The rules of the arena changed after Lu Yun went on a killing spree, targeting the most powerful of the contestants. Those who’d been solo-hunting the weak began to form teams, and all thirty-six returned void realm cultivators came together.

“We must eliminate Qing Yu and his Sidekick first,” one of them said firmly. “Otherwise, none of us will survive to the end!”

He was a top genius who’d gained the blessings of the Dao Flower and created his own void realm method upon ascension. He’d thought he’d be unrivalled in the arena and that there was no way he wouldn’t be listed in the Sovereign Ranking.

However, a mere sidekick had forced him to band together with the other top contestants. The thirty-six returned void realm cultivators were the strongest in the arena!

“Qing Yu’s Sidekick isn’t necessarily more powerful than we are, but he’s too unpredictable,” complained another cultivator. “We can’t even sense where he is!”

He’d seen Lu Yun cutting a returned void realm cultivator down with a single slash; his opponent hadn’t even seen Lu Yun even upon the moment of elimination. If this cultivator hadn’t happened to witness the scene, he wouldn’t have noticed anything either, since Lu Yun didn’t register in his senses at all; not even when Lu Yun made his attack!

Or… perhaps the traces he left couldn’t be detected by contemporary cultivators.

“He’s made a mess of everything!”

…… 

“You don’t have to join hands against him,” a calm voice traveled forth from the void. “I can kill him myself.”

A figure shrouded in shadows slowly descended from the air. He was tall and burly, his arms long enough to reach past his knees. On his back was an immortal sword.

“Who are you? Why can you also bring an immortal sword into the arena?!” The thirty-six returned void realm cultivators were inordinately shocked to see him. Their gazes fell on the sword on the man’s back. Unlike Lu Yun’s shamanic treasure, this was an immortal sword!

“You may call me Sword Divine.” The man’s words drifted in the air, sounding as close as a whisper by the ears, but as distant as an echo from the firmament. It was impossible to remember his voice.

“Sword Divine… He’s a divine!” Someone immediately picked out the salient bit of information from the newcomer’s name.

There were divines among the thirty-six returned void realm cultivators, but even they were confounded by Sword Divine’s emergence. There was no heavyweight like him among the divine race!

The shadow divines who’d shown up at the end of the Ingress Path weren’t part of the current divine race, either. The senior divine council were also clueless as to who they were. They’d backed down from the center stage of society as a whole, and there was no reason for them to make an enemy out of the entire world—at least, not yet.

……

“Who are they talking to?” asked an immortal in Destiny City. None of them could see Sword Divine!

“Qing Yu’s Sidekick talked to the air like he was facing his worst enemy during the second round. Is there… really someone we cannot see?” That realization sent chills down everyone’s spine.

“It seems the Sovereign Meet this time really isn’t being controlled by the will of the immortal dao.” An origin dao immortal frowned.

“Look, Qing Yu’s Sidekick is fighting Wu Tulong!” someone exclaimed.

Wu Tulong!

Three years ago, he’d been among the five youth sovereigns and had been responsible for restoring the returned void realm—the last of the void realm. Now, he’d ascended to that very same realm.

He had no weapon with him, but his unique inner energy enabled him to manifest a pike with which to fight Lu Yun. His gaze was sharp as an eagle’s, and there was no trace of emotion on his face.

Likewise, Lu Yun didn’t use his bone sword. He chose to fight with immortal dao combat arts rather than shamanic techniques.

“What a pity that we didn’t fight three years ago, Wu Tulong,” Lu Yun murmured as the two circled each other. “And now it’ll be a regret I harbor forever. You’re no longer the man I once knew.”

Wu Tulong stilled after a violent tremble. Something seemed to be breaking through his cold mask.

“You... are not master’s match yet,” he suddenly changed the topic.

“Who… who is your master?!” Lu Yun perked up. Wu Tulong hadn’t completely lost to the soul seed yet!

“Fight!” howled Wu Tulong in lieu of a response. His pike burst into multiple shadows and covered the area around himself. Every single one of the shadows lunged at Lu Yun with the power to destroy heaven and earth.

“So be it!” Lu Yun growled.

Bam!

His inner energy surged and the image of an enormous qilin emerged behind his back.

“A qilin method!! That Sidekick is using a qilin method!!”

“The qilins were completely destroyed in the war of immortals a hundred thousand years ago and their heritage was lost. How does he know a qilin method?!”

No heritage had been left from the qilins, but image records of their methods could be found in tomes unearthed from ancient tombs. Reading the books allowed people to observe the methods like they were seeing it with their own eyes.

However, with no heritage passed down, contemporary immortals couldn’t cultivate any qilin methods. Hence, it was quite a surprise to see the abrupt revival of this extinct method, and one of the great combat arts of the qilin tribe at that!

A large black qilin image flew out of Lu Yun’s hand and scattered Wu Tulong’s shadow pikes. Then his hand turned into a qilin foot and stomped at Wu Tulong’s chest.

……

“Humans have indeed relinquished their former pride and cultivate monster spirit methods now.” On the rooftop of Jadeite Manor, Scarlet Ape stared dumbfoundedly at the young man using a qilin method in the Sovereign Arena, cradling the iron rod in its arms.

“The martial combat arts of the world were all invented by the human race. Natural talents of the monster spirits and divines were considered barbaric tricks beneath them. Although the talents of the dragons, phoenixes, qilins, and tortoises are ranked relatively higher, they are no match for the combat arts of the human race.

“Wait, the qilin method he’s using isn’t what it was in the past. It has incorporated the strength of the original method and the dao of the human race… It’s an immortal dao combat art! ...the human race is truly formidable...”

……

The qilin foot knocked Wu Tulong and his pike away, but the former youth sovereign riposted with an immortal sword, sending further ripples of shock through the audience. It was an actual immortal sword, rather than a weapon created by inner energy.

“Stop holding back, or I’ll kill you,” Wu Tulong remarked emotionlessly.

Lu Yun’s pupils constricted rapidly. A sense of danger loomed over him when the sword pointed at him. His instincts told him that if he was slain by that immortal sword, he wouldn’t be eliminated, but dead for real!

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