Chapter 258 - 257: The Fight Among Peerless Gods! (5) (Bonus)
MAIN TOURNAMENT MERIT RANKINGS (ROUND TWO - IN PROGRESS)
1. Zhao Province — 1060 Merits
(General: Lin Yuan — 700 Merits | Lord: Zhao Shenming — 360 Merits)
2. Xuan Province — 1050 Merits
3. Chu Province — 1050 Merits
4. Feng Province — 350 Merits
5. Jiang Province — 350 Merits
6. Ling Province — 0 Merits
7. Ye Province — 0 Merits
The Zhao Province had reclaimed first place by a margin of ten points!
But the other provinces Lords haven’t fought yet, and when they did, the ranking swiftly changed.
MAIN TOURNAMENT MERIT RANKINGS (ROUND TWO - IN PROGRESS)
1. Xuan Province — 1400 Merits
2. Chu Province — 1400 Merits
3. Zhao Province — 1060 Merits
4. Feng Province — 700 Merits
5. Jiang Province — 350 Merits
6. Ling Province — 0 Merits
7. Ye Province — 0 Merits
Then, the massive bronze gong chimed for Round Three.
Chief Adjudicator Xuanji stepped forward, his eyes gleaming with anticipation.
"Round Three commences! Upper Division General Bracket! Match Three! Lin Yuan of the Zhao Province versus Ye Ao of the Ye Province! Contestants, take your positions!"
The crowd’s roar reached a fever pitch.
Ye Ao!
The savage beast-tamer of the Ye Province. A man who possessed the ancient, terrifying bloodline of the Primordial Chimera, capable of fusing with beast souls to achieve physical strength that bordered on mythical absurdity. Ye Ao had been sitting at zero merits, humiliated by his rapid loss to Xuan Mingzhe in round one. He was a cornered, wounded predator, desperate for blood.
BOOM!
A massive, eight-foot-tall figure slammed down onto the star-iron floor of the northern quadrant, causing the entire platform to shudder violently.
Ye Ao stood with his chest bare, covered in thick, glowing tribal tattoos that pulsed with a violent, crimson light. His long, wild black hair whipped around his heavily scarred face, and his yellow, slit-pupiled eyes locked onto the Zhao pavilion with primal hatred. In his massive, clawed hands, he held a pair of heavy, jagged bone-cleavers forged from the femurs of a Rank 6 Earth-Dragon.
"Zhao rat!" Ye Ao bellowed, his voice carrying the deafening, reverberating roar of an ancient beast that silenced the surrounding crowd. "You think you are clever with your little tricks and your formation webs?! Ling Chuan is a soft-bone! I am a beast forged in the blood of dragons! Step into this cage, and I will rip your arms from your shoulders and drink your blood!"
In the Zhao pavilion, Bai Chen sneered. "Listen to this overgrown dog bark. He clearly doesn’t know what kind of teeth Brother-in-law has."
Lin Yuan stood up calmly. He straightened the sleeves of his robes, his expression as placid and immovable as the void itself.
He looked down at his wife. Bai Qingyue smiled softly, her eyes filled with absolute, effortless certainty.
"Do not let him dirty your robes, Yuan," she said gently.
"He will not touch the fabric," Lin Yuan promised.
Lin Yuan stepped forward, vanishing from the terrace and reappearing fifty paces away from the roaring beast-tamer.
The Void Refinement spatial barrier slammed down, sealing the arena.
Ye Ao did not wait for the adjudicator to give a formal command. The savage warrior threw his head back and let out a bloodcurdling howl that physically cracked the star-iron beneath his feet.
"Ancestral Totem Awakening! Blood-Chimera Fusion!"
The crimson tattoos across Ye Ao’s body erupted into blinding, visceral light. His physical frame began to violently mutate and expand. Thick, iron-hard scales of deep crimson ripped through his skin. His muscles swelled, bulging to three times their normal density, corded with veins of black, boiling beast blood. A massive, spiked tail ripped through the back of his breeches, whipping through the air with a sonic crack, and his teeth elongated into jagged, steel-tearing fangs.
The aura radiating from Ye Ao exploded. It was not a refined Dao Intent; it was a wave of pure primal savagery that pushed his physical strength directly into the threshold of the Eighth Step!
"DIE!" Ye Ao roared, lunging forward.
The ground beneath him exploded as he crossed the fifty-pace distance in less than a single millisecond. He swung the massive bone-cleavers downward in a ferocious, cross-shaped execution strike, carrying the force of a falling meteor.
Lin Yuan did not deploy the Heaven and Earth Shift to redirect the blow.
He stood his ground.
Deep within his physical vessel, Lin Yuan’s Rank 10 Ancient Beast Body ignited. The Nine Revolutions Profound Art cycled at maximum capacity, circulating through his tempered bones, his refined organs, and his divine marrow. His jade skin took on a faint, golden-purple metallic sheen.
Lin Yuan raised his bare hands.
CLANG-BOOOOOOM!
A shockwave of pure, destructive force blasted outward, violently slamming against the Void Refinement barrier, causing the transparent shield to groan and warp with terrifying intensity.
The entire Grand Court went dead silent.
Ye Ao’s massive, eight-foot-tall, chimera-mutated frame was completely, entirely frozen in mid-air.
Lin Yuan had not dodged. He had not used a spell.
He had caught both of the massive, dragon-bone cleavers with his bare hands.
His fingers were locked tightly around the jagged, razor-sharp edges of the blades. His boots had not shifted backward by a single millimeter. His robes fluttered slightly from the wind of the impact, but his arms were as steady, rigid, and unbreakable as primordial star-iron pillars.
Ye Ao’s yellow slit-pupils contracted into faint dots of pure horror.
"What... what are you?!" Ye Ao choked out, pushing downward with every ounce of his mutated, chimera-infused strength. His veins bulged, blood leaking from his gums as he exerted millions of pounds of physical force.
The cleavers did not move an inch. Lin Yuan’s hands did not bleed. The Rank 10 physique, tempered by beast blood and the Nine Essence Genesis Pill, made dragon-bone feel like brittle chalk.
Lin Yuan looked up at the towering beast-man, his deep purple eyes entirely devoid of emotion.
"You boast of dragon blood and beast chimeras," Lin Yuan spoke, his voice a low, terrifying rumble that vibrated directly against Ye Ao’s soul. "You believe that shouting like an animal makes you strong."
Lin Yuan’s grip tightened.
CRACK!