Mu Mou's Eager Heart to Protect His Wife

However, the emergence of the Spirit Treasury is bound to attract experts from all walks of life to contend for it.

Every indication suggests that at least seven or eight King-level existences have appeared in the nearby region, preparing to enter the fray. When the time comes, it will undoubtedly be another earth-shattering, bloody battle.

With the foundation laid by generations of the Ji Clan, Ji Xuan has absolute confidence in seizing the Ancient Heavenly Dragon Eagle's Heavenly Beast Essence Soul, but—

If he chooses the Spirit Treasury, he will surely lose the beauty.

If he chooses the beauty, he will surely lose the Spirit Treasury.

The Spirit Treasury symbolizes opportunity, heritage, and achievement.

Or rather, the possibility of taking a step further in the future.

Luo Li represents love, a life partner, and a lifetime of companionship.

Opportunity or love?

This is an either-or, mutually exclusive ending where only one can be chosen.

A look of intense struggle emerges on Ji Xuan's handsome and refined face.

As time slips away bit by bit, this pride of the Ji Clan suddenly opens his eyes, his expression turning resolute; he has made his choice.

Ji Xuan takes one deep look at the slender, graceful figure on the battlefield who is struggling to parry and gradually falling into a disadvantage, then turns and flees into the mountain forest without looking back.

I'm sorry, Luo Li.

The blood and sweat of the clan for decades, the efforts of several generations, cannot be squandered in my hands. Bearing the hopes of an ancient clan and gathering the destiny of the entire family, I, Ji, must never lose.

Wait for me to open the Spirit Treasury, seize the Heavenly Beast Essence Soul, and I will return to save you.

Ji Xuan's entire heart is bleeding as his speed increases.

He knows that all of this is nothing more than self-consolation.

The place where the Spirit Treasury emerges is at least a thousand miles away from the Black Demon Forest.

A round trip, at the very least, would take about twenty days.

By the time he succeeds and returns, I fear Luo Li will have long since...

Ji Xuan does not know that at the very moment he abandoned Luo Li and left the battlefield, a human youth from the Hundred Spirit Continent rushed out with unwavering determination.

On the field, the situation is becoming increasingly critical.

The Five Tigers of the Zhao Clan are extremely skilled in battle formations and military-style joint attacks.

The five brothers of the same clan join forces, fearless of death, and have always been invincible.

The King-level contestant who died at the hands of the Five Tigers met his end exactly this way.

"Clang, clang, clang."

Zhao Tiandu, like a fierce tiger descending a mountain, holds a blood-colored saber and unleashes the Thirty-Six Style Cloak Blade Technique, which he has practiced to perfection, hacking away madly.

Bang! Another collision between blade and sword occurs, and the blood-colored saber, already covered in notches, can no longer hold up, shattering directly into a sky full of metal fragments.

"Good, good, good! It truly is a Clan-Protecting Divine Artifact; this item belongs to me!"

Seeing this, Zhao Tiandu is not angry but delighted, laughing out loud.

This blood-colored saber was a rare, top-grade Spirit Treasury.

It was the weapon he had spent a fortune to acquire before entering the Spiritual Road Plane; it could cut through metal and jade with ease and had earned him glorious battle merits.

A mysterious Clan-Protecting Divine Artifact capable of easily snapping this blade must be at least of mid-grade quality or higher.

Following a vicious look from Zhao Tiandu, the remaining four of the Five Tigers of the Zhao Clan immediately shift their formation, falling into the four corners of the world to launch a sudden joint attack according to the Four Spirits Formation.

The angles are devious and ruthless, making it impossible to guard against and leaving one exhausted.

Sure enough, the silver-haired girl, whose stamina had long since fallen below the warning line, managed to resist this wave of attacks by relying on her profound movement techniques.

However, her steps have gradually become chaotic, her breathing is rapid, and sweat beads on her forehead.

"Hahaha, lie down for me!"

Zhao Tiandu sneers triumphantly as if his scheme has succeeded; he kicks off the ground, his hunched body lunging forward as he strikes with a Black Tiger Plucks the Heart, aiming straight for the exposed back of the slender figure.

The silver-haired girl, drenched in sweat, lets out a soft breath. A flash of resolve crosses her clear, glass-like eyes as she quietly grips the Clan-Protecting Divine Artifact in her hand.

Her delicate, jade-like fingers form a sword seal and quickly graze the surface of the black longsword. A trace of bright red blood seeps out, rapidly soaking into the interior of the slender blade, and tiny droplets of water emerge.

Just as the girl from the Luo God Clan, already harboring a death wish and intending to perish together with her enemy, prepares to act, a black streak of light flashes at lightning speed and slams heavily into Zhao Tiandu's wrist.

Zhao Tiandu lets out a muffled groan; unable to complete the Black Tiger Plucks the Heart, he is forced to retreat behind the four tigers.

He gazes gloomily at the bruise on his wrist, then looks up at the object that attacked him: a battle staff with a long, five-foot-tall, archaic-looking body is stuck in the ground.

"Cowardly rat, why don't you get out here!"

One of the Fierce Tiger of the Zhao Clan, indignant at his leader's misfortune, immediately curses.

Accompanied by a clear, hearty laugh, both sides of the battle turn their heads to look.

A youth in fine robes, his eyes glowing with divine light and black hair draped over his shoulders, stepped out from the dense forest with a heroic bearing, laughing aloud as he sang.

"The Demon-Subduing Staff Technique has been passed down since ancient times, using both ends with boundless wonder.

White Ape Exits Cave for a nimble stance, Striding Tiger Ascends Mountain with courtesy first.

Rib-Piercing Autumn Frost is but a feint, advance, advance!"

"Ahem, I am Mu Chen of Bailing, greetings to you all."

Mu Chen, who had intended to recite a few lines to command the scene, found his performance lacking and his mind momentarily blank. He could only cough lightly and offer a sheepish bow to the group.

"Mu Chen? I feel like I've heard that name somewhere before."

Zhao Tiandu muttered to himself, falling into deep thought.

The Fierce Tiger of the Zhao Clan who had spoken earlier, a man who could never stand to see others steal the spotlight, flashed a cold look and reached out to grab the Demon-Subduing Battle Staff stuck in the mud.

"Hey, brother, it's not polite to take other people's things."

Mu Chen smiled nonchalantly and made a grabbing motion with his empty hand.

With a "whoosh," the ancient battle staff rose straight into the air, flying toward its master. As it departed, it didn't forget to strike the thief's reaching hand.

"Ah!"

The Fierce Tiger of the Zhao Clan let out a pained cry, a finger broken on the spot by the blow.

"A-Liang!"

Zhao Tiandu snapped out of his contemplation. Seeing his clansman injured, his expression grew increasingly ferocious. "Kid, are you tired of living? How dare you cross the Five Tigers of the Zhao Clan?"

As he spoke, his gaze swept covertly over the Demon-Subduing Battle Staff.

Divine artifacts possess spirits. Just like the Mirror of Judgment, the ultimate divine artifact jointly held by the Five Great Academies, the higher the grade of the artifact, the clearer its nascent consciousness.

To be able to summon a weapon back with an empty hand in this land where the Spirit Road is forbidden could only mean that the unassuming, ancient battle staff was, in all likelihood, a divine artifact itself.

Anyone capable of wielding a divine artifact while still in the Sensing Realm was not to be trifled with.

On the verge of reaping the fruits of their labor, Zhao Tiandu was loath to invite complications at this stage, hoping instead to use the fearsome reputation of the Five Tigers of the Zhao Clan to scare the newcomer away.

Unfortunately, the newcomer was no ordinary person.

"The Five Tigers of the Zhao Family? Pfft, just five stray dogs."

Mu Chen held the ancient battle staff, his posture upright and a gentle smile playing on his lips. He looked exceptionally warm, yet the words he spat out were as aggressive as could be.

"Bastard, what did you say?"

"Are you looking for death?"

"Big Brother, let us brothers hammer him to death!"

The fierce tigers of the Zhao family were all thrown into a rage upon hearing this.

Even the goddess from the Lesser Western Heaven Realm, who had stood aloof until now as if the world's affairs had nothing to do with her—the very person playing the role of an indifferent spectator—raised her head for the first time, casting her ethereal and pure gaze toward him.