.
However, Jin He was surprised once more, as Fan Shun managed to successfully evade once again. At the same time, more giant treants appeared one after another, surrounding the two combatants as their branches covered the sky and formed massive green hands that fell down.
Jin He was surprised, and he stared at Fan Shun’s heart; how could this be? Suddenly, Jin He’s pupils shrank. As he stared at Fan Shun’s heart, Jin He saw quite a number of rune lines. These rune lines were not what composed the heart itself. Rather, a tremendous number of rune lines had recently appeared. Just what had Fan Shun done to his own heart?
The branches of the trees covering the sky wrapped around Jin He. Fan Shun’s face was pale, and the strength of his heart kept falling. Fortunately, his innate gift was that of wood, and he had used his innate gift to support his heart, though it did cause him an excruciating amount of pain. He was not sure if this would be enough to defeat Jin He, so Fan Shun quickly used the Secret Technique of Resurrection. At the same time, an image appeared behind the Realmling.
Fan Shun was the Brahman Realm’s Realming, so his imprint should either be the same as Shi Zhongjian’s, the three-inch old man, or Little Arrow Saint’s, the wild archer. However, when Fan Shun’s imprint appeared, it caught many of the Fifth Mainland’s cultivators off guard.
This imprint was that of an old man who looked immortal. He had a kind appearance and soft eyes, which made him look like a banished immortal.
No matter if they were youths or elders from the Fifth Mainland, everyone was shaken at this moment, and many people cursed, as this was another Empyrean Imprinter.
No one here was foolish enough to believe that Fan Shun, the Brahman Realm’s Realmling, would accept an imprint from anyone inferior to an Empyrean Imprinter.
Why did the Sixth Mainland have so many top powerhouses?
There are already three in the Progenitor of Secret Arts’ Territory!
That was an imprint from an Empyrean Imprinter! That was not some random cabbage that you could pick up!
In a certain area of the first layer, Zhi Yi solemnly stared at the imprint behind Fan Shun. The Sixth Mainland’s Daosource Sect had three Progenitors, four Empyreans, and ten Cosmic Imprinters. This imprint was of one of the four Empyrean Imprinters: Herb Immortal.
One could not become one of the four Empyreans just by surpassing the Cosmic Imprinters, and Herb Immortal was precisely one of those four Empyreans.
When Herb Immortal’s image appeared, Fan Shun’s complexion improved greatly, but then he suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood as a strange air spread across the battlefield. He had just used Power Transfer. Fan Shun clearly wanted to end Jin He with one attack.
Jin He kept dodging the giant treant’s attacks. When he saw that Fan Shun’s strength had increased yet again, it gave Jin He quite the headache. As expected of a Realmling who was supposed to stand on par with the Ten Arbiters—this would not be an easy victory.
The ground broke apart, and a towering tree rose out of the ground to form an even more massive tree that covered the entire first layer. It was much taller than any of the ten staircases, and it was almost level with the statue at the peak of the mountain. Then, Fan Shun looked down at Jin He and pressed down with a hand.
On all three layers, as well as at the foot of the mountain, many of the contestants were stunned and felt as though they were about to be crushed to death.
Even Lu Yin and the others were shrouded by this giant. This particular tree had appeared due to Fan Shun pushing his innate gift to the limit, and at this moment, his power level surpassed Jin He. Or at the very least, Fan Shun had more rune lines for those who could see them.
Other than the increase in strength, Lu Yin had a feeling that the giant treant was more than just a powerful combat weapon.
Down on the battlefield, Jin He’s eyes kept flickering. He was covered by the giant treant’s shadow, and he looked like an ant facing the sky.
Fan Shun stared at Jin He. This had to be the finishing blow.
Jin He’s pupils flickered wildly, and his runes themselves began to change.
God Taiyi stared at Jin He from a distance. The two of them should have reached around the same level of mastery of Truesight. What’s more, if Jin He had any chance of seizing a victory in these straits, then Truesight was the only thing that he could use to flip the situation around.
Lu Yin was also staring intently at Jin He. He was very concerned about whether this enemy of his would be defeated by the giant treant or pull out a win. Lu Yin actually preferred for Jin He to win, as Lu Yin wanted to have the chance of facing Jin He in the next round.
The giant treant slapped down with a hand. Jin He’s pupils that had been flickering frantically suddenly stopped. Two lines of bloody tears flowed from the corners of his eyes. He no longer dodged or fought back; he just stood there.
The giant treant’s hand flew down.
Many people jumped out of their seats.
Even Lu Yin’s eyes went wide, because Jin He really was not trying to evade the attack despite how powerful this attack clearly was.
At this moment, no matter who they were, everyone was confused; why was Jin He not escaping?
Fan Shun was also at a loss; why was his opponent not hiding? Did he perhaps want to die?
Only God Taiyi had an ugly expression on his face.
There were different realms of mastery of Truesight. The first was Awakening, which allowed a person to see runes. The next realm was Clarity, which allowed a person to erase a portion of an opponent’s runes to weaken them. The next level was Knowing,1 which controlled whether or not a person, thing, or place could influence the universe.
The simplest explanation for this ability would be that it ensured that one thing or place in the universe would not be affected by another. If the latter had the ability to affect the former, then the latter’s ability would be weakened and possibly even completely erased.
This was fundamentally different from erasing an object’s runes to weaken it overall. Instead of weakening the object by manipulating the individual runes, this new method was based entirely off of one’s mastery of Truesight.
The palm of the giant treant appeared to be extremely powerful, but when it reached Jin He, it simply breezed right through him without having any effect on him at all.
[1] This has been updated in past chapters as well. Was previously the Perception realm, and has been changed to the Knowing realm. ☜
