Mutual Ruin?

Chen Dahai and Chen Huohai did not dodge. Facing the dense barrage of blade energy, they met force with force, transmuting their mental strength into greatswords that swept back and forth relentlessly. Several hundred light-years separated the two sides. Across this expanse, black waves of blade energy were continually pulverized by mental strength, dissolving like withering blossoms. Their strength was formidable indeed. Their mental strength was vast and resilient, manipulated with effortless precision and shifting at tremendous speed. Any loss sustained in each clash was replenished almost instantly, allowing them to remain constantly in peak condition. Quan Juehua was certain that if all three brothers fought together, few Mighty Ones across the myriad worlds could ever defeat them. Yet now, likely unhinged with grief and fury over Chen Xiaozhao's death, both had lost their calm. In the course of his assault, Quan Juehua found their weaknesses with ease. "The inward-seeking method requires no resources for cultivation." "All its power springs from the heart. When the heart is perturbed... that power falls into disarray as well." Quan Juehua observed Chen Dahai and Chen Huohai, musing coldly to himself. Even so, it was not yet time to kill the pair; this was a prime opportunity to let certain people indulge their hopes for a while. The Slay-Quan Alliance. Upon receiving the news, Xu Gouzi hurried immediately to Longjing Tea's residence. "Alliance Leader, good news! Tremendous news! Quan Juehua has reappeared, and he's fighting the Chen brothers right now!" Xu Gouzi called out the moment he stepped inside. Longjing Tea opened his eyes, a glint of joy flashing within them. After waiting for so long, it was finally beginning. "Come, let's go see!" Rising to his feet, Longjing Tea addressed the other two leaders. The group hurried to the Stargazing Platform, where an apparatus capable of observing events across the myriad worlds was situated. It was not a Transcendence-grade item, but rather a supreme magic treasure constructed through immense expenditure of resources and manpower. When Longjing Tea arrived, a large crowd of alliance members was already gathered. High above the Stargazing Platform, numerous layered formations coalesced into a holographic light screen, broadcasting the ongoing battle between Quan Juehua and the two Chen brothers. "How does the battle fare?" Making his way to the front, Longjing Tea asked a nearby Mighty One. The Mighty One replied, "It's stalemated. I fear a victor won't emerge anytime soon." "Huh? Why are there only two Chen brothers? Where is Chen Xiaozhao?" Nikolai noticed something amiss and asked at once. The crowd shook their heads. The Stargazing Platform had only picked up the ripples after the battle erupted, missing the scene where Quan Juehua had ambushed Chen Xiaozhao. "Alliance Leader, judging by the situation, Chen Dahai and Chen Huohai seem evenly matched with Quan Juehua. Perhaps Chen Xiaozhao is lying in wait in the shadows, biding his time. This battle could very well end in mutual ruin," Hattori Hanzo analyzed. Hearing this, Longjing Tea nodded. Mutual ruin was precisely what he hoped for—or, ideally, mutual destruction. After all, strong as his combat prowess was, in a direct clash he was far from Quan Juehua's equal. If he could avoid fighting Quan Juehua, it was best not to. On the screen, the battle suddenly shifted. Quan Juehua appeared to be flagging and began to fall back. Chen Dahai and Chen Huohai pressed their offensive with even greater ferocity, and the clash through the void gradually turned into a pursuit. "Well done!" Seeing this, several Mighty Ones cheered aloud. Yet inside, Longjing Tea grew anxious. Quan Juehua was alone, while the Chen brothers had two. Indeed, strength in numbers reigned supreme; two against one, and the advantage was obvious. But this was not the outcome he wanted. He wanted the Chen brothers and Quan Juehua to tear each other down until both sides fell together. "Alliance Leader, what if... we..." Nikolai leaned toward Longjing Tea and whispered, making a subtle gesture suggesting a stab in the back. "..." Longjing Tea glanced at him, then gave a slight shake of his head. They could not defeat Quan Juehua, which meant they stood even less chance against the Chen brothers who were driving Quan Juehua before them. If an ambush managed to kill off the brothers, all would be well; the true danger was if the brothers survived and triumphed. Then, even without prior enmity, a feud would be forged. Given the Chen brothers' vindictive natures, Longjing Tea felt his head would sit rather precariously upon his shoulders. Yet just when everyone believed the Chen brothers held the upper hand and Quan Juehua was no match for the pair, Quan Juehua abruptly spun around and cleaved with his blade. The might of this slash was horrifying beyond measure. The length of the black blade energy defied estimation, and even its thickness was exaggerated to the point of being measured in light-years. Pursuing closely, the Chen brothers had no choice against this sudden strike but to blanket their front with a dense layer of mental strength and crash headlong into the blade energy, carving two massive rifts through it. Pffft! The instant the two brothers broke through the enveloping blade energy, Quan Juehua was not in front of them. Instead, he materialized noiselessly behind Chen Dahai and drove his blade straight into Chen Dahai's chest. As mentioned before, Quan Juehua's teleportation was exceptionally high-tier, devoid of the slightest spatial ripple. Zhang Shou had suffered at its hands in the past. Now, Chen Dahai suffered the very same fate. Because Quan Juehua's attack had been too ferocious, he had been forced to shape his mental strength into a giant V-shaped blade of thought to cleave through the oncoming blade energy ahead. This left his rear unprotected, exposing a flaw. Above all, at the instant the blade energy was fully cleaved, Chen Dahai had not let down his guard, yet within that split second, a mental transition occurred. One moment held the intent to cleave the blade energy; the next held the intent to seek vengeance and lock onto Quan Juehua. The shift in mental strength between those two thoughts was, in truth, an opening. Although across the entire Tree Universe, among all the Mighty Ones, Quan Juehua alone could perceive and seize upon such a flaw. For it was simply too fast. The transition was blindingly quick, like someone craving a chicken drumstick one instant and abalone the next. And Chen Dahai's transition had been faster still—faster by countless leagues. "See, careless again," Quan Juehua sneered into Chen Dahai's ear. In the next heartbeat, the Malevolent Blade unleashed tremendous suction, preparing to swallow Chen Dahai whole. Yet there was still Chen Huohai. Countless trillions of times faster than a spark struck from flint, Chen Huohai's sharp blade of mental strength slashed across. In an instant, Chen Dahai's neck was severed, his head cleanly parting from his torso. It was not finished. After severing Chen Dahai's neck, the keen blade swept onward toward Quan Juehua right behind him. Quan Juehua was roughly the same height as Chen Dahai, which meant that if this sword could decapitate Chen Dahai, it could decapitate Quan Juehua just as easily. A glass cannon—fragile in defense, but devastating in offense. Quan Juehua's pupils shrank violently. He had never expected Chen Huohai to be so utterly ruthless. He hurriedly teleported away, narrowly escaping having his own head severed. Though the evasion had been executed in extreme haste, Quan Juehua had lived for countless ages. Almost instinctively, he reappeared behind Chen Huohai, thrusting his long blade toward Chen Huohai's chest. Yet Chen Huohai seemed to have anticipated this; the mental strength along his back erupted into spikes of thorns in an instant. Pfft. Pfft! Quan Juehua's blade plunged into Chen Huohai's chest, but at the exact same moment, his own body was impaled by the spikes, riddling him like a hornet's nest.