Dead silence.

  A deathly silence swept across the vast cyan-brick plaza, as if a freezing wind had blown through and stolen every sound.

  Every gaze was fixed on the scene above. Hearts trembled in shock.

  The overall situation… was decided?

  A Seventh-grade high-martial world, Star-Moon, backed by two Tribulation Transcendents… had actually lost?!

  In truth, Star-Moon hadn’t fully lost yet.

  The youth’s head had been crushed, but his primordial spirit still lived and could fight. The three Unity experts Du Longyang had pinned down were still capable of battle.

  On the Five Phoenixes’ side, aside from Du Longyang, nearly everyone was gravely wounded—including Jiang Li.

  But in momentum, the Five Phoenixes had already won decisively. There was no question.

  No Tribulation Transcendents on their roster, yet they had forcibly slain two. They had overturned a situation that should have been utter defeat.

  Every warship and spirit vessel floating beyond the Five Phoenixes fell silent.

  The opening match of the Heaven and Earth Grand Tournament had been far bloodier than anyone imagined.

  No one here was stupid.

  The instant the youth’s skull exploded, Star-Moon’s defeat was sealed.

  Three remaining Unity experts couldn’t change the outcome.

  Jiang Li swayed, the rusted ancient armor on his arm slowly dissipating.

  The skeleton in the ancient tomb had warned him never to use the War King’s Armor lightly.

  He had held back.

  But when he saw Ni Chunqiu and Young Master Tianxu trade their lives to buy him time, when he saw Ye Shoudao still swinging a blade of nothing but white bone…

  He could no longer hold back.

  So he unleashed it.

  And crushed the youth’s head.

  The star curtain shattered.

  The youth’s primordial spirit rose, eyes filled with nothing but terror—no will to fight left.

  Jiang Li would not let it escape.

  The setting sun bled once more. The battlefield general marshaled his troops.

  With a wave of his hand—millions fell.

  BOOM!

  The blood-colored war god shot forward like a cannon shell, devouring everything in its path, slamming into the youth’s primordial spirit.

  Jiang Li’s face was ashen. The high-grade sacred-tier scepter still pierced his shoulder, but he didn’t care.

  PFFT!

  Just like the first Transcendent, the youth’s primordial spirit was slowly ground to nothing.

  As though trampled beneath the hooves of a million soldiers.

  In the distance, Star-Moon’s three remaining Unity experts felt their souls quake.

  Both their Transcendents—dead in an instant.

  Could they turn this around?

  Du Longyang’s eyes were bloodshot, spear lashing out relentlessly.

  Jiang Li staggered forward, step by step.

  Blood dyed the cyan bricks red. The cold corpses of Transcendents lay strewn across the plaza.

  An aura of slaughter and ice enveloped the three surviving Star-Moon experts.

  Flee!

  They chose escape.

  The moment they shot out of the plaza as streaks of light, the match was decided.

  Ninth-grade versus Seventh-grade…

  Ninth-grade victorious!

  The Five Phoenixes… victorious!

  Every warship fell deathly silent.

  “Pfft… lucky.”

  “They figured out military formations—that’s why they had the guts. Still, barely scraping by against a Seventh-grade. That’s their limit.”

  “If Star-Moon’s two Transcendents hadn’t been careless, the Five Phoenixes would never have won.”

  Murmurs rose from the warships—some sneering, some making excuses.

  A Ninth-grade world defeating a Seventh-grade one was shocking.

  Unity experts slaying Transcendents—second-stage experts—was equally shocking.

  Saint Master Tuoba and Saint Master Qingling exchanged glances, speechless.

  They were surprised, but not overly so.

  They had long known the Five Phoenixes’ tenacity. A newborn high-martial world with limitless potential.

  Venerable Joyous stood awkwardly, honest face stiff.

  He coughed lightly, then forced a dry laugh. “They actually won…”

  That was all he could say. He was just as stunned.

  Who would’ve thought they could win?

  On the cyan-brick plaza.

  From the ancient warship, the mist-shrouded attendant watched silently, faint surprise in his eyes.

  A lazy voice drifted from within the ship.

  “War King’s Armor… interesting.”

  The attendant’s body trembled slightly.

  …

  They won!

  The Five Phoenixes won!

  Like the moment before a volcano erupts—

  The hundred thousand Great Xuan troops who had sat in silence could no longer contain themselves.

  ROAR!

  Every soldier roared in exultation.

  Xue Tao stood like an ancient pine, staring at the plaza.

  What a brutal, soul-shaking sight.

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  Ye Shoudao swinging nothing but white bone.

  Ni Chunqiu and Young Master Tianxu trading their lives to open a path.

  Xue Tao’s heart was struck like a war drum.

  He finally understood why they fought so desperately.

  He glanced at the hovering Dao Derivation Mirror, at the staked origin dao essence, and understood.

  All of it—for the Five Phoenixes’ survival.

  Star-Moon, a Seventh-grade world, had dao essence to spare. Losing ten strands hurt, but was acceptable.

  For the newborn Five Phoenixes? Losing ten would shake the very foundation of their world.

  Xue Tao clenched his fist, armor clanking.

  He stared at the figures on the plaza.

  Thumped his chest with a fist.

  Across the Five Phoenixes, cultivators boiled with passion. Many eyes turned red.

  They all understood what Jiang Li, Ye Shoudao, and the others had fought for.

  A mortal fights for pride. A cultivator fights even harder for it.

  Emperor Tantai He’s eyes were bloodshot. Though not a cultivator, he was a man of passion.

  In truth, he was much like the previous emperor—straightforward, explosive.

  Those who offend the Five Phoenixes—kill!

  This battle taught him the importance of cultivation.

  He now understood how wise the previous emperor had been to found the Great Xuan Academy.

  On the plaza.

  The Upper Realm attendant descended from the ancient warship.

  Jiang Li pulled the sacred-tier scepter from his shoulder and stored it—spoils of war, non-returnable.

  Du Longyang walked over and helped Ye Shoudao stand.

  Though Ni Chunqiu and Young Master Tianxu were battered and heavily injured, they could still walk.

  The attendant gazed calmly at them from beneath the mist.

  “First match—Five Phoenixes victory.”

  His flat voice rang out.

  He clenched a fist. The ancient bell appeared and was struck.

  DONG!

  The heavy toll declared the end of the first match.

  BOOM!

  The Dao Derivation Mirror hovering above the plaza radiated powerful light.

  Ten strands of staked dao essence were forcibly torn from Star-Moon’s phantom and transferred to the Five Phoenixes’.

  But because the overall contest wasn’t finished—individual battles remained—the essence had not yet fully belonged to the Five Phoenixes.

  BOOM!

  Beyond the Five Phoenixes’ skies, aboard Star-Moon’s warship, a furious palm slammed the railing.

  A terrifying aura exploded.

  The Saint Lord of Star-Moon was enraged.

  The opening match—Seventh-grade versus Ninth-grade—lost!

  Losing ten strands was secondary. The humiliation was primary.

  They had been so certain of victory, yet were defeated by a Ninth-grade world. They would become the laughingstock of the Nine Heavens!

  Fortunately, individual battles remained.

  They could still win back the lost essence.

  When the attendant declared the Five Phoenixes victorious, uproar swept through the watching worlds.

  Jiang Li and the others descended from the plaza.

  Qi Liujia, Overlord, and the rest shot forward.

  Overlord, Tang Yimo, and Lu Jiulian exhaled at the sight of Ye Shoudao’s condition.

  Ni Chunqiu and Young Master Tianxu were in bad shape, but Ye Shoudao—who had borne the full star rain alone—was tragic. Even his primordial spirit was damaged.

  “Good… good…”

  Qi Liujia’s wrinkled face trembled, eyes misty. He could only repeat the word.

  It had been a brutal fight, but Jiang Li and the others had given him an enormous surprise.

  They had actually won the first match.

  “Next are the individual battles. Be careful.”

  Jiang Li clutched his rotting, pierced shoulder and looked seriously at Overlord, Tang Yimo, and Lu Jiulian.

  Overlord stood like a mountain, silent. His hair hung like steel needles.

  His eyes twitched at Ye Shoudao’s bone arm.

  Fury simmered within.

  “Leave it to me.”

  His voice was low, but resolute.

  On the cyan-brick plaza.

  The attendant stood with hands behind his back, expression indifferent.

  “Team battle concluded. One incense stick’s time to rest. Individual battles will follow.”

  With a flick of his sleeve, cyan orbs fell and repaired the shattered plaza.

  His figure blurred and returned to the warship’s bow.

  …

  Lake of Origin, Heart Island.

  Lu Fan leaned back in the Thousand-Blade Chair, eyes closed.

  Only one piece had been played on the chessboard.

  His fingers tapped the armrest.

  In his vision, the [Glory Mission] bar began to glow.

  Lu Fan remained calm.

  This battle had moved him.

  Ye Shoudao’s stubbornness—even after his arm was corroded to bone, he never retreated, swinging only with will.

  The pampered Young Master Tianxu and Empress Ni Chunqiu trading their lives to give Jiang Li that final opening.

  Why?

  For the Five Phoenixes’ victory. For its glory.

  Perhaps that was the mission’s purpose.

  A thought.

  Lines of text popped up.

  “Defend the Five Phoenixes’ honor with victory. First match won. Reward: 50 strands of origin dao essence (claimable after the Heaven and Earth Grand Tournament ends).”

  Lu Fan read the system prompt.

  Rarely, he felt no particular excitement.

  He closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the text vanished.

  A gentle breeze lifted his robes.

  Fifty strands earned through blood and pain.

  All rewards accumulated until the tournament’s end?

  Lu Fan’s lips twitched.

  He ignored it.

  His gaze returned to the Spirit Pressure Chessboard.

  The contest with Star-Moon wasn’t over yet.

  …

  “That was the War King’s Armor. He obtained the War King inheritance?”

  Experts saw the truth in that fleeting moment of rusted armor.

  “Since the War King inheritance has appeared, the Piano King, Sword King, and Shadow King inheritances should surface soon…”

  “Heh, the Blood-Robed General…”

  “The Five Phoenixes truly hide great secrets. But the more secrets a world holds, the faster it falls.”

  Voices murmured across the void.

  On the blood-colored battlefield.

  Jiang Li sat cross-legged, regulating his breathing.

  Corroded flesh and spirit slowly healed.

  He heard the whispers around him but felt no regret.

  The skeleton had warned him, but when his comrades traded their lives for that chance—how could he waste it?

  A trump card kept hidden until the end was no trump card at all.

  Suddenly—

  Above Ye Shoudao, a vision of the Lake of Origin appeared.

  Origin energy poured down like a waterfall.

  Huala…

  Under its cleansing, Ye Shoudao’s bone-stump arm regrew flesh and blood.

  His damaged primordial spirit recovered.

  “It’s Young Master Lu!”

  Someone shouted in joy.

  Jiang Li, Ni Chunqiu, and Young Master Tianxu were bathed in the same energy.

  Qi Liujia’s old face twitched. He exhaled in relief.

  Overlord, Tang Yimo, and Lu Jiulian relaxed, beginning to prepare for their own battles.

  Under Lu Fan’s origin energy, the four healed rapidly.

  “Brother Lu! Heal me more!”

  Ni Chunqiu’s cheeks flushed with excitement, arms spread wide.

  Brother Lu cares about us!

  So rare!

  Ye Shoudao’s severed arm regrew, but he chose not to restore the other.

  He would remain one-armed.

  “Thank you, Young Master Lu.”

  Ye Shoudao bowed.

  Ni Chunqiu, Young Master Tianxu, and Jiang Li bowed as well.

  …

  On the ancient warship.

  A faint primordial spirit fluctuation spread.

  “This world’s Saint Lord… interesting. Can’t see through him at all.”

  A lazy, intrigued laugh drifted from within.

  The attendant rose and descended to the center of the plaza.

  His robes fluttered.

  “Individual battles…”

  “Best of three. The losing team may stake more dao essence for a chance to compete. Victory reclaims the team battle stake. Defeat forfeits the new stake to the winner.”

  His voice, carried by primordial spirit, boomed across the battlefield.

  Silence fell.

  Here it came.

  The individual battles that would decide everything.

  “Now—both sides, take the stage.”

  BOOM!

  The moment his words fell—

  From Star-Moon’s warship, a figure shot sideways.

  Terrifying pressure whipped the void as he crashed onto the plaza.

  Tribulation Transcendent aura rolled out like a tsunami.

  “Trash of the Five Phoenixes…”

  His icy gaze swept across every person from the Five Phoenixes.

  Their team battle was lost.

  He had to win the individual battles.

  From the Five Phoenixes side.

  Overlord and Tang Yimo stood at the same time.

  Their eyes clashed in mid-air.

  “This fight is mine.”

  Overlord said.

  Tang Yimo glared stubbornly, then sat back down on the blood-colored sand.

  “Thank you.”

  Overlord nodded.

  Then he began walking, step by step.

  The Five Phoenixes contingent erupted in cheers at the sight of that familiar, towering figure.

  Luo Mingsang’s cheeks tightened with worry.

  The brutality of the team battle had shaken her.

  Xu Chu, Zhao Zixu, and the other Western Liang generals’ eyes blazed.

  Emperor Tantai He sat straight, staring at Overlord’s broad back.

  Thud. Thud. Thud.

  Every grain of sand seemed to leap with his steps.

  Overlord ascended the cyan-brick plaza.

  The attendant glanced at him and raised a brow.

  Another Unity expert?

  The Five Phoenixes planned to fight a Transcendent with a Unity expert again?

  Their team victory had relied on Jiang Li’s military formation and the War King’s Armor.

  What did this man have?

  “Star-Moon—state your stake.”

  The attendant looked at the white-haired Transcendent, whose crescent mark radiated sharpness.

  “Another ten strands.”

  His words fell.

  The Dao Derivation Mirror surged again.

  Ten more strands appeared beneath Star-Moon’s phantom.

  The attendant vanished, reappearing at the warship’s bow.

  “Individual battle—life and death do not matter.”

  “Begin.”

  BOOM!

  The instant the word left his mouth—

  A storm erupted on the plaza!

  Tribulation Transcendent primordial spirit pressure exploded without restraint.

  The white-haired Transcendent’s crescent mark burned like fire.

  Behind him, ring after ring of stars rose.

  BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

  Massive, blinding stars were hurled like mountains toward Overlord standing in the center.

  Thud! Thud! Thud!

  The earth quaked.

  The plaza cracked and shattered in an instant!

  Cyan bricks were pulverized into dust!

  Like the collapse of heaven and earth, the bombardment detonated the entire arena!

  Yet—

  BOOM!

  From within the apocalyptic explosions—

  A towering figure carrying axe and shield strode out calmly.

  Each footstep rang clear as a bell, impossible to drown out even amid the deafening blasts.

  Step.

  Step.

  Step.

  Shield raised, he walked unflinchingly through the crushing starfall.

  The Star-Moon Transcendent’s pupils shrank.

  He refused to believe it!

  Even experts of his own level wouldn’t dare tank his attacks head-on!

  A mere Unity expert dared to walk through them like it was nothing?!

  Thud! Thud! Thud!

  The Transcendent rose into the air, aura surging.

  Stars rose like moons over the sea, smashing down with apocalyptic force.

  The plaza became ruins…

  Dust choked the sky.

  Yet a fierce wind cut through.

  Overlord’s towering figure emerged from the endless bombardment, shield raised, walking forward without pause.

  Left hand shield, right hand axe.

  Countless star explosions rained upon him.

  Yet he advanced!

  The Star-Moon Transcendent inhaled sharply.

  Why was this man so unbreakable?!

  Behind the ice-cold shield, Overlord’s eyes blazed with battle intent.

  “Third-sequence…”

  “Unyielding!”

  BOOM!

  Demonic qi exploded outward.

  His giant axe swept across the sky.

  All the bombardment he had endured—all the destructive power—

  Now gathered into one swing.

  As if laughing at the heavens.

  You hit me.

  Now I return it all!

  One axe—

  Starfall!