Translator: Silavin & Tia
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
Three matches needed to be fought, so those who didn’t fight would be able to recover their energy during this time. Although they did not know how long they would have to rest, they would at least be exempted from the risk of dying in this place. On the other hand, nothing good would come to the representatives of these battles. Regardless of whether they won or lost their fight, they would most likely miss out on the Grand Dao battle in the end.
This matter was related to their life-long pursuit, so nobody would willingly take the initiative to accept this task at this time. This fight was not just a fight to determine a winner, it was a life or death battle. For the Heavenly Source Fruit to fully ripen, somebody had to die in this place.
Yang Kai swept his gaze over the crowd and opened his mouth, but before he could say a single word, Yang Yan interrupted him, “In that case, let’s agree to their proposal for now. As for who will be chosen for battle… Let’s see how they choose first.”
Everybody nodded in agreement.
Yang Yan gave Yang Kai a fierce look as if warning him not to talk nonsense. Feeling helpless, Yang Kai sniffed slightly in response. Then, he turned around and looked at Jia Long, “We finished our discussion.”
“Well?” Jia Long put his hands behind his back and looked at Yang Kai with a smile. His expression was calm as though he had already known that the Star Boundary would not reject him.
“We will accept your proposal!”
He chuckled, “Good.”
“But, these three battles…” Just as Yang Kai was about to discuss the candidates of the battle, a change suddenly occurred.
A loud rumbling sound suddenly came from beneath the ground, causing Yang Kai’s sentence to trail off abruptly. He warily looked forward only to see that Jia Long was also watching him intently with a grim expression. When their gazes met, they both saw the confusion in each other’s eyes; thus, they realised that it wasn’t the doing of the other party.
In the next moment, the ground shook turbulently and a huge platform suddenly sprung up in the originally empty hall. The platform rose by more than three hundred metres in an instant before it stopped moving. Immediately afterwards, two translucent light barriers descended from the sky to cover both the camps of the Star Boundary and the Demon Realm respectively.
Everything happened so quickly that nobody could react in time. By the time they saw the light barrier coming down over them, it was too late to think about escaping. Countless shouts of anger rang out. Emperor Qi and Demon Qi surged in the hall as both sides tried to use their own means to break free; however, their efforts were unsuccessful with no exceptions. The two hemispherical light barriers separated the Human Race Pseudo-Great Emperors and Demon Race Half-Saints into two opposing sides.
Yang Kai frowned deeply as his body flickered slightly. It felt like he faded for a moment, but he quickly solidified again in the next moment. This sign undoubtedly meant that his Instantaneous Movement could not be used to escape. The light barriers that appeared out of nowhere had the effect of sealing space.
At the moment, both factions were in chaos. Divine Abilities blasted out constantly, slamming into the light barriers, but to their surprise, the toughness of the light barriers was far beyond what anybody could have imagined. The attacks had been launched by Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints, and yet, they were completely ineffective against the light barriers that sealed them inside.
Another rumbling sound came out and the ground covered by the two light barriers rose upwards, only stopping when the ground was higher than the platform in the middle by several dozen metres.
At this moment, the two parties were each standing on elevated platforms covered by light barriers. In the middle of these two elevated platforms was a similar elevated platform. It was just that this central elevated platform was much larger than the other two.
When all the changes finally stopped, all 20 or so Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints present in this place looked at each other in confusion, none of them knowing what was going on.
Yang Kai scowled and glanced at the elevated platform in the centre, but before he could study it thoroughly, he heard a soft swooshing sound coming from beside him. Immediately after that, a figure appeared on the central elevated platform near the edge that was closest to him.
He widened his eyes and called out in surprise, “Brother Lin!”
The figure that suddenly appeared on the central elevated platform was none other than the Forty-Ninth Army’s Army Commander, Lin Ru Song, the noble man who when Cang Mo had challenged Yang Kai’s right to enter the Profound Heavens Temple, he offered to give up his spot in order to quell the turmoil between them. His broad-mindedness was truly admirable.
Yang Kai’s astonishment could not get any greater. Similarly, the other Pseudo-Great Emperors around him cried out in shock. That was because Lin Ru Song had been standing beside them just now. Nobody had seen just how he managed to get to the central elevated platform.
Meanwhile, Lin Ru Song himself seemed extremely shocked too. He suddenly appeared on the elevated platform with a blank expression on his face.
At that moment, a Half-Saint suddenly appeared on the opposite side of the elevated platform. Just like Lin Ru Song, the Half-Saint looked like he had no idea what was going on when he appeared, glancing around in confusion.
A Pseudo-Great Emperor and a Half-Saint had appeared on that lonely elevated platform in a strange manner, standing less than a thousand metres apart. At the same time, the others were trapped inside the light barriers surrounding the elevated platforms on both sides with no way of escape. This situation was truly the best representation of fighting alone.
“The World is alive!” Yang Kai gritted his teeth and shouted. Despite looking up at the sky, all he could see inside the hall was darkness. He had only just agreed to Jia Long’s proposal when these changes occurred. It was almost as though there was a Great Will watching them from the shadows. A battlefield for a one-on-one battle was created immediately the moment both sides had agreed to the proposal; in this way, there was no need to worry about the other party secretly meddling in the battles.
Jia Long obviously figured out what was going on too and couldn’t help grinning, “It looks like the World is getting impatient too. Interesting, interesting indeed!”
The Heavenly Source Fruit was on the verge of ripening when both the Humans and the Demons fell into a stalemate earlier. With this opportunity, the World’s Will immediately accelerated the process of the entire Grand Dao battle! It didn’t even give both sides the chance to decide on their representatives and directly selected one representative each from the respective camps.
“Brother Lin, fight!” Yang Kai shouted.
Lin Ru Song was shocked, but he reacted quickly. It didn’t matter why he had appeared on this elevated platform. Seeing as there was a Demon Race Half-Saint standing opposite him, he had to kill his opponent first if he wanted to survive.
The moment Yang Kai’s words rang out, Lin Ru Song was already lifting a hand to summon a sword. The sword was quite short, barely longer than a dagger, but when he poured his Emperor Qi into it, it began releasing a barrage of Sword Shadows towards the opposite side.
A strange cackling laughter sounded at that moment as the Demon Race Half-Saint on the opposite side turned into a blood light and rushed over. He passed through the boundless Sword Shadows unscathed, handling the attack with ease.
Lin Ru Song did not panic. Although he was getting on with age and had lived in seclusion in the mountains and forests before the Demon Race invaded the Star Boundary, his foundation as a Pseudo-Great Emperor was still there. Not to mention, he trained with this short sword artifact for countless years. He had long since become one with this artifact. Seeing his opponent rushing towards him, Lin Ru Song immediately clenched his fist and the short sword transformed into a giant sword that swept out horizontally.
Even though the rest of the Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints watching the battle were not facing the attack directly, they could feel the power behind it. Even if a mountain was in front of that sword, it would be cut in two in the next moment. Sure enough, the Blood Demon Half-Saint was a little overwhelmed by the attack and was sent flying by the impact.
A burst of cheers rang out on the Star Boundary’s end.
However, a loud explosion sounded out without warning at that moment. The Blood Demon that had been cut down immediately burst apart and turned into a Blood Sea. Bypassing the giant sword on both sides, he rapidly engulfed Lin Ru Song.
Lin Ru Song’s expression changed as he hurriedly formed a set of hand seals, drawing his sword back to defend himself. A barrage of Sword Shadows appeared once more and slammed into the Blood Sea. Large portions of blood were swept away with his efforts, but the Blood Sea seemed to be endless and he could not reduce the blood in the slightest.
Lin Ru Song retreated again and again, but there was nowhere to escape. There was an invisible barrier around the elevated platform, so he could not leave its range.
In his desperation, he bit the tip of his tongue and spewed out a mouthful of Blood Essence. The short sword shone brightly in response and instantly penetrated the obstruction of the Blood Sea and returned to his side. The sword immediately wound itself around him and began spinning to form a solid layer of protection. This artifact was clearly top-notch in terms of both offence and defence.
The strange cackling continued to ring out incessantly as the Blood Sea crashed down on Lin Ru Song with the force of a tsunami, wrapping him up within it so that he vanished out of sight.
The battle between these two had lasted for only a few breaths, and it was unclear whether the outcome was for the better or worse. Nevertheless, many Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary looked concerned when Lin Ru Song disappeared from their field of vision.
Explosions rang out from the middle of the elevated platform, but unfortunately, nobody could see what was going on inside due to the obstruction of the Blood Sea. Judging by the commotion, it would seem that Lin Ru Song and the Blood Demon were holding nothing back in their fight to the death.
“How were Brother Lin’s injuries?” Yang Kai asked grimly as he watched the situation over there with a solemn expression.
Bing Yun shook her head sadly, “He was quite badly wounded. He sustained internal injuries in the melee before so he can at most exert about 70% of his peak strength.”
Yang Kai’s expression darkened when he heard the words.
Lin Ru Song was in an extremely dangerous situation as although his opponent was also injured, the exchange of blows just now indicated that the Blood Demon’s injuries were not as severe as the former’s. In addition, a large part of Lin Ru Song’s strength came from his short sword artifact. Unfortunately, a Blood Demon’s Blood Sea had a strong corrosive effect, so if Lin Ru Song could not finish the battle in a short time, he would lose his biggest support once his artifact was damaged by Blood Sea. If that were to happen, the situation would only worsen further.
The feeling of knowing that a companion’s life was in great danger yet being powerless to do anything was horrible. Yang Kai repeatedly tried to use Instantaneous Movement to teleport himself to the elevated platform, but all his efforts proved to be fruitless. The light barrier surrounding the elevated platform he was on had completely sealed off this space. Gloomily looking in the direction of the central elevated platform, Yang Kai could only clench his fists in frustration.
Although Yang Kai barely interacted with Lin Ru Song in the past, the latter’s willingness to give up his place to enter the Profound Heavens Temple was still fresh in Yang Kai’s memory. Such selfless and righteous people did not deserve to die in a place like this.
On the contrary, somebody like Cang Mo, who betrayed his own companion, was still standing safe and sound on this elevated platform. Yang Kai turned around to look at Cang Mo coldly, vaguely realising the cruelty of the Heavenly Way.
“I hope the Heavens show favour to a good man like Brother Lin.” Yang Yan sighed. Even so, she knew that it was just a form of self-consolation. The only thing Lin Ru Song could rely on while fighting a one-on-one battle in that kind of isolated environment was his own strength.
On the opposite side, Jia Long looked over with a smile on his face. When he met Yang Kai’s gaze, he slid his hand across the front of his neck in a slitting gesture.
The fierce battle continued, but due to the Blood Sea, nobody could tell what was going on inside. Only a constant sound of explosions could be heard coming from inside the Blood Sea while at the same time, Demon Qi and Emperor Qi fiercely collided against each other.
Yang Kai’s heart soon sank to the bottom of the abyss as he realized that the fight had dragged on for too long…
