Who Dares Contend

A fourth-realm nomadic hunter was burned to death, his body charred black like a lump of charcoal as it tumbled from the night sky. Many onlookers stood dazed. Such a formidable master had swept in with thunderous momentum, his oppressive might freezing people in their tracks along the way as though they stood before an abyss, yet in the blink of an eye, he had died violently. Atop the back of the cyan bird, Li Qingyue stood ethereal in white, her dark hair fluttering in the breeze. Cradled in her hands was a small Eight Trigrams Furnace, making her appear like a banished fairy descending by moonlight. No one had expected such an ethereal, almost divine young woman to fell a grand expert with a single blow. Turbulent emotions surged in many onlookers' hearts, while the nearby hunters were petrified. Someone whispered, "It is not just the near-immortal item displaying its power—she has broken through once more. Otherwise, she could never wield this legendary heirloom that anchors her sect." Shock showed on many faces. A thousand years ago, the Luofu Sect was renowned throughout the world, vaguely holding the status of the foremost sect on the immortal path. Otherwise, they would never have dared attempt to elevate their blessed land into a grotto-heaven. Rumors had spread recently that the sect's immortal seed had reclaimed its foundational scripture and taken control of the Eight Trigrams Furnace. If this continued, restoring their ancestral lineage's past glory was not out of the question. Helian Zhaoyu looked up into the night sky. His face was devoid of expression, but his gaze was somewhat chilly. Clad in black, Wei Cheng spoke up. "Zhaoyu, this doesn't look right. She crossed an entire battle zone to rescue him and strike down that expert. The rumors are not baseless after all—the two of them share a deep bond..." "Shut up!" Helian Zhaoyu cut him off, his face frosty. A smoldering fire surged in his chest, yet he had no choice but to forcefully suppress it. On a battlefield like this, if he lost his composure, even as a descendant of Helian Chengyun, people would look at him with peculiar eyes. In such a situation, only startling combat achievements could speak for themselves. Everyone was locked in desperate, bloody combat; no matter how extraordinary his background, it was of little use in such an environment. Wei Cheng's pupils constricted as he said, "Zhaoyu, that kid is a thorny opponent. Look at his area—the ground is covered in corpses, and most of them were slain by his hand." He stared toward that sector. Some of the hunters were in the second realm, but some were in the early stage of the third realm, and there were even a few in the middle stage of the third realm. Wei Cheng said, "I don't know how they'll tally military merits this time. If they only count the number of foes killed at the same level and higher, that kid might very well surge to the very front, his ranking ridiculously high!" "Cut the chatter and hurry up and slay the enemy," Helian Zhaoyu said grimly. Wei Cheng frowned. If things continued like this, his combat merits might be left far behind by Qin Ming. The other youth's killing efficiency was simply too high. *My head count had better not turn out to be less than half of his...* A sense of urgency gripped them both. If their achievements were compared afterward and they failed to make the front ranks, they would certainly lose face. Qin Ming and Li Qingyue joined forces, one astride the Thunder King Bird and the other atop the cyan bird. Sweeping forward in parallel, they instantly swept the surrounding enemies clean. Corpses plummeted continuously from the night sky—some hunters decapitated, others burned through—unmatched and unstoppable for a time. In the distance, Jin Xiang sent a voice transmission to Qin Ming: "Brother, I'll hold off this fourth-realm sector for you. At the very least, no stragglers will slip through the net to cross over from my sector!" He had tempered his mind for twenty years and nourished his saber for twenty years. Having unsheathed it today, its edge shone bright as he waded through blood on the fourth-realm battlefield, his momentum majestic like a rainbow. Jin Xiang primarily cultivated the heart scripture of the esoteric sect, supplemented by the Newborn path. For twenty years, he had been tempering his heart and refining his spirit. Around him, the mortal world's hearthfire flickered, causing many opponents of the same realm to become dazed, their spiritual fields breached. Wielding his sheep-horn saber, each stroke cleaved through like a streak of lightning, reaping his opponents' lives. Naturally, anyone who had broken through to the fourth realm was no simple figure; it was impossible to cut down peers like chopping firewood the way youthful immortal seeds did. Even so, Jin Xiang charged like a fierce dragon, not only breaking out of the hunters' encirclement but also felling foes in succession. "Brother Jin, building momentum for twenty years, you truly soar to the heavens today!" an acquaintance from years past exclaimed in awe. "Senior Brother Jin, thank you!" Qin Ming replied via voice transmission. Jin Xiang's thick golden hair was already soaked with blood. Hearing this, he smiled faintly, advancing with blade in hand as he once again split an opponent clean in two. A moment later, Li Qingyue returned to her own battlefield; she needed to find suitable opponents to amass military merits. "All of them useless trash!" A silver-haired man cast his gaze across the other battle sectors, disgusted by the failures of the low- and mid-tier hunters. He was a grandmaster who had personally slain an expert of the immortal path not long ago. Knowing that survival was unlikely today, he now only wanted to drag several grandmasters down with him. Clearly, this was an exceptionally gifted brute. Erupting once more, he severely wounded another opponent, an outcome that an intervening grandmaster failed to prevent. He even held an overwhelming advantage while fighting two opponents single-handedly. The middle-aged silver-haired man unleashed the Thousand Hands Divine Ability, also known as the War Body. Densely packed arms suddenly sprouted forth, brandishing swords, gripping lightning hammers, or clutching golden pestles... Under this barrage of attacks, the already gravely wounded grandmaster could not hold his ground, his spiritual field torn to shreds by those arms. Afterward, that grandmaster's consciousness transformed into a divine rainbow, attempting to flee. Unfortunately, beneath the blanket of the Thousand Hands technique, he was intercepted and battered again and again, detonating multiple times in the span of a breath before being violently slain by the silver-haired man. Cold chills ran down everyone's spines. In the grandmaster domain, rarely could anyone dispatch a peer so cleanly; after all, if one could not win, one could still escape. Yet this hunter possessed startling combat prowess. Moreover, a pure land domain that was difficult to breach surrounded where he stood, coupled with so many arms flailing to deliver relentless follow-up blows. He was actually slaying grandmasters one after another! "Time waits for no one. Give me just a few more years, and I could have set foot in the ancestral master domain. From there, after settling for a period, I would have ascended to the absolute peak of the sixth realm. Then, everything before my eyes would have been nothing more than clay chickens and pottery dogs," the silver-haired man sighed softly. He regretted it now. He should not have joined the eastern campaign. The so-called trampling of the splendid rivers and mountains, the plundering of every sect's ancestral grounds, and the scouring of three millennia of accumulated treasures from the outer realm had all come to naught. "I was too greedy, wishing to take advantage of this opportunity to borrow the endless fortune of those splendid mountains and rivers to forge the strongest ancestral master foundation. Alas, to think I would end up trapped here today." A feral glint flared in his eyes. "Since it has come to this, let there be slaughter! I'd like to see who can stand against me in the grandmaster domain!" In the blink of an eye, a third grandmaster was severely wounded by him. Lin Yuchen, Ling Canghai, Helian Yunji, and other top grandmasters on the verge of breaking through noticed the situation here and charged toward him one after another. Given their absolute advantage today, if they allowed the hunters to slaughter their grandmasters consecutively, it would not only be a defeat, but a disgrace. However, those who had reached this level were all ruthless figures. Along the way, other grandmasters of the nomadic hunting civilization immediately mounted intercepts, blocking their path precisely to create an opening for the silver-haired man to kill more enemies. The silver-haired man was conceited beyond measure. "You want to save him? Too late! No one I intend to kill can be saved by you. In the grandmaster domain... heh, watch closely, all of you!" Using a special divine domain, he locked onto the third grandmaster. With a cruel smile on his face, his densely packed arms brought down their weapons, leaving his opponent covered in fractures. Without a doubt, yet another grandmaster was about to be pulverized by him. Nearby, several people close to that grandmaster glared with eyes nearly tearing at the corners, desperate to come to his aid, but they were entangled by opponents fighting with suicidal abandon. "In the realm of grandmasters, who dares contend with me?" The silver-haired man laughed aloud. Looking at the expressions of those around him, his stifled mood lifted considerably. "Clear out!" Right at that moment, near the edge of the main battlefield where the ancestral masters clashed, someone turned his head, leaped into the night sky, and threw a punch toward this area. "Hm?!" The silver-haired man was horrified. Was an ancestral master-level figure acting against him? Out of necessity, he retreated rapidly, letting go of the opponent he was about to shatter. The figure in the night sky wore coarse hemp robes and appeared like a youth, his gaze profound. With just a single punch, boundless heavenly light cascaded down. Dodging even as he shouted in bitter reluctance, the silver-haired man roared, "In the end, you were afraid, having an ancestral master personally intervene! Otherwise, who in the grandmaster domain could possibly fight me!" "He is a grandmaster!" an elder of the Newborn path called out. "What? I don't believe it!" By now, the silver-haired man already felt a force akin to Feixian Mountain bearing down on him. The sun-like radiance of that fist sent dread through his heart, making every hair on his body stand on end. Unable to evade, he had no choice but to meet it head-on. Then, he felt himself being torn apart by the heavenly light, drenched in blood, his spirit and consciousness scorched as if on the verge of melting. With a loud bang, he was blown to pieces, blood splattering the battlefield. The middle-aged silver-haired man was furious and stunned. He had actually failed to withstand that person's fist light! Was the other party truly still just a grandmaster? His fractured flesh coalesced, his spiritual consciousness reassembling. Yet the opponent's second punch had already landed with pinpoint precision, blowing him apart once more and blasting a massive black crater into the desert floor. "Ah..." The silver-haired man shrieked, materializing again in sheer agony. He felt humiliated and lost, overwhelmed by an unspeakable sense of defeat. How could someone in the grandmaster domain overpower him so completely! Knowing he could not evade the other party's spiritual detection, he figured he might as well die with dignity rather than hide, so he reformed his body again, standing upright upon the desert sands. Lu Zizai threw a third punch, mercilessly blasting him apart. At this point, the silver-haired man had practically been slain three times in succession. His strength plummeted drastically and his vitality was severely depleted. Disheveled and stumbling, he stared up at the night sky in utter disbelief. He was shaken and despondent. Was that not the supreme grandmaster foundation he had been pursuing? To think someone had truly attained that step filled his heart with boundless bitterness. Lu Zizai did not strike again, turning around to reenter the ancestral master battlefield. Whether in body or spirit, the silver-haired man had tumbled from his peak. His strength had diminished severely, and he could no longer cause any major harm. Immediately, several grandmasters closed in on him. ... Taking in the entirety of the battlefield, Qin Ming was deeply moved, feeling that Senior Brother Lu Zizai was simply too formidable. *Senior Brother Jin Xiang is not weak either; tempering his mind for twenty years has laid down a vital foundation for godhood. Qingyue looks ready to break into the fourth realm at any moment, so I must hurry as well!* Qin Ming felt he needed to apply himself even harder. The area he occupied had been cleared out shortly before, leaving relatively few hunters for the moment. He could not help but scan all directions in search of suitable opponents. Suddenly, his eyes locked onto Li Qingxu's position; his opponent was quite out of the ordinary. Qin Ming opened his Eye of the Newborn to observe closely. It was a two-headed wolf that had not assumed human form, its entire coat golden, emitting blood-qi tinged with faint gold. He suspected that this peculiar two-headed wolf might harbor "wondrous blood" within its body! Back on the Plain of Divine Demise, he had undergone numerous life-and-death battles while also reaping immense benefits. That special land harbored creatures with wondrous blood, whose "essence" could enrich a person's foundational reserves—a priceless, miraculous substance. Qin Ming was exceptionally sensitive to such creatures, and after all this time, he suspected he had encountered another. Immediately, he charged forward, preparing to hunt down this rare golden two-headed wolf. Li Qingxu stared blankly. This person, with whom he shared a complicated history and an old grievance destined to remain unresolved, was actually charging over to help him deal with a troublesome opponent. For a moment, he began to reflect: *Has my perspective been too narrow? Look at him—what magnanimity, to actually help me slay an enemy!* Qin Ming paid him no heed whatsoever, his eyes fixed solely on the two-headed golden wolf. He estimated that when the time came to harvest the wondrous blood elixir, Li Qingxu's expression would definitely not be what it was now.