by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
Que Xinyan had taken the absolute advantage. Thus, killing his silver lizard was just a matter of time. As for trying to communicate with his Earth Flame, that was absolute nonsense.
The Earth Flame Beast he was controlling was facing the silver lizard head-on, while he provided assistance. After a few testing blows, he had gained control of the rhythm and laid down a trap that had cleanly caught the silver lizard.
He had originally thought that he would be the fastest one to suppress a silver lizard. The others still hadn’t gained an absolute advantage like him. But when he had looked over at Long Chen, he had been shocked.
The silver lizard Long Chen was fighting already had half its head destroyed. Que Xinyan had looked over just in time to see Long Chen use a lightning sphere to paralyze his own silver lizard and prepare an attack to kill it. Que Xinyan was startled and infuriated, unable to accept that the person he looked down upon would kill a silver lizard before him.
This core disciple trial was their first step to rallying their supporters. While everyone was in danger, they would save them all, and the disciples who lived would follow them unswervingly.
But the person who killed their silver lizard first would raise the greatest morale. That related to their future rankings, and Que Xinyan couldn’t allow Long Chen to get a head start on him.
As a result, just as Long Chen had taken the absolute advantage, Que Xinyan ordered his other flame beast that was still outside to attack Long Chen’s flame dragon.
Long Chen’s faction immediately panicked. Huo Long was their faction’s greatest defensive shield. Now that it was attacked, their defensive line immediately collapsed, and the ordinary disciples were exposed to the Bloodthirsty Devil Lizards.
Most sinister of all, Que Xinyan had his flame beast attack all-out. It clamped down on Huo Long’s neck and refused to let go. It was actually devouring Huo Long’s energy.
Huo Long had already spent a great deal of its energy on protecting the ordinary disciples behind it, as those had been Long Chen’s orders. As a result, this sudden sneak attack put it at an immense disadvantage. Despite doing its best, it was unable to reverse the tide.
This sudden turn of events also caught Guo Ran and the others by surprise. They wanted to help Huo Long, but now an unending tide of Bloodthirsty Devil Lizards charged over. They had no choice but to go all-out killing them, or the ordinary disciples would all be slaughtered.
Even so, the ordinary disciples were falling one by one. With their defensive line in tatters, they were as weak as paper in front of these Bloodthirsty Devil Lizards. Their blood dyed the ground, and seeing the people beside them falling, the ones still alive all turned scarlet-eyed.
Those people were their brothers who they had entrusted their lives to. In the same manner, their lives had been entrusted to them. Seeing them dying one by one, they let out their bestial roars. Without a care for their lives, they charged at the Bloodthirsty Devil Lizards, unleashing fatal attacks.
“Don’t worry, Long Chen, I’ll quickly regain control! Very quickly…” Seeing Long Chen’s eyes seeming to spit flames, Que Xinyan reassured him.
Long Chen glanced from the recovering silver lizard in front of him to the sneering Que Xinyan. An icy emotion crept over his heart.
In front of countless people’s shocked gazes, Long Chen directly left his light barrier and rushed back to the Dragonblood Legion.
“He… he gave up!” The countless people whose attention had been drawn over were all stunned.
He had no choice but to give up. Huo Long was being suppressed, and the flame beast was in the midst of devouring its power. Huo Long was growing weaker and weaker. Furthermore, those disciples were dying too quickly.
Although it would have only taken him a few breaths to kill his silver lizard, those few breaths represented thousands of lives that would be forever gone from this world. Furthermore, even after killing it, he would need some time to send everyone to safety. The number of people that would die during that time was unacceptable to Long Chen.
“Boss, you…” Guo Ran and the others didn’t know what to feel upon seeing Long Chen give up his core disciple spot.
“We can talk about other things later. First, save them.”
Long Chen waved his hand, and dragon roaring filled the air. A huge lightning dragon flew out at the endless Bloodthirsty Devil Lizards.
Chapter 1024 Devouring the Flame Beast
Lei Long charged out, lighting up the sky. It pounced on the Bloodthirsty Devil Lizards, and its powerful thunderforce caused them to explode one by one.
Long Chen was unaware that the Devil World’s creatures were all restrained by thunderforce. That was especially true since his thunderforce came from the nine heavens’ tribulation lightning. It was the most supreme Yang existence, and so its effect was even greater than the flame dragon’s.
Lei Long’s arrival immediately reversed the tides. Under Guo Ran’s command, they tightened their battle formation and focused on defense.
Lei Long had filled the void left by Huo Long. Now they were safe, but when they clearly saw how many of them were left, all their eyes turned red.
From the moment Huo Long had been attacked, which caused their defensive line to be broken, until Long Chen returned, only a few breaths had passed. But during that time, half of them had died.
Some of them couldn’t help but let out bestial roars and weep tears as they looked at the corpses on the ground. Those people were their brothers. These fallen comrades had sacrificed their own lives to protect them.
They had only just learned what it meant to entrust their lives to others, what it meant for them to protect each other. But in the blink of an eye, these people had thrown away their own lives to keep their promise. Seeing them lying there, never to move again, an unprecedented pain filled the survivors’ hearts. They even wished the ones to die had been them.
The Dragonblood warriors profoundly understood this feeling, as they had been life and death brothers for a long time. They knew how this kind of relationship felt, so they understood that pain very well.
Long Chen’s eyes were icy as he charged at the distant flame beast. That flame beast had its mouth clamped over Huo Long’s neck, and it was rapidly absorbing its energy.
Without a word, Long Chen slashed down with his saber. His fury had reached a peak.
The flame beast was struck in the neck, and the immense power blew it away, allowing Huo Long to escape. With a furious roar, it charged at the flame beast.
Huo Long was infuriated. Because of the sneak attack, it had been stuck in a disadvantage and unable to reverse the tide nor release any of its power. Now it had to get revenge.
“Get back. You’re not its match right now. Work with me,” said Long Chen hastily. The flame beast had already absorbed too much of Huo Long’s energy. The flame beast had originally just been a bit stronger, but now the difference was too great.
The flame beast roared at Long Chen. That roar seemed to contain a trace of mocking.
Long Chen knew that this flame beast was connected to Que Xinyan’s mind. Everything that had happened was at Que Xinyan’s will.
Que Xinyan had originally been thinking of devouring Long Chen’s flame dragon while he fought for the core disciple spot. But he hadn’t expected Long Chen would actually give up his core disciple spot and return to save these ordinary disciples.
“You think you can leave now? Keep dreaming!”
Seeing the flame beast turned around, Long Chen sneered and formed hand seals.
“Raging Flame Prison!”
Flame chains descended from the sky and stabbed into the ground. The flame beast was instantly bound within it.
This was why Long Chen didn’t let Huo Long attack. It was to prevent the flame beast from escaping. Only when Huo Long was cooperating with him could he capture the flame beast.
Space constantly twisted. The flame beast crazily attacked the prison, but this prison was the combination o
f Long Chen and Huo Long’s power. Its own energy was unable to rattle it.
The flame prison rapidly shrank. The flame beast was now being compressed into a ball and unable to move. Its struggling was of no avail.
“Die!” The flame prison continued to shrink, and the flame beast had now gone from five miles long to three hundred meters. And it was only continuing to shrink.
“Long Chen, you dare?!”
A furious roar came from a distant light barrier. It was Que Xinyan.
Right now, he had completely suppressed his silver lizard and was about to kill it. But at the same time, Long Chen had bound his flame beast. At this time, he was unable to help his flame beast escape.
Previously, he had forced Long Chen to make a difficult decision. Now Long Chen had placed him in a similar situation.
If he wanted to save his flame beast, he would have to give up on killing the silver lizard before him. Just like Long Chen, he would have to give up his core disciple spot. But a core disciple spot was incredibly important.
One reason was because of the rewards given out, while the other reason was that within the Xuantian Dao Sect, only a core disciple had the qualifications to form their own faction.
“Flame Prison Deathblow!”
Long Chen seemed to not hear Que Xinyan. His spiritual yuan erupted, and the flame prison condensed to its peak. The flame beast had completely deformed and was unable to even roar.
“Long Chen, if you dare to hurt my Earth Flame Beast, I will definitely make you die without a grave!” roared Que Xinyan.
Bang!
The flame beast had been compressed to the peak, and it suddenly exploded into flame runes.
Huo Long flew out and devoured all those runes. They were the essence of the flame beast, equivalent to its flesh and blood. They were treasures to Huo Long.
“AHHH! Long Chen, just wait! I will definitely kill you!” Seeing his own flame beast being killed, Que Xinyan almost exploded. It had to be known that he only had two Earth Flames, and those two Earth Flames had cost his family countless resources just to obtain. Furthermore, raising them had exhausted endless manpower and effort.
Having one of his flame beasts killed was like having his arm severed. It filled him with pain, and he almost went insane.
BOOM!
Suddenly, heaven and earth shook. The light barrier where Hua Shiyu was exploded. It transformed into runes that flew toward the Heaven Female Alliance.
“Big sister Shiyu is the most amazing! She’s the first to become a core disciple! Everyone, hang on. Victory is in sight!” shouted Zhao Ziyan.
The Heaven Female Alliance was heavily injured right now. They were down to eighty thousand disciples from their original one hundred and thirty thousand. But with these runes flying over, they had finally reached the end.
The runes fell into their midst. When they landed on their bodies, they would instantly vanish. In just a few breaths, the eighty thousand disciples of the Heaven Female Alliance disappeared from the battlefield.
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!
Hu Guishan, Fan Song, and Wang Zhen’s light barriers exploded at almost the same time. The light barriers turned into runes that flew amongst their factions.
Those disciples let out a burst of cheering, but those cheers had only just appeared when they became miserable again. By relaxing, they had left an opening for the Bloodthirsty Devil Lizards. Quite a few people died instantly.
The flying runes needed a few breaths to send them away. In their excitement, they had actually made such a fatal mistake.
Fortunately, they managed to endure the last few breaths. Once they were transported away, there were over a thousand more corpses on the ground.
Once those people were killed, another explosion erupted. Que Xinyan had defeated his silver lizard.
Just as his light barrier exploded, Que Xinyan roared and charged at Long Chen. But the light barriers runes landed on him and he vanished. His faction also vanished in just a few breaths.
Now, the only ones left on the battlefield were the Dragonblood warriors and the surviving ordinary disciples.
After devouring the other Earth Flame’s essence, Huo Long had transformed once more. It had gone from faint blue to scarlet. When its runes circulated, powerful heat waves roasted the heavens.
It had only just devoured the Earth Flame’s essence and hadn’t had time to digest it. It had no time for that, and it worked together with Lei Long to form a defensive perimeter that protected everyone. Even the sea of Bloodthirsty Devil Lizards was unable to harm the people inside any longer.
“Sorry, senior apprentice-brother Long Chen. We caused you to lose your core disciple spot.” The disciples came before Long Chen, ashamed.
For them, he had ordered the Dragonblood warriors to be their shield, which was why so many of them survived. Later, he had established their trust in each other, and he had found the devil monsters’ fatal weaknesses to help them.
He had shown them how to get stronger, and they were endlessly grateful. Even if they died, they would still be eternally grateful. But now, he had sacrificed the most precious core disciple spot in the Xuantian Dao Sect to help them. They had implicated him.
Long Chen shook his head and didn’t reply. He checked their numbers. The Dragonblood warriors were all fine, and so was Qian Duoduo. But now, the ordinary disciples had dropped from thirty thousand to thirteen thousand. That number made his eyes turn cold.
This was not a mere number, but lives. Each one of them had been carrying their own aspirations. But now they would never be able to achieve those dreams.
Long Chen’s expression was frighteningly dark. No one dared to say anything. Guo Ran and the others who were familiar with him knew that he had reached the edge of exploding.
After an incense stick’s worth of time, runes fell from the sky. Long Chen felt his body lighten, and he vanished from the battlefield, appearing in a huge plaza.
“Long Chen, hand over your life!”
Long Chen and the others had only just appeared when a furious roar rang out. A large hand reached toward Long Chen’s throat.
Chapter 1025 Vicious Sparring
All the disciples had been transported to the huge plaza. They were jubilant, but one person was extremely gloomy. It was none other than Que Xinyan.
They had all been transported to the plaza, but no one here came to greet them. They were practically given the cold shoulder.
In truth, this was the Xuantian Dao Sect’s rule. If a disciple failed the core disciple trial, they and their faction would have to endure for an incense stick’s amount of time on their own.
This was a very cruel punishment. The other factions would have already left, while the remaining ones would have to face a sea of devil monsters.
Once Long Chen and the others arrived, they drew everyone’s attention. Que Xinyan immediately attacked.
“Long Chen, hand over your life!”
Que Xinyan was filled with killing intent, and everyone here knew it. Long Chen had devoured his flame beast.
Que Xinyan attacked incredibly quickly. Long Chen had only just appeared and hadn’t had a chance to look around. Meanwhile, Que Xinyan’s hand had almost reached his throat.
Another large hand almost instinctively shot out in a profound arc, viciously slapping across Que Xinyan’s sinister face.
“Fuck your mother, you’re the one who needs to hand over your life!” roared Long Chen.
Everyone only saw a blur before Que Xinyan staggered back. His hand missed Long Chen’s throat.
After slapping him, Long Chen struck like lightning. Before Que Xinyan could react, he grabbed his hair and slammed his head with his knee.
In front of everyone's shocked gazes, Long Chen repeatedly slammed his knee into Que Xinyan’s face. The sound of bones breaking made people cringe.
“Idiot, a person who can fight my boss at close range has yet to be born!” sneered Guo Ran.
Long Chen’s close-rang
e combat skills had been accumulated bit by bit through true battles. The amount of experience he had in that was enough to write a textbook. No one would dare to fight him barehanded.
For Que Xinyan to want to subdue Long Chen in one move to humiliate him, it could only be said that he was asking for it. He tried to retaliate several times, but his efforts were all ineffective.
Long Chen slammed his kneecap into Que Xinyan’s head as hard as he could. He wanted to kill this bastard.
He didn’t care what reason Que Xinyan had to order his flame beast to attack Huo Long. All he knew was that this bastard’s action had caused over ten thousand innocent lives to be lost forever.
He wasn’t holding back at all. But he was surprised to see that Que Xinyan’s head didn’t explode. Even a Treasure item would have exploded by now.
“Bastard, fuck off!” Que Xinyan hadn’t been able to get free with his hair caught. Now, with a furious roar, he suddenly escaped from Long Chen’s grasp.
Two huge pieces of his scalp were now gone. Long Chen was carrying two pieces of skin with hair and blood on them.
“He actually severed his own skin!” startled cries rang out. Even Hua Shiyu, Fan Song and the others had solemn expressions. For martial cultivators, doing such a thing was one of the most ominous things possible.
Furthermore, injuries could be quickly healed, but the hair had to grow back naturally. Now he would be in a humiliating state for a long time. Seeing his dense head suddenly become a barren island, all of them thought it was startling as well as funny.
But no one dared to laugh. Both Long Chen and Que Xinyan were erupting with killing intent. This was no ordinary battle, but a battle to the death.
“Die!” Que Xinyan roared furiously. Flame runes formed a pair of wings around him. A majestic aura soared, and terrifying waves of heat rolled out.
Everyone hastily retreated as even the air was being ignited. A sensation of mortal danger forced them to run.