by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
“Xia Chen’s clearly a member of the Eastern Xuan Region. Why isn’t he fighting with us?” asked Tang Wan-er.
“Isn’t it simple? He’s afraid of us taking his kills, so he entered the core region where no one would fight over kills with him. He can then kill indiscriminately,” said Long Chen lazily. This was the benefit of being alone. Unfortunately, Long Chen couldn’t be a solitary hero.
“Isn’t he afraid that we won’t be able to hold back the devil creatures? If the devil creatures charged into the Grand Xia, wouldn’t it be too late for him to regret his actions?” demanded Tang Wan-er.
Long Chen gently pinched Tang Wan-er’s stubborn nose. “Do you have so little confidence in me? This fellow clearly knows that we’ll have no problem defending our side, so he went out alone. Even a stranger has more confidence in me than you.”
“Ah, I was wrong, Long Chen. Don’t get angry.” Tang wan-er laughed, putting on a cute expression. However, that cute expression of hers didn’t look like the expression of someone admitting they were wrong no matter how you looked at it.
“Ranks two to nine are all from the Central Xuan Region. It seems the Central Xuan Region really is powerful,” said Meng Qi as she observed the rankings.
Tenth place was someone from the Southern Xuan Region, which surprised everyone. Hadn’t the Southern Xuan Region’s experts been annihilated?
However, when they thought about it, some sects were so powerful that they didn’t even care about the Jade Lake Pageant, or perhaps there was nothing inside the Jade Lake Sacred Land that they wanted, so they hadn’t participated.
Qu Jianying had also said that some sects had been very low-key for many years. They hadn’t had any disciples come out in hundreds or even thousands of years. However, that didn’t mean that they would be silent forever. They were waiting for one opportunity to soar and restore their former glory.
“Sister Chu Yao’s name has risen again! It’s twelfth now!” exclaimed Tang Wan-er. The kill points on the rankings were constantly increasing. Ruyan hadn’t paused from the start. She killed the majority of the devil creatures, while only allowing a few to charge out as training for the Xuantian Dao Sect’s disciples. Tang Wan-er regretfully said, “If Ruyan fought all-out, Chu Yao could definitely get in the top ten.”
“This is just the start. These rankings are essentially meaningless for now. What matters is the last half month. If you use up all your energy at the start, not only will you lose your ranking, but you might also lose your life. Don’t treat this battle as a game, and don’t worry about these early rankings. All we need to do is save our energy for the final eruption, and we’ll definitely surpass the others. Don’t worry, first place will definitely belong to Guo Ran. His position cannot be touched by anyone,” said Long Chen confidently.
“Him? Really?” Tang Wan-er glanced at Guo Ran.
At some point, Guo Ran had taken out a table. He was sitting there, holding a translucent cup with wine in it. He was swirling the amber wine gently. This little fellow had finally learned how to act reserved in order to show off.
Seeing everyone look at him, Guo Ran sighed, “Perhaps you didn’t realize, but ever since I joined the Dragonblood Legion, I’ve been hiding my true power. However, now the Martial Heaven Continent is in danger. Millions of lives are at risk. I feel like I can no longer be low-key. I have no choice but to take on the mantle of savior of the world and make the Dragonblood Legion’s name resound through the cosmos!”
Guo Ran slowly drank the wine after speaking. He then crushed the cup, turning it to dust.
“Just watch. I, Guo Ran, will reveal my true power! My light will drown out all others! Hahahaha!”
Guo Ran’s crazy laughter caused quite a few people to retreat from him. They looked at him warily. Some were covering their own butts.
“Boss Guo Ran couldn’t have gone crazy again, right? Everyone, watch out for your butts!” warned the Dragonblood warrior who had had his butt bitten by Guo Ran last time.
Guo Ran coughed up a mouthful of blood. His crazy fit last time was now a permanent stain on his life. Even now, he had an urge to find a hole to bury himself in.
“It’s too bad I don’t see sister Zhiqiu. I wonder if she’s participating this time? I miss her.” Tang Wan-er suddenly thought of Ye Zhiqiu. The sad scene of her sacrificing herself to save Long Chen reappeared in her mind.
“Don’t worry, she’ll definitely come. However, the Divine Ice Palace is equally as famous as the Illusive Music Immortal Palace, and it is also one of the protectors of the continent. They aren’t under the administration of the Martial Heaven Alliance, so we can’t receive much news of her. Once the real battle starts, the real experts will reveal themselves. Only at that time will it be possible to see who the truly powerful geniuses are,” said Long Chen.
Time passed bit by bit. Hua Shiyu was growing more confident with directing the army, and the disciples’ cooperation also improved.
The Empyreans were each leading a portion of the experts. They had formed eight groups, all eagerly attacking. They had lost their previous fear and were able to face the battle head-on.
However, despite that, hundreds of disciples had still died after one day. This was unavoidable. Many people were like greenhouse flowers who only knew how to cultivate, but not how to fight life and death battles. For them to instantly adapt to such a harsh environment was very difficult.
There wasn’t enough time for them to get used to battle. Those unable to cope were cut down by the devil creatures’ claws. Only now did they realize how terrifying these creatures were. Their claws and teeth were highly toxic and could directly extinguish a person’s Yuan Spirit.
For only a few hundred people to die out of one hundred and eighty thousand experts was already an extremely remarkable result. Hua Shiyu had definite talent when it came to leadership.
“Long Chen, are you raising Hua Shiyu as your successor?” asked Meng Qi.
Long Chen was sitting there, occasionally tossing medicinal pills into his mouth. He vaguely answered, “It’s not really raising her. Hua Shiyu is strong-minded and has some brains. Furthermore, she kills decisively and has the air of a general. If I’m not in the Xuantian Dao Sect, she will definitely be capable of leading everyone. It was my arrival that changed her fate. I’m just returning the position that should have belonged to her.”
“Is this insurance for the Xuantian Dao Sect?” asked Meng Qi again.
Long Chen was solemnly quiet for a moment. “I suppose. In truth, I feel some kind of crisis is about to descend. I don’t know the source of that feeling, so I don’t know how to deal with it. The Xuantian Dao Sect is my home, so I don’t want to implicate it. I have to make preparations for it.”
Ever since advancing to the Soul Transformation realm, Long Chen had felt like there was a shadow on his heart. It was like a pair of invisible hands were approaching him from behind and might clamp down on his neck at any moment. That feeling of danger made it difficult for him to breathe.
Seven days passed in the blink of an eye, and Chu Yao’s name finally reached rank ten. Most likely, some people had used up too much energy at the start and so they were surpassed by Liu Ruyan, who was fighting very steadily.
On the seventh day, strange cries rang out from the distance, drawing out startled cries from the Xuantian Dao Sect’s disciples.
Chapter 1688 Compassion Cannot Lead Troops
The numbers of devil creatures had grown explosively, and giant beetles had suddenly appeared amongst them as well. These beetles were covered in golden armor.
Each of them was only three meters. They mixed in with the previous giant lizards.
The lizards possessed dangerous killing power, while these golden beetles were the opposite, with immense defensive strength. Now that the two of them appeared at once, the Xuantian Dao Sect’s disciples were thrown into slight confusion.
“Should I interfere?” asked Meng Qi.
As a soul cultivator, she
instantly saw that these golden beetles’ fatal defensive flaw was their spiritual defense. If she attacked, they would all collapse.
“No need. This is their battlefield.” Long Chen shook his head.
The Empyreans naturally didn’t feel any pressure from these beetles. Rank nine Celestials also didn’t feel much threat. However, the pressure on the rank seven and rank eight Celestials increased. Quite a few people were injured in their panic, and casualties appeared.
“The strong survive. This is the law of this world. It’s cruel. Even if you helped them now, you wouldn’t be able to help them for a lifetime. Each person has to fight for their own fate,” said Long Chen. This cruel reality was something each person from the Dragonblood Legion had already experienced.
As for the greenhouse flowers in front of them, they had to experience it too. Whoever’s life was tougher would be the one to survive.
Hua Shiyu immediately grew anxious upon seeing the casualties. Her panic caused her to make several errors with her orders, resulting in more casualties
“Long Chen!” shouted Hua Shiyu, sweating.
“Compassion cannot lead troops.”
Long Chen shook his head and only indifferently said one thing. It wasn’t that he had a heart of stone, but that if he wanted Hua Shiyu to grow up as fast as possible, she had to experience some setbacks.
“These golden beetles just have a slightly better defense. They look like a good combination with the lizards. However, in front of the Dragonblood Legion, they aren’t worth crap. Any member of the Dragonblood Legion could have slaughtered them easily at the Foundation Forging realm. The reason you’re panicking is because you don’t know what a real battle is, and what true slaughter is. If you hold a saber or sword and then brainlessly hack with it, that’s not a real battle. You’re just wasting your energy and lives. Zhao Lin!” shouted Long Chen.
“Present.”
The one who responded to his call was actually a woman, a wood cultivator who didn’t specialize in fighting amongst the Dragonblood Legion. She was a healer and she walked over with a wooden staff.
“Go and demonstrate what a real battle is.” Long Chen gestured to the battlefield.
“Yes.” Zhao Lin shot past the formation of the Xuantian Dao Sect’s with just a few graceful steps, charging straight into the army of devil creatures.
“She…!” Seeing Zhao Lin charge into that mass of devil creatures with a wooden staff, the Xuantian Dao Sect’s disciples were dumbfounded. Was she going to fight a physical battle with the devil creatures?
“The strong should hold the line. Let the others watch closely!” shouted Long Chen.
Zhao Lin charged in, and a golden beetle attacked her first. When it approached her, it curled into its shell and used its body to directly smash into her.
This was the most irritating thing about these golden beetles. Even if you killed it with your weapon while it was hurling itself at you, the power of this impact was enough to stagger a person and open them to the lizards’ attacks.
What startled people was that as the golden beetle crashed toward her, Zhao Lin didn’t use her staff to attack it. Instead, she lithely jumped up and pressed on the edge of its shell with her foot.
The golden beetle easily flipped over, and Zhao Lin lightly pressed her staff down on its head. Its head instantly exploded.
Just as the golden beetle was killed in one attack, several of the lizards charged toward Zhao Lin. Her staff struck like a viper, striking a protrusion right below the front claws of the lizards.
With just a press of her wooden staff, those lizards instantly stiffened and fell to the ground. They died just like that.
Zhao Lin’s figure continued to weave through the mass of devil creatures. Her staff accurately struck repeatedly. She was like a small boat soaring through the wild waves of a sea. But no matter how turbulent the sea grew, it was unable to sink her. On the contrary, it was the devil creatures that were constantly slain by her.
A small mountain of devil creatures’ corpses appeared beneath Zhao Lin’s feet as more and more of them charged at her. She easily dodged all their attacks without leaving her mountain, not forgetting to make the mountain grow continuously larger.
The Xuantian Dao Sect’s disciples were filled with reverence and worship for Zhao Lin upon seeing her kill the devil creatures so easily. She hadn’t even summoned her manifestation. Just relying on a wooden staff, she killed the devil creatures easily.
“Your current method of fighting is the most primitive type. All you know how to do is foolishly strike with your full power instead of looking for your opponents’ weak points. Not only does that waste energy, but it will also put you in danger. All lifeforms have their own weaknesses. If you can grasp that, then even a terrifying enemy will become a rabbit. Other than that, fighting and killing are two completely different concepts. When you fight, you are protecting yourself. When you kill, you are putting your life on the line to take another life. I previously said that those who fear death the most die the easiest. Only when you forget your fear of death can you fight to your full potential. But just saying this, it’s merely theories and principles. If you can’t understand it, then you probably won’t understand it even in death. This is the precious experience obtained by the Dragonblood Legion after walking the line between life and death. Zhao Lin, come back.
“This is your battlefield. If you want to become experts, if you want to reach the peak of the martial path, you have to overcome your fear of death. There are no shortcuts to this path. If you want to become an expert, this is something you’ll have to face. The reason you aren’t as strong as the Dragonblood warriors is because you are restricted by your fear, while they managed to overcome it years ago.
“If you are really afraid of death, you can still retreat. The Dragonblood Legion will block these enemies. But if you want to become experts like us or even surpass us, then you can only go all-out!”
BOOM!
Zhao Lin slammed her staff on the ground, and countless wooden stakes shot out of the ground, turning the devil creatures into shish kabobs.
The wooden stakes then moved away, opening a path through the devil creatures. Just like that, Zhao Lin walked back to the Dragonblood Legion.
“Kill! I’m going to become a real expert!”
“Even a woman dared to put her life on the line. If we didn’t dare to, would we even be men?!”
“Why do we cultivate? Isn’t it to become peerless experts that can step into even higher realms, to see a world that currently only exists in our imaginations?”
“Kill!”
“Kill!”
“Kill!”
Zhao Lin’s actions fully stimulated these geniuses. A wood cultivator was actually able to charge into a sea of devil creatures without even summoning her manifestation and had slaughtered them as easily as drinking a cup of water.
On the other hand, these geniuses were still quivering in fear. That was too embarrassing.
A woman like Zhao Lin was able to overcome her fear of death, while they were still cowards. That made them hate themselves for being weak.
The Xuantian Dao Sect’s disciples were fully provoked, and they started a furious slaughter. It was like their entire being had been ignited.
Furthermore, they found that once they abandoned their apprehensions, their spiritual perception greatly improved. It felt like they had a subtle control of the surroundings that they hadn’t had before.
Because of their fear, their nerves had been tense. They were only able to act based on the attack right in front of them. After abandoning their fear, their field of view expanded. They could easily sense attacks coming even from behind them and easily dodge.
In truth, these people had been geniuses from the start. They quickly entered a true battle state after being stimulated by Zhao Lin and forgetting their fear. Their combat power crazily grew.
Their power wasn’t actually rising. They were originally this strong,
but their fear had restricted them. Even when they had felt like they were fighting all-out, it was a misperception.
Compared to before, their combat power was completely different. That made them feel even more reverence for Long Chen.
Having entered this state, the Xuantian Dao Sect’s disciples were like a sharpened blade. They finally had the air of experts about them. If Li Tianxuan saw this, he would definitely be moved. Perhaps only Long Chen had the ability to make people enter such a state so quickly.
“Don’t randomly hack around. Use the least energy and price to kill your opponents. Furthermore, pay attention to attacking and retreating. Make it a cycle, and it will allow you to fight longer. Also, make sure to reserve some energy for life-protecting measures against anything unexpected…” Long Chen’s voice echoed through the air. Seeing these disciples fighting like this, his own hands grew itchy. He also wished to fight.
Guo Ran, Gu Yang, and the others had long since started rubbing their fists in impatience. Guo Ran especially wanted to charge out. He couldn’t hold back from showing off much longer.
However, Long Chen had not permitted them to fight. These devil creatures were too weak. This was the only good chance for the Xuantian Dao Sect’s disciples to train. It was also their only chance to understand the essence of battle before it was too late.
This was the only way to effectively reduce the number of casualties when the battle progressed to its latter stages. If he allowed Guo Ran to show off now, these disciples would have to pay the price with their lives.
The Xuantian Dao Sect’s disciples were constantly learning battle techniques under Long Chen’s directions. Their progress was extremely quick as they had been geniuses from the start. Through this battle, they felt like they had completely transformed.
More and more of the devil creatures appeared, but to these elite disciples, they were still nothing. Furthermore, the number of casualties dropped day by day, until on the most recent day, not a single disciple died.