Once an army broke, defeat came like a landslide. The same was true of battles between God Level experts.
With one of the Heavenly Wind Tribe's four Highgods dead and another on the run, only Leijia and Chief Tianfeng remained. As Chief Lieshan saw it, the battle was already decided.
Eight against two-the advantage was theirs!
The battle had taken a sudden turn, and the Highgod wielding a long staff grew steadily fiercer in his attacks on Leijia. Shadows of the staff swept like the wind, sealing him in on all sides like a cage.
Earlier, the staff-wielding Highgod had feared that Leijia would fight desperately and injure him, so he had not dared to fight at full strength. Now that Leijia and Chief Tianfeng were the Heavenly Wind Tribe's only remaining Highgods, his thoughts changed in an instant.
One on one, he had feared that a cornered dog would leap over the wall. But now, four against one, how could he let a Divine Spark within his grasp fly away?
Swift as the wind, the staff thrust fiercely at Leijia. The staff-wielding Highgod put all his strength into this blow, backed by the sharp force of Wind Element Highgod Power.
The staff-wielding Highgod believed this blow would surely deal Leijia a grievous injury.
The staff came crashing down, but the sight of Leijia being smashed and grievously injured never appeared.
Instead, the Highgod Artifact staff that had accompanied him for nearly a thousand years snapped in two beneath a single stroke of Leijia's sword.
Run!
The thought had barely formed, and before the staff-wielding Highgod could act, another rush of air sounded. He saw a flash of sword light streak past, and a fine line instantly appeared across his throat.
Before the staff-wielding Highgod could repair the wound, violent Lightning Element Divine Power turned into a dense web of lightning and destroyed his divine body.
The attack tore through him from the inside out, shattering the divine body he had been so proud of, whose hardness rivaled that of a Midgod Artifact.
His hard divine body was as fragile as rotten wood at that moment, collapsing into a cloud of bloody mist under Leijia's attack.
Amid the bloody mist, Leijia held his greatsword point-down at his side, like a god of slaughter.
The three Highgods near Leijia were terrified out of their wits. The danger sense honed through years of life-and-death battles made them instinctively want to flee.
The three Highgods were extremely fast, but Leijia was faster.
A flash of light swept past, and a thin red line appeared on the neck of every Highgod present except the chief of the Heavenly Wind Tribe.
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!
Several bursting sounds rang out, and seven Highgods, including the chief of the Blazing Mountain Tribe, burst into clouds of bloody mist at the same time.
Seven kills with one sword!
A figure flew out of the thick bloody mist.
Blood smeared his face, and the chief of the Blazing Mountain Tribe looked terrified.
Too terrifying.
Since his birth, Chief Lieshan had never seen such a powerful opponent.
One move. With just one move, all seven Highgods were gone.
Chief Lieshan should have fallen to Leijia's sword as well, but ever cautious, he had switched his other Divine Clone to the outside the instant the staff-wielding Highgod fell.
Chief Lieshan had two Divine Clones, an extremely well-kept secret. Even the few subordinates he trusted most did not know he had another Divine Clone hidden away.
By alternating between his two Divine Clones, Chief Lieshan had escaped countless deadly crises over the years, but this time, he felt he might truly be unable to escape.
Leijia's strength far exceeded his expectations. He had killed his Divine Clone in a single move. Had Lieshan not sensed what was coming and switched Divine Clones in advance, his strongest Divine Clone would likely have followed those other Highgods to their deaths.
Even though he had saved his strongest Divine Clone, Chief Lieshan's other Divine Clone, which had withstood deadly attacks many times, had fallen here for good.
Having lost a Divine Clone, Chief Lieshan did not hesitate. He immediately fled in the opposite direction from Leijia.
Years of fighting had taught him that he was absolutely no match for Leijia.
His decisive judgment had saved Chief Lieshan's life many times before, but this time, it seemed he could not escape.
Chief Lieshan flew at no slow speed, but Leijia was faster. As a Lightning Element Highgod expert who had fused four Profound Mysteries, Leijia needed only an instant to catch up to him.
In the blink of an eye, the broad-backed greatsword was already raised high, chopping straight toward Chief Lieshan's head.
Clenching his teeth, Chief Lieshan frantically unleashed the Fire Element divine power within him. Fire elements gathered madly around him, forming a visible shield.
Raising the saber in his hand, Chief Lieshan shouted, "I'll fight you!"
He held the saber horizontally, blocking Leijia's broad-backed greatsword.
Crackle!
Electric arcs leaped as violent lightning power poured madly toward Chief Lieshan.
The sword struck, and the shockwave of its power instantly shattered the shield Chief Lieshan had formed. A pleasurable sensation of lightning instantly pierced his entire body, reaching the crown of his head.
Struck by Leijia's sword, the saber in Chief Lieshan's hand instantly developed a fine crack. He staggered backward, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.
The gap in strength was too great!
With just one sword strike, Leijia had left Chief Lieshan unable to muster the strength to resist. His strongest Highgod Divine Clone, which he had been so proud of, could not even withstand two moves from Leijia.
Chief Lieshan's eyes, which had been blazing with fighting spirit, filled with despair.
Nearby, the bloody mist dispersed, and the chief of the Heavenly Wind Tribe stood with his mouth wide enough to fit an egg.
Who could have imagined it? With one of the tribe's two Highgods dead and the other on the run, Chief Tianfeng had already begun considering how to surrender with dignity.
Who could have imagined that a Highgod who had broken through only a year ago would turn such a disadvantage around?
His breathing growing rapid, Chief Tianfeng stared at Leijia, who had needed only two moves to beat Chief Lieshan, a man even stronger than Tianfeng himself, half to death and send him staggering backward, spitting blood.
Chief Tianfeng understood that his chance to rise might already be before him.
His gaze flickered as he looked at Leijia, his breathing growing rapid. "This is a thick thigh. I have to cling to it."
Unlike Chief Tianfeng, Chief Lieshan closed his eyes after Leijia defeated him in one move. Since he could neither win nor escape, he decided not to run.
"Surrender to me, or fall?"
The sight of Leijia beheading him with a single stroke never came. When Chief Lieshan gave up resisting, Leijia offered him a chance to surrender instead.
As a Fire Element God Level expert, Chief Lieshan seemed hot-tempered, but he could bend and yield. Taking the opening Leijia's offer gave him, Chief Lieshan bowed. "Lieshan greets Master."
He declared his submission in a single sentence, and Leijia's lips curved upward. This Lieshan seems hot-tempered, but he can bend and yield!
Subduing Chief Lieshan had not been a whim. Leijia had already thought of it when he made his move.
Chief Lieshan was quite strong. He had fused two Profound Mysteries and could be counted as a capable fighter. Killing him would have been a waste.
It was better to persuade him to surrender. If that failed, there would still be time to finish him off.
The result was just as Leijia had expected. Lieshan wisely chose to surrender.
Once Chief Lieshan had been subdued, Chief Tianfeng flew over to Leijia and bowed. "Tianfeng g-greets you, my lord."
As the chief who had invited Leijia to join the tribe, Tianfeng simply could not be shameless enough to call him "Master" as Lieshan had.
Fortunately, Leijia did not make an issue of the form of address.
Pointing at the two of them, Leijia said calmly, "You two, gather up the interspatial rings and divine artifacts of the ones we just dealt with, then come find me."
With that, Leijia flew toward his courtyard in the Heavenly Wind Tribe without looking back.
Tianfeng and Lieshan were left staring at each other.