It was over. Everything had come to an end.
He Xian stood in the center of the arena.
He looked at Gu Rong, who had dissipated without leaving even a scrap of flesh behind.
He keenly felt the other man's unwillingness and attachment to life, yet in the end, Gu Rong had willingly become his sustenance.
Heaven's favored sons were all proud. He understood.
"The road to immortality has many forks, hard to distinguish, with a hundred tribulations arising. I will walk it well, as you wished!" He Xian finally sighed and stepped toward the next battlefield.
His face was pale, his blood energy depleted, and his aura greatly diminished. Above all, the weakness of his soul was impossible to conceal.
The backlash from the Three Lives Great Method had arrived.
This time, he had forcibly activated a great method that could only be performed in the Supreme Realm, damaging his essence and burning his foundation in the Dao.
He Xian forcibly mustered a breath of vital energy. Gu Rong had truly been right: only twenty or thirty percent of his strength at his peak remained.
The fourth arena held genuine young supremes, youthful overlords, and some descendants of the Emperor Clans.
They were only one step away from the final arena where titles would be bestowed.
They all sat cross-legged with their eyes closed, quietly resting and waiting.
He Xian's arrival caused no stir. His golden hair was now dry and lusterless, and his aura was weak.
The backlash from forcibly activating the Three Lives Great Method was worse than he had imagined.
His feeble aura was not even worth opening their eyes for.
He Xian immediately sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and regulated his breathing.
The fourth arena's battle would have to wait for the remaining contestants to reach it.
There were truly many participants this time, enough to cram a small universe until it burst.
However, according to the records of previous title contests,
the wait would not be too long-only a few months, or a few years.
He Xian immersed himself in healing, channeling the Indestructible Scripture with all his might in an attempt to regain the strength for another battle at his peak.
He was truly a lamp whose oil was running dry now.
Fighting was forbidden during the wait in the fourth arena, which was protected by divine patterns of the Great Dao.
He Xian sat cross-legged on the ground, forming seals with both hands. Golden radiance spread over his body inch by inch, and faint vitality emerged.
As time passed, vitality grew increasingly abundant in his withered body. His chest, in particular, resembled a great sun, flowing with golden radiance.
The sight astonished the others.
Was this dying man, who had been on his last legs just moments ago, actually about to recover his full strength?
His injuries had touched his essence. The few mighty young experts beside him could not have mistaken that.
Pfft!
Suddenly, He Xian coughed up a great mouthful of blood, and the sun in his chest went out.
Only when this happened did they close their eyes again.
Now that made sense! How could a Dao injury be so easily healed? Without some rare treasure of heaven and earth, an ordinary cultivator would be ruined for life.
Gulp, gulp!
He Xian forcibly swallowed the sweetness in his mouth. He had not expected the Three Lives Great Method to be so overbearing: the more he tried to heal, the worse its backlash became.
"Forget it." He stopped forcing himself to regain the strength to fight at his peak.
He quietly regulated his breathing.
Several months later,
the arena finally grew lively.
"Have I finally fought my way to the brink of the finals? Heh heh heh!"
With those words, a man shrouded in nether mist appeared.
His icy laughter echoed, laden with dense, undisguised killing intent.
Bone-piercing and chilling.
A sea of blood surged around him as he stood like a demonic mountain where he had appeared. His eyes were unfathomably deep, as though they could see through both the realms of life and death.
Moreover, mysterious symbols occasionally appeared on his flesh, terrifying enough to shake the world. The strange streams of light that naturally spilled from him could actually distort and collapse the void.
A domineering, bloodthirsty young lord of an Emperor Clan had entered the arena.
The moment he appeared, he swept his gaze around as though intending to clear away the trash.
Such arrogance naturally drew the attention of the young Emperor Clan lords who had entered the arena a few days earlier.
The following days were like a hornet's nest being stirred up.
Beings from different Emperor Clans appeared one after another.
Yu Yu, Wu Kun, Qing Kun, Suo Gu, Mo Kun, and the other members of the Six Little Emperors had all gathered.
Even Chi Menghong and Heavenly Blade, the two He Xian knew best, had come.
Chi Menghong, in particular, had had his body blasted apart by He Xian and suffered grievous injuries, yet he had recovered so quickly.
Sitting cross-legged, He Xian glanced in their direction before withdrawing his gaze.
The atmosphere in the arena had grown tense, as though the struggle for supremacy in the fourth arena might erupt at any moment.
He was still in poor condition-extremely poor condition.
"Everyone, the time has come. Shouldn't we join forces and clear out some of these small fry?" A being from an Emperor Clan roused himself from his seated meditation, his tone cold. He was one of the most terrifying beings on this battlefield.
Even among the Emperor Clans, there were exceptionally powerful individuals. Without question, he considered himself one of them.
Before the fourth arena's battle began, contestants were allowed to concede.
"Heh heh heh! Well said. I've long had that intention. How can feeble lambs walk alongside fierce tigers?" The man from the Blood Sea Emperor Clan, wreathed in the aura of death and the first to break the deathly silence, answered chillingly.
They began scanning everyone in the fourth arena.
The other Emperor Clan members said nothing, seemingly giving tacit approval to their actions.
Indeed, perhaps they thought the same way deep down.
Since ancient times, the Emperor Clans had stood high above all others, receiving the worship of countless races. Every appearance they made drew attention like mountains collapsing and seas roaring.
Where would so many peerless prodigies and supreme kings come from to contend with them?
"You!"
"You!"
"And you! Get out, all of you." The arrogant Emperor Clan member wreathed in death pointed at the beings he considered unworthy of standing on the same battlefield as him.
One King Clan prodigy after another was singled out.
At first, they could not believe it. Then anger welled up in their hearts.
The Demon Blood King Clan, the World Giant Monster Tribe, and the Ironblood Slaughterbird Tribe-their names alone made it clear that none of them were ordinary. These were all quasi-emperor king clans with Quasi-Kings presiding over them.
Their savage might overshadowed the world.
In eras when the Emperor Clans remained secluded, they represented invincibility.
"Not satisfied? Unwilling to give up the chance to live that I have bestowed upon you?" Ming Si seemed to have witnessed something utterly hilarious. He bent over, clutching his belly with laughter.
"Ha ha ha! What a bunch of fools."
"You!"
"You!"
"You!" He continued singling people out as though no one else mattered, no longer offering another word of persuasion.
Finally, he stopped in front of He Xian.
"There's even a fool here who refuses to leave despite suffering a Dao injury-and a mixed-blood at that!" Ming Si made an even more exaggerated fuss, even rubbing his eyes.
He was right. What he said was true.
To put He Xian's bloodline kindly, he bore the heritage of two Emperor Clans. To put it cruelly, he was a mixed-blood.
He was like Zhan Feng, who possessed a quarter of An Lan's bloodline. After all, his father had yet to reach the King Realm and was only a Quasi-King.
His mother, too, was merely a clanswoman of Kundi's lineage.
He Xian abruptly opened his eyes. Although he knew the other man was stating a fact, that did not mean he could say those words to his face.