It Is Over

"Damn it!" Mulberry King cursed, unable to spare attention for anything else. After all, with Li Xianling personally entering the fray, he had to be extremely careful; one moment of carelessness and he might well be hacked down by the other side.

The other Rank 9s were also feeling stifled. They had clearly held the winning hand, so how did things suddenly turn around, leading to their own side collapsing first? Beyond cursing their subordinates as trash, they truly didn't know how to salvage the situation.

At this moment, Zhang Tao and Xie Zhaoyang had already returned to the Rank 7 battlefield. After tossing Xu Yingcang aside, Xie Zhaoyang said, "Let's go, let's wipe out the Rank 7 battlefield first!"

Zhang Tao naturally had no objections. Although Xu Yingcang was currently in a skeletal state, he had recovered slightly along the way, so self-preservation shouldn't be a major issue. Furthermore, the Rank 7s here were already completely pinned down; as long as Xu Yingcang didn't act recklessly, the chances of him being fine were high.

With the two of them joining, the Rank 7 battlefield immediately erupted into chaos.

After Zhang Tao found Li Zhen, he burst into laughter: "Haha, Li Laoer, why are you in such a miserable state?"

At this moment, Li Zhen had been slashed down to nothing but bones, looking wretched to the extreme. If not for a Grandmaster nearby protecting him, it was hard to say what his fate would have been.

Hearing Zhang Tao's mockery, Li Zhen didn't even want to speak. He had been careless earlier and caught in the blast of a Rank 7's self-detonation; most of his flesh and blood had been destroyed by that explosion.

Of course, for someone who had just entered Rank 7 to survive the self-detonation of a late-stage Rank 7 was unheard of. Even the veteran Grandmaster who had been fighting that late-stage Rank 7 hadn't survived.

"Zhang Tao, how is the situation over there?" the Grandmaster beside Li Zhen immediately asked. After all, Zhang Tao and Xie Zhaoyang had gone to the Rank 8 battlefield, and several large explosions had occurred there afterward, leaving them in the dark about the situation.

But one thing was certain: the battle over there must have been incredibly dangerous and brutal.

"It's fine. We should be able to win this battle. For the next dozen years or so, I'm afraid they won't have the strength to launch another high-rank war!" Zhang Tao said with great confidence. As he spoke, he charged forward and slashed at a Catacombs Rank 7 who was still engaged with the Grandmaster.

The Rank 7 retreated violently. Upon seeing Zhang Tao, he had already planned to flee; there was no helping it, since the guy had returned from the Rank 8 battlefield, the situation over there clearly wasn't good for them.

Moreover, the collapse of the Rank 7 battlefield was only a matter of time. It hadn't been easy for him to cultivate to Rank 7, so he naturally didn't want to lose his life here. Without a word, he flew off into the distance.

Zhang Tao didn't press the attack, nor did he pursue him. The most important thing now was to resolve the Rank 7 battlefield; the human side couldn't afford to lose any more Grandmasters.

As Zhang Tao slaughtered his way into the other side, the Catacombs Rank 7s saw that some of their own had already fled, so they stopped holding their ground and began to run as well. In an instant, the Rank 7 battlefield was completely liberated.

Even so, the human side had lost over a dozen Rank 7s, which showed just how cruel the Catacombs war was.

"Everyone, follow me to the Rank 8 battlefield!" Xie Zhaoyang roared. Now that the Rank 7 battlefield had collapsed, they needed to go help the Rank 8s. If one person couldn't win, couldn't three or five take down one? Even if they couldn't win, couldn't they at least stall them?

Just like that, Xie Zhaoyang led everyone to charge toward the Rank 8 battlefield. Before they even arrived, the battle there had already collapsed.

With the God-Slaying Blade, Wang Zanghai was killing everything in his path; he was incredibly formidable. Furthermore, the True King had sent a telepathic message that the Rank 7 battlefield had collapsed, and if a large number of Rank 7s arrived, they would be routed anyway. So, before Xie Zhaoyang and Zhang Tao could even arrive, the Rank 8s had already retreated.

"This time, count yourselves lucky!" Mulberry King cursed a few times before fleeing as well.

Chrysanthemum King sighed. The six cities had joined forces, yet they hadn't managed to wipe out the Land of Rebirth and had even been forced into a rout. Chrysanthemum King had completely given up hope; this time, his Chrysanthemum King City had suffered heavy losses, and he could only return to recuperate.

The war ended just like that.

In Kyoto City, everyone tallied the losses. Although they had achieved a great victory, the human side had also suffered significant casualties. The low-rank martial artists weren't counted, as too many had died. Among the high-ranks, twelve Rank 7s had fallen, and ten Rank 8s were lost. It could be said that the foundation of humanity had been diminished once again.

However, these people had bought Kyoto Catacombs a decade or so of peace, which was a huge profit.

After all, this time, Li Xianling had been prepared to seal off Kyoto City.

The turning point of the war was largely thanks to Zhang Tao. Li Xianling called Zhang Tao up and said, "Zhang Tao, you have performed a great service this time. If not for you, we wouldn't have had this victory. Therefore, I intend to promote Zhang Tao to Vice Dean of the Culture Academy. Does anyone have any objections?"

The other Grandmasters all shook their heads. What a joke—how could there be any objections? Not to mention Zhang Tao's performance, given his level of genius, becoming a leader was only a matter of time. Furthermore, this time, Zhang Tao had used his strength as a fresh Rank 7 to defeat the Catacombs, provided a divine artifact, and helped liberate the Rank 8 battlefield. Calling him the top contributor was no exaggeration.

Many more Grandmasters owed Zhang Tao a favor. It could be said that this battle allowed Zhang Tao to be truly recognized by the Grandmasters of Kyoto. This recognition meant that Zhang Tao had truly entered the upper echelons of Kyoto.

Li Xianling's move was also intended to make Zhang Tao's future succession much smoother, as he truly thought highly of him.

The subsequent cleanup work didn't require Zhang Tao's presence. As soon as he came out, he was pulled aside by Wang Zanghai.

"Zhang Tao, what's the deal with that blade of yours? Where did you get it!" Looking at Wang Zanghai's secretive and cautious demeanor, with his eyes glancing at Zhang Tao's waist from time to time, it was obvious he had designs on Zhang Tao's blade.

"Senior Wang, don't even think about it. There's only one of those!" Zhang Tao laughed. This was a divine artifact given by the cat, and it wasn't something just anyone could take. Things from the cat weren't easy to take; if your life wasn't tough enough, you really couldn't take it.

Wang Zanghai grinned awkwardly. He felt that with that blade in hand, he would be invincible among Rank 8s, and even a Rank 9 wouldn't be impossible to fight. Unfortunately, this was something he could only dream about.

"You brat, forget it. In the future, if there's any good stuff, remember to think of me. I, Old Wang, stand on your side." Wang Zanghai shook his head and left after saying this.

Zhang Tao took a stroll around Kyoto City and found an injured Nan Yunyue, but he didn't see Li Zhen, so he asked curiously: "Where is Li Laoer?"

After all, he hadn't seen Li Zhen at the meeting earlier.

"He was taken away by someone. By the way, I've reached Rank 6. You said that once I reached Rank 6, you'd help me speed up my cultivation!" Nan Yunyue didn't care about her injuries and grabbed Zhang Tao's hand directly. There was no helping it; Zhang Tao was already at mid-Rank 7, having broken through in the middle of the battle with such terrifying speed that Nan Yunyue couldn't care about saving face anymore.