"Are we really not going over? Just waiting?" Lord Luojia turned to his two friends and asked quietly, watching the fierce battle in the distance.
Though he asked, his gaze fell on Lord Lance.
Lord Guden stood with his hands on his hips. "I'm listening to Lance."
"You listen to Lance, but why don't you ever listen to me?" Lord Luojia sneered.
"Lance gives me good stuff when he gets his hands on it. You'd probably just try to take the good stuff off me." Hearing that, Lord Guden couldn't help rolling his eyes again.
Lord Luojia rubbed the back of his head and fell silent.
Guden wasn't wrong. Whenever Luojia saw something good, he really did try to swipe it for himself. Maybe he'd been poor for too long!
He shook his head, stopped arguing with Guden, and waited in silence.
Lord Lance stood beside them, eyes lowered, as if sensing something.
After a moment, he spoke.
"All right, we should go!"
If they didn't hurry, that kid really would be done for!
The Internal World.
Li Yilin stared at the Flame Cage descending from the sky. His hand braced against the ground clenched, then relaxed, then clenched again.
He hesitated over whether to use the Fire God Source Crystal.
But the Fire God Source Crystal's explosion would be too powerful. He had no confidence he could survive at the center of a blast capable of killing an Immortal.
As he hesitated, a golden blade flashed in the distance, crossing the vast distance in an instant and cleaving into Bertin's world.
The blade light swept past, tearing the world apart. Dominant golden light surged in, and strands of golden threads broke through the Flame Cage's defenses.
Boom!
Amid the deafening explosion, a massive metal hammer came crashing down from the sky.
The hammer was pale green all over, its color gentle and warm. Green vines wrapped around its wooden handle, winding along it until they reached the enormous pale-green head.
As the hammer came down, immense power erupted and strange phenomena appeared. Countless phantoms formed around it, in all shapes and sizes: towering trees, delicate little grasses, and flowers of every color, blooming in layers across the void as a powerful aura of life burst forth.
The seemingly fragile vines effortlessly broke through the Flame Cage. They gently enveloped the scattered flames, which dissolved into pure energy and vanished into the void...
A hammer could be so exquisitely made?
That was what Li Yilin thought.
He didn't hesitate. The instant the Flame Cage shattered, he flashed out.
The metal hammer smashed through the Flame Cage, and a powerful shock wave spread out. The Internal World, already torn apart and badly damaged by the blade shadows, suffered another violent assault. The world turned upside down and shuddered, as if it might break apart at any moment. Bertin's Flame Phantom was nearly at its limit, too.
Just then, a black arrow tore through the void and appeared before Bertin in an instant, shooting straight for his face.
Bertin reacted swiftly, raising a shield before himself as he dodged to the side. But the arrow could track its target. After flying hundreds of miles, it turned around and came at him even faster.
This time, Bertin failed to dodge. The black arrow pierced his body,
"Ugh!" Bertin looked up in shock. He had just started to speak when another blade shadow swept past.
It was Li Yilin, who had caught up.
Boom!
The blade light pierced his body and struck the already-cracked Origin Core with pinpoint accuracy, shattering it instantly.
"How is this possible?" Bertin stared wide-eyed at Li Yilin, his mind flashing through countless thoughts.
There was unwillingness, regret, and longing... But in the blink of an eye, they all shattered, and his consciousness faded away.
Whoosh!
A world collapsed with a roar. The endless flaming mountains vanished, and the starry sky reappeared.
Bertin's corpse floated through space, rising and falling with the pull of gravity. His shield and countless other objects drifted around him, bobbing in the void.
Not far away, a spaceship that had been hidden behind an asteroid also appeared. There wasn't a single living person aboard.
Every one of Bertin's pursuers, including Seren, had been his slave. Now that he was dead, none of them could survive.
That was the fate of slaves.
Lord Lance, Lord Luojia, and Lord Guden stood shoulder to shoulder in the void, watching Li Yilin, who was still floating in the air as if he hadn't quite come to his senses.
Li Yilin hadn't noticed. He was truly stunned.
Just as his blade shattered Bertin's Life Core, the System Panel in the upper-right corner of his vision flickered and updated.
[Sign-in count: 1.]
The system's sign-in count had updated!
He lowered his eyes to Bertin's corpse, lost in thought.
What exactly was the pattern behind the system's sign-in updates?
The first time, the system had refreshed automatically because he had just transmigrated. The second time, it had updated after he killed a Domain Lord who attacked him. This time, it was after he killed the man before him.
Could it mean he had to kill people?
But he'd killed plenty of people in a thousand life-and-death battles!
Was it because the update hadn't finished back then?
He shook his head, temporarily setting the thought aside, and looked at the three men not far away.
"Thank you, my lords, for coming to my aid in time!" He bowed and cupped his hands respectfully.
Though he guessed they might be the three World Lords from the Giant Axe Arena whom Sawatdee had mentioned, he wouldn't presume it until they confirmed it. What if he was wrong? That would be mortifying.
Lord Guden was the first to flash over. He approached and circled Li Yilin, sizing him up.
Not knowing what he intended, Li Yilin stood still, his body so tense he hardly dared move.
"Kid, you're Li Yilin?" Lord Guden put his hands on his hips. "You look no different from an ordinary person. Your Law Comprehension isn't particularly high. You count as a genius, but there's nothing especially unusual about you..."
He leaned close and studied Li Yilin's eyes, asking curiously, "How did you convince Sawatdee to send us to help you?"
These days, favors weren't easy to repay. No one was willing to owe one unless they had no choice.
To get Sawatdee to owe three World Lords a favor for his sake, this kid had to be something else!
So they really were the three World Lords Sawatdee had mentioned. The thought flashed through Li Yilin's mind, and he gave a slight nod. "Lord Sawa is kindhearted. I was just lucky enough to catch his eye.
"What Lord Sawa chooses to do isn't something a lowly person like me can influence."
His words left no opening, and Lord Guden found himself with nothing to say. He pursed his lips. "Fine, fine!"
"My name's Guden." He introduced himself, then pointed at Lance and Luojia. "The one with the golden blade mark between his brows is Lance, and the one in black battle armor is Luojia. We came to help you at Sawatdee's request."
"Greetings, Lord Guden, Lord Luojia, and Lord Lance. You saved my life. If you ever need anything from me, I'll repay you." Li Yilin bowed to each of them, and all three accepted his thanks calmly.
Lord Lance flashed forward, his gaze settling on Li Yilin's brow.
A purple mark resembling the eye of some kind of animal rested between his brows. If it hadn't lacked any trace of Law energy, one might have mistaken it for a mark bestowed by a law.
"Before we arrived, how did you manage to withstand that World Lord's pursuit?" he asked, staring sharply into Li Yilin's eyes as if he would kill him without hesitation if he lied.
As soon as he asked, Lord Guden's smile faded, and he looked at Li Yilin. Lord Luojia crossed his arms and watched him with leisurely interest.
Three gazes settled on him.
Whoosh!
A drop of sweat slid down Li Yilin's forehead. The instant it left his body, the pull of the universe sent it flying away.
Before you continue