Chapter 573: The Hunter and the Prey
Translator: Lordbluefire Editor: Lordbluefire
Chen Tianlin wanted to block, but how could he?
This gargantuan palm imprint had appeared from the void, soundlessly and without presence. The instant it had appeared, it was already above Chen Tianlin.
Chen Tianlin’s entire body was bathed in golden light. His hair had all turned golden and each strand was akin to a sharpened blade. An unprecedented terrifying spear of godly might zoomed out from his battle drum. But at this moment Qin Wentian’s palm imprint slammed down, leaving Chen Tianlin with absolutely no way to react. The gargantuan palm imprint engulfed him completely, and was accompanied by the sound of his battle drum shattering and the stone platform cracking apart. Chen Tianlin and the other experts from the Radiant Gold Ancient Country behind him had all been completely annihilated.
The supreme Chosen of the Radiant Gold Ancient Country was exterminated under the power of one strike.
Before Chen Tianlin and Shi Kuang had formed a general consensus that the battle spirit would belong to whoever killed Qin Wentian, no one had been expecting Qin Wentian to start his counterattack after the third attack.
Qin Wentian’s counterattack had been simply too fierce, destroying Shi Kuang, while leaving behind the others who then decided to no longer target Qin Wentian. Rather, they chose the safer method of having one on one fights to see who could reach the end, becoming the most dazzling character of this floating bridge.
Next, Qin Wentian fought Chen Tianlin, exterminating him despite Chen Tianlin using his strongest attack.
Among the other five groups, nobody ended their battles faster than Qin Wentian. Right now Que Cheng from the Violet Thunder Sect had already fused with his battle spirit, exuding an aura at the seventh level of Heavenly Dipper, slaying his opponent with a single strike.
Currently, he was staring at Qin Wentian as his eyes flashed with destructive lightning. He knew that Qin Wentian was very strong, but so what of it? In the end, the only one who remained would be him.
Que Cheng wasn’t in a hurry to kill Qin Wentian, after all he was currently the strongest one here. In order to avoid gossip and finger pointing, he knew he should keep a low profile now. He knew that only by acting at the most opportune moment, would he be able to achieve what he wanted in a single strike.
Que Cheng was studying the people in combat while Qin Wentian was actually observing him.
The Violet Thunder Sect had a grudge with him, but the Chosen from the Violet Thunder Sect Que Cheng had always suppressed his emotions. Before he acted to wake the ox demon, he didn’t radiate any hostility towards Qin Wentian. He had only done so when Fan Le took the test and was beneath the ox demon’s hoof. If the ox demon hadn’t been the guardian for the cavern and spared them, all three of them would really have died under its hoof already.
This person was not only powerful, his methods were intelligent and ruthless as well. He knew how to grab hold of opportunities and strike out at the most opportune moments. This point was evident by the fact of him lying low, acquiring more battle spirits to strengthen himself before he acted. Que Cheng was a shrewd schemer as well as an extremely ambitious man.
Que Cheng’s entire body crackled with lightning, a brilliant purple ball of light condensed on his palms, ready to act any time after accumulating strength for so long. Qin Wentian’s brow twitched; he stared at the pair of participants whom Que Cheng was studying. Both of them were locked in a stalemate and were in an extremely precarious position.
At this instant, Que Cheng acted. Both his palms crackled with lightning and slammed on to his battle drum with thunderous might. Lightning howled and thunder roared, two streams of violet light erupted towards the two participants locked in their struggle. One of them was the chosen from the Heaven Cleaving Manor who had attacked Qin Wentian earlier.
“Que Cheng…” Although these two were locked in battle, the instant Que Cheng had attacked, they both sensed it. In fact, it wasn’t that they weren’t prepared, but because they were both evenly matched and at the crescendo of their fight, they simply didn’t have time to care about Que Cheng’s sneak attacks. Que Cheng had actually chose this moment to launch a despicable attack, but what could they do?
The two violet beams of light transformed into the wrath of the thunder god, directly killing them both. Under the terrifying might of lightning and thunder, their bodies were roasted into cinders before turning into ashes. Their battle spirits were also plundered away, as Que Cheng’s aura instantly skyrocketed getting infinitesimally closer to the seventh-level of Heavenly Dipper.
“QUE CHENG YOU DARE?!” Yet another roar rang out. Since Que Cheng had shown his true colors, he naturally wouldn’t stop now. He blasted out an attack towards another two participants. Both of them instantly stopped fighting when they sensed Que Cheng’s attack but everything was already too late. One of them died while the other one was heavily injured.
Qin Wentian also made his move, slamming his palms onto his battle drum as a wrathful roar shook the skies. Yet another torrential pressure gushed forth, suppressing the void.
Que Cheng didn’t stop, although the survivor had been seriously injured, he had to plunder the battle spirit away before doing anything else. Hence, he launched another attack as a dazzling bolt of lightning shot forth like a sharp sword, piercing towards that person. Although that expert did his utmost to defend, it was clear that he was almost a spent force now.
Que Cheng’s face was filled with the smile of victory. He slammed out another attack once more, as long as he killed that person he would break through to the eighth-level of Heavenly Dipper. However right at this moment, a palm imprint blasted down from the skies, directly snatching the kill away from Que Cheng. That poor victim only discovered at the verge of death that even he, a Heaven Chosen, was also nothing in front of this cruel battlefield. Weaklings only had a single fate – to become the prey of others.
The person who killed him naturally was Qin Wentian. There were no kind-hearted people in here; they were all hunters, or the hunted. If you don’t kill others, others would kill you. This point was already destined from the moment they stepped in here. If he didn’t act, the battle spirit would have been plundered by Que Cheng. If Que Cheng grew even stronger, dooms day would arrive for everyone.
Qin Wentian snatched food from the mouth of the tiger, Que Cheng’s sharp eyes gleamed with hatred as he turned his attention onto Qin Wentian. Qin Wentian had actually dared snatched his prey?
Right now, only five remained from the original twelve. Qin Wentian had killed two, Que Cheng had killed three, while Shen Ting from the Great Earth Sect had also managed to kill two in the chaos. Right now, Que Cheng was the strongest, while Shen Ting and Qin Wentian were on par in strength.
As for the other two survivors, expressions of fear could be seen on their faces as their countenances turned incredibly unsightly. In that chaotic battle earlier, they didn’t have any opportunities to plunder others, they were too busy defending themselves. Hence, the distance between their strength when compared to the remaining three was gradually pulled apart. Not only that, one of the two weaker survivors was actually someone from the Battle Sword Sect.
“Sever the connection and escape from here as fast as you can. I will do my utmost to aid you.” Qin Wentian directly transmitted his voice to the expert from the Battle Sword Sect.
That person was also an extremely decisive man, he directly replied, “Fine, but first I need your help to attack them to lower the pressure on me. After that I will sever the connection and you can take my battle spirit.”
Qin Wentian nodded. The instant their deal concluded, he directly struck out. He naturally understood the ‘them’ meant Shen Ting and Que Cheng. They posed the largest threat.
A terrifying swarm of palm imprints slammed down from the Heavens, blasting towards Que Cheng and Shen Ting. At this moment, that expert from the Battle Sword Sect instantly slashed out at his battle drum and manifested an incomparably resplendent sword light in the air. This sword light was so blinding that nobody could open their eyes.
However, the target of this beam of sword light wasn’t Que Cheng, nor Shen Ting. Rather it was Qin Wentian!
Bai Mou from the Battle Sword Sect was also a personal disciple under one of the nine Sword Sovereigns. He was also a chosen from the Battle Sword Sect, he knew that if he listened to Qin Wentian’s suggestion and chose to relinquish this battle, he would have a 50% chance of dying and 50% chance of remaining alive after fleeing. But both of those choices equated to the fact that he no longer had a chance to climb up to the peak.
Neither of these two choices appealed to him. He knew that if he killed Qin Wentian, that powerful battle spirit of Qin Wentian’s would be plundered away by him. His strength would instantly be elevated to above Shen Ting and able to contend equally against Que Cheng.
As long as he killed Qin Wentian, all the problems before him would be solved and he would still retain the chance to be the sole champion of this battle field. In addition, he might even be able to obtain some good fortune.
Hence, this Heaven Chosen from the Battle Sword Sect Bai Mou, had chosen to risked it, and aimed his attack at Qin Wentian. This attack contained all his power, victory or defeat would be determined by a single strike.
The timing of this attack was extremely opportune, at the instant Qin Wentian unleashed his attack towards Shen Ting and Que Cheng, Bai Mou had chose this moment to betray him. The sword light slashed downwards, there was no need to doubt Bai Mou’s strength considering that he had lasted all the way till now. Upon seeing the change in scenario, Ye Lingshuang’s countenance became incredibly unsightly. She had told Qin Wentian earlier, when they were on the floating bridge, of Bai Mou’s identity as another member of their Battle Sword Sect. Maybe it was because of this that Qin Wentian had decided to aid Bai Mou. Who would have imagined such a thing would happen instead?
However, Qin Wentian didn’t look surprised. At the instant the beam of sword light descended, he struck out once more causing the thunderous booms of his battle drum to rock the air, echoing through this space. There was a mysterious sword hum amidst his drum reverberations, slicing away the sharpness contained in Bai Mou’s sword attack.
Qin Wentian had already considered the fact that Bai Mou would strike out at him when he offered help. As a chosen of the Battle Sect, as a personal disciple of one of the Sword Sovereigns, Qin Wentian had reason to believe that Bai Mou would choose to gamble. As for the ‘friendship’ among those from the same sect and the gratitude of extending out a helping hand to him? All of that was bullshit. Every decision was made because of benefits. Bai Mou would be able to acquire what he wanted to as long as he killed Qin Wentian.
Hence, how could Qin Wentian be unprepared? The instant Bai Mou had acted, the sharpness exuding from his body instantly intensified, becoming akin to a sharp sword with nothing it couldn’t conquer. The rumbling sounds of the drum reverberations rang out once more, Bai Mou’s eyes flashed with surprise, shock, and disbelief followed by unwillingness. The streams of formless sword might penetrated his body as the Grand Nihility Thousand Imprint broke through the void and slammed down on him.
Upon seeing that palm imprint, Bai Mou understood that he lost the gamble. In that case, he could only be resigned to his fate.
Amidst a cacophony of explosive noises, Bai Mou died as his battle drums shattered. Just an instant later, a streak of lightning shot past, blasting the location where the battle drum was at. Right now not only was Bai Mou dead, those from the Battle Sword Sect that had chosen to follow Bai Mou had all died with him. Their fates had already been decided the instant Bai Mou had chosen to betray Qin Wentian. Their last thoughts were that why weren’t they like Ye Lingshuang, choosing to form an alliance with Qin Wentian when they were on the floating bridge instead of following Bai Mou.
That streak of lightning had been shot by Que Cheng, but sadly, he was a step too slow to kill steal.
Right now only three remained on the battlefield: Que Cheng, Qin Wentian, and Shen Ting. At the moment when Qin Wentian slew Bai Mou, Que Cheng and Shen Ting both fought with each other to kill the last survivor. Que Cheng was the winner, and after plundering the battle spirit, his aura broke through to the eighth level of Heavenly Dipper.
Right now, Qin Wentian was still at the seventh-level, the two of them then turned their gazes onto Shen Ting. Currently both Que Cheng and Qin Wentian were the hunters while Shen Ting became their prey.
Shen Ting instantly understood his position as his face turned pale white. They, the experts from the Great Earth Sect, had become the prey instead.
He said he wanted to teach Qin Wentian conduct, but what’s funny was that from the attitude of both Que Cheng and Qin Wentian, one could tell with a glance that these two had already taken him as prey. He was the weakest link among all three.
Qin Wentian didn’t say anything, his gaze was already all-telling. That emotionless gaze contained an intense self-confidence and pride, so deep that it was carved into his bones. That gaze was extremely unbearable to Shen Ting, his face got paler and paler.
“If I die, you will die too,” Shen Ting stared at Qin Wentian as he spoke. “Let us join hands and deal with Que Cheng, or if you disagree, I will join hands with him to deal with you.”
Shen Ting evidently felt that the threat Qin Wentian posed to him was smaller than Que Cheng, hence he wished to join forces and counteract Que Cheng. In the course of their cooperation, if an opportunity presented itself for him to slay Qin Wentian it would be for the best.
Qin Wentian didn’t reply, how could he not understand what Shen Ting was thinking? Now that things had reached this situation, Shen Ting was already destined to die. He wanted to join forces with Que Cheng to deal with him? Could he even rest assured about forming an alliance with Que Cheng? Most probably when he was clashing with Qin Wentian, Que Cheng would use the opportunity to kill him.
“I can gift you my battle drum, but you must spare my life.” Shen Ting spoke to Que Cheng, he knew it was hopeless when he noted Qin Wentian’s silence. Right now he could only hope he can remain alive.
“Fine.” Que Cheng nodded, his palms crackled with lightning as though he was prepared to unleash an attack anytime. However, Qin Wentian was similarly already prepared as well.
It didn’t matter what Shen Ting’s choice was, he was already destined to be a dead man. The final battle would be fought between Que Cheng and Qin Wentian!
