Chapter 1161, A Standoff Held in Stalemate

Translator: Silavin

  

Vigorous Yuan Energy raged and surged across the land, and in the midst of this battle, the small hill where Qin Yichen had previously stood was razed entirely to the ground.

 

Across the devastated earth, corpses lay strewn everywhere. The ground had long since been dyed crimson with blood.

 

At this moment, in the distance, countless people watched with faces pale in fright. Their gazes carried a thick, heavy dread as they fixed upon that one figure flickering ceaselessly through the crowd.

 

That figure moved like the scythe of the God of Death, leaving a trail of blood and carnage wherever it passed. One by one, powerful experts fell with resentment in their hearts!

 

Even those who witnessed it with their own eyes felt as though they were watching a scene from their nightmares.

 

Faced with the siege of several hundred Martial Ancestors, that fellow had not only failed to be slaughtered in an instant, he was actually reaping their lives as casually as one mows down grass!

 

Though as time wore on, those experts gradually found ways to suppress and counter him, in the short span of slightly more than a quarter of an hour, over a hundred experts had already been killed or wounded!

 

Every single one who had participated in this encirclement was a seasoned veteran, rich in the experience of battle and slaughter. Even if they swarmed an ordinary Saint, the latter would likely be unable to inflict losses on this scale.

 

And what shocked people most was that, after all this time, though the speed at which Qin Yichen was cutting down the surrounding experts had slowed, he still had not lost his fighting capacity. In fact, it seemed to be growing more ferocious the longer the battle continued!

 

“Is he seriously only at the Late Stage Martial Ancestor Realm?”

 

“How is that possible?”

 

Countless experts cried out inwardly in disbelief, and among the several hundred surrounding Qin Yichen, many had already begun to lose their nerve and inch backwards.

 

True, so long as they brought Qin Yichen down, they could divide up that incomparably precious Pill Formula, and might even obtain the fortuitous encounter the latter had acquired in the Dangerous Territory.

 

But that fortuitous encounter had never been confirmed, and was far too uncertain to rely on. Moreover, a Pill Formula usable by all Races would never be held exclusively by any single Race, and Qin Yichen himself was the finest proof of that.

 

Even if they succeeded in obtaining the Pill Formula, the benefits they would enjoy would be considerable, yet the whole affair would most likely end up lining someone else’s pocket.

 

Had it been a trivial matter to carry out in passing, they would have been perfectly willing. But watching Qin Yichen slaughter with such savage abandonment had truly chilled the hearts of countless people.

 

Almost everyone present was a genius of their respective Race, each with a glorious future ahead of them. Who among them was willing to perish here in obscurity, without even knowing why?

 

As the first group of experts began to retreat, that timidity seemed to spread like a contagion. Before long, of the three to four hundred experts who had been encircling him, nearly half had melted away in the space of a single moment.

 

And Qin Yichen made no move to stop those who left.

 

In truth, he simply had no energy to spare for blocking their retreat. After all, holding out this long against so many experts, even with the protection of the Myriad Dao Divine Armour chest plate and the support of Pills, he could feel his Qi and blood churning in disorder.

 

If this continued for much longer, he would be utterly spent before too long. After all, using Spiritual Energy attacks to stun those experts for a single fleeting instant before unleashing a full-force blow to kill them was an enormous drain on him.

 

With the retreat of those too fearful to engage, the remaining hundred or so began to show changes in their expressions.

 

Only when the fighting paused did they realise just how many had fallen at his hands. The dense carpet of corpses below, were those not the very experts who had been fighting alongside them to encircle Qin Yichen?

 

By this point, Qin Yichen had come to rest atop a fragment of shattered stone.

 

He looked almost like a man made of blood, his face soaked crimson. A pair of eyes flickering with cold light radiating a brilliance that made all who saw it feel a chill strike their hearts.

 

It was as though those eyes were the very embodiment of death, and there was not a single person among those his gaze swept over who dared to meet it!

 

Anyone could sense that Qin Yichen’s aura was far less steady than before, a clear sign that he too had been enormously depleted!

 

Yet in this moment, not one person dared to make a move against him, for they knew that the latter was fighting with an absolute resolve to die if necessary, and no one could say for certain, if they struck now, whether the next person to become one of those corpses might be themselves.

 

But with Qin Yichen in such a wretched state, no one was willing to walk away empty-handed.

 

And so, a standoff of wildly mismatched numbers froze in place, and refused to budge.

 

…

 

“Truly unbelievable. Though the Juniors who besieged this youth had acted in an utterly contemptuous manner. Yet, this young man does have some genuine ability.”

 

High above in the sky, a flicker of surprise passed through Chen Xun’s eyes.

 

Evidently, even he had not anticipated that Qin Yichen would be able to hold out until now, and moreover, under circumstances so overwhelmingly disadvantageous, to have slain so many experts.

 

“His mentality is quite praiseworthy.” Mo Sheng murmured under his breath, though it seemed he was turning some problem over in his mind, for his brow could not help but knit into a tight furrow.

 

“Ha ha ha! Mo Sheng, a seedling this fine, and even I feel my heart stirring, yet you still haven’t simply taken him on the spot?” Chen Xun laughed loudly and said, “He must have a terrifying defensive treasure on him. If not, no matter how extraordinary his strength, he would have died a thousand times over by now. It’s about time to have them stop. Otherwise, who knows how many more of those little ones will die at his hands.”

 

Hearing Chen Xun’s words, Mo Sheng frowned slightly. He understood what Chen Xun was worried about.

 

Though the Myriad Beasts Domain was a neutral territory, which no Race was willing to offend, the first trial he had set up this time had drawn the finest young prodigies from many powerful Races. If too many were lost here, those Races might just band together and come demanding answers.

 

Not that he was afraid, of course, but it would be a huge nuisance.

 

“Mo Sheng, what is making you hesitate?” Chen Xun asked, somewhat puzzled, watching Mo Sheng’s expression.

 

These so-called trials were nothing more than a means of observing the aptitude and all-round potential of the participants. At this moment, Qin Yichen had fought hundreds of equals single-handedly, and whether by his strength or by his extraordinary composure, he was unequalled. He was no doubt a first-rate candidate.

 

Had it not been for his own sworn oath standing in the way, Chen Xun would have been tempted to shamelessly snatch this fine seedling for himself. Yet Mo Sheng was still hesitating.

 

“That young man, he is a dual cultivator that pursues both Spiritual Energy and Martial Arts.”

 

After a long pause, Mo Sheng drew a deep breath and slowly said.

 

“A dual cultivator!?” Hearing those words, as though recalling something dreadful, Chen Xun’s expression changed in an instant.

 

Perhaps others did not know what it signified, but how could those at their level not know?